Butterfinger Brownies

This is awesome. Very easy... We had them on Father's Day.

Ingredients:
Your favorite brownie mix
6 mini butterfinger bars or 2 full size bars
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Directions: Prepare the brownie mix as directed. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spray pan and pour batter in 9x13 pan. In a ziplock bag, put your butterfinger bars in. Take out your frustrations, and beat it with a rolling pin to crush them. :) Then sprinkle on the top of the brownie batter. Bake as directed on the box.. And wha-la, you have yummy butterfinger brownies!

Peruvian Lomo Saltado

Sorry the picture doesn't quite do it justice.. I keep forgetting to take a picture before we've already eaten!

• Start off by cutting your golden potatoes into strip, for french fries and soak in cold water..reserve in fridge(this releases some of the starch)
• Slice your steak into strips and marinade in a ziploc bag: a few dashes of cumin, paprika and soy sauce, with a little bit of salt and pepper. reserve
• take out your potatoes and drain and dry
• cut up a few baby carrots, roma tomaotes, white onion, red onion, green onion, and cilantro.
• heat olive oil in pan on med-high. remove meat and fry until meat is about medium, remove and reserve in bowl.
• add 1 tbsp olive oil, add onions and carrots and fry for 1 minute. add tomatoes and meat . add a few splashes of white wine vinegar and soy sauce. cover and simmer on medium heat.
• fry french fries on med-high for a few seconds, drain, then turn up heat to high and fry again unti golden brown, drain (drain in strainer, not paper towel).
• add french fries to stir fry and cilantro and a few sprinkles of parsley. add salt and pepper to taste!

This one tastes pretty authentic for you Peruvian food lovers! Serve with rice and black beans (recipe to come)

Garlic & Mint Grilled Chicken

1/2 c. Fresh Mint leaves
1 TB Lemon Juice
1 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 TB Soy Sauce
1 tsp Chili Powder
1/4 tsp Ground Pepper
4 Cloves of Garlic, chopped
4 Chicken Breasts
Fresh Mint Sprigs

In a blender or food processor combine mint leaves, lemon juice, oil, soy sauce, chili powder, pepper & garlic. Cover & blend until smooth. Place chicken in a self-sealing baggie & set in a shallow dish. Pour marinade over chicken. Seal bag & turn to coat in marinade. Refrigerate for 4-24 hours. After marinading, drain chicken & discard any leftover marinade. Grill & garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

Orange Roasted Chicken in Crock Pot

This meal is so nice for Sundays! you can stick it in the crock pot and it's done when you get home!

Cut up your chicken into pieces.. about 3 pieces per chicken breast.
add to crock pot.
then add your spices: salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and savory.
add about a 1/2 c of chicken broth and fresh squeezed orange juice..or you can also add orange slices!
diced onion: about 1/2 of a white onion
then add your glaze:
in a pan, add: 3 tbsp butter, 3tbsp dijon mustard, 3 tbsp honey, about 1 tbsp of apricot jam..or in my case I used pepper jelly (deliciously made by a local vendor), and about 3tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice. let boil for a couple minutes and simmer for a few more.

plug in your crock pot and about 3-4 hours later you have dinner!

opt.. you can also bake this dish: just bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes

Broccoli Salad

This dish is visually appealing and surprisingly delicious! I made it for the first time for some friends at a BBQ.

Ingredients:

• 1 broccoli head
• cherries (or even grapes)
• carrots
• feta cheese
• pine nuts
• red onion
• salami
• apple cider vinegar
• sugar
• mayonnaise
• salt & pepper

Cut up the broccoli head into small florets, put in bowl. cut off the stem and slice into thin slivers (make sure you shave the outer layer of the broccoli stem first, leaves, etc). cut up a few carrots into thin slivers, add to bowl. cut red cherries; cutting around the seed (you should get 3-4 slices out of each cherry). dice up about 1/3 of a red onion. Add about 1 cut of feta cheese. Slice salami into strips and add to bowl.

Dressing:

Add about 2 large spoonfuls of mayonnaise. Then, add about 2-3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Add about 1-2 tbsp of sugar. Mix well, then grind a few pinches of salt and pepper to taste.

(sorry, these measurements may not be exact, you have to add wet ingredients on how they look according to how much dry ingredients you have...hope that makes sense)