Foolproof indeed

Boneless skinless chicken breast is an American staple if one eats meat. That said, I don't like making it that much because it always comes out dry or just terribly boring. This recipe has convinced me that I should eat more of it. It's incredibly moist and has just enough other stuff to make it delicious, without ruining the versatility. I made 4 servings' worth of this stuff and will be putting it on a salad tomorrow, stir fry on Thursday, and something else on Friday (I'm flying solo with the kid this week because my husband is taking care of his mother after minor surgery).

Almost Foolproof Grilled Chicken

• 2 pounds chicken breasts
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• Zest of one lemon
• 2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary (I skipped this because I wanted versatility and don't love rosemary that much)
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

In a large bowl, combine all but the chicken and stir thoroughly. Add in the chicken, using your hands to make sure the marinade thoroughly covers the chicken. Allow to marinate at least 30 min (mine was overnight because I have more time to do stuff in the evenings after the kid goes to bed).

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large grill pan over medium-high heat. Once very hot, place chicken breasts smooth side down on pan. Do not touch until caramelized and the chicken releases easily from the pan. This should take 3-5 min. per side.

 

Remove chicken from the grill pan and place on a sheet pan and into the oven to finish cooking, 12-15 min. Chicken is done when the juices run clear. Allow the breasts to rest 5-10 min. Slice against the grain and serve.

 

I served it with Broiled Zucchini and arugula with leftover sherry-walnut vinaigrette. And of course a glass of the wine we didn't finish on Saturday and Sunday.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Kitchen Renovation Cooking Extravaganza!

It is SUCH a relief to be able to use all of our house after having kitchen renovations done.  That very essential room was cut off for three or four days, and I for one missed being able to work in it.

My very fancy tofu in a very fancy bowl.

But now... now it's much, much nicer.  The first day of full operations was Saturday, and to celebrate the occasion, I made a variation of the Seared Tofu with Sugar Snap Peas that appeared in the NYT.

I didn't have fish sauce or sesame oil, so I filled in those amounts with soy and peanut oil, and omitted the sesame seeds (same reason).  Otherwise, pretty much the same thing.

Last night's dinner was a variation of that variation, which turned out to be Orange Chicken (recipe follows).  Tonight was the very easy + tasty Fresh Pasta Sauce with a little sauteed chicken and sausage added, and WOW was that good over egg fettuccine.

Living in a household with someone who is dieting to lose weight (to increase the success chances of surgery) is challenging in a lot of ways.  I have a very long history of not really feeding myself unless I'm feeding others, and I spend most of my day (ergo eating time) out of the house.  With dinners being generally low-calorie (and I've never eaten much dinner anyway), I've been having to really take my personal nutritional needs into account, to make sure that I'm not starving myself.

So besides cooking AWESOME food at home, I've also been schlepping granola, yogurt, fresh fruit, and other tasty nibbles with me to work, to make sure I eat enough.  I'm doing a bang-up job, if I do say so.

But!  Here's the recipe I promised.  Enjoy!

Orange Chicken with Stir Fry Vegetables

My very fancy stir fry in the same very fancy bowl! The kitchen may be usable,
but we have certainly not unpacked all the stuff that used to live in it!

Using the sauce from Seared Tofu with Sugar Snap Peas as a base, I created an orange chicken recipe.  We usually have TONS of greens in our CSA, so this is a good use for that baby bok choy that is so often neglected at our house.


8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 2 single breasts
1/2 cup chopped onion
Canola oil cooking spray
1 Tbsp peanut oil, divided
3 heads baby bok choy
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced with a vegetable parer
1 cup snow peas
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 gloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsp sugar (or to taste)
1-1/2 tsp sriracha
4 cups brown and wild rice
1/2 Tbsp butter (for cooking rice, optional)

Cook rice in rice cooker according to directions, adding butter if desired.
While you're waiting on the rice, chop bok choy and slice carrots lengthwise with vegetable parer, making long thin strips; set aside in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 tsp peanut oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sriracha, sugar and orange juice.  Cover and shake or mix until blended.
When rice is done, heat pan over very high heat, and spray with canola oil spray, adding 1 tsp peanut oil, if desired.  Add onion and chicken, and brown over high heat; when chicken is brown and mostly cooked, add bok choy and carrots.  Add additional 1 tsp peanut oil if the pan is dry.  Stir fry until bok choy begins to wilt, about 3 minutes.  Add sauce mixture and let simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.  Add snow peas and stir, letting cook 1 or 2 minutes more.

Serve over brown and wild rice.  Makes 4 servings.

Bonus: Fresh Pasta Sauce

I could have sworn I'd posted this before.  Well!  Now I will!

This is a highly customizable sauce.  Saute onion and/or meat, throw in veggies, saute until sauce-like, throw over pasta.  You can season it however you like, but I like it best when the flavors of the vegetables are allowed to shine through - I do very little more than a sprinkle of salt on top after cooking, although I may throw in some oregano or basil if I have it handy.

1/2 cup chopped onion
Olive oil or butter, as desired
Garlic, minced or smashed (to taste)
Boneless skinless chicken (optional)
Italian sausage (optional)
1 cup chopped tomato or whole cherry or grape tomatoes
2 to 4 cups chopped fresh vegetables (chopped zucchini or yellow squash, bell peppers, hardy greens, julienned carrots, thinly sliced celery, sliced mushrooms, spinach - you name it!)
fresh or dried herbs (to taste)
salt and/or pepper (to taste)

Heat a pan over medium to medium-high heat, add oil or butter and onion.  Saute until tender, then add meat if desired.  Saute meat until browned (or continue sauteing onion until browned).  Add tomatoes and other vegetables and saute until veggies are tender and tomatoes (whole) split or (chopped) start to fall apart.  Season as desired, letting simmer for a few minutes to incorporate the flavors of any herbs you use.

Serve over the pasta of your choice, and dig in!  Makes about 4-6 servings of sauce.

One-Pan Dinners: Couscous!

You know what? I frikkin' LOVE couscous.  Boil water, stir in, cover and remove from heat.  Come back in five minutes.  Genius, I tell you!

Anyway, tonight's dinner was a delicious throw-together: crumbled Italian pork sausage with onions and zucchini, veggie stock and the couscous.  It took all of fifteen minutes to put together, from the start.

One-Pan Couscous
1-2 T olive oil
1 link (about 1/3 lb) Italian pork sausage, crumbled
1/2 a sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 large or 2 small zucchini, chopped
2-3/4 c. vegetable stock
1-1/2 c. French couscous (the tiny kind)

Heat pan, add oil, saute onion.  Add sausage and brown; add chopped zucchini and cook until desired tenderness.  Add stock, bring to a full rolling boil.  Stir in couscous, remove from heat and cover for 5 min.  Fluff with a fork and dig in!

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

So we had a TON of veggies to use, some from this week's CSA, and some from the previous (two weeks ago), and I just wanted to do something... different.

So: The potatoes from the last CSA went on to boil, and the rest of the veggies got diced and sauteed, and I threw in seasonings. Into a pan, cover with potatoes (mashed with butter and chunks of cheese thrown in) and it's PIE.

VEGETABLE SHEPHERD'S PIE (Serves 4)

• 2 T or so olive oil (or butter, whatever) 
• 1/2 a medium onion, chopped 
• 1/2 cup chopped celery 
• 2 carrots, chopped 
• 1/2 a bell pepper, chopped 
• 1/2 cup fava or lima beans 
• 1 zucchini, chunked or chopped 
• 1 t dried thyme 
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce (or to taste) 
• 1 T balsamic vinegar 
• 1 T sweet-spicy mustard 
• 1/4 t garlic powder OR 1 clove garlic, chopped/minced 
• 4-5 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2" chunks (about 1 lb.) 
• salt, pepper, and any other seasonings to taste 
• 2 T butter 3 oz aged cheese, cubed (we had aged gouda on hand, but anything would work)  

DIRECTIONS:

Start potatoes to boil in a 3-qt. saucepan with enough water to cover. Salt as desired (I use a teaspoon or two). Let come to a rolling boil, then cook until fork-tender. Remove from heat; set aside.

Heat olive oil/butter in a skillet, adding onion, celery, bell pepper, carrots and fava beans. Saute until onion is clear; add zucchini. Toss lightly with Worcestershire, balsamic, garlic and thyme until coated, letting simmer briefly. Remove from heat and mix in mustard.

Lightly grease a 2-qt. baking dish, and layer bottom of pan with vegetable mixture. Mash potatoes with a little butter, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper as desired. Fold in cheese; cover vegetable layer with potatoes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C); bake 15-20 minutes until vegetable mixture is bubbly and potatoes are lightly browned. You may put a few small bits of butter on top of the potatoes halfway through if you're feeling as luxurious as I was tonight. Let stand a bit maybe, or just dig in.

THE RESULT

THE VERDICT
It's pretty tasty. Good mix of flavors - savory without being either spicy or bland.

Blondeez Intermittent Diary

Let's just call it what it is. ;)

Sunday I basically had one long meal, for the birthday party.  I snacked on things while I was cooking, then had leftovers for dinner, so I'll just tell you what I made for the party!  I made Baked Kale Chips as an appetizer, and guacamole (vague instructions below) that I served with salsa and tortilla chips also as a munchie snack. Then CJ fired up our grill to cook the marinated tri-tip (I bought it pre-marinated because it was on sale, actually cheaper than the same quality meat without marinade), Lemon Chicken drumsticks that I marinated the night before, and salmon fillets (loose recipe below).  I threw Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Bacon in the oven and then Broiled Zucchini, and only barely remembered to get out the Quinoa Tabbouleh I made the night before!

The cake was a gluten-free devil's food cake with homemade vanilla buttercream (recipe below), which my mom and I cut up into a duck, like she used to make me as a kid.  Ours looked like this, but there are lots of animal cut-up cakes here.  We paired it with vanilla bean ice cream and good company!

On Monday I had the delicious Apple Raisin Irish Oatmeal for breakfast after a short run.  For lunch, I met some friends at LYFE kitchen, where I had the grilled artichokes with lemon aiol, roasted beets & farro salad (organic field greens, whole-grain farro, roasted beets & fennel, oranges, walnuts, dried cranberries, pomegranate, red onion, basil, and maple-sherry vinaigrette) and a pineapple-coconut-lime cooler.  After the weekend of intense cooking I pulled out a carton of organic tomato soup and made grilled cheese using whole wheat bread and muenster cheese, and some baby spinach.  Plus birthday cake for dessert!

Today I polished off the birthday cake before I left for work, then had greek yogurt with honey as a mid-morning snack.  I went to my first official CrossFit workout at noon, then had leftover beef and sweet potato stew and quinoa tabbouleh for lunch.  When I got home I put artichokes on the stove to steam and fried up a few eggs for a very quick dinner.

Grilled Salmon (from a friend of my mom's)
Serves: however many you want
Cook Time: ~20 minutes

• Salmon fillets (~4 oz. per person)
• butter
• soy sauce (I used wheat-free organic because one of my guests is celiac)
• minced garlic

Lay salmon on a generously-sized piece of heavy duty foil.  Dot with butter and garlic and drizzle with soy sauce.  Wrap the foil to seal around the fish, then put on a hot grill for about 20 minutes, or until done.  The fish is basically steamed in its packet!

Guacamole (made up as I went along)
Serves: 6-8
Prep Time: 5 min.

• 4 avocados
• 1/2 jalapeno
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. garlic powder (or minced garlic)
• 1-2 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice 
• salsa

Mash up the avocados and then stir in the rest to your own taste.

Buttercream Frosting (courtesy of my mom's brain)
Frosts one 9" round cake (double if you're doing a layer cake)
Prep Time: 4 min.

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 lb. powdered sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2-3 Tbsp. milk (to desired texture)

Whip the butter until light and airy, then add most of the powdered sugar gradually, mixing slowly at first.  Alternate with the liquids as needed until you reach the desired texture.  You can add other flavors or colors to match your cake!