Chicken Fajitas and the BEST Mexican Rice

I have been craving chicken fajitas for months now. I'm on one of those kick where I could eat them everyday for days until I get tired of it. I found this recipe for fajitas on Recipezaar and couldn't wait to try it. I have been so impressed with all my recipes from Recipezaar. I wanted to only serve the fajitas for dinner.....................................................
but I knew my husband would need a side dish with his, so I threw together this recipe for Mexican rice and couldn't believe how absolutely delicious it was!! WOW!! Please make this rice if you are into Mexican food. It is totally the best ever and even better the next day. I promise that you will love it. It is a definite keeper!!

There is a secret to making the rice. You first start by rinsing the rice off in a strainer. This removes some of the starch and keeps the rice fluffy. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!! Then you saute the rice in a skillet before adding the liquids. The rice is then baked in a covered dish for about 30 minutes. It doesn't look like anything special, but it beats any other rice I have ever tasted. I replaced the tomatoes, onion and jalopeno with a 12 oz. jar of medium salsa and it worked out perfectly. We talked about this rice for days afterwards. I will be making this rice as a side dish for all our fajitas, tacos, burritos, and enchiladas.

Wonderful White Bread for Tyler Florence Fridays

This week for Tyler Florence Fridays I decided to chose a recipe based on necessity. I had planned on baking Tyler's popovers from Stirring the Pot, but we have had too many sweets this week. Instead, I decided on Tyler's Wonderful White Bread so that I could send packed lunches with my husband and daughter. I am also submitting this recipe and post to BYOB/Bake Your Own Bread , which is a wonderful group of bloggers resolving to bake all their own breads at home from scratch.

I try not to buy storebought breads anymore. This is for two reasons. The first reason being that I have recently discovered baking bread and love it. The second reason being that my local store doesn't carry much bread and when they do it is close to expiration. Needless to say, we don't normally have any sandwich bread in the house. Since my daughter needs a brown bag lunch tomorrow I chose this to submit to both TFF and BYOB.

This recipe for wonderful white bread was very easy to put together. I did not have rapid -rising dry yeast so I used my regular active-dry yeast instead. I was careful not to add the yeast until the warmed milk/butter mixture was cooled down to about 110F. Once the dough is kneaded, it needs to rest for 45 minutes to rise. Tyler says not to punch the dough down, but to turn it out onto the counter and form it into a loaf. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rise for another 20 minutes. Before baking, brush with remaining egg white and slash with a knife to allow steam to escape. He suggests boiling 3 cups of water and placing into the oven to create steam and achieve a crispy crust on the bread. I did this and I do believe it paid off. The bread was golden tan on top and just looked marvelous. This bread has the same texture of good quality sandwich bread you are familiar with, except it is fresh and homemade. This recipe is a total keeper and I'm quite sure I will be making it often!! All of Tyler's baking recipes are a surefire hit with me.

Tomorrow I will be using this white bread to make a peanut butter sandwich for my daughter, Olivia. All the kids were required to bring a brown bag lunch for their field day tomorrow. I'm pleasantly surprised that her school is participating in field day. Back when I was in elementary school we had field day at the end of every school year. Each class had their own day and we played all kinds of games, had relay races, ran in potato sacks, and threw water balloons. This is the first year her school has participated in this and I am very excited to go and help out. I wonder how much field day has changed since the 1980's??

Daring Bakers Challenge for May: Apple Strudel

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers

This is my first post for the Daring Bakers. I have always baked simple things, but never anything elaborate. Just recently I discovered the joy of baking yeast breads at home and found a love for baking that I never knew existed.

The strudel recipe appeared rather tedious and I felt subject to failure or severe problems while crafting the dough. Naturally I have a way of procrastinating anything that seems remotely confrontational, including this dough. I know it, I'm half crazy and I fully admit it. My procrastination has led me all the way to today where I was stuck making this dessert on the last day. As usual, each time I procrastinate I learn that the task wasn't as bad as I made it out to be and then I tell myself that I won't procrastinate anymore.. yeah, right. Who am I kidding??

Anyway, this recipe wasn't that bad and the dough was simple and also a dream to work with. In fact, this dough was almost addictive to knead. The feel of the dough was so soft that I had a hard time putting it down. (Yes, in addition to procrastinating I also have OCD). When you are finished making and kneading the dough it needs to rest at least 30-90 minutes.

After resting, you roll the dough out onto a huge surface until it is paper thin. The dough should be so thin you could read a letter through it. Once the dough is rolled thin enough, you rub with butter, sprinkle with buttered and toasted breadcrumbs, and add the filling. Once this is complete you roll the pastry up and shape into a horseshoe design. When the pastry is ready to be baked you can brush on additional butter and sprinkle with sugar or any other desired topping. This month the daring bakers were able to chose either a sweet or savory filling and there were many combinations. I chose the apple filling just because that was what I had on hand (especially since I waited until the last minute).

Here is the recipe for the strudel dough:

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed

2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

There was a recipe included for an apple filling, but you can add in any filling you'd like. I was afraid to stray too far from the recipe, but I learned that it doesn't really matter what you fill the dough with. The only exception is that you would not want your filling to be overly wet, but you could put meat and cheese. You could have a veggie strudel. You could even have a nut strudel and drizzle honey on top and it would be somewhat like baklava. All in all, this is really an easy recipe and is no harder than making a good pie crust from scratch. I was very happy with how mine turned out and am happy to add strudel to my list of baking projects. Thank you to Linda and Courtney for their choice this month. Maybe next month I'll be ahead of schedule for once!!

Frozen Lemonade Pie

I once heard Martha Stewart say that she has never ate Cool Whip before. She went on to say that she has never cooked with it and would never use it. We have to give her credit for the empire that she built, but Martha is really missing out!! This pie is truly one of my favorite summer desserts! I got this recipe last summer while I was watching an episode of The Neely's on Food Network. Since last summer I have probably made this dessert at least ten times!

If you buy a premade graham cracker crust then you only need 3 simple ingredients for the filling. The filling consists of 1-14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk, 12 oz. container of cool whip, and 6 oz. of frozen lemonade concentrate. All three items are chilled and you simply fold them together and freeze the dessert overnight. The texture is amazing!! The pie somehow manages to be light but dense all at once. I would say the filling is a cross between a thick mousse or a light ice cream. The filling is smooth, silky, creamy, dense and just has a great mouthfeel. If you cannot tell by now, I am absolutely crazy about this pie!! If you have not tried this recipe, I sincerly urge you to sometime during the summer. It is simply superb, easy, inexpensive, quick and most everyone loves it!! My husband and I ate the whole pie in 3 days! It is the perfect dessert for summer BBQ's, picnics, etc.

Enjoy!!

Baby Back Ribs & Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!! I hope everyone enjoyed the long holiday weekend. Yesterday we celebrated with a barbecue feast. My supermarket had a sale on baby back ribs so I decided to buy some and give them a try. I have tried cooking ribs before and they have never turned out well so I was determined to give them a second try. We weren't sure what to expect, but they turned out fabulous! I found this recipe online. The ribs were a copycat recipe after the ribs served at Damon's. The sauce was a molasses-based sauce that had a hint of smoke. They were first baked in a covered dish at 350F for 50 minutes. When removed from the oven the ribs were covered in the sauce and baked uncovered for another 50 minutes, or until tender. When those ribs came out of the oven I could just tell they would be a hit! They looked just the way you want your ribs to look...sticky, gooey, and messy. My husband and I were so happy to know that we can cook ribs at home now. We are planning a trip back to the supermarket to buy more.

I served the ribs with a new recipe for coleslaw, baked beans, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and toasted garlic bread . For dessert we had Frozen Lemonade Pie. I plan on posting the recipe for the pie tomorrow. It is one of my favorite desserts and it is super easy and quick to make.

This weekend marks the beginning of summer everywhere. Down here in Kentucky we ushered in summer with the normal hot, humid and muggy weather. The massive heat seems to come in all at once. It's that kind of unbearable heat that makes you say "it must be 100 degrees out here". The kind of heat that drives you inside to find that it is really only 80 degrees, but the humidity is 50%. Every year at the beginning of summer I am surprised again by the extreme heat and humidity that is the Kentucky summer. I always tell myself that I'll get use to it, but I don't guess I ever will. I've had too many summers in northern Ohio where I was born and raised. Those Ohio summers up by the lake are perfect for me. Moderate weather in the 80's, cool breezes blowing in from the lake, and slightly cool nights....I really miss those days : )

Veal Piccata with Lemon, Capers, and Parsley-Butter Sauce *Recipe #37 - page 93*

It's been a busy week. I want to take this time to share some things that happened this week. I do realize that this is a food blog, but I am also a mother and cannot help but share these two stories. This week I was reminded of what can happen in a couple of seconds.

I was at the mall on Saturday afternoon. Despite the economy, the mall was packed. People were out in droves. I was lucky enough to be shopping without my children and took the time to go to Macy's. I worked for LUSH at Macy's this past Christmas and still know some people up there. I was chatting away when a voice came over the intercom, "CODE ADAM". Never in my life has there been a voice over the intercom at the mall. "CODE ADAM - two missing caucasian children. One 5 year old girl, blond hair, pigtails, blue eyes, red dress. One 3 year old boy, brown hair, blue eyes, green shirt. Call xxx if you see them. CODE ADAM. The voice asked all employees to abandon their stations and cover the doorways. I cannot tell you how very, very quiet that huge store became. No one talked and everyone froze. You could look around and tell who was a mother and who wasn't. It seemed like forever but it was probably only five minutes. The children were found and a message came on to tell us they were with their mother again. I was so happy and thankful. I made a mental note to keep a closer eye on my own children.

A couple days later one of my neighbors was knocking on my door. When I came to the door she was crying. This neighbor has seven children. Most of them are teenagers or preteens. The youngest are two girls, ages 4 and 6. It was around 3:30 or 4pm and not time for husbands to be home from work yet. My neighbor was consoling her preteen who was upset about something that had happened at school. While consoling her preteen, the two youngest slipped out of the house. At first she figured they were right out front. When they weren't, she gathered her other five children and they all went looking. They had been looking for over 30 minutes when they came to my house. She told me later that my house was her last resort. When I opened the door and she didn't see them she really started crying. My daughter and I ran out to help her search and I gotta tell you I was really scared. We live in a quiet and rural small town in Kentucky but you never know. Our homes are in the middle of new construction and there are so many people in and out of here during the day.

After what seemed like forever we saw two empty bikes by the roadside. I watched my neighbor fall to the ground. In my mind I thought the empty bikes were good news. I thought we finally had a clue of where to look. In her mind she thought someone had taken her two girls. There were a lot of people outside at this point and quite a bit of commotion going on. I bent down to talk to my neighbor and when we looked up we saw them!! Two little girls walking towards us. They were walking right out of that field by our homes! Apparently, they thought it was a great idea to walk through that field. You never know what ideas children will come up with. That poor mom had taken just a couple minutes to console an older child. I made a mental note to have all available eyes and ears on my children at all times.

Things are starting to slow down just in time for the weekend and I sure am glad!! I am so excited to have a long holiday weekend!! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. Hope you enjoy lots of good food and picnics : )

Tonight I made Tyler's Veal Piccata from Stirring the Pot. I finally was able to locate some good looking veal at the local Kroger. I have never bought veal before and was surprised to see it was rather inexpensive. I think I paid about $3.00 for four thin cutlets. Not too bad!! I was so thankful that this was a fast and quick recipe!! It was a matter of cooking spaghetti and sauteing up the veal and dinner was served. The whole thing took less than 30 minutes. The sauce was rather piquant and bright and the veal was very tender and surprisingly flavorful. I used Marsala wine in the sauce because it is my favorite wine to cook with. I would recommend this dish if you are looking for something quick, affordable, and somewhat sophisticated. You can find another Tyler version of this recipe here. This is my weekly post for Tyler Florence Fridays. Head on over to this site every Friday night to see what we have made. Or better yet, join us, and make a Tyler recipe of your own chosing each week.

Two Dishes: Bourbon Chicken and Funky Chicken and Sesame Noodles

It's no secret that I am a HUGE fan of the Recipezaar website. In fact, my new hobby is searching their website by ratings to find the best recipes on there. The Bourbon Chicken has received 1723 reviews (one of the most reviewed recipes on Recipezaar). This is rated as a five-star recipe. How can you go wrong? This recipe for Bourbon Chicken was so easy! I just cubed up my chicken and cooked until lightly browned being careful not to cook it through. Then you add all the other ingredients to the pan and throw the chicken back in. Bring everything to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the sauce becomes thick and glazed. I served the Bourbon Chicken over brown rice with scallions. This recipe was so tasty and was seriously one of the best things I've ate in awhile. I also gave this recipe a five-star rating and will be making it once every week or until I get my fill of it!! It is pictured in the top two pictures.

The next day I made Funky Chicken and Sesame Noodles. The recipe can be found here. I chose this recipe mainly because my daughter loves "chinese noodles" and I was hoping this would be something she would like. She is rather picky about food and I love when I can add something else to her list of foods. My husband is a huge fan of Chinese restaurants and I figured this was a sure thing for him as well. This was rated almost five-star on Recipezaar and was also a popular recipe. This recipe says to marinate the chicken and the noodles, but I'm not sure this is a necessary step. I think there was enough flavor to just combine all ingredients and cook straight away. My husband and daughter LOVED this dish. I was excited that Olivia enjoyed the noodles and am happy to add something new to her diet. I learned that I might not be a huge fan of sesame oil. The noodles were combined with soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and scallions. Sesame seeds were to be sprinkled on top, but I did not have any so we skipped that ingredient. I did however really enjoy the chicken which was marinated in a combinations of soy sauce, terriyaki sauce, ginger, and brown sugar. The chicken was sauteed in sesame oil, but could easily be cooked in olive oil, canola or any other substitute. All in all this recipe is really good for the family. See the huge portion it made in my third picture!! I will make it again but I will add less sesame oil to the noodles and cook my chicken in canola oil.

Try them both and see which one you like best!!