Mama's Favorite

We all have our favorite dishes that our momma cooked. I remember whenever momma picked us up from school and we got home, we would always go to the stove to see what she was cooking for supper. Sometimes, she would say we're having Christina's favorite tonight and it would be this dish-

 

Beef and Lima Bean Stew

I know, what child loves lima beans? Me?

 

So to start, I sauteed onion, carrots and bellpeppers in olive oil.

 

Then I sliced up a flank steak I had in the freezer. You would preferrably use lean stew meat but flank steak is what I had in the freezer and needed to use. Remember the best advice...use what you got!

Season with salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper, red pepper, oregano and basil.

Stir and make sure the meat has browned all the way through.

Then I added some yellow and red cherry tomatoes (optional, I had them and they needed to be used)

Let those cook and smash with the back of the cooking spoon.

Then I added the jar of this jar of tomatoes.

Season again.

Let the sauce cook for a while on medium heat and let the sauce come together, about 30 mins.

Then add lima beans. (If you use dry beans, you will need to soak them over night in baking soda and water)

I used 3/4 of this back of frozen lima beans.

 

Then let that cook for a good hour.

Taste and reseason if you need.

Then add fresh oregano and basil if you have it.

Serve over rice.

 

My girls love this just like I do. Jerry is a fan too!



Family Favorite-Basil Chicken

This is a VERY easy and VERY fast healthy supper idea. It was one of those recipes I can of just made up one day and actually came out good and has become a regular in our household. It's fast, easy and healthy and EVERYBODY loves it!

 

It tastes like thai style basil chicken, so that is what I call it.

 

BASIL CHICKEN

First I slice some chicken breasts, put a little bit of olive oil in the pot on medium heat and start cooking the chicken.

 Then I add lemon juice (3 times around the pot), soy sauce (twice around the pot) and Bragg's liquid amino acids (3 times around the pot). ***I am really sorry, I do not cook by measuring...so I thought I would conciously try and count how much I put in by pouring around the pot, maybe you can gauge how much to put that way??****  For me though, the best way to cook is not be measuring bc its a lot faster and easier not too, if you cook regularly you will see you really dont need to measure! You will get used to how much of things you need to use!

If you haven't used this, it is FANTASTIC and a healthy soy sauce alternative. Although I think it tastse different that soy sauce, so I use both but def more of the Bragg's. It adds another flavor to the dish.

Then season with salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper, red pepper and basil.

Stir it up and cover it and let the chicken cook.

Keep it covered so all the liquid doesn't cook out.

Then after the chicken is cooked, probably about 15 mins, I add chopped onions and green beans

(bellpeppers and broccoli go good in it too)

Reason-add little bit more bragg's and seasonings since you are adding the vegetables, stir it up and cover and let it cook the vegetables.

Then it is pretty much done depending on how much  you want to cook your vegetables. If you want the green beans crunchy then it will only need another 10-15 mins. Right now I cook down my green beans a little bit more than I would prefer just so that they are tender where I can cut them and the girls can eat them.

Then at the very end, add fresh basil. Honestly, the fresh basil at the end MAKES it!

For the girls, I serve over rice and for Jerry and I we just eat the chicken and green beans with a side salad.

If you were to add hot peppers like a siracha pepper it would def taste even more like thai style basil chicken. I haven't tried it just because it would be too hot for the girls. My girls LOVE their spice but I think that would be too much for them!

First Feature Friday

So, if ya'll want I would love to do something I'm gonna call Feature Friday.
I would love to feature you and your favorite family recipe.

So today, we have our first Feature Friday and it comes from my hot sister, Becca!

Becca is the youngest of the three of us, also known as "Scarlett" in my family. Not only is she HOT but she is also pretty smart and a CPA, super passionate, and has one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know!
My sisters and I all love to cook. It's funny becauase we all have our own specialties and our own style but we all cook very similar of course because we learned the same way. Didn't ya'lls mom do "cooking school" during the summers too?

So this is Becca's recipe and I copied it straight from the email she sent me..so you can see her ADD a lil bit in the way she wrote the recipe! haaha!

Lebanese Chicken Thighs

Ingredients-

chicken thighs

onion

celery

cherry tomatoes (whole)

carrots

bellpepper

put all in pyrex and season with salt, cayenne, garlic powder, cinnamon, lemon pepper, and think i put some herb de provence, oh paprika, oh and put fair amount of lemon juice and lil bit of olive oil first.. then top with fresh topped parsley...add lil water to bottom of pyrex.. cover with foil and bake....

 

She baked it on 350 prob for a good 1 1/2 - 2 hrs

She served over rice

 

Remember when I told you that we could write a cookbook of just chicken and rice a million different ways....I wasn't lying!

One Pot Dinners

As a busy momma, I cook a lot of one pot dinners. Basically, throwing everything in one pot, seasoning it, throwing it in the oven, forgetting about it and then bam...its ready when you need it! I know most people use the crockpot for the same use, but I'm sorry I just can't get into the crockpot. I think its because my momma never used one and so I never have and honestly, really dont think I will...it's just not my style....but never say never.
So are ya'll tired of chicken recipes, because I here is another chicken recipe :)
Another version of baked chicken.

I threw all of the following in a pyrex-
chicken breasts
1/2 sweet onion
1 red bell pepper
3 carrots
4 raw garlic
Seasoned with salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder, cinnamon and red pepper (noticing a trend, I season everything pretty much the same way)
Olive oil, lemon juice and worsteschire
bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hrs

I served over rice for the girls and Jerry and I had the chicken and vegetables with a salad.
You can add quartered potatoes to this and it would be a complete meal.
I promise to cook something other than chicken tomorrow!!!