Monday, April 25, 2011

Lighter Sesame Chicken


This recipe is from the Martha Stewart website. Here is the link.


Ingredients

3/4 cup brown rice- *I didn't cook it with rice.

  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped or crushed with a garlic press
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 2-inch chunks-* I used 1 chicken breast for the 2 of us.
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 1 1/2 pounds broccoli, cut into large florets, stems peeled and thinly sliced
  • *I also added edamame. We get small bags of edamame that you steam in the microwave. It is a great snack as well as delicious in recipes.

Directions

  1. Place a steamer basket in a large saucepan, and fill with 1 inch water; set aside for broccoli. Cook rice according to package instructions.

  2. Meanwhile, make sauce: In a small bowl, combine honey, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and garlic; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together egg whites and cornstarch. Add chicken; season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat.

  3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add half the chicken; cook, turning occasionally, until golden and opaque throughout, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and chicken. Return all the chicken to skillet; add reserved sauce and scallions, and toss to coat.

  4. Meanwhile, place saucepan with steamer basket over high heat; bring water to a boil. Add broccoli, and cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Serve sesame chicken with broccoli and rice.


Salmon With Cucumber and Dill Sauce


We have been trying to eat healthy lately so that means no Pioneer Woman cooking for me :(!!
But, I have found some good recipes that are not full of cream and butter!

This recipe is from www.tastykitchen.com

Brett said it may be his new favorite way to cook Salmon.

Ingredients
¾ pounds Salmon Filet
  • 1 Tablespoon Honey
  • 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
  • 6 ounces, weight Plain Fat Free Yogurt
  • ¼ cups Diced Cucumber
  • ¼ teaspoons Dried Dill Weed
  • 2 pinches Salt And Pepper
  • Preparation

    For the Salmon:

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. I usually cover a medium sized cookie sheet with foil if it is not non-stick. You can really just judge the size of the pan based on the size of your salmon filet.

    Use a fork to pierce holes in salmon. Drizzle salmon with a thin layer of honey and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook salmon for roughly 20 minutes or until it flakes with a fork.

    For the Cucumber and Dill Sauce:

    Empty yogurt into small bowl. Finely chop 1/4 cup of cucumber and add it to the bowl . Add 1/4 teaspoon of dill weed to bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir all ingredients together and chill while fish is cooking. Then drizzle over your salmon and eat!


    We have also discovered fresh berries are great with a little Splenda and balsamic vinegar.


Monday, April 18, 2011

Road Trip

On Brett's second week of spring break we took a road trip.
We left Dallas and headed East. My parents met us and brought us the dogs and we switched cars. They let us take their new Denali Suburban which was so nice.

Our first stop was Memphis, TN for lunch. We had a grilled bologna sandwich....and it was good!

Then we headed up to Louisville, KY to spend the weekend with our friends, Ryan and Randi. We went to dental school with Ryan and he is in an oral surgery residency in Louisville.

We took our wedding cake topper to eat for our anniversary. Ryan and Randi were not able to make it to our wedding so it was fun to share that with them!

The cake was actually just as delicious as last year!
We went on part of the Bourbon tour one day.

Their 3 dogs were so nice to welcome Sassy and Dot into their home. Of course Sassy and Dot were their usual bratty selves and refused to play!
Like always we ate yummy food, drank wine, laughed a ton and were sad to leave our friends. :(

From there we headed South again.
We stopped in Nashville to walk around the famous downtown strip and then had White Castle for lunch.
We felt funny ordering so many burgers even though they are tiny!

It was early in the day so we decided to go a little further.
on the road again....

We drove on to Birmingham and spent the night there. Very pretty city.
We found La Quinta Inn there and they are the best! Free pets, free Wifi and free breakfast!

Next stop: Destin, FL.

We did nothing to but relax on the beach and read books in Destin. It was the best!
This is what Dot did all day while we were on the beach!
The dogs went crazy in the sand. They loved it!


Our last stop was LA to visit Brett's aunt for the night and eat some DELICIOUS crawfish!
We reset everything on the car before we left. We were in the car for 24 hours, used 70 gallons of gas and traveled about 2400 miles! Our first road trip was a success!
The End!
Now...it's back to reality :)

Whistler


We went to Whistler, Canada on our honeymoon and loved it. We knew we wanted to go back, but didn't think we would be able to return so soon!
Brett had his last Spring Break this year so we took advantage of it.
We went skiing in Whistler with our friends Nic and Licci. Nic is one year ahead of Brett in his residency.

We spent our first night in Vancouver and got to do a little exploring and see a beautiful sunset.

The guys had fun creating concoctions with the hotel bartender in Vancouver.

He lived in Whistler during the olympics. He made us a treasure hunt to go check out his favorite places while we were there. We had one to open each day!

The drive from Vancouver to Whistler is about an hour. It is called Sea to Sky Highway and it is gorgeous the entire trip.

We took advantage of complimentary wine and cheese tasting at our hotel each evening then hit the hot tub after that!

We got fresh snow every night. This pic is of Nic and Brett on the glacier. We didn't do this last year because you have to take your skis off and hike up a steep incline for about 70 yards. The boys talked me into doing it this year and it was totally worth it. We had the mountain to ourselves and the views were incredible. We ended up doing it every day we skied.
Dinner on my birthday!
Nic and Licci sent us this treat on our anniversary!
Another awesome vacation with some great friends!

California Trip


In the past month we have been all over the place!! Coast to coast, mountains, oceans, cars and planes! Somehow our schedules worked out and we were able to take a family vacation! My parents took us on a trip to California for the week.

We started in San Francisco and had some great seafood at The Fisherman's Wharf and saw the Golden Gate Bridge.

Then we hopped on Highway 1 and headed up the coast. We spent the night in Mendocino, a small coast town.

Dad had to play his guitar at every landmark! Golden Gate Bridge, on the coast, in front of the Redwoods, in a vineyard...!
We drove up Highway 1 to Avenue of the Giants to see all of the huge redwoods. The photos don't show how giant these things are!
Then we headed to Napa and Sonoma. We had some delicious food and some great wines! It is beautiful there.


We had such a great time! I would love to go back to California one day. There is so much to see and it is so pretty there!