Tag: chicken

By Posted on Posted in Recipes, What's for dinner No Comments

Unfortunately my diet and exercise regimen has been taking away from my cooking time and variations and because of this I have not blogged nearly frequently enough.  However, today after an intense 60 minutes of plyometrics, well actually about half way through, I started thinking about what kind of chicken we would be having tonight.  We have been eating chicken nearly everyday since the 1st of the year and creativity is the name of the game.  Most nights we just rub something on the chicken breasts, beat em out a bit with the mallet and throw them in the broiler.  Tonight though I got to thinking that we had a little spinach left in the fridge and a little swiss cheese.

Upon further inspection of the fridge and surrounding cupboards I found the rest of my ingredients to make a rather tasty, yet still fairly healthy dinner.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp pesto
20 spinach leaves stems removed
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp grated parmesan
12 postage stamp size slices of swiss cheese
olive oil
salt
black pepper
dried basil leaves

Instructions
I started by combining spinach, garlic (minced), parmesan, 1/4 tsp black pepper and pesto in a mortar and pestle I recently got from Amazon.  I crushed all of these ingredients to a pulp and set aside.  I then poured about a tablespoon of olive oil in a glass baking dish and spread it around.  I proceeded to wash each of the chicken breast, butterfly them open and stuff them with half of pesto mixture and 6 of the pieces of cheese, I then rubbed them with olive oil, closed them up with toothpick sprinkled with salt, pepper and dried basil and placed them in the oven at 400ºF for 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reached 180ºF.  It was a little shy of 45 minutes.

For such an easy and relatively healthy dish it was quite tasty and we will be making it again.

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In our quest to eat way more chicken than any one person should, we have arrived at ways to make chicken number 2.  Southwest Stuffed Chicken, now this is actually a really easy recipe to make.

Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts
1/2 c corn
1/2 c black beans, canned or thoroughly soaked
1/2 c salsa
1 1/2 tsp ground chipotle peppers
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 c half and half
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
pepper-jack cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
cilantro (optional)

Instructions
Mix salsa, corn, beans, 1/2 tsp chipotle, and cumin in a bowl set aside.

Grease a glass baking dish big enough to hold both breasts.

Rinse and dry chicken.  Slice chicken to make a pocket to put stuffing in, don’t slice all the way through.  Spoon in half of stuffing or as much as will fit into each breast, use toothpicks to hold shut and place in pan.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350ºF.

While chicken is backing prepare glaze by combining half and half, remaining chipotle and basil in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer and cook until reduced by half, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and pour over the breasts after 30 minutes in oven.  Bake chicken for 10 more minutes or until the center reaches 160°F.

Serve over rice.  Top with sour cream, cilantro and/or pepper jack cheese.

I served mine over a simple rice made this afternoon in the rice cooker consisting of rice, cumin, garlic, onion, jalapeno, paprika, turmeric and a touch of oil.

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By Posted on Posted in Recipes, Uncategorized No Comments

It has been nearly a month since I last posted and for that I am to blame, we have been on a diet and no matter how much you like chicken it just seems that after a couple days of chicken breasts it gets kinda boring.  Well we have been eating chicken breasts about 5 out of every 7 days since the first of the year and we have found some pretty creative ways to prepare and season them.  I recently also discovered we are not the only one who have been eating chicken day after day, week after week this year, so this shall be post one of an ongoing series on the ways we eat chicken in the Elston household.

Tonight we had Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry over white rice.  The first time we made this dish we did not have any soy sauce and so we had substituted Dale’s Marinade for soy sauce, Dale’s imparts quite a different flavor to the dish than does straight soy sauce, you should try it both ways.

Chicken and Broccoli over White Rice

The recipe we used to create our chicken and broccoli stir fry was derived from several recipes online for chicken and pork stir fry and is as follows:

Ingredients
1 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 c beef broth
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tbsp cornstarch
6 c broccoli florets
1 c water
1 tbsp canola oil, divided
3 large cloves garlic, pressed

Instructions
In a medium bowl toss chicken with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and red wine vinegar until evenly coated.  Set aside.  In another bowl combine remaining soy sauce, beef broth, sugar, ginger and cornstarch.

Place broccoli in a large skillet over high heat with water.  Cover and steam until tender.  Drain and transfer to a plate, set aside.

Heat oil in same skillet over high heat until it sends up wisps of smoke.  Add chicken, stir-fry until cooked through.

Return broccoli to skillet and add garlic.  Stir-fry until garlic is fragrant (about 2 minutes).  Pour in broth mixture and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.  Serve immediately over white rice.

In order to the consistently great rice I use a Cuisinart 4 Cup rice cooker with a touch of canola oil in the bottom of the pan and use a 1 to 2 ratio of rice to water and a pinch of salt.  Great stir fry should be accompanied by great rice, every time.

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Well tonight was an experiment. Can we make chicken enchiladas, that are healthier and taste good? Well we gave it a try and here is what came out of it.

Chicken Enchiladas

What we pulled from the oven exceeded my expectations, it was tasty, a little bit spicy and tasted like an enchilada.  We topped ours with sour cream and vowed that next time we would make fewer, plumper enchiladas.

The recipe we used was as follows:

Ingredients:
2 tsp canola oil
2-3 chicken breasts (about a half pound), cubed
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1 jalapeno finely chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 can stewed tomatoes
3/4 c canned black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 c canned chick peas, drained and rinsed
black pepper to taste
8oz shredded Pepper Jack Cheese (could substitute with Monterey Jack)
1 bottle enchilada sauce
8 8″ flour tortillas

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray a 9″x13″ glass pan with non stick cooking spray.
Heat oil in a skillet, add in green pepper, jalapeno, onion and chicken, cook until chicken is cooked through.
Add in chili powder and cumin, cook, stirring for about a minute.
Add in the tomatoes, beans, chickpeas and pepper, stir and simmer for about 5 minutes until juice is reduced.
Fill each tortilla with chicken mixture and roll.  Place seam side down in glass pan, cover with cheese and enchilada sauce.
Back for 30-35 minutes until cheese is melted and enchilda is heated through.
Let stand for 10 minutes before eating.

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By Posted on Posted in Recipes, What's for dinner No Comments

Needed a quick lunch today so I decided to bust out the rice cooker, the most versatile cooking machine I own.  Starting going through the fridge and cupboards to find what I could throw in to make a tasty lunch, here is what I ended up with.

Chipotle Pomegranate Rice and Chicken in Rice Cooker

Ingredients
White Rice
Chicken Breast
Pomegranate Seeds
Ground Chipotle
Ground Smoked Spanish Paprika
Old Bay (lets face it old bay makes everything better)
Parsley
Soy Sauce
Worcestershire Sauce (just a hint)
Onion
Garlic
Lime Juice
Whole Grain Mustard
Water

Instructions
Threw all that in the rice cooker and let it do its magic.  And it is magical.

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