Italian Food

It's been a long time since I've updated! First, I have to thank my husband for buying me the most awesome present ever:

I will partially thank Lowes, since they misprinted an ad and they were selling them for only $150!!! It's still a lot of money, and I can't believe James bought me one. I can't wait until I get it next week!

We went to Germany and Italy a few weeks ago and had an amazing time. My sister's wedding was so beautiful. And Italy was breathtaking. The sights, the history, and most importantly -- the food!! :)
I left with a greater appreciation for prosciutto, olive oil, cheese, baked goods, and wine. Everything was so great!

Here are a few pictures of the food to tide everyone over until I can do a real update with a recipe!

Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Garlic

I've heard about the magic of goat cheese, but had always been afraid to try it for myself. For our one year anniversary, my husband treated me to one his favorite places: Texas de Brazil. He loves it for the endless cuts of steak they bring as long as you'll eat, but he never told me about the amazing salad bar. It was filled with pestos, cheeses, meats, vegetables, and all manner of amazing antipasta choices. One option was goat cheese with roasted peppers. I figured if I didn't like it, I could leave it on my plate. Turns out goat cheese is amazing!

I was sad to discover it cost $1 per oz at my grocery store, but since I rarely buy anything not on sale, I went for it.

I didn't alter this one at all, it's straight from Cooking Light. James even liked it! I served it over whole wheat spaghetti and with a green salad.

Ingredients:

4 ounces goat cheese, softened

3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil, divided

1 tablespoon minced garlic

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 (25.5-ounce) jar fat-free Italian herb pasta sauce

3 whole garlic cloves

3 cups hot cooked fettuccine (about 6 ounces uncooked pasta)

Preparation

Combine goat cheese, 2 tablespoons basil, and minced garlic; set aside.Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and pound each half to a 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Divide the cheese mixture evenly among breast halves. Roll up jelly-roll fashion. Tuck in sides; secure each roll with wooden picks.
Heat the pasta sauce and whole garlic cloves in a large skillet over medium heat; add chicken. Cover and cook 25 minutes or until chicken is done. Serve over pasta. Garnish with 1 tablespoon basil.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken roll, 3/4 cup pasta, and 1/2 cup sauce)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 503(15% from fat); FAT 8.3g (sat 4.7g,mono 1.9g,poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 57.2g; CHOLESTEROL 112mg; CALCIUM 137mg; SODIUM 785mg; FIBER 5.5g; IRON 3.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.1g

Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2003

Spinach Quichelets

I made these little baby quiches for a work breakfast today. I grew up on this quiche, my mom made it a lot when we were little in a homemade pie crust. I remember eating the leftover crust dough baked into little pieces on a cookie sheet.

This version uses biscuits instead of pie crust, so they're much softer than a pie. Perfect for breakfast!

-3 eggs

-1 cup half and half

-1 cup mixed cheeses (I used half mozerella/provolone blend and half cheddar)

-1 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach

-1 TBS finely chopped onion

-2-3 tubes of homestyle biscuits (1/2 biscuit per quiche, so you'll need 18 biscuits to do 3 dozen)

Instructions:

-Cook the spinach in the microwave by the package directions. Drain WELL (Ball it up and squeeze!)

-In a bowl, beat together eggs and half and half.

-Add cheese, spinach, and onion, stir to combine.

-To assemble, cut each biscuit in half, and roll it out very thin. Place each biscuit in a mini-muffin tin and put 1.5 Tbs of quiche filling inside the biscuit. Stir the filling often during assembly so all the solid ingredients don't sink to the bottom.

*It worked best for me to roll out each biscuit , stretch it across the muffin cup, and then use the teaspoon full of filling into the middle to press the dough down into the pan into a cup shape.

-Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes uncovered, then place foil on top and bake for another 10 minutes.

Yields about 3 dozen, I only made 2 dozen and then poured the rest into a ramekin and made a full size crustless quiche for dinner.

Credit goes to mom!

Happy Mothers Day!!

We had both fabulous moms (along with my dad and sister) over for Mothers Day dinner. It was great to spend the evening with family and have great conversation and great food!

The menu:
-Grilled White-wine salmon
-Garlic Risotto in Parmesan Frico cups
-Mixed fruit salad in orange cups
-Grilled zuchinni

Recipes:

Grilled White Wine Salmon

Salmon Filet, cut into portion sized peices.
Olive oil
White wine (I used Smoking Loon Chardonnay)
Salt and pepper

-Several hours before cooking, prepare fish and marinade. Mix 1/4 cup of Olive oil with 3/4 cup white wine. Place fish in a baking dish skin side down and pour marinade on top.
*You can use less or more marinade depending on the amount of fish. This 1 cup marinade was perfect for a 3 lb filet arranged in a 7x11 baking dish
-Grease grill grates with cooking spray or a papertowel soaked in veg. oil. Prep the grill to medium heat.
- Arrange fish skin side down directly on the grill. Grill for 6-8 minutes, rearranging fish pieces over hot spots as needed, until it is almost cooked through.
-Flip the salmon with a flat spatula (the fish will start to flake, and tongs could cause it to fall apart)
-Grill for 3-4 minutes top side down until fish develops a nice crust.

-Slide fish onto a spatula, peel off and discard skin (after cooking, the skins slides off easily) and flip over to serve top side up.

Garlic Cheddar Risotto

Adapted from this foodnetwork.com basic risotto recipe. I added 4 cloves of roasted garlic (roasted ahead of time, use less of raw, minced) when I added the rice to the onion. Then I added 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese at the end of cooking. Otherwise I followed the recipe! Mine got a little overcooked, risotto is best when served right out of the pot, otherwise it starts to get overly soft and starchy.

Parmesan Frico Bowls

From Confections of a Foodie Bride's blog. I used two small dessert ramekins to shape the bowls, they turned out great! A really easy way to dress up plating and make something simple look super fancy!

Fruit Salad/Zuchinni

Okay, I'm not going to give you a recipe for these. For the salad, mix your favorite fruits! I split and hollowed oranges instead of using bowls for a fun touch. I used blackberries, strawberries, watermelon balls, and pears with a little orange juice squirted on top. Chill the mixture so the flavors have time to meld.

For the zuchinni, I just sprayed a little olive oil from my kitchen mister (that I took from my mom!) and sprinkled with kosher salt and pepper, and threw it on the grill.

Here's to moms, who allowed us to stand underfoot in our childhoods so we could learn a whisk from a spatula. I love you mom!

Pictured: My grandma Genie, my mother in law Brenda, and my mom Faye!

New Pot Rack!

I found a new way to save a little space in my kitchen! I bought this pot rack from target.com after searching forever for one in stores. Not even Home Depot carries them! It just came in today, and I had it hung with all my pans within 30 minutes of arrival! I even hung a few measuring cups up there, a la Nigella Lawson! :)

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

I'll add a picture of these when I make them later this week. I've made them several times, and they are one of my all time favorite recipes! If not the best, it is one of the best things my mom makes. All credit goes to her, for her famous chicken enchiladas!

Faye's Chicken Enchiladas

-1/2-1lb chicken breasts (3 cups cooked)
-1/2 cup onion
-1 small can green chilis
-1 can cream of chicken soup
-milk
-10-15 corn tortillas
-Shredded cheddar cheese
-1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions:
1. Boil chicken in water for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Shred the chicken, save the broth.
2. Saute 1/2 cup chopped onion in butter or olive oil until clear in large skillet
3. stir in 1 can green chilis (can use a large can if you like it spicier)
4. stir in 1 can of soup
5. fill soup can halfway with milk, add to soup mixture
6. fill soup can halfway with broth from previously cooked chicken, add to soup mixture
7. stir soup mixture in skillet until warm.
8. (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART) Put tortillas, 3 at a time into soup mixture in skillet. Add one tortilla at a time as you build each enchilada. Use the tortilla that has been in the mixture the longest to build each enchilada, they should soak for 1-2 minutes or so, until soft but not falling apart.
9. to build each enchilada, pull a tortilla out of the skillet, add some chicken and cheese, roll up, and place seam side down in a 9x13 glass baking dish.
10. As you build tortillas and the soup mixture starts to diminish, add broth 1/2 cup at a time as needed to stretch soup mixture.
11. When the pan is full, add 1/2 cup sour cream into remaining soup mixture. Pour on top of enchiladas. Top with more shredded cheese.
12. Top with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

These can easily be prepped ahead of time and baked later. They're so good!

Sesame Chicken

CNN did a story this week about how unhealthy and fattening chinese food is for you. This came as no shock to me, I've always known every yummy, greasy bite was full of fat and sodium. The story did inspire me to start looking around for recipes so I could recreate one of our favorites at home, where I could control the ingredients at least somewhat. Sesame chicken is the only thing James will eat at Chinese restaurants, and it's usually my favorite too. I combined several different recipes from allrecipes.com to come up with this final product. It's still breaded and fried, but it's a lower sodium, all white-meat version of the original.

James told me all weekend he was going to be scared of this recipe, but the skeptic came around when he tasted it: "Babe, this is actually pretty dang good, can I have a lot more?" Yay!

Sesame Chicken

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I KNOW I said no more white flour, but I was scared to try wheat flour. I'll try it next time!)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder (a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and white pepper)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 yellow onion, cut into wedges
1/2 cup green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/8 cup low sodium teriyaki sauce
1/8 cup tablespoons honey

1 Tablespoon pineapple juice

2 Tablespoons sesame seeds

1 teaspoon brown sugar

DIRECTIONS
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine flour, black pepper, five-spice powder, and red pepper flakes. Place a few pieces of chicken at a time into the bag, and shake to coat. Remove to a platter.
Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.

Place chicken into skillet, and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes.

Stir onion wedges and bell pepper slices into the skillet with the chicken; cook until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
In a separate bowl, mix honey, teriyaki, pineapple juice, brown sugar and sesame seeds. Add it to the chicken and vegetables, stir until sauce thickens.

I served it with a box of Simply Asian noodles.

3/26 Edit: I made this a second night in a row tonight, but skipped the flour and used the same amount of seasonings to season the dry raw chicken breasts pieces. Then I sauteed the chicken in a pan with a little cooking spray, and did the rest according to the recipe. It turned out great! I would cut down some on the red pepper flakes, for some reason skipping the dredging escalated the heat a lot! It's a little different, but a much lower-fat alternative that will be great for normal dinners. It passed the James test too!