Spinach Artichoke Dip

In the spirit of football season, I decided to make some game day foods since we are watching the Patriots game.  So I made my buttermilk fried chicken wings and tried a new recipe for spinach artichoke dip!  It was amazingly good and so easy.  It's a crock pot recipe, which of course are my favorite since you toss in the ingredients and then let it do its thing until you're ready to eat.

Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:
10 oz. Frozen spinach, thawed
8 oz. Cream cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can/jar artichokes (not marinated)

Instructions:
In the crock pot, add all of the cheeses and cream cheese, then toss in the minced garlic.  Before you add the spinach, make sure that you've broken it up a bit with a fork to make sure its not in large chunks, and then add that to the crock pot.  Lastly, drain the water out of the can or jar of artichokes, and then dice them into small pieces, and add it to the crock pot.  Give this all a stir and then cook on high for two hours.  Half way through, open the lid and stir everything again.

Enjoy!!!

This Fall's Brussel Sprout Harvest

Last Fall I posted pictures of our first ever harvest of brussel sprouts, and that time has come again!  Ever since my Mom and I became obsessed with roasted brussels, we wanted to see if they would grow well in the garden, and they do!  The interesting thing about this vegetable is that you can't pick them until it gets colder.  Typically, you wait until after the first frost of the season but it's been cold enough at night that we thought we would harvest some and see how they taste.  

 Today we picked one stalk of them, with many more stalks left in the garden.  Here's what we got:

To recap our easy recipe for cooking these on the stovetop...

Add 2 tbsp. of olive oil to a saucepan, with 2 cloves of crushed garlic.  When this heats up and the garlic is sizzling, add the brussel sprouts (first you will rinse them and chop each one in half.)  Then, add a good sprinkle of coarse salt, pepper, and the juice of half a lemon.  Let the brussels roast until the edges gets crispy and golden brown.  Enjoy!
 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies

I've been away from the blog for a bit, but I'm back with a new pumpkin-inspired recipe!  It's finally autumn again, and I'm always determined to try new seasonal recipes.  These blondie bars are easy to make, and they are a wonderful treat for a snack or a dessert. 

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour
1/2 tbsp. nutmeg
1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened, canned pumpkin
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions: 

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.  When it is smooth, add in the egg and vanilla extract.  Now, add the pumpkin puree and mix everything together until well-combined.  Add in the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, and mix on a low speed until everything is mixed.  Now, fold in the chocolate chips.  The batter will be like a stiff cookie batter at this point.  Spread the mixture into a greased pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. 

*yields 24 bars* 

Homemade Lavender Hand Scrub

The Turtle's Kitchen is more than just recipes for great meals - I'm all about making things at home and doing DIY projects.  Today I'm sharing something that my Mom made: homemade lavender hand & foot scrub!  This is so easy to make, with only three ingredients.  It smells great, and can be used to exfoliate the hands and feet.  The olive oil makes your hands and feet feel smooth, and the lavender has a calming scent.  I love learning how to make things like this at home, because it saves money but it's also fun.

Here's the simple way to make your own body scrub...

Ingredients:

1 cup olive oil
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup dried lavender

Instructions:

Place the olive oil and lavender into a sauce pan.  Heat this until the mixture is warm.  Place the salt into a separate dish or bowl.  Pour the oil mixture over the salt, and mix it well until everything is incorporated together.  Now, you can put this mixture into jars and store it just like that.  Enjoy this homemade scrub!

 

 

Here are the ingredients and jars, ready to go.

Here is the lavender and olive oil mixture being warmed up.

This is the mixture being combined with the salt.

Here's the finished product!

Homemade Chicken Lo Mein

The theme of my blog lately has been Asian cuisine.  I've gotten really excited about testing out so many different Asian dishes, and everyone who has tried my concoctions has been impressed!


So in keeping with the theme, today's recipe is homemade chicken lo mein.  This is another crockpot recipe, but you can easily cook this on the stovetop if you don't want to use the crockpot.  This meal is really versatile, because you can make it with chicken, beef, or shrimp, and you can throw in any vegetables you have on hand.

I used carrots, onions, and celery for my lo mein vegetables, but feel free to toss in anything you want.  As for the noodles - I was able to find lo mein noodles at the grocery store, but if you have trouble, you can use a thick spaghetti noodle, chow mein noodles, or even egg noodles.


Ingredients:


Part 1:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. corn starch

Part 2:

1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp. oyster flavored sauce
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes 
1 large carrot, peeled and diced 
1/4 white onion, diced
1 large celery stalk, diced  
2 cloves garlic, minced

Part 3:

2 tbsp. corn starch
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. soy sauce
8 oz. lo mein noodles  

*yields 4 servings*


Instructions:

First, dice the boneless chicken into small pieces.  Into the crockpot, put everything from "step 1" and stir it around so that the chicken is coated in the sauce mixture.  Cook this on high in the crockpot for 1 hour.  Halfway through, stir it around to make sure the chicken is being cooked evenly.

When that hour is up, you are going to toss in everything from "step 2."  Make sure the veggies you are using are diced into small pieces, and mix together all of the wet ingredients for the sauce in a bowl before pouring it in.  Once it's all in, stir it around.  Cook on high for 1 hour.

15 minutes before that is done, boil the noodles on the stovetop and drain as usual.  Now, mix together the corn starch and water, and pour it into the crockpot along with the cooked noodles.  Add in the extra soy sauce.  Stir well, and let this cook for about 10 more minutes.

It is ready to serve.  I served this lo mein with my homemade pork fried rice (see my last blog post for the recipe.)  Enjoy!

Fried Rice

To go along with the theme of Asian cuisine, I made fried rice for the first time today. I kept it simple, but this dish is versatile and you can easily add any type of vegetable or meat that you want. This rice would be a great side dish to homemade General Tso's chicken (see my last blog post for the recipe!)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. Vegetable oil
1 tbsp. Oyster flavored sauce
1 tbsp. Sesame oil
2 cups white rice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. Soy sauce
1 large carrot
1 small onion

Instructions:

Boil the rice as usual. Set aside when it is cooked. Now, dice the carrot and onion into tiny pieces and then add two tbsp. of vegetable oil to a pan, along with the sesame oil and oyster sauce, and cook the vegetables for about five minutes. Then, in a separate pan add the rest of the vegetable oil with the garlic. Let it cook for a few minutes and then turn to high heat and add the rice and the soy sauce. This will cook fast so stir continuously and don't let it burn. Now, add the vegetables into the pan of rice and stir it all around. It is ready to  serve. Enjoy!

Homemade General Tso's Chicken

Like most people, I love Chinese food.  But usually, two meals from the Chinese restaurant costs nearly $20, and I'm all about sticking to a budget and making low cost meals.  So I decided to get creative and see if I could recreate one of our favorite take-out dinners at home.  And there's another twist to this meal - it's a crock pot recipe!  This is an easy and inexpensive way to eat Chinese food that tastes just like the real thing.  In fact, my boyfriend told me that this tasted like the General Tso's from our absolute favorite Chinese restaurant, and that's quite the compliment!

This recipe yields two large servings.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp. of salt
Dash of pepper 
1 tsp. garlic powder
4 tbsp. hoisin sauce (find this in the international foods aisle at the grocery store)
4 tbsp. soy sauce
4 tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 cloves minced garlic
4 tbsp. water
1 tsp. of red pepper flakes 


Instructions:

First, dice the chicken into small bite-sized pieces.  Mix together the corn starch, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl and then pour it into a large ziploc bag.  Add the chicken pieces to the bag and shake around so that they are all coated.  Now, heat the canola oil in a pan on medium heat.  When it's heated, add the chicken to the pan and cook for about 1 minute on each side.  You want the outside of the chicken pieces to be browned, but the chicken will not be fully cooked at this point.  When that is done, add the chicken pieces to your crockpot.  Next, mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, minced garlic, water, and red pepper flakes.  Whisk this together until it is combined.  Add approximately three quarters of this mixture to the crockpot.  Set the other bit aside in the fridge.  Give the crockpot a quick stir, and then cover it and cook on high for about one and a half hours. 

About 15 minutes before the chicken is done in the crockpot, cook some rice to be served alongside the chicken.  I made white rice to keep it simple (but I'd like to tackle fried rice as my next homemade Chinese food item!)  Then, you are going to open up the crockpot and pour in the rest of the sauce mixture.  Stir it around, and then serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

This is the chicken being cooked after being coated with the corn starch mixture.  The corn starch gives the chicken that crispy breading that makes the General Tso's so good!

This is what the sauce mixture should look like.

 

The finished product!  It looks and tastes just like the real thing!

Check out the breading on the chicken - perfection!