Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Greek Chicken

Bethany here again.  :)  We've had this twice now and it's turned out great both times.  It also doesn't take long to throw together.  That is a win in my book!  Leftovers are yummy over salad.

Ingredients: 
1 cup plain Greek yogurt 
2 Tbsp olive oil 
4 cloves garlic, minced 
½ Tbsp dried oregano 
1 medium lemon 
½ tsp salt freshly cracked pepper 
¼ bunch fresh parsley 
4 chicken breasts - (I used two big ones cut in half)

1. Combine yogurt, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper in a bowl.  Zest the lemon skin into the mixture, as well as juice from 1/2 the lemon.  Mix the ingredients until all are combined. Roughly chop a big handful, or about ¼ bunch, of parsley and stir it into the marinade. 
2. Put chicken and yogurt sauce in a Ziploc bag, coat the chicken, and marinate for 30 minutes.  
3. Bake the chicken in the preheated 375 degree oven for 45-60 minutes, or until golden brown on top.  This also works on the grill!

We had it with roasted asparagus, mushrooms, and zucchini.  Enjoy! 

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Belgian Beef & Beer Stew

Last week I was in Florida all week.  
The week before included:  
M - leftover of the chicken artichoke skillet
T - more leftovers
W - something from the freezer........I wasn't really sure what it was??    Scary??  Yes!!!    
Th - Sautéed mushrooms, Aidells chicken Itallian style meatballs in sauce and a salad
F - Red Salad/Gouda Pizza  (recipe from 8.29.15) 
S -  Belgian Beef and Beer Stew     

Recipe from:http://www.jewishworldreview.com/ess/belgian_beer_stew.php3

BELGIAN BEEF AND BEER STEW
6 servings
Serve with wide noodles, margarined or not

MAKE AHEAD: The stew can be refrigerated, covered, up to 2 days in advance; reheat over low heat. It can be frozen for up to 1 month.
Ingredients
 1/4 cup flour
 Fine sea salt
 Freshly ground black pepper
 2 1/2 pounds chuck or other stew beef, cut into 2-inch cubes, patted dry
 3 tablespoons flavorless oil, such as canola, or more as needed
 6 slices thick-cut pastrami, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
 2 tablespoons unsalted margarine
 4 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
 4 cloves garlic (green germ removed), finely chopped
 One 12-ounce bottle Belgian, abbey or brown ale or beer, such as Chimay
 1 1/2 cups no-salt-added beef broth
 2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar (light or dark)
 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
 1 tablespoon tomato paste or concentrate
 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
 Pinch ground cloves
 4 sprigs thyme
 3 bay leaves
 2 cups cubed, roasted vegetables, or as much as you like (optional)
 1/4 cup chopped parsley, dill, chives, tarragon or mixed herbs, for serving
Steps
Put the flour in a mixing bowl, season generously with salt and pepper and drop in the beef; toss to coat. 
Pour 2 tablespoons of the oil into a 4-to-5-quart Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add as many beef cubes as you can without crowding them, first shaking off excess flour. The beef will steam, not brown, if the pan is too full; cook, seasoning each batch with salt and pepper, until browned on all sides. The pieces should release easily from the bottom of the pot. As the meat is browned, transfer it to a separate bowl. If you need more oil to finish browning the batches, add it as needed. Reserve any leftover flour. If the oil in the pot has burned, wipe out the pot, leaving whatever solids (browned bits) have stuck to the bottom of the pot. 
Toss the pastrami into the pot and cook, stirring, until it has browned and its fat has rendered; transfer to the bowl with the beef. 
Add the margarine to the pot along with the onions and garlic. Season lightly with salt and pepper; reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramel-colored. Be patient; this can take at least 30 minutes. If you had leftover flour, stir it into the caramelized onions and cook for 2 minutes, until it browns and loses its raw-flour taste. 
While the onions are caramelizing, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. 
Spoon the meat, pastrami and whatever juices may have accumulated in the bowl back into the Dutch oven. Add the ale or beer, the broth, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, tomato paste, allspice, cloves, thyme and bay leaves; increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Taste for salt and pepper, adding more as needed. Cover the pot tightly with aluminum foil, then with its lid, and slide it into the oven. Cook (middle rack) for 21/2 to 3 hours or until the meat is tender enough to cut with a spoon. Discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. 
When you're ready to serve, stir in the roasted vegetables, if using, then sprinkle the stew with the chopped herbs. 
Nutrition | Per serving: 500 calories, 47 g protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 25 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 140 mg cholesterol, 600 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 9 g sugar

Read more at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/ess/belgian_beer_stew.php3#654KQe84sGwm7cof.99

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

I'm back to the land of the living but feeling extremely unmotivated!!!!!

Monday - In the spirit of "pi" day . . . spinach, mushroom and goat cheese frittata

Tuesday - Salad bar at home

Wednesday - blueberry pancakes

Thursday - corned beef and cabbage with roasted potates

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Aaaaaand I have the flu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soooo, while in North Carolina I came down with the flu. Well that sucked. We had to cut our visit short and came home a day early. Cooking is NOT in my near future. Dinner is what Mark can throw together.

Monday (last night) - grilled cheese and tomato soup

Tuesday - roasted chicken breasts and brussel sprouts

Monday, March 7, 2016

Tuscan Chicken Artichoke Skillet

Bethany was here last night so we could watch the final Downton Abbey!  
(Rob was at the last PU game!!)
Bethany is doing the 21 day fix so she requested this yummy recipe:  

ingredients
  1. 1 T olive oil
  2. 1 lb chicken breasts, thinly sliced
  3. 1 tsp ground black pepper
  4. 2 tsp oregano
  5. 1/2 tsp basil
  6. 1 tsp rosemary
  7. 1 tsp onion powder
  8. 1/2 tsp thyme
  9. 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  10. 3 cloves garlic, minced
  11. 12 oz mushrooms, sliced
  12. 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
  13. 1 (15oz) can artichokes, drained
  14. 2 (15oz) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained
  15. Salt and pepper, to taste
  16. Parmesan Cheese 


instructions
  1. Heat olive oil in 12" skillet over medium high heat
  2. Season the chicken with 1 tsp black pepper and 1 tsp oregano
  3. Cook chicken on each side for 3 minutes.
  4. Move chicken over to one side of the pan and add a little olive oil and the mushrooms and onion and saute until onions are translucent.
  5. Add in all seasonings, garlic, sundried tomatoes and saute for 2 minutes.
  6. Stir in artichokes and tomatoes. Let simmer until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.
  7. Top with Parmesan cheese and garnish with some fresh parsley, serve and enjoy!

Sunday, March 6, 2016

perfectly crisp chicken wings


Last night I tried something new!!!   I found this recipe in a low carb thing on Pinterest!!!   
Pretty interesting treatment that I read about at this website:  
http://www.ruled.me/perfectly-crisp-baked-chicken-wings/

  • 3 lbs. Chicken Wings, drumsticks and wings (~20 wings)
  • 1/4 cup Butter
  • 1 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 tbsp. Salt
Put all together and combine so that all the dry stuff is coating the wings 

Place onto wire rack over cookie sheet and cover.   Refrigerate overnight.  (I only did for about 4 hours)   
This helps dry them out and breaks down the peptide bonds in the proteins of the chicken (allowing for more crisp).

When you’re ready the next day, position a rack in the top middle position and pre-heat your oven to 450F. Once the oven is heated, place the chicken wings in and bake for 20 minutes.   Flip and bake 20 more minutes.   

Perfectly crispy chicken wings.    

You could eat them like that but I tossed them in a garlic parmesan sauce:  
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Roasted asparagus and a salad!   
YUMMMMOOOOOO   

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Baked Scallops with Lemon Garlic Cream

This recipe was in the Indy Star prior to Valentine's Day

1/2 c panko breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp butter, melted
kosher salt
2 Tbsp finely grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme   (I used dried) 
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp lemon zest
fresh ground black pepper
1/2 c heavy cream  (I used fat free half & half)   
16 oz bay scallops    (I only got 1/2 lb. of Hokkaido scallops  ~  there were 10) 


  • In small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, butter, pinch of salt and Parmesan
  • In another bowl combine thyme, garlic, lemon zest and a hefty pinch of pepper and the cream
  • Divide the scallops between 2 individual gratin dishes  
  • Pour half the cream mixture over each dish and then sprinkle each evenly with the breadcrumbs.   
  • (At this point, the scallops can be wrapped and refrigerated for up to 24 hours or baked immediately.) 
  • When ready to bake, heat oven to 400 degrees
  • Place gratin dishes on a baking sheet. 
  • Bake for 8 ~ 10 minutes or until cream is bubbling all over and crumbs are browned


Per serving: 
510 calories
31 g fat
115 mg cholesterol
26 g carbohydrates
1 g fiber
32 g protein

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Pecan Mushroom Stuffed Zucchini

Last week on Tuesday I made meatloaf.   (Rob's mothers recipe that I got when we were there recently!)  
Wednesday we had leftover soup
Thursday we had sausage & pepper
Friday I was at a girls night
Saturday we were at PU game and got home late
Sunday we had turkey soup that I had frozen after Thanksgiving.   (You know how you get sick of all that stuff after Thanksgiving???   Well, it was really yummy on a cold late February night)  
Monday we had meatloaf sandwiches and finally last night I cooked!!!  

We had a little roast beef and the following recipe.  It can from the welaugdhwecrywecook.com blog.
I really liked it a lot!!

Pecan Mushroom Stuffed Zucchini

Serves 4 -6
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup butter
4 zucchini squashes, cut in half lengthwise, then the middle cut out like a canoe, then diced (  I just cut a “v” shape to hollow it out quickly.)
8 ounces of mushrooms, any kind, diced (to yield 1 1/2 to 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pieces soft whole wheat bread made into crumbs (I had some leftover bread toast crostini things from Fresh Market and I crushed them up instead) 
1/2 cup pecans, broken or chopped (walnuts are also great)
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, divided
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
8 cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced for garnish
fresh basil or oregano (enough for garnish)
Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Put hollowed out zucchini “boats” in a heat-proof rectangle pan, lightly salt & pepper, and microwave for 6 minutes.    I just popped them upside down onto a cookie sheet with a little olive oil and baked them while I did the other stuff!  
In the meantime, heat oil and butter together in a skillet, and add the chopped zucchini and mushrooms and garlic.
Stir and cover, cooking over medium heat for about 5 minutes, so that juices accumulate and don’t evaporate. When veggies are soft and translucent and “juicy,” toss in bread crumbs, 1/4 c. Parm cheese, pecans, 3/4 t.  salt and 1/2 t.  pepper. Stir. Turn off heat. Stuffing should be moist. (If dry, add a little more butter, oil and/or water.)  Fill the “nuked” zucchini with stuffing, decorate with sliced tomatoes, cover pan with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 c. Parm, and put back in under broiler, watching carefully until Parmesan starts to melt and tomatoes start to brown just a little. Garnish with fresh basil or oregano leaves.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Since we're traveling later this week, dinners are short and simple.

Monday - roasted skin on, bone in chicken breast . . . they are just so much better this way.
                 salad and roasted brussel sprouts.

Tuesday - Scrambled eggs with spinach and leftover honey baked ham from our Minnesota weekend . . . and whatever else I can find in the frig to throw with dinner.

Wednesday - we just may be doing Chinese take out!