Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous - CEiMB

Tasty! This dinner was a hit for The Hubster and myself. Not only was it satisfying but it was healthy and delicious as well.

We can thank Marthe from Culinary Delights for this one. It was a great choice for us. My husband has been anti Ellie for quite some time now. However, I have only been making the recipes that I am fairly confident that we will enjoy. He loves tomatoes and I love balsamic vinegar so I was in for this one. Good thing too. We both enjoyed it. I have never eaten couscous before and enjoyed this whole wheat stuff. Who knew?! The dish was simple to prepare. And it only took about 30 minutes to cook! Bonus. I added the chicken back to the tomatoes, chicken broth and balsamic vinegar to boil for awhile because I am always a freak when it comes to ensuring that my chicken is fully cooked!


The recipe can be found HERE. And make sure to check out Marthe's blog for her post as she was the picker this week. Also Sara and Nick are doing an awesome job with Craving Ellie In My Belly. I love all the new stuff that they are doing. Especially the photos and posts of the week. What a fun idea and I love checking the next day to see the 'winners'. Even though everyone is a winner for participating.

4 Star Bread Chocolate Pudding - TWD

What is there not to love about this dessert? Two of my FAVORITE things....Bread and chocolate. This. Dessert. Was. So. Unbelievably. Incredible. I absolutely loved it. It ranked up there as a favorite Dorie recipe and may even tie with the Granola Grabbers.

The recipe was chosen by Lauren from A Baking Blog. She will have the recipe posted on her blog. I highly recommend trying this one out. It is simple to make and even better to eat. Who knew that I would enjoy bread pudding so much. I have never baked it, but I can recall the first time I ate it. We were in Vegas at New York-New York Hotel in the Nine Fine Irishman Restaurant. It was a humongous dessert with caramel that was so delicious. I had all but forgot about it until I was baking this chocolate goodness for TWD. OK...enough longing to go back to Vegas for a mini vacation. Back to the dessert at hand.

I skipped the raisins in this recipe. Just wasn't in the mood for them. I also used bread sticks that I found in the bakery of the grocery store. They worked perfectly and I just sliced them into mini pieces and let them "stale" in the oven for about 10 minutes. I also halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 inch square pan. Good thing too. I seriously could eat this entire pan myself. And it tastes just as delicious cold! I sprinkled powdered sugar on top and didn't bother with any whip cream. I personally don't think that it needs any sprucing up.

Thanks Lauren for such a great pick!

Spicy Crab Chowder - Taste and Create

I decided to participate in another cooking/blogging activity this month. This event intrigued me because after you get paired up with another blogger, you pick something from their blog to cook/bake. And vice versa....How fun!

I was paired up with LK from Healthy Delicious. She has numerous healthy food recipes on her blog. I did have a hard time deciding between the crab chowder and the Thai Noodles with Shrimp.

In the end I decided on the chowder. I love soups and unfortunately last week it was still a bit chilly....I thought that it would make a good dinner. It was!

Spicy Crab Chowder

INGREDIENTS:
1 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
1 large potato, cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
bay leaf
old bay
cayanne
3 T. flour
1/4 c. sherry
3 c. chicken broth (I used fat free, reduced sodium)
1 can lump crab (I used a package, not sure of the oz. I don't think that it matters though. The more crab the better, in my opinion)
1 can shredded crab (Again, I used a package (actually 2), the more the better)
1 bag frozen sweet corn
3 c. FF half and half

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oil and butter in a large pot.
2. Add vegetables, bay leaf and spices to taste. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Add flour, and stir to coat. Cook about 1 minute.
4. Add sherry. Cook about 2 minutes.
5. Add chicken broth, crab, and corn. Bring to a boil. Reduce and let simmer about 5 minutes.
6. Add half and half, and cook another minute or two to thicken.
7. Season with more old bay and cayanne.

YIELD:
Makes 10 bowls full.

Thanks LK for the delicious chowder. I think that I am really going to have to try those thai noodles some day too. I can't wait to see what you choose to make from my blog. I certainly do not cook as healthy as you!

15 Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte

I am so behind. I did make this last week on Thursday (not Tuesday) and never got around to posting it. So....here it is!

This torte was chosen by Holly (Phe/MOM/enon). I love her blog and am a faithful reader. She is very talented. The recipe is posted HERE. She has some great pics too!

I really liked this recipe. It was delicious. I was a little scared while I was making it though because I did not like the Amaretti cookies. Not sure if they are too sweet or what? Just not my thing. But once in the torte they tasted fine. I also made the almond cream for the topping. This recipe is a keeper and I will be making this one again with the leftover cookies I have.

Thanks Holly!

Stay tuned for tomorrow and TWD: Chocolate Bread Pudding

Easter Cookies

I was inspired by My Baking Addiction for these cookies. I made them for a Easter Party for my son's pre-school class. They are delicious. But not what I had been expecting. The original recipe can be found HERE. I thought that they would be puffy and cakey. Not so much though (and I was a tad dissapointed). Mine were chewy, soft and awesome. I substituted Easter M&M's for the chocolate chips.

I wish that I could figure out what I did wrong and why they didn't turn out more cakier and puffy??

Salmon with Sweet and Spicy Rub

I really should make salmon more often, at least once a week. I learned today on one of those morning news shows that it really is good for you. It is an excellent source of protein and good fats that you should really strive to have. I always forget how much I like it until I order it at a restaurant or cook it at home.


This recipe was good. It may have been a little sweet for my tastes though. But I didn't have any problem polishing it off. The Hubster liked it as well. We ate it for dinner the other night with rice and peas. The salmon was so easy to prepare and cooked really quick. I broiled ours in the oven. It is a very good dinner to make when you don't have a lot of time.

The recipe was chosen by Pam from Lobster and Fishsticks. You can find the recipe HERE or I am sure that she will have the recipe posted soon. I think next time I will try her salmon with sour cream dill sauce. Now that looks good too!

Banana Cream Pie - TWD

PART TWO:

I take back everything I said about this pie crust earlier today! It may not be the prettiest pie crust, but is sure is tasty. In the taste department it beats Pillsbury hands down. However, I still can't declare it a winner in the beauty contest.

This is a really good pie. I am not normally a huge banana fan either. But the brown sugar/cinnamon/nutmeg custard tastes phemomenal. The Hubster says that it reminds him of a pumpkin pie. The whip cream with the small amount of sour cream added gives it just the right touch. It is a winner.

The recipe was chosen by Amy of Sing for your Supper. You can find the recipe HERE or on pages 342-343 in Dorie's cookbook.