Chicken Paprikash

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend and were able to rest and have fun with your friends and/or family.  We had a pretty stressful Saturday since the Husband's car died.  It pretty much stopped working right on the interstate.  Thankfully he is okay.  The car, well, it made it to the shop in one piece, but we don't know what is wrong with it!

Sunday was a better day.  We decided to stay in the entire day, only venturing out to Target to get some necessities.  That turned out to be a good plan since I made some brownies (I will post them tomorrow), took a nap, and was able to make Chicken Paprikash, which was a yummy meal!

Chicken Paprikash
Recipe from Clean Eating Magazine
Ingredients
3 oz sun dried tomatoes
1lb redskin potatoes, scrubbed well, patted dry and cut into 8 wedges each
1 T olive oil, divided

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1lb chicken breast, cut into cubes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T sweet paprika
1/2 C fat free Greek yogurt
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 F, bring kettle of water to boil.

In a small bowl, add tomatoes and enough boiling water to cover completely.  Let sit for 20 mins.  Drain and chop finely.

Meanwhile, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Add potatoes and drizzle with 2 tsp. olive oil.  Toss well to coat and spread evenly on sheet.  Bake for 40 minutes, flipping potatoes halfway through.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat remaining olive oil on medium for 1 minute.  Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 mins.  Add tomatoes, chicken, garlic, paprika and 1/4 C water.  Stir well and cook until chicken is done, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in yogurt.  Divide chicken mixture and potatoes among 4 plates and garnish with pepper if desired.

Chicken Soup

So I finally made a meal that didn't involve cabbage or brussel sprouts!  For the past week I have been on a cabbage kick (I think of brussel sprouts as mini-cabbage, so they count too).  I haven't even posted my red cabbage recipe since I had a feeling the blog was becoming to cabbage-centric!
Instead I am going to post about simple chicken soup, which has some unusual veggies in it.  I mean, not really unusual, but unusual in the sense that when you think of chicken soup, you don't think of: kale, sweet potatoes and mushrooms.

But it was good!  And it filled me up and is apparently full of good-for-you stuff.  What's your favorite chicken soup recipe?  Does it have any "unusual" ingredients?

Chicken Soup
Inspired by Chicken Soup Recipe in Clean Eating, Jan. 2012
Ingredients:
9-10 C chicken broth
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
1 bunch (about 10 oz) kale, washed, stems removed and torn into pieces
8 oz thickly sliced white mushrooms
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut crosswise into bite size pieces
1/4 tsp - 1/2 tsp garlic powder (depending how much you like garlic!)
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and pepper

Instructions:

In stockpot, bring chicken broth to boil and add potatoes and simmer until almost tender, about 7 minutes.  Add kale and mushrooms and simmer for about 5 more minutes.  Add chicken and spices and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. 
Ladle into bowls and serve.   You can top with a little parmesan cheese if you would like!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Well we are doing pretty well on the healthy eating front.  It's been 3 days and I have only snuck a few m&ms's.  And a cake pop.  And a piece of dark chocolate.

Okay, whatever.  I told you guys that I am not good at eating healthy in the winter! At least my meals are healthy. 

I made this chicken dish the other night and it came out pretty good.  Was pretty easy to make and stayed moist, which is key with chicken!  I quadrupled the recipe below so I could have enough for dinner one night and lunch the next day. 

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Adapted from Clean Eating Magazine
Ingredients:
2 thin sliced boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6-8 baby spinach leaves
1-2 wedges of Laughing Cow Light cheese
1 slice of ham (I did use the nitrate free ham suggested by Clean Eating)
paprika and dried parsley to taste
salt and pepper if desired

Sauce ingredients:
3 T Dijon mustard
3 T white wine
1-2 T white wine vinegar
2 wedges of Laughing Cow Light cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400F.  Spray baking dish with cooking spray.  Lay a piece of chicken in the baking dish and top with 3-4 spinach leaves.  Spread 1/2-1 whole wedge of cheese onto the spinach and then top the cheese with 1/2 slice of ham.  Roll up each piece of chicken and secure the roll with a toothpick.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until chicken is done.  (Note - you may want to pound the chicken with a mallet to get an even thickness.  I skipped this step since my chicken was pretty evenly thick.)

For the sauce: in a small sauce pan, combine the mustard, wine and vinegar and heat over medium to medium-hi heat.  Once the mixture is warmed through, add the cheese and whisk it into the mustard combination.  It won't be perfectly smooth.  Taste and add mustard or vinegar as desired.

French Fried Onion Chicken

You guys.  I do not believe that no one has told me about French Fried Onions.  You know - the ones in a can that you use to make green bean casserole?  They are SO GOOD!

I volunteered to make a veggie dish for the Toddler's Thanksgiving feast at daycare.  I decided to make the green bean casserole since I had heard it was easy.  I had never actually made it before and had actually never even tried it.  Well, when I was making the dish I decided to sample some of the onions.  And I was hooked.  I couldn't stop eating them.  Right out of the can!

I had bought the bigger "stay fresh" pack of onions since I really didn't know how much I would need.  I used about half the container for the green beans and decided to use the remaining half to crush and put on chicken.  So I just whipped this together in a few minutes.  It is simple and, as the Husband said, "it has a good taste."  But I think I will eventually tweak the recipe to get even more flavor and depth.  Let me know if you have any suggestions!

French Fried Onion Chicken
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1-2 C crushed french fried onions
salt and pepper
1 T dried parsley (AFC note: I added this for color!)
optional: 1 package sliced mushrooms and 1 sweet onion sliced into rings

Instructions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F and spray a baking dish with a non-stick spray.
• Spread the crushed onion onto a plate or parchment paper.  Season the onion with salt and pepper and parsley. 
• Wash the chicken in cold water and leave chicken damp.  Alternatively, you can wash the chicken and then dip the chicken in a beaten egg or an egg white.  The goal is to have the chicken damp in order to have the crushed onion stick to it.
• Roll the chicken in the crushed onion on both sides so the crushed onion sticks to the chicken breast.
• Place the onion covered chicken into the baking dish and cook the chicken for about 20 mins or until done (will vary depending on how thick your chicken is).  
• To get a golden brown color, I stuck the chicken under the broiler for a few minutes after it had baked and was almost done.

Optional: spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray (or add 1 T of olive oil or butter) and add onion rings to saute.  After a few minutes, add the mushrooms to soften and brown.  Add spray, oil or butter as needed to prevent sticking and burning.  Top the chicken with the mushroom and onion mixture.

Updated: I'm linking up to the linky party at Serenity Now!

Greek-Style Chicken with Pickled Onions, Tomatoes and Tzatziki

Oh yum!  I love Greek food and Greek-inspired food.  The Husband and I have yet to find a good Greek restaurant any where near us.  Actually we haven't been able to find any Greek restaurant by us.  Maybe it is just as well since if a restaurant was close by, I would make reservations instead of making a new recipe!

I've been in a recipe rut lately, so when I saw this recipe in the latest issue of Everyday Food, I got excited and tried it the same night I got the magazine.  It was super easy (although I didn't really follow the directions that well) and really good.  In fact, there was only leftovers for one this morning and I gave them to the Husband, thereby making a big sacrifice.

Do you have any Greek recipes?  Please send them to me!

Greek-Style Chicken with Pickled Onions, Tomatoes and Tzatziki
From Everyday Food, November 2011 issue
Ingredients:
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 T red-wine vinegar
coarse salt and ground pepper
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest, plus 4 tsp lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cucumber, halved crosswise and sliced thinly
2/3 C nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley leaves
4 tsp olive oil
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes (or several large tomatoes, sliced)
cooked rice for serving

Instructions:
In a medium bowl, combine onion and vinegar (AFC note - I added a lot more vinegar.  The onions were swimming!) and season with salt and pepper. 

In another medium bowl, combine chicken, lemon zest and oregano and season with salt and pepper.  (AFC note - this is where I messed up.  I added all of the zest and the lemon juice.  The chicken was very lemon-y.  But we like that, so I didn't think it ruined the dish.)

In a third medium bowl, make the tzatziki by combining the cucumber, yogurt, parsley and lemon juice (Ack!  the lemon juice!) and season with salt and pepper.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium high heat and add chicken, cooking until golden brown and cooked through, about 10 mins.  Add tomatoes to onions and serve with chicken, rice and tzatziki.

Chicken Cacciatore

In our latest quest for eating healthy, the Husband and I have started the Paleo diet.  Have you heard of this?  Well if you haven't, let me fill you in.  Basically, the diet denies you of your favorite foods - like potatoes, dairy, rice, cereals and beans - because our paleolithic ancestors did not eat those food and therefore our bodies are not adapted to process such foods.  Maybe I am being a little dramatic - after all that is just my analysis of the diet after not eating my favorite foods for a couple of days!

Actually, I think the basic rules of the diet may have some impact on our waistlines and health.  The Husband already looks skinnier.  But I don't think that the diet is sustainable for us since we are potato, dairy and pasta lovers.  But we will do it as long as we can!

So what do I make for dinner now?  Well last night I made chicken cacciatore with veggies on the side.  The recipe I followed was from the Paleo Diet book by Loren Cordain.  It was really good.  The chicken was really moist and it smelled delicious!

before cooking - doesn't it look delicious?

Chicken Cacciatore
adapted from "The Paleo Diet" by Loren Cordain
Ingredients:
4 bone in chicken breasts
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 red onion, sliced
2 C sliced mushrooms
1/2 C water
1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
5-6 fresh tomatoes, diced
2-3 T fresh parsley, chopped

After baking

Instructions:
Place chicken pieces in large baking dish.  Sprinkle with pepper and oregano.  Cover chicken with  onion and mushroom.  Pour in water to cover bottom of dish.  Spread tomatoes over the chicken mixture and top with sprinkles of the parsley.  Cook at 350 F for about an hour or until it is done.


Like I said, it was really good and very filling!  I would definitely make it again, regardless of what "diet" I am following.


Updated:  I'm joining the hop over at Punkin' Heads and Dooda Loo's and the hop at Delightful Order.

Tuesday Edition: Kitchen Tip



"Curry Chicken b/w brown rice and green beans" originally uploaded to Flickr by Zole

 I am surprised to be taking this cooking tip out of Redbook magazine.  I usually read Redbook for cute outfits and funny stories.  But I found this tip towards the back of the most recent issue and thought I should share: it is the "best way" to cook chicken breasts. 

The only thing I would add to Redbook's tip is that you should pound or cut your chicken breasts so they have an even thickness throughout the breast.  After doing that, you  season the breasts with salt and pepper on both sides, and dredge the chicken in flour, lightly coating both sides.  Pat off the excess flour.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high high.  Add butter and swirl until melted.  Place chicken in skillet.  Reduce heat to medium and saute chicken for 7 minutes, turning once, or until lightly golden on each side.  Transfer chicken to warm plate.  Leave the drippings in the skillet to make a sauce according to one of Redbook's recipes, or with chicken stock and flour.

Hurricane Chicken

Well the Husband, the Toddler and I made it through Hurricane Irene.  The good news is that we did not lose power.  The bad news is that all I have in my house is canned food since I was 100% certain that we would lose power.

The Husband thinks all the stores are still closed, and refuses to drive anywhere.  And I am still in my pajamas as I write this.  So I guess I will have to go to the store tomorrow to get fresh food.  We will use the canned goods tonight, or maybe thaw something frozen and have a "surprise" for dinner (I am really bad at labeling things!).

Last night, while we were anticipating the worst of Irene, I made "Hurricane Chicken".  Basically I looked around and threw stuff in the oven and called it a meal.  I thought it tasted pretty good.  The Husband was expecting more flavor.  Oh well! 

Did you get hit by the hurricane?  If so, I hope you and your family are safe and that it didn't do too much damage to your property!

Hurricane Chicken
Ingredients:
4-6 Chicken drumsticks
1 lb small red/white potatoes, quartered
4-6 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 red onion, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper
oregano
onion flakes
paprika

Instructions:
Spray large baking dish with olive oil spray and add chicken.  Surround chicken with chopped veggies.  Sprinkle chicken with seasonings until coated.  Bake at 400 F for about 30-35 minutes or until chicken is done.

Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce

I have no new ingredient to share with you this Wednesday!  I'm slacking off in my "what's new" feature.  But I have an excuse.  I am trying to not go to the grocery store this week - just living off of what we have in the fridge, freezer and pantry.  Do you guys do that from time to time?  Sometimes I feel like we have too much food and that it would be crazy to go out and buy more just so I can have ingredients to blog about cook with.

The recipe for Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce is from Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook "My Father's Daughter" and I was able to make it with ingredients I already had at home.  I think I may love Gwyneth, even though I tried hard not too.  Because who can be so good at everything they do??  But I love her website Goop.com and an article in Bon Appetit (where this recipe was featured) made her sound like someone I would like to hang out with! 

Check out her recipe below and let me know what you think.  Will you pick up a copy of her cookbook?  I'm thinking about it.

Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce
Recipe by Gwyneth Paltrow, as featured in Bon Appetit
Ingredients:
1 C chopped, peeled fresh peaches or 9-10 oz frozen sliced peaches, thawed and chopped
1/2 C ketchup
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp adobo sauce from canned chipotle sauce or 1 tsp soy sauce
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
4 skinless, boneless organic chicken breasts
vegetable oil

AFC notes: I used frozen peaches, soy sauce and used bone in breasts instead of boneless

Instructions:
Combine first 5 ingredients in a small sauce-pan.  Season lightly with salt and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to low; simmer until peaches are very soft and flavors meld, about 10 minutes. 

Remove pan from heat; let cool.  Pour peach mixture into a blender and puree until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place half the sauce in a medium bowl; add chicken and turn to coat.  Let marinate at room temperature for 20 mins or cover and chill for us to 8 hours, turning occasionally.  Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce.

Prepare a grill to medium high heat.  Brush grill rack with oil.  Grill chicken until browned and almost cooked through, 4-5 minutes per side.  Brush on all sides with reserved sauce; grill until glazed and cooked through, 1-2 minutes per side.  Slice crosswise.  Serve remaining sauce alongside.


p.s. I'm linking up at About A Mom's blog hop!

Tuesday Edition: Kitchen Tip



"Poached Chicken in Ginger and Galangal Stock" uploaded to Flickr by avlxyz 

 The Husband has a friend who used to eat "poached" chicken every night of the week.  This friend would "poach" the week's worth of chicken on Sunday night and then store it in plastic containers until the next dinnertime arrived.

I say "poach" because he essentially boiled the chicken and ate it. 

Gross.

I have never poached chicken before.  I imagine that it may be good in some recipes.  I imagine that it could save fat and calories if you are concerned with those things (which the Husband's friend was).  But I could NOT imagine eating poached (or boiled) chicken seven nights a week.  That is just too much.

If I were to poach chicken, I would probably use it in a recipe that calls for shredded chicken.  And, I would not follow the Husband's friend's recipe of chucking chicken into a boiling pot of water.  Instead, I would follow the tips from Cooking Light magazine, which I now share with you!  (This tip comes from their "Enlightened Cook" feature in the May 2011 issue, which was just after the recipe for this.)

1.  Tightly roll each chicken breast in plastic wrap.  Twist the ends in opposite directions.  This creates a mini steam bath.

2.  Simmer chicken for about 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 165F.  Turn the chicken at least once for even cooking.  The chicken can be simmered in water or broth.

3.  Allow chicken to sit, wrapped, for at least 5 minutes. Then shred.

Fast Summer Dinner

When we got home from vacation last week, the last thing I wanted to do was cook.  But I also didn't want to get take-out or go to a restaurant.  What's a girl to do?

I settled on running in and out of the grocery store really quick.  I promised myself that I would just grab the things that I needed to make a really fast meal.  Ten minutes in the store - tops. 

But then I saw cherries on sale.  Oh, and seltzer.  And yogurt!

So it took me 20 minutes.  But it was worth it.  I was able to get chicken, corn and fresh mozzarella for that dinner that night, plus some things for breakfast in the morning.  More than enough to hold us over until I went to do a big shopping trip.

So what did we eat?  Italian seasoned chicken, corn on the cob and tomato salad.  It's nothing special, and I didn't follow a recipe, I just threw it together.

grilled chicken with grilled peppers on top, corn, tomato and mozz salad

The corn was easy: I just boiled it.  The chicken was simple too: I sprinkled a dry packet of Italian Salad Dressing mix onto 2 lbs of chicken, and grilled until done. 

The tomato salad (often called a caprese salad) was also easy.  This is probably my most favorite summertime salad.  And what made this one even better was that the tomato was from my garden! 

Summer Tomato Salad
Ingredients:
1 tomato
1 small package fresh mozzarella
4-5 basil leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Slice tomato and mozzarella.  Layer the slices of tomato, mozzarella and basil leaves. 

First I layer tomato and then mozz

And then I add the basil between the tomato and mozz.  I tear the leaves if they are too big.

Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

What is your favorite summer salad?  Do you have a go-to recipe for the days that you don't want to cook but take-out isn't an option?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Shredded Chicken Tacos

I love Mexican food.  No wait, I love Mexican food.  I think I could eat it every night.  I love Americanized Mexican food and I love Mexican Mexican food.  I especially like to enjoy it with an ice cold beer!  Do you agree?

I am very fond of tacos; meat, veggies, yummy sauce, all wrapped up in a shell!  I mean, how much more wonderfulness can you get in a meal? 

In my never ending quest to find yummy taco fillings, I stumbled on a recipe for Shredded Chicken for Tacos at Smitten Kitchen.  It looked easy enough, and since the chicken required only 30 minutes of simmering, it was something that I could get on the stove and then play with the Toddler while it cooked.  I did do the other prep work before getting the chicken on the stove: diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, etc.

I decided to serve the chicken in homemade crunchy taco shells.  The Husband likes crunchy shells.  I do not have a preference.  The homemade ones were not that fast to make, but they sure beat the stuff in the box! I found a video of how to make the shells here.  

Regardless of your shell preference, I hope you enjoy this filling!  As I mentioned above, I served with shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes as well as fresh salsa from the store and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese.

Shredded Chicken for Tacos
from Smitten Kitchen
Adapted from The New York Times
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless chicken thighs
1 large white onion, peeled and quartered
5 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 ancho or other mild dried chili, optional
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
1.  Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and add water to cover. Turn heat to high, bring to a boil, and skim any foam that comes to the surface. Partially cover and adjust heat so mixture simmers steadily. Cook until meat is very tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from liquid and cool.

2.  Shred meat with fingers. Taste and adjust seasonings; use within a couple of days.

I took a few pictures of the taco shells as well, so I will post a brief tutorial. (But if you are going to make them, I suggest you check out that link above!)  Like I said, they were pretty tasty, but very labor intensive since you had to continually flip the tortilla to make sure it didn't burn. 

Heat pan and add a thin coat of oil to it.  Allow it to heat up and add your corn tortilla to the pan.

Using a fork and a butter knife, flip your tortilla over so each side starts getting a little brown.  Once you have done that a few times, fold the tortilla in half.

Keep flipping the folded tortilla so it doesn't burn, but allows some browning.  Once it is browned to your satisfaction, remove from pan and put on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

So after writing this and looking at the pictures, I really want one of these tacos!  And it is 6:20am!!

Leave a comment, let me know your favorite taco filling.


Updated: I've linked up at

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Last night I was supposed to make Thai Chicken Pizza from the recipe in a Clean Eating magazine.  But I didn't have all the ingredients.  The Thai Chicken Pizza called for 4 dates, which I couldn't find at the grocery store, and tomato paste, which I apparently didn't pick up (even thought it was on my list!).  So instead, I made BBQ Chicken Pizza! 

I was inspired by CPK's BBQ Chicken Pizza, and the fact that I had chicken, red onions and BBQ sauce in my fridge!  So I just improvised and tried to remember recipes I had seen on blogs, in magazines, etc.  This is what I came up with, and it was really good.

BBQ Chicken Pizza
inspired by The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients: (enough for 2 pizzas made on Naan)
olive oil spray
1 lb chicken tenders
1 C BBQ sauce (more if you like it extra saucy!)
1/4 of a large red onion, thinly sliced
pizza dough or crust (I used Naan bread)
2 C mozzarella cheese
cilantro for garnish

Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 350F.  Meanwhile, spray baking dish with olive oil spray, add chicken and coat with a layer of BBQ sauce (you don't have to go too heavy with the coating of sauce).  Put chicken in oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until done.

While chicken is cooking, slice onions and put BBQ sauce on pizza crust.

After chicken is done, let sit for a few minutes, and then slice. 

Set your oven to broil or increase heat to 425F.  Place mozzarella cheese and chicken on pizza.  You can add more onions or sauce on top of the chicken and cheese.  Put pizza in oven until bubbly and browned!

This is our new favorite pizza!

Chicken and Artichoke Pesto Pizza

This has to be one of my favorite pizza recipes.  And I didn't even come up with it!  The Husband did!  That's right, the Husband.  He went to California with his buddies one year and came home with this idea for pizza.  He thinks the original pizza that he ate on vacation had bacon on it, but I think that was just his way of trying to get me to add bacon to our version.  No such luck.

Here's our bacon-free version of Chicken and Artichoke Pesto Pizza:

Ingredients:
pizza dough or pre-made pizza crust
pesto sauce (either pre-made, home made, or a Knorr packet that you can mix yourself)
2 grilled chicken breasts (or Perdue short-cuts, or something similar)
1 can quartered artichoke hearts in water
reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese or fresh mozz (I used a combo of both)
fresh basil

I forgot to add the chicken!  Don't worry - threw it on before it baked

Instructions:
Pre-heat oven according to directions of your dough/crust
Assemble pizza by spreading dough with the pesto, then piling on the artichoke hearts and chicken
Top with cheese and garnish with fresh basil.
Bake in oven
Enjoy!

Wednesday Edition: What's New

My new ingredient of the week is kale!!

Kale is a leafy green veggie that has thick stems (which need to be removed before the kale is cooked or eaten).  I didn't taste the kale raw, but when it is cooked it has a slightly bitter taste.  So I am thinking that it is even more bitter when raw!

I used the kale in a recipe that is inspired by the Dilled Pasta recipe in Clean Eating magazine (it's in the January 2011 issue, but I couldn't find it on CE's website). 

Ingredients:
1 package whole wheat pasta (I used spaghetti)
1 bunch kale, stems removed and leafs chopped or torn into pieces
2 T olive oil
1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped
1 lb boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 bag frozen cauliflower
2 tsp dried dill
1/2 can chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Boil water for pasta.  While water is heating, chop onion and trim and tear kale.  Next, put 1 T olive oil in frying pan and saute onion over medium heat until just tender.  Add other T of olive oil, garlic and chicken, letting chicken brown on one side before flipping to the other.

Note: make sure you have enough room in your pan for the chicken to actually brown.  If you shove all the chicken into a small pan, the chicken won't brown up.  I am not sure of the technical terms here... I just know from experience.

While your chicken is cooking, your water should be boiling, so add the pasta and cook according to directions.  Set a time for 2 mins before the pasta should be done (so if directions say 10 mins, set a timer for 8 minutes).  When the timer goes off, add the frozen cauliflower to the boiling pasta.  After the 2 mins are up, drain the pasta and cauliflower.

Put pasta and cauliflower back in pot and add cooked chicken mixture.  In frying pan, add chicken stock to de-glaze frying pan.  After de-glazing, add kale on medium heat and cook until wilted.  Add cooked kale to chicken and pasta mixture.  Add dill, salt and pepper to chicken and pasta mixture and combine.  If dry, add more chicken stock.

Verdict:  I will be using kale again.  I loved it and it cooked fast and easy.  I added more dill to my dish, because I love dill, but that is a personal choice. 

Have you used kale?  Share your recipe!

Easy Grilled Chicken Dinner

There are so many things that I love about spring - and one of them is grilling!  I typically grill all year round, but I live in the Northeast so it can get tricky with snow.  This year we had 3-4 feet of snow on our deck.  I couldn't even see the grill!!



A view from my driveway

So as soon as everything melted, I was able to get out there and start grilling!  I threw this dinner together while making sure the Toddler stayed out of trouble!

Grilled Chicken
4 split chicken breasts (you can use boneless chicken breasts instead)
1 T olive oil
1/2 - 1 package Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix
1 T dry parsley (optional)

• remove skin from chicken, wash and dry
• in container or large zip-top bag, place chicken, dressing mix, parsley and olive oil
• mix so the chicken is covered with spices (you can marinate the chicken for awhile, or grill right away)
• grill until done

Broccoli and Spinach Rice Pilaf
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 T - 1 T olive oil
1 pkg boil in bag brown rice (can use white rice)
1 bag frozen broccoli pieces (not spears)
2 handfuls (or more) baby spinach
1/2 can chicken broth

• coat skillet with olive oil, add onion and cook until tender, then add garlic until fragrant
• meanwhile, boil water and cook rice for 5 minutes
• add chicken broth, rice and broccoli to onion and garlic mix in skillet, mix and let simmer for 2-3 minutes 
• add spinach a half handful at a time, stirring in between additions

• let simmer on low until rice and spinach are cooked and broth has evaporated (you can add more broth if you want)



Final Product after throwing in some dark brown rice I had from leftover Thai food!

 I threw the rice pilaf together at the last minute.  I got the idea from a Country Crock recipe I saw in a magazine, but made a lot of modifications.  I really liked it and so did the Husband and Toddler!  Here is a picture of the meal:

Dinner Pronto!

I cooked dinner on Mother's Day.  Maybe we should have gone out or gotten take-out, but we had been doing that all weekend.  So I really just wanted to make something at home.

I ended up going to Stop & Shop on Sunday morning (I also cheated last week and went on Thursday to get some beans and tomatos and cheese for cinco de Mayo) to get my groceries for the week.  It took me longer than usual since things are in all different places.  Which annoyed me.  Oh - and sidenote: I went to Target and they are rearranging that store too.  So nothing was in the right place!  What are my stores doing to me??!!

Anyway, I actually had a plan for dinners this week.  And according to the plan on Sunday we were supposed to have grilled chicken tacos.  Yummy! Doesn't that sound good??

Instead, we had pesto-grilled chicken with spaghetti and sauce and caprese salad. 

I really don't know what happened to the plan.  But I got some fresh mozz and basil at the store and really wanted that instead.  The pesto-grilled chicken just happened.  And I didn't take any pictures!  Everything came out really yummy, so I'll share:

Pesto-Grilled Chicken:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 pkg Knorr Pesto Sauce

olive oil

Make a pesto rub according to Knorr's pesto sauce mix

Spread rub on chicken breasts

Grill until chicken is cooked through

Pasta Sauce*

28oz can crushed tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

dried crushed basil leaves

dried crushed oregano

1/4 C red wine

olive oil

Run garlic through garlic press and saute in olive oil until fragrant.  Add canned tomatoes.  Season with oregano and basil (to your liking).  Add red wine.  Bring to boil.  Immediately turn down to low and simmer until your chicken and pasta are done.

    * I am not Italian.  My husband is and therefore I have an Italian last name.  Despite this fact, sauce is not my strong suit.  So if you have a better recipe, I would go with that.  Also, you can omit red wine.  The only reason I threw it in there was because I had a bottle of wine sitting on my counter for the last week or so and the wine wasn't really that great.  I figured it would be better in a sauce!

For the caprese salad, I just sliced 2 tomatoes and some fresh mozzarella and ripped off some fresh basil leaves.  I layered the ingredients and drizzled some olive oil over it.  Since I like to include pictures in my posts, I found this yummy take on the caprese salad:

Ingredients

• 1 cup baby spinach leaves
• 1 large tomato, sliced 3/4 inch thick
• 1 ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Spread the spinach out on a serving plate. Place the slices of tomato on the bed of spinach. Top each slice of tomato with a slice of fresh mozzarella. Sprinkle the basil over the salad and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy!



Do capers go bad?

In keeping with my promise of not going to the grocery store, I came home from work on Tuesday night and had to come up with dinner using some pretty skimpy choices for ingredients

I knew I was going to use chicken breast.  I just didn't know what I was going to do with the chicken.  I dug through the pantry and fridge and found what is in the picture above.  The capers and the sun dried tomatoes had been in the fridge for awhile.  I asked myself "do capers go bad?"  I guess I would find out!

I decided to season the chicken with garlic powder, dried parsley, dried basil and dried oregano.  And salt.  I would have added pepper too but my pepper mill is broken and I am too cheap to buy a new one.

I didn't measure any of the spices, but the chicken looked like this when I was done:

I sauteed 4 chicken breasts in a non-stick pan with 1 T olive oil.  Meanwhile I had also found a half of a box of lasagne noodles, which I broke up and boiled in water.  After the noodles were done cooking, I drained them, put them back in the pot and added:

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes with garlic and basil
• 5-6 tsp capers
• 1 small can sliced black olives
• 1/2 can chicken stock

I served the chicken over the pasta and added some parmesan cheese.

Verdict(s): 

1. capers do not go bad (yippee!)
2. the chicken did not have any flavor
3. the pasta and the "sauce" were pretty good
4. extra cheese made everything better

I am not sure why the chicken had no flavor.  Maybe I should have added the tomatoes etc. to the chicken instead of to the pasta?  In any event, the Husband and the Toddler ate it.  I thought it was even better the next day for lunch!