Jalapeño Chicken Burgers!

Sometimes great ideas just come to me (not that this was hard or anything, it's actually quite simple. But the taste was amazing!). I had chicken in the fridge that needed to be cooked so came up with the idea of jalapeño honey glazed chicken sandwiches!

2 chicken breasts and 3 Jalapeños = lunch for 2

 

 I used 2 table spoons of apple cider vinegar and mixed it with the remaining honey

 and squirt it all over this. I also sprinkled a little crushed red pepper on top then baked it for 45 minutes in the oven. After it cooled, I put it in a Tupperware container for lunch the next day.

(Don't forget to oil the pan!!!!) 

 I packed cheese, onion buns, tomatoes, lettuce, mayo, and ranch..... 

And this is what we had for lunch! 

So glad that turned out after the clam disaster dinner the night before. 

We went clamming so now we have to eat them

For mothers day that just so happened to be on my brothers birthday this year, we went to the beach and hunted Razor Clams. Yuck! But also very fun! Here in Oregon the clams are sparse compared to say... Washington, I believe this is because Oregon does not regulate when you are allowed to dig and Washington does.... But we spent hours stomping around looking for small holes in the sand. Now I say Yuck because those things are disgusting.... First off they don't have any eyes, mouths, teeth, arms, legs, scales, etc. But they can dig in the sand? Yea, yea, yea I get it like the slug they have a "foot" but they don't actually possess a FOOT. Second they're just slimy gross things and I hate when they reach out of their shell. For this reason I can't hold my own net. 

Here's a picture of my fiancé catching a clam. Look at that beautiful Pacific Coast weather! We lucked out!

Anyway back to last nights dinner! Because we collected all these clams I had no choice but to cook them. I'm a firm believer in you kill it you eat it! So last night was my first clam cooking experience. 

This here is Baby Bok Choy. I picked some up at the Astoria Farmers Market while we were at the coast. I'm obsessed with it right now, that and it came with this little bag of magic seasoning made of sesame seeds, garlic, ginger, onion and what ever else those cute little Asian farmers mixed up in that delicious bag. It was genius!   

 

I cut it all up added some onions, mushrooms, and fried it up in my wok with a teaspoon of oil. 

  I also had these in the fridge that were going to go bad 

If I didn't boil them soon

 Then the gross part. Cleaning out the clams

 Luckily I didn't have to do this and my brave manly fiancé and brother came to the rescue 

 But I did try to make a cracker coat for them. Unfortunately I didn't have saltine crackers so I tried using Chicken & Biscuit crackers (How those got in my cupboard I have no idea because I hate them). I whisked 2 eggs in a bowl, added 1/4 cup of milk, and a spoon full of tabasco (I thought this was a great way to disguise the clams flavor) and in a seperate bowl I mashed the crackers. Dipped the clam in the egg, rolled it around in the crackers, and walllla! I had a disaster! That didn't turn out as planned at all! So instead I fried a few with the crappy cracker coats and fried the rest naked in butter and garlic. They cook fast about a minute on each side. 

The naked ones were pretty good, it really surprised me that I actually liked them... 

 All together our dinner table looked like this last night

I HEART FOOD ON A STICK!

Therefore I want this book!

Full of this stuff!

Breakfast for the girl on the go!

I'm terrible at remembering to eat breakfast, this means I eat an early lunch around 10:30-11am. Well I met with a trainer yesterday and got an earful about my bad eating timing! So now I guess I'm going to have to try my best to remember to eat something early, that's healthy, so I get better results during my workouts!

Here I have Light Raspberry Yogurt and apple wedges (Fuji of course) sprinkled with some cinnamon. 

YUM!

Spicy Garlic Honey Shrimp over Linguini

Last night I made Spicy Garlic Honey Shrimp over Linguini and it was the bomb.com! I've made Balsamic Onion Linguini and a Mushroom Linguini before so I took what I knew and I came up with this delicious dinner!

First I had to peel all these shrimp. Gross!

Then I started boiling the water for the noodles.

I cut up 2 onions and a few good sized garlic cloves. We like garlic so I usually use a lot.

I browned the onions in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil, and 2 tablespoons of butter.

Once they got nice and brown I added the garlic to give it time to mollow.

Don't forget to add the noodles!

 Once the onions caramelized and the garlic was brown I added the shrimp.

I mixed in paprika and black pepper as I saw desired. We like spicy so I use a little more than the norm.

Once the shrimp were pink I glazed them with about 2 tablespoons of honey and cooked it a minute longer.

Then I added one cup of white wine, brought to a boil, turned it down and let it on simmer until the wine reduced.

At this time I drained my linguini and kept some of the cooking water in case I needed to add it to the sauce.

  

Toss the shrimp sauce with the noodles, grade some mizithra cheese over the pasta, add a salad,

and enjoy!

(Yes I use my happy birthday wine glass year round!)

After dinner we took our dog for a 9pm walk in the misty Portland rain and shared another glass of wine in a to-go cup.
We're so romantic!

Marionberry Cobbler

Marionberry ANYTHING is my favorite! We stayed at a cabin in the woods up on the mountain over the weekend with some friends and I couldn't think of a more cozy dessert to enjoy while sitting by the fire and catching up with friends so I attempted my first Marionberry Cobbler.  I thought it was alright.... Everyone else said they loved it. But I've had a lot of Marionberry Cobbler and pie in my days so I'm pretty picky about it.... 

This one was pretty simple, 6 cups of berries, 1 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 cup flower, and I put a teaspoon of vanilla  instead of lemon extract. Only because I didn't have lemon....  and bake on 350 for 20 minutes. 

While it's baking make your crust: Mix together 1 cup butter, 1 cup of flower, 1 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk in 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 cup dry oatmeal. 

Pull the berries out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Then put your dough on top but don't spread it to much you don't want to move your berries around.

Bake for another 20 minutes, serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

A perfect winter dessert!

They even used what was left to spread on their cinnamon rolls the next morning. 

Mushroom Linguine and Almond Crusted Mahi-Mahi

Levi's mom got me a cookbook (Kitchen Express, listed under cookbooks I love) for Christmas, one for me, one for her, and one for her daughter. While we were visiting his parents in Montana I made them dinner one night with a recipe from the book, Almond Crusted Mahi-Mahi. 

The recipe called for pecans and halibut, but I like almonds and Mahi-Mahi was on sale and in my opinion much better for this recipe 

(I made it with Halibut later) 

Crush your almonds in a blender, mix in spices of your choice. I chose lemon pepper and some of Levi's dads homemade organic creole rub. 

Spread extra virgin olive oil all over your fish and rub with your almond mix. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes on 400 

Boil your noodles once they're done save a little water, put it in a pan, mix in a cup of white wine, chopped garlic, mushrooms, and parsley. Add water as you see fit.

We added a carrot and apple salad with balsamic dressing. Perfect size meal you can feel good about eating! 

Then we walked to the movies in 4 degree weather.... I LOVE MONTANA!