Akbirdie’s Spicy Chicken Bites

Growing up my family was famous for their chicken wings.  They were spicy and sweet and delicious, and very messy.  I played around in the kitchen to figure out a way to make this treat boneless….and here are the delicious results!

Ingredients :

• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp white wine
• 1 tbsp Franks Red Hot Hot Sauce
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs- I like Italian Seasoning
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl mix the flour and bread crumbs together
2. chop up the chicken into cubes that are about 1″
3. mix chicken in flour mixture, make sure each piece gets a good coating
4. Heat oil in a large pan
5. Stir fry flour coated chicken- set aside
6. in a sauce pan melt butter
7. add white wine, Frank’s Red Hot and brown sugar, mix well
8. take chicken and add to hot sauce, mix thoroughly
9. Enjoy!  let cool before eating

 

Akbirdie’s Stroganoff- ground beef (or moose)

This is one of my husbands favorite meals.  It’s especially delicious on cold winter days.  The secret to this simple recipe is to make your own mushroom soup.  I’ve broken it down into to parts, starting with the soup.  Enjoy!

Ingredients :

• 1 tbsp butter
• half an onion, sliced and diced
• 5 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cube chicken bullion
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Saute onions and mushroom in butter
2. in a different pan bring water to boil, add chicken bullion
3. add chicken bullion to sauted mushrooms
4. Set aside

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground meet, beef or moose
• 1 tsp garlic powder (if you have fresh garlic mince it up and use that!)
• 1 tsp lemon pepper
• 1 tsp Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
• half an onion, minced
• 1 tbsp flour
• 5 mushrooms, ends cut off and cut into quarters
• 2 stalks chives, sliced
• 1 cup sour cream

Directions

1. In a large pan brown the meat with onions, garlic powder, lemon pepper, and seasoning salt.
2. Drain meat
3. Sprinkle flour on meat, mix in
4. Add mushroom soup mixture to pan, heat thoroughly, reduce heat
5. Mix in sour cream
6. Add mushrooms and chives
7. serve over egg noodles

Gingerbread Cookies

Nothing screams the holiday season like fresh baked cookies.  Every Christmas I try to get a healthy dose of gingerbread into my diet.  Imagine my delight when I cam across this recipe from gingerkitten D on RecipeZar!  I simply had to give it a try.

Ingredients :

• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves together
2. In a seperate, larger bowl, mix egg, butter (best at room temp) and brown sugar together.
3. Mix in molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest to brown sugar mixture
4. Slowly mix in dry ingredients
5. Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic.  Let dough sit at room temp from two to eight hours.  You don’t want the dough to be sticky when you go to work with it.
6. After dough has set out roll it into 1/4″ thick sheet.  Cut out your cookies
7. Bake at 375F for 7-10 mins.  The less time in the oven the softer the cookies
8. let cool and frost!

Frosting:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup water (added 1 tbsp at a time)
• food coloring
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl
2. add water 1 tbsp at a time, until you get the right spreading consistancy
3. Mix in vanilla
4. Divide frosting into smaller bowls, adding food coloring to each bowl, leave one white
5. Frost cookies!

To do the snowflakes I used a toothpick.  I dipped it in the frosting and let it drip onto the center of the round cookie.  Then I used the toothpick to draw the frosting from the center into the desired snowflake shape.  When I didn’t have enough frosting I simply dipped the toothpick back into the bowl and added more to the center of the cookie.

 

Enjoy!

 

Spontanious Twist on Stir Fry

Yesterday I decided to use left overs from our beef and broccoli to make stir fry.   Unfortunately I have no pictures of this recipe, but it was so good I HAD to document it!

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups left over white rice
• half an onion, sliced and diced
• 1 tbsp linseed oil
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 carrot, peeled and shaved
• 1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken- shredded
• 2 slices pineapple, cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 stalks chives, sliced

Directions:

1. In a large pan heat up oils, add onions and saute
2. Add rice, carrots, chicken, and any other veggies you like
3. in a small bowl mix sugar and soy sauce
4. add soy sauce mixture to rice, continue to saute
5. Add pineapples and chives
6. Serve warm with Baked Crab and Cream Cheese Rangoons

This will definitely be a regular in our house, quick, simple, and tasty!  Imagine the variations you can do to this, like corn or white water chestnuts in the mix.  I’m thinking some peppers would be delicious in there as well!

Crab and Cream Cheese Rangoons- Baked

Every Chinese meal needs its sides, and what better side than rangoons!  I make these everytime we have any asian inspired meal.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg room temp. cream cheese
• 1/2 cup crab or imitation crab, more or less depending on what you like
• 1ts worcestershire sauce, Lee and Perrins
• 1tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp lemon pepper
• 2 stalks chives, chopped
• 1 pkg wonton wrappers
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp oil
• 3 tbsp water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Mix oils together in a small bowl and set aside.  Put water in another bowl and set aside.
3. In another bowl mix cream cheese, worcestersire sauce, garlic, lemon pepper, crab, and chives.  Set aside
4. Lay out wontons on a flat surface.  Brush both sides of each wonton with  oil.
5. Take a tbsp of cream mixture and place in center of each wonton.
6. Brush a little bit of water on each corner of wontons
7. Bring each all corners together and press together, and down.
8. Place in a cupcake pan and bake in oven for 10 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and filling begins to bubble out of seems.
9. Let cool and serve with Sweet and Sour Sauce

Also, these freeze really well!

Chicken Pot Pie for a Fall Day

Today was a beautiful, cold fall day.  Willow and I took advantage of the sunny weather and went for a little walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our walk I decided to experiment in the kitchen.  Here is Akbirdie’s take on a classic, chicken pot pie.  I think I may still have some tweaking to do on this recipe, but over all it came out pretty good.

 

 

 

 

Crust:

• 1 stick of butter- chilled and cut into bits
• 1.5 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp parsley
• 2 tsp pepper
• 3 or 4 tbsp cold water

this part of the recipe came from http://www.squidoo.com/homemade-chicken-pot-pie

Filling:

• 3 peeled potatoes, peeled sliced and diced
• 3 carrots, peeled sliced and diced
• 2 stalks of celery chopped up
• 1 can of corn
• 3 cups precooked, shredded chicken
• 2 cubes chicken boullion, 2 cups water
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 stick butter
• seasonings to taste, ie poultry seasoning
• 3 tbsp flour

Directions:

1. Mix flour, parmesan cheese, parsley, and pepper in a large bowl
2. Add chunks of butter
3. Add water one tsp at a time until batter starts to form (you may need to use your hands)
4. Divide into two even sized balls, wrap and place in refrigerator for 30 mins.
5. After 30 mins remove from refrigerator, roll out dough and put in pie pan. Leave one ball of dough for the cover of pie.

Filling Directions:

1. Boil water with chicken boullion.
2. Add potatoes, carrots and celery.  Let simmer for 20 mins
3. Add shredded chicken
4. In a large saucepan melt butter, slowly add milk and flour.  Stir until thick
5. Add milk and butter mixture to veggies
6. Add in any seasonings and corn, let sit on low heat for 5 mins.
7. Pour into crusted pie pan.  (I only used about half of my filling)
8. Roll out other ball of dough nice and flat, place on top of filling.  Crimp edges of pie and make slices in crust top to act as vents for heat and steam.
9. Cook in oven at 425F for 15 minutes
10. Reduce heat to 325F and cook for another 15 minutes
11. Remove from oven, let cool and serve warm
12. Enjoy!  I enjoyed mine with a tall glass of milk

This is a good starter recipe, however it didn’t come out as creamy as I would’ve liked.  I also wanted to add half a cup of cheese to the filling and forgot.  Over all this was a good recipe, and one i will play with again very soon.  Perfect for a cold fall day!

Easy Peazy Appetizer- Pigs N a Blanket

Well no one is a bigger fan of easy peazy appetizers than myself!  Delicous tasting, easy to assemble and quick to make, these Pigs N a Blanket are perfect for that last minute party.

Pigs N a Blanket

All you need is lil smokie’s sausages and crescent rolls (you can find these in the refridgeration section of the store next to the biscuits and butter)

Now….are you ready for this complicated recipe?

1. Roll out the crescent dough.  Cut each triangle into thirds.
2. Take each  lil smokie sausage and roll it up in crescent roll
3. Bake in oven at 375F for 12-15mins

ENJOY!

If you have a bit more time, get creative!  Add cheese, or spices or bacon to it!

This recipe can also be found here : http://www.pillsbury.com/Recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=13948

Gourmet Pizza Akbirdie Style

Pizza is a classic, you just can’t go wrong.  Now how about spazzing up that normal pizza by making your own dough?  Enjoy this evenings lovely dinner!

This pizza was very simple to make.

Dough:

• 3 cups flour
• 1tbsp sugar
• 1tsp salt
• 1tbsp olive oil
• extra oil for brushing dough
• 1 cup warm water
• 1pkg active yeast

Toppings:

• pizza sauce- this is really to taste
• 3 cups of cheese, mozerella with alittle cheddar is the best.
• extra cheese for topping
• 1pkg canadian bacon pineapple
• 2 slices of pineapple
• 3 tbsp bbq sauce
• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 4 mushrooms, sliced

To make your dough:

1. Mix the yeast with the warm water and set aside.
2. In a large bowl mix the flour (sift it) sugar and salt.  If you want you can add seasoning to the dough at this stage, i added 1tsp garlic powder
3. Make an indention in the flour mixture and add the oil and yeast mixture.  Mix until dough starts to form, then knead for five to six minutes.
4. Place in bowl, lightly brush it with oil and cover, let sit at room temp for 1 hr.
5. After an hr you can begin cooking, for best results knead dough again and wait another hr.
6. Roll dough out into pizza shape, be sure to give yourself a nice rim for the crust.

Toppings

1. Make a nice thick layer on the bottom of your pizza crust with pizza sauce.
2. Add a thick layer of cheese
3. neatly assort meat over entire pizza
4. place mushrooms over half the pizza
5. cut pineapples into small chunks and place on other half of pizza
6. in a small bowl mix the shredded chicken with bbq sauce, then add chicken to pizza
7. Bake in the oven at 400F for 20 mins
8. After 20 mins add a thin layer of cheese to top of pizza, let cook until cheese is melted.
9. Let cool before slicing and serving- Enjoy!

Added BONUS!

If you should happen to have a bit of dough left over, but not quite enough to do anything with then try this simple desert.

1. Roll the dough out into 1/8″ thick and slice into strips about 3″ long.
2. Roll the strips in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon
3. Bake in oven at 400F for about 6 minutes
4. ENJOY!

Apple Cinnamon Tarts- oolalala

Aww these little beauties made a bad week turn into a good week.  Take a load off and try this simple recipe if your needing a sweet little escape.

This recipe came from http://www.pastrywiz.com/dailyrecipes/recipes/255.htm

apple cinnamon tarts

Ingredients:

Stuffed Mushrooms

This mouth watering stuffed mushroom recipe came from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mouth-watering-stuffed-mushrooms/Detail.aspx

Tonight I gave the recipe a whirl.  It was simple to make and enjoyable.

my completed stuffed mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 12 whole fresh mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 stalk of chives (green onion) cut to small pieces

Directions:

1. Gently clean each mushroom
2. Carefully remove each stem.  Chop them up and discard the hard bottom part of the stem.
3. Heat oil in pan
4. Fry chopped mushroom stem and minced garlic, I added chives here, let cool
5. Make sure cream cheese is soft, add garlic and mushroom stem when cooled down.  Mix well.
6. Add cheese and seasonings.  Mix well.
7. Carefully stuff each mushroom.  Toppings will be overflowing the mushroom cap.
8. Grease cookie sheet and preheat oven to 35oF
9. Rub softened butter on outside of mushroom caps to help keep their moisture while baking.
10. Bake for 20 mins. Serve warm!