Chinese Chicken

So I have a decent amount of vegies, so I decided to make a stir fry.   I experimented with Roasted Red Chile Paste, which has been taking up space in my refrigerator but can't remember the last time I used it.  And I gotta say, I am going to use it again...and soon!  It's great!  Has alittle kick to it!  I just added a few Tablespoons of it, once my stir fry was done.  And then I added about a 1/2 cup of chicken stock to it and it actually tastes "professional" haha...like what you would get in a chinese restaurant.  I'm sure they wouldn't want people to know how easy it is!

chicken stir fry with roasted red chili sauce

Sunday round up

So, before I talk about what I had for dinner, let's do a review on how well I did with dinners last week.  The bad news is I didn't make enough chicken to have my left-overs later in the week.  But yaa! the dinner was so yummy we ate it all...Well the good news is: I only went to the grocery store one time this past week!  Now that deserves a round of applause!!!  How many times do you go to the grocery store a week?  I rarely only go once. 


So I think I'm gonna try a weekly plan, again.  We shall evaluate it next week.
Sunday: Sloppy Joes and soup (see pix--it was a self serve night!)
Monday: Kenny out so I'll have the soup and will make an easy kid food dinner for Sam
Tuesday: Chicken
Wed: Pasta
Thursday: Left overs
Friday: Fish

self serve: soup, sauteed garlic spinach and sloppy joe fixins

Lauren's Chicken

So I am sticking to my food plan I mapped out on Sunday!  I am very proud of  myself..haha.  So tonight I am making a chicken entree that happens to be one of my daughter's favorite dinners.  Now she is at PSU (a freshman) and I have been really really really missing her lately, so I decided to make her favorite dinner to make me feel like she is here, even tho she isn't.  A little wacky reasoning, but it helped.  Back to the food.  It is actually very easy, so shhhhh-don't tell her!  The secret is: use a crock pot, also known as a slow cooker.  Simply place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot.  Salt and pepper them.  Then, pour your favorite marinara sauce over it, being sure to cover the chicken and having about 1/4 inch of liquid.  If you don't have enough sauce, then add some chicken stock.  Then put the lid on and slow cook on low for about 6 hours or put it on high for about 4 hours.  It is done when the chicken basically falls apart with a fork.  LOVE that soft texture.  Melts in your mouth! Then, just make pasta and serve together!  Be sure to make alot because you are going to want leftovers.

Sunday Sup

So on Sundays, I like to still keep it nice and easy for the dinner menu, but I do like to add a little more complicated dish...since I usually have alittle more time to prepare.  It is a beautiful day today so I wanted to grill outside.  Don't know how many more days I will feel like doing that.  I did look for corn on the cob in the foodstore and sadly, there wasn't any.  I guess it's good bye for the corn season.  So, tonight's meal is: grilled steak, sauted asparagus and tasty potatoes (my "complicated dish")  The potatoes came out delish!  I just boiled small yukon gold potatoes for about 40 minutes, then, on a plate, I smashed them lightly with a fork.  Then, I sauted 2 garlic cloves and 1 Tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary, in a skillet that had some olive oil in it.  Then, salt and peppered those smashed potatoes and sauted them, both sides, in the pan with the yummy flavored oil.  When it got light brown I plated it and sprinkled some parmesan cheese over it. Rosemary and potatoes are a winning combo. I need to remember that!  Picture is below. 

I also decided to kind of map out my dinners for the rest of the week.  Now keep in mind, I have done my grocery shopping and I REFUSE to go again.  So, specifics will be determined based on what I have left.  But the outline is:
Monday-whatever night...Husband at Phillies game so I will make total kid food, like mac and cheese
Tuesdsay-chicken
Wed-pasta
Thursday-leftover using the chicken in another form to fool my family into thinking it isn't a leftover
Friday-fish

Tasty Potatoes with Rosemary

Guess the Dinner

Ok, so here's the game I play every night:  I look in the pantry/fridge/freezer and see what I have and try to come up with a yummy combination for dinner.  Here's tonight's ingredients:

                   chicken,black beans, peaches, jalepeno pepper, rice, tortilla shells 

Well, I don't know about you, but that spells chicken fajitas to me!!!
So, I made the fajitas, with sauted red peppers and onions on the side.  I invented my rice dish which I will definitely make again.  Here is the recipe:

FAJITA RICE
Brown Rice
Peach, cut up in small pieces
Jalepeno Pepper,diced
Lime Juice
Kosher Salt
Black Beans (canned)
Chipotle Pepper in Adobe Sauce
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Make the brown rice (I actually used Trader Joe's frozen brown rice.   You nuke it for 3 minutes and it is perfect every time!  I always have a box in my freezer) and put in large bowl.  Toss in the peach, jalepeno pepper, 1/2 cup black beans, sprinkle of salt,one lime's worth of juice, and 2 Teaspoons of the adobe sauce.  I'm telling you--very tasty!!!  Ole!

Fajita Rice

Delish Turkey

Boy did I use an amazing shortcut tonight for dinner!  And it out-delished my imagination  :)  I went to Wegggies today (my pet name for Wegman's) and bought alot of possibilities.  So tonight I thought I would make a turkey breast.   But by the time I got home, blah blah blah, I didn't feel like looking for recipes,etc.  So I took a flavored butter I had---garlic herb--and slathered (LOVE THAT WORD) it all over the turkey skin and under it too.  I salt and peppered it then roasted it in the oven at 375 degrees for, oh about 1 hour and a few minutes.  Boy oh boy was it delish!  I made a gravy with chicken stock and I put a few teaspoons of the turkey juice from the roasting pan in with it.  SOOO easy and SOOO delish.  Sorry I keep saying the delish word.  But it was kind of like getting a sweater on sale and you actually like the sweater.  Get it?  It was so easy and it was actually...yes, delicious.  Sadly, I didn't take a pix.  I was so hurried to get it on the table I didn't have time.  Well I will certainly make this again (no surprise) and will be sure to snap a photo of it!

Freezer Dinner

I haven't been blogging the last week because I have been very busy with my family.  With the holidays and all, I have been cooking way over the normal weeknight menus so I didn't include them at all.  It was like having a Sunday night meal for 3 nights in a row!  So I needed to take a little break.  But, I'm back :)  And, now, school has started and that means after school activities have also started which in turn means I need to be running around from 4-7ish.  So, when we got home at 7:15 I really pulled tonight's dinner out of my a--...so to speak!  I found all the ingredients in my freezer and within 10 minutes, I had a very filling and satisfying dinner.   the menu:

--Salad (that was just a little extra since I had the lettuce)
--Trader Joe's frozen Quinoa with vegetable melange (found in the freezer and takes 7 minutes in the microwave)
--Cut up chicken sausage mixed into the quinoa (found in the freezer, defrosted in the microwave and cooked on the stove top for 7 minutes)

Trader Joe's to the rescue!

But at least we have the Broccoli

 One of my favorite shows EVER is The Next FoodNetwork Star.  The winner, this time around seemed to cook the best food with very interesting flavors.  So, when she won and started her own show, I couldn't wait to watch it and try one of her recipes.  Well that was what was for dinner tonight.  It was Aarti Party's "I ain't chicken chicken".  Well, I ain't liking it.  I made it because 1) I had all the ingredients (duhhhh!) and 2) the flavor combinations sounded yummy.  But I felt the dish fell flat.  Sorry Aarti, but at least we have the broccoli!
                                                  Orange Infused Broccoli

1 broccoli crown,chopped in small pieces

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 orange
handful of walnuts
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 pat butter
couple of "peels" of parmesan cheese
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Heat pan on medium heat.   Saute garlic in the olive oil and also toast the walnuts. Add broccoli and saute until slightly soft, about 3-5 minutes. Squeeze orange juice over broccoli.  Mix up plate the broccoli.  Add the chicken stock in pan until it boils.  Put 2 orange slices in the stock.  Add the butter and stir until melted.  Press down on the orange slices so bits of it will break off and incorporate in the sauce.  Pour over the brocccoli.  Use a peeler and peel a few shards of parmesan cheese for the topping.

Orange Infused Broccoli