Balsamic Chicken

Good evening.

We had quite the day with all the tornado warnings & severe thunderstorms.  I'm glad it's all over, for now, at least. 

Tonight, I made balsamic chicken, garlicky broccoli and brown rice. 

You can reference my January 25th post for the recipe for garlicky broccoli.

The brown rice was just according to package directions - nothing fancy. 

I did a similar post on February 17th  called "Balsamic Honey Chicken...."  The marinade for this one is pretty similar, but it is a little more simple:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp dried tarragon (crushed in your hands)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
5 garlic cloves, smashed


Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together (or shake together in a container).  Pour the marinade over 1.5 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are in a 9x13 baking dish.  Turn the chicken over in the marinade to coat it completely. 


Cover the baking dish with foil and refrigerate the chicken for about two hours, turning the chicken over halfway through.


Remove the chicken from the fridge and set on the counter to begin the process of it coming to room temp.


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.


Remove the foil and turn the chicken over once more.  Grind some freshly ground black pepper on top of the marinated chicken.  Replace the foil.


Once the oven is ready, bake the chicken for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked.  To check, carefully cut into the thickest part of one chicken breast (preferably one in the middle) and check to see if you see all white.  If not, bake for an additional 4-5 minutes or until it is done.  


Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Creamed Spinach Croques Monsieurs

Hi, everyone.

The Blogger site was on the fritz Thursday evening when I made this recipe, so I am posting it now.  I came across the recipe in the May 2011 issue of EveryDay with Rachael Ray, and I knew instantly I had to make it.

It is also available online:  http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=4042. 

I have enjoyed croques monsieurs before, and I have loved them.  The usually come with ham on them, and I am not a big fan of ham.  When I made them this past Thursday, I used sliced turkey.  I didn't have a sourdough bread (the bread I would have used) on hand, so I just used some whole wheat sandwich bread.


It wasn't a bad choice, but I would recommend a thicker sliced bread.  When I ate the end result, the bread was kinda soggy.  It didn't ruin it, but it would have been better with a thick slice of sourdough bread.

I used 2% milk instead of whole milk to at least help control some of the nutritional value.  Using 2% did not affect the creamed spinach mixture from thickening.   I also used extra sharp white cheddar instead of gruyere cheese.  Lastly, I left off the eggs.  To my knowledge, a croque madame is the one with the egg (either sunny-side-up or over-easy) and not the monsieur. 

I did like the creamed spinach part on top of the bread, mustard and turkey. Very, very delicious.  Topping it with some of the extra sharp white cheddar just completed the dish.

The recipe, for me, made enough to make six creamed spinach croques monsieurs.

I served it alongside some garlicky broccoli!

Chicken Salad

Good evening!

So, I had some grapes; some apples; some bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts; some mayo...get the picture?  What does all of that make?  Chicken salad, of course!

I like making my own chicken salad because the premade stuff or the stuff found at restaurants can be pretty heavy and virtually flavorless, not to mention containing celery!

This recipe was inspired by Ina Garten's recipe called "Chicken Salad Veronique", and it is found on the Food Network website:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-salad-veronique-recipe/index.html.  It is also found in her book Barefoot Contessa At Home. 

What I did differently is I left out the celery because celery is pretty gross.  I used green and red grapes, and I added a couple diced apples (of your choice) in place of the celery.  In addition, I used dried tarragon, about 1/2 tablespoon.  Throwing in a dash or two (or three) of cayenne doesn't hurt either!  You can eat this by itself, or you can eat it as a sandwich in between two slices of whole grain bread, for instance.  

Enjoy!

Mexican Black Bean Pizza

Good evening!

Who doesn't love pizza?  I know I love it, and I don't know what I would do if it wasn't around anymore.  I can't and won't think about it.  It's too traumatizing. 

Given the fact the pizza can be really unhealthy, it's always reassuring that comfort foods can be made healthier with a few tweaks. 

Tonight, I made Mexican black bean pizza, and the recipe was courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.  The recipe was found on Yahoo!:
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/recipes/mexican-black-bean-pizza-538506/

I followed the recipe fully, except I used Mozzarella cheese, and I left out the green onions (for obvious reasons).  I would have added a lot more hot sauce and added some cayenne to the bean mixture if I wasn't serving this to other people.  

A serving is a quarter of the pizza, and the rest of the nutritional info is supplied on the recipe.  Of course, the nutritional info will alter based on what you use as your toppings.  Using mozzarella, I'm sure, altered it a bit. 

You can always add your own toppings or change the recipe to suit your tastes.  I think a vegetarian pizza is a nice break from the pizzas with meat that can be pretty heavy.  I am not knocking pizzas with meat; I mean, I love me some pepperoni. 

As you can see in the pics below, the crust did burn a bit on one side, so I recommend rotating the pans halfway through the cooking process.  To achieve the brown top, I cooked the pizza under the broiler for a few minutes.  Watch it or else it'll burn!  Now that I think about it, the burnt crust may have resulted from the broiling.  Oh, well!  :)