Marinated Chicken w. Roasted Asparagus, Potato/Onion/Asiago Kugel, and Sweet Potato Apple Crisp

Yum, this was a good dinner! Though it was awhile ago, I think I remember how I whipped this together...

For the chicken, I was lazy- I simply cooked the chicken on the stove in a frying pan with General Tso's Sauce that I had bought at TJ Maax (Oh, and if you haven't been there, you should go).

For The Roasted Asparagus, You'll Need:

Fresh asparagus
Butter/Olive oil (I like to do half butter and half olive oil)
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper

1. For the roasted asparagus, preheat the oven to 375*, and cut the ends off of the asparagus. They *should* easily snap off, if not, you can use scissors.

2. Melt some butter and olive oil either in a frying pan or microwave. Now spread melted butter over the asparagus, so they are all coated evenly.

3. Now you can place the asparagus on a cookie sheet, and sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese over them.

4. They should be done in about 10 minutes. Don't let them burn!

For The Potato/Onion/Asiago Kugel, You'll Need:

Potatoes
Onion
Asiago cheese
Eggs
Salt
Pepper
Lots of butter.

For this, follow my other recipe for kugel (See the Potato and Leek Kugel recipe), but this time, add more butter and asiago cheese. :-)

For The Sweet Potato Apple Crisp, You'll Need:

About 4 sweet potatoes
Apples of your choice (2-3)
Cinnamon
Sugar
Citrus Juice
Butter

1. I start by boiling the sweet potatoes in a pot; this makes the skin come off much easier. Also, cutting them into slices goes pretty quickly.

2. Cut up the apples and place them in a frying pan that has melted butter in it. Coat them with sugar and cinnamon, to your liking.

3. Once they start getting bubbly, add citrus juice of your choice (I used a Sprite-like soda, but you could use apple juice, lemon juice, etc.)

4. After the sweet potatoes are still somewhat firm (not too mushy), remove them from the boiling water. Once they're cooled off, peel the skin off and cut into slices. Place several slices in a pan (I used a banana bread type pan), and place apples directly over the sweet potatoes, and continue layers until the ingredients are gone. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and bake at 400* until the top is bubbly and the potatoes are cooked through.

With Spring here, what has everyone been eating lately?

Balcony Garden

Aaron and I started our balcony garden! Here is Week 1 of our plants. We planted multiple kinds of flowers (which I'll specify in the later months when they start blooming more visibly), herbs (mint, apple mint, basil, oregano, chives), peppers (multi-colored), strawberries (!) and tomato plants. I can't wait to have semi-garden food to eat and cook with. In feng shui, they say that your plants/garden is representative of one's health. Hopefully I'll take good care of these plants! :-)

Matzah Pasta

For those who observe Passover, leavened bread or bread products cannot be eaten during this time (or anything that rises, expands, or may have been in contact with grains). I decided to try out what a lot of others have been doing (and raving about how good it is)- matzah pasta.

You'll need:

3 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Several pieces of matzah (I used egg matzah- it's the best tasting)
Sauce of your choice (I used an alfredo sauce and a marinara sauce)
Parmesan or Asiago on top

1. Preheat the oven to 375*. Place the butter in the pan you're using, and place in the oven. Once the butter is melted and sizzling, remove the pan from the oven.

2. Now, take the broken pieces of matzah and spread them around in the butter mixture. Place (dry) matzah atop the ones coated in butter. Drizzle olive oil on top of these pieces.

3. Bake (without sauce) for about 15 minutes, until the pieces are golden brown. Now, add whatever sauce desired on top of the matzah pieces. I used alfredo and marinara- it was delicious! I also added grated asiago cheese on top.

4. Bake for about 10 more minutes. Once it's bubbly on top, and the cheese is golden, remove the pan, and let it cool.

It's surprisingly good!

Recommended wine: Yarden.