BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich

Josh went out of town this week, so I have to admit...I took the easy road for a few of my meals.

I was all prepared to cook this meal in the slow cooker until I passed by the Rotisserie Chickens at Wegmans.  That seemed to simple to pass up.

After I shredded the chicken, I simply added some store bought BBQ sauce (we like the Dinosaur BBQ sauce because it doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup) into it and heated it.

Marcus loves french fries (what 6 year old doesn't?) and instead of making them from scratch, I knew I had a package of frozen ones somewhere in the freezer.  Also, too easy to pass up.

I did however, make the coleslaw from scratch because I had cabbage in the fridge.

 BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich with Fries

1 Rotisserie Chicken
1 cup BBQ Sauce
4 buns
Frozen Fries 

Shread Chicken and add bbq sauce.

Make fries according to package directions.

Assemble sandwiches and enjoy!

Coleslaw

2 cups cabbage (shredded)

1 carrot (shredded)

1/4 cup mayonaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon sugar
1 lemon (juice)
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful parsley or dill (chopped)

 Mix the cabbage and carrot in a large bowl.
 Mix the mayo, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl.
 Mix everything together.

"Good food ends with good talk." 

Tuna and Cannellini Bean Salad

Josh went outside to do yard-work on Sunday.  I want to go outside and do yard-work!  NAPTIME.  Love it, or hate it.  Hmmmm...me?  BOTH! 

Love -it...

yes.

when I can clean the beds and have a pretty house....

Hate it...

yes.

Baby monitor is insistant on not working outside.

So...In addition to the much requested vodka drinks...Josh had this when he came in for lunch.

Also, everything I had in the pantry....

mix it all together an PRESTO!  Quick and easy lunch.

Tuna and Cannellini Bean Salad

Normally I like to plan the weeks meals ahead and have recipes written and a grocery list ready for shopping by Monday. This week however I did not have the chance to prepare and I have been winging it. At times like these it is always good to fall back on pantry staples. I always seem to have cans of tuna and beans in my pantry/cupboard and I was thinking that a tuna and bean salad would be a nice place to start. My first thought was to go with a mayonnaise based creamy dressing but I wanted something a bit lighter, I decided to go with a simple lemon and mustard vinaigrette. Of course some fresh vegetables and herbs brighten up any salad so I also used those left in the fridge. The salad was quick and simple to make which was nice as I have been pretty busy and it tasted good as well. Overall it was a nice light meal.

Ingredients:
1 6 ounce can water packed tuna (drained and flaked)
1 19 ounce can cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
1 small red onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 handful chopped parsley
1 handful olives (pitted and chopped, optional) kalamata...but I used plain black...
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful salad greens

Directions:
1. Mix the tuna, beans, onion, garlic, olives and parsley in a bowl.
2. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper in a bowl.
3. Mix the dressing and the tuna and beans

Enjoy!!!!

"You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients. "

Baked Haddock with Zucchini, Tomato, Dill and Feta

Friday.

Josh, who is Jewish, informs me he follows Lent.  LOL.

 NO!  John follows Lent.   His best friend/Sales manager/golf partner/LUNCH COMPANION...John follows Lent.

OK.  Well, from now on, we too...will follow Lent.  At least on Friday's.  I like fish, so this works out well for me.  Fish...at least once a week.  Thank G-d!

Baked Haddock Topped with Zucchini, Tomato, Dill, and Feta

1 1/2 lbs of Haddock, cut into three portions

1 tsp olive oil

1 large zucchini, diced

1/4 small sweet yellow onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

3-4 Roma tomatoes, diced

1-2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped

4 tbsp feta cheese

Sea salt and freshly cracked lemon pepper

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Coat a glass baking dish with cooking spray.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion to the hot skillet and saute for 2-3 minutes then add the zucchini, cook for an additional 2 minutes; add the minced garlic and saute, stirring constantly for 45 seconds. Remove from heat and let cool.

Gently mix the tomato, 3 tablespoons of feta cheese, and fresh dill in a small bowl. Add the zucchini mixture and mix. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked lemon pepper, to taste.

Season the Haddock with sea salt and freshly cracked lemon pepper on both sides. Place the haddock in the baking dish then spoon the tomato mixture over the top of each piece of fish. Sprinkle the last tablespoon of feta cheese equally over the fish.

Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately.  Enjoy.

 

 

"One must eat to live,  not live to eat."

Mexican Rice Casserole

I really do try to spice up our menus.

My friend, who lives across the country, told me the other day that we eat a lot of Mexican food.  HELLO!  I KNOW!  Stinking tacos.  Well, I have at least been trying to make 'different' Mexican meals...

This was actually an amazing meal that everyone loved.  Super easy to make, the only thing I'd do different next time is to put salsa on top afterwards rather than slice the tomatoes on top while baking.  My preference though...

Mexican Rice Casserole:
1 1/2 cups of white rice, prepared per instructions
1 tsp of olive oil
1 lb lean ground beef (I used 96/4)
1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried cumin
1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp dried oregano
1/2-1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1 15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
3-4 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (divided)
1-2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
3-4 tomatoes, sliced thickly
Sour cream (topping)
Salsa (topping)
Guacamole (topping)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare rice per instructions. While the rice is cooking heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add the ground beef, making sure to break it up into crumbles. Cook the beef for 3-4 minutes then add the diced onion and all of the seasonings. Stir until well combined and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the beef is cooked through and the onion is tender. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly for an additional 60 seconds. Add the cooked rice, drained and rinsed black beans, tomato sauce and a bit of cilantro (reserving some for garnishing) to the beef and onion mixture. Mix the ingredients thoroughly, taste and re-season if needed.
Coat a large baking dish with cooking spray and pour the rice mixture into the dish, spreading it evenly. Place the tomato slices on top of the rice mixture then top with cheddar cheese.

Spray a piece of tin foil with cooking spray (so the cheese won't stick) and cover the baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes then remove the tin foil. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing. Top with a dollop of sour cream and the remaining chopped cilantro.

 Enjoy.

"Food is our common ground, a universal experience."

Tuscan Chicken with White Beans and Spinach

Cooking Light...October 2010.  Stolen.  LOL.

I must have at least 300 Cooking Light, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, and Menu magazines.  Luckily I have the space in my new kitchen for all of these...in addition to all of my regular cookbooks!!  I like to go back once in awhile and find something I love. 

I always have these items on hand and this was SO easy!!  And delicious!

Tuscan Chicken with White Beans and Spinach:

 

         

4 slices of lean bacon, cooked and chopped

2 tsp olive oil (divided)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of any fat
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
Dried basil, to taste
1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 15 oz can of white beans, rinsed & drained
2 cups of baby spinach

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the bacon is cooked, drain it on a paper towel then chop it up. Remove all but 1 tsp of bacon grease from the skillet. Add 1 tsp olive oil to the bacon grease in the skillet over medium high heat. Season the chicken with sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, garlic powder, and dried basil, to taste on both sides. Once the skillet is HOT, add the seasoned chicken breasts and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken from the skillet, cover with a tin foil tent, and set aside.

Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Add the minced garlic, and cook stirring continuously for 1 minute. Add the drained diced tomatoes and white beans. Stir and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the spinach, season with sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, and dried basil, to taste. Pour the juices from the chicken into the pan and mix well. Ladle the beans and spinach onto a serving dish then top with chicken. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

 

My guys really loved this one!  (Explains why I always have these ingredients on hand!!!)

 

"I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food."

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

I re found my love of Butterscotch when my sister gave me an Amish Friendship Bread.  If you have never done one of these, you get a small amount of batter, add ingredients over 10 days, divide into 5 parts...pass 4 of those parts to 4 friends and cook your own bread.  That is a whole other story though...

How the butterscotch came into it is... on the last day, before I was going to cook my bread, it called for two packages of instant vanilla pudding.  Who'd have thought I didn't have that in my pantry??  I did however have ONE vanilla and ONE butterscotch.  So I tried it.  SO YUMMY! 

Oven fixed.  Check.

I needed to try to bake something to prove I could do it.  These cookies seemed perfect.  They turned out amazing and everyone loved them!

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
Original recipe from Allrecipes.com

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats
• 3/4 cup of butterscotch chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray baking sheet with Pam.

Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a large bowl.   Add the egg and vanilla then continue to beat until well combined.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until blended.  Add the butterscotch chips and mix until combined.  Drop by spoonfuls on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes in the oven, or until the edges begin to brown. Cool on a cookie rack.   Enjoy.

 

"If people take the trouble to cook, you should take the trouble to eat."

 

 

Eggplant Parmesan

A few weeks ago when I made something with eggplant, Josh admitted after years of "hating" eggplant...that he now liked it!  Awesome!  Because I LOVE eggplant. 
I saw a recipe for this last week while trying to plan my weekly menu, but I have my own version in my head.  As far as the amount of ingredients...I can't really help with that, this one is all feel.  If you knew my Nana, you would enjoy this comment.  "A pinch of this, a dash of that, as much as you 'feel'." 

I start with a quick sauce.  Saute some onions and garlic in a pot...add crushed tomatoes...and season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper.

Next I bread and fry the eggplant.  Cut eggplant into 1/2 inch thick slices...coat with all purpose flour, egg wash, and then breadcrumbs (I add crushed red pepper and pecorino-romano cheese to mine).  Drain and cool on paper towels.

Finally, in a baking dish, I layer first the eggplant topped with shredded mozzarella cheese, and finally the sauce.  I continue to layer like this until I reach the top of the pan.  This particular time, I used a 9x9 baking dish and it was perfect for our dinner and for Josh to have left-overs for lunch! 

Eva even liked the few slices of the breaded eggplant that were left over. 

A few times I have even added a few extra layers...for example...ground beef or roasted red peppers or fresh basil.  They all add a little more delicious-ness to this already yummy dinner.   I hope you ENJOY!

"Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly."



Baked Vegetable and Shrimp Eggrolls

Guess what?  It is not my inability to bake that has been messing up some of my dishes...it was my stove.  It needed to be re-calibrated.  Who knew?  It is a brand new stove.  My mother-in-law tipped me off on this simple fact when she herself, the baker, tried to bake something in my oven and it got messed up!  Thank God I finally figured it out!

This was the recipe that made me call and confirm it.  I was so looking forward to these eggrolls!  Anyone remember the old Chang's on Maple Rd?  Well, after they re-opened as Eastern Pearl, we became addicted to their Shrimp Eggrolls.   So, so, so Good!  Well when I saw this "Baked" version, I could not wait to try it!  They actually came out very tasty, but on the thickest part of the wrapper...the inside layer was still uncooked.  Darn Oven!  I will for sure be trying these again!!  And soon.

Baked Vegetable and Shrimp Eggrolls

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups of savoy cabbage, chopped
• 2 cups of shredded carrots
• 2 cups of bean sprouts
• 1 can of water chestnuts, chopped
• 2 tbsp green onions, sliced
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 cup water
• 14 egg roll wraps
• Sweet chili dipping sauce or sweet and sour sauce (for dipping)
• 1/2 pound of cooked shrimp

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot add the cabbage, sprouts, carrots, chestnuts and ginger to the pan and cook, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes, until the vegetables just begin to wilt but still remain a little bit crisp. Mix the corn starch with the water and mix thoroughly. Add the corn starch mixture and soy sauce to the pan along with the green onions. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and let cool.

Place two tablespoons of the cooled mixture on the center of the egg roll wrap.  Top with one shrimp.  (Josh thought there should be two shrimp in each)  Fold the bottom up over the filling. Next, fold the two sides over, making it look like an envelope, then roll it up like a burrito.


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Place the rolled up egg rolls on a baking sheet.  Once you have rolled them all, spray the top of each egg roll with cooking spray.  Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes then turn them over.  Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.  Serve with sweet chili sauce or sweet and sour sauce.  Enjoy.
"We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are."

Bacon, Egg and Sharp Cheddar Bagel Sandwich

OH!  How we love bagels in this house!  I think I could live on them!  My waist, not so much!  Bagel Jay's has the best, and when asking the troops what kind they'd like  "Punk-er-nickle" is the response.  (Something Marcus has said since he was just a babe that has stuck!) 

This is one of our favorite weekend breakfast sandwiches, but of course, Marcus just has cream cheese because of his egg allergy.  I'm sure you've all tried this before, but if it hasn't been for awhile...let me just remind you exactly how tasty they are!!!


Bacon, Egg and Sharp Cheddar Bagel
-  Bagel toasted
-  One egg cooked over hard
-  Sharp cheddar, shredded
-  2 slices of bacon, cooked
-  mayo

Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat  (I like to cook mine on tin-foil under the broiler for less clean up). Once it is crisp, remove from the pan and place on a paper towel to drain.

Heat the skillet over medium heat then crack an egg into the pan. Poke the yolk to break up then season the egg with salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Once the white has set, flip the egg with a spatula, add the cheese to the top of the egg, and cook for 30 seconds.

Toast the bagel and spread with mayonnaise. Add the egg/cheese to a bagel half, top with bacon, then add the remaining bagel half. Serve immediately.  Enjoy.

 

 

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating."

Jambalaya

I have to admit the last time that I made Jambalaya, I totally cheated.  I saw a boxed mix that you just added Chicken and Sausage and/or shrimp to and serve over instant rice.  When I needed some inspiration last week for some recipes and three people mentioned Jambalaya, I knew I couldn't go that route again!!

I searched the Internet and my cookbooks for a recipe that would catch my eye and found nothing, so I put them all together and just made this one up!  A few recipes that I saw called for chicken and sausage...a few others called for ham...and then shrimp and bacon in another.  Why not use them all?  I have it all in the freezer anyways! 

When I think Jambalaya, I think spice, and the only thing I didn't do was add the spice as I was cooking this.  It was delicious, but I'd rather have the "kick" cooked in rather than added afterwards.

And one other thing...unless you are cooking for a small army...I'd cut this recipe in half!

JAMBALAYA
Prep time:  25 min.    Cook time 40 min.

6 slices of bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces
1 cup chopped celery
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 onion chopped
1/2 lb. cooked ham, cubed
1/2 lb. cooked chicken, cubed
1/2 lb. smoked sausage
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. thyme
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
2 cups uncooked white rice (not instant)
1/2 lb. uncooked shrimp

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add bacon and cook until crispy.  Remove the bacon using a slotted spoon and put aside.  Add celery, bell pepper and onion to bacon drippings and cook until tender.
Add the chicken and sausage to the pot, along with the tomatoes, beef broth and chix broth.  Add thyme and Cajun seasoning.  Bring to a boil, and add the rice.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low, cover and simmer (stirring occasionally) for 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.
Stir in the shrimp, let cook 3-5 minutes.
Stir in the bacon right before serving.

I tend to use up a lot of things left in the fridge, so I used half a yellow pepper, half an orange pepper...and I also added another full cup of water before I added the shrimp...it seemed a little dry to me.  This dish came out fabulous though!  I highly recommend it!

"Cooking is like love.  It should be entered into with abandon or not at all."