boneless chicken recipes: May 2011

Vegetables 101: What Is Jicama?

Jicama Bulb

So many vegetables, so many that are unfamiliar! This is the first of an occasional series of posts, quick, easy and practical information about out-of-the-ordinary vegetables. Recipe suggestions included!

WHAT IS JICAMA? Jicama is a large, bulbous root vegetable. A bulb may weigh one or two pounds and has a rough 'n' tough brown skin which should be peeled before eating or cooking. Inside, the flesh is white, wet and crunchy, similar to a raw potato but wetter and crunchier. The flavor is slightly sweet, a little nutty. It's good both raw and cooked, although my own favorite is raw, since it keeps both its crispness and its color over time. Look for it in the produce section

HOW TO PRONOUNCE JICAMA? The word is pronounced [HEE-ka-ma] or [HIK-ka-ma].

OTHER NAMES FOR JICAMA Jicama is also called yambean, Mexican potato and Mexican turnip.

JICAMA & YOU I've listed some good recipes for jicama below but am curious, what do you most like to do with jicama? What do you think about it? Is it easy to find? Do you grow it? Share your story! Bloggers, feel free to share links to your own jicama recipes.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
(How many calories in Jicama? How many Weight Watchers points in Jicama?) Per 1/4 pound: 43 Calories; 0g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 4mg Sodium; 10g Carb; 5.5g Fiber; 2g Sugar; 1g Protein; Weight Watchers Old Points 0, PointsPlus 1 (although defined as "free" since it's a vegetable)

Keep Reading ->>>

Jicama Slaw ♥

Jicama Slaw

A fresh take on coleslaw, substituting wet and crunchy jicama for cabbage. It's a really summery coleslaw, light and bright tasting. Delicious!

~recipe & photo updated and republished 2011~
~more recently updated recipes~

2006: When a guy -- a GUY! -- writes, "I just adore this recipe", it's gotta be good. And let me tell you, Matt Bites is right. I adore this recipe too. (And have you seen his food blog? I adore IT, too!) It's simple. Wet and sweet with jicama. Bright and fresh-tasting. A tad unusual. Low in calories. Low in carbs. It is a perfect make-ahead salad for outdoor picnics. It has no mayonnaise and pairs beautifully with other picnic food like fried chicken, sandwiches, etc.

2011: I'm always pleased -- so pleased! -- when I remake a recipe and find it just as refreshing as its memory. Such was the case with this jicama slaw. It's completely a coleslaw, thanks to the texture, but jicama is a sweet surprise, wetter, brighter, softer than coleslaw. I'll say it again: "I adore this recipe."

WHAT IS JICAMA? I've started a new series of posts, quick introductions to unfamiliar vegetables.
Keep Reading ->>>

Tried & True: Grandma's Rolls

This is another one of my very favorite recipes that I posted when I first started this blog. It is an incredible recipe. They are so light and delicious!! My family usuallly devours them right out of the oven.

One Thanksgiving I made these the night before...needless to say I ended up making a second batch in the morning because the first batch was all gone.

For complete recipe click here: Grandma's Rolls

OH YUM!!

Menu Plan Monday

It is about time I got my act together! Another testament of menu planning. It is amazing how much time and money it saves!!

This Week's Menu
Monday: Goulosh
Tuesday: Sweet Salsa Chicken
Wednesday:Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Thursday: Malibu Chicken
Friday: Picnic Night
Saturday:Creamy Burrito Casserole
Sunday: Chicken & Potato Bake

Happy Eating!!

Linked to Menu Plan Monday

Some Very Cute Cupcakes!

Last night, the doorbell rang and in steps a cute girl delivering cupcakes to my son!!

How I love the Minions from Despicable Me!!

Aren't they are so cute!!

Luckily, she was willing to let me share her brilliance with you all.

Twinkies, Smarties and some frosting. Very creative!!

She also created these.

Cute turtles!!

Not only were they adorable they also tasted great!!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!!

Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce

A few weeks ago I shared with you hubby's Sassy barbecue sauce recipe and promised to share my version. After making two batches this past weekend (for pulled pork and hamburgers) I realized it did not get posted yet!! Sorry. This is my favorite barbecue sauce right now. It has a mildly sweet flavor and is so simple to make.

Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Place all ingredients in a saucepan, stir to combine. On medium-high heat, stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Turn heat down to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You can then use it immediately or refrigerate in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

The winner of The Magic Warble book picked by random number generator is

Madonna @ Butterfly Acres .

Bring on BBQ season!!

Easy Coleslaw with Blue Cheese & Apple ♥ Recipe Plus The Economics of Bags of Coleslaw

Easy Coleslaw with Blue Cheese & Apple

Today's easy coleslaw recipe: A quick coleslaw made from a bag of coleslaw (or chopped cabbage) and blue cheese dressing with a few apples tucked in for crunch and sweetness. Plus a lesson in coleslaw economics and a smart shopping tip!

So if you could buy cabbage for $.66 or $1.89 or $2.52 a pound, which one would you choose?

For $.66 a pound, buy a cabbage, wash, trim and quick-quick chop it. Assume 11% waste -- but I accounted for that in the price.

For $1.89 a pound (that's almost three times as much), buy a 16-ounce bag of cabbage slaw, already chopped with a little carrot and red cabbage included for color. No waste – just be sure to rinse the cabbage in cold water to freshen it up.

For $2.52 a pound (that's almost four times as much), buy a 12-ounce bag of finely shredded cabbage – that's the only difference between the two bags, well, except price.
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Want to see how the two bags were placed side-by-side in the grocery store? Here's my photo on Flickr. I wish I could say it was "accidental" – but see just too many instances where grocery stores seem to intentionally display products, including produce, in ways that influence our choices to the higher-margin product.

Still, life isn't always about cost and there's no doubt that "convenience" matters. So no judgment, we each get to make our own decisions, what's right for us. Some nights? A bag of coleslaw is as good as it's gonna get.

And this coleslaw is worth making – no matter who does the chopping. Summer easy, 'tis the season.
Keep Reading ->>>

Kay's Ultimate Fry Sauce

French fries are one of my biggest weaknesses and what better to dip them in than fry sauce. This signature recipe was created by my daughter. Simple and delicious!! It is so good that she has become the designated fry sauce maker at our house.

Kay's Ultimate Fry Sauce
1/2 cup barbeque sauce
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup Miracle Whip or mayonaise
1/2 cup ketchup
Mix together in a small bowl and serve!!
Great thing about this recipe is you use equal parts of each ingredient so it makes it easy to make more or less.
Bring on the fries!!

How to Eat More Vegetables: Tip #13

How to Eat More Vegetables

We all know we should eat more vegetables. But how, how do we do that, really? What real-life tips and ideas work? How can we build our lives around the healthiest of all foods, vegetables? Every Saturday, the 'veggie evangelist' shares practical tips and ideas from her own experience, her readers and other bloggers.

And now for this week's tip:

Keep Reading ->>>

Chocolate Chip Snack Cake

I got off early from work today so I decided to surprise the kids with an after school snack!! I am trying to get them to eat a bit healthier so I chose this recipe. I like the use of the applesauce and sour cream. It has a bit of a chewy texture. It is not as sweet as a normal cake. The kids loved it and didn't even notice the wheat flour. YAY!!!

Chocolate Chip Snack Cake
adapted from Taste of Home
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 cup sour cream (I used light)
2/3 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Topping:
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used just a few more.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan.
Cream butter and sugars together. Add egg then egg whites and beat for about 3 minutes. Beat in sour cream, applesauce and vanilla. Slowly add the flours, baking powder, salt and baking soda until it is all blended well. Pour half the batter into the pan.

In a small bowl mix the sugar and cinnamon together.

Sprinkle half of the cinnamon mixture and chocolate chips on top.

Then carefully pour the rest of the batter over top. Spread evenly.

Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean.

I had to use the toothpick because it did not look done, but was.

It was a nice change!

15 servings: 215 calories per serving. 7 g fat, 2 g fiber.

Friday Faves #11

Last week I had this post all ready to go and then when blogger had issues it disappeared.

I must admit I was really disappointed. I lost all the great recipes I had found and bookmarked.

Luckily all of you had incredible recipes this week!!

Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker

Mom's Sunday Cafe

Butter Gem Cookies
The Cutting Back Kitchen

Potato Dill Chicken
An 'A' for Effort

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Baking and Creating with Avril

Oreo Cheesecake Pretzel Bites
Making Memories..One Fun Thing After Another

Gourmet Cinnamon Roll Popcorn
Jam Hands

I have been trying to eat healthier this week...so did you notice a trend in the recipes I found??
I wonder what I am craving..HA HA!!
Have a wonderful weekend!!

General Mills Cereal & Kung Fu Panda Giveaway

Kung Fu Panda is back! General Mills is teaming up with DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 2 to bring the action-packed adventures right to your breakfast table.

Throughout the spring, spin fighter toys featuring Kung Fu Panda 2 characters including Po, Tigress, Shifu, Monkey, Lord Shen, Mantis, Crane and Viper can be found inside specially marked boxes of participating General Mills cereals: Cocoa Puffs^® (11.8 oz.), Trix^® (10.7 oz.), Golden Grahams^® (12 oz.), Reese’s Puffs^® (13 oz.), Cheerios^® (14 oz.), Apple Cinnamon Cheerios^® (12.9 oz.), Cookie Crisp^® (11.25 oz.), Lucky Charms^® (11.5 oz.), Cinnamon Toast Crunch (12.8 oz.) and Honey Nut Cheerios (12.25 oz.).

Let the games begin with one spin fighter toy in each box. Simply cut out the targets on the box and then use your spin fighter to try and knock them down. With eight character toys to collect, the Kung Fu fun can continue all summer long!

One reader will win this prize pack.....

Winner will receive a Kung Fu Panda 2 prize pack which includes one box of a participating Big G cereal, a Kung Fu Panda 2 spin fighter toy and the original Kung Fu Panda movie

My kids loved that movie and we are excited to see Kung Foo Panda 2! Our favorite character is Po!! Jack Black is great at this role.

To enter the giveaway:

Be a follower of One Crazy Cookie and tell me who is your family's favorite character in the original Kung Foo Panda.

Winner will be drawn
by random number generator on June 1.

Good Luck!

The prize packs and information were all given to me from General Mills and DreamWorks through MyBlogSpark

Clean-Out-the-Veggie-Drawer Soup with a Don't-Throw-It-Away Secret Ingredient ♥

Clean-Out-Veggie-Drawer Soup

Don't pitch the Parmesan rind!

Today's concept recipe: A quick, easy and flexible way to use up the last bits of vegetables from the vegetable bin, just before the next trip to the farmers market, the next CSA delivery.

So if I told you that this soup costs absolutely ZERO to make, would you believe me? It's true.

You see, we vegetable lovers, we can't help ourselves: when fresh produce is so fresh and beautiful, we buy more than we can ever consume in the few days vegetables stay quite fresh. ("Another eggplant? Sure, isn't it pretty?! And oh, did you see the carrots? We must have a few of those too.") CSA subscribers, I'm told, love getting a new stash of fresh vegetables but feel guilty when some of last week's delivery (and the week's before too?) languishes in the vegetable bin. Too often, we let the vegetables hang around too long, past saving.

This recipe -- one of the "concept recipes" that we all love so much -- is my latest way to "save" all those last bits of vegetables, not gone bad but none-too-fresh either, from the compost pile or the garbage can.

But the secret ingredient? I bet lots of people throw it away too, since it really isn't edible anymore.
Keep Reading ->>>

Tried & True: Choco-Mellow Brownies

I realized today that it has been awhile since I posted a Tried & True Recipe! This is a good one. Last week I needed a quick treat for Young Women so I went for the quick and oh so delicious. I went with a whole cookie sheet full and came home with nothing.... Better for me because then I couldn't eat them all, but hubby was disappointed. I got multiple requests for the recipe so here it goes.

I was really hoping to update this picture.

I guess I should of taken one before I left the house.

You can find the recipe here.

These are even better the next day!!

YUM!!

Menu Plan Monday

This week we are literally off and running, once again as my son won the two mile and took second in the mile this weekend. Now it is off to the district track meet. This explains the carb-overload of my menu this week. Personally I will try hard to not overload on the carbs!!

This Week's Menu
Monday: Crock Pot BBQ Chicken
Tuesday: Baked Beef Stew
Wednesday: Grilled Chicken, bakers and Bowtie Spinach Salad
Thursday: Balsamic Chicken Pasta
Friday: Spaghetti
Saturday: Pulled Pork

Sunday: Ultimate Cheeseburgers (A celebration dinner!!)

Don't forget to enter the book giveaway. It is a great book!

Wishing everyone a great week!!

Linked to: Menu Plan Monday

How to Eat More Vegetables: Tip #12

How to Eat More Vegetables

We all know we should eat more vegetables. But how, how do we do that, really? What real-life tips and ideas work? How can we build our lives around the healthiest of all foods, vegetables? Every Saturday, the 'veggie evangelist' shares practical tips and ideas from her own experience, her readers and other bloggers.

And now for this week's tip:

Keep Reading ->>>

The Magic Warble & A GREAT GIVEAWAY!!

Today's post is not the usual post you see here, but hold on it is for great reasons!! I had the opportunity to read a book by the author Victoria Simcox called:

I was in need of a great book to read and this one was that!!

Twelve- year- old Kristina Kingsley, never felt like she fit in. She had a great family, but the kids at school would tease her any chance they got. Her best friend was her pet rat named Raymond. Little did Kristina know that a strange Christmas gift would change her life . After opening the gift she finds herself magically in the land of Bernovem, which is home to dwarfs,fairies, gnomes, talking animals and the evil Queen Sentiz.

In Bernovem, Kristina not only fits in but is honored as "the chosen one". She is the only one who can release the land from Queen Sentiz evil power. In order to do this she must place the gift she was given, "The Magic Warble" in it's final resting place. This is no easy task for there are many miles and obstacles she must make it through. All the while she must avoid caught by the queen's zelbocks. Luckily, Kristina is guided by Prince Werrien, a teenage boy, two fairies named Clover and Looper as well as many other characters to help her on this dangerous journey. It is during this time that Kristina finds her strength and true friendship. She also gets the chance to take revenge against the kids who treated her so badly...but will she do it??? You'll have to read to find out.

This book moves quickly and had many twists and turns that keep you guessing. It is written for ages 9-13 and it is perfect for this age group, but I enjoyed it very much!! I could not put it down, it kept me engaged the whole time. I am excited for my daughters to read it next!! A HUGE THANKS to Victoria for sending me the book!!

You can buy the book directly over at THE MAGIC WARBLE!!

Now for the really exciting news.....The author Victoria Simcox had generously donated a signed copy of this book to giveaway to one of my readers with only one stipulation, you must live in the USA.

To enter: be a follower of One Crazy Cookie and tell me what you like to read.

For extra entries: Leave me a comment for each:

1. follow Victoria Simcox's blog

2. Become a friend of The Magic Warble on Facebook

3. Follow Victoria Simcox on Twitter

4. Blog about the giveaway

Winner will be drawn by random number generator on May 25th.

GOOD LUCK!!

The author graciously sent me the book. All opinions are mine.

Tried it Out Thursday:PB&J Shortbread Bars

If you LOVE shortbread and PB&J like my family does this is one for you to try!! When I saw it over at Picky Palate(she had some incredibly delicious things.) I knew I had to try it out!! It was DELICIOUS and one of those that are even better the next day!! The only issue I had was I made the sugar frosting a bit too thin, but it still tasted great!!

PB&J Shortbread Bars

adapted from Picky Palate
4 sticks softened butter
1 Cup granulated sugar
1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
3 3/4 Cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 Cup strawberry jam
1 Cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a stand or electric mixer beat butter and sugars until well combined. Slowly add in flour and salt until just combined. Press the dough into a 9x13 pan coated with cooking spray.

Melt peanut butter in microwave for 20-30 seconds or until smooth and pourable. Pour evenly over shortbread.

Melt the jam in microwave for 20-30 seconds as well then pour evenly over peanut butter. Take a knife and gently swirl peanut butter and jelly over top of shortbread, not really cutting into the dough itself. Just the peanut butter and jelly.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until edges start to brown and centers are cooked through.

Remove and let cool completely.

Mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth, drizzle over bars.

Enjoy!!