Chicken Scaloppine

I saw this recipe in Clean Eating magazine and it sounded yummy.
Ingredients:

1/2 lb whole wheat pasta (I used multi-grain, I haven’t been able to make that whole wheat leap)

2 tsp olive oil

1 lb boneless, chicken breast

1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

1 large lemon, zested and thinly sliced (about 8 rounds)

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 cups baby arugula (I used spinach)

1/4 cup grate parmesan

Directions:

Cook pasta according to directions

Brush Chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  - add to heated saute pan and sear on each side for 1 minute. Top chicken with lemon slices and cover with chicken broth and cover – simmer for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes (or until chicken is done) remove chicken and lemon slices and cover. Add to the pan spinach and lemon zest. Spoon pasta into bowl and add chicken and lemon and sprinkle with parmesan.

The picture on the left is from the magazine – the picture on the right is mine = I think I got pretty close. (Oh – I also topped mine with feta – it needed just a bit more flavor)

Black Rice?? Yes – my new favorite thing!

I have recently discovered black rice. I saw it in a magazine and then found it in a local spice store. It is so tasty and made for a wonderful stir fry meal. I cooked the black rice like I would any rice – in my steamer. For the stir fry I made a new sauce:

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

juice of 2 limes

3 tbsp of soy sauce

3 tbsp of honey

2 tsp of sesame seeds

3 tbsp of Sriracha sauce

2 tbsp of peanut butter (you can omit this, but I was cooking for some sensitive pallets and the peanut butter cooled off the sauce a bit)

In a pan – stir fry broccoli until almost done – add shrimp and sauce when shrimp is done, toss in cooked black rice and heat  - serve immediately – it is WAY yummy.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Still testing the recipes that came with my new crock pot. Did I mention I got a new crock pot? I got Fagor 3-1 cooker. It is a rice cooker, slow cooker, and pressure cooker. I have not braved the pressure cooker yet. I tried the Chocolate Bread Pudding recipe that came with the booklet. It turned out great and would work in any slow cooker and it was delicious and made for a good breakfast the next day.

1 cup butter

1/4 sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup chocolate milk

1/4 cup strong coffee

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chunks)

4 cups stale bread – ripped into bite sized pieces (the recipes says cut into cubes, but I could not see the logic in that)

In a bowl, beat the butter, sugar & cinnamon with a mixer. Add the eggs and beat until fluffy. Mix in the chocolate milk, coffee, raisins and chocolate chips. Fold in the bread. Pour into slow cooker and set the heat to low. Cook for 5 hours. (The recipe also calls for 1 cup of pecans, but I didn’t have them and don’t really like nuts in my food so I left them out.)

Tuna Steaks seared Himalayan Salt Block

 
I got a Himalayan salt block for my birthday so I decided to break it in on the person who gave it me by cooking their birthday dinner on the salt block.

This is not one of those things you can do on the spur of the moment. The block has to be heated up slowly starting at low heat and gradually increasing heat until it is hot enough to cook on – this took about 40 minutes for me. Once the block was hot it was just like cooking on anything else.

I marinated the tuna in honey, soy sauce, garlic and dijon mustard. Then I seared the tuna for about 4 minutes a side. The tuna tasted lightly salty, a nice accompaniment to the meatiness of the steaks.  Everyone was satisfied with the taste of the fish. I would do a couple of things differently next time, mainly adding a layer of aluminum foil under the stone. As you can see from the picture, the juices are just dripping off the side of the block. It made a pretty big mess on my stove, but I didn’t care – it was yummy!

 

Pasta with roasted vegetables and shrimp

This is such an easy recipe and a real crowd-pleaser. Chop vegetables into bite sized pieces. I used zucchini, tomatoes, and onion. Preheat oven to 375 – and start a pot of water to boil for pasta. Put vegetables on a cookie sheet with garlic and olive oil. Roast vegetables for about twenty minutes. Add shrimp and feta or blue cheese and return to oven until the shrimp are done. Toss over pasta. I also added pesto to this and it was delicious.

Shrimp and Fig Kebobs

This is probably the last of the fig fun for the season: what a short but glorious season it is. This was super simple. Skewer shrimp and figs on pre-soaked wooden skewers (so they don’t char) drizzle with honey and bleu cheese then bake at 350 until the shrimp are done. It really couldn’t be more simple. If you can get your hands on some fresh figs – do it!  It is an entirely different animal than the fig newton cookie (which I also love).

Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Figs

More fun with figs. This was a tasty one.

1 medium onion slice

1-2 cups of figs halved

2 lbs chicken breast

1 cup broth

1 cup wine (I used white, but I think it would be equally good with red)

2 tbsp of fresh rosemary

Pre-heat oven to 325. Spray non-stick spray on a casserole dish and add chicken breasts and start them cooking. Put onions in a saute pan with a tablespoon of butter and cook until lightly browned. Add figs, rosemary, broth, and wine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let the sauces simmer until it thickens a bit. Add sauce to the chicken and continue cooking until the chicken is done.  I served it rice and with some fresh asparagus.