Spinached Eggplant, ButterHerb Grilled Chicken and Stuffed Tomatoes

This is a variation of the awesomely eggplant recipe I posted here. Add some baby spinach in between those layers of eggplanty-goodness. That's the only variation, but it was too good not to share.








Next, I'd like to give a little shout out to my favorite farm. Tendercrop Farm. These are four of their own chicken breasts stuffed with my very own herb butter and some lemon slices. Make sure the butter is cold when you put it between the meat and the skin, it melts slowly and stays on your chicken longer. I grilled these on low for about 30-45 minutes. Be careful about flare-ups that may be caused by the butter. When the juices run clear, or it reaches the right temp, it's done.


Tomatoes Provencal a la greque?
Alright, so I was trying to use up these tomatoes and I came up with this. Then I saw it in a recipe book, though slightly different and I felt really stupid.

Core the tomatoes, scooping out the seeds. Mix about 4 tbsp of feta, with a tablespoon of parsley, a small clove of garlic chopped finely, and just enough breadcrumbs to make a stuffing that loosely holds together, probably not more than a handful. Stuff the tomatoes and bake on 350 until they begin to soften. Another variation would be to use Parmesan instead of bread crumbs or feta.

Strawberry Jam and Spatchcocked Chicken

This was my second and much more successful attempt at jam-making. We picked our own strawberries at a local farm, and as it was the end of the season and they were rather ripe, I dropped everything to can them when we got home. So, I followed the directions on the recipe for Sure-Jell, but this time I added almost double the pectin, and I did everything in the proper order. Simple delicious and they make a great gift. However, there probably won't be any around to give away by Christmas. I felt like my grandma was there with me when I had my first PB and J. Growing up, my grandma would always make freezer jam for me and I loved it. I even complained if my mother tried to put store-bought jelly in my lunch.

Spatchcocked Chicken

I was introduced to this method of cooking by a magazine. Basically, you spatchcock the chicken, meaning you turn it over and cut out the spine along each side, so you are left with a cowardly, spineless chicken. Then you flip it over and flatten it out. There are so many advantages to cooking it this way, one being that it cooks evenly and more quickly than other methods. So your white meat and dark meat won't dry out.

Here is what I did: Stuff the chicken with slices of lemon and cold herbed butter under the skin (probably about a 3/4 stick of butter), season with salt and pepper. Add favorite vegetables, tossed with olive oil to the pan. I used red potatoes and onion, but I suppose carrots, celery or squash would work too. Roast on 325 until juices run clear and thermometer reads proper temperature.

Now you are probably wondering how to make herb butter. Easy. Soft butter + your favorite herbs. You can mix it by hand, make small or large amounts, or even use the food processor. I like parsley, garlic, lemon juice, pepper, and chives. Add a little of each at a time to your own taste. It keeps for weeks in the coldest part of your fridge. Great on steaks too!

Chorizo Stuffed Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 link of chorizo
• 5-6 button mushrooms
• 2 c spinach (I used roughly 1-2 large handfuls)
• 2 c cheese
• 5 chicken breasts (either pounded flat to roll up or with a pocket cut in the for stuffing)
• salt
• pepper
• smoked paprika

• 1 c brown rice cooked according to directions in water with 2 cubes chicken bullion and 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes, (medium, hot or whatever you prefer)
• 1 can green chiles
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

1. Cook chorizo, draining excess grease, remove from pan
2. Saute mushrooms in same pan, adding spinach at the end with enough time to just wilt it a bit
3. Mix mushrooms and Spinach with chorizo
4. Stuff mixture into chicken and seal with toothpicks
5. Bake at 325 for 50-70 minutes, covered in a glass pan
6. While chorizo is baking prepare rice adding bullion and olive oil
7. Once rice is about 90% done, add chiles, cumin, and garlic powder and tomatoes
8. During last 10 minutes of baking, top chicken with cheese

If you have any leftover chorizo mixture, save it and make a dip layered with cream cheese, with shredded cheese on top. You can either microwave it or bake it until the cheese bubbles, serve with tortilla chips or on small flour tortillas for a snack or a light lunch.

Moroccan Chicken

This recipe was from Gourmet Momma. I did not have some of the ingredients on hand, namely peas or squash. I used yellow bell peppers and some onion because that is all I had and the snow was piling up! This was are really great dish. I added a dash of Chipotle pepper powder for some heat. I made this while my mother was visiting and she also enjoyed it.

Crispy Oven Buffalo Wings

I used Frank's Red Hot Chile-Lime Sauce, and this recipe as a guide. I omitted the salt and vinegar and just melted butter with hot sauce. I was a little more than generous with the hot sauce, I served the extra wing sauce on the side.

They were crispy and you would have mistaken them for being fried. Delicious.

St. Ambrose

This is my take on a Milanese dish, credited to St. Ambrose. I made this for his feast but never got around to posting it.

Ingredients:
Chicken:

• 4 chicken breasts pounded flat
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• sea salt
• 2 tbsp grated hard cheese, like romano or parmesean
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp water

Sauce:

• 10-12 button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1/2 c white wine (I used Chardonay)
• 1/4 chicken broth
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• pepper
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1/8 c half and half
• olive oil

• 1 lb of pasta boiled, drained

Directions:

1. Pound chicken to about 1/2 thickness
2. Mix grated cheese with breacrumbs, cheese, pepper, and sea salt to taste
3. Beat egg with water
4. Preheat oven to 400 and start water for pasta
5. Coat chicken in egg and then in bread crumbs, placing on an ungreased, rimmed baking tray
6. Cook in oven on 400 for 15-20 minutes

For the sauce:

1. While chicken cooks and pasta boils, sautee mushrooms in a pan with olive oil, butter, shallots and chicken broth over medium heat
2. When mushrooms are tender, add garlic, cook 1-2 minutes, and then add wine
3. Mix cornstarch with cold half and half (I put mine in a cup and stir it around with a fork)
4. Add cornstarch mixture, and stir
5. Season with pepper to tasteServe chicken over pasta with sauce on top, garnish with grated cheese

Chicken Sandwich with bacon, swiss and honey mustard

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless chicken breast, cut in half and pounded to about 3/4 in. thick
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 c. flour
• 2 c. bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 8 rolls
• 8 sliced swiss cheese
• 8 strips of bacon, cut in half and cooked
• prepared honey mustard sauce

Directions:

1. Mix paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper with flour
2. Flour chicken, dip into egg and then into bread crumbs, laying on a baking sheet
3. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, turning once
4. Assemble sanwiches, with bacon, swiss and honey mustard.

Spinach and Feta Stuffed-Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4-5 chicken breasts
• 1 pkg. frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and drained of excess liquid
• 8 oz feta cheese, crumbled
• 2-3 strips of bacon per chicken breast
• paprika
• pepper
• toothpicks

Directions:

1. Combine spinach with feta and pepper to taste.
2. Slice chicken breasts down the middle to form a pocket (you could also pound them out)
3. Stuff chicken with filling and seal up with 2-3 tooth picks
4. Wrap 2-3 pieces of bacon around chicken
5. Sprinkle with paprika
6. Bake on 325 for one hour or until juices run clean on chicken
   

Chicken Fingers

Ingredients:

• 5 chicken breasts, sliced lengthwise about 1/2-1 inch thick
• 2 cups flour
• 3 eggs beaten
• 4 cups bread crumbs
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• dash fresh ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• dash cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. In one bowl, add flour 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper to taste, 1/8 tsp paprika, and a few dashes of cayenne, mix with a fork
2. In a second bowl beat eggs
3. In third bowl add bread crumbs and remainder of spices, with a dash of pepper and cayenne
4. Dip a strip of chicken into flour, shaking of excess
5. Next dip floured chicken into beaten egg
6. Last, roll chicken piece in bread crumbs, shaking off any excess and lay on a greased baking sheet
7. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces
8. Bake at 400 for 7-8 minutes and turn, then bake for 8 more minutes or until juices run clear
9. Serve with your favorite sauce (mine is ranch mixed with a generous amount of hot sauce)

Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 whole chickens
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 4 stalks celery, halved
• 4 bay leaves
• 8 carrots
• 1lb pasta
• 8-10 cubes bullion
• pepper

Directions:

1. Put chickens, onion, celery and bay leaves into pot and cover with cold water
2. Boil until chickens are fully cooked
3. Remove chickens, cool and debone
4. Remove and discard, celery and onion
5. Skim the top, and remove all the oil
6. Add bullion and carrots
7. When carrots are about half-way tender, add deboned chicken, shred into smaller bite-size pieces
8. Add pasta
9. Add fresh ground pepper to taste and more bullion if desired

I did not boil my pasta first, but you can do this so that it won't soak up the broth. I also used up the contents of two leftover boxes of pasta that were half-full.

Make your own Salad Night

In our home we have radically different ideas about salad and what we like in it and not in it.

So I provided the following ingredients:

1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped

1/2 lb of bacon crumbled

dried cranberries

a rotisserie chicken, shredded and warm

sliced almonds

croutons

tomatoes, chopped

goat cheese

onion, chopped

hard boiled eggs

various dressings

The master salad is supposed to have lettuce, chicken, almonds, cranberries and goat cheese topped with a balsamic dressing-- i.e. my salad.

Here are the results:

The Mama Bear

The Papa Bear

The Baby Bear #1

The Baby Bear #2

Baji's Butter Chicken

I prepared everything according to the directions on the box. I added some vegetables that I had on hand, celery (sauteed first), thinly peeled carrot, onion and green pepper. I know it is probably not very authentic that way, but it stretched the meal out and provided some extra vegetables in our diet. I thought this was a pretty good product, it had the right amount of spice and was good. I've never eaten Indian food before so I have nothing to compare this to. I bought this at Costco because it looked really good, I am looking forward to trying the Chicken Tikka Masala.

Shredded Chicken Sandwiches AKA "Ohio Chicken"

Alright, now I will divulge my deepest secret: How to make shredded chicken.

I found out that outside of Ohio, this is not a common thing. My husband, a New Englander, calls this "Ohio Chicken" and it is one of his favorites. I've always thought of it as either a hick food or some kind of traditional depression era cooking. Well I like it anyways so here it is:

Ingredients:

• 1 whole cooked chicken de-boned
• 2 stalks of celery diced
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1-1 1/2 c. chicken stock, or 2-3 cubes chicken bullion
• pepper
• water
• 2-3 tbsp. constarch
• cooking oil
• buns or rolls

Directions:

1. in a medium to large sauce pan, add 1 tbsp cooking oil, celery, and 1/4 cup broth or 2 bullion cubes and 1/4 c. water
2. sautee celery for 4-5 minutes over medium heat
3. add onions and cook until onions and celery are tender, add broth as needed
4. add chicken, stirring and shredding it with a fork, adding broth as needed to keep chicken from burning
5. dissolve cornstarch in water and add to pan, stirring frequently until thickened
6. season with pepper to taste

If extra salt is desired, add a bullion cube (or even a little sea salt) dissolved in a little water between step 4 and 5.

Serve on a bun or your choice of bread.

Note: I usually use a chicken that I have made stock from, making a smaller batch of shredded chicken and reserving some of the meat for chicken soup

White Bean, Chicken, Poblano Chili and Tortillas

I got this recipe from Rachel Ray's Magazine it can be found here.

The only thing I did differently, as you can see, I used a food processor and instead of 3 poblanos, I used two. Also, I used the shredded Mexican cheese that I had on hand. I thought it needed extra cumin, and there were a little too many beans for my liking, but the flavor was good and I even made tortillas. It was my first time making them and they were very easy and fun to make.

For the tortillas, I use this recipe. I did not make whole wheat ones, and I halved the recipe, also I used olive oil instead of shortening. They turned out great, I would definately make them again, though I am a little worried about setting off the fire alarm again. They really made the meal, and a lot of smoke in my apartment. I wish someone had told me sooner how easy it is to make tortillas, and to open a window if I were to try it!

White Bean, Chicken, Poblano Chili and Tortillas

I got this recipe from Rachel Ray's Magazine it can be found here.

The only thing I did differently, as you can see, I used a food processor and instead of 3 poblanos, I used two. Also, I used the shredded Mexican cheese that I had on hand. I thought it needed extra cumin, and there were a little too many beans for my liking, but the flavor was good and I even made tortillas. It was my first time making them and they were very easy and fun to make.

For the tortillas, I use this recipe. I did not make whole wheat ones, and I halved the recipe, also I used olive oil instead of shortening. They turned out great, I would definately make them again, though I am a little worried about setting off the fire alarm again. They really made the meal, and a lot of smoke in my apartment. I wish someone had told me sooner how easy it is to make tortillas, and to open a window if I were to try it!