Monday, November 8, 2010

Recipe- Chicken Salad on multi grain pita and roasted cauliflower

Alright. I don't normally use a recipe for this chicken salad, I just throw things in, but for the sake of the blog, I'm going to try to type out what I did. Tonight we are using Nature's Own multi grain pita pockets, they are super yummy!

Chicken Salad:

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs (you can use breasts if you'd like, of course. This is just what I had on hand.)
2 tablespoons mayo
1 tablespoon mustard
relish (to taste)
2 bay leaves
seasoning salt (I use Lawry's!)
salt and pepper to taste
enough water to cover the chicken

Directions

Clean the chicken and place it in a pot. Cover the chicken in water and put in the bay leaves, seasoning salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil on high heat. Once the chicken is boiling, turn the heat down to medium and boil for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes is up take the chicken out of the pot and let it cool for 15 minutes. Once the chicken in cooled to the touch, you can shred, diced, pull the chicken into pieces. In a bowl put in the mayo, mustard, a dash of salt, pepper and relish. Throw in the chicken and there ya go! The easiest chicken salad EVER! ;D

Roasted Cauliflower:

Recipe taken from: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_cauliflower/

Ingredients

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely minced
  • Lemon juice from half a lemon
  • Olive oil
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Parmesan cheese

Method

1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut cauliflower into florets and put in a single layer in an oven-proof baking dish. Toss in the garlic. Sprinkle lemon juice over cauliflower and drizzle each piece with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. If the oven hasn't reached 400°F yet, set aside until it has.

2 Place casserole in the hot oven, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is lightly brown. Test with a fork for desired doneness. Fork tines should be able to easily pierce the cauliflower. Remove from oven and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

(I don't have any lemon juice tonight and I'm too lazy to go to town so we're trying the cauliflower without lemon juice. I will let you know how the Fantastic Four and husband like it!)








November's Menu.

My family has a pretty busy month this month! With Thanksgiving, my brother's wedding and rehearsal dinner, and family dinner at my Mom's on Sundays, I only have to cook 16 dinners. Believe it or not, this makes me sad. :( Cooking for my family helps me relax and makes me very happy!


NOVEMBER

8th-
chicken salad on multi grain pita and roasted cauliflower
9th- Escarole and bean soup
10th-
sausage and peppers and pasta salad
11th-
chicken cacciatore
15th-
sausage and corn chowder
16th-
grilled sausage and spaghetti squash
18th-
Thai chicken soup
19th-
chili
20th-
homemade pizza
21st-
fried porkchops, rice and gravy, organic frozen corn
23rd-
smoky pork calzones
24th-
ribeye steaks, baked potatoes and salad
25th- THANKSGIVING
26th-
leftovers
27th-
teriyaki
chicken and stir fry veggies
29th-
meatball subs and fries
30th-
Farmer's pork chops

Get to know my family!

I'm Aimee, but around my house I'm better known as "Mommy"! The ones who call me that are known as my "Fantastic Four." The four includes my oldest daughter, Boo, who came into my life on December 15, 2001. My only boy is Bubba. He graced my life on November 29, 2003, 23 months, 2 weeks, and 4 minutes after his older sister. The "little girls" are my daughters, Princess Pea, and Ladybug. Princess made her way into the world just 8 months after my husband and I were married, October 12, 2005. Ladybug greeted us 3 years and 5 months later on March 21, 2003.
My husband and I have been together for 7 years come January 29th and married for 6 of those 7 years on February 12th. That man in my best friend, my biggest fan and my best critic.
Our family also includes 2 dogs- a 4 year old lab named Titus and a 6 month old chihuahua named Hurley, 5 sugar gliders- Samson, Deliah, Niobi, Ruth and Amos, and 5 cats- 4 year old, Alice, 1 year old, Rosalie, 1 year old, Bella and a litter of 5 week old kittens- Gaia, Octavian, Brutus, Verenus, and Fiona.
I started cooking for my 5 younger sibs when I was in my early teens. I never really fixed anything too big or over the top, usually just the "normal" things like spaghetti, chicken and dumplings- the easy stuff. ;D Once my husband and I were married I began to cook all the time. With each passing month the dinners that I fixed got a little more "dramatic" and now I'm fixing the fancier stuff, like chicken cacciaotore. That one has become a family favorite! :) Once I stopped working in 2007, I decided that a menu was in order to help keep me sane and to keep the "What's for dinner?" question at bay. Now once a month my husband and I sit down, write out a menu and gather up recipes for the month ahead. In October of 2010 my husband got the bright idea that I should add a blog into my already crazy schedule. I couldn't resist! So here I am! I'm here to share recipes and our menu each month to all of you, in hopes that I can help a busy mom, much like myself!
This blog will include our month menus and tips to help you create one at home. There will also be "recipes" for some (maybe all of our dinners). I'm really excited and am hoping you are too! :D