Crossover: Hostess Appreciation Luncheon, part TWO

Happy Friday! :) I'm glad you came back today! Time to show you the rice and squash/cauliflower casserole from my Hostess Appreciation Luncheon for my Stampin' Up! hostesses!

First up: Becky's Easy Cliantro Lime Rice from allrecipes.com:

It's easy, and it's good, and the flavor is great with Mexican food. I get tired of Spanish rice with Mexican food ALL the time. Of course, I made my "refried" beans, and the two together were really nice.

Next up is this Low Carb Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Casserole from All Day Long I Dream About Food!

As Donna said, they know it's fall when they come eat squash at my house. :D I wanted to make sure that we had a vegetable, in case someone wasn't too crazy about all the Mexican food I made. I USUALLY make squash on the sweet side, like acorn squash with brown sugar and butter - but this is definitely savory, with Parmesan cheese. It was good - I halved the recipe, and used frozen cauliflower instead of fresh. It was good!

For dessert, I made this flan again. :) It's easy, Mexican, and good - everyone had a second piece! :D

Well, now you know one of the reasons my hostesses have been with me for so long: our Hostess Appreciation Luncheon is FULLY homemade. I do all I can to serve them a wonderful meal; all they have to do is host a qualifying Stampin' Up! party once a year. If you'd like to do so, please contact me! We have a BLAST! (And we can do it ONLINE, too!!) And if you'd like to see the projects we made this year, please visit Lori's Stamping Spot and look for today's post. :)

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful weekend, my friend. BE BLESSED!

Spanish Rice

Happy Wednesday! Are you having a good week? Sorry about missing Monday; I am still fighting this cold, and I couldn't get enthused about talking about food. :D

So, today I'm sharing this Spanish Rice recipe from About.com.

It is an easy recipe; I'm not a HUGE Spanish rice fan, period - unless it's got lots of cheese sauce poured over it, and then it's something else entirely. :D BUT this is a good, simple recipe. I've ALWAYS had to cook it longer than it says, and it's still a bit crunchy, even then. It carries easily, so it's gone to two different homes as a side to Mexican dishes. It can warm in the oven with the entree and refried beans, so that works well. :)

Overall, it's a good recipe to have - so I am gonna call it a YES, PLEASE! :)

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day, my friends. Be BLESSED!!!

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new?

This review is for Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp from SkinnyTaste.

YES, PLEASE! Wow, was this good! At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it - but it's got a nice taste to it, just a little spice - and I've been taught how to cook shrimp perfectly. :) And although it's simply awful for me, I LOVE rice - and since Asian dishes usually have rice or noodles, they're usually things I like. LOL!

Don't skip the cilantro. I know some people don't like it - and you can cut down on the amount if you need to - but it adds a bit of brightness and freshness that I think this dish needs.

I got my light coconut milk at Trader Joe's for 99 cents for the can - and have over a half can left for something else. :)

OK. I'm out of here. We're starting on our adventure today, after having been with my family for a reunion the last week! Please pray for us! :) Have a BLESSED day!!

Lemon Chicken

Good morning! How is your week going? I hope well. I know each day has its own ups and downs - I'm concentrating on the UPS today. :D

So, today's recipe comes from Annie's Eats, for Lemon Chicken.

Now, I have to admit: I love the way some herbs smell, but I haven't discovered a way that I really like eating them very often. For that reason alone, I'm giving this a YES, PLEASE! It allowed me to use some of the beautiful herbs Dad grows, and we all loved the result!

I think the biggest reason is that it doesn't over-do the herbs. And because they're in the marinade, not just on the chicken.

This is a really lemony dish. We love lemon around here; this savory application really was enjoyed by everyone, which is a little unusual. :D

I served this with basmati rice (one of my FAVORITE rices!!), which I cooked with lemon zest. When it was fully cooked, I added more lemon zest and some basil. That right there's worth the price of admission! :D With a tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad, it was a delightful meal.

I hope you'll try this! It didn't take long to put together the marinade at all. The reason my photo looks so different is that we didn't use chicken with skin. We don't do that around here much. ;) But you can see that the legs, which did have skin, did brown beautifully like the original photo. I enjoyed doing the platter presentation! I do love the smell of rosemary. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a BLESSED day, my friend! And let me know when you try something new!!!

Pineapple Fried Rice

Good Monday Morning! :) Did you have a good weekend? I'd LOVE to hear if you tried something new this weekend! What was it? Did you like it? Is it online? Can you link me? :D

Today's recipe is half of this one from The Pioneer Woman - the pineapple fried rice. We didn't get a chance to do the pork chops - I served this with chicken.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. Was this ever good! Let's see. Did I tweak much? :D We used mixed vegetables instead of just peas; we used Minute Rice microwaveable brown and wild rices. I used a grill pan on the pineapple instead of doing it outside. I didn't use a lot of onion, because my dad doesn't like chunks of onion. :D

This is definitely a YES, PLEASE. Y'all know I try to be careful with rice; I had to REALLY watch myself with this. Pineapple sends my sugars skyrocketing, too. And this was REALLY, REALLY good. I felt a little better with the rice mixture I used, but I still didn't eat as much as I wanted. Which would have been most of it. :D We'll definitely try this again - and maybe the chops, too. :D

Let me know if you try it! I'm telling you, you'll love it. :D You could spice it a bit, too, if you wanted. But don't ignore this recipe. :D

OK, I'm outta here. Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!