Christmas Cookies

 

I didn't share our Christmas Gingerbread cookies with you last year, so here we are Christmas in July. These are the gingerbread cookies the kids and I baked and decorated last year. It was so fun. We had some traditional winter and Christmas shapes. The most fun to decorate were the fandom, geekery cookies though.

These are gingerbread and I don't have the recipe up, but I'm sure you can google a recipe. I do have a fantastic Sugar Cookie recipe that you can find HERE. It's the best.

Whole Grain Mustard Vinaigrette

It's the warmer weather that's got us eating more salads! I love fresh crisp salads. I don't use a lot of dressing, I used to drench my salads in dressing as a kid. Now I like just a little for flavor. Because I don't use a lot I like the flavors to be bold. This Whole Grain Mustard Vinaigrette is just that, bold, spicy, and flavorful.
It is whole30 compliant so it has no added sugar, no dairy, no soy, no gluten, no grains. It keeps well in the fridge and if you get the emulsion right it's nice and creamy. If you like a thinner dressing, add a little more vinegar or water.

Oven Roasted Crispy Chicken Thighs

These Crispy Chicken Thighs are much like the ones posted HERE, the only difference is that I was too lazy to de-bone them and I didn't want to fry them on the stove splattering grease. So I put them in the oven. It worked beautifully. I love cooking chicken with the skin on then cranking up the heat to get a good crispy skin. So follow the link or scroll on down for the recipe.
This chicken is Whole 30/Paleo/Primal compliant that means it's also sugar, dairy, and gluten free. Because I serve it to my kiddo it's also nut free.

Bubble Tea, Boba, Tapioca Pearls

Tapioca Pearls.

I've already posted these tapioca pearls in the Instant Pot with my Mango Lassi post, but now that its close to spring time I thought I would repost them alone. That way we can get ready for warm weather drinks. Do you like Bubble tea? What is your favorite? Smoothies? Tea? Iced coffee?

Masala Chai

I have for you a Whole 30 Masala Chai. Because it's a cold rainy day, and cold rainy day's call for a lovely cup of tea. Okay, any day in my book. But here we are. This original recipe can be found HERE. If you are eating paleo, add a little sweetener.

This recipe is easily scaled down to make one cup. It's about 1/4 cup water and the rest milks. I use one tea bag. Put everything in and cook in the Instant Pot for 5 minutes.

Click to find more Whole 30

Paleo

Primal 

recipes here on Give Peas A Chance, or use the search function. 

Curry Shrimp Lettuce Wraps And Noodle Bowls

Curry Shrimp Lettuce wraps are a favorite around here. It's an easy meal to throw together and is pretty healthy. Lots of colorful veggies, it's a great way to get my kids to eat vegetables. I have posted Curry Shrimp before, made with a curry powder. This is a version made with Thai curry paste, both are flavorful and good. Just use your favorite kind of curry. Make this as spicy or mild as you like. If you don't like shrimp you can cook fish filet with these flavors, or even strips of chicken and use those in a wrap.

Seafood Stock

Instant Pot seafood stock.

Here's a an easy seafood stock to make whenever the stock bags in your freezer get full. You have stock bags right? Labeled seafood, beef, chicken, veggie... pork? If not start some. Put vegetable scraps, stems of cilantro and parsley in them. Chicken bones, beef bones. Once full, pull them out and make a stock.
Things I don't put in there

organ meats

broccoli

cauliflower

potatoes

onion skins

asparagus

peppers

cabbage

There's probably more, but I can't think of any right now.

Instant Pot Collard Greens

It's a shame that not more people in this house like Collard Greens. Just my oldest and I really like them, my middle and youngest will eat a serving, it it's not too spicy. Other than that DH doesn't really like them. Too bad, they are good for you. I usually make up a big batch and keep a few servings in the freezer at a time. When I get the craving, want some for dinner or over cornbread I pull it out. I have used different methods to make this, they all work fine and each one is a little different. My kids really the the creole seasoning so this one is a favorite.

What about your household? What are foods you love, but don't always make often?

BEST Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns

These bun are so very good. Every time I make them I wonder why I don't make them more often. Probably because my waistline would expand. We use these buns for pulled pork, hamburgers, French Dip, breakfast sandwiches, etc. You can shape them for sub sandwiches, chili dogs/hot dogs and sausages also.
The recipe can be found here. The dough for these can be made in a bread machine, in a mixer, or by hand.

Khao Piek Sen- Lao Noodles (Philips Pasta Maker)

Khao Piek Sen is one of my favorite noodle soups. It's a Lao soup that has noodles made with rice and tapioca flour. Khao Piek Sen, literally "wet rice strands" in Lao are a gluten free noodle. I usually make these and cut them by hand. You can find that method here. The hand made and hand cut method is easy and uses less ingredients than this Philips Pasta Machine one. But it's nice to dump the ingredients into the machine and have it do the work sometimes.

Instant Pot Vietnamese Chicken Curry (Cà Ri Gà)

Vietnamese Chicken Curry (Cà Ri Gà)

This is the same recipe that is posted here, I just adapted it for cooking in my Instant Pot. I'm using the same picture because I forgot to take a picture before dinner. The picture below, is what's leftover from last night. Oops. It's leftovers from dinner and leftovers from after packing my kids lunches. Just not as pretty a picture is it, no carrots, etc? I will say though that it tastes even better today! No complaints here on flavor.

Dinner En Papillote

Fish En Papillote and Rambutan

This is still one of my favorite ways to serve fish. I think because it's an "all in one" meal and we all love it. It's a great way to get the kid to eat vegetables. There's also very minimal clean up, which is a huge plus for me. You can find the method here in this post for Tilapia En Palillote. But you can use any fish you like, just remember that some fish, like salmon take less time and can overcook pretty quickly. You can even use chicken!

Fortune Cookies, Not a Chinese New Year Tradition

Can you believe that Chinese New Year falls on January 28th this year? Earlier and earlier every year! I have very fond memories of Chinese New Year from my childhood. The day, the foods, the traditions are special to me. But most memorable is my mom's part in it. She would clean the house and cook an amazing spread. Family would come visit. She would often take us out of school, if not pick us up early.

One Minute Quinoa (Pressure Cooker)

Looking to make Quinoa in your pressure cooker? This method has worked so well for me, I won't make it any other way now. I used to make my Quinoa in the rice cooker which also came out perfect, but my rice cooker has a non stick coating on the insert so I am not using it as much.
This method is simple and easy. As long as you keep the water to liquid ratio you can change out the liquid to suit your needs. Stock, water, broth, juice, tea. This does require soaking the Quinoa, but it's for only 5-10 minutes. I put the Quinoa in water then gather remaining ingredients. There's really no wait. Season it up and serve it how you like! Try my Southwest Quinoa Pilaf, or serve it with these Easy Peasy Curry Chickpeas, I'll be adapting this to Instant Pot cooking also, but believe me it's so easy.

Double Pan Fried Noodles or Mee Korb

 Chinese New Year comes early this year so I thought I would share a favorite noodle dish around here. Double Pan Fried noodles are an absolute favorite way to have noodles at our house. They have always been a childhood favorite of mine also. If you haven't had them, make sure you try them the next time you're out for Chinese food. Or make them at home.

You can use any vegetables or protein you like for this, just stir fry it all up and ladle over the noodles. YUM!

Here's the method for Double Pan Fried Noodles or Mee Korb, is what we call it.

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2016 Let Them Eat Cake- Cookies and Cream Oreo Drizzle Cake

Oreo drizzle cake with cookies and cream chocolate, Oreo cookies, a chocolate macaron, and a chocolate "10".

A couple of weeks ago I shared a Lemon Raspberry cake that was for my oldest's birthday. This week I'm sharing this Oreo cake which my middle girl requested. She actually asked for Oreo, and I went with it. This is my first drizzle cake. It came out pretty good considering I didn't get the chocolate the correct consistency before I put it on the cake.

Freezer Tip: Tomato Paste and Yogurt Starter

How to freeze tomato sauce in bags do you can easily break of portions.

Quick freezer tip. When you have extra tomato paste or want to save small portions of yogurt starter for next batch of yogurt freeze it in a zip top bag. Then squish it flat. Score lines with a chopstick or wooden spoon. Freeze the bags flat until they are completely frozen. After that they can be stacked easily. When you need a portion just open up your bag and break off a piece.

This method also works for ground beef and other ground meats.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Cranberry season is upon us! I don't know what it is about cranberries. I only make a handful of things with them but I really like them. I don't now if it's the tart berry flavor, that they are good in both savory and sweet applications, or that the color just screams "HOLIDAY SEASON APPROACHING" Whatever the case I smile when I see them, and I always grab an extra bag of cranberries for the freezer for the rest of the year for that bright flavor they give.

I also love seeing them on a tree at Christmas, it's so pretty. They aren't the easiest to string but I think it's worth it, here's our tree from last year. Very simple.

Frito Pie (Slow Cooker and Pressure Cooker)

Frito Pie topped with cheese and plain yogurt.

I know, I know. Lots of Instant Pot recipes. It just happens to be soup and stew season, and the Instant Pot makes for great soups and stews. So here's an oldie but goodie that's been adapted for Instant Pot cooking, so I'm posting it as a Manic Monday post. If you prefer a slow cooker you can use that also! You can serve this without the Frito chips and put it over baked potatoes, in a steamed winter squash, or with crackers.

Freezer Tip: Flash Freezing

Hello! Just thought I would do a quick post on Flash Freezing. I'm not certain that's the correct term, but I use it a lot. I also use this method of freezing quite a bit for items I don't want to freeze stuck together. That way I can use one or two pieces at the same time, but they can all be stored together.