Grilled Hawaiian Chicken with Coriander Rice and Veggies

I wanted to call this post Grilled Hawaiian Chicken with Pile of Health, but I thought it wouldn’t read well in Google searches.

Trader Joe’s has an interesting new product called “Bag of Stir Fry Stuff”, which has chopped up baby bok choy, carrots, snow peas, broccoli and Napa cabbage.  It seems like the kind of thing that exists to solve some other problem, like their fruit leather Odds and Ends (which is a bag of the trimmings from giant sheets of fruit leather).  The problem was probably: How can we make more money off of stuff we’d probably just throw away otherwise?  The solution is obviously:  Put it in a bag and find a cutesy name for it.

Normally, I am strenuously opposed to produce that is pre-chopped.  I hate that someone can fool me into paying more for something that is exactly the same as something that is cheaper.  I come from a long line of overblown dramatics, so getting pretty worked up about something like pre-chopped produce is routine for me, and luckily my boyfriend finds it amusing.  Recently Dom got a satisfying laugh at me while we were standing in the produce section at Trader Joe’s and I was agonizing over buying the pre-skinned and chopped sweet potatoes, because even though I really didn’t want to spend the time peeling and chopping those things if I bought the regular kind, I REALLY didn’t want to buy a bag of pre-peeled, pre-chopped sweet potatoes.  In the end, I bought the regular ones and felt superior through the whole arduous process of peeling and chopping them.

This Bag of Stir Fry Stuff, though, barreled right through the chink in my anti-marketing armor labeled: Stuff She Will Buy if it Saves her Chopping Many Items, Rather Than Just One Item.  It has baby bok choy AND carrots AND snow peas AND broccoli AND Napa cabbage!!!!  That’s enough saved chopping time to run a mile and a half.  Or, watch the Daily Show while eating cheese.

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

1 lb chicken (I used 4 boneless breasts, but you could use thighs, bone in parts, a whole chicken, anything)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

juice of 1 lime,  plus the squeezed limes

3 tbsp rice wine vinegar

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 inch piece of ginger, roughly chopped (no need to peel it)

2 tbsp Sriracha

1/3 cup coconut milk

3 green onions, roughly chopped

Whisk all the ingredients together (it will be chunky) and pour over the chicken.  I marinate stuff in big Ziploc bags, because that’s what my mom does.

see, the marinade is all big and weird, but it doesn't matter.

2-24 hours of marinating should do it.  When you’re ready to grill it, turn the grill on high and OIL THE GRATE.   Remove the chicken from the marinade, and grill 4-6 minutes per side, or until cooked through.

Coriander Rice

1/2 a sweet onion, chopped

2 tbsp butter

2 cups brown rice

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp turmeric (will make the rice that pretty, pretty yellow)

4 cups water or chicken stock or coconut milk

3 green onions, chopped

In a large saucepan on medium heat, cook the onions in the butter until translucent, about 7 minutes.  Pour the dry rice into the pan and stir it around in the liquid for a couple minutes, then put in the coriander and liquid.  Cook, mostly covered, until all the liquid is absorbed, about 20-25 minutes.  When done cooking, stir in the green onions.

Stir Fried Vegetables

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp soy sauce or ponzu

2 tbsp Sriracha

2 tbsp brown sugar

juice of 1 lime

2-3 tbsp water

a whole bunch of chopped veggies (I used a bag of frozen edamame and  pre-chopped, pre-washed Bag of Stir Fry Stuff, which was AWESOME.  But you could use carrots, any kind of cabbage, broccoli, kale, mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, anything.)

In a saucepan on medium heat, put in everything but the veggies.  Cook for 10 minutes or so, stirring frequently, until it thickens up a bit.  Dump in all the veggies and cook until just shy of the point you like your veggies cooked to.  I like a crisp vegetable, so I cooked mine for about 5 minutes, stirring often.

- Cat

Balsamic Roasted Chicken and Cherry Tomatoes with Sweet Corn Polenta

bowl o' tastiness.

My favorite recipes are the ones where I discover I only need to buy 1 ingredient.  I don’t think I’m able to fully express the depth of my love for that situation.  It’s the opposite of the feeling I get when I see a recipe for something s’more flavored and I think I have all the ingredients, and then I realize that I ate all the mini marshmallows again, so I don’t have any.

In any case, you probably have almost all these ingredients too.  If you are a better person than me, you probably keep frozen chicken in the freezer, as I should.  If so, you probably never find yourself wondering what you can make for dinner out of kidney beans and lasagna noodles, because you plan the week’s meals in advance.  Well done you.  Please come live with me.

This whole process took me 40 minutes, from halving the tomatoes to eating my first bite.  And I had time to watch snippets of Tosh.0 during it.  This dinner goes out to my cousin Susie, who appreciates quick, easy and healthy recipes more than anyone, having 3 adorable kiddos under 4.

Balsamic Roasted Chicken and Cherry Tomatoes

1 lb or so chicken (1 package of thighs, 1 package of breasts, a whole chicken cut up, whatever)

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or not

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp good olive oil

salt and pepper

Method: Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  In a bowl (or jar) mix together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic.  In a 9×13 baking dish or a roasting pan, put the tomatoes in the bottom of the pan.  Place the chicken on the tomatoes.

i always think boneless chicken thighs look like floppy socks.

Pour the vinegar/garlic mixture over the chicken.  Roast for 30 minutes, depending on what kind of chicken you used.  Baste the chicken with the pan juices 2 or 3 times during cooking.  If, toward the end of the cooking time you want to turn your broiler on high for a minute or two, that would be good. THAT’S IT.

Sweet Corn Polenta

1 cup corn polenta (polenta and grits are the same thing.  I use Bob’s Red Mill)

3 cups liquid (I used 2 cups chicken stock, 1 cup skim milk and a dash of half and half, because I had it.  The point is, cooking ratio for polenta is 1:3, meaning for every cup you use of dry polenta, you need 3 cups of liquid.)

2 cups or so of sweet corn, fresh if you have it, frozen if you don’t (if you had fresh corn on the cob recently and have leftovers, this would be an excellent use for it)

salt and pepper

Method:  About 20 minutes from when you think the chicken will be done, start this process. In a large saucepan on medium heat, mix together the polenta and 3 cups of liquid.  Stir frequently as it cooks and absorbs the liquid, this will take 20 minutes or so.  Near the very end, when it’s just a bit waterier than you’d like, stir in the corn and let it heat through.

Serve the chicken on the polenta, and pour the tomato-y pan sauce you created in the bottom of the pan over it.  You could shave a little parmesan over it, too.  And I served mine with a green salad.

Notes:  During the roasting process, if you open the oven door and are knocked over by the vinegar fumes, don’t worry, they will mellow by the end.  Also, this heats up REALLY well as leftovers.

- Cat

Spinach and Feta Turkey Burgers

We all know turkey can be good. I mean come on, there’s an entire day devoted to eating it. What’s not to love? Moist, delicious, roast turkey, served with every possible delicious side you could ever want…is it November yet?

Now, let’s be honest. Aside from the occasional deli sandwich how many of you eat turkey on a regular basis? My guess is not that many. I remember when turkey burgers became popular, and everyone tried to make them taste like a beef burger. As it turns out, turkey tastes nothing like beef.  You cannot slap a slice of cheese on a turkey burger and call it a day.  Turkey, unless it’s smoked, roasted, or done up with some other elaborate cooking method, it is generally pretty bland (hello gravy).  BUT this does not mean turkey burgers can’t be delicious! They really can be, and what’s awesome about turkey is that they are a kind of blank slate; you can do almost anything with them. For example, this burger; spinach and feta are wonderful with turkey, but the flavors would be lost with hamburger.

I did a fair amount of research for this burger, and almost every recipe I found recommended using frozen spinach. I have nothing against frozen spinach, but by the time you defrost it and squeeze out all the moisture I have gone through almost an entire roll of paper towel.  The other great thing about wilting fresh spinach for this is you can infuse it with garlic flavor- and who doesn’t love that?

I topped these burgers with a thick slice of grilled tomato, a handful of arugula, and a spoonful of tzatziki sauce.

Spinach and Feta Turkey burgers

Ingredients:

1 ½ Lbs ground turkey

1 bag baby spinach (usually bout 6-7 oz)

1 large clove of garlic, minced or pressed

1 Tbs of olive oil

¾ cup block feta, crumbled

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

2 tsp freshly chopped dill

1 egg, lightly beaten

Arugula

1 Large tomato, beef steak if you can find it, sliced thick

Method:

If you are planning on making the tzatziki sauce, make it before the burgers- recipe follows.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and lightly sauté the garlic until fragrant. Add the spinach and cook over medium heat until wilted.

Remove the skillet from heat and move the spinach and garlic to a large bowl, drain off any excess liquid. Add ground turkey, spices, egg, and feta, and mix with your hands until thoroughly combined.

Form into 4-5 patties depending on your liking and bun size.

Heat grill to medium . Cook each burger for about 6 minutes on each side or until the meat is completely cooked through.

In the last two minutes of grilling add the thick slices of tomato to the grill, grill for 1 minute on each side. Also toast the buns if you desire (just do it).

To serve, place on burger on each plate, top with grilled tomato, a handful of arugula, and a spoonful of tzatziki.

Tzatziki sauce:

1 ½ cups Greek yogurt (I use 0%)

1 Tbs dill

1 Large clove of garlic, minced or pressed

1 large cucumber, seeded and diced small

Juice of one lemon

1 tsp salt, or more to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let marry for at least 30 minutes before serving.

A few notes:

I like a chunky tzatziki sauce. Many recipes call for you to grate the cucumber, which you can of course do, but I like the chunks. It is also extremely important to seed the cucumbers or the sauce will be way too watery. It can also be helpful to salt the cucumbers and let them sit in a strainer to draw out some of the moisture.

This burger could also be topped with a slice of roasted red pepper, which is a very common Mediterranean flavor. Bell peppers and I don’t get along very well, so that is why I chose tomato.

A little bit of thinly sliced red onion would also be delicious.

I had grand ideas of making a roasted red pepper and pepperoncini mayo to go with it, but I didn’t have enough mayo. If I try that next time I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I served this with zucchini oven “fries”- recipe coming soon.

-Sue

Orange Chipotle Chicken Tacos

I don’t use my crockpot enough.  It sits up in my cupboard, probably laughing at me as I stand over the stove for hours every day, cooking by hand like some kind of chump.  To be fair, I’m terrible at thinking of things to put in a crockpot in advance, because I’m terrible at thinking of things I want to eat in advance.  I’ll say “let’s have pasta tonight!” then get home and yell “absolutely not, if we don’t have burgers I’ll cry”.  That makes cooking something in a crockpot a bit of a risk, seeing as I might get home and decide I don’t want to eat that after all.  I’m a real peach, and extremely easy to live with.

But none of that matters today.  Today, I cook with the crockpot!  Also, even though it goes against all my instincts as a midwesterner and a Monaghan, I put chicken in it instead of beef!  I did put some bacon fat in there though, so I guess it’s not a total loss.

Orange Chipotle Chicken Tacos

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I don’t usually buy these, because I prefer the flavor of chicken with bones, but I REALLY didn’t feel like trimming 5 lb of chicken.  It’s Sunday, for crying out loud, and I wanted to save some time for watching Dom fold the laundry.  Sooooo sexy.)

1 tsp bacon fat (you can omit, if you want. =( )

1 big sweet onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced*

1 cup orange juice

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp Mexican oregano

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

3 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

*The problem with chipotles in adobo, you’re probably thinking, is that you have to buy a whole big can and you’re only using two, and what do you do with the rest?  I’ll tell you.  Lay out 5-8 pieces of plastic wrap on various kitchen surfaces.   Place two chipotles onto each little piece of plastic wrap, pour a little adobo onto them, twist up the plastic wrap into little bundles.  Twist them so the ends are under the peppers, kind of, then put them on a cookie sheet and stick them in the freezer.  When they’re frozen solid, put the bundles into a big ziplock bag.  Now, when you need a chipotle or two for a recipe, they’re ready to use in little frozen bundles.  Also, the peppers being frozen makes them a LOT easier to mince.  I do the same thing with leftover tomato paste, except I freeze it in a big chunk and chop off what I need as I need it.

In a crock pot on high or low heat, depending on when you want to eat it, put everything in there, with a little care to coat the chicken with the spices.  Cook as long as you want, and if you’re home, move it around a few times as it cooks.  If you’re not home while it cooks, stir it around when you first put it in the crockpot.

You’ll end up with a lot of liquid in there, so when you’re almost ready to eat, remove the chicken and pour the liquid/delicious chunks into a sauce pan.  Shred the chicken and set aside, and boil the liquid (on medium heat) in the pan until it’s reduced by half or so.  Put the shredded chicken into the sauce pan, stir around until all the chicken is coated with the delicious sauce, and serve on tortillas.  I served mine with my purple cabbage and carrot slaw with creamy lime cilantro dressing.

i made these prettily, and then i devoured them messily.

- Cat

Gluten Free Pasta with Roasted Garlic Goat Cheese Sauce

AND broccoli, peppadew peppers, artichokes and grilled chicken.

Lately I have been trying to eat from my fridge, because so often I end up wasting things after forgetting about them. Such as using half a bunch of asparagus and leaving the rest in the drawer. It’s not always possible to create a meal around ingredients in your fridge- let alone more than one ingredient. This time, however, it managed to work…and work really well!

I had another challenge presented to me during my menu planning; one of my dinner guests was gluten free. Ten years ago this may have presented a bit of an issue, but today there are practically gluten free isles at the market. I had been planning on a pasta dish when I remembered my friend was gluten free. Cat told me she is not a fan of brown rice pasta, she said she thinks it’s too sticky*. I went to Whole Foods to see what other options they had. What they had (along with brown rice) was quinoa pasta.

It was absolutely wonderful…and what I actually mean by that, is it tasted just like regular old pasta. I was seriously impressed. Not to mention the added bonuses of having extra protein, low sodium, and no cholesterol. The price was not overly expensive either, it’s like buying the store brand pasta versus the fancier brand of boxed pasta. I liked this pasta so much I would consider buying this in place of regular pasta.

The plan for this pasta was asparagus,artichokes, peppadew peppers, chicken, and goat cheese cream sauce. As it turns out the boyfriend had already used  the asparagus (and I don’t mean eaten, because he doesn’t do that, he shared it with other friends who were over earlier in the week). Since I had already gone to the store to get the pasta, I looked at what else was available. Broccoli it was. I was not disappointed in the least, the broccoli was perfect (but asparagus would be good too and I would prepare it the same way).

Ingredients:

4 oz goat cheese

1 /4 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

1/2 tsp salt

1 can artichokes in water (or frozen hearts)

1 medium head of broccoli

1 head garlic

6 peppadew peppers

1 lemon

3-4 chicken breasts

Salt and pepper, for chicken

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400. Chop off about ¼ inch off the top of the entire garlic clove; you want to just expose the cloves. Place the garlic on a piece of foil, drizzle heavily with olive oil, and twist into a little pouch. Place in the oven for about 45 minutes or until the garlic is soft and roasted and smells like heaven (in my world, heaven smells like roasted garlic). While the garlic roasts, make the rest of the dish.

Slice the peppadew peppers into thin strips (or whatever your desired shape is) and set aside. Try not to eat too many of them while you cook everything else.

You will also be roasting the broccoli but it doesn’t take as long as the garlic. To prepare the broccoli chop the head into small florets. Make a foil packet to put the broccoli in**. Drizzle the broccoli with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. The broccoli will take from about 20 minutes depending on how crisp you like your broccoli.

Start a large pot of salted water to boil on the stove for the pasta. In a medium skillet, sauté the drained artichokes and the juice of one lemon over medium heat for about 3 minutes; remove from heat and cover, the steam will help the lemon juice flavor to penetrate.

For the cream sauce, in a small sauce pan over medium low heat combine the yogurt and goat cheese and melt until a thick sauce forms. Add a dash of milk if the sauce seems too thick. By this time the garlic should be roasted. Squeeze the softened cloves directly into the sauce, along with the 1 tsp of salt and whisk to combine. Keep the sauce on low heat while you complete the final steps.

Salt and pepper the chicken and grill. While the chicken is grilling, cook the pasta.  After the past is cooked, and drained, toss the pasta with the goat cheese sauce. Toss the broccoli and the artichokes with the pasta, and top each portion with the sliced chicken and the peppadew peppers.

Absolutely delicious, not to mention gluten free, and healthy. I will be making this often.

A few notes:

My gluten free friend tells me she quite likes rice pasta but apparently there is an art to making it, involving soaking, rinsing and things like that. I will find these things out and share them with you, but until then- I recommend the quinoa pasta.

You could also roast the broccoli in a roasting dish, but I like the foil packets because they lightly steam while they roast (and there is one less dish to wash). Whatever your preference is fine.

-Sue