Leftovers anyone?

So, I made egg rolls the other day and had a little of the mixture left over but not enough egg roll wraps. So, my hubby decided to make some fried rice with it. Needless to say, it turned out pretty good. Just cook some white rice or brown rice if you prefer, sesame seed oil, and soy sauce. You can add an egg or two if you would like. What a great way to use leftovers. How do you use your leftovers?

Sandwiches

Did I ever mention how much I love sandwiches?! This is my go to lunch mostly all the time. I just love sandwiches, what can I say. So many variations and my hubby loves them for lunch as well. Pesto is a great add on to sandwiches, especially flat breads or wraps instead of mayo and mustard. Adding oregano or Italian seasoning is a plus. Also, sub spinach for lettuce. Fresh baked breads from the bakery and focaccia bread always makes a great sandwich! Happy sandwich making :-)

Chicken, broccoli and mushroom stir fry

Chicken, broccoli and mushroom stir fry, courtesy of Natasha's Kitchen a dish from a Pinterest post that I found and had to try it. http://natashaskitchen.com/2014/10/21/chicken-broccoli-and-mushroom-stir-fry/
It was very tasty! The grocery store was out of fresh mushrooms, can you believe that?  Well, here it is not hard to believe as they run out of items on a regular basis and I just used can mushrooms, which were not as bad as I thought they would be. I love trying new dishes and also coming up with my own recipes as well. Always fun to experiment and try new things with food. I actually forgot to take a pic of the finished dish....

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Quick, Easy & Delish

My family loves chinese food, well any food. I decided to make sweet and sour chicken. I actually cheat a little and use the La Choy sweet and sour sauce that you can buy at your local grocery store. Very quick and easy to make. This is a great meal to make during the week.

Here is what you need:

Onion & Bell pepper. Cook until tender

1 - 10oz bottle of La Choy sweet and sour sauce
1-2tbsp soy sauce (per your taste)
1 can pineapple tidbits (drained, reserve the pineapple juice)
1 bell pepper
1 small-medium size onion diced
3 chicken breats (cut in cubes)
1/4tsp salt
1/4tsp pepper
1 cup flour
2tbsp canola oil
2tbsp coconut oil (if you do not have coconut oil, you can just 4tbsp of canola oil
1tbsp cornstarch
1tbsp water

Optional: Broccoli (use the stem fresh) or water chestnuts (drained). You can add either or both of these ingredients to your dish. Add these ingredients after you have cooked the onions and bell peppers. Make sure to drain the water chestnuts and the broccoli after you have cooked or steamed it.

Now time to prepare:

All ingredients in pan

Cut the chicken breast into cubes and season with salt and pepper. Coat chicken cubes with flour and set aside. Drain pineapple (remember to reserve the liquid). Dice onion and bell pepper and set aside. Heat oil in pan, once heated add chicken and brown. Remove and let drain. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes until tender, add pineapple and cook for another minute.

Add chicken back to pan. Add the La Choy sweet and sour sauce and the soy sauce to pan and mix all ingredients well, until everything is coated. Mix the cornstarch and water together and add to pan. This will help thicken the sauce. Cook for another minute, continue to stir. If sauce is too thick, add some of the pineapple juice that you reserved, only a tablespoon at a time. If sauce is too thin, mix more cornstarch and water together and add only a tablespoon at time until the right consistency has been reached.

Finished dish

Serve over white rice and broccoli on the side or mix the broccoli into the pan. Either way, it's delicious. You can also add water chestnuts to this dish as well.

Enjoy!

Turkey wrap w/ Pesto

So Simple and Bursting with Flavor

Delish pesto (found at the grocery store)

Today I decided to have somewhat of a healthy lunch, since I am trying to eat better and exercise. So, I thought that a turkey wrap with pesto would be delish. I found some great pesto in the store (as I did not make my own, still waiting on my household goods to be delivered).

Turkey wrap, pesto, asiago cheese, spinach and tomatoes and toasted on the panini grill. Quit tasty and I plan on trying a variety of wraps. My next one will be a veggie wrap....stay tuned and I will let you know how that turns out for me :-)

Before going on the panini grill

Finished product :-)

Christmas Eats

Christmas is a time for sharing and eating!

Well, let's see. I cooked dinner and just spent a quiet day at home with the hubby and two kids. I did not take photos of any of the dishes that I prepared but I can tell you what I cooked. Here goes.

Ham w/ an amazing sauce

Spinach Gratin

Mac & Cheese

Green bean casserole

Yams

Mash Potatoes & Gravy

Rolls

I also baked a few things to share with a couple of people. So I fixed, Lemon pound cake, orange spice cake and gingerbread with cream cheese icing. I did however take photos of that :-)

Overall, we had an incredible Christmas, very relaxed and laid back. Hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas as well. Hope that you all were able to enjoy it with some great food, family & friends!

Pizza Love

Pizza in Italy

Veggie Pizza

Today, we tried a different pizza spot and I must say that I truly enjoyed this pizza spot. I believe this is the fourth place that we have tried since we have been here and probably the best I have had so far.

The veggie pizza is by far the best pizza I have had. I know the veggie back in the states is decent, but this just puts veggie pizza in a whole other category. It was delish!

With bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, eggplant and cheese, my taste buds were singing!