Chicken Parmesan Bake

I’ve mentioned before that Josh LOVES chicken parmesan. I always try to make chicken parmesan like dishes at home that are easier and healthier than the original. This time, I went with a bake. There aren’t specific measurements to go along with this recipe. I think everyone likes different amounts of chicken, cheese & sauce. Instead, here is a general step-by-step of what I did.

Boil chicken until cooked through and shred:

Cook pasta according to package direction (you can use shaped pasta or spaghetti/linguine).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a large bowl, mix together desired quantity of cooked pasta, shredded cheese, shredded chicken & sauce:

Place in a baking dish and top with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese:

Baked for 20 minutes and then place under the broiler to brown up the topping:

Enjoy!

Brewvival & 17 North

Are you having a good weekend? I hope so! Ours has been busy, but in a good way!! Saturday morning, I woke up and went to the gym to run. After refueling, we headed out to Brewvival. This was the third ever Brewvival and we have been to each one. I was DD.

I only snuck in for a bit, since I had Kay in Carlos. I took my annual photo with Mandi:

and my usual picture of Josh, excited for Brewvival:

People LOVE their beer and truly get excited and dressed up for the event. A lot of people wear pretzel necklaces (pretzels on string) around their neck so that they have a snack throughout the festival. This guy took it one step further:

I left the team at the beerfest and ran home to get lots done.

For dinner, we headed to 17 North to celebrate my Mom’s birthday:

Josh was there too but I managed to not get a picture of him! The highlight of the meal for me was the tomato soup I ordered. They put a mini grilled cheese in the middle!

Any plans for the day?

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Orange & Soy & a Giveaway

Josh and I LOVE Grill 225 in Charleston (I’ve mentioned it several times ). I’m not a steak fan, but Grill 225 has fabulous options for non-steak lovers including seafood, veal, pork, tomato pie, and awesome salads and sides. Their sides are truly delicious. Our favorites are the tagliatelle, hash browns & their roasted Brussels sprouts with orange and soy. Josh’s Mom started recreating the dish at home and I cannot get enough! I finally made my own version using one of the products House of Tsang sent me to review , ginger flavored soy sauce (disclaimer: I received this product for free):

To make, simply steam Brussels sprouts until almost completely cooked through. At this point, you can either halve your Brussels, keep them whole, or do half and half. Toss the Brussels in soy sauce and squeeze fresh orange on top:

Place Brussels under the broiler until they reach desired level of crispiness (I should have left mine longer, but I’m not patient enough and the baby was starting to fuss ):

So amazing!

I have really enjoyed using the House of Tsang products. Want to win some of your own to play around with? One reader will win:

- House of Tsang® Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce

- House of Tsang® General Tsao Sauce

- House of Tsang® Ginger Flavored Soy Sauce

- House of Tsang® Sesame Seed Oil

- House of Tsang® Sweet & Sour Stir Fry Sauce

- House of Tsang® Hibachi Grill Sauce Kobe Steak

- Chopstick Gift Set

You DO NOT need to have a blog to win! There are two ways to enter, each requires a separate comment:

1. Tell me about your favorite vegetable dish (links to recipes welcome!) I’m between raw carrots dipped in mustard or Brussels sprouts as above!

2. Like House of Tsang on facebook

The contest is open until Sunday, February 26 at noon.

Enjoy your day!

White Whole Wheat Bread

I used to make bread on the regular, but I’ve been slacking lately. When we headed over to Josh’s parents house for dinner last week, I decided to bake up a couple loaves. I tried this recipe and was happy with the result! Its not a super exciting loaf of bread, but I think it’s a great everyday kind of loaf. Instead of using the roll out, roll up method listed in the recipe, I just split the dough in half and tossed it in the bread dishes to bake up-turned out great!

Ingredients:

5-1/4  white whole wheat flour (more as needed)
2 envelopes Fleischmann's® RapidRise Yeast (or other rapid rise yeast)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt (original recipe recommends 2 teaspoons)
1-3/4 cups water
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter

Directions

Combine 2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in large mixer bowl. Heat water, milk and butter until very warm (120° to 130°F, I heated it up in the microwave and guessed…) and add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in 1 cup flour; beat at high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Use dough hook to kneed until smooth and elastic (or do it by hand!). Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half. Place each half in a greased 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pan. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour (I totally missed this step and my bread still turned out great!).

Bake at 400°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Remove from pans; cool on wire rack.

Making bread is easy (I promise!). I have a few of my other favorite recipes on my favorites page.

Have you homemade bread?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful Mama! Hope you have a fantastic day! Can’t wait to celebrate with you this weekend!!

Mama?

What do you think?

Enjoy your Monday!

Eli’s Table

It has been a sweet weekend! The weather has been pleasant and Josh and I have been able to spend a lot of time together with the peanut. Friday night, we went to dinner at his parents house. Saturday morning, we all headed to the gym. I taught Pump, Josh worked out, and Kaylin did her thing in child care. Saturday was spent doing things around the house, running errands, and taking walks in the sunshine. Saturday night, we met friends for dinner at Eli’s Table in Charleston.

Eli’s is downtown on Meeting Street where Joseph’s used to be. They offer a wide variety of dishes including vegetarian and vegan options. They started us off with bread that was just OK. At nicer restaurants, I always expect a good bread basket, anyone else? (Excuse the pictures, I never know what to do in terms of flash in a darker restaurant):

For dinner, I got the cauliflower steak (slice of cauliflower cooked as if it were a piece of steak) over a roasted tomato and basil sauce with eggplant caponata.

The flavors in this dish were great! The eggplant caponata was actually even better than the cauliflower steak itself. The downsides? No protein! And it was quite pricey for vegetables…

Josh got the chicken parm (of course!):

Both he and Bryan (who got the eggplant parm) found the sauce to be a little…blah. Josh also had some issues with the quality of the piece of chicken he received.

I think Eli’s has tons of potential…but they have a few things to work on. Regardless, we had a lot of fun at dinner. The inside of the restaurant is very welcoming and the staff was friendly. The guys:

The ladies(minus Kay ):

And now…I have some things to do around the house and a couple errands to run. What are you up to on this Sunday?

Peanut Noodles & 11 Things

Happy Friday! Any exciting weekend plans? We have a fun dinner planned with friends on Saturday night at a new spot downtown. Can’t wait to report back on the experience.

I’m finally getting around to doing my second post on the HOUSE of TSANG® products I received to try out (disclaimer: I received these products for free). Last night, I used their Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce to make peanut noodles. I usually like to make my own sauce, so I was eager to see how I would like the bottled variety:

I boiled up noodles (I used linguine), cooked up a chicken breast, and steamed mixed vegetables:

I then tossed it all together with the sauce and let the dish chill. Before serving, I topped it with black and traditional sesame seeds:

Overall, I really enjoyed the sauce. It wasn’t as peanut buttery tasting as the made-at-home version, but was still very good. This bottle will not go to waste!

I was tagged by both Heather and Brandi to do the 11 random things survey. Since I’ve been slowwwwww to respond, I’m just going to answer their questions:

Brandi’s:

1. What movie can you watch over and over again, no matter how many times you’ve seen it? Wedding Crashers

2. What’s your favorite band right now? Owww….hmmm Barenaked Ladies always have me!

3. If someone made a movie of your life, who would you want to play you? Reese! Love love love her

4. One food you wouldn’t eat as a kid that you love now? Onions, peppers, and peas

5. Last book you read? Uh….uh…Twilight series? What to expect when you’re expecting (well…I half read it)? Not a reader

6. What is your favorite memory from high school? We had a big rock in front of our high school that the cheerleaders and football players would paint before every game. It sounds lame, but it was so fun

7. If you could have a dinner party and invite 5 people (famous or not), who would you invite and why? Brandi! These are tough! I’d just go with friends and family…it’d be hard to narrow it to 5 though- Josh, my parents, Josh’s parents (Kaylin would be there too…but she's like .5 ).  I love my friends and family!

8. Scariest movie you’ve ever seen? Blair Witch? Only because afterwards, my high school friends and I went into the woods and our friends played a joke on us/scared us using the blair witch stuff…yah

9. What song is stuck in your head right now? Raise your glass by Pink (because I’m re-learning old Body Pump choreography for next week haha)

10. Quirkiest thing about you that most people don’t know – go! I love carrots dipped in mustard.

11. What do you love about yourself? That I would do pretty much anything for those I really care about

Heather’s:

1. What was your first date like? Lame! We went and saw a movie…and maybe made out
2. Chocolate candy or fruit/gummy candy?  gummies for SURE!
3. Newest food you tried?  I’m so not adventurous.
4. Cardio or strength?  BOTH! Attack and Pump- how about that
5. Biggest pet peeve?  When people are late/don’t care about others time
6. Store you hate the most?  Walmart. No contest. I understand its usefulness, but I really hate it.
7. What did you want to be when you grew up as a kid?  Vet
8. Do you wear make up?  A little. I have 0 artistic ability and stink at doing my makeup. Who wants to come do it for me some time??
9. What’s the one thing you’d pick at a spa? A massage. That baby isn’t getting any lighter
10. Favorite job you’ve had?  Group fitness instructor (now), florist assistant (in high school/college)
11. One bucket-list recipe or cooking trick you want to learn how to do?  Souffle! I’m making Amelia teach me how. I also want to make my own marshmallows

Quick! Answer one of the questions!

And the winner of the Chobani giveaway is…Margaret! Margaret- please email me at itzyskitchen at gmail dot com!

Screamversation

Kay’s favorite form of conversation. I don’t know if you can hear it in the video, but Josh says “I don’t think it’s a good idea to teach her to do that .” Excuse my scary fake scream:

Chobani Giveaway!!

Josh and I really like Chobani. We have debated over which flavor is best on many occasions. One such occasion is when this package arrived:

Insert mental picture of me dancing around at my front door:

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Chobani recently released three new flavors: 0% Apple Cinnamon, 0% Blood Orange & 2% Passion Fruit (disclaimer: I received this package for free). I like all of the new flavors, but one has officially taken over my favorite spot:

mmmm to Apple Cinnamon!

I actually ate my first one while Kay had her homemade apple baby food:

Some day we’ll enjoy Chobani together!

Want to try the new flavors yourself? You DO NOT need to have a blog to enter, you just have to be a US resident! To enter, simply leave a comment on this post by Friday, February 17 at noon telling me your current favorite Chobani flavor. The winner will be randomly selected. Good luck!

Nutella Espresso Mousse

 

Couple quick things before we get to the recipe. One, the winner of the kcups giveaway is…Julie! Julie- I think I have your address somewhere, but please send it to me again so I can have your prize sent out to you.

Second, I know I told you about the bloggie valentine packaged I sent out, but I received my amazing package from Jen this weekend. I just wanted to share a few pictures. She did an awesome job and included my favorite valentine’s day candy, a chalk board valentine’s mug, socks, Barbara's oatmeal cookies, magnets for my fridge, a kind bar and so much more:

She even sent a onesie for Kay that she will DEFINITELY be sporting tomorrow

Thank you Jen!!!

How was your weekend? We celebrated Josh’s birthday alllll weekend long. Josh got spoiled by friends, family, Frank, Kay & I:

On Sunday night, we enjoyed dinner at Josh’s parents house. His Mom made steak, shrimp, salad, sourdough bread, roasted potatoes and the most amazing Brussels sprouts I’ve ever had!

Josh LOVES steak. I’m not a steak gal, but I enjoyed about this times four or five plus a couple pieces of sourdough…so good!

A week or so ago, I was watching cooking channel and Josh could not take his eyes off of a nutella espresso mousse that Michael Symon was making. I knew I had to make it for his birthday. I made a few adjustments and it turned out really well. Next time, I would use whipping cream instead of heavy cream (as recommended in the original recipe) because I think I would have gotten a thicker consistency. This turns out a little more like a THICK milkshake, but it is AWESOME!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup heavy cream (recommend using whipping cream)
• 1/3 cup 2% milk
• 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso
• 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread, such as Nutella
• 1/2 cup cool whip + more for topping

• 1/4 cup toasted nuts (recipe recommended hazelnuts, but I went with slivered almonds)
• Chocolate chips for topping

Combine the heavy cream, milk and espresso granules in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir until dissolved, about 5 minutes.

Add the chocolate-hazelnut spread. Mix with the whisk attachment on medium for 1 minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and continue beating until very soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Mix in cool whip. Transfer to individual serving dishes, cover, and chill for at least three hours.

Top with additional cool whip, nuts & chocolate:

Josh gave the dessert rave reviews! Happy birthday again J!!!!!!!!!!!