Brenda's Greek Chicken Skewers

I have had many requests for the marinade I use for my greek chicken skewers so I am sharing it here for everyone to enjoy!

While I tend to bbq these skewers in the summer, I do also make this recipe and cook them in the oven over the colder months.

This chicken recipe is great with a greek themed meal (lemon roasted potatoes, honey dill carrots, and greek salad are my kids favourites) but I also use this recipe for chicken Caesar salad (honestly on any salad it tastes great!).

Enjoy!

Greek Chicken Skewers

2 pounds of chicken breasts cut into cubes

4 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (it makes a difference if its from a fresh squeezed lemon)

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons dried thyme

3 cloves of garlic (minced)

salt and pepper to taste

In a large ziplock bag (I put my bag into a large bowl, add the ingredients and then can set the whole bowl in the fridge) add the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, paprika, oregano, basil, thyme and garlic. Mix well.

Add the chicken and mix well. I usually close the bag and really squish things around so that all the meat is coated. You can pop the bag in the fridge or put it back in the bowl to store in the fridge.

Marinate for 2-3 hours. Do not over marinate as the chicken actually becomes chewier because of the acid in the marinade. I set a timer and half way through I squish up the bag again to move the chicken around to make sure that it’s all getting marinated.

Put the chicken on skewers and bbq or cook in your oven! Over the summer I was often heard saying to my kids “Look at my grill marks”, hahaha. It is a bit of an inside joke because up until 3 years ago I had never bbq’d. Now I am happy to take to the grill!

Creamy Potato, Chicken & Dill Soup

Hi friends! I have another amazing recipe to share with you—this recipe came from my friend and our amazing Foods teacher. She shared with me that this was also her mom’s recipe, so its even more special :)

I made this a while back for my Scrapbook the Day Away event and all the ladies loved it. My kids finished off the rest and have been asking me to make it again.

This recipe makes 4 servings—I tripled it to serve to a group (with some leftovers).

Ingredients:

2 tsp oil

500 ml chicken stock

1/4 cup diced onion

1/4 cup diced carrot

1/4 diced celery

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed to medium diced (I used yellow in my batch)

1 chicken breast

2 tbsp fresh dill (or more if you are a dill lover like me)

100 ml milk

150 ml heavy cream (you can use all cream if you like)

1 tsp seasoning salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Peel and cut potato to a medium dice (suitable for soup!). Cover with water until ready to use

2. Cut chicken into small bite size pieces (soup friendly). Cut the veggies to a small dice. Finely chop the dill

3. In a large pot, heat oil. Add chicken and sauté until browned. Season with the seasoning salt and pepper

4. Add the carrots, celery and onion. Sauté until soft about 3-4 minutes

5. Add the chicken stock and potatoes. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15-20 min

6. Add the milk, cream and dill. Bring to a boil and taste. Adjust seasonings as necessary

7. Serve with yummy bread and feel awesome!

I am counting this as ‘try a new recipe’ once a week for my 50 Things to Do When I am 50 list—if you have awesome recipes your family loves, please share them with me!

Stamp Night Cheese Dip!

Hey everyone! I am so excited to share Stamp Night Cheese Dip recipe! It’s definitely a high light of my card making nights and a recipe my friends and family have been enjoying for years! I hope yours will too!

Stamp Night Cheese Dip:

8 oz of cream cheese

1 cup of mayo (if you use Miracle Whip it will taste more tangy)

1 cup shredded nacho blend cheese (or any blend of mozzarella and cheddar cheese)

1 tsp of Cheese Chive & Bacon (Epicure seasoning or something similar)

1 tsp of Lemon Dilly (Epicure seasoning)

1 tsp of 3 Onion (Epicure seasoning)

NOTE: Epicure is a spice brand sold in Canada, hopefully you can find something similar where you live

Heat over to 350 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes. OR you can choose to serve this cold. Serve with tortilla chips on the side or small pieces of bread.

This is the dip before cooking. Personally I always serve it hot.

Seriously, either way it’s SO GOOD!

You see the cheese dip on the table! I also made an apple crisp this night too. Food and cards is a love language :)

Lemon Meltaway Cookies

Recently I hosted a fun stamping class where we made some cards using the Sweet Citrus Bundle—this was a Cookies & Cards class that I host once or twice a month. Because it was a citrus themed class I decided to try out a new recipe and its definitely a keeper! If you are a lemon lover you will really enjoy these simple and easy lemon cookies!

LEMON MELTAWAY COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 lemon, zest of

2 cups of flour

1/2 tsp baking powderr

1/2 tsp salt

Lemon Cookie Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp heavy cream

1/8 tsp salt

Instructions:

Cream the butter and sugar together. Mix in egg until well incorporated and add in lemon zest. Mix.

Add 1/2 cup of flour, baking powder and salt to the creamed mixture and combine. Continuing adding flour at 1/2 cup increments and it is all completely combined.

Use a small cookie scoop (I love the Pampered Chef scoops!) or tablespoon to measure dough and then form into balls and place on a cookie sheet with parchement paper. You can slightly flatten them with the palm of your hand.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-9 minutes until the center is set. The cookies will not brown at the edges and will remain light in color. Let them sit for a couple of minutes on the sheet and then transfer to cool on a wire rack. You will be icing the cookies on this rack so you can place paper towel beneath to catch any drips.

It is important that the cookies are completely cool before you add the glaze.

To make the Lemon Cookie Glaze:

Whisk the powdered sugar with the cream, lemon juice and salt until smooth. Use a spoon to add a teaspoon or more of the glaze to each cooled cookie. Let the glaze set before you transfer the cookies to a container. They taste great at room temperature but even better straight from the fridge!

I was able to make 24 cookies from this recipe! I hope you enjoy!

And for fun, here is the lemon card we created that inspired my cookie recipe!