Lime Chicken & Smoked White Cheddar Quesadillas

This wasn't the most healthy of meals, but it was pretty darn good. 

When we were in Rockaway the other week, we had picked up a tiny, baby block of smoked black pepper white cheddar cheese from the Tillamook Cheese Factory, which served as the inspiration for this meal.

In the mix:
Lime-Cilantro marinated grilled chicken

• Chicken breasts marinated in a mix of lime juice, cayenne pepper and cilantro

Smoked Black Pepper White Cheddar
Jalapenos (in David's)
Green onions

On the side: Homemade salsa and a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. 

Roasted Chicken & Vegetables with Quinoa

Last night's dinner with full of lots of veggies!  In an effort to get more fruits and vegetables in my diet, I've been heaping them up in our dinners.  The thai noodle salad left David hungry for a bit more, so with this meal I tried to make something that would be a bit more "rib-sticking" and satisfying.  But, as David put it: "Its not satisfying like a cheeseburger, because its not a cheeseburger".  Good call :)

This meal actually used 2 more pans than I like to use on week day meals, but there isn't a lot of stirring or tending needed, so I didn't mind dirtying up a couple extra dishes - especially if I have someone else to help clean up the mess - thanks babe!

I tried to time everything so that it would finish about the same time:

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Bring 2 cups of chicken broth to a boil. 
• On a sheet pan, toss 1 chicken breast with a drizzle of sesame oil, garlic powder, onion powder & pepper.  
• Put in the oven for about 10 minutes.
• Once broth is boiling, put in 1 cup of rinsed quinoa. (See the Special Occasion Dinner post for more info about quinoa. Lower heat to a simmer and cover - cook for 15 minutes.
• When the 10 minutes on the chicken is up - make room on the sheet pan for 1 bunch of asparagus quartered and 1 head of broccoli cut into florets. Toss also with another round of sesame oil, garlic powder, onion powder and pepper.  Roast for another 10-15 minutes.
• When the quinoa has finished its 15 minutes - turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes (to finish absorbing the liquid)
• Meanwhile - get a skillet pan ready with 1 clove of garlic cut into thin slices and just a bit of extra-virgin olive oil.
• When the veggies & chicken are nice and roasted, shred up the chicken with 2 forks.
• Wilt 1 bag of baby spinach in the skillet with the garlic & olive oil with a 1/4 cup or less of chicken stock.
• Combine veggies & shredded chicken in the skillet with the wilted spinach and toss to combine.
• Serve veggie mixture over quinoa and top with a touch of freshly grated parmesan cheese

It looks like a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients for a week-night dinner, but it came out well and was pretty satisfying for being a plate of green vegetables.  And it made plenty for lunch leftovers!

Lemony-Apricot Chicken

This chicken falls under the same type of cooking style as the Sweet-Spicy Pork below.  These were spaced a few days apart - I'm just posting in order of pictures that my camera card pops up with :) 

• A few thin chicken breasts
• tsp of curry powder, pinch of salt & pepper
• juice & rind from 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup of apricot preserves

I already had some apricot jam handy - and I never the buy that flavor of fruit - which makes me think I must have made something like this in the past.  The jam wasn't expired (does it expire)?, so I forged on.

Mix together curry powder, salt & pepper & rub on chicken.  Cook in pan until heated through. I didn't use any oil in my pan - so the curry created a burned on effect on the bottom of my pan - but the juice/jam mixture saved the day as it 'de-glazed' my pan.  Fancy.  Once chicken is cooked - remove from pan and stir in the lemon & apricot. The lemon and apricot heat up into a tangy fruit sauce, which paired well with the crustifed chicken curry bits on the bottom of my pan.  Spoon sauce over chicken & serve. 

David didn't eat this one up with as much vigor as the pork posted previously - but it made for some good leftovers.

Southwest Chicken Soup

Tonight's dinner is also known as -  a good way to use up a rotisserie chicken.

The other night I brought home a rotisserie chicken for a quick dinner - but with just the two of us - its tough to get through a whole chicken.  So - the fantastic solution - a soup!

• Saute a few spoonfuls of garlic in a soup pot.
• Add 6 cups of chicken broth (we use this a lot - so I always stock up when its on sale)
• Add in 1 tsp of cumin
• 1/4 cup of rice (I used brown rice)
• 1 can (16 oz of Great Northern beans) - the white ones :) rinsed & drained.
• Simmer for 30 min - because I used brown rice, it took considerably longer than if I had used quick white rice)
• Stir in 3 cups of shredded cooked chicken & 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
• Heat for 5 minutes or so until the chicken heats up, then stir in 1 tsp or so of fresh lime juice.

I love soup - and this one turned out pretty good.  The cilantro stirred in near the end gave it a fresh bite.

Arugula-Tomato Salad with Chicken

After having pasta for the past couple of nights - it was time for something a little different.  While browsing through a "Cooking Light" magazine I ran across this one. It ended up being a really hearty salad that had a great fresh taste.  I enjoyed making my own dressing - it was surprising simple.

Marinate 1 pound of chicken cutlets (thin strips of chicken breast) in 1 tablespoon olive oil, grated rind from one lemon, juice from half a lemon. I let this sit for about 5 minutes while I prepped the rest of the salad.  Cook in a pan for a few minutes on each side (only took about 6 minutes). The thin cuts of chicken are handy when in a rush.

Dressing:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence (found in the spice aisle)
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• salt & pepper 

Just wisk together and pour over the greens

Salad:

• 5 oz of arugula (found in the salad aisle next to the spinach)
• 1 small package of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 3 oz of kalamata olives (this is where the olive bar at Fred Meyer comes in handy)

Bread:
I found a mini loaf of bakery multi-grain bread and brushed on a mixture of olive oil & garlic and topped with some grated Parmesan and heated up in the oven @ 400 for a few minutes.  It gave it a great crunch and flavor.

Chicken Yakisoba Noodles

Inspired by a recent trip to Benihani, eying a table companion's entree choice of yakisoba noodes, David & I decided we could replicate a restaurant cooked meal with 1/4 of the price and probably half the calories.

Yakisoba noodles: I bought 2 packages of the pre-steamed noodles, found in the fresh produce section of the store. They have a variety of flavors, but I opted for the traditional teriyaki flavor.

 Cooked 1 1/4 lbs of chicken with a bit of sesame oil in the wok.  I sprinkled in a bit of red pepper flakes to spice it up just a bit.  The packages of noodles then went in the wok, with the flavoring packets and 1 cup of water, along with the veggies.  I cooked it just long enough for the noodles to unclump and the cabbage to just get a bit soft - probably only 2-3 minutes.  This came out tasting very good - a great substitute to a meal out - and a fraction of the cost.  Considering both David & Rick basically licked the pan clean, I'll guess that this one is probably a repeat offender.

Roasted Chicken, Potatoes & Vegetables

Tonight's dinner was not really the greatest.  Earlier in the day I had in my mind that I would treat David to a homemade lasagna, but after a long day - the motivation just wasn't there, and I didn't have the time to put it all together.  Disappointing - I know!.  So - I picked up a roasted chicken from the deli.  We had some instant mashed potatoes on hand and served with some veggies.  Not a glamorous meal by any means, and certainly not a substitute for lasagna, but there is always another day.

Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas with Spanish Rice

This blog is technically 1 day late - we made this for dinner last night, but just didn't get around to posting because we had some friends over.  As discussed earlier - most of our meals are usually a one dish thing - but pulled out a couple extra pans for this one.

My typical version of enchiladas consists of some beef cooked in taco seasoning, rolled up in a tortilla with some sauce & cheese on top.  I decided to try out a new filling:

• Saute 1/2 onion with a teaspoon full of minced garlic in some olive oil in a skillet pan
• Add 1 1/2 lbs of cubed chicken breast - cook through.
• Stir in 1 can black beans, 1 small can of green chiles, and about 1/2 cup of salsa.
• Cook until the sauce has thickened.  
• Use mixture to fill corn tortillas and place into a baking pan that has 1/2 can of enchilada sauce in the bottom.
• Side note: I typically get frustrated trying to roll up the small corn tortillas into a roll because they aren't very pliable and they always break on me, so my enchiladas turn out to be a glorified casserole. I was determined to have semi-presentable enchiladas so I microwaved the tortillas for about 30 sec to get them soft, and they rolled like a dream after being filled.
• Top the rolled tortillas with the rest of the enchilada sauce, top with some monterey jack cheese and bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

These turned out really tasty and very filling - and of course you can spice it up to taste.

Spanish rice:

Typically I buy the Betty Crocker Spanish Rice in a bag and just add water.  My family used to have this as a side dish with our taco night.  But tonight I had the time and courage to attempt to make my own.

In a saucepan:

• The other half of the onion, touch of oil, spoon of garlic browned with 2 cups of rice (I used brown whole grain rice, because that's what I had in my pantry)
• Keep stirring around for a few minutes until the rice gets a bit crispy and the onion cooks up.
• Stir in a heaping teaspoon of tomato paste, a few shakes of dried oregano and a touch of salt.
• Use chicken stock as a substitute for the amount of water prescribed for the rice package directions. (For 2 cups of brown rice, I used 5 cups of chicken stock)
• At this stage I also added a few shakes of Tapatio because I knew it would need a bit more jazz.
• Cover and cook for however long the package of rice says (I think I ended up cooking it for about 40-45 minutes.

Overall the rice turned out "Ok" per review of David.  It was pretty moist, and perhaps needed to cook with a bit less liquid.  The flavors were decent, I should have added something more to make it a bit more "Spanish" rather than just tomato flavored moist rice.  But - there's always another day.

Peanut Chicken with Rice

This was one of my favorite meals when I lived in Eugene - I only had like one pan in my kitchen.  I haven't made this in a long while.  The motivation: some leftover chicken in the fridge from the paella the other night.  I just couldn't let the chicken go to waste now, could I?

I *love* this sauce - peanut sauce is pretty much the best flavor - in my opinion of course.

To make this meal:

• Small chunks of chicken, cooked in a pan
• Pour a little of the sauce in & thin it down with a bit of water or chicken stock (whatever you have handy)
• Top with some green onion, and serve over rice

Painstakingly simplistic, but I love this stuff!

Quick Paella

If you've been taking a glance at our nightly dinners, you may notice that most our meals are pretty simplistic - "one pot wonders" I like to call them.  We usually save slightly more complicated ones for when we have friends over.  Also, I loathe doing dishes - they are my least favorite cleaning task. It saves a lot of stress to plan out meals that I know will be simple to make when we're in a pinch to get to the table.

Tonight's dinner turned out to be a good one.  David ate it up and I had to steal some for lunch leftovers before he got to the remainder of the pan.

Paella ingredients:

1/2 lb chicken breast cutlets, cut into small little pieces
12 oz of medium shrimp (I buy the 26/30 kind, frozen or fresh - whatever is cheapest)
2 pouches of Uncle Ben's Ready Rice (Garden Veggie flavor)
1/2 cup frozen green peas

The recipe called for saffron to be mixed with the protein before cooking - however as I was standing in the spice aisle staring at 1 oz of saffron for the low low price of $20 - I found myself shying away from the ingredient. There is no substitute to saffron - there is a reason for the price.  I, however, used just a touch of tumeric & 1/3 cup of water for the coloring, and spiced up the mixture with about 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper.

Cook the chicken, shrimp, tumeric, cayenne & water mixture in a pan until meat is cooked through.  Stir in package cooked rice & frozen peas, and cook only for about another minute until the peas defrost.

Traditional paella is a bit more complex and has a few more ingredients, but this recipe did the job.

Baked BBQ Chicken

Once again Stephanie puts me in charge, and once again I fail to approach her level of complexity and taste.

I was pretty excited for this, to tell you all the truth. We got a nice BBQ sauce from Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho... I am not sure which (it was in Yellowstone, so hey, that's ambiguous!). Unfortunately it failed to impress. So, when you're there, save the $10 and just buy something at the grocery store.

I baked the thighs with a bit of chicken broth and garlic. Painted some BBQ sauce on it. Baked at 375 for 45min. Standard baked BBQ! Not bad, but not great. Made me crave some good weather so I can cook outside again :)

I promise we'll have something better tomorrow!!!

Italian BBQ Chicken and Polenta

RIP CITY!!!

Thanks to the Blazer's win tonight we have a fantastic end to a wonderful dinner! Tonight we expanded our boundaries into the wonderful world of Italian Polenta!

Polenta is essentially corn meal with the consistency of mashed potatoes. Yum! You can buy it in pretty much any supermarket. It can be found where all the other pasta's and Italian things are. There is the pre-made stuff (in a tube) and the grain stuff. The grain stuff takes a lot more preparation, but is super good! Give it a try, you will be impressed.

We put the Polenta under some chicken thighs. This is the first time in awhile that I have baked chicken with the "bone in," as I usually use skinless/boneless chicken cuts. It seemed to hold more flavor and possibly be more juicy. This may be my imagination.

I could put the recipe here, but I am way too giddy about the Blazer game (YEAHHH!!!!) so I will just link to the recipe, as I found it on FoodNetwork.com - I love you Rachel Ray!!!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/italian-barbecued-chicken-with-polenta-recipe/index.html

It was pretty good. We had trouble thickening the Polenta, so we had to add extra corn-meal. That thickened it right up!

For desert we had:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/grilled-pineapple-with-nutella-recipe/index.html

WOW!

Goodnight PDX, and RIP CITY!!!!!

Baked Chicken with Glazed Pineapple

Oh my, this was delicious! It may not look like much, but it might be my favorite of the week.

We had some leftover shredded chicken, and half a pineapple from last night. I used both to create this dish.

The Chicken was simply reheated in the microwave.

For the pineapple:

1. Cut into cubes and take about two cups (I just grabbed a couple handfulls).
2. Toss with two tablespoons of maple syrup, and a couple shakes of cumin powder.
3. Throw the tossed pineapple and cook in non-stick skillet for about 4 minutes, or until the pineapple gets richer in color or soft. I flipped them a couple times with my fingers to make sure they got cooked on all sides.
4. Take them off the heat and sprinkle with a bit of brown sugar if you're as much of a sweet tooth as I am.

Combine the pineapple and chicken and enjoy! The sweet pineapple with the juicy chicken is fantastic.

I forgot to throw it on the plate before the picture but I also had some green beans (frozen and heated in the microwave). Not great but a good addition with the chicken.

Chicken Tortilla Pie

This Christmas a new addition wound up in our kitchen:

The spring-form pan! Little did I know: not only does the pan produce delectable cheesecakes, it can create some wonderful Mexican food as well!

This reciept is pretty simple:
* Shredded Chicken (We just shred a rotisserie chicken from Fred's. No prep and cheap!)
* Salsa (We just got some of the healthier stuff from the Alberson's deli)
* Low fat refried black beans
* Shredded monterey jack cheese
* Whole wheat tortillas (Medium sized - 8 inch diameter - fit perfect in the spring-form pan)

Layer all this stuff a couple times, like a lasagna. Bake in an oven at 450 for 15 minutes. Voila!


The taste was pretty good, but standard. I dumped a ton of hot sauce on it which spiced it up to my taste. The convenience factor of this dinner is pretty huge. The hardest part was shredding the cheese.