Lemon and Brown Sugar Chicken

sometimes i get sick of trying to come up with dinner. those sometimes = the husband eats cereal or pizza. blah. whatever.

but then i'm all like, "omg- need to make real food or husband will leave me for the Olive Garden!!!"
right?
so when i spotted this recipe i figured it was quick & easy & i could make it work.


Lemon and Brown Sugar Chicken adapted from Tasty Kitchen
1 lb chicken breasts
1 cup flour
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
2 tblsp canola oil
1 lemon (juiced) or just use lemon juice (approx)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar (approx)

Directions: Pre heat oven to 350
Trim the fat from your chicken. Combine the four, paprika & salt in a shallow dish. Coat each chicken breast with the flour mixture.

Heat the oil over medium/high heat in a cast iron skillet (if you have one)
Place each chicken breast into the hot oil & brown on both sides (4-5 minutes should do it)
Remove the chicken breasts & set aside.

turn the heat down loa & pour the lemon juice into the pan & stir to deglaze (if all the juice cooks off- ad a bit more. you should have about 1/4 cup worth of liquid in the skillet)
Put the chicken breasts back in the pan & turn to coat.
Sprinkle the brown sugar on top (make sure each piece has a good of sugar on it)

Put the skillet in the oven & bake for around 20 minutes (until the chicken is done)

we had this with some quick tri colored pasta (i tossed the cooked pasta with some cream, lemon juice, salt & pepper, capers & some grated parmesean cheese)

and some beans (from our garden!!! yay!!!) that i sauted in butter, a little water, garlic & onion powder.
it was delish. and fast. and easy.

Quick Pull Apart Breakfast Bites

when i say "quick" i mean quick. like, 5 minutes quick.
saturday morning greeted me at 5:45 in the am thanks to my youngest slapping me in the face.

so as i staggered into the kitchen, with her on my hip, i wanted food. now. right this second!
homemade cinnamon rolls were out- as was any kind of bread that included mixing & measuring.

then i spotted a can of crescent rolls and got an idea.

Quick Pull Apart Breakfast Bites
1 can of crescent rolls
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 stick butter (melted)

Directions: Pre heat oven to 375. Grease a small 6in cake pan (or 8in if you're going to double up)
Open the rolls & rip off pieces & roll into little balls (1 in or so)
Mix together the cinnamon & sugar & roll each ball into the mixture
Place the balls into the cake pan so they're touching (like Monkey Bread)
Por the melted butter over the top & sprinkled with a bit more cinnamon & sugar.

Pop it in the oven for 15 minutes & remove.
Let it cool for a couple minutes & then turn onto a plate.


Pat yourself on the back for coming up with the quickest semi-homemade breakfast ever & go to town.

FYI: you can doctor these up by spreading a cream cheese frosting over the top- or whatever. easy peasy.
also- you can make these geared towards dinner as well- instead of cinnamon & sugar- use garlic powder & some chopped basil. or whatever else you have on hand.

crescent rolls are my go to kitchen "pantry" staple. you can make anything out of them because they're magical.

Strawberry Cake with Champagne Buttercream & ruffled Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting

look at that. ruffles are so pretty.


and rather delicate


and very forgiving


i'm making a ruffled cake for my friend's bridal shower so i decided to do a test run.
the cake was so so- but the frosting looked lovely (well sort of- it was my first time afterall)

Strawberry Cake with Champagne Buttercream
Go here for the recipe.

The cake was good- but a bit dense. This may have had something to do woth the fact that i used 4 whole eggs instead of 6 egg whites.
But i'm going to nix it anyway- i want something else...

as for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream- go here for an awesome recipe


i tweak it depending on the humidity & consistancy i seem to be getting. but i strongly suggest at least 2 tsp of flavoring (vanilla or what not) and a good quality butter. i also add a pinch of salt.
also- make sure your butter is soft, but still somewhat firm (room temp) not completely softened like when baking cookies. and you NEED a stand mixer- it's a must. my batches take over 15 minutes of beating. imagine standing there & doing that with a hand mixer.

omg no. never ever.

Coconut Tres Leches Cake

remember this cake: Tres Leches Cake?

well this is the same deal- cept with coconut. bam.

substitute the can of Evaporate Milk with a can of either Coconut Milk or Condensed Coconut Milk.
sprinkle the top with Toasted Coconut (and possibly some bananas or pineapples) and you've got yourself a bite of Tropical Awesome.


FYI: you can also substitute the sponge cake with a box of white cake (in the interest of time or energy)
It works pretty well- but i think it gets a tad bit soggier. so go with the sponge cake if you can.

Coconut Bread

there is something wrong with my husband. he doesn't like coconut.

right? crazy man. but that's ok- because it means i have an excuse to eat an entire loaf of this bread.

Coconut Bread via Honey&Jam
You Need:
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup superfine sugar
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
6 tblsp unsalted butter (melted & slightly cooled)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk & vanilla. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon & salt.
Stire in the sugar & coconut. Make a well in the center of the dry ingred. & slowly add the wet misture, stirring until just combined.
Fold in the melted butter- be careful! don't overmix it!

Pour into a greased & floured 8x4 in loaf pan. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean (around 1 hour or so). Remove from the oven & allow to cool for 5 minutes. Then turn onto a wire rack.
Allow it to cool some more & then slice away.

this was good. so good. BUT- i think it was a bit crumbly. Not dry- just crumbly. you do need to cut this into THICK slices- but i feel that it should hold together a bit more.

Next time i'm going to make it with an extra egg & cream instead of milk. we'll see if that does the trick.

you can eat it straight up or smothered in butter. or my favorite- with coconut milk whipped cream:

Coconut Milk Whipped Cream via Nutty Kitchen
1 can full fat organic coconut milk
cinnamon & sugar to taste

Place the can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight
When you open it you'll see that the milk & water has seperated.
Scoop out the creamy milk portion & place into a bowl.
Whip (just like making whipped cream) with a bit of cinnamon & sugar until nice & thick.
Try ot to eat it all straight out of the bowl.

Strawberry Basil Lemonade

summer = lemonade. it also = strawberry & basil. so mixing all of them together = a no brainer.

Strawberry Basil Lemonade (this makes 2 glasses)
Pink or Yellow Lemonade (i used Newman's Own)
2 large fresh strawberries, sliced
handful of frozen strawberry slices (i slice them, pop them in a ziploc bag & freeze them to use all summer)
5 basil leaves, per glass

Fill each glass about 1/3 of the way with lemonade. Add the basil leaves & fresh strawberries & muddle (i have a muddle stick i use for making mojitos)
Add a handful of frozen strawberry slices to each glass, top off with more lemonade, add a straw & enjoy.

i like to add the frozen strawberries because it keeps the lemonade cold without watering it down. or go ahead & make lemonade ice cubes in advance (which is what i would do if i was making a large batch of this)

what's great is that, unlike the mint & limes in mojitos, you can go ahead & eat the basil & strawberries. Waste not.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

so you want cheesecake right now, but don't want the hassle of actually making cheesecake?
then this recipe is for you.
quick, easy, freaking delicious, quick...right.

Sopapilla Cheesecake
2 cans Cresent Rolls
3- 8 oz packages cream cheese (softened)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Directions: Pre heat oven to 350

Roll out 1 can of cresent roll into a 9x13 in rectangle (or just press it into the bottom of a 9x13 in baking pan) and press into the bottom of a 9x13 in baking pan (i used a Pyrex dish)
Cream together the cream cheese, vanilla extract & the 1 cup of sugar.
Spread the mixture over the cresent roll layer

Roll out the 2nd can of cresent dough & place on top. Mix together the 1/2 cup sugar + the cinnamon. Drizzle the melted butter over the top & sprinkled with the cinnamon & sugar mixture. Sprinkle with the slivered almonds (i sprinkled 1/2 of the cheesecake) Place in the oven & bake for 40 minutes (until pastry is puffy)

Remove & let cool for at least 2 hours (i let it sit out for about 4ish)- slice & serve. This is good @ room temp or straight out of the fridge.

i love this because it taste sort of like cheesecake- but it's not overwhelmingly cheesecake'like. and since i'm not the biggest fan of cheesecake- that works for me.


i may or may not have had 2 pieces for breakfast the next day.