Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Wussie Wings

To all of you that want all those great fingerfoods but cant handle the kick that usually comes with it (just like me)
- 1 Bag of frozen, unseasoned Winglettes (or fresh)

- 1 stick of butter

- Frank's Hot Sauce and some Habanero or Jalapeno sauce (optional)

- Honey

- Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper, ground Ginger, Curry Powder, Paprika Powder










- Defrost chicken

- melt butter in microwave, add a good amount of hot sauce (to taste) and a little of the Habanero Sauce (more if you want Spicy Wings instead of Wussie Wings.. haha)

- Add a couple of big squeezes of honey

- Season with pepper, salt, paprika, curry, ginger and lots of garlic powder

-Mix well.

-Brush both sides of the chicken and arrange (meaty side up) on a broiler pan, so the grease can drip down and the chicken wont sit in it ...

****(Now, I use a gas oven.. so cooking might vary with your stove)*****

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Turn on broiler and put the chicken under the broiler flame until the top of the chicken is nice dark and crusty, then turn of the broiler and move the chicken to the middle of the oven to finish baking.

Brush chicken at this point again with the marinade.

Bake for 45 minutes, brushing one more time towards the end of the cooking time.

Use the rest of the mariande (if there is any left) to lightly brush it again after you take it out of the oven

Serve with fries or by itself... yummmm!

TIP: line the bottom of the broiler pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up and spray the top heavily with cooking spray so the chicken wont stick

Monday, November 17, 2008

Old Bay Pasta, so easy and oh so good!!

- 1 Box of Pasta of Choice (I like Linguini or Fettuchini for this)

- Shrimps and Sea Scallops, amount to taste, I would say that 1 1/2 cups each for 4-6 servings is enough .. I eyeball it and just add what I think I want

- Heavy whipping cream, 2-3 cups

- white cooking wine, about 2 cups

- Old Bay Seasoning, minced garlic (or garlic powder), salt and pepper









Cook pasta according to package directions, drain.

Put cream into a large frying pan (or pot) and heat over medium heat.
When it starts warming up, add cooking wine.
Add some salt and pepper and a bunch of old bay. Bring to a light simmer for a few minutes then taste ... add more seasoning if required.

Add seascallops to the sauce, let cook for 1 minute then add shrimps. Cook for about 4-5 minutes until shrimps turn pink.


Mix sauce with pasta and serve.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Stuffed Pork Roast



- Pork Roast

- Half a bag of fresh spinach

- Fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, rosemary)

- sour cream (or mascarpone cheese with some cream)

- a little cooking sherry (optional)

- Stuffing Mix (eyeball it, I think I had about 2 cups_

- salt, pepper, minced garlic (or garlic powder)

- bacon slices (optional)

Slice pork in a circular way to create a long piece of pork. That doesnt have to be perfect. Roll it back up and fry pork in some oil to get the outside nice and brown.

While pork cools, sautee the spinach in some olive oil and garlic, salt and pepper. Chop it up with the fresh herbs and put into a bowl.

Add breadcrums and enough sour cream to be able to mix it all nicely (if you arent worried about the fat, I recommend mascarpone cheese with some cream mixed in instead)

Add cooking sherry, just enough to keep the mixture nice and thick.. make sure it doesnt get runny

Open up the pork and spread the spinach-stuffing mixture generously on the pork then roll up tight. Put seam down (or tie it up if you want) into a roasting pan.

If you decide to use the bacon, wrap it around the pork, tugging it in underneath, so the pork is laying on it, holding the ends into place.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, until internal temperature is 160 degrees.

Slice and serve with your favorite side dish

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Herb Stuffed Chicken with Pesto-Cream Fettuchini


I made this dish up from beginning to end because I wanted to use the herbs I have in my garden and it came out so good. I will definitely make this one more often!



- 3 chicken breasts (or however many you need, adjust the amount of other ingredients then)

- 1 slice of cheese for each chicken breast (I used mozarella)

- a handful of fresh cilantro

- about 3 handful of fresh basil

- 3 Tablespoon of pinenuts or walnuts (I actually only had mixed nuts and picked the cashews and walnuts out)

- about 1 cup of parmesan cheese

- 1 glove of garlic (or more if you are a garlic lover)

- a handful of grape tomatoes (or yellow pear tomotoes if you are lucky to have them in the garden)

- olive oil

- spices of choice (I used pepper, salt, garlic powder, dried basil, paprika, oregano)

- about 1 cup of heavy cream

- about 1 cup of milk

- 1 TBL cornstarch

- 1 pack fettuchini pasta



Cut chicken breast open on the sides to create a pocket. Season the outsides of the chicken and rub it in well.


Stuff the chicken with plenty of cilantro, the slice of cheese, a little basil and some halfed grape tomatoes.


Put chicken onto a sprayed cookie sheet and preheat oven to 380 degrees. Bake chicken until internal temperture is 180 degrees, this will take about 20-30 minutes, depending on how thick your chicken is



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For the pesto put the basil, the nuts, about 4 TBL Parmesan cheese the glove of garlic and some olive oil into a blender and blend until it becomes a creamy texture, add oil if you need to. (I actually did this with my magic stick mixer)


Put the cream and milk into a saucepan and add the pesto to it. Add the rest of the parmesan cheese as well as spices until you have the taste you like. Bring to a slow boil, stirring well. Disolve the cornstarch in some water and add it to the sauce until your sauce has the desired consistency, careful it does not take much!!! Put sauce on low heat.


In the meantime cook fettuchini according to package directions.


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Serve the sauce over your pasta and chicken.



Guten Appetit!!

Monday, June 30, 2008

Taquitos








- 1 pack of asian pasta wrappers (meant for egg rolls or ravioli). It's an asian product in the produce aisle


- 3 chicken breasts


- about 2 cups of corn (I use frozen)


- 1 pack of tacco seasoning


- some tacco sauce (enchilada sauce would probably work just as fine)




Boil meat until cooked through. Pull apart and fry in a hot pan, add a little water and tacco seasoning, the corn and the tacco sauce and stir well, let it all cook together.




Now put a couple of spoonful of the filling onto a piece of wrap, start rolling, flip the sides up and finish rolling up. Put seam down into a sprayed baking sheet.




Repeat until all the filling is gone. Brush them all with some vegetable oil.




Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown (about 15-18 minutes)




Serve with sides of your choice (I did guacamole and tomatoes). Great even for kids as you can see

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Grilled Chicken with Caprese Skewers and Lemon Pasta
























For the Chicken:



- Chicken Breasts (however many needed.. I used boneless breast with rib meat)


- Seasonings: Pepper, Salt, Lemon Pepper, Garlic Powder, Paprika, a dash red pepper flakes


- Olive Oil


Season the chicken well and add some olive oil to it, rub the marinade well into the chicken and let marinade for several hours if you have the time.



Grill on medium heat until cooked through





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For the Skewers:



- Cherry Tomatoes

- Small Mozarella Balls, or a chunk of Mozarella, cubed

- Fresh Basil Leaves

- Pepper, Salt and Olive Oil


Stick tomatoe onto skewerm then basil then cheese and repeat this 3 times, having a tomatoe at the end. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. You can also drizzle some balsamic vinegar on it if you want



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For the lemon pasta:



- Pasta of choice, cooked, drained


- some lemon juice (amount depends on how sour you want it, I use just a few sprizzes for a hint of lemon


- about a cup of heavy wipping cream


- salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder




Mix pasta with the other ingredients over medium heat until it's well mixed and hot.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Greek low fat Chicken and Eggplant


For 3 Portions:


- 3 Chicken Breast

- 1 Eggplant, cut 3 slices off for the chicken (about 1/2 inch thick)

- 1 pack of low fat Feta Cheese (or regular if you dont go for the low fat version)

- a few Kalamata Olives

- Oregano, lots of Dill, Pepper, Salt, Paprika


- Farfalle Pasta

- 1/2 jar of marinara sauce (I use Bertolli Spicy Tomatoe with Basil)

- Chopped up leftover Eggplant

- Chopped fresh mushrooms (about 1/2 pack)

- a little grated cheese


- Olive Oil


Season the meat with spices listed above. Flatten chicken and sprinkle some Italian Bread crumbs over both sides.


Fry chicken in spray coated pan to just sear the outside, then take out and set aside.


Season Eggplant Slices with same spices and fry to sear outsides in a little olive oil.


Put Chicken on a cookie sheet (spraycoated), top with some feta cheese, then add the eggplant slices. Sprinkle some more breadcrumbs on it.


Last cut olives into slices and put on top of the eggplant, with a little more feta and a bit of grated cheese (I used grated parmesan)


Preheat oven to 380 degrees and bake chicken for about 20 minutes (depending on thickness of the chicken)


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In the meantime cook pasta al dente.


In the pan that you used to sear the meat, heat a little olive oil and add chopped eggplant and mushrooms, together with the same spices.


Fry for a couple of minutes then add the marinara sauce. Add leftover Feta, if there is any leftover.


Cook until veggies are nice and tender, serve over Farfalle Pasta