Tasty Thursday :: Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken

Ever eat something at a restaurant and wish you could recreate it at home? Well that's exactly what I did. My favorite dish at Applebee's is the Fiesta Lime Chicken (formerly known as Tequila Lime Chicken), unfortunately my husband isn't a huge Applebee's fan so we never go there. So one night I went on a mission, a mission to find my beloved Fiesta Lime Chicken recipe. Surprisingly it wasn't that hard. There are tons of websites dedicated to helping you find the recipe for your favorite restaurant dish. The recipe below seemed the easiest and that it was. My husband even liked it! As for me... throw some chachkies on the wall and some goofily dressed waiters and I would have thought I was in an Applebee's. Enjoy!

SUPPLY LIST

• 4 Boneless skinless chicken breast
• teriyaki sauce
• lime juice
• garlic
• liquid smoke (found in the bbq sauce aisle)
  
• ground ginger
• 1 nip of tequila
• jalapeno slices
• taco seasoning packet
• ranch salad dressing
• salsa
  
• shredded cheddar/Monterey jack cheese blend
• corn chips or tortilla chips

MAKE THE MARINADE

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup tequila

Combine all the ingredients into a medium sized bowl. Mix well. Add chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes but no more than 4 hours.

MAKE THE MEXICAN RANCH DRESSING

• 1 cup of Ranch dressing
• 2 tablespoons of red salsa
• 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning mix
• 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno peppers

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Mix until smooth. Cover and chill until needed.

MAKE THE CHICKEN

Preheat your oven to broil and heat up your grill. Cook the chicken on the grill. When the chicken is done, arrange the breasts in a baking pan. Spread a layer of mexican ranch dressing and 1/4 cup of shredded cheese over each piece of chicken. Broil the chicken for 2 to 3 minutes or just until the cheese has melted.

HOW TO SERVE

Spread a bed of 1/2 cup of crumbled tortillas or corn chips on each of four plates. Slide a chicken breast on top of each plate of chips. Serve with your choice of rice, pico de gallo, guacamole or salsa.

Tasty Thursdays :: Modern Steak

I know it's Thanksgiving and I should be writing an article about turkey, pumpkin pie or stuffing, but I have to rant and rave about Sam Fox's new restaurant, Modern Steak. This amazingly decorated steak house is located in the new Barney's wing of Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall and it is in line with all of Sam Fox's successes.


The moment you walk in, you are greeted by several hostesses all wearing the same adorable dress (I may ask for a job, just to get one). To your right is a small, but efficient bar with one bartender in particular who makes a killer appletini. I am once again in love with the attire the staff is wearing as the cocktail waitresses are adorn in navy short jumpers with a pink or purple satin waist belt. So cute! I would really appreciate it if someone could please send me one. Thanks!

On to the food, we sat down and were greeted by a very professional waiter who again was dressed to the nines, but kept it real with chuck taylors. We started dinner off with the Crispy Shrimp served with a Sweet Chili Aoili. Delicious... The special that night was a wild mushroom miso soup that almost everyone at the table ordered. I myself went for the Caeser salad which was perfect. My friend Mary had the lobster chowder which also looked amazing.

Now for the main course! I had a very hard time deciding what to eat as the entire menu sounded delicious. I ended up with the Maple Bacon Glazed Salmon and Amy & I split a side of their macaroni and cheese. This was the perfect combination because as I scooped mac & cheese onto my plate chunks of bacon from my salmon just happened to mingle with it, creating a magical flavor. My dish came with two filets of salmon on it, of which one was a tad bit under cooked, but I was so full by that time it didn't make a bit of difference. I notified the bus boy just for their own information and he promptly sent our waiter over who took my meal off the bill, no questions asked. I was definitely not looking for a free meal, but it was amazing customer service which I adore. The other people I was enjoying dinner with ordered everything from steak to lobster and crab. Everyone seemed very happy with their selections.

I am very grateful to the Black family for allowing me to join in their celebration that night. I will definitely visit Modern Steak again soon. Did I mention Mary Black got to meet Sam Fox? All-in-all the restaurant was beautiful, the service was fantastic and the food was amazing. Can't wait to go back! Thank you Sam Fox for feeding me well.

Things I love :: Ike Ndolo's New Album

If you know me, you know that I love Christian music. On a daily basis, I listen to K-love and KTAR, I know I'm a dork. Lucky for me, I have a number of friends who are in Christian bands. I am so excited to share my friend Ike Ndolo's new album with you all. It is truly amazing and I can't say enough good things about it.

The album titled, "We are the Beggars", debuted at #5 on the Christian album list. I am so proud of the band and can't wait until they are on the radio, which I'm sure will happen soon. Click here to sample 12 of 14 songs from "We are the Beggars" and feel free to download it off itunes. And if you want a live sampling, join us tonight, from 7-10pm at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel church in Tempe, for the CD release party. I hope you enjoy his music as much as I do.

So You Think You Can Dance

Summer is here and so is my favorite TV show, So You Think You Can Dance. I am loving every minute of it, especially when one of my long time fellow dancers, Ade, made the top 20 last night. If you don't watch the show, you should and if you watch it this season you should vote for Ade.

So here's my shout out to Ade. You are amazing and I can't wait to watch you rock that stage!

Things I love :: A Great Party & My Mom

This was a whirlwind of a weekend, but it was an unforgettable one. First, we had a fabulous block party for my Stepdad Gary. He is finally retired from serving 30 years as a Phoenix Firefighter and man did he go out with a bang! We had two live bands, some amazing food, and plenty of liquor for everyone. Without exaggerating there at any one time were 300-400 people there to celebrate. It was a fabulous party and we plan on finding an excuse to throw one every year. Here are some pictures from the party.

My cousin Katie & I pretending to be firefighters

Cousins


Gary & Friends


Mom's work friends


Chris, Kent, Jaci & I

My cousins Pat & Staci with my Aunt Jodi & second cousins Elle & Patrick

Mother's day was a blast too! We had lunch with the in-laws at McCormick & Schmick's, one word, delicious! Then Chris & I went to see Star Trek. Now I'm not much for movies like that, but I have to say it was pretty good. A girl can only take so many fight scenes and laser guns before it gets old. Then I wrapped the night up with a spaghetti dinner with my mom and family. It was a pretty nice little weekend.


I hope you all had a great weekend, especially all you mothers!

Love,

Nicki

Tasty Thursdays :: Panko Chicken

So per usual I was struggling to figure out what to make for dinner so I browsed around one of my favorite websites, www.foodnetwork.com, when I came across this recipe for Panko Chicken with a tomato wasabi sauce. I was skeptical at first, but I gave it a try anyway. Just to let you in on some changes I made. 1. I used chicken tenders instead of breasts 2. I paird this with mashed potatoes and it was delightful. In short, it was amazing! So I thought I would share it with you and hopefully you like it as much as we did.

For chicken:

• Cooking spray
• 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, about 5 ounces each
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup panko crumbs or unseasoned dry bread crumbs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan

For spicy tomato sauce:

• 2 cups canned or jarred tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons wasabi paste
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

For the chicken:

Season both sides of chicken with salt and black pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish. Place eggs in a separate shallow dish. Combine panko crumbs and Parmesan in a third shallow dish. Dip chicken first in flour, then in the egg and then panko crumb mixture. Transfer chicken to the prepared baking sheet and spray the surface with cooking spray. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Remove from oven.

For the sauce:

While the chicken is cooking, in a small saucepan, combine tomato sauce, wasabi paste, sugar, chili powder, and cumin. Set pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, for 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat

Things I love :: My Wedding Film

As most of you know, because you were there, I recently got married. We were so lucky to have been able to work with the wonderful crew over at My Wedding Film and Darby Elizabeth Photography. We just received our film and thanks to the amazing people at MWF and DEP, I am able share it with you. I hope you love it just as much as I do. To view it in full screen, just click on the little black box on the bottom right hand side of the movie screen.

Things I love :: Naughty Monkey Shoes

So I have been on the fence about this brand of shoes, until I really started doing some research. Now that that is done, I love them! Take a look at some of my favorite shoes from Naughty Monkey. They are available at a number of different retailers, but I find that Buckle seems to have a great selection.

Christmas Card Round-Up

So unfortunately this year we didn't get around to sending Christmas cards due to a crazy year, but I did look at some last night online and there are some very cute options for those who did have time to accomplish this task this year. Did you have time to send out cards? If so, did you use a generic card or custom card? I found these on the Pear Tree Greetings website, enjoy!