Apple Chicken CousCous

This was a quick, and I mean REALLY quick meal.  It’s also quite healthy and quite yummy.  Though I made this in the spring time I think it would be a great meal for fall dinner. This makes two servings.  It has 533 calories per serving.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat couscous

1/2 cup kale, chopped

1 cup apple cider

3 chicken thighs(boneless)

1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of honey Dijon mustard

Directions:

1) Place couscous and kale in a bow. Heat 1/2 cup of apple cider and 2/3 cup of water to boiling over high heat in a

large skillet. Pour the apple liquid into couscous, stir and cover tightly with foil and set aside.

2) Sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Over medium high heat cook chicken about 7 minutes per

side or until cooked through. Fluff couscous with fork, place chicken on top and cover.

3) Whisk remaining apple cider and mustard. Add apple cider mixture to skillet; cook 3 minutes over high heat. Drizzle

chicken with sauce, serve on the bed of couscous, topped with chicken and sauce.

Enjoy!

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Rotisserie Roasted Chicken

There’s nothing better then 75 degree weather and a chicken on your own spit.  I got a whole chicken at the grocery store this past weekend, super cheap.  It was 2.00 for a 3lb chicken! Chris and I got a an idea since we haven’t done yet to use the rotisserie feature on our grill. It came out AMAZING. Chris loves to make his own rubs and I never doubt them, and this one came out well as usual! This takes about 2 hours on a lower heat setting, about 45 min on a higher setting.

*Disclaimer-this recipe is only for a rotisserie chicken on a grill with a rotisserie stick on a spit*

Ingredienets:

1 whole fryer chicken approximately 2 – 3 pounds

¼   cup  of canloa oil

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 large lemon for juice

½ teaspoon of  paprika

½ teaspoon of  garlic powder

½ teaspoon of  ginger powder

½ teaspoon of powdered mustard

Pepper & salt to taste

Directions:

1) Prep the chicken if needed.  Rinse inside and outside, pat dry with a paper towel.

2) Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together to evenly distribute.

3) In a large bowl  use your hands to apply the rub to the surface of the chicken, making sure to concentrate on areas

that will be eaten like the legs, thighs and breast.

4) Mount the chicken on the rotisserie per the manufacturers instructions. Place the rotisserie in place over a

preheated grill with drip pan beneath the chicken.

5) Cook on high for about 10 minutes to sear. Reduce heat in grill and cook for an additional 20 to 30 minutes – try to

keep the lid closed except to baste occasionally with sauce made of canola oil, sugar and lime juice.

6) When chicken internal temperature reaches just under 160F, remove from grill and wrap tightly in foil. It will

continue to cook.  Let sit for about 15 minutes, then carve and serve.

Enjoy!

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Asian Slaw

Jenn, over at Jenn Cuisine, made and told me about this spin on cole slaw that she made.  I had some leftover cabbage and decided to try it.  Jenn had told me before that she loves flavor in what she eats and if I didn’t know that I would have after trying her Asian Slaw recipe.  It is jam packed with all sorts of flavor!  As she said in her original recipe that the amount of ingredients can be flexible, I did change a few and added less or some.

Ingredients:

1/2 half of small shredded cabbage

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/8 cup white wine vinegar

1/8 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon of powdered ginger

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 lemon, squeezed

2 tablespoons of sesame seeds

1/8 cup teriyaki sauce

Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Chop up cabbage into small pieces, I cut it the long way. There is no need to cook this before hand.
2. Add all ingredients, besides cabbage in a bowl and mix together.  Taste this “dressing” to see if you need anything more.
3. Once all ingredients are mixed, add cabbage a handful at time and mix in with dressing.  Mix until all cabbage has been used.
4. Top with some more seasame seeds!

Enjoy!

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Pork Curry Stir Fry

This a super easy meal to make on a week night, prep time is almost slim to none and cooking time is also very short. It’s also a fairly cheap meal at about $1.93 per serving. I’m not a huge fan of curry, but the curry is so slight that you do not really notice it. Either that, or again as I get older I like things I previously haven’t liked!  This meal is also pretty low in calories as it has 395 calories per serving. This makes two servings.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon of curry powder

1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of canola oil

1/2 cup brown rice

1 bunch of broccoli, cut into florets

2 pork chops, de-boned and diced

1 tablespoon of beef broth

Directions:

1) Prepare rice according to package directions.

2) Cook broccoli in saucepan with boiling water for four minutes. Drain and set aside.

3) Season pork on both sides with curry powder and salt. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add pork and

cook for 6 minutes turning over at about 3 minutes. Add beef broth and saute for 1 more minute. Add broccoli and

toss with pork.

4) Serve with rice.

Enjoy!

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Shrimp & Veggie Risotto

I originally was going to make this with chicken, but decided against it because we had chicken already this week.  We had some leftover shrimp in the freezer, so I decided to use that instead. This came out great! It’s very low in calories, so I made a small side salad to go with it and we also split an artichoke.  The veggies really bring out the flavor in the shrimp, so much so that you don’t need to add seasoning, besides a bit of pepper to it. This makes two servings(although we got 3 meals out of it) and has 315 calories per serving.  Another great thing about this dish is that is very easy to make on a week night.

Ingredients:

1 box Creamy Parmesan Risotto ( I prefer Lundberg)

1 medium zucchini, slicked length wise

One handful of small-medium size shrimp

1/2  tablespoon of oil

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

1/8 cup peas

1 medium tomato(half), diced

4 spears of asparagus diced

A handful of mushrooms

Directions:

1) Cook risotto as package directs.

2) Heat skillet, add oil and let it heat up for a minute.

3) Toss zucchinni, asparagus and mushrooms in skillet and cook for about 10 minutes or until veggies are tender.

4) Toss in peas and tomato and saute for about 4 minutes. Add shrimp and toss till pink.

5) Lay a bed of risotto and top with shrimp/veggie mixture.

Enjoy!

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Black Beans on Rice

This is a great filling meal and it is also very easy to make. If you want to add meat to it, like my husband did, you can throw a sausage link or two in. I just stuck with the beans and rice though, because that was filling enough!  This recipe makes two servings. Black beans are so good for you because they pack in so much protein.  It has 516 calories per serving, 21 grams of protein, 20 grams of fiber.  The carbs are 92 grams, because of the beans and rice. Ingredients:

1/2 of a package of yellow rice mix

1 teaspoon of oil

1/2 cup of chopped onion

1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic

1 chicken bouillon cube

5 oz of fresh chopped kale

15 oz of black beans(about one cup), either fresh or canned, I pefer soaked over night

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon each of thyme and cumin

Directions:

1) If you are using fresh black beans, you are going to need to soak them in water over night.  Soak them in

about 4 cups of water to every cup of beans.

2) Heat oil in skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and saute 2 to 3 minutes until translucent. Stir in garlic, cook 30 s

seconds or until mixture is fragrant.

3) Add 1 cup of water, the bouillon cube and kale. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally

for about 5 to 6 minutes. Add beans, thyme, paprika, and cumin, simmer about 5 minutes.

4) Serve over the bed of yellow rice.

Enjoy!

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In The Kitchen

Today’s feature is the Zwilling J.A. Henckel. We actually got this as a free gift to our wedding registry and thought that it probably wouldn’t serve us much purpose.  We use it a lot.

It’s a simple 4 inch paring knife.  The paring knife is great for peeling fruits and vegetables; slicing a single garlic clove or shallot; controlled, detailed cutting, such as cutting shapes or vents into dough; and scoring designs and patterns on surfaces of food.

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Spiced Rubbed Chicken With Quinoa Pilaf

This meal is very simple to make. It also provides you with all the nutrition you need, you get your meat serving, vegetable serving and your grain.  It’s also pretty low in calories for a dinner meal.  This recipe is for two servings, you can adjust it to however many servings you need. It has 436 calories per serving, 29 grams of protein, 49 grams of carbs, 7 grams of fiber.

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

2 chicken legs

1 tablespoon of canola oil, divided

1/2 of a medium onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup of quinoa

1/2 can of diced tomatoes, drained

1/2 cup of reduced sodium chicken broth

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

1/2 cup of peas, if frozen, thawed

Directions:

1) Combine paprika, cumin and salt in a bowl. Rinse chicken off and pat dry.  Rub dry mix all over chicken legs.

2) Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a deep skillet over medium-high  heat. Add chicken and brown, 6 to 8 minutes,

turning  once. Remove to plate.

3) Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil to skillet. Add onion and garlic and saute for about 3 minutes. Stir in quinoa,

tomatoes, chicken broth and bay leaf. Place chicken into mixture and sprinkle with pepper.  Bring to a boil. Cover

and reduce heat and simmer until quoina is tender and chicken is cooked through, about 20  minutes. The trick here

is to make sure the quinoa has enough moisture in the pan and doesn’t burn, if it’s starting to get dry, add water

a tablespoon at a time.

4) Remove from heat  and stir in peas. Cover and let stand about 10 minutes, remove bay leave. Serve with chicken

laying over the bed of quinoa pilaf.

Enjoy!

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In The Kitchen

This week I decided to feature a gadget!  We eat a lot of salads just about every night before our meal.  I was in Bed, Bath, and Beyond a few weeks ago and I saw this lettuce knife made by Progressive.

When I first saw it I thought it was just another gadget that people were trying to make money off of and probably didn’t work. When I told Chris I bought it, he of course gave me the eye roll and said “We don’t need that!” I told him we would see how it worked and if it didn’t I would return it.  But guess what…we both love it! It cuts the lettuce so easily. It also cuts other veggies up and can be used as a vegetable skin peeler! It’s also dishwasher safe. For $4.99, I say it’s a great deal! Although I’ve found it on-line now at some websites for just under $3.00!

Pick one up today!

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Chuck Roast Stuffed with Asapargus and Mozzarella

We were looking to try something different this weekend for our Sunday night dinner. Chris thought of having steak stuffed with something, but we only had filet’s and that would of been too small for what he was exactly going for. So he went to the grocery store and bought about a 2 pound chuck roast.  It turned out pretty good, I’d be interested how it taste with different cuts of meats.  This serves about 3.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of chuck roast, flattened out with a meat mallet

8 asparagus stalks

A few cubes of mozzarella cheese, more or less depending on how cheesy you want it

1/4 cup of mushrooms

Directions:

1) Pre-heat grill. If you want to use the oven I’d say cook it at about 350 until you liked your steak cooked.

2) Cook the asparagus first, grill, steam or boil it. Add some seasoning, we used Italian bell pepper seasoning.

3) Place steak flat on surface stuff, with layer of cheese then asparagus and mushrooms.

4) Roll the steak into a cylinder, the trick here is to use toothpicks to keep it rolled up in the cylinder why it cooks.

5) Grill for about 30 minutes, or again till the meat is the color at which you prefer to eat it at.

6) Cut the cylinder into 3’s and serve!

Enjoy!

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