Thai Peanut Chicken Salad

This is a yummy, quick, easy, delicious weeknight meal! I cut the original recipe in half but doubled the noodles, and added peanuts and edamame.

INGREDIENTS:

Sauce:
1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter
3/8 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon dry cooking sherry
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce

1 cooked and shredded chicken breast
8 oz. linguine or Chinese egg noodles, cooked to al dente and chilled
2 heads hearts-of-romaine lettuce, chopped or 1 head regular romaine, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1/2 large English cucumber, peeled and cut into ¼-inch slices
Pinch salt, or more to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Handful peanuts
Handful of cooked edamame

DIRECTIONS:

Whisk peanut butter, vinegar, sesame oil and sherry in a bowl until smooth. Add soy sauce and Sriracha sauce, and stir to blend. 

Combine remaining ingredients with sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Original Recipe: Good Dinner Mom

The Final Countdown...

The final countdown has begun! T-minus 6 days til my due date! I compiled all the weekly bump selfies I took for my family into this collage. Crazy how big this belly has gotten! Only a few more days til we meet our little man. 

New (Old) Saarinen Chair

Trip and I went to a local antique store a few months back, and I spotted this awesome vintage Saarinen Executive Arm Chair. It needed some seriously love (new fabric, obviously, new seat cushion, new feet), but I just couldn't pass it up. 

After months of trying to find the right fabric (yes months...Trip would've picked a bright purple chair at that point, he didn't care!), I finally found one we both liked that was semi-reasonable in price. We found authentic chrome feet for the chair, and got it reupholstered. It's now STUNNING, and such as great showpiece in our living room. 

Here is the before:

And here the after:

What a difference! 

Nursery for Baby Jack!

Our baby boy is due any day now (!), and we finished up the nursery last weekend. This room was so much fun to put together. We tried to create a mix of old and new. 

This is the view from the door. We went with a gray/white/chartreuse color scheme in here. I wanted to keep it more on the modern side, and less "precious". I also am not a fan of themed rooms, so we just kept it light, bright, and inviting. 

This is the view from the closet. We found an awesome mid-century modern dresser on Craigslist to use as clothes storage and as a changing table. This room also doubles as my home office, so in the corner is my desk with filing cabinet. I'm not a huge fan of the cabinet or chair, but we're on a budget, so we'll keep it for now. 

Above the desk are clear acrylic bookshelves to display all of his new books! This is probably my favorite part of the room...functional and decorative at the same time. 

One day last year, Trip and I went for a walk in our neighborhood, and found an old chair on the side of the road (I made Trip inspect it for cleanliness!). We finally got it reupholstered, and it turned out great. Here is what the original chair looked like when we brought it home:

 Big improvement, huh??

When we got the dresser, it came with a wooden frame that had a missing mirror that was supposed to attach to the back of the dresser. Trip spray painted the frame gray. Then we bought some cork, some cheap white fabric, a sheet of metal, and chalkboard paint, and created this cool magnetic pinboard/chalkboard. 

We do not have a lot of storage in our apartment (no linen closet???), so we needed a place to store diapers, blankets, etc. We decided to buy new, and got this IKEA Besta storage unit with the glossy white doors. We kept the middle portion open for cool toy display. 

 Here's Zippo the Hippo, just waiting for his new best friend to arrive!

There is only one thing missing from the room....c'mon baby Jack, we can't wait to meet you!!

Baked Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

Image courtesy of Stonewall Kitchen

I made these this morning from a recipe I found on Pinterest. The butter topping was too buttery for our taste, so I modified the last batch to exclude the butter, which made for a much lighter doughnut. 

INGREDIENTS:

Doughnuts:
2 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten (must be room temperature!)
1-1/4 cups whole milk (must be room temperature!)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray doughnut pans with cooking spray or grease lightly.

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Wisk together until well combined. In order to NOT make scrambled eggs, make sure your milk, butter, and eggs are about the same temperature. When you melt the butter, make sure it cools a bit, and bring your egg and milk to about room temperature. Otherwise you get a lumpy mess. 

Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until just combined. Don’t over mix.

Spoon batter into baking pans and fill each one to 3/4 full. Don't overfill.

Bake for 17 minutes or until toothpick comes out easily.

While doughnuts are baking, create the topping. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. 

Let cool for a minute to two, then place doughnuts on a cooling rack.

While doughnuts are still warm, dip them in the topping mix. If you let them cool completely before you dip, the cinnamon sugar won't stick to the doughnut.

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM: Redefined Mom

Crispy Pesto Gnocchi

This is a super quick weeknight meal! This can be a side dish or a main dish (if you eat a ton, like me!).

INGREDIENTS:

Pesto:
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, minced
Sea Salt, to taste

Gnocchi:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (1 lb.) package potato gnocchi
3-4 cups baby spinach leaves
Freshly shredded Parmesan-Reggiano cheese, for serving

DIRECTIONS:

Make Pesto:
Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor or blender and pulse until coarsely chopped. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until smooth. Add the cheese and pulse until combined. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

Make Gnocchi:
Cook the gnocchi according to package instructions. Drain completely. 

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the gnocchi in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until golden and crisp, about 3-4 minutes.  Turn the gnocchi and cook, turning occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 3 more minutes. 

Remove from the heat and stir in 1/3 cup of the pesto and the baby spinach. Toss together in the pan until the spinach just starts to wilt. You might have leftover pesto. Serve warm and garnish with Parmesan-Reggiano cheese, if desired. 

*A good leftover use of the pesto is the Chicken Pesto Spinach Pizza.

ORIGINAL RECIPE: Drop Dead Gorgeous

Chicken Pesto Spinach Pizza

Image courtesy of A Zesty Bite

I made this last night and Trip and I both really enjoyed it. We are definitely going to experiment with different toppings!

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken:
1 large chicken breast
Seasoned salt
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
1/2 cup Tuscan Italian dressing

Pesto: 
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, minced
Sea Salt, to taste

Pizza:
Refrigerated Pizza Dough from Trader Joe's
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Handful fresh spinach leaves

DIRECTIONS:

Make chicken ahead of time:
I do my trusty crockpot method: Sprinkle some onion powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt with a bit of water. Cook on low for about 4-6 hours. Then shred and pour some Italian dressing on the chicken and keep warm. This can be also be done the day before or the night before. 

Make pesto:
Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor or blender and pulse until coarsely chopped. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil and process until smooth. Add the cheese and pulse until combined. Season with sea salt, to taste.

Make pizza:
Preheat the oven to 475.

Stretch the dough out into a circle and place on pizza baking sheet. Create a small crust by folding the ends up a bit. 

Using a brush, spread out the pesto onto the dough up til the edges of the crust. 
Place the chicken pieces and spinack on the pizza. Top with the mozzarella cheese (you can use more or less to preference).

Cook for 10 minutes until the cheese gets a bit brown on top and the crust is slightly brown.