Simple Yet Gourmet

Here's a classic chicken dish that is both easy and flavorful!  Chicken breasts are lightly breaded then braised with Marsala wine and Portabello mushrooms.  I served this with garlic mashed potatoes and they were perfect for picking up the extra sauce from the chicken.  This is a meal that's perfect for any occasion!

A few weeks ago, we were invited to a get-together at a friends house.  Of course we offered to bring something, and of course I was secretly hoping to bring a dessert, but we got assigned to bring a fruit salad instead.  Was I disappointed?  A little, but that quickly vanished with the first bite of this delicious cake.  Now I'm glad that I didn't bring a dessert because I have a great new recipe to add to the collection!  Every bite is moist and coconutty.  Delicious!  I did make one small little change to the recipe and that was to toast the coconut, but it's great whichever way you choose to make it.

My kids really love homemade bread and rolls.  So for Easter this year I needed to make something special to go with those homemade rolls.  We have been blessed to have wonderful strawberries here so I decided to try and use them up by making strawberry butter.  It looked really pretty on the table and the taste was wonderful.  I think I might try raspberry or blueberry next time!

I've been making a lot of chicken lately so I decided it was time to mix it up a bit.  I've never cooked fish before so this was a first.  I couldn't believe how easy it was!  Prep took less than 5 minutes and it came out of the oven flavorful, moist, and flaky.  Don't know why I waited so long to try it out.

Say hello to my new favorite breakfast!  Not only are these delicious and indulgent, they are so easy to make.  I actually think these are easier than regular pancakes.  They cook faster and since they are so thin you don't have to worry about the batter flying off when you flip them over.  Another bonus is that they are so versatile.  They were wonderful with the bananas, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup but you could do any combo you like.  Caramel sauce was delicious with the bananas, and strawberries were perfect with the chocolate sauce.  You could even take it a step further and sprinkle it with mini-chocolate chips or chopped nuts.  

     If you need a recipe to help you jump into summer, then here ya go!  What says summer more than fresh strawberries.   I loved that it was a no bake cheesecake, much easier and faster!  I made this Sunday afternoon and ate it later that night. The texture is more like a mousse rather than a cheesecake, but oh so good.  My critic Mike even liked it, amazing!      Just a quick note, don't be surprised when cutting this cake, its soft and hard to get the first couple of pieces out, but I gave those to the kids, they didn't care what it looked like!  Happy Summer or Spring!

In my house, a great salad goes a long way! My kids all love salad, especially Tyler! This recipe was no exception, he ate 3 large bowls. What a great combination with beans, tomatoes, avocados and crunchy tortilla chips. The dressing was just enough to add flavor but not make the salad soggy. It was a nice light and tasty dinner. I served it with fresh pineapple and homemade chips and salsa. Mike was out of town so I can not report on his take, but I think he will like it. The kids and I decided next time we would warm up fajita sized tortillas and make a wrap instead of a salad. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Today we celebrated Brynlee's 4th Birthday!!  I wanted to make her something extra special for her cake, so I made a batch of these butterfly cupcakes.  You can use any type of cupcakes and frosting that you like, as long as the frosting is thick (in order to hold the wings in place).  Brynlee requested strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, so that's what we had.  I made the   Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake s from a few weeks ago and the Cream Cheese Frosting  from   the Lindt Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes.    For the Butterfiles, I followed the instructions found in the book Hello Cupcake  for Monarchs.  Brynlee loved these and thought they were so beautiful!  Perfect for a spring birthday.

What is more dreamy for breakfast than a homemade cinnamon roll hot out of the oven.  Well instead of getting up at 5am to make them, try these cinnamon roll pancakes.  I wish you all could have been there when Mike had these.  I don't think I have made anything that got such a wonderful reaction.  I thought these might be a little to sweet, but the batter has no sugar and the cinnamon swirl is not that much of the pancake.  As far as the cream cheese drizzle, it has less sugar than syrup!  I promise you won't be disappointed with this breakfast treat *The one trick I will pass on is when you swirl the filling into the pancake, do not go to close to the edge, or you will have a crystallized mess!