Craving Something Exotic and Spicy....

These items from Trader Joe's became this.....

It was easy, affordable and made with organic chicken. 

• I seasoned a 1.23 lbs of chicken with salt and pepper. 
• Then placed the chicken in a pan with olive oil heated over medium heat. Cooked both sides until chicken was cooked through. 
• Removed the chicken when done and cut into bite size pieces.
• Added chicken back to the pan, then added the whole jar of peanut sauce.
• To the chicken and sauce I added about 1/2 a cup of half and half & 1/4 cup water to thin the sauce.
• I like my peanut sauce spicy so I added chile flakes
• I let it all simmer over low heat for 10 minutes to infuse the flavor with the chicken.
• When done I served it over rice and finished with chopped green onion and chopped peanuts.

Now what I do need to warn you about this dish is that the sauce is very heavy, so start with a small serving. Because it is heavy, you end up with a lot of leftovers for one or two people. So you may need to freeze leftovers, which is not a bad thing of course!

And not surpiring this was all from what I had in the freezer (chicken), fridge (onion & cream) & pantry (seasoning, nuts & rice).

There are so many variations you can do with this dish based on what you have and preferences:

• tofu or veggies instead of chicken
• add veggies to the dish
• cook the chicken as skewers for a "fancier" presentation if you have guests
• If spicy, add a dollop yogurt
• Thin the sauce even more with added water, cream, and/or milk.
• Add garlic
• Leftovers for lunch? When putting away, place a single serving of rice and chicken in a Tupperware container.

I am going to make sure I always have these ingredients on hand for an easy meal or appetizer.

Do you always have on hand for a quick and yummy meal?

Home late, so what's for dinner????

I got home at about 9 after a great work meeting and couldn't decide if I should be content with a glass of wine for dinner or actually make something.....

After sipping on my liquid appetizer (wine) I decided that I could have a yummy meal in 15 minutes with what I had in the house. I opened the fridge and this is what I saw:

Raviolis (packaged)
Half and Half (cant have my morning coffee with out it)
Green Onion
Bacon crumbles (extra from an app I made the other night)
Shredded asiago
Chopped garlic

So I started the half and half immediately, takes time to cook down. Then started the water for the pasta. In a separate pan I sauteed the garlic, chopped green onion and bacon in olive oil then added to the cream. After the cream cooked for about ten minutes I added the asiago to thicken and add that yummy cheese flavor. The pasta only took 3 minutes. Drained the pasta then added it to the sauce. Seasoned it with sea salt and pepper and voila!

It was so good. And now I'm beginning to realize that some of my best meals are the ones I pull out of the fringe and pantry.

I guess my point is you can have a great meal no matter how late you get home and what you have in the kitchen.

So challenge yourself to creating a great meal with what cha got and tell us about it!

What time is it???? Snack Time!

Truffle Popcorn...... bowl full of heaven...

So Im sitting here snacking on one of my fave snacks, carrots and blue cheese dip, and started thinking of my other favorites.

To name a few:

Carrots and dip: any dip- hummus, ranch, blue cheese, peanut butter, etc.
Nuts: any, except cashews... yuck. Pistachios are my favorite.
Pickles: I can eat a jar of pickles in two days. I wonder how many I can eat if I am ever pregnant....
Celery and peanut butter: I pretty much can eat peanut butter with anything, chocolate, bread, veggies.
Beef jerky: usually an afternoon work snack or road trip snack.
An occasional chip attack or cheese or tortilla chips and cheese dip, love it...

And my ultimate snack...... truffle popcorn. It is the best thing ever.

And simple:
One Bag of microwave popcorn- full butter of course
Truffle Oil

Simply cook the popcorn and then toss with whatever amount of truffle oil you want.

I hope to open a restaurant just so I can serve truffle popcorn.

And now I am going to make some.

What is your favorite snack? Or even your most unusual?