Rondi's Recipes: Blackened Chicken w/Avocado Salsa

I think one of the things that I'm most excited about is the fact that Mandi and I are going to be home for 4 consecutive nights! Why am I so excited? Because it means we can get back into our cooking groove. We love to explore new recipes and try our hand at stuff that seems unique. This was our attempt at Blackened Chicken with Avocado Salsa with a review to follow. If you'd like to see the original recipe, click here.

Ingredients: Chicken, Papaya, Salt, Red Bell Peppers, Cilantro, Avocado, Rice Vinegar, Olive Oil, Salt, Cumin, Blackened Seasoning

Lightly seasoned chicken thrown into hot pan with oil

Sliced and diced avocado

Never purchased a papaya before

Rice Vinegar, Oil, Avocado, Bell Pepper and Papaya

Baked chicken

Serve and enjoy!

Prep Time: About 15 minutes (with two people)

Cook Time: About 15 minutes (not including searing chicken)

Total Time: About 25 minutes

What we liked:

I LOVED the salsa. I was a little worried I wouldn't because I'm on the fence about avocado (I keep trying it because it's pretty good, but it's not a home run for me every time). I also didn't know how I felt about papaya. So I was a little nervous if I'd like something that was avocado and papaya together - with a whole bunch of other stuff that I didn't know how the flavors would be. But it was a slam dunk. The flavors were so yummy together. I ate more salsa than I did chicken.

Which brings me to the chicken. The flavor was great. And usually I'm not a fan of chicken breast (but that's all we get because it's all Ronnie will eat - I prefer dark meat), but the way it was cooked (thanks to chef Ronnie) it was moist and not dry (my biggest beef with white meat) and because it was paired with the salsa it was even less dry.

I loved this as a spring/summer meal. It would be just perfect on a hot summer night sitting outside on the patio. It was light and refreshing.

This meal seemed very light, fresh and clean. The three things I love finding in a meal.

The salsa, if broken down into individual ingredients, I probably wouldn't be fond of, but when they were thrown all together it really worked.

For all that it had going on, it was really easy to prepare and put together.

I loved that I was able to go back for seconds and still not feel stuffed.

What we'd change:

I'm actually having a tough time coming up with what I'd change, but:

I'd have a different side. We had it with canned green beans, but I think a corn on the cob or something else summery could be yummy.

I'd consider adding something to the salsa with a bit of a spicy kick. As I said, the salsa was amazing, but I think it could also be good with a little spice to it.

I wish I had more, but this was just too yummy!!

I would probably add another component to the salsa to try and make it even better.

Our avocado wasn't quite as ripe as it could have been and it would have been nice to try with proper avocado.

I would season the chicken just a pinch more than I did.

I had green beans for a side, but would like one that complimented the meal more.

Here's our overall rating (with 1 being the worst meal we've ever had and 10 being the best):

Mandi's Rating:

9.5 - Best meal we've made at home in a long time!! I can't wait to have leftovers for lunch today!!!

Ronnie's Rating: 8.0

Again, if you guys have any suggestions on how this is laid out or what you guys would like to see answered/done differently, please let us know :)

Rondi's Recipes: Spicy Orange Chicken

We thought we'd get off on the right foot first night out of the Hole and do a little home cooked meal. Today is supposed to be Thankful Thursday, but let me just say this, I was VERY thankful that we made this and I was able to eat at my own dinner table. If you want to see the original recipe, please click here.

Also, super duper happy 81st birthday to the best grandma in the whole wide world!!!!!! Love ya G'ma :)

Spicy Orange Chicken

• Ingredients: oranges, cooking oil, baby spinach, soy sauce, honey, fresh ginger, cornstarch, crushed red pepper flakes, skinless boneless chicken breasts, salt, ground black pepper, garlic

Fresh squeezed orange juice

Baby Spinach

Cooked Baby Spinach

Marinade

Sliced chicken breast

Chicken breast cooking in garlic and marinade

Cooked chicken breast served over orange slices and spinach

Serve and...

...ENJOY!!!

Prep Time: About 20 minutes (with two people)

Cook Time: About 25 minutes

Total Time: About 45 minutes (The recipe says total time should be around 30 minutes so apparently we need to work on our methods of operation)

What we liked:

I like how light it felt. It just simply felt "healthy". No heavy sauces and it doesn't leave you feeling overly full. It's a perfect summer meal.

I liked the cooked spinach. I'm usually not a huge spinach fan, but it was great.

I loved the warm oranges! (But then again, the last few weeks I've LOVED oranges!!)

I liked the overall flavor

This is kind of a cheap one, but I liked that it had chicken. I love chicken breast in just about any meal, any place and any time, so the fact that this recipe featured it, was an immediate winner.

I loved how fresh, clean and light this meal looked and tasted. The crispness of the orange mixed with the light sauce and fluffy spinach just made this one of my favorite "texture" meals.

Speaking of light, I loved that this meal didn't sit heavy in my stomach.

I LOVE fresh cooked spinach and the fact that this had chicken and oranges sitting on top of a big bed of it made my day.

What we'd change:

I would marinate the chicken overnight in the sauce, minus the corn starch (but with orange juice, soy sauce, ginger, honey, crushed red pepper)

I would cook the spinach less and with garlic.

I would cook the chicken with more garlic - there can never be enough garlic.

I'll always choose dark meat over white, but Ronnie will only eat white. So if I had it totally my way, I would change the chicken to dark meat :)

Although I loved the clean taste of this meal, it was almost "too clean" meaning it lacked a little bit of flavor. Next time I'd like to add more of the marinade and find a way to make it thicker ie more sauce like.

I would think about marinating the chicken in said sauce hours before hand.

I would try it with oranges less cooked just to try a different texture in the dish.

I would try to add a little bit more heat to the meal (which would happen if we increased the red pepper flakes or maybe we could marinate in some Korean Pepper Paste?)

Here's our overall rating (with 1 being the worst meal we've ever had and 10 being the best):

Mandi's Rating:

9 - I'd say it was a 8 this time around, but if we made the changes, it would easily be a 9.

Ronnie's Rating: 8.5

Again, if you guys have any suggestions on how this is laid out or what you guys would like to see answered/done differently, please let us know :)

Rondi's Recipes: The Hamburger Cake

For our cousin bake-off on Thanksgiving, Mandi and I decided to make a hamburger cake. It turned out well...if by well you mean looked awesome but not tasting great :)

The ingredients.

Any vanilla cake and brownie mix will do.

The set-up.

The cakes.

The destruction.

Fondant burger toppings.

That seriously looks like a piece of meat.

Rockin' and Rollin'.

That's one good looking burger.

Serve with french fries (sugar cookies).

Rondi's Recipes: Slow Cooker Beef Curry

In our quest to become better cooks and pushing ourselves to new levels in the kitchen, Mandi and I will attempt to do a food blog once a week with pictures and reviews included. We realize that we did miss last week, not because we didn't cook, but because we forgot to take pictures. We'll also be posting pictures of our hamburger cake shortly :)

So here it is, week 2:

Slow Cooker Beef Curry

The ingredients: Curry, Jalapeno, Ginger, Onion, Stewed Tomato, Garlic, Beef Broth, Stew Meat, Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper

Mandi chopping up the jalapeno and ginger root.

Browning the beef in olive oil.

Chopped onion goes in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Browned beef goes on top of the onion.

Check on Jezzabel to make sure she's comfortable on the burlap sacks used to cover plants, while laying 2 feet away from her bed.

Combine juice from browned beef, garlic, jalapeno and ginger.

Add in stewed tomatoes and curry powder.

Smell...

...and serve. Oh yeah, we served it on top of rice.

Prep Time: About 15 minutes (with two people)

Cook Time: 6-8 hours on low heat in slow cooker

What we liked:

I like that it was only about a 15 minute prep time.

It was relatively idiot proof - you can't really screw up browning meat and pouring ingredients into a slow cooker.

It's a great meal for when it's cold outside, the heat of the meal really warms you up, without being an overly heavy meal, like most winter meals

You can put it all together and let it sit all day. Great for dinners when you're busy right up until meal time.

I loved smelling the different spices while this meal was being prepped. I think I could walk around with a ginger root tied to my neck.

For me, it had the perfect "heat". I could feel that heat in my mouth, but it didn't make me sweat like spicy things often do.

Brown, chop, mix, dump, turn on slow cooker. Not even I could mess this up.

The meal felt really light to me and had a fresh taste all of the way through.

What we'd change:

I would add more of each of the key spices: more garlic, ginger, and curry. I would mind more jalapeno, but it still had a pretty good kick to it with just 1.

This isn't something you can change, but something that is a bit of a con. It takes 8 hours in the slow cooker, so it's a meal that you need to think about the day before.

I would increase the curry, ginger and garlic. It had some good flavors, but I wanted more.

I would think about adding some chopped potato.

I'd love to have some naan bread with this meal.

Here's our overall rating (with 1 being the worst meal we've ever had and 10 being the best):

Mandi's Rating: 8.5

Ronnie's Rating: 8

Again, if you guys have any suggestions on how this is laid out or what you guys would like to see answered/done differently, please let us know :)

Rondi's Recipes: Chicken Teriyaki Ramen Stir-fry

Mandi and I do a pretty good job of making all of our meals at home, but we want to become even better. We figured that if we could commit to doing one food blog a week, it would push us to become more creative and it might give you guys some good food ideas.

So here it is, week number 1. If you guys have any suggestions on how this is laid out or what you guys would like to see answered/done differently, please let us know :)

Chicken Teriyaki Ramen Stir-fry

Some of the ingredients: Brown sugar, Soy sauce, Teriyaki marinade (to marinate the chicken), minced garlic, ginger and corn starch

Recipe for the Teriyaki sauce can be found here. We actually doubled the amount of soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic - as a result, we added more corn starch for thickening.

We cut up two boneless chicken breasts and browned them in some olive oil.

We bought an Asian Stir Fry vegetable bag a while ago from Sam's Club. For this recipe we used about 3 cups or so. Also used two bags of Ramen noodles.

Sauteed vegetables in a little bit of olive oil.

Like three peas in a pod...

Combine the Teriyaki sauce, vegetables and chicken - stir.

Dump Ramen noodles on top.

Stir until Ramen noodles are fully coated.

Serve...

...and eat...

...and then get ready to take a bike ride.

Prep Time: About 10 minutes

Cook Time: About 15 minutes

What we liked:

Made with ingredients that I already had around the house - frozen veggies, ramen, chicken, etc.

Relatively idiot proof - even I couldn't blow it. It was simply adding a few pre-cooked items together.

Cheap - when one of the key ingredients is Ramen, you know it will be reasonably priced.

Versatile - you can make it your own or clean through your kitchen by swapping out the meat, mixing in different spices, even changing noodles for rice.

I liked the fact that we just had to open some bags, cut some chicken, throw a few ingredients together and we were done.

Anything that involves chicken and stir-fry can be put into my belly.

This was an incredibly cheap meal.

I liked that we were able to make the Teriyaki sauce ourselves.

Very filling.

What we'd change:

Flavor - the teriyaki sauce we made was very good, but I would like to try it with some kick - somehow make it spicier.

Meat - Ah, the age old debate of white meat or dark. Ronnie's into DRY white meat, so the chicken was a bit dry. I'd like to try it with dark meat (probably won't happen though!!)

Noodles - I would cook the noodles a little bit less before adding them to the cooked veggies and chicken. They ended up a little on the soggy side. Perhaps undercooking them before adding them to everything else and allowing them to finish cooking once added to the veggies and chicken would have helped.

Next time, I'd like to cut the chicken into smaller pieces.

I wouldn't mind a little bit of heat in this dish.

I wish Bird's Eye would pay attention to the random vegetable roots I kept biting into.

I'd mess around with the Teriyaki sauce a bit more and possibly coat the Ramen noodles first, before adding the vegetables.

I wouldn't mind trying it with rice instead of Ramen

Here's our overall rating (with 1 being the worst meal we've ever had and 10 being the best):

Mandi's Rating: 8

Ronnie's Rating: 6.5

Again, if you guys have any suggestions on how this is laid out or what you guys would like to see answered/done differently, please let us know :)

My Second Near-Death Experience

- I'm so thankful that our A/C got fixed and it didn't cost us an arm and a leg. Luckily it was just a leg this time, but we still have both arms. We're fortunate to have two A/C units but the unit that went out provides the cold air for the part of the house we actually spend our time in. It's responsible for our master bedroom, living room, kitchen and dining room. Like I said though, it certainly could have been much worse. We've been sleeping in the guest bedroom the last couple of nights but will be back in our bedroom tonight!! The guy fixed it in literally less than 10 minutes as it was just a little part that happens to run the fan. It completely gave out (in fact, it exploded). Hopefully this new one will stay intact for a VERY long time.

- We road our bikes up to Coldstone Creamery tonight as a little bit of a reward for all of our hard work in the garden today. It was incredibly hot and we were out there a good couple of hours doing everything from pruning, to cutting, to raking, to watering, to pulling, to pushing. We were both sweaty messes at the end of it, so we decided to treat ourselves. We took off up the road about a mile and a half eager to get our mouthes on the pure cold goodness. We seriously couldn't wait!! Well, not sure when it happened, but the ol' creamery went out of business. No cold goodness for us. We did our best to make up for it when we went home though with some homemade zucchini muffins and whipped cream. Mmmmm mmmmm good :)

- Mandi talked a little bit about married life on yesterday's and I've got to say, I couldn't agree more. Married. Life. Rocks. It just makes everything better. I mean, I've drank 1000000 cups of coffee, but I've never shared a cup with my wife and I never knew coffee could get even better. I've cooked with others in the past, but cooking with my wife is more enjoyable and I swear the food tastes better. In fact, Mandi and I have much of the same routine in terms of our work day and shows we watch during lunch breaks, yet the time I spend with her now just seems better. I have yet to be able to verbalize it correctly, but I think I got close the other night while trying to explain how I felt to Mandi. I told her it was much like a person who has a near death experience. Everything from that point on takes on a different meaning and all of the experiences just seem better. I think our wedding day was that near death experience for me...or did that just not sound right??