Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Chicken with Creamy Chive Sauce

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This was a fairly easy and tasty dish that I cooked on a weeknight. I think I followed the recipe pretty much as written...I don't always do that. I served it with the creamy mashed cauliflower that was also listed with the recipe. That I would not make again. I don't know how anyone could mistake that for potatoes. The cauliflower flavor was very obvious!

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Thursday, September 16, 2010

Caribbean Chicken with Black Beans and Sweet Potatoes

I have made this a few times. It is pretty good and very healthy. I made it this past week for after soccer practice. Because of this, I made many changes that I think actually made this a better dish.

- I used cajun seasoning instead of blackening
- I seared the chicken before cooking the sweet potatoes, then cooked the rest of it in the same pan.
- used more chicken broth
- cooked the sweet potatoes for 10 min, added the chicken, cooked another 10 minutes and then did the rest of the recipe.
- reheated in the oven while we were at soccer.
- I forgot to add salt. I think that is why it was just ok.

Yummy! Since it was after practice, we were pressed for time, so I didn't take a picture. Here is what was left in the pan. I served it with homemade applesauce.

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Caribbean Chicken with Black Beans, Sweet Potato & Lime
Eating Well - Winter 2004

A prepared spice blend like jerk seasoning makes an appealing crust on the chicken breasts and adds complex flavor to the black bean-sweet potato ragout. (Adapted from Cooking the RealAge Way). My note - I may have to check this cookbook out!! :D

2 tsp. canola oil or olive oil
1 medium white onion, chopped (I used yellow onion)
1 medium sweet potato, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch chunks (I used 2 sweet potatoes and peeled them - my peels had lots of eyes and other yucky things)
4 tsp. Caribbean jerk seasoning OR blackened seasoning mix, divided
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves OR 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning (I used Old Bay)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/4 pounds total)
1 lime
1 15-1/2 oz. can black beans, rinsed
1/4 tsp. salt, or to taste
Picapeppa Sauce, mango chutney, plain yogurt, chopped cilantro for garnishes (optional)

1. Heat a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. add oil, then onion. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in sweet potato. Sprinkle 2 tsps seasoning mix over the vegetables; cook for 1 minute. Add broth and bay leaves (or Old Bay), if using; simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, preheat broiler. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tsp. seasoning mix over chicken; coat chicken with cooking spray. Broil 4 to 5 inches from heat source until the chicken is just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side. (Alternatively, cook in a ridged grill pan over medium heat or grill over medium coals.)

3. Grate enough lime zest to measure 1/2 tsp.; cut lime into quarters (I skipped this and just squeezed a big squeeze of lime into the whole dish when it was done). Stir zest, black beans and salt into the sweet potato mixture. Continue cooking for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the sweet potato is tender. If bay leaves have been used, discard them. Transfer the sweet potato-bean mixture to 4 plates; top with chicken and swerve with lime wedges. Garnish as desired.

Makes 4 servings.


Oh, and I also made the chimicangas that Lindsey recently reposted.

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Friday, September 10, 2010

Grilled Chicken Skewers

So, I did a small search for chicken recipes and stumbled upon this recipe for Grilled Chicken Skewers. The reason I was drawn to it was twofold...ONE because we had frozen corn dogs the night before and everyone seemed good with the whole "Meat on a stick" concept and TWO it wasn't much of a recipe...more of a put some chicken on a stick and grill...I like that!!

I did some colorful veggies as well! It did attempt a marinade for the veggies and the chicken...just some oil, vinegar, etc that I threw on it.
BEFORE...


AFTER....


This turned out GREAT and my husband and I both really enjoyed this!!! The kids...ehhh. I served it with some Vegetarian Re Fried Black Beans...


This is just a great way to spice up boring chicken. Pretty easy as well...

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Chimichangas

I am breaking the rules with Kerri's permission. Since I am a vegetarian, this month's challenge would be a tough one for me. Kerri told me I could post recipes that originally contained chicken but I adapted for us.

This recipe for Oven-Fried Chicken Chimichangas was originally posted by KAJ last year.

My husband, who is not a vegetarian, asks for these on a regular basis. I swap a couple of cups of pinto beans for the chicken and pretty much follow the rest of the recipe. Or at least I usually pretty much follow the recipe.

This time we didn't have the right size tortillas. I had to use 8-inch ones (wheat). I also didn't want to bake them in the oven long enough to get the chimi's really toasty the way I like them (25 minutes just never seems to be long enough for me). Instead of baking them, I toasted them up in a skillet and it worked really well. I started them seam-side down and didn't lose too many beans. It would have worked even better if I had the giant burrito size tortillas.

It was Manny's late work night, so I was working with this handicap. One of the reasons I cut a few corners.

I served them (yes, I ate 2. Small tortillas, remember?) with guacamole, sour cream and Mexican rice. Oh, and forgive the paper plate. We are between moves and I refuse to unpack anything. Mmmmm!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Creamy grilled chicken piccata

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This is another repeater that KAJ made. Most of the reviews of this were good, it sounded easy, so why not give it a try? Glad I did! To be honest, lemons were expensive that week, so I just bought lemon juice. Maybe because of this, I do feel the lemon flavor was week, especially in the marinade, but I only let it marinade for about 4 hours. The sauce over the pasta was easy and it turned out fantastic. I highly recommend trying this one if you are looking for an easy meal.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Healthy Crunchy Baked Chicken Breast

I actually stumbled on this recipe like 6 months ago, but never made it. There are a bunch of pictures on this site, which I like. I did a small taste test with the oatmeal coating versus just some panko(Japanese bread crumbs) coating. My oatmeal might have been old, but these were not as crunchy as I was hoping for. My kids only moderately ate them... I might try them again with some newer oats. They liked the panko strips.

Before...

After...


Thursday, September 2, 2010

September Challenge - don't be chicken!

Ok, monthly challengers, for our blogaversary, I was trying to find some basic weeknight chicken recipes on this blog and came up way short. So, that is your challenge for this month - chicken. Now, I am picturing something along the lines of your boneless skinless breasts on sale for 2.99/lb, but any chicken recipe will do.

And.

And, and, and. No cheating on this. You are to make one of your chicken standbys to share with the group.

AND make a new recipe to you.

I mean, come on! It's chicken!

Roasted Eggplant Dip



I made this recipe which is technically from a cookbook, but I read about it on a blog, so I'm going to slip it in here.... anyone mind?

Before:
After:
not gonna lie, it looks a lot like a #2 diaper...

It was a good way to use some CSA eggplants. I'm not a big eggplant fan, but I did like them in this dish. I used it as a spread with goat cheese over toasted bread.