Easy chicken dinner

It is one of those nights where I have tons to do, little time to cook and about to cave in and get take away.
My husband is an athlete, therefore nutrition is quite important for us and he loves his meat. I didn’t do the groceries shopping in a while and I was left with little in the fridge (all taken care of right now).
My mum use to throw pretty much everything she could find in a tin foil wrap and cook it. I decided to do same and as it turned out, this was pretty good!

BBQ Chicken in foil

- Baby potatoes (any potatoes will do, I only had few baby potatoes left)
- Onions
- Chicken breast
- BBQ sauce (I used honey garlic)
- Salt and pepper



Thinly slice the potatoes and onions. Slice the chicken breast on small strips. On a sheet of foil, layer the potatoes and the onions. Put the chicken on top and add BBQ sauce. Neatly fold the foil so that there is no opening. Cook in the oven (or BBQ) for about 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Just be careful when you open the foil as a lot of steam will get out.

I need ideas

It is my husband birthday this week and I want to wow him with some great food.

I know he loves steak, but I'd like to do something different.

He likes:
- meat
- spicy food
- Guinness beer
- no sesame seeds

I need ideas!!! Any help?

I heart soup

I love soup, I think it’s the perfect dinner when you are not too hungry but want something. Paired with crackers spread with a creamy garlic-y cheese and I am in heaven.

I call the following vegetable soup my left-over-disposer. Basically, I use all my leftover and turn them into a hearty soup. How do I manage to have enough variety to make a soup? Pretty simple; every night where we have some vegetable left over, I dice them and put them into a freezer bag and freeze it. I do the same with little piece of meat as my husband like to have some beef or chicken in his soup.

Once I have enough little freezer bags, I put some chicken stock to boil with a small can of diced tomatoes. I season well with oregano and Italian spices (but you can use any herbs you like). Once it boils, I add the vegetables (still frozen), the meat (Still frozen) and some pasta. Let everything simmer for 30 minutes and enjoy a bowl of hearty soup.

For people that like vegetables cream soup, just do same but do not add meat or pasta. Once everything has simmered for a while, put everything in the blender until pureed. Put back in the pot, add some cream and voila!

Asparagus salad with scallops and mango-chilli sauce

I am going away on business for the whole week next, so I won't be posting much. However, after I cooked my simple dinner tonight, I knew it was a winner and that I had to post it out here. It was fresh, healthy, simple and delicious!

Asparagus salad with scallops and mango-chilli sauce

Mango Dressing:

- 2 very ripe mangoes, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup Asian chilli sauce
- Salt and black pepper, to taste

For dressing, place mango, garlic, and vinegar in a blender. Puree. Add oil and chilli sauce and blend to mix. Season with salt and pepper. It would give you a lot of sauce. I am sure it would be good on grilled chicken or pretty much anything.

Asparagus

I quickly steamed them, and then grill them on the barbecue.

Scallops

I seared them, I had too small scallops to grill them and I felt like I wanted a little bit of that crusty butter taste on the edge.

How to:

Put the asparagus on the plate, cover with all the scallops you want and drizzle with the mango-chilli sauce.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Who does not like strawberry cupcakes? Last Sunday, after I got home from groceries shopping, I realized that I had yet again bought too much strawberries. What a better way to ensure no waste than make delicious cupcakes? Besides, those little piece of heaven made me the most popular girl around the office.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg
6 ounces All Natural Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt (or any other fruit flavor of yogurt)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced

Frosting:
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 fresh strawberries, about 2 Tbsp. mashed



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. With an electric hand mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg, the yogurt and vanilla, blending until smooth.

2. Measure the dry ingredients into the bowl and blend, then fold in the strawberries.

3. Divide the mixture equally between the 12 paper-lined cupcake cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Beat together butter, powdered sugar, and mashed strawberry in medium-size bowl until creamy and smooth. Chill frosting for 15 minutes or until thick. Frost cupcakes with a spatula. Keep cupcakes in the refrigerator loosely covered.

Asian Night: First Guest Blogger!

My friend Miss N came over yesterday for dinner. Long story short, I was to make salad roll + coconut shrimps. I know she loves Thai food so she was thrilled to join me. She accepted to be my guest blogger and do Pad Thai. We were in for a feast and tons of yummy food!

Salad rolls

- Rice paper
- Iceberg lettuce
- Crab meat (I am cheap, I used crab sticks)
- Shrimps
- Mint
- Rice vermicelli
- Sesame seeds

Dip the rice paper (1 at the time, they are going to stick together otherwise) in cold water for about 30 seconds. Shake off the excess water. Place a bit of lettuce in the center of the roll, top with a crab stick, add a handful of rice vermicelli (it all depend on the size you like your roll). Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Add 1 or 2 leaves of mint, and top with 3-4 shrimps. Wrap like a burrito. (There must be a trick as mine were not as tight as the one in the restaurant)



Crushed peanut and Lime vinaigrette

You cannot have salad roll without having a dip can you? Well, not in my house, these rolls are made for dipping!

- ½ cup fresh lime juice
- ¼ cup brown sugar (I used brown splenda and N didn’t even noticed)
- 2 ½ tablespoon of fish sauce (I didn’t have any, I used oyster sauce)
- 1 ½ olive oil (or sesame)
- 2 tablespoon of fresh mint (I kinda cheated and added ¼ cup)
- ¼ cup crushed peanuts
- 1 teaspoon of chillie
- Garnish with green onions

How to: Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. It can be done up to 3 days in advance. (Some people add cilantro; I do not like cilantro so I didn’t put any)



Coconut shrimps: I cheated, they’re store bought



Miss N Pad Thai

Miss N uses a box for the Pad Thai. The box only says to add meat and that’s it. Miss N completely overhaul the recipe and added mushroom, garlic, red and yellow pepper, mint and lime juice. It was great!!

Guinness Shepherd’s pie

Alright, I must give the credit to the Hungry Housewife. I saw the recipe and her website and since my husband LOVE Guinness, I had to try it.

Ingredients

- 1 ½ pound of ground beef (Can also use veal)
- 1 (1lbs) bag of frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
- 2 packets of dry brown gravy mix
- 1 medium onion
- Olive oil
- 2 bottles of Guinness beer
- 2 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 2 cup of sharp cheddar cheese
- 3 pounds of baking potatoes
- ¼- ½ cup milk
- 1 stick of butter
- Salt and pepper

How to?

1. Turn on the oven at 375.
2. Boil the potatoes in salted water. Use the milk and butter to do mashed potatoes. (don’t forget the salt and pepper. I also added garlic salt
3. Cook and drain the ground beef. Place the ground beef in a skillet and add 1 bottle of the Guinness. Cook until the beer has almost cooked out.
4. Add tomato paste to the meat
5. In a medium saucepan, prepare the brown gravy according to the package directions, however, use beer for half the liquid called for (1 cup of water, 1 cup beer). Pour gravy into the meat mixture. Cook together until you get nice thick gravy.
6. In a medium skillet, with olive oil, sauté the onions until soft. Add the thawed vegetables and cook until warm throughout.
7. In a baking dish, add meat as a bottom layer, then add the vegetables, then the mashed potatoes and top with the shredded cheddar cheese.
8. Cook at 375 for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly!
It is delicious, even for those that aren’t fans of Guinness beer.