In My Kitchen - January 11, 2015 and January 17, 2015

I have been spending more time in the kitchen and cooked up a few more recipes from my Pinterest boards that have caught my eye.

On January 11, we made two recipes. The first was Skinny Thai Chicken Meatballs by Jo Cooks and the second was Carrot Ginger Dressing for Everything by the Nutrition Twins. We pretty much had all of the pantry ingredients needed for both of these recipes and just had to pick up the ground chicken, greens and a fresh ginger root (I wasn't sure the frozen one we had would work with the dressing).

The meatballs came together quickly. I used my #70 disher to make sure they were all the same size and ended up having enough to fit on two baking sheets. The recipe calls for 30 minutes banking time and I think this could be reduced by a 1/3. 

Before

After

The sauce was very easy to make - next time I would use a bit less (or perhaps no) brown sugar because I think that the coconut milk added plenty of sweetness. I added almost double the called for peanut butter and it was perfect for us. We served the meatballs and sauce over rice and had enough left-overs for me to take to work a couple of times the following week. 

Yummy!

We were less enthusiastic about the dressing - I was hoping for that great Japanese steakhouse dressing but didn't really get that taste/texture with this recipe. It didn't taste bad, it just didn't meet my expectation. 

From Thai to Cheesy Quinoa

This past weekend my parents visited from PA so we could have a delayed Christmas celebration. I decided to try Cheddar Chicken Quinoa Bake by Running to the Kitchen. It was too hectic to take pictures while trying to serve hungry company so I pulled one from Running to the Kitchen (which I will happily remove if you object, Gina!). Clearly it isn't mine - it is so much more professional than the photos I take - someone in our family is always to hangry for me to compose a decent food shot. 

Photo Source

I didn't really make any changes except to increase the recipe to serve 6 and added extra scallions - because I love scallions. This could easily be done meet free with added veggies and perhaps beans. I plan to add corn next time we make it - no doubt this recipe goes into the regular rotation. Seriously - try it!

My parents gave us a Vitamix - so I see some smoothie experimentation in our future.

Cheers! Kim