Grilled Chicken Salad

1 cup salsa
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
6 cups torn salad greens
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 medium oranges, peeled and sliced

Mix salsa, oil, lime juice and garlic. Set aside.

Sprinkle chicken with chili powder; brush with small amount of olive oil.

Grill chicken 15 minutes or until done, turning once. Slice chicken into strips.

Place salad greens on 4 plates. Top with chicken, beans and oranges. Drizzle salsa mixture over top.

Poppyseed Salad

Spinach
Romaine lettuce
(enough of the two to fill a large salad bowl)
1 bag sliced almonds
2 cans mandarin oranges
2 cups sliced strawberries
1 bag oriental ramen noodles, broken into pieces
1 bottle poppyseed dressing

Toss all ingredients; serve.

Orange Rolls

I came up with this recipe using the recipe for Cami's Rolls and adding a hefty amount of orange zest to the dough, then tying the dough into knots instead of balls and drizzling with orange glaze while still warm.

Set aside:
1/3 cup warm/hot water
½ teaspoon sugar
4 teaspoons yeast

Add to Bosch mixer with dough hook:
6 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons dough enhancer (if using white flour – for wheat flour add 4 Tbsp)
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
zest of 3-4 oranges

Add the activated yeast mixture.

Add Milk:
If using powdered milk:
Add 1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp powdered milk to small saucepan and add 2 cups water
Heat to “warm” stage

If using regular milk:
Add 2¼ cups warm milk

Mix together on setting 1 until well mixed. Add ¼ cup flour at a time until sides of bowl are “cleaned”.

Turn on setting 2 for 10 minutes

Turn out onto counter and cover with towel for 10 minutes

Pinch off chunks of dough – bigger than a golfball – roll into ropes and tie into knots, then place on pam sprayed cookie sheet.

Let rise 1-3 hours depending on the warmth of your home, or until almost doubled.

Bake at 375ºF for 11-12 minutes.

During last 2 minutes of baking, make glaze:
Combine:
powdered sugar
milk
a little orange juice
orange zest

if you have a squeeze bottle (mine is from Wilson) with a narrow tip, combine ingredients in there and then squeeze over warm rolls (orange zest can tend to get stuck in the tip. just bang it out). Or combine in a ziploc bag and cut a SMALL corner off, then squeeze over rolls.

Summer Poppyseed Salad

1 large head butter lettuce, torn
Equal amount spinach, torn
1 bag sliced almonds
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 bag oriental top ramen noodles, broken into pieces
poppyseed dressing

Toss all ingredients. Serve.

Chocolate Decadence Cake

adapted from www.allwomenstalk.com

12 ounces semisweet chocolate
4 ounces dark chocolate
1½ cups butter, melted
1 3/4 cups white sugar
½ cup water
7 eggs
powdered sugar, for sprinkling
**

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 10-inch round pan (NOT a springform!) and line bottom with parchment paper. (You can also skip the parchment entirely - I didn't like it because it stuck to the cake and you had to be careful you didn't eat it.)

Chop chocolate and place in a large bowl. Add melted butter. Heat water and 1½ cups sugar in a saucepan until boiling, then pour over chocolate. Stir until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whip eggs with remaining ¼ cup sugar until thick. Fold into chocolate mixture. Pour batter into pan.

Place pan on a cookie sheet in the oven and fill the cookie sheet with water. (Hint: place cookie sheet on rack in pre-heated oven. Don't pull out rack! Place filled pan on cookie sheet, then pour water around pan. Don't try setting the pan on cookie sheet before placing in oven. Too jiggly!)

Bake at 350ºF for 40 to 50 minutes. (Usually takes just over 40.) Remove from oven. Be extremely careful not to burn yourself on the hot water when removing the sheet pan from the oven. Cool and refrigerate for several hours. Overnight is best - the longer you refrigerate it the better the flavors meld.

Dip the pan in hot water to remove cooled cake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

**Add 3 Tablespoons fresh orange zest to the batter for a chocolate-orange combination. Or try mashing a handful of blueberries very well and adding a few Tablespoons as you beat the batter. Make sure they distribute evenly. (Trust me! Blueberry chocolate is a great combo!)

Good Morning Muffins

adapted from Pioneer Woman

Makes 18 muffins

4 cups flour
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons baking powder
½ cup shortening
1 cup orange marmalade
1 cup strawberry preserves
1 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, beaten

Topping
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon melted butter
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Sift together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Place in a mixing bowl. Use a pastry cutter to mix in shortening. Mix marmalade, preserves, orange juice and vanilla in a small bowl. Pour into dry ingredients. Beat eggs and pour into the bowl. Mix all ingredients together gently, using fewer than 10 large strokes.

In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients.
Fill muffin pans with batter. Sprinkle 1 heaping teaspoon of topping ingredients over each muffin.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until done. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Eat warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins With A Sweet Lemon Drizzle

adapted from Picky Palate

*also delicious (quite possibly even better!) with orange instead of lemon.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoon poppy seeds
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1½ cup vanilla yogurt
1 Tablespoon lemon zest

Glaze
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle-lower part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, poppy seeds, and salt and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, beating until fluffy (about 2 minutes with an electric mixer). Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one. Beat in the lemon zest.
4. Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat.
5. Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan, or Texas size muffin tin. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil, grapeseed oil, or a little melted butter using a pastry brush. Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set muffin pan on wire rack to cool. After 5 minutes, remove muffins from pan.
6. While the muffins are cooling, in a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Add more lemon juice if necessary. While the muffins are still a bit warm, use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each muffin. The muffins will absorb some of the glaze, so you add more glaze to each muffin if you like.

Makes 12 muffins. Best eaten fresh and warm.

Orange Chicken

adapted from Blog Chef

2 pounds chicken breasts, cut into 2" cubes
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons oil or butter

1½ cups water
¼ cup plus 3 Tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2½ Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoon orange zest
1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon finely grated ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 Tablespoons green onion
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup water

Heat oven to 350ºF. In a shallow dish combine the flour, garlic powder and pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in flour mixture and coat evenly.

Pour oil (or melted butter) in a shallow baking dish large enough to accommodate chicken in a single layer. Arrange chicken in pan and bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350ºF.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine water, fresh orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce and orange zest and whisk over medium heat for a few minutes. Then stir in brown sugar, ginger and garlic and let it come to a boil. Combine cornstarch with water, let it dissolve and add it to the sauce, stirring until thickened.

After chicken has baked for30 minutes, turn each piece over and pour half of the sauce mixture evenly over chicken. Bake another 30 to 40 minutes, basting frequently.

Serve chicken over rice with extra sauce on the side.

Jell-o And Mandarin Orange Fluff

1 can Mandarin oranges
1 Small Carton cottage cheese
1 Small Carton Cool Whip
1 package orange Jell-O

Drain oranges; mix Cool Whip and cottage cheese. Sprinkle orange Jell-O over top. Mix well. Fold in oranges. Chill.

Dark Chocolate Orange Crackles

2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted if lumpy
2 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled until barely warm
¾ cup (4 oz.) chopped chocolate (your choice)
1/3 cup granulated sugar; more as needed


1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Line three large cookie sheets with parchment or nonstick baking liners.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer), beat the butter, brown sugar, cocoa, orange zest, and vanilla on medium speed until well combined, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating briefly between additions. Add the cooled chocolate and mix until blended, about 1 minute. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until almost completely blended, about 1 minute. Add the chopped chocolate and mix until blended, about 15 seconds.
3. Shape the dough into 1¼-inch balls with a small ice-cream scoop or two tablespoons. (The balls of dough may be frozen for 1 month. Thaw them overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding with the recipe.)
4. Pour the granulated sugar into a shallow dish. Dip the top of each ball in the sugar and set the balls sugar side up about 1½ inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time until the cookies are puffed and cracked on top, 11 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Yield: About 5 dozen cookies