Pineapple Chicken!

The ongoing hunt for great recipes continues! Remember the criteria? Quick, healthy, and a relatively simple list of ingredients. Check, check and check! We found this recipe (and I honestly for the life of me cannot figure our where I got it! Believe, I've been looking....) for Pineapple Chicken and were able the make it with ingredients that we already had in the cupboard. No shopping required! It was like a little miracle.

Pineapple Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 4 oz each)
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 20-oz can of pineapple (sliced, chunks, whatever)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 c dijon or brown mustard
1/4 c honey
1 tsp minced garlic (the jar of this that I keep in the fridge is one of the best buys ever)
Hot cooked rice

1. Sprinkle chicken pieces with thyme, salt and pepper. In a large skillet, brown the chicken in the oil. Meanwhile, drain the pineapple, keeping the juice and setting aside.
2. Combine cornstarch with 2 Tbsp of juice and set aside. Combine mustard, honey and remaining pineapple juice. Add the mustard mixture to the pan with the chicken, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 - 20 mins.
3. Remove chicken, add cornstarch mixture to remaining starch in the pan, bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 mins or until thickened. Return chicken to the pan and add the pineapple, heat through, serve hot over rice.

YUMMY.

A European Breakfast

The way breakfast should be. Simple. Fresh. Yummy.

Southern Peach Cobbler

My mother-in-law has a peach tree which is apparently overflowing. Hence the large bag of peaches that she deposited with me on Friday night, hence my search for the best peach cobbler recipe on Saturday, hence my making of the best peach cobbler ever on Sunday. Delish.

Try it, you'll thank me.

Southern Peach Cobbler

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In a large bowl combine:

• 8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 1/4 brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cornstarch

Pour into a 8x8 baking dish (2 Qt), and bake for 10 mins.

3. Meanwhile, put some water on to boil and then in a large bowl, stir together:

• 1 c flour
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

4. With a pastry cutter, cut in 6 Tbs of butter, chilled and cut into smaller pieces.
5. When the mixture resembles coarse meal, pour in 1/4 c boiling water and stir until combined.
6. Drop spoonful over the peach mixture and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon (3 Tbs white sugar/1 tsp cinnamon) then return to the oven for 20-30 mins, until the top looks golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Try not to eat the whole pan by yourself in one sitting.

Mmmmm, Nutella....

French Toast Muffins

I've been iching for an excuse to try these muffins and this morning was it.

They turned out fabulous! Like, can't-stop-eating-them-and-our-whole-house-smells-like-syrup delicious. I doubled the recipe to be sure I had enough for my entire Toastmasters Club, and a double recipe made 2 dozen regular muffins and one dozen mini muffins.

You simply must try this recipe.

French Toast Muffins

French Toast Topping

- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 egg,slightly beaten
- 6 slices cinnamon bread, crusts trimmed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Muffins
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 375°F

2. Combine all French toast topping ingredients in medium bowl; set aside,.

3. Combine 1 cup milk, melted butter, 1 egg and maple flavoring in another medium bowl. Combine all remaining muffin ingredients in large bowl. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture just until mixed.

4. Spoon batter into greased 12-cup muffin pan. Spoon French toast topping evenly over batter; press down slightly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

5. Immediately brush muffins with maple-flavored syrup. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Sprinkle over glazed muffins. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Serve warm.

Chicken Marinara

Last night IKF and I made the easiest dinner ever, and I mean EVER. We had anticipated two guests for dinner at precisely 5 pm, which is exactly the time I normally leave the office, not the time that I am usually home from the office. So... if we do that math.. that's... negative 20 mins to get dinner ready. Thus, food had to be ready before I left for work. IKF would get home at 4:30 and have precisely 15 mins to spruce up the pre-prepared fare before going to pick up our dinner guests.

I always say that constraint breeds creativity and these constraints bred a super-tasty (and did I mention easy?) dinner.

Enter the Crock Pot! (Swiftly becoming my favorite invention in the world.)

Place as many boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot as you have people.

Dump a jar of marinara on top (We use Butonini Italian Sausage something or other, because it was in the cupboard already). Set to low, walk away for 8 hours.

**8 hours later**

Boil water, add pasta (we used farfalle and rotini, again, because that was what was in the cupboard).

Call your wife and have her pick up a bag of salad and a loaf of french bread from the grocery store across the street.

Throw the salad in a bowl, add your left over craisins and almond slivers from the cupboard with a dash of blue cheese dressing. Or fat free italian. If you're cool like that.

Pasta goes on plate, chicken goes on top. Voila! Dinner!

Tear of hunks of french bread and dip them in olive oil and balsamic vinegar as you enjoy your salad and chicken pasta.

Hmm. I really need to start taking pictures of the food that I post about. But, as mentioned before, this was all accomplished in a time warp, and flash photography was not allowed.

Black Forest Cherry Cake