March 15th, 2010 by Angie
This is a delicious recipe for a greek style orzo and chicken. I used boneless skinless chicken breasts, but you could easily use boneless skinless thighs or bone in, skin on, breasts or things. I got the idea for this dish on the Rachael Ray Show. I am a loyal watcher of her daytime show. I started watching her on food network when she first started, but now only seem to have time to enjoy her daytime show. I record it on my DVR, and watch it when my son is napping. She is a great inspiration to me, I love that she is a very talented home cook that is not trained as a chef. She is also pretty, funny, and so normal. She actually had to beg to be on The Soup, I thought that was too funny. The Soup is another favorite show of mine, we record it on the DVR too. By watching The Soup, I don’t feel the need to watch any of those silly reality and talk shows, they just compile the best clips (of people being crazy) for us, its great!
This recipe isn’t exactly like Rachel’s. I used roasted red peppers instead of tomatoes. I also used 1 less lemon, and prepared the orzo by absorption instead of boiling like pasta. There were a few other minor variations, but the basic recipe idea is the same. My family loved this chicken and orzo. I thought it might have been to spicy for my little one, but he gobbled it up and begged for more. You can adjust the spice in this recipe by changing the amount of crushed red pepper flake you put on the chicken.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 cup chopped olives
- 1/4 cup chopped banana peppers
- 1/4 cup chopped jarred roasted red peppers
- 1/2 cup feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb bag orzo
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Method
- Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add garlic. Saute on low. Add orzo and cook over medium heat until orzo is golden brown. Add chicken stock to orzo and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes. Turn off heat and let pasta rest, covered for 5-10 minutes.
- Sprinkle chicken breasts with kosher salt, pepper, dried oregano, and red pepper flake. Preheat a large skillet. Drizzle with olive oil. Place chicken in pan and place lemon slices on top of chicken breasts. Brown chicken, being careful to place lemon back on top of the breasts after flipping them.
- Remove chicken when done. Saute chopped onions and green peppers in the same skillet. Add chopped olives, roasted red peppers and banana peppers. Add orzo and mix well. Add to a serving platter and add feta cheese. Mix well. Serve chicken on top of orzo.
Print This Post
Tags: Chicken, olives, orzo
Posted in Chicken | 7 Comments »
March 11th, 2010 by Angie
Delicious chicken parmesan, this is one of our go to easy comfort food dinners. I make this dish in the same basic method that I use for my eggplant parmesan. I fry the chicken, and then add the sauce. This was actually the first time, after much begging, that I found San Marzano tomatoes in my Publix. I was so excited, they finally listened. We love all types of Italian food at our home. Not only is Italian the most popular ethnic cuisine in the U.S., southerners have quite a love affair with all things Itlaian. My husband’s grandmother was also Sicilian, so I try to honor our only known heritage with some Italian inspired dishes at least once a week. Its still on my list to learn Sicilian dishes, there is so much to learn!
I also want to talk today again about Adopt-a-blogger. A few posts back, I shared with you guys my adopter’s culinary background, which was quite impressive. On our introduction to each other, we had to describe our culinary backgrounds. Of course mine is pretty much non-existent, but I did pull something outs my, well you know. You can read it here at Jackie’s site.
Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 egg
- 1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, pantry type
- 1 teaspoon Italian dried herbs (oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, and sage)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- vegetable oil for frying
Sauce
- 1/4 sweet onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 28 oz can San Marzano or Italian tomatoes with basil flavor, I like Cento
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs (oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, and sage)
- 1 small can tomato paste
- kosher salt
- olive oil
Pasta, cooked according to package directions
Method
- Preheat saucepan for sauce. Drizzle with olive oil. Add onions and garlic, saute until translucent. Add kosher salt. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, and herbs. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
- Preheat about 1 inch deep of vegetable oil in a large skillet for frying the chicken to 350 degrees, or on medium heat. Whisk eggs and dip chicken in eggs. Add breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, dried herbs, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Dredge chicken in bred crumb mixture. Fry chicken until it is browned.
- While chicken is frying and sauce is simmering, prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta, and add half of the sauce to the pasta.
- Serve chicken topped over pasta, topped with more sauce. Add more parmesan or Italian blend cheese if desired.
Print This Post
Tags: Chicken, parmesan
Posted in Chicken, Italian | 14 Comments »
March 9th, 2010 by Angie
I know, I know, you either love the oyster, or can’t stand it. So if you have an appreciation, keep reading, if not, that’s fine too. I have loved oysters ever since I can remember. My parents use to take me to a local oyster restaurant and we would sit at the bar watching the big burly men shuck oysters at lightening fast speeds. As a little kid, I would finish off 2 dozen by myself. I loved the salty sea flavor. I have always been much more of a salty than a sweet person. Most of the time though, we bought oysters to eat at home. We ate them very often in the colder months and even had an oyster shell driveway, pretty dangerous for an accident prone little girl. I can’t remember a summer before my 12 or 13th birthday that I didn’t have scab knees all of short season.
Even though it isn’t actually necessary anymore, we still only eat oysters in the colder months. I have been in the mood for oysters for a while now. We hardly ever eat them out, because we can’t stop at just a dozen. If we fed our craving, we would go broke, so we purchase them by the half bushel at home. We eat the majority of them raw. There are many other ways to make oysters, a good stew is one of my favorites that I will share another time. I love to enjoy the oyster as close to its raw state the best. That is the beauty of this fried oyster. They are crispy on the outside and barely cooked inside, a trick I learned from my dad.I serve them with my favorite crinkle cut fries and spicy cocktail sauce.
Ingredients
- Shucked Oysters, 3-4 dozen
- 1/ cup flour
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon old bay, or any other cajun or seafood seasoning
- vegetable oil for frying
Method
- Preheat cooking oil to medium high. Combine flour, cornmeal, and seasoning in a large bowl. Toss oysters in batches, about 12 at a time, to coat well.
- Fry oysters in hot oil just until golden brown.
Tip: The sound of the frying oyster will change when it is done, when the sound changes, evacuate quickly. This should take less than a minute.
Cocktail Sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon horseradish
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Print This Post
Tags: oysters
Posted in Seafood | 13 Comments »
March 5th, 2010 by Angie
This is a great recipe for key lime pie. I even dare say it is better than the key lime pie I have had in Key West. But I better not say that too loud, I’ll offend someone. I have made key lime pie a few times before, and always just used the bottled key lime juice. While this is good, it in no way compares to the real thing. I was very happy to find some key limes at my neighborhood grocery store. When I saw them I knew I had to try the famous key lime pie the right way. Now I know there is debate on which type of crust is authentic, but I choose a graham cracker crust because it sounded good. And I also choose the cream topping over the meringue because I thought the tart little key limes would be better complimented with the whipped cream. I researched several recipes and came up with this one. I added more egg yolks and additional zest than most recipes for a rich flavor.
This is also the first photo with my new camera! I am so excited, I got a smaller, more portable dslr. After a little advice from the sweet Jaden at Steamy Kitchen, I decided to go ahead and get a the 50mm lens with a new camera body to go with it. I got a little canon with the 50mm automatic lens, the kit lens, and a zoom lens for other photography than food. I can’t believe the program function actually works well, even though I am still using manual mode, per advice from Allessandro at Fotographia. My old one forced me to be in manual at all times taking indoor shots. The automatic function only worked in well lighted conditions. I had been struggling with the manual lens too. I’ll admit, I do not have perfect eyesight, and but I don’t think its bad enough for correcting. That’s because I have 20/20 with astigmatism in the right eye, and 20/15 without any astigmatism in the other eye. Having astigmatism, it takes a little while to focus, and having to depend on that little focus circle was bothering me. I tried using my left eye for the viewfinder, but it was pretty difficult, because I am right eyed.
I did enjoy my first dslr very much. It was a great learning camera, and will make a great camera for someone else who is learning.
Ingredients
Crust
- 8 Honey Graham Crackers
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 cup melted butter
Filling
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 14 oz can condensed milk
- 1 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice
- 2 teaspoons key lime zest
Topping
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Method
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Zest and juice the limes. Add condensed milk and egg yolks. Whisk together until well combined. Let stand to thicken while you prepare the crust.
- Combine graham crackers, brown sugar, and butter in a food processor until well combined. Press the crumbs into a pie plate.
- Pour filling into pie shell. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or just until center is set but still jiggly. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.
- Before serving, add cream and sugar to a large bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Top pie with cream before serving.
Print This Post
Tags: key lime
Posted in Dessert | 21 Comments »
March 4th, 2010 by Angie
Hello and welcome to yet another new look for my site. I have been endlessly searching for about 6 months for a more professional looking theme that I could customize. I had all but given up, and had just about given in to just buying a theme. Then I came across a new free theme from Geek Design Girl. I have been working on custimizing the theme quite a bit, so it doesn’t look like the original very much, but it still has all the great features that I love about the theme design. I am still working on tweaking the theme so I have all the features of my old theme, and maybe some new things too. If you see any problems or dead links, let me know. I also know some of you have been having problems with the comment section of my blog. The reason is because I am on a shared server. I am switching to another type of server in the next month to hopefully correct this problem.
I want to invite you today to visit Champions Against Hunger. There you can read inspirational stories and vote for your favorite. For each vote received, Share our Strength will receive a $1 donation from ConAgra Foods to help end childhood hunger. The campaign is going on until march 19, so be sure to go ahead and visit today.
I have recently fallen in love with panko crusted anything. I saw this recipe, at Kathy’s site, Are You Hungry. She is a great cook and her site is full of wonderful recipes. This recipe is a little different than her’s. I tried to get a really thick coating, so instead of just dipping the chicken in hot sauce first, I added milk. Combining the milk with the hot sauce makes a spicy buttermilk marinade from the vinegar in the hot sauce. I then added my own seasonings to plain crumbs because I did not have any Italian panko crumbs. The result was a super crispy spicy breading on the chicken. It was amazing to say the least.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
- 1 cup milk
- 2 -3 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
- 1 cup plain panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Method
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine milk and Tabasco sauce in a bowl. The vinegar in the Tabasco sauce will make the milk into a thick buttermilk. Add chicken and let sit for at least 15 minutes.
- Combine bread crumbs and dry seasonings in a bowl. Bread chicken. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Sprinkle extra crumbs on top of chicken. Bake chicken for 30-45 minutes, or until chicken is firm, browned, and has an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Print This Post
Tags: Chicken, panko
Posted in Chicken | 12 Comments »
