In the kitchen with Laura...

I've always wanted to try a recipe by "The Pioneer Woman! She has an incredible blog, TV show, and hilarious personality! So, I decided to try a recipe that Ree Drumond, The Pioneer Woman posted a long time ago. I receive her updates and found the recipe on Pinterest, so I knew I had to try it. I love the idea of monkey bread, but we don't need a big serving and this smaller version was perfect! I know I will make it again and take it to work.

Here is the recipe that she uses: Monkey Muffins. I went along with her recipe, but I know that I will be changing it up on my next attempt at making them.

I took the easy way out and made them with refrigerated dough...it's a no brainer for me. I don't have the patience to wait for dough to rise, unless its a holiday. And using the easier recipe was so fast and is a great treat to make before I head off to work! Here are some before and after photos of the Monkey Muffins.

So here are a few alterations that I would make:

• adding toasted pecans to the top before baking
• mixing my cinnamon and sugar together so that they can evenly disperse during baking
• ....maybe adding raisins to appease to the man in my life!
• dare I say add some chocolate? The would be a palette overload, but so delicious!

Now for my second recipe: Let me warn you...there are no pictures for this recipe. I'm so sorry, but you will be able to visualize it. :) I was craving shrimp last night and the grocery store had a super cheap steal of a price for the shrimp. I snatched it up, along with a bottle of Teriyaki sauce and decided to make up a quick recipe. We bought some bags of frozen veggies and one of them happened to be a stir-fry mix of veggies with greens beans, onion, broccoli, and mushroom. So here is my attempt to create Asian food.

Ingredients:

• Boil-in-a-bag brown rice
• Wok Oil (see below, I love the flavors in this high-heat oil)
• Frozen bag of Asian Stir Fry veggies
• 3/4 pound of medium shrimp (40-45 per lb., cooked, peeled, no tail)
• 2 tablespoons of Teriyaki sauce

Directions:

• Boil rice according to package
• Saute the frozen veggies until heated in a saute pan with the Wok oil
• Once the rice is cooked add it to the veggies, and give it a good amount of soy sauce...totally up to you!
• Then add the shrimp and teriyaki sauce and mix gently, but well!

Enjoy! It's a simple and 15 minute meal that tastes great and is Semi-healthy!

Ummm..P.S.: "The Pioneer Woman makes a really yummy iced coffee recipe. I have it in the fridge now stored in my SunTea pitcher! Here is the Perfect Iced Coffee recipe.

XO from Seattle,
Laura