Some ease & easy recipes

 So we took it easy this week with some time outside and bubble fun  in the evenings (who needs Xbox!)

  Bubbles and smoke...now were talking


 Second day of bubbles ...note the outfit ...love his fashion sense!
 some garden pretties...

 And then the storms this morning...

This is at 9:30 am...so ominious.

 I got prepared...

 and started baking...

 and cooking...

 I had other plans today to finish up some projects but I got the cooking bug. This often happens during stormy weather for me. Though the past two day the weather was gorgeous and I spent one of them biking to our local Starbucks. I didn't realize I was going that far just got on my bike and began to ride. Would of been nice if I had brought my wallet, but hey what are teenage kids for... I called my daughter, made her come and meet me and then she BOUGHT the coffee. Sweet!! Then I decided to throw the bike in the back of the truck, you know one step at a time. The next trip will be a round trip ;-).

 OK back to the cooking ...I have been wanting to try a Chocolate cream cheese muffin, I found this recipe and altered it by using 1tsp. dutch processed cocoa, 1 tsp. Hersey's cocoa and I added 1 tsp baking powder as well. They were delicious but I am still looking for a more denser muffin ( Back in my working days the coffee shop across the street from my shop had the best Chocolate cheese muffins, I also met my husband there so extra bonus!). The recipe for the chocolate muffin batter is egg less and not much fat at all, so...if you omitted the cream cheese you have a great Vegan chocolate muffin.

 I usually keep my recipes vegetarian however I have four kids who are not(one daughter is). Here is an easy and light summer recipe I created, Yogurt marinated chicken thighs and cucumber yogurt sauce with coconut lime rice. I have a big group to feed so you can scale it down.

For the chicken:
2 packages organic chicken thighs skinless and boneless
1 cup Greek yogurt or however much needed to cover the chicken
 lime juice form 1-2 limes
seasoned salt, I used Borsari salt but you could also use Mrs. Dash lemon pepper and sea salt
Mix all together and let marinate for a half hour to an hour. I grilled my choicken but you could bake it as well. Grill time about 15-20 min. these thighs are pretty thin so they dont take long

For the Cucumber yogurt sauce:
1 Cucumber chopped
1 cup greek yogurt
seasoned salt see above
a handful of Cilantro chopped rough..make sure you add some stems , the tender ones as they are a very energetic food for the body
Mix together refrigerate

For the rice:
2 1/2 cups Jasmine rice
1 Tsp. butter
1 can lite cocunet milk
Juice of 1-2 limes
cilantro chopped again for garnish

I cook my rice in a Turbo cooker that my mother bought from an infomercial. I made fun of her but damn can that baby cook some rice!
Melt the butter in the pan, add rice and toast for a minute or so.
add can of coconut milk and some water..a great tip when cooking rice add enough water to cover the rice as if your hand was laying on top of the rice and you would want to cover it as well.
add lime juice, bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook until done and water evaporated. Garnish with chopped Cilantro.
This is a very refreshing recipe for a hot summer night and reheats very well.

 So now that I got the cooking out of the way maybe tomorrow I can get back to my projects that are so close to being done...so close yet so far.

Have a great weekend!
Donna