Chicken and Broccolini Stir-Fry

Stir- Fry is always a great option for weeknight dinners around here. I love how quick they are to prepare and also the versatile number of veggies that you can use in them. I saw this fun take on stir-fry in a recent issue of The Food Network Magazine and thought it looked delicious.

My kids have been snacking on sweet mini peppers lately, so I had no problem slicing up a few of them for this stir-fry. My family really enjoyed this meal and I hope you do too.

Here is the recipe for Chicken and Broccolini Stir-Fry
* I used rice wine vinegar instead of mirin

Asparagus Salad

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
We always celebrate this day with as many green foods as possible. Last year we made the best Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream ever, these Mint Chocolate Cupcakes are always popular, and every year that I can remember we have had some form of green eggs and ham (last year it was a biscuit sandwich).

This year I am trying to stay away from the green food coloring as much as I can, (although I will use it to make our eggs green this morning), and we are going to enjoy green foods that are really green because they grow that way.

This is the perfect one to start off the green food celebration. This is a simple way to serve asparagus. It is briefly cooked, along with broccolini, for about 2-3 minutes, so it is crisp tender.
Then it is tossed with a lemon juice-olive oil-shallot dressing, and topped with pepitas, thinly sliced radishes and lemon zest. If you can think of anything more delicious or perfect, please feel free to suggest it, because this was pretty amazing. It's interesting how something so quick and easy can truly be so flavorful and delightful to eat.

Here is the recipe for Asparagus Salad from 101 Cookbooks
* I omitted the parmesan cheese
* I used pepitas instead of pine nuts
* I went ahead and cooked the broccolini stems

Happy Birthday to Me! Tomato-Broccolini Soup

This year I decided to celebrate my birthday on my blog with a savory, healthy recipe. Plus, since my birthday is the day before Christmas, I thought this red and green soup was the perfect thing to post!
Right now, we are on day 4 of our DisneyWorld Christmas Trip and I am sure it has been very fun (I am posting this ahead of time- no computer for me on our trip!)
Yesterday was my hubby's b-day and today is mine, so we get 2 days of free admittance to DisneyWorld.

I made this soup when my sister was here for Thanksgiving Break because my hubby hates tomatoes and I knew if she was here with me, I would have at least one other person that would eat it and love it.
The soup is a basic tomato soup without any cream or anything, so it is really healthy.
I added more stock, to get it to the right consistency of soup-i-ness for us.
I actually had 2 kids who really liked this one and I loved it!
The broccolini in the soup added a really great flavor.
I made extra broccolini so that even those people who think tomatoes are poisonous, could enjoy the yummy green stalks.

So give it a try, if you aren't scared of tomatoes. It makes great leftovers too.
I am going to go get on a roller coaster to celebrate my birthday!

Recipe for Tomato-Broccolini Soup

CEiMB- Twice Baked Potatoes with Sharp Cheddar and Oven Roasted Broccolini

This week's CEIMB recipe was Broccoli and Cheddar Stuffed Potato Skins with Avocado Cream. It was chosen by Anne who blogs over at Rainforest Recipes,
I did not make this recipe exactly. I did use some of the same ingredients and made something that my kids would eat.
Somehow I got inspired by the potatos, the cheese and then switched out the broccoli for broccolini. It just tastes so much better.
I baked my potatoes in the oven until I was able to scoop out the insides and then I just mashed the potatoes with 2 Tbls of unsalted butter, 1/3 cup fat free greek yogurt, 2 Tbls skim milk, salt and pepper.

I drizzled my broccolini with olive oil, then added some salt and pepper, and roasted it in a 400 degree oven until it was tender, about 15 minutes.
I put the mashed potato mixture back into the potato skins and then covered them with cheddar cheese. I popped them back in the oven, until the cheese was melted and the potatoes were warm throughout.

So, not exactly what the recipe said to do, but sometimes you have to improvise!

Check out the CEIMB Blogroll to see what everyone else did with this recipe!


Recipe for Broccoli and Cheddar-Stuffed Potato Skins with Avocado Cream

Sauteed Broccolini

Back in the spring, I had the chance to choose the bonus recipe for Barefoot Bloggers. I am no longer a part of that particular cooking group, but at the time, I could not find Broccolini anywhere!
It was so frustrating. I must have checked at 6 or 7 different stores and just gave up.

So, imagine my surprise and excitement, 6 months later when I spotted Broccolini at Publix!
As soon as I saw it, I decided that I would make this very easy, Barefoot Contessa side dish and find out exactly what I had missed.

Well, if you have had Broccolini, then you know that it is delicious!
This recipe is so easy. It takes only a matter of minutes.
First, you blanch the broccolini and then, you saute it with a little garlic and lemon zest, except I didn't have a lemon, so I used lime. It was soo good with the lime zest.

The best thing about broccolini, is that you can eat the entire stem and it tastes good. It is 20x better than normal broccoli.

We ate ours with our fingers, while we were having a picnic in the front yard, with pizza.
My kids went crazy for it, but who doesn't love finger food?


Recipe for Sauteed Broccolini

One Year Ago-Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies and Grapefruit Mousse