International Night – Italy

Spaghetti, pizza, lasagna – all very familiar Italian dishes to the average American. However, for our third International Night we decided to feature a meal from Italy that isn’t commonly served outside of the country. As I do each week, I started with the Wikipedia entry on the cuisine of our chosen country. This proved a daunting task this week, as there were 19 different regional cuisines listed for Italy! This was going to be much more than pizza and spaghetti!

After reading over the different regions, I decided to feature a main dish from the Basilicata area. One of things that caught my eye was the fact that peperoncini are often used in the recipes from this area. I knew that would be a popular choice with my husband, so I quickly settled on a dish, pollo alla potentina, chicken stewed with white wine, tomatoes and peperoncini peppers. I had some fresh mozzarella cheese in the fridge, so I decided to step out of Basilicata a bit and add a caprese salad to the evening’s meal.

Here are the recipes from our Italian night:

Pollo alla potentina

1 chicken, cut into pieces

2 cans petite diced tomatoes

3 T. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 c. dry white wine

10-15 peperocini peppers, chopped

Chopped fresh basil

Chopped fresh parsley

1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion in oil for 3 minutes. Add chicken and brown. Add wine and peperocini. Reduce wine by half. Add tomato, basil, parsley and parmesan. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with pasta and garnish with additional parsley and cheese.

Caprese salad

4 medium tomatoes, sliced

1/2 lb. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

1/4 c. chopped fresh basil

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Alternate tomatoes and cheese on a serving plate. Sprinkle with basil and drizzle with olive oil. Add salt and pepper.

July 4th Fare

First I want to apologize for the fact that I have no pictures to accompany my recipes today. We were in a mad rush to get out the door to our family gathering, and I just didn’t have time to snap any photos. A couple of the things I made turned out really good, though, so I wanted to share the recipes even without the pictures. If after heating up the leftovers they still look good, I’ll add some images later.

Since my husband and I married four years ago, I’ve become a part of his family tradition on the 4th of July. They rent a clubhouse at a youth camp in the woods (and I do mean in the woods – like “Bigfoot sighting” woods), and lots of family and extended family gather each year for lunch and swimming for the kids afterward. After four years, I still don’t know a lot of the people there, but maybe I’ll eventually learn everyone’s names.

Growing up my family was never big on 4th of July celebrations or extended family gatherings, so this has all been new to me. We really never did much of anything special on July 4, probably because for years my dad was working. With this new tradition in my life comes a new challenge to find food to prepare each year. I don’t like to bring the same things to a gathering every year, so I start scouring cookbooks and the internet for ideas on what to bring, just like I do at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This usually works out well, but the first year I went to this event, I apparently made a strawberry dessert that a couple of people there really liked. I have absolutely no idea what it was or where I found the recipe, but I’m usually reminded of how good it was and how I should make it again. At least now with this blog I’ll have a record of what I brought each year!

I decided this year to make some grilled chicken legs since they are a good choice for our Weight Watchers plan. After marinating the legs overnight, my husband grilled them, and they were quite good. I also made some pinto beans and potato salad that I adapted slightly from recipes I found online. The big hit of the day, however, was a dish that I decided to throw together at the last minute, crab and shrimp stuffed jalapeno popppers. A couple of years ago we made some grilled jalapeno poppers that basically consisted of stuffing shredded cheese in jalapenos and wrapping it with bacon. Those were good (according to the people who ate them), but in trying to keep the pepper intact, it was nearly impossible to deseed them completely. As a result, they were apparently very, very hot! For this variation, I just cut the peppers in half and stuffed each half separately before grilling. Even though I didn’t eat them, everybody else seemed to love them.

I hope everybody had a fun and safe holiday. Let me know if you try any of the recipes.

Here are the recipes that I prepared this Independence Day:

Seafood Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

12-15 large jalapeno peppers
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 can crab or tiny shrimp, drained
1/2 c. shredded cheese
2 T. Old Bay seasoning or Emeril’s Essence
1 T. lemon juice
Paprika

Cut jalapeno peppers in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and veins completely. Combine cream cheese, crab or shrimp, cheese, seasoning and lemon juice. Place some of stuffing mixture in each pepper half. Sprinkle with paprika. Grill using indirect heat for 10-20 minutes. Serve immediately. Any type of shredded cheese will work with this recipe, just use your favorite.

Texas Style Pinto Beans (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 pound dry pinto beans
1 (29 ounce) can chicken broth
1 large onion, chopped
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
water, if needed

Soak beans overnight, drain. Combine beans, chicken broth, onion, pepper, garlic, and spices in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue cooking 2 hours, stirring often, until beans are tender. Add water as needed to keep the beans moist.

Grilled Chicken Legs

3 to 5 lb. chicken drumsticks
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. teriyaki sauce
Juice from 2 limes
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Place chicken legs in a a gallon zip loc bag and add remaining ingredients. Shake to mix well. Refrigerate overnight to marinade. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-low heat and lightly oil grate. Drain the marinade from the wings and discard. Cook chicken on the heated grill, turning occasionally, until juices run clear, 25 to 30 minutes.

Tex-Mex Potato Salad (adapted from kraftfoods.com)

5 cups red potatoes, unpeeled and cut into large pieces
2/3 cup  Light Miracle Whip
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp.  onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 can (11 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can  (4 oz.) chopped green chiles, undrained
1/2 cup chopped celery

Cook potatoes in boiling water 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and cool slightly. Combine Miracle Whip and remaining ingredients. Add potatoes and mix well. Refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.

Skinny chicken soup – a last minute supper

The rotisserie chicken that was used in this soup gave it a great flavor. I bought the traditional flavor because I thought it would work best for a variety of dishes. I’ll be on the lookout for rotisserie chicken sales again!

As I mentioned in one of my first posts, I am the kind of cook that often just throws things together in a pot and hope it turns into something edible for my family. Most times it works out into a good meal for us, but other times we just begrudgingly eat it because that’s all there is to eat that night. Of course, with the “misses” I never worry about preparing it again, but an even bigger issue arises with the “hits.”

My husband frequently complains that when I make one of my creations that he likes, he never gets it again because I never remember what I put into things that I just make out of the contents of the pantry and freezer. I decided when I started this blog that it would, if nothing else, force me to actually write down the recipes I create on the spur of the moment.

Today I decided it would be a good night for a filling bowl of soup. Since I’m doing Weight Watchers, I also wanted it to be something that wouldn’t burn through my points too rapidly. I remembered that I still had a bag of chicken in my freezer that came from the rotisserie chicken sale I stumbled on at Wal-Mart last week. I decided that would be the basis for a hearty soup, so I started looking around to see what else I had. I discovered that I had a plethora of soup staples in my cabinets, so I went to work. As my toddler napped, I began watching a movie and making our dinner. By the time the movie ended, there was a simmering pot of soup on the stove, and my husband was walking in the door commenting on the appetizing aromas that filled the house.

Everybody gave tonight’s soup a thumbs up, so I decided to include it in the blog so I can share it with others and possibly make it again for my family. I counted each one cup serving as four Weight Watchers points. I think that’s pretty accurate, but I could be off a little.

2 c. chopped cooked chicken
1 32 oz. carton chicken broth
5 c. water
1 28 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 15 oz. can kidney beans
1 c. carrots, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
3 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
4 oz. dry pasta

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to simmer for at least 30 minutes, or until vegetables are almost done. Add pasta and cook until desired doneness.

Summer salad series – lightened up chicken salad

Roasted chicken salad served in lettuce leaves.

I don’t think I tried chicken salad until I was in my 20’s. Tuna salad sandwiches were pretty common, and I even remember ham salad and egg salad sandwiches on occasion. However, chicken salad was never on our menu at home as far as I can remember. If we did have chicken salad, I probably wouldn’t have cared for it anyway, because I’m sure it would have been made with canned chunk chicken. With a few exceptions, I don’t care for canned chicken in recipes because of its weird, soft texture.

As I got older, I tried some good chicken salad, but I never tried to make any until I was giving a baby shower and needed something to put on croissants. It was around the time I first started exploring the internet, and one of the earliest sites that I fell in love with was allrecipes.com. I still have printouts of the chicken salad recipes I looked at and combined elements of to make my own recipe. I don’t make it very much, but it gets rave reviews every time. In fact, my chicken salad was one of the first meals I made for my husband when we were dating, and I think it was one of the big factors in him falling for me!

Usually I rub some olive oil, salt and pepper on a whole chicken, wrap it in foil and cook it in the oven or on the grill. After it cools, I skin and debone it to get all the meat off to use in the salad. However, I’ve discovered a wonderful shortcut that results in an even more flavorful salad. When I was in Wal-Mart last night, the rotisserie chickens were on sale for $2.98, much less than a whole raw chicken. I bought the traditional flavor, but I think any flavor other than barbecue would be great. I bought two chickens and used half the meat for the salad and put the rest in the freezer. It was a much quicker way to make the salad, and I will no doubt look for rotisserie chicken sales again.

I usually put a combination of celery, grapes and sunflower seed kernels in my chicken salad, but I modified the recipe this time because I’m currently doing Weight Watchers. I left out the sunflower seeds and added mandarin oranges instead. It tasted great, but feel free to try it with the sunflower seeds if you’re not watching your fat intake. I think the most important ingredient (other than the chicken, of course) in it is dill. I absolutely love the taste of dill, and fresh dill is the best. Most of the time, however, I can’t find fresh dill at our local stores, so I just use dried instead. Another modification I made this time was to use light Miracle Whip and cut down the amount I use to around 1/2 cup. I didn’t miss the extra dressing one bit. It’s great to serve in a wrap, a sandwich or on lettuce leaves.

I served the chicken salad to my husband in a wrap with some pretzel sticks, sliced tomatoes and a pickle. A very filling yet low fat, low calorie meal for us Weight Watchers folks.

Here is my lightened up version of roasted chicken salad:

1 whole rotisserie chicken, skinned, deboned and chopped
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. light Miracle Whip
4 T. chopped fresh dill or 2 tsp. dried dill
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. red seedless grapes, halved
1 c. mandarin oranges

Combine chicken, celery, Miracle Whip, dill, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir to mix well. Fold in grapes and oranges. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Buffalo ranch chicken for a simple summer supper

I served the chicken with celery sticks, green beans and cheesy fried potatoes.

Yesterday was the end of an exceptionally long school year, and quite frankly I’m exhausted. During the school year I like to make Sunday  dinners for my husband and kids since I have the day to get it ready. On weeknights, I usually just throw together something quick when I feel like cooking. When I don’t, we go out to one of our favorite local places or my husband picks up takeout on his way home from work. It’s not a perfect system, but everybody gets fed, so I guess it’s working fine. When summer gets here, however, I generally cook more often since I don’t have to rush home and start preparing dinner. This year I’m definitely easing into my pattern of serving more elaborate meals.

After sitting around for awhile today trying to decide what I’m going to make tonight, I settled on a variation of a recipe I’ve used in the past. My husband loves buffalo chicken sandwiches, and I fix those fairly often. Tonight we’re having crumb coated buffalo ranch chicken pieces baked in the oven. I saw a recipe on Kraft’s website that I tweaked a little to come up with my version. I briefly debated about using a whole cut up chicken, but I eventually settled on boneless skinless breasts and some legs with the skin removed.

Canned green beans are a staple side dish at our house. I usually fix them with a beef bouillon cube, a little garlic and pepper. I had been seeing refrigerated bagged potatoes in the grocery store, but I didn’t really know how good they would be. Tonight I fried them and added some cheddar cheese, and everybody thought they were excellent. The meal was rounded out with some celery sticks to tame down the heat of the buffalo chicken sauce. This was a very simple meal, but the family loved it.

Here is the recipe for my variation of Buffalo Ranch Chicken:

7-10 skinless chicken pieces
1 c. ranch dressing
1 c. bottled buffalo chicken sauce
1/2 tsp. celery seeds
2 c. bread crumbs
2 T. dried parsley flakes

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place chicken, ranch dressing, buffalo sauce and celery seeds in a gallon zip bag. Shake to combine ingredients. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Combine bread crumbs and parsley flakes. Remove chicken pieces from bag and coat with bread crumb mixture. Please in a shallow baking dish and bake 40-45 minutes until chicken reaches and internal temperature of 165 degrees.