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Panko-crusted Dijon Chicken Stuffed with Bacon and Brie
October 5th, 2009My hubby had a concert on Friday evening and after a busy week I wanted to make something good. I remembered I had not made chicken the whole week, so I decided to made a quick and fancy meal at the same time!
I first started using panko about 6 months ago and I have not looked back! It is the easiest and healthiest bread crumb than what the stores offer. The stores have bread crumbs that no longer should be called bread crumbs but THE OTHER BREAD! This meal takes 15minute preparation and 30 minute cooking time. A great meal easily accompanied with rice and a veggie. Enjoy!
Panko-crusted Dijon Chicken Stuffed with Bacon and Brie
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serves 2
2 boneless chicken breasts
Crust
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
Coating
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp melted salted butter
Stuffing
8 slices of Brie cheese
2 slice turkey bacon
Toothpicks
Preheat oven to 400F
Place coating and and crust ingredients in two separate dishes. Butterfly each chicken breast and place each chicken breast between parchment paper. Use a mallet, and flatten chicken until 1/2 inch thick. Make sure the chicken is dry before starting the coating process.
Take each chicken breast and place 4 slices of Brie cheese and one slice of bacon and fold in half. Use the tooth picks to seal the chicken because you want to keep the cheese inside the folded chicken. Next, rub the mustard coating on the chicken and finish off my coating the chicken with the Panko bread crumbs. Repeat with the second chicken breast.
Place the stuffed chicken on a greased 9×9 glass pan and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with rice and veggie!
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Turkey Sausage Spaghetti
October 3rd, 2009
My Thursday work schedule was a mess. I really did not feel like cooking but I had something in mind to make on our BUSY day I decided we could not make another stop at Subway for dinner. This dinner took me 30 minutes to make and was easy to pack up and hit the road.
Turkey Sausage Spaghetti
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serves 3
3 turkey sausage links, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1-28oz crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 kalamata olives, halved
2 cups kale, chopped (I would opt for spinach)
1/2 cup fontina cheese, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
8oz dry spaghetti
Heat olive oil in pan and cook sausage, onions, and garlic for 8 minutes, until semi-browned. Add crush tomatoes, basil, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Meanwhile, starting boiling water and add salt. Add the spaghetti and cook 2 minutes less than the box indicates. You will be placing the pasta in the sauce to finish cooking the last 2 minutes.
Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the olives and kale or spinach and continue cooking for 5-7 minutes. The fontina cheese will be last ingredient to add. Cook until melted and then add the pasta. Serve and top with Parmesan cheese.
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Green Turquoise, green pearl, and citrine ensemble
October 1st, 2009Ok, so, if you have not noticed, I also make jewelry. Many of you thought that this was JUST a food blog, but it is not. I also enjoy creating jewelry in my spare time….and of course selling it too! One of my favorite colors is green, so when I found this great green turquoise bead, I went gah, gah over it. It took a while to get a design in my head, but when I finally did, I was happy with the results. I will be posting it for sale on Etsy.com soon!
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Mediterranean night: Hummus, Tabbouleh, and Zucchini and Feta Balls
September 30th, 2009Seriously, I could eat Mediterranean food every night if I could get away with it. After trying a local Mediterranean restaurant in front of our school campus, my hubby decided that what and how I make at home was better than the restaurant’s recipes. What a compliment, eh?
Instead of taking a lunch break today, I prepared our dinner. I was going to be away at a meeting and knew that I would NOT have any time to prepare dinner when I came back. These are the quickest meals and only require the most essential of kitchen appliances: your food processor! It cuts the cooking time by a lot and allows the freedom to refrigerate the goods.
After many taste testings, I believe that I have come up with the best hummus recipe for our family. I tastes very much like the many restaurants prepare them. The zucchini and feta balls, known in Greek as kolokithokeftedes, was a recipe I found on a cool blog, called Closet Cooking. Thanks to the author, I was able to have a warm dish to go with all the other salads. This is a perfect vegetarian meal!
Hummus
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serves 4
1 15-oz can chickpeas, reserve 1/4 cup of liquid
1 Tbsp Tahini butter (sesame seed butter)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
2 tsp cumin
1 garlic clove
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
olive oil for drizzling
Place beans in processor and add chickpea liquid, lemon juice, and tahini. Process. Keep processor on and little by little add the olive oil until the mixture becomes smooth. it should not be grainy. Taste. This should not taste too lemony, or peanuty because of the tahini, but a blend of flavors. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
Tabbouleh
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serves 3
Salad
1 cup cracked bulghur wheat
2 bunches parsley, chopped
1/2 cup mint, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, diced OR
4-6 radishes, diced
vinagrette
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt or to taste
Cover cracked wheat with a little more than 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Let sit for 10 minutes or until the water has been mostly absorbed. When the wheat is soft to touch, drain the excess water in a sieve.
Roughly chop parsley and mint in food processor. Place in a bowl and add onions, tomatoes, and
wheat. Add spices and then pour vinagrette over salad. Keeps for only a day.
Kolokythokeftedes (Zucchini and Feta Balls)
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adapted from Closet Cooking
makes 20 zucchini balls
2 cups zucchini, grated and squeezed
1/4 cup of feta, crumbled
1 splash ouzo (I omitted)
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 handful mint and dill, chopped
1 egg
1.5 tsp salt
pepper to taste
flour
breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
oil for frying (I used sesame oil)
Directions:
1. Mix the zucchini, feta, garlic, green onion, herbs and egg and season with salt and pepper.
2. Mix in equal parts flour and breadcrumbs until you can work with the mixture to form balls.
3. Form the mixture into balls and dust in flour.
4. Fry in oil until golden brown and set aside to cool.
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Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry-Honey Syrup
September 28th, 2009So I woke up not feeling oh so well the other day and thought I would have to stay in. I came back from church and took a nap and somehow my stomach felt a little settled. During the afternoon, my stomach was still upset so, while I was doing my grocery shopping I purchased a fizzy drink I had forgotten about. If you like ginger ale, you just have NOT had the right one. I tried this most delicious brand by REED’s called REED’s Ginger Brew. I actually grabbed the one called EXTRA ginger brew. WOW! My stomach felt soooo happy after that. I am telling you, you gotta get! 
Despite this fact, I finally felt well enough something light for the day. My hubby and I have been wanting pancakes for a while and after watching a some ULTIMATE challenge on Food Network, we felt we needed to try our at Ricotta Pancakes. Giada De Laurentiis has been a favorite of mine when it comes to trying new recipes, so I decided to go with her recipe instead of Bobby Flay’s. The only thing I added to the recipe was with the syrup. I had extra bluberries I wanted to use, so I added the bluberries to the boiled honey and sugar syrup for an extra blueberryyyyy taste! Enjoy!
Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry-Honey Syrup
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian
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serves 4 (16 pancakes)
2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used almond extract)
2 cups pancake and waffle mix (I used Jiffy)
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
2/3 cup frozen blueberries (I used fresh berries)
1/2 cup extra blueberries for syrup
Melted butter
Stir 1/3 cup of water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Stir in the honey until it dissolves. Add 1/2 cup blueberries to the pan and boil for 5 minutes, until the mixture has turned blue-purple. Set aside and keep the honey syrup warm.
Using a rubber spatula, stir the remaining 1 2/3 cups of water and vanilla in a large bowl. Add the pancake mix and stir just until moistened but still lumpy. Stir in the ricotta into the pancake mixture, then stir gently to incorporate the ricotta but maintain a lumpy batter. Fold in the blueberries.
Heat a griddle over medium heat. Brush with the melted butter. Working in batches, spoon 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Serve with the honey syrup.
