mid-week meal share: peanut noodle pasta salad

Gaiiiiiiiiiz. I was searching through my saved recipes and came across this peanut noodle pasta salad that I had saved all the way back in January and I was so happy to find it again! Such a complete success and a perfect dish to bring to any upcoming bbq's or parties.

Easy to concoct: real easy but there are a lot of ingredients

Cost effective: ~$15 depending on what main ingredients your pantry is lacking

It's a long one and I said, "hell no" to my usual cutting board regimen:

½ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp sriracha

¼ cup water

1 tbsp minced ginger

1½ tsp (3 cloves) minced garlic

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 box whole grain linguine (or other)

1 cup shredded carrots

2 cucumbers, shaved

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips

½ cup sliced green onion*

¼ cup sliced cilantro

¼ cup chopped peanuts

PHEW. A few things: rice vinegar is cheap, $2 for a large bottle; sesame oil, not so cheap (at least when it comes to only needing 1 tbsp). I had some from a recipe I made awhile ago and probably would not have bought it for this ($6-10 a bottle), I just would have substituted for vegetable oil. The sesame is likely an Asian flavor enhancer but not to the extent of altering the entire dish if it not used.

Moving on to the instructions.

1. Boil up the noodles you so carefully selected.

2. While waiting for your water to boil and for your noodles to "al dente"fy, chop up those veggies and nuts. I diced my red and yellow peppers because I knew if I didn't I would pick around them. On occasion I have been known to eat like a child like, I purposely left out green onions and I could not find cilantro.

 

3. Comfort an upset Piper because she busted her arm on the table climbing off her chair.

4. When your noodles are done, strain them and run them under cold water. 

5. In a mixing bowl combine together the peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sriracha, water, minced ginger, minced garlic, and brown sugar. Initially I used a spatula but switched to a whisk because the job was just not getting done.

6. Put your noodles in a large bowl and add in your veggies and sauce. You will have to break Piper's heart and wrestle the carrots away from her.

 

7. Mix together and "chill for one hour".

 

8. Enjoy!

 

First off, there was no way I was going to let that puppy chill for an hour. I was way too hungry after all the measuring and cutting I did. Also, I'm pretty sure the whole wheat noodles are to give the illusion that the noodles are so well covered in sauce. Don't get me wrong there is enough, just saying.

Leftovers for days.

Leia

'so late it's a day early' mid-week meal share: mini cheesecakes

Y'all, I know. I've been slacking on the one routine thing I had hoped for this little blog. But hey, such as this train that is my life we get extremely busy with work, school, chores, kids, and other shit but in the spirit of FAT TUESDAY I'm giving you guys a fabulous treat yo'self recipe along with making preparations to share another recipe tomorrow. And the crowd goes wild.

PayPal update: UPS closed their second case saying that delivery of the package could not be confirmed. Where the hell was this verdict 3 weeks ago? I don't know, but they gave us forms to fill out to be reviewed at which point I'm hoping we'll get compensation. Do I feel a little bad about my anger towards Buyer? Only slightly, isn't it okay to just be angry sometimes?

And you know what will ease your negative emotions into bliss?

MINI NO BAKE CHEESECAKES! Simple, delicious and unforgiving to your thighs, hips and your children's psychotic sugar buzz state of mind.

Cost effective: decently; around $14/dozen factoring out things like sugar and butter that would normally be in your fridge or cupboard.

Easy to concoct: yaass, but you may get frustrated trying to get even layers of goodness.

Here's what you're gonna need:

1 package (8 oz) softened cream cheese

¼ cup softened butter

¼ cup melted butter

¼ cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

1 cup melted white chocolate chips (I splurged on Ghirardelli because.. duh)

8 oz whipped cream

1 cup crushed graham crackers *approximately 8 whole graham crackers

6 tsp seedless raspberry jam *or other if you don't like or are unfortunately allergic

cupcake liners

I BOUGHT A HAND MIXER!!! LSDKFJOIWEJFOISJDF!!! Be proud.

1. In a bowl combine cream cheese, SOFTENED butter, sugar and vanilla with a hand mixer. Blend on a plate if you're feeling adventurous.

2. Melt your chocolate chips and then fold them in.

3. Add in your whipped cream. The original recipe stated to fold it in, but mine was still somewhat frozen (which I didn't think would harm the recipe since the last step is to freeze them) so I used my handy dandy hand mixer to finish it up.

4. Crush up your graham crackers. I used a food processor even though it may have been overkill. 

5. Line a muffin tin with your cupcake liners. Riddle me that.

6. First add a layer of cream cheese mix; you may or may not use your finger to spread the mix around..

7. Add a layer of jelly; again the finger thing..

8. Add another layer of cream cheese mix; finger..

9. Finish it off with a layer of pulverized graham crackers. Which, pulverized is probably not the best route, or maybe I used too much butter. My grahams were sticky as shit and were not easy to spread.

10. Freeze for one hour. This is by far the hardest step.

11. ENJOY!

Did I add some chocolate sauce on top? Mmmmmmmhmmmmmmmmm. I felt it was necessary since I didn't have anymore whipped cream or fruit garnishes. Other than not measuring out ½ tsp of jelly per cheesecake I made no alterations to the recipe.

And let me say these beauties have survived more than a day! I'm still not sure how.. probably because Piper can't open the freezer and Kennedy is usually well mannered enough to ask before indulging in sweets.

We will definitely be making these again. They may just become a staple in this household. I am eager to try other filling flavors and I don't think it would be that difficult to alter the cheesecake flavor, either. Add some cocoa mix? I think so.

And I lost my receipt so I looked up prices online, and if you were ever curious a 50 pound carton of cream cheese can be purchased on the internet.

Maybe I'll grab one now..

Leia

end/beginning-week meal share: mini chicken pot pies

So this past week has just been one for the record books. PayPal still has me fucked up but that's just an issue we're trying to just stomach. This weekend was eventful, but that will come later. For now.. FOOD. GLORIOUS FOOD. THE ENTITY THAT FIXES ALL!

And especially this one. So yummy and comforting, even if you forget to add the peas. Which truthfully I was really bummed about.

Cost effective: more pricey than usual, but anytime you add meat the price can jump a bit, so at $24 you're able to get 6 medium pies.

Easy to concoct: slightly time consuming and you do have to get a little crafty puff pastry.

The list is long with this one:

2 tbsp butter

1 cup chopped carrots (I went with canned and sliced)

1 cup chopped onions

½ cup chopped celery

2 cups chopped potatoes (I went canned and diced)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp garlic powder (1 tsp minced garlic)

½ tsp thyme

½ tbsp dried parsley

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups cooked and cubed (shredded) chicken

2 tbsp flour

puff pastry

egg wash

If you do not want to use a Crock-Pot go ahead and boil, bake, or grille your chicken and begin at step 3! Also do not forget to allow your Puff Pastry's to thaw (40 minutes)!

1. So the absolute first thing I did was whip out my Crock-Pot. Once I started cooking and shredding chicken in that bad boy I have never turned back. 2 pounds of breast tenderloin with a bottle of marinade on high for 3 hours? Fo'get about it! And hey, leftovers!

2. If you are like me and took the Crock-Pot route you'll want to start in on the other steps once you have about 30 minutes left on the timer.

3. In a medium-large pan melt your butter. Since I can never remember that it's 2 shakers of onion powder I have and not 1 garlic and 1 onion.. SO I used minced garlic and I added it right in with the butter to assure better mixage in the end.

4. Once your butter is melted go ahead and add in your carrots, celery, onions, salt and pepper.

5. I can assure you I cooked as recommended: until onions are translucent.

6. Trip over Piper and her random slice of half eaten bread while you head back to the stove with your chicken broth. Once again, please ask in advance and I can provide you with a Piper so you can properly cook this meal.

7. Add your chicken broth, potatoes, thyme, parsley and your garlic powder if you have the appropriate spices in your pantry.

8. Bring this mixture to a boil.

9. If you've opted for Crock-Pot method, now should be the perfect time to get your chicken out and shred it to bits. These claws are still one of the best kitchen tools I own.

10. Once your broth is boiling, add your chicken.

11. Throw your flour into a small mixing bowl. From your pan, ladle out some broth to mix into your flour. Once you've mixed it together pour back into your mix.

12. Wait for mix to thicken and add in your peas. Please add in your peas FOR ME. At this point I turned the mixture down to the lowest heat setting to prepare my puffs!

13. Preheat your oven to 400°F.

14. One egg plus a splash of water or milk and you have your egg wash. And be proud! I can't keep my spice pantry in check but I bought a proper tool!

15. Roll out your Puff Pastry's, and since I reminded you at the beginning you will not have to twiddle your thumbs for 20 minutes waiting for them to thaw.

16. I used a small Pyrex bowl for size and was still able to get two bowls from one sheet. Cut two and leave as-is, cut two and cut a ring around the outside - do not pull it out, leave in tact.

17. Brush your egg wash on the uncut pieces, then place your cut pieces on top, then egg wash again.

18. Place in oven for 20-25 minutes.

19. When Kennedy see's you about to throw 'Play-Doh' in the trash she'll want to play with it first. And it really did seem like their was a lot of wasted Puff Pasty.. damn geometric shapes!

20. Once they're done, cut out the top piece, pull out some potential undone bits from the center, and fill with your wonderful pot pie filling!

21. Enjoy!

These were so good. I was actually surprised at how well the little bowls turned out!

I thought for sure they would have been a flat little mess. Instead my disappointment came from forgotten peas. But hey! I didn't know how important the frozenness was and left them in the freezer and the rest is history. We will definitely be making these again.

Marie Callender, who?

Leia