sriracha chicken

This recipe was taken from my favorite website:  www.skinnytaste.com.  I discovered this food blog when I was on weight watchers (which I have failed miserably), however this food blog has so many great recipes that I continue to refer back to it.  Every recipe that we have made so far has been a hit, and this one in particular we have made 3 times - once with drumsticks, once with chicken breast cut into cubes, and this time with chicken thighs.  The main ingredient is Sriracha hot sauce, which can be found in the ethnic food aisle at your grocery store, near the Asian items.  You can't miss it... it is a large red plastic bottle with a drawing of a large rooster on it.

Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken (drumsticks, breast cut into cubes, or thighs.)  I used thighs this time.
Spray olive oil
1 cup water
1 tbsp. Sriracha hot sace
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
4 tsp. agave nectar (or sugar)
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. ginger, grated
2 tbsp. chopped scallions
1 tsp. sesame seeds

Spray olive oil in heavy large saucepan and heat to high.  Brown chicken for 3 minutes on each side.  Add in water, balsamic, soy sauce, agave nectar (or sugar), garlic, ginger, and sriracha hot sauce.  Cook on high until liquid comes to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and cover.  Simmer for about 20 minutes.  Remove cover and bring heat to high and reduce sauce for about 10 minutes until it becomes a thick glaze.  Stir often and be careful not to burn the sauce as it will seem as if it's taking forever to thicken and then all of a sudden it will get thick FAST.  Turn chicken every minute or so.  Transfer chicken to plate an cover with glaze.  Top with scallions and sesame seeds.  Serve.

I served the chicken on top of a bed of jasmine rice and steamed broccoli and it was super delish!  I did forget to sprinkle it with sesame seeds before I took the pic, but make sure you don't forget them completely... they help balance out the heat in the sriracha hot sauce.  Next time we will try this with chicken wings.... can't wait!

chicken parm

My husband, Jay, turned 30 this week, and to celebrate I decided to make him his favorite dish.... chicken parm!  It's not exactly my favorite meal as I'm not too big on breaded chicken and it always seems too "heavy" of a meal.  However, this time I made it with very thin chicken cutlets instead of a big hunk of chicken breast.  This made a world of difference, and I even managed to eat an entire piece by myself instead of passing my leftovers on to Jay's plate.  I will also forgive Jay for saying to me while cooking in the unbearably hot kitchen: "wow, if only you were pregnant" to which I replied "excuse me??" to which he in turn said "that's how I like my women... sweaty, pregnant with an apron on, and cooking me chicken parm."  I almost smacked him and swore off chicken parm forever, but then I remembered that it was his 30th birthday and he must be suffering from some old-timers condition that makes you say stupid and offensive things.

Ingredients:
1 lb. very thin chicken cutlets.  You can also use chicken breast, but cut in half and pound till thin, about 1/4"
1 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat flour)
2 cups plain bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 tsp. milk
12 oz. marinara sauce (I used my homemade sauce, but you will never get that recipe as it is a Bartolone family secret)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
Olive oil spray
Salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Set up three bowls: #1 - Mix milk and egg together with fork, #2 - Flour, #3 - Breadcrumbs
3. Rinse and pat dry chicken.  Season with salt and pepper
4. Put chicken in bowl with flour, make sure the entire piece gets covered with it
5. Dip chicken in egg/milk mixture
6. Place chicken in breadcrumbs and make sure the piece gets completely covered
7. Spray large skillet with olive oil spray and cook chicken approx. 3 minutes each side.  Place on paper towels when done.
8. Spray large glass dish with olive oil.  Spoon about 1/8 cup of marinara sauce and spread out on bottom of pan.
9. Place chicken in pan.  Do not overlap.

10. Top with mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce.
11. Cook until sauce is slightly bubbly and chicken is cooked all the way through.  Serve with your choice of pasta.

We enjoyed this with a nice spinach, onion, roasted plum tomato, blue cheese and balsamic vinegar salad.  Yum!

I don't want to assume anything, but Jay seemed pretty pleased with his birthday meal.

Or maybe it was just the wine?

italian skillet chicken with orzo

I've only cooked with orzo once before, and if my memory serves me right all I did was put grape tomatoes and Feta cheese in it.  This recipe for Italian chicken was just as simple and involved only a few more steps.  Also, toasting the orzo before you cook it brings out a nutty flavor that blends well with the Italian seasonings.  I never heard of toasting pasta before cooking it so this was definitely brand new to me and it worked out great!

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 cup orzo

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 tbsp. fresh basil, chopped

Salt & pepper

1. Rinse chicken and pat with paper towels.  Rub all over with oregano and pepper flakes.  Season with salt and pepper.

2. Heat nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and toast orzo until golden-brown, about 3 - 5 mins.

3. Transfer orzo to bowl and then heat 1 tbsp. oil in skillet until it sizzles when you place a few drops of water in.  Cook chicken until lightly browned, about 3 minutes per side.  Transfer to plate.

4. Add garlic and remaining oil to empty skillet and cook for 30 seconds, until the garlic becomes fragrant.

5. Add tomatoes, broth and toasted orzo and bring to a boil.

6. Return chicken to skillet and cook, covered, over med-low heat until chicken is cooked through and orzo is tender, about 10 - 12 minutes.  Sprinkle with basil and serve.

Another slam dunk that we will add to our dinner rotation.  It had just enough spice from the red pepper flakes, balanced out with the sweetness of the tomatoes.  

I apologize for the quality of my photos --- they need more work than the recipes.  It's funny how the "food" setting on my Nikon S8000 can take great pictures of babies but takes not-so-great photos of my food.  Oh well, there's always room for improvement!

toasted ravioli with goat cheese & pesto

I'll begin by thanking my Mother in Law, Arlene, for my first blog meal.  She is always sending me magazines in the mail that have great recipes, but this one really takes the cake.  I never heard of "Cook's Country" before she sent this one to me, but I am definitely going to look into buying a subscription (as long as I can find a promo code for it --- more to come on my coupon obsession in future posts.)  Anyway, the issue of the magazine I have includes a recipe for old-fashioned mac n cheese, slow cooker french onion soup, Italian skillet chicken with orzo, and chicken cordon bleu.  Mmmm!

The one that most caught our eye was the toasted ravioli with goat cheese & pesto, so we thought we'd give it a try:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

2 (9 oz.) packages fresh cheese ravioli (we used Buitoni brand)

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup basil pesto ( we used the refrigerated Buitoni one.  Don't use the shelf-stable kind... it won't taste right)

1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

3 plum tomatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

Salt & pepper

1. Place oven rack on highest position and heat broiler on high.

2. In large nonstick skillet, melt butter over med-high heat.

3. Add ravioli and cook.  Stir occasionally until golden brown, about 3-5 minutes.

4. Stir in broth and cream and cook, covered, until ravioli are tender.

5. Remove lid and cook until sauce is slightly thickened and ravioli are completely tender, about 3 mins.

6. Remove skillet from heat and stir in pesto & 1/4 cup of the goat cheese.

7. Transfer to broiler-safe 1 1/2 quart casserole dish and arrange tomatoes over ravioli, then season with salt & pepper.

8. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and broil until golden brown, about 4 mins.  Serve.

Super delish!  We gobbled it up, and had plenty left that we enjoyed it again for dinner the next day.  When we decide to make this again, which we definitely will, I will use regular cream instead of heavy to make it a bit lighter, I'll make my own homemade pesto, and may also attempt to make fresh ravioli.  We'll see how motivated I am to do that :)  Next up, Italian Skillet Chicken with Toasted Orzo.  Yum!

a farewell to eggs and toast

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  Actually, it's more like my favorite meal of all day.  I could eat banana pancakes for breakfast, a bowl of cereal for lunch, and then my favorite dippy eggs with a Thomas' Everything Bagel Thin for dinner.  Sounds like a pretty well-rounded and nutritious day, huh?  Okay, so I don't really eat that everyday, but I could.  And with my husband working evenings for the six years we have lived together, eating eggs and toast was my easy way out.  Actually it was more like being lazy. Yep, that's exactly what it was!

Now that Jay has a super awesome new job where he gets to work from home, that means not only do we finally get to spend time together, but it also means that I cannot take the easy way out and make breakfast for dinner anymore (it's true... breakfast foods are definitely not on Jay's "favorite meals" list.)  I might be able to squeeze in french toast or pancakes every once in a while.... but it will be more like twice a year, not twice a week like I am used to.

We loved to cook on the rare occasions that we had a night off together, so I thought I'd start this blog to keep track of all the yummy dinners we are going to make.  Sometimes the entire recipe will be homemade, and sometimes it will be semi-homemade... it all depends what we feel like doing.  The main goal is a scrumptious meal... and maybe slightly healthy too.  We'll see :)