Improvised chicken in the crockpot

I had chicken to use up. Part of my evolution as a cook has involved more improvisation. Often my go to recipes rarely taste the same each time as I forgo measurement letting instinct, google and taste be my guide. I'm not quite to the point I can taste a dish and identify what its lacking. Someday... maybe. :)

Working 2nd shift, I tend to cook only a couple times a week and subsist on leftovers. Today I decided to put my new crockpot to use. 

Improvised Chicken in the crockpot

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

olive oil

onion

shallots

vegetable stock

crushed red pepper

oregano

salt 

pepper

diced tomatoes

a squirt of roasted red pepper dressing

a splotch of pesto

I browned the chicken in the oil with everything except the tomatoes. Put it in the crockpot, used some extra stock to deglaze the pan and then dumped the tomatoes over the chicken. Cooked on high for 4 hours. In my head it would almost form a sauce that would be good over penne noodles with a bit of mozzarella/parmesan cheese sprinkled on for good measure. 

I did not get to enjoy this dish yet as I was at work but I did sneak a bite of the chicken when I got home and I'm ranking it a success! Maybe i'll call it an unbreaded deconstructed chicken parmesan?

In a recipe rut

I've been in a bit of a rut lately. I've been working WAY too many 2nd shifts which throws a wrench into it all. So the diet has been suffering to say the least. I haven't gained any weight -- mostly because I'm staying active, but I'm no longer losing -- *insert :( .

After getting my hair done on Tuesday, my future sister in-law gave me the real simple magazine and perusing that was enough to spark some cooking energy! Thursday, the fiance and I went grocery shopping and filled our cart full of good food and things to make the bunch of new recipes I found!

Tonight's meal will be one from the magazine: Roasted Tilapia with potatoes and lemon

Upcoming recipes:

• Wild Rice and Mushroom Pilaf with cranberries
• Green Beans with Bacon Vinagrette
• Roasted Leg of Lamb with Carrots and Honey Mint sauce
• Not to mention countless ideas for sandwhiches and quick food....

I'm hungry! Hope my tilapia finishes soon!

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What's for Dinner?

Whoa! It's been a while!!! Where have I been?? Have I been cooking?

Well, I've been working a lot of 2nd shifts and watching my pantry food supply dwindle so cooking had definitely fallen by the wayside. But never fear, friends, I have returned. Because of the downgraded diet, I had definitely noticed the effects on my body. I haven't gained or lost much weight, but my energy and how I feel has suffered. So I'm newly returned from the grocery store, have a well stocked pantry and am ready to take on a cooking challenge!

Today's recipe is for Baked Walleye. I'm pairing it with salads and a Knorr Pasta side: Broccoli and Cheddar pasta. Nothing too highly gourmet but I'm cooking it and it's not pizza, so WIN!

I found the recipe by a google search: http://www.food.com/recipe/baked-walleye-69347

my modifications:

I cut down on the lemon juice to 2tsp instead of 1 T and added some dried tarragon to the mix. I omitted the mushrooms and also added some garlic to my piece of fish.

Initial taste is a bit bland actually. I may try seasoning it some more....

Seasoning didn't really do anything for this. It was just way too bland. Will not be making it again. Consider this link deleted from from my bookmarks!

What's for Dinner?

After a hiatus due to a very busy August, I cooked tonight.

Tonight's menu:

Homemade garlic mashed red potatoes
Tomato, Basil, Garlic marinaded steak on the grill

The mashed potatoes were way easier than I expected! I simply brought a bunch of water to a boil. Added a bunch of quartered red potatoes, about a tablespoon of diced garlic. Reduced heat and simmered 22 minutes covered. Then I added 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 2 T of butter. After the potatoes were done I strained them and added them to the milk/cheese/butter combo.

Because I lack a manual masher, I used my hand mixer to mix everything together.

And with that, they were ready to serve!

The verdict:

They were ok. Albeit on the blander side. I think I should have added a few more herbs and a bit more salt. For a first attempt, I'd give them a 6 on a scale of 10. Something to make again, but tweak.

What's for Dinner? 2nd post of the week!

I think I just outdid myself....

Cooking 2 nights in a row! Whoa!

Granted tonight wasn't really all that hard as far as cooking went: Steak marinated in a balsamic garlic & peppercorn marinade and grilled, paired with Rosemary Garlic red potatoes (done from a McCormick Veggie Steamers packet in the microwave).

A great meal for a warm evening, no oven involved.

Prep time: 20 minutes (including marinating time and potato chopping)
Cook time: 15 minutes.

What's for Dinner?

 Sound the alarms.... I cooked.

I ended up having to run to the grocery store at 5pm (worst time EVER to visit Rainbow in EP, unless you love getting banged into by carts in clogged aisles and endless lines....) to accomplish this, but I'm happy I did.

Tonights menu:

• Italian chicken (personal creation)
• Garlic & Basil steamed green beans
• instant mashed potatoes

The italian chicken is a personal little creation of mine. I brown chicken with garlic (sometimes onion too) in oil. Use chicken broth or extra italian dressing to deglaze the pan. Then put all of that and some more italian dressing in a shallow baking dish. I bake that covered for 20 minutes, uncovered for 10-15 (I use a convection oven so time is shorter). 

The garlic and basil steamed green beans was made with a McCormick Veggie Steamers packet in the microwave. The instant potatoes were from Potato Buds instant potatoes. 

Total meal cost was easily under $10 with the chicken taking about 1/2 the budget. 

The garlic and basil green beans were fabulous! I didn't use the full amount of green beans so there was a lot of sauce with each bean but I would defiitely make these again! It was a super easy thing to make and it took me longer to chop the ends off the beans than any of the effort I put into making them. So if you're looking for a vegetable side for dinner this was an extremely flavorful option!

What's for dinner? Greek Lemon chicken breasts

I'm a little late in making dinner tonight so I don't get to marinade these as long as I should but I found a recipe for Greek chicken souvlaki and I swiped the marinade recipe for my chicken breasts.

I added 1/2 cup of white wine to the marinade and a pinch of dried rosemary and marinaded it for 15 minutes. Baked in 400 degree convection oven for 30 minutes.

Recipe:

• 1 c. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. white wine
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1/3 sweet onion, diced
• 1T diced garlic -- I like garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper
• a smattering of dried oregano
• a pinch of rosemary.
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

I put the chicken breasts in a small baking dish and added the marinade to just below covering the chicken and put in the oven for 30 minutes. In the last 10 minutes, I threw in a 2 minute broiling session and finished off baking at 400 degrees.

I paired this with the very uninspiring: Knorr rice sides: Chicken and Broccoli. :-/  I really need to go grocery shopping so I have options!

Results:
Very tangy! The lemon-wine combination was a bit overwhelming/strong at first bite, but after that, I really enjoyed this dish. It seemed to get fiance approval. I'm almost glad I didn't marinade it too much longer than the 15 minutes I did.

I would love to try this skewered with peppers on the grill with some homemade tzatziki (sp?) sauce and pita bread. MMMM... greek food.

I will still continue my search for great chicken souvlaki recipes....

What's for Dinner 5/18/2010 Honey BBQ Chicken, salad

Its been a while since I've posted a "What's for dinner" update. I have been in a bit of a cooking dead zone. Aside from a very beautiful chocolate cake I made on mother's day and a Strawberry Amaretto Pastry I've made for Pampered Chef events, my cooking has been largely uninspired.

Even my Mother's Day Feast (I somehow confused cooking for 5 with cooking for 15, I had THAT much food) was not very inspired: baked potatoes, roasted asparagus --although it was my first time ever cooking asparagus-- marinated steak and salads.

Anyway, back to todays meal:

Todays Menu will be: Honey BBQ Chicken, salads and potato wedges.

Potato wedges- courtesy of Oreida

Honey BBQ Sauce-- courtesy of www.cooks.com
I added about a tsp of Worcestershire sauce and extra garlic and chili powder to taste. I use 1/2 the sauce for the recipe and store the rest in a jar with lid (old pickle jars work great for this!) in the refrigerator.

• I took the 1/2 of the homemade honey bbq sauce I intended to use and poured over 3 chicken breasts in a deep glass pyrex dish lined with foil and covered it with more foil. 
• I, then cooked it in a 425 oven for 30 minutes, basting it every 10 minutes.
• At 30 minutes, I uncovered it to cook for another 10 minutes.

A very easy meal to throw together, once the inital BBQ sauce is made.

What's for Dinner 4/11/10

Post-Pampered Chef party, I was super inspired to do some cooking, so tonight we had coconut rice beef fajitas. I got the idea from TGI-Fridays, of all places. We had fajitas from there that were served with coconut jasmine rice and they were fabulous! I've also come to realize that minute rice is no longer cutting it for my rice consumption. So after some googling of coconut rice, I decided to undertake this myself using the following recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 3 cups jasmine rice or any other long-grain rice, washed
• 1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk
• 2 1/2 cups water, or as necessary
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large pot with a tightfitting lid, heat the oil over medium heat until it starts to shimmer. Add the onion and stir and cook until soft and translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat evenly with oil.
2. Stir the coconut milk and pour it into the pot, followed by the water, salt, and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 35 to 40 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender.
3. Turn off the heat and let the rice rest on the stove, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes. When ready to serve, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork or chopstick

this recipe came from www.Chow.com , specifically this link. They used shallots as well in their recipe which I omitted.


Observations from cooking:

• My liquid cooked down much faster than the 35-40 minutes allotted for cooking. It actually only took mine about 25-30 minutes and I even added about 1/2 cup of water 1/2 way through cooking. So it's definitely something to watch over.
• I also reduced the salt by half because 1T sounded like it could be too much.

Overall it was a pretty simple recipe. I encourage you to check out the link to the recipe and check out their suggestions. They had a good one for a rule of thumb for how much water to add. And I like to check out user comments for a recipe ahead of time too in order to help tweak it, or decide against making it.

After cooking, I served it on tortillas with steak fajitas, sour cream and cheese.