Asian Chicken Salad

This salad was absolutely delicious! We try a lot of new recipes and some are great, but only a few make it into the regular rotation. This is one of those special dishes that we both love. Full of fresh ingredients, flavorful chicken, and crunchy chow mein noodles, Asian chicken salad is a bright, yummy, and easy dish to throw together any night of the week. While we loved all the flavors, we might try to give it a Thai spin next time by changing up the marinade just a little with the addition of red pepper flakes and peanut butter instead of Chinese 5-Spice seasoning, which has a licorice-y flavor. That's another nice thing about this dish-you can change it up to fit your taste very easily. Again though, we loved this one!

Asian Chicken Salad
*Adapted from Pinch of Yum

For the chicken:
2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ginger (or 1 tablespoon minced ginger)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Chinese 5-Spice seasoning

1/4 cup chopped green onions
2-3 cups coleslaw or shredded lettuce
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1-2 cups shredded carrots
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
2 cups cooked, shelled edamame (it's called mukimame when you buy it pre-shelled and is much more convenient in steam bags for easy cooking)
2 cups crunchy chow mein noodles
Toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Salad dressing of your choice (I used Litehouse toasted sesame ginger)

Whisk together the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar, and 5-spice seasoning. Marinate the chicken in the sauce for at least 1 hour. Bake chicken with the sauce at 400º for 20-30 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through. Let cool and shred.

Toss chicken, green onions, coleslaw, almonds, carrots, cilantro, edamame, and sesame seeds together.

Serve tossed with salad dressing and top with crunchy chow mein noodles. Enjoy!

Coconut Almond Granola

I have a hard time with snack foods. I don't want crackers, I want a steak or some leftover chicken noodle soup or pasta. Usually I reach for something a little more hearty than a handful of granola, but this is special granola. It has coconut and almonds, two of my favorite things. Add in some cinnamon (which you do!) and you've got yourself a yummy treat!

This recipe called for chia seeds, which I was all for using, but chia seeds are expensive! The brand is Bob's Red Mill and you can find them in the whole foods aisle. I didn't know if I would like the recipe, since I've never made granola before, so I didn't buy the seeds. A single batch of granola only calls for 2 tablespoons of chia seeds, which means a bag would last a long time. I might go buy the seeds for next time, since I'm sure I'll be making this recipe again and again. It's delicious, especially on Greek yogurt or even ice cream!

Coconut Almond Granola
*Adapted from The Vintage Mixer

3 1/2 cups coconut flakes, sweetened or unsweetened, depending on your taste
2/3 cup oats
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
2 tablespoons chia seeds (I left these out this time)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup coconut oil (mine was in solid form, so I heated it in the microwave until it liquified)
Dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350º. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and spread the mixture evenly onto a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn everything with a spatula. Spread it back out and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until just golden.

Cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. This is good over ice cream, Greek yogurt, apple sauce, with milk, or just straight out of the jar!

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cookies

What do you do when you have a craving for pumpkin oatmeal cookies at 9pm? You make them, of course! However, although you thought you bought a million cans of pumpkin purée, it turns out that you are fresh out of that rather important ingredient. So now what do you do? Because you are incredibly stubborn and one-minded about food cravings, you make regular oatmeal cookies and hope for the best. And these were pretty close to the best. Full of cinnamon, chewy and a little crispy, these little cookies are delicious! I opted not to put any nuts or raisins (we all know how I feel about those yucky little things) in the cookies, so they truly are a pure and simple oatmeal cookie. And that's what I love about them!

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (or do 3/4 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup bread flour so the cookies don't flatten out as much)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used 2 1/2 teaspoons because I love cinnamon!)

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

*I put a few chocolate chips on one batch of cookies and didn't like the outcome. Chocolate and cinnamon weren't a good match here.

Preheat the oven to 325º. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Gradually add this to the butter mixture. Mix in the oats and nuts (if using) until just blended. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased or Silpat-lined cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Mmm, breakfast!

Sweet Potato Casserole

My mom makes such amazing sweet potatoes, so when I decided to make my own sweet potatoes, I opted to try a different recipe. You just can't match Mom's recipe, so why try? This one is from the Pioneer Woman and it's wonderful. Shocking, I know. I've already made it 3 times and it's always a hit. A big bonus is that it's incredibly easy to make. My one change is the amount of sugar, which I've cut down to 3/4 of a cup because, let's face it, sweet potatoes are sweet-it's all in the name!

Sweet Potato Casserole

*From the Pioneer Woman

4 medium or 3 large sweet potatoes (I always use 3)

3/4 cup sugar (the recipe calls for 1 cup, but I add a little less)

1 cup milk

2 whole eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

1/2 cup flour

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) butter, cold

Wash sweet potatoes and bake in a 400º oven for 40-50 minutes, or until fork tender.

When they are finished cooking, slice in half and scoop out the flesh into a large bowl or baking dish.

Add sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt.

Mash with a potato masher until smooth, or to the desired consistency.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, add brown sugar, pecans, flour, and cold butter. With a pastry cutter or fork, mash ingredients together until combined.

Spread sweet potatoes in a 11/2 to 2-quart baking dish and top with brown sugar and pecan mixture.

Bake in a 400º oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

For our wedding, Nick and I decided that a regular wedding cake wasn't what we wanted. Cakes are dry and boring and didn't fit with our Thanksgiving themed dinner. So we had pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. And it was amazing! This cheesecake was also yummy, although a little difficult to get out of the pan. A lot of the crust stayed in the pan, in fact, but it was still delicious. I can't wait to make it again!

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

38 ginger snaps

1/4 cup pecans

1/4 butter, melted

4 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

2 cups pumpkin purée

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup whipped cream

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, crush ginger snaps and pecans. Mix with melted butter and press into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

Beat cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until blended. Add pumpkin, spice, and vanilla and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each one just until blended. Pour into crust.

Bake 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until center is almost set. Loosen cake from the rim of the pan. Cool completely before removing the sides of the pan. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Top with cool whip and a dusting of nutmeg. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Butter

Fall is my favorite time of the year: the brisk chilly air, the holidays and family time, the warm blankets and sweaters, and the food. From the warm, comforting nature of soups and hot chocolate to the spicy smell of baked goods filled with cinnamon and nutmeg, fall food is the best. And this pumpkin bread with cinnamon butter is no exception. It was easy to put together and it made the house smell like heaven. Spread on a little bit of this wonderful cinnamon butter and you have yourself a perfect day. The best part about this bread, besides the smell, was the cakey, moist texture. I had some for breakfast and didn't feel even a little guilty because it's full of pumpkin. Pumpkin overrules the cake guilt every time. It's bread! Pumpkin bread with cinnamon butter!

Pumpkin Bread
*From In Good Taste

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 cups (16 ounces) pure pumpkin purée
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional-I left this out)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9x5-inch loaf pans, line the bottoms with wax paper or parchment paper, then grease the paper. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat the sugar and oil together in a large bowl until blended.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Then add the pumpkin.

Mix.

Add the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Don't stir too much or it will become tough.

Fold in the nuts, if using. Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake for 70 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean. Cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Remove from pans and allow to cool completely before serving. Remove wax paper before slicing. Enjoy with cinnamon butter!

Cinnamon Butter

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix all ingredients together and then beat with an electric mixer.

Store in a sealed container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Enjoy with pumpkin bread!

Baked Chicken Almond

I will eat just about anything with almonds in it. Seriously. And when I buy rocky road ice cream and the evil people have put walnuts in it, I just about have a fit. That's just wrong. But I digress. This chicken, while covered in almonds, just didn't do it for me. It tasted fine, it just didn't quite taste the way I expected it to. Maybe I was thinking about the almond chicken at the Chinese restaurant in Pullman (although this recipe is about as far from Chinese as you can get), which was a weekly staple for me while I was at WSU. Maybe it was just that the almonds didn't add as much flavor as I wanted, but whatever it was, this dish was just okay for me. Hubby liked it a lot more, but he's less critical than I am! Overall, it was solid but not great.

Baked Chicken Almond
*Adapted from the 6 Ingredients or Less cookbook

4 chicken breasts
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup chicken broth (or white wine-I used broth)
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine soups, cheese, and broth until blended.

Arrange chicken in large baking dish. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour soup mixture over chicken. Make sure the chicken is coated on all sides with the soup mixture.

Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and sprinkle the almonds on top of the chicken.

Bake 30 minutes longer. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

Great Aunt Janice's Thai Salad

My mom and I went to Nebraska a few weeks ago for a family reunion. We surprised everyone by coming, as my immediate family doesn't travel much and often misses these family celebrations. Not anymore, let me tell you! We had so much fun at the reunion and I got to spend time with family members I'd never met before. I have some wonderful relatives and I finally know where my sense of humor and quick laughter comes from: my entire family! It was a blessing to get to see everyone and I'm already counting down the days for the next reunion. In two years.

Now, on to the recipe. This one is from my Great Aunt Janice. She brought this to the reunion and as soon as I had some, I knew I had to make it for Nick. It had all the spiciness and deliciousness that accompanies most Thai food and I love that it is a cold salad, meaning it makes a great side dish at a barbeque or picnic. Nick LOVED it, and it was a snap to put together-a big plus! Thanks Aunt Janice!!

Thai Salad
*From Great Aunt Janice

16-ounce package angel hair pasta
6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup cooking oil (I used canola)
3 green onions
1 bunch of cilantro, to taste
1 cup peanuts
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes (UPDATE: We ground the red pepper flake to make it finer and used about 1/2 tablespoon for mild to medium heat, which was perfect for us. Use more for more heat!)

Mix the honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, and canola oil in a bowl.

Boil the pasta in salted water to al dente or according to package directions. Drain the pasta and place in a large serving bowl. Pour the honey and soy sauce mixture over the top.

Finely chop the green onions.

Chop up the cilantro.

Add the chopped cilantro and green onions to the pasta. Mix well.

Chop up peanuts. This is optional, but I prefer pieces to whole peanuts. Mix the peanuts and red pepper flakes together in a small bowl.

Add the peanuts and red pepper flakes to the noodles right before serving and mix to incorporate well. (Update: We just add the peanuts and ground red pepper flake to the pasta right away. It doesn't affect the consistency either way, but it's more convenient to do it all at once.)

Enjoy!

Chinese Noodle Casserole

This is one of my mom's recipes. I love it as an easy go-to dish that always tastes good and has great flavor and texture. It also reheats really well, just add extra chow mein noodles for crunch.

Chinese Noodle Casserole

1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken (about 2 large chicken breasts)
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup cashews, split
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup chicken broth
1 5-ounce can chow mein noodles (I use WAY more than this-love the chow mein noodles!)

Combine chicken and celery in a mixing bowl.

On a funny side note, here is our puppy, Gus, helping me by eating the leftover celery.

Add cashews.

Mix to combine.

Combine soup and broth until blended.

Pour over chicken and stir to mix.

Layer mixture in a greased 2-quart deep casserole dish starting with half the chicken mixture then half the noodles.

Repeat and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until heated through.

Serve over rice and enjoy!