Spontaneous Mediterranean Meal

I had a whole bunch of veggies from our CSA and didn't really have a meal already planned. I started searching the internet and came across a lamb kabob and couscous recipe via Williams-Sanoma and just improvised. I didn't have lamb, but chicken. I had the red onion and squash but didn't ironically have red pepper (I always have red pepper) and of course I buy couscous in bulk because it is my go to summer side dish staple. Here is what I came up with...
1. I roasted the broccoli with olive oil, salt & pepper and a little garlic powder in a baking dish on the BBQ.
2. On the cast iron grill plate I did the squash and red pepper, that had olive oil, salt & pepper, and some cumin.
3. Skewered the chicken tenders and seasoned with olive oil, salt& pepper, and cumin.
4. Traditional couscous recipe: chicken stock, pinch of salt, olive oil, garlic powder, cumin, parsley.

It was extremely delicious, I find that chicken tenders are perfect for kabobs if not for anything else other than ease of use. And yes it was all a little one note (cumin, salt and pepper olive oil to be specific) which critics might laugh at, but for a family dinner at home it was simply delicious and just the right amount of spices for everyone to enjoy. We will have it again.

Chicken Cordon Blue #2

This is something that I just put together no recipe while I did it so I will try and write it down for  you.

Chicken Cordon Blue
2 chicken breasts
4 small slices of Canadian Bacon
2 slice of swiss cheese
1 egg, beaten
Breading
1/2 cup parmasean
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Preheat 350
1. Between saran wrap beat out chicken breasts until about 1/2 inch thick. Then lay down 2 slices of canadian bacon and a slice of swiss cheese per breast. Then roll up, you can use tooth picks to secure if you want to, or just keep them rolled in your hands to bread.
2. Mix breading in a shallow dish, and egg in a seperate shallow dish.
3. Dip rolled chicken in egg and then roll in breading and place chicken seam side down on a cookie sheet.
4. Cook in oven for 20-30 minutes until outside is golden brown and center of chicken is cooked through, when in doubt cut one open.

Simple as that!

Also on the plate for dinner was corn bread muffin (alas from a box) and noodles and candied carrots see this post for recipe on the carrots (I make them so much now no need to look for a recipe).

Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie with homemade biscuits.

This was one of the best homemade chicken pot pie recipes I have used in a long time, besides Paula Dean's recipe but let's face it on weight watchers her butter to actual food ratio does not work! It is damn tasty, but really doesn't work with weight watchers. Not that this recipe was a lot better, but still... so tasty, and with colder weather this is exactly the ticket. So when this recipe came up in the rotation on my favorite meal planning website (click here for Relish), and the fact that it was a slow cooker recipe, I was hooked! I did have to adjust it a bit, but overall it was very tasty!

Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie

WW 10 pts (new points plus calculation)
2 Chicken Breasts, chopped to tiny pieces
1/2 white onion , chopped
1 bay leaf
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 packet of turkey gravy, made
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
Rue
2 tbsp butter
2  tbsp flour
1 tsp chicken stock base
milk, whisk in to your desired thickness
[1] Place the onion, celery, chicken, bay leaf, salt and pepper and gravy in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.
[2] Thirty minutes before serving, make and bake the biscuits. (recipe below)
[3] Gently stir the frozen vegetables into the chicken mixture and increase the heat setting to high. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
[4] If you need more "juice" I made a quick "white" sauce. Melt butter in a pan, whisk in flour and soup base -cook for a minute or two, then whisk in milk to desired thickness. Then transfer this mixture to the slow cooker and stir to incorporate evenly.
[5] For each serving, split a biscuit and place in a soup bowl. Spoon ¾ cup of the chicken mixture on top of the biscuit, top with the other biscuit and serve.

Easy Biscuits
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
Preheat 450 degrees
1. In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt evenly.
2. Cut in butter, use a pastry cutter, till the butter is the size of peas.
3. Add milk till biscuits come together, don't over mix.
4. Flour flat surface and quickly roll out to 1.5 inches and cut with biscuit cutter (or a somewhat straight edged drinking glass, this is what I used).
5. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes until nicely golden brown.
*So easy, you have all the ingredients on hand and look at how beautiful they look!

Pan Roasted Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms

I loved this dinner, Molly and Brian were not as enthused. For a weight watchers meal it was very satisfying, I would make this again. Thanks to Relish for the recipe!

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms
Prep time and cook time: 45 minutes
WW 7 pts
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 shallots , minced
1 garlic clove(s), minced
1 cup chicken broth, minced
4 sprigs fresh thyme, plus chopped thyme for garnish
8 ounces whole button mushrooms, rinsed and halved
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely shredded
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

PASTA
2 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
reserved pasta water 1 tsp, 1/2 tsp olive oil

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

[1] Heat olive oil in a large, heavy ovenproof frying pan (not nonstick) over high heat until oil is hot but not smoking. Add chicken breasts and cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn chicken over.

[2] Add shallots and garlic to pan with chicken, stirring occasionally so garlic doesn' burn and shallots are soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add chicken broth, thyme sprigs, mushrooms and salt and pepper and cook until mixture begins to boil, about 1 minute.

[3] Lay asparagus over chicken, then cover pan and put in oven. Bake 14 to 16 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked through (cut to check) and asparagus is tender. Transfer chicken to a plate.

[4] Cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to desired doneness, then in a bowl mix with reserved pasta water, olive oil, garlic powder and parsley flakes.

[5] Season asparagus-mushroom-stock mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Put pasta in pasta bowl, or plate with a rim, divide vegetables among plates or shallow pasta bowls, top each with a piece of chicken, and spoon sauce over all. Garnish with chopped thyme and Parmesan.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos #2

Refer back to this post, this was the scrumptious slow cooker chicken taco meat from Saturday we then ate them as hard tacos on Monday. They were still very delicious! Just another way to have this delicious meat, next time I make this meat I will have to try enchiladas as my leftover makeover.

BEST EVER! Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Tacos

At one of our local farmers markets our local Mexican Grocery store, and it is a big super market, has a little stall where they sell the most delicious tacos. These reminded me of those tacos! So good! And oddly very filling, we could only eat three a piece (and they are the traditional small corn tortillas). And even if you don't particularly care for soft corn tortillas you have to at least try them here it just really can't compare. And this makes a lot so we will have having them over the next week! So fresh and tasty with different textures and spices.. mmm..YUM!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: On high, 3 hours (or on low, 6-7 hours)
4 Chicken Breasts, boneless skinless
1 white onion, chopped divided in half
4 garlic clove(s), thinly sliced
1 cup prepared chunky salsa, plus more for serving
2 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
12 small white corn tortillas
 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 lime cut into wedges
 [1] In slow cooker, combine chicken, 1/2 chopped onion, garlic, salsa, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Cover; cook on high, 4 hours (or on low, 8 hours).
[2] Transfer chicken to a serving bowl, and shred, using two forks; moisten with cooking juices. Heat the tortillas in a dry pan on stove top about ten seconds per side and then pop into a tent of tin foil to keep warm and pliable.
[3] Top the tortillas with shredded chicken, pieces of raw chopped onion, sprinkle with cilantro, and use the juice from one wedge of lime per serving.
Linked to Family Food Fridays.

*Adapted from a Relish recipe.

Roast Chicken Sunday Supper

On Thursday my husband was working First Thursday at our business (in the downtown area on the first Thursday of the month all the art shops open and give out free drinks and appetizers, Brian didn't stay too long so Molly and I stayed home). We were on our own for dinner so I did end up having the ragu from awhile ago (froze it) it was a great dinner.

So my new thing is to have a great Sunday Supper a la 1950's, retro style. Tonight's dinner was the good old fashioned Roast Chicken. I did a slow cooker recipe and then pulled it out and popped it the oven to crisp up the skin. I am going to try and use the broth from the crock pot to make chicken noodle soup tomorrow.

Slow Cooker Roasted Rosemary Chicken

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: ON LOW 8 hours

10 garlic clove(s), minced

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary

2 celery stalks, quartered

2 carrots, quartered

5 pound roasting chicken

1/4 cup orange juice

Salt & Pepper to taste

2 tbsp or less of butter

 [1] In a small bowl, combine the minced garlic and chopped rosemary, clean and cut up celery and carrots. Set aside. Remove and discard giblets and neck from chicken. Rinse the chicken with cold water and pat dry.

[2]Put carrot and celery inside chicken cavity.
[3] Loosen the skin from the chicken by inserting fingers and gently pushing between skin and meat.
[4] Rub some of the garlic mixture under the loosened skin. Place the chicken, bone side down in a slow cooker and spread the remaining garlic mixture over top. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour orange juice around chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Cook on low 7 1/2 hours.
[5] Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the chicken breast section from the slow cooker, and drumsticks place in an oven proof roasting pan smear a tiny amount of butter over skin on breasts and drum sticks. Set in oven for 15-20 minutes until skin is a nice golden brown.

Serve with a tossed salad, and roasted potatoes. We had corn from our CSA that needed to be eaten so that is what we had.

Tried a new roasted potato tonight:
Savory Roasted New Potatoes

Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes
1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
 Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
[1] Place the potatoes in a large baking pan and sprinkle with garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
[2] In a small bowl, combine the Worcestershire and olive oil and drizzle over the potatoes. Toss to coat and bake in lower half of the oven, stirring occasionally for 30-35 minutes.
 Linked to Mingle Mondays, Meet Me Mondays, Making Friends Monday.

Chicken Cordon Bleu with Roasted Root Veg

I knew I wanted to do a chicken Cordon Bleu, especially for my husband as it is one of his favorites, but I didn't really know how I wanted to go about making it, but I wasn't into the recipes that I was looking at. So I just made it up! It is Parmesan chicken meets chicken cordon bleu (Parmesan chicken is my husbands second favorite).

Chicken Cordon Bleu

2 chicken breasts (good sized)

3 slices of black forest ham, tear in half

2 deli sliced Munster Cheese (it is what I had opened, not the traditional Swiss but what the hey, same principle), tear in half

Breading

1 1/2 cups panko crumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 tbsp Dijon

2 tsp water

1. Preheat oven 350, butterfly the chicken so you have four (normal sized) chicken breasts, then flatten them with a meat mallet.

2. In the center put a half a slice of ham, and a half a slice of Munster cheese, then roll up like a jelly roll, secure if you need to with a wooden pick.

3. Mix water and Dijon to dilute and easier to coat chicken.

4. Mix panko, Parmesan and salt & pepper (some will just have to be thrown away, better to have more than enough then not enough)

5. Using a silicone brush, brush the outside of the chicken rolls with Dijon mixture and then roll in breading.

6. Put on a wire cooling rack in a lipped cookie sheet (this helps overall crunchiness, and cooking time) seam side up to help the cheese stay in, in oven for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is done.

Roasted Root Veggies

3 carrots, peeled and cut on an angle

5 red new potatoes, cubed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp dill

1 tsp garlic powder

1. Drizzle oil over cut up carrots and potatoes and then sprinkle seasonings over all of it, mix with your fingers till everything is mixed well (using dried herbs here is better because fresh can burn when cooked a long time like this).

Linked to: Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Tuesday At the Table, & Tasty Tuesday. Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken with Mustard Sauce,Roasted Potatoes & Green Beans

So I was fully planning on going to the store today, it was payday after all, but I had to pick up my CSA bag and I had a huge headache so ehhh, put it off till tomorrow. Do we notice a pattern? Honestly, I haven't been to the store - that I can remember- since before we went camping several weeks ago. I avoid the store like the plague (could be that it is a vicious cycle- I hate it so I don't go that often, but when I go I buy enough to last several weeks, thus the trip is over an hour long and takes a bit of physical effort to get home and so I hate it, and the cycle continues) anywho, long story short I didn't go to the store today even though I desperately needed too, I am out of Kosher salt and pepper for my pepper grinder for crying out loud! I mean it's like you cut off my right arm when I am out of that salt & pepper. As I came home I am thinking about what I have available, chicken breast and a huge amount of egg noodles. So I am thinking chicken with mustard pan sauce on top of egg noodles and then I have all these CSA veggies. What can I use the most of? Oven roasted new red potatoes, and green beans! Dinner accomplished. This is fully my recipe, pulled it out of... you know where. I know I can cook like this: but if you are like me, after a day of work a plan and a recipe is really imperative I couldn't do the type of cooking I do if I didn't have a plan and a recipe.

Chicken with Mustard Sauce
2 chicken breasts (on the larger side) butterflied
1 cup flour, seasoned with salt & pepper
olive oil
1 leek, chopped
3 tbsp parsley
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup chicken broth
3 tbsp butter

1. Take your thin chicken cutlets and dip them in flour, tap off any excess flour and put them in a pan with a couple of tsp of olive oil. Leave the chicken alone for about five minutes on each side to brown and almost cook through.
2. Pull chicken out of pan and tent with tin foil.
3. Put in leeks and scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan, they add flavor and color to the sauce! Add in broth and Dijon and whisk to incorporate fully.
4. Add butter and stir in as it melts, then put chicken back in to reheat and cook all the way through. The flour should help thicken your sauce (you could add some wonder flour to thicken but you want it semi-thin to help coat the noodles too!)

Egg noodles
3 cups dry egg noodles
pot of salted boiling water
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp parsley

1. Cook according to package directions, then strain and add butter (to keep from sticking) and parsley.
2. Put a helping of noodles on plate, then add chicken and then sauce over both to plate.

Sauteed Chicken with Mustard Sauce and Roasted Carrots

So again for those that know me, you know that I have a passion for cooking, and for serving my food on white dishes. My in-laws came over for dinner a while back and they noticed that I didn't have that many serving plates. My mother-in-law is a fantastic bargain shopper and she proceeded to search out and find all sorts of white serving platters for a birthday present. I know right, I totally scored this birthday! Breadmaker, cookie jar, white platters, and my open shelves from IKEA to help with space in the kitchen.

So I loaded up my new platters on the new open shelves (see picture on the left!) and sort of forgot about them, even though I continue to cook like always. Lo and behold this last week I remembered that I had them and started to use them. I believe the first dish was a side vegetable I can't quite remember and I couldn't get a picture of it because I needed to reload the batteries, and when Molly wants to eat, she wants to eat now! Hmm... must be a Carter famlily trait! :-) But I did make a meal this week that was pretty darn fantastic especially since I used one of my new platters, it was a sauteed chicken with mustard sauce; and I must say a very scrumptious roasted carrot side vegetable. When I was growing up I couldn't eat a cooked carrot to save my life. My mom loves cook carrots but my dad and I would have nothing to do with them. As an adult I love them, and it is a nice easy way to get some color onto the plate. I must admit however I had not tried a simple recipe like this before. I have made roasted root vegetables that included carrots as one of the "root vegetables" but I had never thought about putting it together on its own. This was just simple baby carrots, onions, olive oil, salt & pepper, and the recipe called for rosemary (although I am not a big fan of this herb, too woodsy and perfumey -if that is a word) so I used thyme instead. They were fantastic.

Suprise Visit

We got a call from Grandma and Grandpa Carter today letting us know that they were in the area and wanted to stop by and visit. I went ahead and invited them to join us for dinner. Didn't change anything up, just made what I had originally planned. Chicken with creamy mushroom sauce, roasted new potatoes, and a tossed green salad. The creamy mushroom sauce had mushrooms (obviously) cream, goat cheese and Italian parsley. IT WAS DELICIOUS! Not that great for you, but delicious none the less. It wasn't too bad though because you just drizzled it over the top of the chicken so at most you only really used about 2-3 tablespoons so again really not that bad but SO GOOD!I had pretty much already devoured mine before I realized I needed to get a picture, this is Brian's plate and it doesn't look as appealing as it really was (need to get better about taking a picture into the meal.

Also attempted a sour cream and lemon bundt cake, took it out before it was fully done, it looked fantastic. I got excited, and then ten minutes later I looked back and it had partially deflated. Looking back on it, I probably should have rotated it, because one side was cooked but the other wasn't. And I should have let it keep cooking it wasn't nearly done. I am definitely more confident with cooking vs. baking. (no picture, but trust me it was a real nightmare)


Creamy Mushroom Sauce:
16 oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (can sub in dried if you don't have fresh available, just watch the salt content dried parsley seems to up the ante on the salty taste)

1. On medium heat, brown the mushrooms, then add heavy cream, and goat cheese and heat through until cheese is melted.
2. Right before serving stir in parsley, serve on the side to top on chicken ( you really only need about 2 tbsp per person as it is very rich but so good, and if you have left-overs it reheats nicely the following day)