Potato Chip Clusters

Just made these today and they're just another addition to my sweet and salty collection. It's a recipe from my Taste of Home: Fun Food Magazine.

9 squares (1 oz. each) white baking chocolate

2 c. crushed potato chips

1/2 c. chopped pecans

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt white chocolate. Sitr in potato chips and pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until set. Makes about 3 dozen.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

I don't know if it's because it's the holidays, or if it's because the little person inside of me is making me crave them, but lately I've had a thing for sweet potatoes. Mmmmm...I get excited just thinking about them...I know...sad. But it's true. So what's my solution for this strange addiction I've been having? It's SIMPLE...Baked Sweet Potatoes.

Wash and scrub some sweet potatoes and dry them. Poke them with a fork all over. Pop them in a oven at 425 deg for about an hour until soft. Cut a slit in them and pinch in the sides to fluff. It's that easy!

But a plain baked sweet potato may leave much to be desired. My desire...a little bit of butter and cinnamon sugar to taste. YUM!

Cinnamon Stove Top Granola

We had oatmeal for breakfast this morning and thought, mmmmmm....granola. So my Google results returned this recipe:

Cinnamon Stove Top Granola

Best part for me was no baking!! Perfect because our oven has been broken for the last several months. I know...you wonder how we've gone this far through fall and winter without an oven...easy...$30 Black & Decker toaster oven from Walmart.

Chicken Tikka Masala

I got this meal idea from Emily. THANKS EMILY!! She recommended it to me because it was fast, simple, requires no measuring, cheap, and sooooooo tasty. She knows me so well :)

Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Chicken breasts, diced to bite-size pieces
Garam Masala seasoning (mix of cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and coriander)
Jar of Tikka Masala Sauce

Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and season with garam masala, salt and pepper. Brown chicken and cook through. Add tikka masala sauce. Serve over rice or along side some naan (flat bread).

I got all the ingredients from Target. In case you're looking, I found the naan in the bakery section, not the bread. I loved the garam masala because it added serious flavor to the chicken. And for the sauce I used the Patak brand. Later I found out that the sauce had all natural ingredients - meaning pronounceable and recognizable ingredients! I found some recipes to make tikka masala sauce from scratch...maybe someday I'll try them, but for now I really like the ease of opening a jar and pouring it right in. This dish (minus the rice cooking time) took me less than 10 minutes to make.

I know, I know

I know...pictureless posts are a drag. I wish I could take pictures of my food with my awesome new camera, but considering the time of day I actually cook my food and the lack of natural light in my house makes it hard. No amount of flash can do the food justice. Perhaps when I repeat some of these dishes, I'll have better luck and update the posts later. But for now you'll just have to trust me :)

Albondigas Soup

We love this soup three ways:
1. from 3 Margaritas
2. from Auntie Barbara
3. this way:

Grandma Salazar's Albondigas Soup

This is a Cooking Light recipe, so when it gives you the directions on cooking the meatballs, it uses cooking spray. I found this to be a complete mess b/c the meatballs kept sticking to the pan. I gave up and just used veggie oil and ended up completely satisfied.

By the way, this is not a quick meal...so plan ahead.

Onion Baked Salmon

This is a super easy dish that I got from my Uncle Ricky. They say you should never trust a skinny chef, so you can TOTALLY trust Uncle Ricky :) The best part is you don't have to measure anything!!


Salmon Fillets
Mayonnaise (low-fat if you like)
Lipton Onion Soup Mix

Preheat oven to 375 deg. Line baking dish with foil and arrange fillets in a single layer. Spread some mayonnaise on the top side of each fillet (less for crispy onions, more for moist onions). Sprinkle each fillet with the onion soup mix. Bake for 15-20 minutes until fish flakes with a fork. Enjoy!