My Mom's Teriyaki Marinade

Here is the best teriyaki marinade you will find. It is the best and I cut this recipe in half for the two of us.

1 c. soy sauce
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
sprinkle of ginger

1. Whisk it all up. Marinade meat.

To make a glaze, measure left-over marinade in glass measuring cup. Whatever amount it comes to, add half that amount of cold water to it. Add in some cornstarch, throw it in the microwave for a few minutes until it's thick, clear and medium brown.

Cheesy Potato Bread [Bread Machine]

I made this on a whim, and it turned out pretty well! It's great with eggs or for a sandwich. I made the 1 1/2 pound loaf, but I suppose I'll include both...

for 1 1/2 pound loaf:

3/4 c. water

1/2 c. chopped, peeled potato

1/3 c. milk

1/3 c. shredded cheese

2 tsp. butter

3 c. bread flour

1 Tbl. sugar

3/4 tsp. onion salt

1/4 tsp. caraway seeds, crushed (optional, I didn't use them this time)

1 tsp. active dry yeast or bread machine yeast

for 2 pound loaf:

1 c. water

2/3 c. chopped, peeled potato

1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. shredded cheese

1 Tbl. butter

4 c. bread flour

4 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. onion salt

1/2 tsp. caraway seeds, crushed (optional)

1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast, or bread machine yeast

1. Select desired loaf. In a small saucepan, combine the water and potato. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer covered, about 10 minutes (or until tender) and do not drain.

2. Mash potato in the water, measure the mixture. If necessary, add water to equal 3/4 c. mixture for 1 1/2-pound loaf or 1 c. mixture for the 2-pound loaf; discard any excess mixture. Cool slightly.

3. Add the potato mixture and remaining ingredients to a bread machine according to the manufacturer's directions. Select the basic white bread cycle.

4. Remove hot bread from machine as soon as it's done and cool on a wire rack.

Chicken Salad Croissants

I don't know why I haven't posted this yet, because it is one of our favorites! It's so simple and very tasty, and you will always want extras. It's always sad when it's all gone. Zak and I both like our croissants with both the sprouts and cashews; the sprouts give it a good 'earthy' taste, and the cashews are a wonderful salty counterpart to the sweet of the apples. I made these last night and we devoured them. Guess I'll need to get some more croissants to make another batch-gotta use all those sprouts and cashews up, right? Enjoy!

4 large croissants

2 c. cooked, diced chicken (about 2 half breasts; last night I used about 12 oz., which was plenty)

about 1/2 c. mayo

1/4 c. chopped cashews (I don't know about this amount; since we have Winco, I just go get a small bulk bag of nuts, no idea how much I got, so just eyeball it)

1 small box alfalfa sprouts

1/2. apple (usually a whole apple, depending on size-in my opinion, more apple won't hurt anyone!)

1/2 c. chopped/diced celery (about 1 stalk; we're not big celery people, so I use probably less than this amount)

8 oz. whipped cream cheese, softened a little

1 head leaf lettuce (optional)

salt & pepper to taste

1. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, celery and apple.

2. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper (to taste) and toss together lightly. Cover and chill.

3. Spread cream cheese on each slice of croissant. Place lettuce leaf (optional, I haven't tried it with lettuce yet) and some sprouts on each croissants.

4. Spoon chicken salad over lettuce and sprinkle with cashews.

I usually lightly cream cheese both sides of a croissant, place a sufficient amount of sprouts of the top half, and a handful of nuts on the bottom half.

Macaroni Salad

So, Zak and I have been to the local Hawaiian restaurant here in Moscow a few times. Overall, it's pretty good, but their macaroni salad leaves something to be desired. It's bland, flavorless and needs a decent amount of salt, and makes me sad. Because I love mac salad and Hawaiian food, and it was just disappointing. So I decided to make some myself, using the family recipe. My grandma was born & raised in Hawaii and this is her recipe. I was nervous that Zak wouldn't like it as much as I hoped, because his idea of mac salad is something so foreign to me (involving cheese, tuna, other things? it didn't sound bad, it just didn't sound like what I knew to be mac salad). Well, I worried needlessly, because he devoured this and wants me to make more as soon as possible! Yay! We had this with grilled teriyaki chicken, rice, and corn on the cob. It made me feel like I was home. :)

Here is the original recipe, I cut it in half and it still made a huge bowl's worth. But that's ok, because we certainly did not mind having leftovers!!

Salad

1 package (16 oz.) salad/elbow macaroni, cooked until soft (super soft), drained & cooled

1 carrot, peeled & grated

1 cucumber, peeled & quartered lengthwise

6 - 8 hard-boiled eggs, shelled, cooled & chopped

1 can small black olives, sliced in half

Dressing

1 1/2 c. mayo

1/2 c. milk

1/8 tsp. celery seed

salt & pepper to taste

1. Scoop out/cut seeds out from cucumber, chop into thinly sliced pieces and place into a small bowl. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for a few minutes. Gently squeeze out the water from the cucumbers, discard liquid.

2. Place above ingredients into a large bowl, then fold in the dressing.

mmmmmm

pictures make me salivate