Chicken Cutlets & Spinach

To accompany my black eyed peas and cornbread for New Year's Day, I made some sauteed chicken and spinach to round out the meal. It was pretty good, even for spinach. :)

Ingredients:
4 chicken cutlets
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb baby spinach
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 c white wine
1/2 c chicken stock
2 tsp corn starch + 2 Tbsp chicken stock (mixture)

Instructions:

1. Preheat pan on medium heat with olive oil. Season chicken cutlets on both sides with the salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. Cook chicken 2-3 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. (Will depend on thickness of cutlets.)
2. Add minced garlic to pan, and cook for 30-45 seconds. Add white wine, and chicken stock, and bring back to a simmer. Add spinach and cover for 3-4 minutes, or until wilted. Remove spinach from pan and plate with chicken.
3. Add corn starch mixture to pan and bring to simmer, stirring until thickened. Drizzle over chicken and spinach and enjoy!

This is certainly not my most creative dinner, but it was delicious and it did make the spinach edible.

Fresh Pasta Carbonara

 

In the spirit of destroying a perfectly clean kitchen, I decided to get out my pasta maker tonight to practice my technique a little. I found a recipe online for pasta carbonara, and modified it to make it suit my tastes. The pasta was much better than my maiden voyage!

 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 slices slab bacon, diced
2 cloves diced garlic
2 tablespoons white wine
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chicken stock 
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound fresh linguini
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano
2 eggs, separated
1 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into cutlets

Directions

1.  Put salted water in a large pasta pot and bring it to a boil over medium heat.
2. Add the oil and bacon to a large saute pan over low heat. Cook the bacon until crisp, being careful not to burn it, about 5 minutes.Remove bacon temporarily on onto a paper towel to drain.
3. Season the chicken breast cutlets with salt and pepper, then cook for 5-6 minutes, or until cooked through. (Will depend on thickness of cutlets.) Remove from pan, to rest.
4. Add the garlic and stir for 5 seconds. Add the drained bacon, wine, milk, stock and black pepper. Cook until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
5. Drop the fresh linguini into water and stir to separate strands. When pasta is just undercooked remove it from the water and add it to the pan with the sauce. Gently stir for 1 minute.
6. Remove the pan from the heat, add 1/2 the cheese and the egg white and stir, being careful not to break the noodles. Add the egg yolk and lightly toss. Slice chicken thinly and toss in with pasta. Transfer the pasta to a serving bowl or platter and garnish with the remaining cheese.

Enjoy!

Curry Chicken Pasta

After our second viewing of A Christmas Story this evening, we decided we wanted a snack, so I raided the fridge and pantry in search of leftovers that could be made into something more. The key ingredient here is the chicken tenders that were left over from asian chicken salads earlier this week. This actually turned out to taste pretty good! And I got to use some of the other items I had in the pantry already.

Ingredients:

• 1 c chicken broth, give or take
• 1 cup leftover chicken, chopped or shredded
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
• 1/3 c almond butter (or peanut butter, but I just happened to have almond)
• 1/2 a box of pasta - I happened to have ziti, but you could use whatever
• 1/2 c frozen peas.

Instructions:

1. Prepare a pot of salted water, and cook pasta - drain.
2. In a pan, sautee the garlic in the sesame oil on medium low, for 2-3 minutes. Add almond butter, and stir until it is melted into the pan. Add chicken broth little by little, and stir until sauce loosens to the point of being able to coat the back of a spoon. Add soy sauce, peas, red pepper, and curry powder. Stir to combine. Keep on low heat.
3. Shred left over chicken and add to pasta pot. Add pasta on top of chicken. Add sauce over top of pasta and chicken and combine until all is coated. Enjoy!

This made enough for about 4 servings, but we enjoyed it as a late night snack.

Teryaki Glazed Chicken

I'm back! After a very hectic 3 or so months of work craziness and wedding planning, I can finally think (and cook) again. We tried out our new rice steamer this week, and I made Teriyaki glazed chicken to go with. It's a bit messy, so next time I will probably adjust the amount of sauce, but it tasted good, and reheated well for the next day's lunch!

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons pineapple juice
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons ginger (grated)
1 pound chicken (cut into bite sized pieces)
2 teaspoon peanut oil
4 servings cooked rice
4 tablespoons corn starch


Directions:
1. Toss bite sized chicken pieces in a bowl or bag with corn starch, until lightly coated. Heat oil in wok or large pan and cook chicken until crisp - careful not to overcook. Mix the soy sauce, pineapple juice, honey, sugar, ginger and
2. Mix soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, pineapple juice, honey, brown sugar, and ginger in a bowl.
3. Add the marinade to the pan and saute until warm. Add chicken, and cook until sauce thickens. If you need additional thickening, add 1-2 tablespoons of a corn starch/water mixture and bring back to simmer.
4. Serve on cooked rice with whatever veggies you like.

Enjoy!

Spicy Parmesan Chicken Pasta

Whew! It's been a few weeks since I've had the chance to stop and cook dinner, which you must know stresses me out. However, after this rainy, droopy day, I was in the mood for comfort food! I just threw this together out of items I had laying around and it turned out well. Use caution if you don't like spicy food.

Ingredients

• 3/4 box of ziti pasta (reserve 1 cup cooking liquid)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
• 1/4 Cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.
• While pasta cooks, heat a large nonstick skillet coated with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add crushed red pepper; sauté 1 minute. Add chicken pieces, and sautee until browned.
• Add reserved pasta cooking liquid to pan; bring to a boil. Stir in salt, black pepper, chicken, and balsamic vinegar; bring to a boil. Stir in pasta, and cook 1 for minute or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese.

Note: Sauce will thicken if you let it cool for a few minutes - delicious!

Balsamic Glazed Chicken

Since we ate like piglets at the Braves game yesterday, we decided we needed some greenery and un-fried chicken. I was really excited to see how pretty the chicken turned out; especially since it was so simple. Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless is my preference, but you can do what you please
• 3/4 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a frying pan to medium high heat, and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. (I use the olive oil kind.)
2. Salt and pepper both sides of chicken breasts, and place them in the pan for roughly 3 minutes per side. After they have gotten some pretty brown color on each side, place them in a baking dish and into the oven until they are no longer pink. I think this took me 12-15 minutes or so.
3. While the chicken is in the oven, add the balsamic vinegar, sugar, and 1 tsp salt to a small saucepan and simmer until it is reduced by roughly half its original volume.
4. Remove the chicken from the oven, let rest, then slice and top with balsamic glaze.

This goes great with a summer salad. Yum!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love a good crock pot meal. Don't get me wrong - I love all cooking methods, but something about coming home to your house being filled with the aromas of long-cooked meals is just fantastic to me. This morning I prepped dinner in the crock pot and then proceeded about my day of laundry, spring cleaning, and some work. 8 hours later, here is delicious chicken tortilla soup!

Into the crock pot: 1/2 diced onion, 2 boxes of chicken stock, 1 can crushed tomatoes, 1 can diced green chiles, garlic powder, chili powder, 1 lb diced chicken breast, 1 can black beans, 1 cup corn kernals. I even threw 3/4 cup of rice in the pot, and it turned out fab. Add fresh avacado at the end, and voila! Easy dinner.