This is a very easy, simple and quick to fix meal. You can serve this chicken sausages (or any sausage of your preference) with rice or even inside a bun. It is colorful and sure very tasty. I used the chicken sausage with apples, it is great since the apple in the sausage give a slightly sweet taste to the dish.

Ingredients:

4~5 chicken sausages
1 onion
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
Cilantro
Sal and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Preparation:

Slice the chicken sausage, onion and the peppers.
In a pan sautee the sausage until slightly brown, set aside. In the same pan, sautee the onion and the peppers. Add the soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Place back the sausage, mix gently and add the chopped cilantro. Remove from heat and serve.

My husband always asks me to make this muffins…with Splenda, which it is not my favorite since I am not a fan of any kind of artificial sugar. I am a believer of eating everything…in moderation. So with reluctance I baked this muffins anyway, I only substituted part of the white sugar and kept the brown sugar amount intact. The muffins came pretty good and did not have a very noticeable “Splenda” taste. After all, if you are counting the calories this is an easy and simple carrot muffin recipe that can be warmed up in the microwave and served as breakfast. Please note that the Splenda that I used comes in a granular form, and on the label says: “measures cup for a cup like sugar; great for cooking and baking”.

Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar 1/3 granulated sugar
1/3 granulated Splenda
4 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups shredded carrot
20 oz crushed pineapple (drained)
½ cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:
In a large bowl blend together the salad oil and the sugars, at this point it seems that the Splenda was not blending well with the other sugars, continue by adding the eggs one at the time beating well at each addition until blended. In another bowl sift together both flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture, about 1/3 at the time to the oil and egg batter, beating just enough to blend. Fold the carrots and then the pineapple into the batter. Add the nuts it desired. Pour approximately 1 tablespoon into small size bake cups (1 in). Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350F for 15~20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes out on the rack, let is cool completely. Makes 24 standard size muffins. By the way, the muffins can be stored in the freezer.

Did you know that Splenda (sucralose) is 600 times sweeter than sugar? Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that is commonly used in cooking and baking due to the high heart stability.

This is the easiest salad you can make with tofu. Tofu come in very different consistency and flavor, for instance there are the fresh ones and the processed ones. For this salad I used the processed, which is produced from a fresh tofu, you can find usually in the refrigerator section and it is not kept in water. Most of the baked tofu contains salt and spices, therefore it is not necessary to add more flavor to it, making this dish is extremely simple and yet very savory.

Ingredients:
1 pack of baked tofu
1 bunch cilantro chopped
1 tablespoon sesame oil
½ tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon hot oil

Preparation:
Slice the baked tofu (thin), add the soy sauce, sesame oil and the hot oil. Mix gently and fold in the cilantro. It is ready to serve.

Did you know that tofu is made by coagulating soy milk? Therefore tofu is low in calories and is low fat. Moreover, tofu is rich in iron.

As I mention last week, for this grilled chicken I used some of the juice from the pineapple cheesecake to marinate these chicken breasts. The grilled chicken breast are very tender due to the pineapple juice which contain enzymes that break the protein in chicken, therefore tenderize the chicken and gives them a nice flavor as well.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts split in half
3~4 cloves garlic mince
½ cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Parsley finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Add all the above ingredients to the chicken breast and refrigerate fro at least 2 hours. Grill the chicken breast and serve hot.

Simple Recipes 1st anniversary…I cannot believe that has been a whole year since I started this site. I want to thank you all for the support that I have been receiving daily…it has been a year full of new experiences and joys. It has been really fun to meet and get to “talk” to people all around the world and learn a little bit of you life, things that you like, things that you don’t like…

To celebrate my blog anniversary I want to share a special recipe for cheesecake. This pineapple cheesecake is light and you just cannot have enough of it…actually I made 3 of them!!! Moreover, with the drained pineapple juice from the crushed pineapple cans I made pina colada by adding Malibu to the juice and marinated chicken, which I’ll post next week…

Ingredients:
3 8oz cream cheese
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 20oz crushed pineapple (no sugar added), drained

Ground cinnamon to taste

2 16oz sour cream
10 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ready made pie crusts

Preparation:
Whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy, add the eggs one at the time by continuous beating. Once the eggs are added to the cream cheese, add the sugar and the vanilla extract. Mix for 1 more minute and fold the crushed pineapple into the cream cheese mix.
Pour the cream cheese mixture into the ready made crust and bake for 25~30 minutes at 350F.
Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let them cool down. Sprinkle the cakes with cinnamon. In the meantime mix the sour cream with the sugar and vanilla extract.
Pour on top of the cheesecake and bake for 5 minutes at 375F. Let it cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Now the award…I will be brief, I don’t want to get you bored…

This Happy 101 award was sent to me by Shaz at Test with Skewer and Kristy at My Little Space, I feel very flattered for receiving this award and really appreciate

I am passing this award to 10 bloggers friends, random order:

1. Anna at Chef Wanabe
2. Sook at My Fabulous Recipes
3. Joanne at Eats Well with Others
4. Mimi at Mimi’s Kitchen
5. Erica at Itzy’s Kitchen
6. Doggybloggy at Chez What?
6. Peachkins at The Peach Kitchen
7. Barbara at Moveable Feasts
8. Blond Duck at A Duck in Her Pond
9. Gloria at Canela Kitchen Recipes
10. Zita at Simplicious

Did you know that pineapple was first discovered by the Spaniels in Brazil? The original name of pineapple, ananas came from the Tupi language (used by the Brazilian indigenous). Now pineapple is spread throughout South America, Caribbean, Philippines, Hawaii, Zimbabwe (former Republic of Rhodesia, Africa) and Guam (South Pacific Island).