Cilantro Lime Chicken

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Sensational!!!  This cilantro lime chicken is a perfect summertime recipe.  The flavor is light and right.  You could actually cook this up any time of the year, but for some reason it just feels meant for summer.  I've actually baked, pan seared, and grilled this recipe.

*  4 or 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
*  juice of about one and a half limes
*  2 tsp of minced garlic in a jar....  (or fresh- i use what's on hand)
*  a third of a bunch of fresh cilantro.  use only leaves... chopped or ripped.  Probably about  1/3 to 1/2 a cups worth.
*  1 tbsp olive oil
*  1 tbsp honey
*  1/2 tsp salt
*  1/4 tsp pepper

so it's not all messy

Put chicken into a gallon sized zipper bag and in a bowl mix together all other ingredients.  Just stir a few times.  Then pour the mixture over the chicken in the bag.  Zip the bag and push out as much air as you can.  Put the bag into a bowl (so it's not all messy) and put into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or over night.  I usually leave it for at least 4 hours or more.  When you are ready to cook, you can  bake covered at 350 degrees for 30- 40 minutes, or  heat a pan with a bit of olive oil and cook on medium heat for about 7 min per side (turn once), or  on the grill about 7 min per side (turn once)...  make sure the chicken is not pink in the middle.  You really want your chicken fully cooked.   I promise...   you are gonna love this!

Mango Fruit Salad

Mango Fruit Salad

I love mango.  My kids have a mango song and dance they do whenever i buy mangos.  This summer has been so excruciatingly hot and i haven't been real into cooking so much.  So, a summery fruit salad was just the thing to hit the spot.  We love trying new things or new twists on old favorites...  so we twisted up this mango fruit salad.

*  2 mango chunked
*  1 ripe but firmish avocado cubed
*  6 strawberries chunked
*  about 7 sprigs of cilantro... just leaves, ripped or chopped
*  juice from half a lime
*  1/2 tsp crushed red pepper...   like what you put on pizza.
    and this part is optional...  but oh so good.

So, pretty much all you do is take the ingredients and stir them all together in a medium sized bowl, cover and chill for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors blend...  If you do try this recipe...  do try it with the crushed red pepper.   It's that one thing that gives it that twist- like a surprise kick in your mouth!

Monster Biscuits

Okay.   Decided today to finally start doing this....  jumping in.  Here I go.

I was deciding what i should make my lovely children for lunch today.  We're out of bread, so plain ole' pb&j's were out of the question.  Biscuits.  Yeah, i could do that...  but not just biscuits for lunch~ gotta dress these suckers up!
So I start with a basic biscuit recipe...

*  2 cups All Purpose Flour

*  1 tbsp Baking Powder  

*  1/2 tsp Salt
*  1/4 cup  Butter
*  3/4 cup  Milk

Just halfway melt the butter in a medium sized bowl in the microwave...  Then add rest of ingredients to the bowl and squish with your hands to make the dough... 
And now for the turning a biscuit into lunch part:
I added to the dough about a fourth cup each

*  chunked ham
*  diced onion
*  chopped mushroom
*  shredded cheddar

Once everything is mixed together, form balls about the size of the palm of your hand.  I was able to get nine all together.  Place the balls onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
These came out so good... the kids absolutely loved them.  I will definitely make these again.

Monster Biscuits