Shortcut Chicken Satay

This week I made Chicken Satay. The recipe I used was from a co-worker whose husband I know to be a wonderful cook. I'm calling this 'shortcut' chicken satay because the recipe for the sauce was so easy and I already had all four of the ingredients. (Whereas another co-worker once gave me a chicken satay recipe with a nine ingredient marinade plus an eight ingredient sauce.)

The chicken turned out perfect! The sauce had just enough flavor to be really yummy without being over powerful or sweet.

Chicken Pierre

I found this recipe for Chicken Pierre on allrecipes while looking for a new way to cook chicken breasts. It was a bit of a gamble for my household because we are not big tomato fanatics, but this recipe was sooo good it might just change our minds.

Chicken Pierre

Garlic Chili Rosemary Chicken

I love cooking chicken thighs, dark meat is so moist that it almost always turns out wonderfully. So I was excited when I found this recipe for Sriracha Rosemary Chicken which combined dark meat, with the flavors which my fiance enjoys, and a yogurt to cool it down a bit.

Mustard Mayhem: Part II

Several weeks ago I posted Mustard Mayhem Part I, featuring Mustard Glazed Salmon and Mustard Maple Chicken recipes. Being someone who can let no leftovers go to waste, I found a new recipe combining my leftover Mustard, Maple Syrup, and Salmon into Smokey Maple-Mustard Salmon. At first I was worried this would be too similar to the mustard glazed salmon, but after a few bites my fiance assured me that both recipes deserved a place in our normal dinner rotation.

Smokey Maple Mustard Salmon

Smokey Maple-Mustard Salmon proved to be less sweet with a bit of heat. While I enjoyed the earthiness and crunch of mustard glazed salmon I have to agree that this is a great alternative when the sweetness is just too much. Plus this was SUPER EASY!

Pudding Cookies

I needed a last minute cookie to take to a party. Having made Chocolate Scotcharoos earlier in the week, I was planning to make a second batch with the left over chips. I reconsidered and decided I wanted to go with a more traditional cookie, but had to use what was left in my pantry. Enter Pudding Cookies which I used as 'garbage' cookies. A catch all for all the leftovers in my pantry.

Pudding cookie ingredients, including my pantry 'garage' of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and walnuts.

Banana Nutella Bread

Pinterst Alter! This was posted on pinterest through originally at Emily Carlton and Visions of Sugar Plum. After all, how is anyone supposed to resist a Nutella Recipe?!

BANANA NUTELLA BREAD

Mustard Mayhem

This past week was a busy one for me in the kitchen. (Look for upcoming posts on Scotcharoos, Banana Nutella Bread, and Pudding Cookies.) But my first inspiration for the week was Mustard! My kitchen creations of the week lead to some very satisfying Mustard Glazed Salmon Fillet and some Mustard Maple Chicken. Yep- two recipes in this post, enjoy!

Chicken in a Mustard and Maple Glaze

Spinach, Mushroom, and Feta Quiche

Lately I've been looking for an easy make-ahead breakfast to enjoy at home. I came across this this recipe for Spinach, Mushroom, and Feta Crustless Quiche on Pinterest. (Pinned it, Did it!) Since this is not an original recipe of mine, I encourage you to go to the Budget Bytes website for the full instructions.

My overall opinion of this quiche is that it was good, but not as stellar as I'd like. It needed a little kick up. Most of these ingredients I already have on hand. This particular day I had leftover feta, red pepper, and a few shitaki mushrooms. The only items I needed to purchase for the quiche were spinach and a full container of button mushrooms. 

Welcome

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging. Like most bloggers, I'm a jack of all trades looking to share just a little bit of my knowledge in a lot of different subjects. Here are just a few examples of what I hope to write about and hope even more that you find interesting.

Food: I enjoy trying to cook as well as eating out. I am both a wanna-be chef as well as a wanna-be foodie. Thanks to Pinterest I now have an endless supply of recipes test on this blog, as well as being able to share a few of my old standards. I eat out often and am lucky to live in Washington DC where we have many great restaurants. Additionally I'd love to learn a bit about fine wine, good cheese, and other delicacies.

Travel: Travel is my true passion, and I'm lucky enough to have a fiance who feels the same way. Whether its exotic trips to Thailand or a day out in nearby Annapolis we're there. We've had great adventures and discovered amazing hikes, parks, cuisine, and people in all parts of the world and I'd love to share those recommendations with you. Some day we'd love nothing more than to travel, so this blog can become an outlet of not only past travel logs but also trips we are planning.

Crafts: I am a true DIYer. Long before Pinterest I was creating my own wall art and painting anything I could in my apartment. I'm good with my hands and a great visual thinker, so while its not always perfect I ofter improvise with what I already have on hand to finish a project.


I hope you enjoy my blog.