2-4 servings 25 minutes (5 minutes prep) Recipe available at: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/getrecipe.zsp?id=28649 This is a quick and easy thai dish with a lot of flavor. Don’t skimp on the thai chilis! We are growing these and the thai basil in our front yard, so we’ll be making a lot more of this in the future. Saute-ing the herbs and spices: 
Adding the ground chicken: 
Cooking it all up: 
Nearly complete: 
Final plating served over jasmine rice: 
Hope this comes out well for everyone else. We really liked it.
Chicken Breast stuffed with Feta Cheese, Sundried Tomato, and Bell Pepper
Here is a dish that we tried early on during the winter months. It sounds more complicated that it is. Best thing is to look for some really flat chicken breast cutlets that are easy to bend. This also helps the chicken to get cooked all the way through. The taste on this is great, and it uses a lot of our favorite ingredients. 4 servings 55 minutes (20 minutes prep) Recipe available at: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/getrecipe.zsp?id=17962\n\nWe substituted green bell peppers for the red that it calls for. Here we are saute-ing with the garlic: 
Creating the “insides” (we used real bread crust instead of off the shelf bread crumbs): 
Stuffing our first chicken breast (we forgot to flatten them out before starting so they are more plump than is ideal): 
Four of them going into the oven: 
Now the finished product. We were able to get it cooked just right on this occasion, although we did have some trouble when we later tried similar chicken-stuffed recipes. It can be a very delicate balance between undercooking the chicken and making it too dry: 
On the plate with the garlic/bell pepper garnish (don”t forget to remove the toothpicks!): 
This is one we want to make again before long. The ingredients are a little demanding, but many substitutes are possible. A related dish calls for goat cheese instead of feta, and is probably just as good if not better.
Cooking
Well i don’t know if you’ve heard but Kyle and I have gotten really into cooking. Kyle’s been recording our cooking with lots of photos. To see the yummy things we’ve been making, please click on the Cooking link on the left to check out this new blog. We will be updating it whenever we make something new. I’m loving the heat!! Finally summer is here.
Thai Chicken Coconut Curry
Our first venture into Thai food this past year was a big success. Sara really liked the pineapple added in, while I threw in some Thai chile’s to try and get it heating up. It”s hard to go wrong with this solid set of ingredients. 4 servings 35 minutes (15 mins prep) Recipe located at: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/getrecipe.zsp?id=81916\n\nScoping the scene before hand, you”d come across a “who’s who” of Thai cooking: 
The lemongrass floating in a sea of good flavor: 
Now we”re doing some cooking folks: 
The final product, hot off the stove: 
Our weary critics await: 
It was a cold December night, but it was hot hot hot inside our mouths: 
My only warning on this one is to watch your measurements, especially with the curry paste and brown sugar. Too much of a good thing can come back to bite you after a third or fourth mouthful. This meal was one in about ten minutes though, so it’s definitely worth taking a shot at. Pretty easy to make, and sure to satisfy even the most discriminating feline.
Mexican Lasagna
This is a pretty simple recipe that has a big time taste. There are quite a few ingredients required, but it is worth the extra trip to the store. Recipe Summary Difficulty: Easy Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Yield: 4 servings User Rating: 5 Stars Recipe located at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_28244_PRINT-RECIPE-FULL-PAGE,00.html\n\nBefore the battle: 
Preparing the ground chicken and spices: 
Adding the corn: 
“Layering” the dish (3 layers in total): 
Before going in the oven (we added the jalapenos for some heat):\n\n
Coming out of the oven it was smelling incredible: 
The final messy plating: 
Again, this worked out great for us. We”ve since made it a couple more times, although in each of these cases we were missing one or more ingredients and it wasn’t quite as intense on the flavor. We would thus highly recommend not skimping on this one, but instead treating yourself to a complete feast.
Summer Time
Well we’re in the middle of summer. Kyle’s busy interning for Tektronix and I’m off for the summer- relaxing and working a little to get ready for the school year. We’re in Beaverton during the week and Salem on the weekends for the most part. We’re a little annoyed with being in two places but oh well. Yesterday was our 11 month anniversary. We’re almost to a year! This month we’re planning on going to the Brew Fest in Portland (www.oregonbrewfest.com) and then Bite of Oregon next month (www.biteoforegon.com). I don’t know about you but I’m getting sick of these dreary mornings- hopefully it will warm up this afternoon. I hope you’re enjoying your summer. Sara