Next yummy meal and a busy weekend.

Monday, April 18, 2011 by Monkey and Britter Brit

So I am not very good at remembering to take a lot of photos while cooking. But I am starting to get a lot better at is slowly. So below is a recipe for Chicken Soulvaki Sandwiches. They are so yummy and we really enjoyed them. Another recipe I found online. I do down the meat amount for just the two of us but the recipe I will give is for four servings.

Chicken Soulvaki Sandwiches


Ingredients:
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp honey
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/2 cup cucumber, shredded
1 Tbsp dill
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 large whole wheat pitas, halved


So start out by preheating the over to 400 degrees. In a shallow baking pan, whisk together lemon juice, soy sauce, honey, minced garlic, oil and oregano.


Add chicken and turn to coat.

Bake chicken until it is cooked through, about 25 to 30 minutes, spooning sauce over chicken once or twice during cooking. (I did cook the chicken for 30 minutes, spooning the sauce over every 5 minutes and it sure turned out flavorfull, yummy).


Meanwhile in a small bowl, combine yogurt, cucumber, dill, and garlic powder.


Above is the pita cut in half or at least I thought I got pitas. Make sure when purchasing the pitas that you get pitas and not flatbread. I made the mistake of purchasing pitas, and those do not open up for you to put in the meat and goody yummy sauce.


When the chicken is done cooking, put it out of the oven and let it cool for about 2-3 minutes. When it is cool enough to handle, slice each piece crosswise into thin slices and place inside the pita pocket halves. Spoon 2 tablespoons of yogurt sauce into each pita half.



Since the pitas were actually flatbread I could not actually put the mixture in the pita but even still it was delicious even served on top of the flat bread. All in all it is a good recipe and very yummy. Healthy for you too.

As far as on the Austin front not a whole lot has happened this week. We are just working a lot and I have been going to school. We enjoyed our weekend together and we just really had mostly lazy Sunday. Saturday morning Bryan and I went over to my passed aunt's house to help move out the rest of her belongings from her apartment. It was little hard to be there and not have her there since it is the first time that I went there since she passed away. Little to say that I was a little emotional the night before going but we made it through. We had to drive all her belongs to her son's house down in pleasant grove. It was interesting and such a pain to move everything because it kept shifting in the back of the truck and we had to stop 2-3 times to retighten things down but we made it without losing anything it just took a while to do it. We did not even get home until after one. I had worked out in the yard the rest of the day while Bryan was over at his parent's friend's house doing some electrical work. After that it was easy sailing. We went to dinner on Saturday night, a nice long walk on Sunday with the Daisy girl (which she loved walking with us) and went to my parent's house Sunday evening for dinner. All in all a good weekend just filled with some exhausting work.

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Newest hobby

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 by Monkey and Britter Brit

So, I really love the cooking channel. I love watching all the different meals that are out there to cook. Cooking Channel by the way, NOT the Food Network. Food Network does have some okay shows but the Cooking Channel is nothing but cooking shows mostly. It is the kind of food too that I can make. Maybe not as well or fast, but yes I definitely can. Also, I really love cooking. It is fun and exciting to see how the recipe will work out and if I did it all correctly. So lately, I have been a bit on a health kick too. I have been trying to watch what I and Bryan eat more. So all the recipes that I share on here are for healthy eaters. You won't find fattening dishes here. I want to share how good it can taste to eat healthy. I also love reading cooking blogs so I am going to make my bad attempt at trying to show what we are enjoying and maybe share a good recipe here and there. Sorry for how bad my photos are but I am not the best at photographing food and my kitchen is not that big or great. All I have to work with is about 5 feet of counter tops, 3 feet in width of walking space, so I am a little crammed. For sure the next house I buy/build will have an awesome kitchen, with so much cabinet space and a lot of room to roam. Mmm... I will have to save my dreams for another house though. So here it is. My first recipe that I wanted to share/show is one I found online. It is for Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry. It was so yummy and Bryan gave it the thumbs up approval to make again and again.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry


Ingredients (as shown above):
2 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch, divided
1/4 tsp table salt
3/4 pound lean sirloin beef, trimmed
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth, divided
5 cups broccoli, florets (12 oz bag if frozen)
1 Tbsp ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 red pepper flakes (substitute with sesame seeds if preferred)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water


Start off by thinly slicing the sirloin beef going against the grain of the meat.


On a large plate, combine 2 Tbsp cornstarch and the salt. Add beef and toss to coat.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the coated beef and stir-fry until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. (I like my meat a little more cooked so I stir-fried the meat for about 6-8 minutes instead.) Transfer to a bowl leaving the juices and small bits.

Add 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the same pan and stir to loosen any bits of food on the bottom of the pan.


Add the broccoli, cover, and cook, tossing occasionally and sprinkling with 1 Tbsp of water if needed. (Since I used the frozen broccoli, I did not need the water because the moisture from the broccoli cooked off of being frozen). Stir until broccoli is almost crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. (Again, since I used the frozen broccoli it did take longer, about 8 minutes).


Uncover pan and add ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes; stir-fry until fragrant, about 3 minutes. (Side note: since my hubby has acid reflux, I knew the red pepper flakes, even though small in amount, would still really upset his stomach. So I simply substituted the red pepper flakes with sesame seeds. I just sprinkled the broccoli until well coated. Also the recipe only calls for 2 tsp of minced garlic. That is like swearing in my kitchen. I love garlic and it is an awesome addition to any dish really. So I added more like 1Tbsp of garlic instead. It turned out really good).

In a cup, combine together the soy sauce, remaining 1/2 cup of broth, remaining 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch, and water until well blended. Stir into the pan.

Reduce heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.


Return beef and accumulated juices to the pan. Toss to coat meat with the broccoli and sauce. Let mixture simmer another 5 minutes on medium-low heat.


I decided that stir-fry this stir-fry would go well over brown rice served with a nice veggie on the side. I love green beans. They are my favorite veggie. So you will see it a lot as a side dish but any favorite side veggie would go really. It turned out great. Enjoy.

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Fun Weekend.

Monday, April 11, 2011 by Monkey and Britter Brit

Well we did have fun together this last weekend. First Bryan started the day off Saturday by going over to his cousin's, boyfriend's apartment for a LAN party. It was nuts! The only other time that men ever get this squeezed in close together would be in a midget size submarine. It was so jammed packed of boys and there computers, you could not breath. 20 guys had shown up for the party in an apartment that is no more than 800 square feet. They had guys in the living room, kitchen, dining room, and bedroom. They had to run extension cords from all over the place just so they did not trip the breakers. They opened every window and the front door even to try and ventilate and it was still smelly and crammed. I went over to hang out with Bryan's cousin, Desi. It did not take long after being there that the girls decided to leave and go somewhere that did not smell of sweat and computers. I do not envy Shane for his power bill should be thru the roof this month. Shane was cool to invite Bryan to come over and hang out with all the guys. I just wish there would have been a little more room.

Desi and I ended up going to a piercing and tattooing parlor for her to get her nose pierced. I have never seen anything like it before and it was interesting to watch. All the people getting tattoos too it was kind of interesting. I would never be able to commit to a tattoo like that or a piercing either but it was a new experience to see. Desi and I then ran some errands before going back to the party. We picked up one of the other guys wife, Keirsten. We went to dinner at Tres Hombres. I hate to be negative, but I was not impressed at all by Tres Hombres. It was really lacking in the flavor department and it was way over priced for what you got. The company was great but the food was not that good. We ended the night with picking up the hubbies and going home.

The next morning (Sunday), Bryan and I got up extra early to drive out to Alpine for my friend's, Megan, baby blessing of their little girl. She is such a cute baby and it was so great to see Megan and Stephan again. We do not get to see them often enough. I really miss hanging out with Megan. She is so much fun, laid back, and just a good person to be around. I hope that we can hang out with them more often before I head down to school this fall. We ended our Sunday with a very long walk, 9.5 miles to be exact. We walked from Bryan's parent's house to Valey Fair Mall and back to about 5600 West. It was a long but wonderful walk. We talked the whole way and enjoyed the long walk. It was a little tiring by the end of the night we both crashed. All in all, it was a good weekend.

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