Yogurt and Berries with Chocolate Granola

One of my all time favorite lite breakfast meals, or snacks would be a bowl of vanilla yogurt with strawberries and blueberries.  This is so yummy and when you are trying to just make healthier choices, you can feel good about this one.  The indulgent part of this for me is the chocolate granola.  The best place to find it is Central Market or Market Street.  Trader Joes probably has this as well, however - I haven't ever been to one.
I go and just stock up on it, when Im near one of those stores.

Enjoy!

Rice Bowls

Here is a quick recipe for those nights coming home from work and you need to get supper on the table fairly quick. Here's what you need:
1 Rotisserie Chicken shredded
Rice or Brown Rice
1 Avocado
1 Can of Black Beans - heated on the stove
On The Border Salsa

1st.  Prepare rice in a rice cooker with chicken broth and season with some garlic powder.
2nd. Shred your rotisserie chicken and place in a sauce pan on the stove with some cumin and a little chicken broth and garlic powder.  (if you have a Penzy's Spices and have access to it - also add some of their "Northwoods Fire" seasoning.)
Open the black beans and warm them on the stove.
Chop up Avocado.

The time that it takes your rice to cook, you can get everything else ready to assemble in about 20 minutes.  Layer in your bowl, Rice, Black Beans, Chicken, Avocado and then top with your favorite Salsa. 
This was super yummy and for me to eat Mexican without cheese was HUGE! I didn't even miss it!

The kids added chips and cheese to theirs, you can get so creative with this sort of thing, add your favorite veggies and toppings, mix it up however you like! 

Split Pea Soup

1 (1lb.) pkg. dried split peas
2 lbs. ham hocks
1 medium onion (chopped)
3 stalks celery (chopped)
1 clove garlic (minced)
1/8 teas. Pepper
Salt to taste ( I put 2 teas.)
Parsley sprigs

Combine all of your ingredients in a Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered, 1 hour or until peas are soft.  Remove ham hock. Put pea mixture through a food mill or sieve. (I ran mine in small batches through a food processor). Cook over low heat until thoroughly reheated. Add salt to taste and garnish with parsley sprigs if desired.

Chocolate Banana Cake with Mocha Buttercream

This is such an easy delicious recipe.  I am hooked on this!  Starting with a chocolate cake mix prepare as directed and add two very ripe bananas before mixing.  Bake as directed on the box. I like using a Bundt Cake pan.
For the Icing:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup real butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 single serving pkg instant coffee
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup strongly brewed coffee

Beat butter, cocoa, and vanilla then slowly add the powdered sugar and coffee alternately until all combined.
Allow cake to completely cool before icing.
This is even better the next day - warm it up in the microwave and have Cake for breakfast!  Delicious!

Cilantro Butter

1 Stick of Butter at room temperature.
1/4 Cup of finely chopped Cilantro
2 Tablespoons or so of Olive Oil

Blend all together and shape with saran wrap, back into a log form.  Refrigerate until ready to use.
Serve over Chilpotle Cilantro Lime Tri-Tip

Chipotle Cilantro Lime Tri-Tip

This is a recipe that has a funny story in our family.  While pregnant with our first son I had this for the first time.  My husband had taken me to The Cafe, in Ames Iowa for a date night.  It was absolutely to-die-for delicious.  Everything I ever ate there was delicious, but this was one of those meals that I craved but couldn't afford to have EVERY OTHER NIGHT!  Joshua was determined to figure out how to make this yummy steak for me and I must say, his version is every bit as good!

Whenever we most recently made this we used the marinade on Sirloin, but it is so much better on a Tri-Tip.

Here's what you need:
3 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
2 Tablespoons ground Chipotle Seasoning
1/2 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Lime Juice
1 Teaspoon Cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 - 1 Teaspoon of garlic minced
1 Bunch of finely chopped Cilantro

Marinate your steaks for at least 2 hours.
Grill to your preference. Serve with a pat of Cilantro Lime Butter on the top of each steak
Serve with some delicious Parmesan Mashed Potatoes and a beautiful salad  - AMAZING!

Easy Egg Rolls

Asian food is by far my hardest to cook.  When I am craving a good General Tso Chicken, I just want to go out.  When we lived in Ames Iowa we had a friend we went to church with that owned a joint we could walk to.  To this day I haven't had hot and sour soup that even comes close to how delicious his was.  He was from Laos and was a delicious cook.  So knowing this you can understand that usually when I try a new Asian dish it doesn't go so well. (In comparison to House of Chen Im never going to measure up!)  In fact, upon telling my husband that I was making Egg Rolls for supper he asked if he needed to stop for PB&J supplies in case they didn't turn out quite right!  He had the best of intentions in asking too!  I totally didn't take it personal!  The good news is - Last night I found an easy recipe that EVERYONE at my table loved.
I found this recipe online but tweaked it just a bit.  It is simple and super easy.  Jon from House of Chen would laugh at its simplicity - but that is ok - he is 11 hours away and doesn't do shipping.

Here is what you need:
1 pound pork sausage
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger (from your spice cabinet)
2 1/4 cups shredded slaw mix (chopped a bit more)
Egg Roll wrappers - found in the produce section of your grocer
Peanut Oil for frying
Seseme seeds for topping (optional)
Soy Sauce for dipping (optional)

In a large frying pan, fry up your pork sausage with the spices.  Chop the pork small.  While that is working chop the slaw mix a bit smaller.  (This all depends on your brand of slaw mix)  If you would rather you can chop up 2 cups of cabbage and 1/4 cup carrots.  This is the same equivalent. 
Once the pork has cooked through, drain well, I even used paper towels to blot away any excess oil.

Combine your drained pork and slaw mix together.  Stir well. 
Lay out your Egg Roll wrappers in front of you, corner facing you so that it looks like a diamond.
Place 1/4 -1/3 cup of the mixture in the center of the wrapper.  First fold the sides in and then roll up the wrapper much like the chick at subway rolls up your sub.  Use water on the tip of your finger to "seal" the corner of the wrapper down.  Go ahead and make up all of your egg rolls before you begin frying because this process takes a bit longer than the frying process and can make you feel rushed.  Not good when dealing with hot oil and a frying pan!

I used my cast iron skillet for frying mine up - but there is no right or wrong pan for frying these up.  Pouring in a generous amount of peanut oil, fry them until golden brown.  This goes pretty quick, I just sort of rolled them over to get them brown on all sides. 
Set on paper towels to drain.  
Once they are all done and you are ready to serve them - you can garnish with sesame seeds if you so desire.  They are a perfect paired with Fried Rice.  I have a great recipe for that coming soon, (not my own just in case you were concerned! :)  No need for the Peanut Butter and Jelly!  This was a hit with the whole family!