EASY STIR FRY

I always grew up with different variations of the same stir fry recipe, I will give some the ingredient substitutions below.

Makes enough for 4-6 depending on portion size.

Basic ingredients:

• 6 packages of ramen noodles (beef, pork, or oriental flavored)
• 2 lbs Meat of your choice (pork, beef, or chicken) 
• 1 family sized bag of frozen stir fry veggies or Fresh veggies (if you participate in Bountiful baskets or a food co-op or have garden this meal is great because you can put anything in it.)
• A pan with a lid

Directions:

• Start boiling your water for your noodles.  Cook according to instructions.
• Cut your type of meat into strips.
• If you are using frozen veggies make sure you keep them in the freezer until you are ready to use.  
• Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil to a hot pan. 
• Add your meat as well as 2 of the flavor packets from the ramen noodles. This will form a paste that should coat the meat.  It is ok if it clumps a little.
• Once the meat is cooked through you will add the vegetables and cover with your lid.   If you are using the frozen veggies the ice crystals will provide enough moisture to steam themselves.  If you are using fresh veggies you have to add about a 1/2 cup of water so the veggies will steam.
• Add 2 more of the flavor packets. Mix well.
• Let the vegetables and meat cook.  When the veggies are done to your liking you are finished.  I take the drained noodles and add them to the pan and mix the veggie and meat mixture in with the noodles.
• ENJOY!!

Honestly I have made this with so many combinations.  Veggies only, steak, chicken, pan fried noodles, etc.  The trick is the ramen for your noodles and those handy already made flavor packets for your spices.

Honey Mustard Chicken

My hubby and I both LOVE this recipe. It's delish!
1 lb. chicken breast cut up into pieces
3 eggs
1 c. flour
1/3 c. oil

Sauce:
1/3 c. butter, melted
1/3 c. honey
2 T. mustard

Instead of breading and frying the chicken, you may also just make the sauce, pour over chicken pieces, and cook for 20-30. You can obviously tell which probably tastes better and is healthier for you...

Put oil into a pan on medium heat. Put eggs into small bowl and beat. Put flour into a different small bowl. Dip chicken pieces into eggs and then flour. Put pieces into oil. Let cook, flipping until both sides are brown. Put chicken into small baking dish and put into oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Combine all ingredients for sauce. I generally go easy on the mustard and heavy on the honey just cause I like it that way. Pour over chicken and let bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve over rice. Enjoy!

Crispy Coconut Chicken

ohmygosh  This is SO good! Restaurant quality good.



Ingredients:
12 chicken tenders or 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup flour
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
A pinch of cajun seasoning
Cooking spray
Oil
Dipping sauce (Ranch, BBQ, Sweet N Sour, etc)

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 450*F.
2. Chop the shredded coconut so that it is about the same size as the panko crumbs.
3. Mix the coconut, panko crumbs, garlic powder, salt, curry powder, onion powder, and cajun seasoning together in a shallow dish.
4. Put flour in a separate shallow dish.
5. Put the beaten eggs in a third shallow dish.
6. Line a baking sheet with tin foil.  Spray the tin foil with cooking spray.
7. Cover each piece of chicken with flour, then egg, then coconut crumb mixture.   Use your fingers to coat each piece of chicken as much as possible.  Lay each piece of chicken on the foil.
8.  Use a spoon to drip a small amount of oil on top of each piece of chicken.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
10. Serve with dipping sauce.
* Based on a recipe from ourbestbites.com

Playdough

I know this is technically not edible, but I know a lot of you have kids and kids + playdough = awesome fun. I make playdough at least once a month for my class at school and I really like this recipe. Very similar texture to real "playdough". A tad bit more salty though. One recipe makes 1 of the bowls seen below.
Ingredients:
1 c. flour
1 c. water
1/2 c. salt
1 T. cream of tarter
Food Coloring

Mix all ingredients in a pot. Cook on medium heat, stirring until the dough starts to pull apart from sides and form a ball. Let cool, then put in an air tight container.

*This dough will last for a very long time if put away in a sealed container right after it is used. I once had some that lasted for 6 months.

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake!

Mmmmm...



Ingredients:
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves (just a pinch really)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (just a pinch really)
4 Tablespoons brown sugar
4 cups vanilla ice cream
graham cracker crumbs to sprinkle on top

Directions:
Combine everything (except the graham cracker crumbs) in a blender and liquify to your desired consistency! If you like really thick milkshakes, I combine everything but the ice cream together in a bowl first and leave the ice cream out for a few minutes to soften. Then, instead of blending it, I just use a spoon to mix it all together.

Carmelized Butternut Squash

Yummy way to eat some of that leftover/really cheap squash. (I got an entire squash for 80 cents this week.)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 butternut squash (about 1 3/4 pounds), peeled (veggie peeler worked great), seeded, and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup low-sodium canned chicken broth
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon dark brown-sugar (I added 2 T)

Directions:
Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until golden brown. Add squash; saute, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and tender when pierced with a fork, about 16 minutes.

Add chicken broth, the water, and brown sugar; cook until liquid has evaporated and squash is nicely caramelized, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Spaghetti Squash

My husbands favorite Fall meal is spaghetti squash. He could seriously eat it every night and be completely satisfied. The first time I bought one... I was completely intimidated/terrified. But it is SO good and really easy.







Ingredients:
One spaghetti squash
Butter
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cut your spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. (These babies are really hard to cut... You have been warned.) Scoop out all the seeds/stringy stuff. Place the two squash halves, cut side down, on a cookie sheet. Use a fork to pound holes all over the outside of the squash so that it cooks evenly. Bake in a 350* oven for about 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and use a fork to scrape out the squash. It will literally come out looking like spaghetti noodles. I always wear an oven mitt when I'm holding the squash to scrape it out because it gets really hot. Once you have all your "noodles", top them with butter and parmesan cheese.