• Cranberry, sausage, and apple dressing
• Creamy homemade mashed potatoes
• Cinnamon apple crisp

Hope you all have a happy, safe Thanksgiving! Enjoy!

One of my favourite choices at fast food restaurants is chicken nuggets! They are a tasty, easy-to-eat finger food. What with this summer’s soaring prices, I took it upon myself to test out some recipes to make my own. While not quite as yummy as deep fried, this baked alternative proves to be bit a healthier (and cheaper!). Enjoy!

Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 15-20 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings.
3. Place butter in another shallow bowl. Dip chicken in butter then roll in bread crumb mixture.
4. Place in a greased 15×10 baking pan. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until juices run clear (internal temperature should be around 160 degrees).

• Speed tip: Make individual portions in freezer bags
• Pit a ripe avocado the easy way
• Healthy Foods Under a $1
• Cookware cleaning and stain removal tips
• Get authentic restaurant reviews a OpenTable
• 8 forbidden delicacies

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 1 hour
Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups mashed overly ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons banana rum (optional)
• 3/4-1 cup roasted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
• 3/4-1 cup white chocolate chips

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugars, and cinnamon in large bowl. Set aside.
3. In a separate mixing bowl combine banana, milk, oil, egg, vinegar, and rum. Beat with a whisk until blended.
4. Add to dry ingredients.
5. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
6. Pour batter into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan.
7. Bake for one hour or until center comes clean with a toothpick.

This recipe is a variation of one found in Southern Living Homestyle Cooking.

Cuisine: Chinese, sushi, Japanese (for lunch)
Avg rice: $8-$15 per entree (less for lunch)
Atmosphere: Family friendly
Pros: Courteous service, prompt seating, free delivery
Cons: n/a
Rating: 9 out of 10

United Chinese Restaurant is a local, family owned business with two Colorado locations: one in Broomfield and the other in Thornton (the one I went to). Admittedly, the interior was nicer than I expected, they even had a relaxing fish pond near the entrance. The atmosphere was well lit and family friendly. The background music wasn’t obnoxious and the seating was comfortable. Our waitress was great too—attentive and quite speedy. Being somewhat unfamiliar with Chinese cuisine, she took the time to explain certain dishes and made recommendations. She even offered us some Chinese hot tea; definitely not something I would have ordinarily tried, but it turned out to be quite tasty!

As per our waitress’ recommendation, Lee and I decided to go with the United Family Dinner for Two (version A), which provided us with a variety of different dishes. First thing up was the perfectly sized wonton soup, served with fried wonton chips. Next was the United platter appetizer which had a little bit of everything; my particular favourite was the Beef on Skewer; the meat was tender and juicy, and I loved the sweetness of crust. Following our large, delicious appetizer were our two flavourful entrees: sesame chicken and garlic three meat (shrimp, beef, and chicken). Our waitress was kind enough to serve the fiery chili sauce on the side (yummy, but too spicy for me). There was certainly no way we could finish all this food, but it made for great leftovers!

They also have a sushi bar, complete with cocktails, which we didn’t try out (at least not yet) and a decently priced lunch menu. They offer free delivery to orders over $15, so they seem like the perfect place to order in for lunch while at work or for a night in at home. I definitely recommend you try them out; they have great food, pleasant service, and a comfortable atmosphere, not mention great prices for the amount of food you get!

Not much has changed since then. As I had previously posted, I went to San Diego to visit my parents for Christmas. My dad was excited to here of my new found love for cooking! We decided to make Italian steak heroes, delicious little sandwiches with a robust flavour. This recipe was inspired by Susanna Tee’s recipe found in The Steak Book. It’s especially great for a group of people. Enjoy!

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 20-25 minutes
Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 3 1/2 oz white mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 cup fresh ground steak
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 4 ciabatta rolls (or any type of roll will work)
• extra virgin olive oil, for bushing
• 2 3/4 oz / 75 g mozzarella cheese
• 2 tbsp fresh basil (or 2 tsp dried basil)
• salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the onion,
   garlic, red bell pepper, and mushrooms, and cook, stirring occasionally, for
   5-10 minutes until softened and browned.
2. Add the ground steak and cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes until browned on all sides.
3. Add the wine, tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste, and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
4. Split the bread rolls in half and brush both halves with extra virgin
   olive oil. Put the bottom halves onto a piece of foil and spoon an equal
   quantity of the sauce on the top of each, if desired.
5. Add sliced cheese to the tops of the rolls. Press down gently and wrap in the foil. The longer you let them sit out (though no more than an hour) the more flavourful they will be. Regardless, they taste delicious no matter when you eat them!

Okay, so I realize this post is a little late in coming, but better late than never, right? Being on a break from school has allowed me to put some more work into Eatables, in particular establishing a self-hosted WordPress and setting up my new domain, http://eatables.org. I have been working on tweaking and fixing the newest version of Eatables, but the design and domain name are not the only changes…

I better myself as a blogger and to better Eatables as a blog. I want my personality to shine through my posts, to provide better content, and not just be an index of recipes, but to have interesting articles, innovative ideas, and more interactivity. As a blogger and an amateur chef, I want to give my audience the best of myself and my experiments in the kitchen, and to share it all with you.

So in an attempt to better myself as a blogger, I will start with this:

• Do you have any suggestions or recommendations for Eatables?
  
• Are there certain types of articles you’d like to see (more of)?
  
• What can I do to make Eatables (or myself as a writer) better?

Let me know in the comments! Here’s to a new year, may it be better than the last!

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to update your feed reader or you can sign up via email in the sidebar!