Thai Peanut Sauce Pasta w/chicken and vegetables

http://www.betternpeanutbutter.com/recipes.php?page=3

Thai Peanut Sauce

1/3 cup Better 'n Peanut Butter
4 tsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
4 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. red curry paste (perfect for adults, but Ila refused to eat it. Try a half Tbsp next time.
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. grated ginger root
1 tsp. cornstarch
2/3 cup vegetable broth

Before you mix up the sauce, pound out a couple chicken breasts and let them cook in the skillet so they have a little crust. Flip, and then set on plates while done. 

Mix up all ingredients in sauce except broth, then slowly stir in broth at the end.

Saute onions, peppers, green onions, small cut greens (like kale), and whatever other veggie you wish after the chicken is removed from pan (on in a second skillet depending on timing). Once cooked, add the peanut sauce and let it thicken and bubble. Add chopped cilantro last.

Cut up chicken and mix into sauce/veg mixture. Serve over rotini noodles

Chinese Chicken Salad

Chinese Chicken Salad

2 cups shredded leftover chicken, or pieces.
1 small napa cabbage (aka chinese cabbage)
soy sauce
2 T black bean sauce
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce/paste
a few peanuts thrown in (I had chili-lime peanuts so it worked well)
sesame seeds
cilantro
sesame seed oil to saute chicken
green onions
garlic
ginger

Mince garlic and ginger (large clove of garlic and equal amount of ginger), saute in 1/2 tsp sesame oil. Add chicken and soy sauce (a couple tablespoons maybe?), then the other sauces, both of which are in the asian aisle. Mix it up. If you have other veg you want to add that needs to be cooked/softened, put it in.

When done with saute, add to thinly sliced napa cabbage, and mix in cilantro, chopped green onions, sesame seeds, and peanuts. Toss together in a large bowl.

I really loved this meal. DH seemed to like it too.

I also put in some spiralized gold beet, that I sauteed with the chicken, but that was just because I needed to use it up. It just took on the flavors of the dish.

Notes: The last two times I made this the flavor has been a little too strong/salty. I'm not sure which seasoning is overpowering it, so I may try a different recipe next time.

Breadcrumb Crusted Cod

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/breadcrumb_crusted_cod_for_two.html

I really enjoyed this, but David didn't give it as high a rating as I would have.

Note: If only doing 8 oz fish, make half the mayo/yogurt  mixture. It is plenty for topping before baking, and no one ever needs any later on. For a pound of fish make full recipe.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cheesecake
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-cheesecake-recipe.html
http://www.celiac.com/articles/23415/1/Cheesecake-with-Gluten-free-Almond-Crust/Page1.html

I used the above recipes combined to create this recipe:

Crust:

¾ cup finely crushed almonds ( put 3/4 c raw almonds into food processor)
¾ cup almond meal (or almond flour)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2-3 tablespoons butter, room temperature (i used 3)

Filling:
2/3 or half can of pumpkin puree (~8oz total)
16 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove
2 T oat flour
1 tsp vanilla

Press crust in using bottom of pyrex measuring cup. It only went up the sides a tiny bit. I used 8 inch springform pan.

Filling ingredients should be room temperature, especially cream cheese. Follow instructions on Paula Deen recipe.

Put pan of water in lower rack. Put cheesecake on rack above it and bake 50 minutes.

Dirty Rice II

https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/dirty-rice/

Dirty Rice II

This recipe uses equal parts sausage and chicken liver, and I really enjoyed it. I made something a while ago with all liver and no other meat, and regretted it. This is a good recipe to make in order to get more liver into my diet.

I doubled the vegetables, sauteed them first in a little oil. Then I added sausage, and then minced liver near the end.  Also added cajun seasoning. I cooked 2 cups of dry brown basmati rice in the pressure cooker (15 minutes) with 3 cups water, but next time will use broth.

Black bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Black bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

I made this recipe but added some pork I had leftover from another dish. It was great! It worked well with Aldi GF tortillas. I squeezed 7 full tortillas into a 9x13 pan. I also put shredded cheese on top after I took it out of the oven, but you could do it before you put it in. Then served it with sour cream and avocado. The avocado wasn't really necessary. This is another good leftover sweet potato meal after making sweet potato noodles using the spiral slicer.

Lengua Tacos (tongue)

It took me over a year, but I finally used the beef tongue that came with the rest of the cow quarter I purchased. I used this recipe http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/beef_tacos_de_lengua/

But instead of frying the slices at the end, i cut it up in the smaller pieces and fried the small pieces. I probably did it too long, but when I finally turned off the heat, the meat was rendered completely into crunchy chunks. It was a nice texture for tacos, so at least it wasn't mushy as I hear tongue often described.

I served it with queso fresco, red onion, avocado, tomatoes, salsa, and sour cream. I had corn tortillas and dh and kids had flour.