Pineapple-Glazed Chicken w/ Jalapeño Salsa

This was SO good! The salsa alone was delicious, and pretty. I plan to do this (the salsa) again next time we have halibut. I found this recipe on epicurious. I applied some people's suggestions to my own dinner: I doubled the glaze and tripled the salsa. Also, marinated my chicken in 1 cup OJ concentrate, 1 cup soy sauce, and a few cloves of sliced garlic for about an hour.
*see nutritional facts at the bottom*

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 2 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 3/4 cup 1/4-inch cubes fresh pineapple (I used canned. You need the juice anyway! And saves from cutting.)
• 3 tablespoons finely diced red bell pepper
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 1 1/2 tablespoons canned sliced jalapeño chiles, drained, coarsely chopped (I prefer fresh. Cheaper too)
• 4 boneless chicken breast halves with skin (1 3/4 pounds total)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. 
• Bring pineapple juice, brown sugar, and mustard to boil in small saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil until glaze has thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. 
• Line baking sheet with foil. Place chicken on sheet and brush with glaze. Bake 15 minutes. Brush again with glaze, then broil until cooked through and golden, watching closely to avoid burning, about 5 minutes longer. Let rest 5 minutes. 
• While chicken is cooking, mix pineapple, red pepper, cilantro, onion, and chiles in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
• Spoon salsa over chicken and serve.

(this is pre-cooked)

 

Nutritional facts:
Per serving: 344.1 kcal calories, 31.1 % calories from fat, 11.9 g fat, 3.2 g saturated fat, 120.0 mg cholesterol, 14.0 g carbohydrates, 1.0 g dietary fiber, 11.7 g total sugars, 13.0 g net carbohydrates, 43.7 g protein

(Not Fried) Fried Ice Cream

To my dear friend Kellee... Your are awesome! Thank you for introducing me to this dessert. I've made it the past two weekends, and everyone that tried it LOVED it. Definitely a keeper.

The only difference I made, was the almonds. I used sliced, because it was what I had in my cupboard. And 8 ounces seemed like A LOT. (especially cuz I don't really like nuts in my food). So of my 4.5 oz pouch, I only put about half, and it was still tasty. Just throwing that out there.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c butter
• 1 1/2 c brown sugar
  
•  1 c sweetened coconut
• 8 oz slivered almonds
• 3 1/2 c crushed rice chex
• 1/2 gal vanilla ice cream (keep in mind, you need 2 qts to = 1/2 gallon. The boxes of ice cream aren't quite that. At least, I never found one)

Directions:

• Melt butter. Add brown sugar and bring to boil for 1 minute. Add coconut, almonds, and rice chex.
• Press half of the mix in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
• Cut ice cream and fill pan. (I thought boxed ice cream made this easy because they would lay flat)
• Place rest of the mix on top.
• Cover with foil and freeze.

YUM!!!

 I had to take a pic of the coconut.

It just looked too pretty in that blue cup.

The Mix.

Zucchini Bread

I have tried a lot of new  zucchini bread recipes!  This is one of my favorites!!  It has a lot of shredded Zucchini - which is great!  I got this off of Lovin' From the Oven

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups grated zucchini (peeled or not. Doesn't make much difference.)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Butter two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Mix together the eggs, oil, apple sauce, vanilla, and both sugars in a large bowl.
3. Add flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon into the mixture.
4. Gently stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
5. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

I still have so much zucchini.  I am going to start posting all the things I have been making with it.  When I searched for zucchini recipes there are actually a lot!!  This one everybody loved!!

Zucchini Pizza Casserole
source: Taste of Home
Yield: 6-8 servings.
4 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 ounces) Italian tomato sauce
1 medium green pepper, chopped

1. Place zucchini in strainer; sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 10 minutes. Squeeze out moisture.

2. Combine zucchini with the eggs, Parmesan and half of the mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Press into greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.

3. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add tomato sauce; spoon over zucchini mixture.

4. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; add green pepper. Bake 20 minutes longer or until heated through.

Liberty Square Cookies

These are another batch of cookies I made for our vacation!!  They are super yummy!  If you aren't a butterscotch lover half that and put more semi sweet!!

Liberty Square Cookies

by Stephanie Jensen

• 1 lb unsalted butter (4 sticks ), softened
• 2 C. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 C. sugar
• 2 T vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 6 C. flour
• 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips ( or you can do both bags chocolate chip and don't add the butterscotch chips)
• 12 oz. butterscotch chips

Cream butter, brown sugar, sugar, vanilla, and eggs until creamy. Next add in salt, baking soda, and flour mixture. Fold in the chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Do not overcook.

Sometimes I use parchment paper to make sure they don't stick. This recipe is very touchy. Follow it exactly or it won't turn out. This is hard work for your mixer. I switched and used my dough beater at the end, made it a lot easier to mix. Probably would stick with a huge bowl and hand mixer. Makes 6 dozen.