Tutorial Tuesday - Chinese Chicken Morsels

The hubs and I tried out a new recipe last night and it was too delicious not to share. 

History: the hubs and I are on a budget trying to pay down our debt to secure our future, soooo.... we are trying to figure out ways to save in areas such as groceries.  We found a book at a yard sale called "Once a Month Cooking" which basically is a plan for you to cook one day a month (and shop one day a month), make various foods out of one set of supplies/groceries, and then freeze the food to cook later that month.  I don't want to make large amounts of any recipe we have never tried, so we are trying out a few of the recipes to see if we like them first.

The first recipe we tried was this one, called Chinese Chicken Morsels.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup soy sauce (we use La Choy which is gluten free)
- 1/4 cup dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
- 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 1 cup of regular uncooked rice

Steps:
1) Combine all ingredients except chicken and rice, mix thoroughly. 
2) Cut chicken into one inch cubes
3) a: If you are eating this the same night or the following day, put chicken into marinade bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes.  b: if you are freezing, put chicken and marinade in a one gallon ziplock and freeze

Cooking/to Serve:
1) If frozen, thaw out marinade.
2) Remove chicken from marinade and place evenly on a broiler pan.  Broil for 7 minutes placed about 4-5 inches from the flame. Remove from oven, turn each piece over and brush with marinade.  Broil for additional 4 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, put marinade into small saucer and heat up (note - this is do at your own risk as it did contain uncooked chicken - I did this step at simply brought to a boil and then simmered for a bit to ensure that it would be safe to eat). 
4) Cook rice according to packaging.
5) Spoon rice onto plate, cover with chicken and pour marinade onto dish for extra flavor. 

This was easy and delicious.  The hubs made me promise that I will make it again.  Here is a pic (courtesy of my super spectacular image quality cell phone - ha!).  Enjoy!

If you try out this recipe, be sure to post a comment and let me know what you thought!

Planning my best friend's bridal shower - photo of invitations

As matron of honor (wow that makes me sound old), part of my task is to throw the bride, one of my best friends by the name of Caitlin, a bridal shower.  Together with the other 5 bridesmaids, we will be throwing a hopefully elegant event at my house next month. 

The first step of course is sending out invitations.  I saw this adorable idea from my dear friend Heather.  As soon as I saw it - back in July when she originally posted it - I instantly knew that this was going to be the bridal shower invitation.  I wanted to add my own flair by creating the bouquet with rosettes rather than punched flowers. 

The rosettes are created by punching a circle (I used a 1" circle punch), then cutting the circle in a spiral from the outside.  You then start on the outside and roll the paper all the way, and voila, a rosette!

Here is the final product (again I apologize for my horrific photography skills). 

I had the pleasure of personally giving this to the bride on Wednesday night and I was pleased that she seemed to like it.  I look forward to posting more about the shower as we continue to plan and create. 

On a fun note - you should have seen the bridesmaids responses (most of whom are not crafters) when I sent them a photo of Heather's card and said "this is what we're making".  haha.  Priceless.  A big thank you to Kim, Kamila, my mother and the mother of the bride for coming over on a Saturday night and helping put together 30 of these bad boys. 

TGIF everyone - we're off to Vegas!

Wednesday's What's Up With That!? - I'm too sexy for this chicken....?

Okay... I get why people are vegetarian - I have seen those horrific films about food and meat, etc etc.  However, it's just not something I could do - I love my meat.

I also understand PETA - animals should be treated ethically.  HOWEVER, sometimes, okay a lot of the times, PETA comes off as just batshit crazy!

This article for example. They're mad because they think the chicken is too sexy? Seriously? And they are accusing the new york times of necrophilia? WHAT!?

I'm sure not everyone shares the same viewpoint as me on this issue, but I just thought this article was absurd.  I'm not trying to pick a fight because everyone is entitled to their own opinions - one of my favorite phrases, although crude, is opinions are like a**holes, everyone has got one.  And frankly, you're allowed to have your own opinions, etc. etc.  That doesn't mean that sometimes I question the sanity of a persons' opinion (lol).

I saw this article last week and just HAD to share.  What do you think - valid complaint by PETA or not? Is this chicken too sexy?

P.S.: PETA may "take offense" to a sexily posed chicken - but if it's a human woman - that's a-okay. In fact, that's part of their campaign! Check it out here.