Food Swing

This is what we had for dinner tonight, Asian Chicken Salad.  We really like Asian food in my house so this definitely appealed to all of us.  I originally bought the ingredients to make this recipe from this blog:

But then I had my doubts, so I turned to Pinterest, searched for Ginger Chicken, since I bought some fresh ginger, and it led me to this recipe from this blog:

I modified the marinade to suit my taste and the quantity that I was making so this is what I did:

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1/2-3/4 C soy sauce (I prefer low sodium)

Juice of 2 limes (I had one big one small)

6 garlic cloves crushed

2 T fresh grated garlic (I guesstimated, probably put in a little more)

2.5 lbs. chicken tenders

Sesame Seeds

Scallions (Green Onions)

Mixed Baby Greens

Won Ton Wrappers

Canola oil

Ginger Sesame Salad Dressing

I reserved 3/4 C of the marinade for basting.  With the rest, I marinated the chicken for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a heavy sauce pan, I heated 2"-3" of Canola Oil on a medium heat.  I cut the Won Ton Wrappers into 1/2" strips and when the oil started to ripple I dropped in the Won Ton Wrappers one at a time in batches of 10 (or so). These fry up very fast, in a matter of seconds, so when they start to bubble and brown a touch, then take them out using a strainer and put them to drain on paper towels that are set on a plate.  I then grilled the chicken on the medium setting on my indoor electric grill.  You could grill the outside, or use a grill pan.  The original recipe says to grill 5 minutes on each side, since my indoor grill has a lid, it took about 4 minutes on the 1st side and 3 or so on the 2nd.  I used the reserved marinade to baste while the chicken was grilling.  Once the chicken was done, I removed them from the grill, placed them on a plate, then sprinkled them with Sesame Seeds and thinly sliced Scallions.

To assemble the salad, I started with the baby greens, topped them with the chicken, poured on a little dressing, then topped it all with the fried Won Tons.  

This salad was amazing!!!  It is super easy to get into a salad rut and this is definitely a cure.  The hubs even gave this a 9/10!!!  And my 6 year old, while helping me make the marinade, didn't want to stop tasting the marinade because (and I quote), "It tastes like SUSHI!!!"

Let me know if you have any questions, Enjoy this one... we did!!!

Last Week

Last week was Spring Break for my oldest and it has been gorgeous here:

So the hubs took the week off and we have been busy!! Here are the Instagram highlights.

We've been dog sitting:

We My Hubbs gained a 'family member':

We worked in the Garden:

Although, it is still a work in progress:

We tried a new restaurant:

The weather was sooo nice, that we had a cook-out:

I developed a recipe for Coffee Mocha Cupcakes:

The pictures from here on are from the weekend trip we made to my in-law's in Springfield (which we make often).  

The best place to get Jalapeno pickled eggs and an array of odd bulk items, at an Amish store:

 If you have never been, then you NEED to go to what my kids call the "throw the roll place":

 Hot, freshly baked roll, just tossed and drenched in Sorghum:

 View from the in-laws':

Crossed a few of these:

 Had some chocolate from this place:

 Storm Trooper just hanging out on the corner (on St. Patty's Day):

Made my way here (because I am totally obsessed with this lady's blog) although, strangely, I didn't buy anything:

But I did manage to "thrift" a few things from their neighbor.  I can't wait to thumb through this guy:

 And I love this plastic bangle:

This is a must when we are going to Springfield, the very home of the best cashew chicken in the country (although I mostly order the sweet&sour shrimp):

You can't go to Springfield without going to the Bass Pro HQ (which my youngest calls the 'Hambilly Fishing Store' as in Hillbilly Hand Fishing)

And after a long weekend in Springfield and a lengthy drive home, I still managed to squeeze in some craft time:

Can't wait to post some home made goodies soon!

Pillows

I have recently been obsessed with throw pillows....  it's pretty bad because they seem to be on my mind all of the time!!!!    Recently I saw this one on Pinterest:

Which is available here on Etsy.  I thought that it was adorable and since I have 2 "momma's boys", I made my own version for each.  I had some linen just laying around in my craft room, so I drew them out and embroidered them.  I initially was planning on using one piece of coordinating fabric for the back, but I have so many scraps left over from their quilts that I pieced them together with all of the "too small to use for anything" pieces.  

 Here are the finished pillows.

3rd Time's the Charm...

... and so is true for my Mustard Shrug.  The original pattern was written for a beginning knitter and so I decided to alter the pattern to make it a little more complicated but saving me time in the end.  Of course, I didn't decide this until after I knitted 1/4 of it, no biggie..  I just ripped it out and started over.  Then after having 3/4 of the 2nd go-round knitted, I decided that I had WAY over complicated things and that I would HAVE TO rip that out and re-knit again in order for it to even be wearable.  3rd time, I got it done and it looks great.  I have way more time invested in this than I should have so I am taking every opportunity to wear it, especially since our Spring is arriving a lot sooner than expected.  For all you knitters the Pattern is called the Hug Me Tight Shrug and can be found in this book:

Here is my process:

 After all that I still want to make more cardigan-ish type of yarned goods.... because I love wearing this shrug!!!