Curried Chicken Sandwiches with Pecan and Apples for Dinner

I hope everyone is enjoying their Mother's Day! This was supposed to be a day off lol! My hubby came home for work and I made breakfast. We had home made pancakes, sausages, and fried potatoes. I started using Sensa today too. It's supposed to curb your appetite when you sprinkle it on food. I am not sure if it works quite yet. Lunch was a chix patty from Bocca. (so chickenless but tastes like chicken) I wanted something fast and stole it from my veggie daughters stash.

Right now I am making up some Curried Chicken Salad sammies for dinner. It is something you can make the night before and is quite filling. I also very the ingredients by season for example I add dried cranberries and walnuts in the fall or in the summer I add split green grapes. It also works well with a variety of dressings. I use Miracle Whip sometimes but today had Hellman's on hand. One constant is the curry powder. I love what it adds to the chicken.

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 tsp pepper
1 tsp curry powder
1 apple diced
2 stalks celery cut into thirds and diced

Boil the chicken breasts from frozen for 25-30 minutes until no longer pink and let cool. Dice the chicken into small to medium sized cubes. In a large bowl add chicken, apple, and celery. Then add the mayo.  Give the chicken a toss and add salt, pepper, and curry powder. Lastly add chopped pecans and mix. Refrigerate for a hour or over nite. After sitting you may need to add some more of the mayo just before serving.
Serve on toast.

My Mother's Day Wish (Depressing)

My Mother's Day wish is a very simple one. To have a better relationship with my Mom. I so much envy those that are close with their Mom. I am striving today to have the best Mother's Day with my kids. To show them how much I love them and value them.  My Mom in law is not here today and I miss her dearly. I know time is short on this Earth but not all of us have the ideal relationship with our Moms. Well here is to trying and realizing I am not my parents parent.

Groupon Friday and the Thor Premier

My hubby and I don't get a date night that often and it was our first chance to test my oldest daughters babysitting skills. She is finally at the age where she is able to babysit her sister. The question was would my younger one be alive when we got home?

About a week ago I got notice from Groupon they were giving us free tickets to go see the new movie "Thor" staring Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth. I also had some Groupons I needed to use at the mall and for dinner so I was very excited. Groupon is a discounted deal offered in your area daily. If enough people buy into it you get to buy it. You just click on this link and choose your area. http://www.groupon.com/r/uu1531594

We went to the Body Shop first. I had a Groupon for $45 worth of the Body Shop products. For a bit they had been offering buy 3 get two free but alas I missed that special. Instead they had thirty percent off gift baskets. This is what I got! I also purchased a face moisturizer with SPF. I work outsides sometimes and have very sensitive skin. I am happy I can use their products.

Then it was off to the movie premier. We got there around 6:30p.m. and saw a Groupon area set up. We were given our movie tickets, two vouchers for pop corn and soda and a head band with the Groupon logo on it. Here's my hubby showing our swagger lol!

I didn't think I would like the movie based on the previews I had seen but it was pretty good. It was on one of those huge ultra screens and we were pretty close but the chairs recline so you can be comfortable. My only complaint was the half hour of movie previews before the movie!

From there it was off to use another Groupon to Rustico pizza. We had thirty dollars to spend. The only problem was it was a Friday night and downtown. There was no parking except for in a parking garage across the street. Once we found a spot we went in to the charming pizza place. It had the original old floors and cream brick walls. I loved the ambiance.

Neighter my hubby nor I our drinkers so we each had diet cokes. I don't like meat on my pizza and my hubby does so we had to order a build your own pizza. He got sausage and pepperoni and I had the eggplant, feta cheese, black olives and artichokes on my side. We also ordered these yummy meatballs and garlic bread for our appetizer. The only question was would we spend over our Groupon? Yes we did a bit. Our bill was $9.00 plus the tip. Not bad for a dinner out and we had half of a pizza to take home.

Shopping Day and Mexican Pizzas for Dinner

I really didn't need much. My fridge and freezer are full so I only ended up spending under $50 at the grocery store today and saved $13 on coupons. There was some peanut butter on clearance that I am thinking about now that I didn't grab more. Oh well!  So I stil have some things I want to make that I haven't I've got a movie date night for free with my hubby from Groupon for the movie Thor and I am going to use my Body Shop Groupon Friday too.

Here is what I have planned food wise for the next week
mexican pizzas and Zatarains rice
Chicken tortilla soup (we love it around here!)
mole rubbed grilled pork chops
brats and hot dogs on the grill
curried chicken salad sandwiches with pecans and apple
shrimp fried rice

These taste just as good as Taco Bells but won't break your pocket book!

Mexican Pizzas
1 lb of ground beef browned and drained
1 pkg flour tortillas
1 can tomato sauce
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 pinch cayane pepper
1 can black olives chopped
1 head lettuce choppped
2-3 Roma tomatoes chopped
1 can pinto beans
1/2 cup cheese
2 inches Canola oil

In a frying pan brown ground beef and season with the above seasonings for the sauce and salt and pepper.
In a sauce pan combine tomato sauce and all the seasonings and let combine on low. In a frying pan heat the oil. When shimmering add the tortillas. They will puff up so have a knife handy to let the air out. Fry each side for about 2 minutes til lightly browned. Remove and let drain on paper towels.

 After done frying the tortillas make an assembly line. Place about 2 TBSP of the pinto beans on the tortilla and spread out. Add 2 TBSP sauce. Top with ground beef and another tortilla. On the top layer add beans, sauce, and ground beef. Microwave for 2 minutes and add tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and black olives. Serve with your favorite rice.

Started Walking Yesterday Chicken and Shrimp Etouffee for Dinner

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Milwaukee! My hubby has off this week and I was going to drag myself to the gym but we made a pact to start walking. He was diagnosed with type one diabetes which means he is a insulin dependant diabetic. This is something that caught us by surprise about 6 months ago. I noticed something wasn't right with him. He was rapidly loosing weight, constantly thirsty, and very crabby. I thought the crabbiness was due to him working third shift. I made him go to the doctor and found out his blood sugar was over 500. That is VERY bad. They gave him an insulin injection right there.

One of the side effects of having high blood sugar is loss of vision. We were driving home from the doctor and my hubby starts to freak out! He says to me "I can't see!" I managed to get him to the side of the road. Eventually about 85 percent of his vision came back but we found out he has a disease called GAD that kills his islets in his pancreas so he can no longer produce insulin himself hence the two shots of insulin a day. He has been able to drop a lot of weight in a short amount of time and keep it off.

Well back to me. I have been on and off the weight loss wagon so many times but I am a current rider again. I am hoping the walking will steer me in the right direction.

Tonight I am making one of our favorites, Chicken and Shrimp Etouffee http://tinkmomfoodie-foodobsession.blogspot.com/2011/01/hey-good-lookin-whatcha-got-cookin.html

Arroz con Pollo Puerto Rican Style

Last night I made one of my hubbys favorties Arroz con Pollo or rice with chicken. It is very easy to make and makes a lot of food. I had chicken thighs on sale at my store but I have also used chicken wings and drumsticks for this dish. To make it Puerto Rican style I added gandules or green pigeon peas and ham. Also the addition of capers and green olives. http://tinkmomfoodie-foodobsession.blogspot.com/2011/01/thank-god-its-friday.html. I have added and changed a few things for the Puerto Rican rice.

4 chicken thighs
2 chicken drumsticks
2 chicken wings
2 cups long grain rice         
4 cups chicken stock
2 TBSP tomato paste
1 TBSP capers
2 turns of olive oil
1/4 c olives chopped
Adobo seasoning
flour for dredging
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp achote seeds (may be omitted)
1 large onion diced
1/2 cup chopped ham
chicken soup base or boullion

In a separate pan take achote seeds and brown them in olive oil for about 2 minutes. The seeds should not burn or it will leave a burnt flavor to your oil. Remove seeds with a spoon. Reserve oill until the browning of the rice step.

Coat a large stock pot with the olive oil and bring the heat up until the oil is shimmering. Dredge the chicken in flour, paprika, and garlic salt.   Place chicken in pot skin side down. Brown on both sides about 4 minutes each. Remove from pot. Brown onion in achote oil until translucent scraping the bits of chicken off the bottom of the pot. Add 2 cups of long grain rice and stir til golden brown about 2 minutes.  Add chicken stock, tomato paste,capers, and ham. Bring to a boil. When to a boil add chicken back into the pot reduce heat and cover with lid. Do not peek. Simmer on low for 15-25 minutes.(depends on the rice you are using I use Riceland long grain rice) At 15 minutes test a grain of rice for doneness.  After 25minutes take off lid and add drained gandules. Serve and enjoy!

Corn Tortillas with Eggs and Sausage for Breakfast

I learned how to make this dish as a child. I would sleep over at my girlfriends house every weekend. Her father would make this delicious dish on Sundays. I have been making it ever since. It's a great use for left over tortillas and a great egg stretcher. Today I also made a half log of breakfast sausage. When I make Sawmill Gravy with Sausage I only use a half log. This was a great use for the other half.

Corn Tortilla's and Scrambled Eggs

10-15 corn tortillas ripped into 4-5 pieces each
5 eggs
1/4 c milk of your choice (I use Skim)
salt and pepper
PAM for the pan
Jimmy Dean Sausage half a log optional
1 TBSP butter

In a medium sized bowl place 5 eggs and scramble adding the 1/4 c milk. Rip the tortillas and add to the eggs. In a large frying pan spray with PAM and the butter. Once melted add the tortilla egg mixture moving the wet eggs to the outside of the pan. Spread out the tortillas so all the eggs cook. At this time brown the sausage in a separate pan.

When there are no longer any eggs on the sides of the pan, flip over the eggs and tortillas until the eggs are cooked. Serve with your favorite salsa.