Chicken & Avocado with Sweet Pepper Sauce

So today was "Chicken and Avocado with Sweet Pepper Sauce" day. This is one of the recipes I picked, however it was geared more towards my husbands taste than mine. I like this recipe, but I wouldn't put it in my top ten, or "Recipes to commit to memory" category, however, my husband on the other hand, could not stop talking about it! We had mashed potatoes with this and he not only had seconds, but tried to scrape up every last bit with the mash potatoes.

Ingredients

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts

1/3 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 bell pepper (any color), cut into 1-inch pieces

1/4 apricot spreadable fruit, melted

1/4 ripe avocado, sliced

 

Directions

1. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat chicken breasts, broth, garlic powder, pepper and bell pepper over medium-high heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut. Remove chicken; keep warm.
2. Pour broth mixture into blender; add spreadable fruit. Cover and blend until bell pepper pieces are pureed. Slice chicken breasts crosswise. Arrange chicken and avocado slices on plates; top with sweet pepper sauce.

Now for those of you who know me, I'm no Julia Child and I seem to have a reading level of maybe 2nd grade, when it comes to cook books (I'm working on that). I forgot to melt the apricot spreadable fruit, and I accidentally bought thinly sliced chicken breasts at our grocery store and had to use 4 instead of 2 regular chicken breasts. Regardless of my mistakes, it came out rather well with the only real issue being the chicken breasts were a little dryer than I'd hoped. As I said previously my husband absolutely loved this and finished the meal with "I demand this meal to be on repeat".

Next time I think I will make sure to get full chicken breasts instead to help with the dryness and distribution of the spices.

*Disclaimer: I forgot to take a photo before my husband got to it and...I'm better known for taste than presentation! The picture below is my husband's seconds. I hadn't planned for seconds so he just took one of the thin fillets put a chunk of avocado on it and poured the sauce on top!

Turning Over A New Leaf

At dinner tonight my husband asked, "Whatever happened to that blog you were writing?" and I thought about it for a minute and realized I'd stopped posting because, well, I stopped cooking anything interesting. I didn't cook anything worth mentioning very often and when I did I didn't remember to post.

Yesterday I decided to turn over a new leaf. We are going on a money and food diet so I decided to try and go the next month (or until our anniversary trip) without eating out... breakfast, lunch or dinner. I know that may not sound hard, but for us, unfortunately, it is. I try to cook more often than not, but at least twice a week laziness gets the better of us and we go out to eat.

This past weekend, however, I spent a better part of my days going through nearly every cook book I have finding recipes. I have one for almost every day for the next two weeks, starting this past Saturday. I have cooked every meal since Saturday's lunch and I have a bunch more planed and I am pretty stoked!

I plan to update my blog with all of this recipes, new, or old, just in case anyone was in a rut like I was!

Fudge Cookies

If I do say so myself, these cookies are divine! I first made them with a family friend I uses to babysit. He and his sister love to cook and when he came over to help me pack I let him pick out a recipe. I am so glad he picked this one!!

Ingredients
2 packages (12 ounces each) semisweet chocolate chips divided
1/2 cup (1 stick ) butter, cut into chunks
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 325*F

2. Combine 1 package chocolate chips and butter in large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 30 seconds: stir. Repeat as necessary until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Let cool slightly.

3. Beat eggs and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until blended and frothy. Add sugar; beat until thick. Add chocolate mixture; beat until well blended. Add flour blend, cocoa, baking powder, xantham gum and salt( beat until combined. Stir in remaining chocolate chips.

4. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 325*F. Bake 16 to 20 minutes or until cookies are firm. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets. Remove to wore tacks; cool completely.

* makes approximately 2 dozen cookies

Blog Neglection

O my! I feel like a bad parent who should be turned in to social services. Earlier this summer I fell behind on my blog and I kept thinking, well, I'm so far behind it will take a while to catch up so i'll do it this weekend, then it was the next weekend and, well, now it's November.

From here on out this will be a new blog, daily recipes from my family and I!

I will apologize in advance because there will be a short interlude sometime between December 26 and January 2. My husban (yes husband!!) and I will be driving from my parents house in Sparks, NV, to his parents house in Rosenberg, TX and then heading up to our new home (where we will finally live together after 5 years!!!!) in Fayetteville, NC.

First recipe will come this evening... I'm thinking dessert!

Glazed Slamon

Last night we had the most amazing glazed salmon with green beans and wedge salad with blue cheese dressing. It is so simple too!

Purchase an amount of salmon fit for you family, slice lemons lay them on foil and lay the salmon on top. Place on grill for 5-6. Brush the glaze on and cook another 2-3 minutes.

Cut up a head of lettuce into wedges and lightly pour blue cheese dressing on top. We also like to slice up tomatoes and onions and throw those on top.

Pick your favorite vegetable and done!

New Project- Banana Smores

Banana Smores

This recipe calls for cinnamon toast crunch however, I think I will either use cinnamon chex mix or i might just use the banana, chocolate, chips and marshmallows and call it good. This sounds amazing!

I will let you all know how it goes!

Gluten Free - Corn Free Camping

When people thinking about camping things that often come to mind food wise are hamburgers, hot dogs, smores, chips, etc.

There are two ways to do this.

1. With a BBQ. You can eat the same things as everyone else just make sure if they toast their bread they keep it on the other side of the grill and if you are corn free only eat the burger and bring your own chips.