Braised Chicken with a Veggie Spiral

Chicken can get old and boring, fast. Sure there are so many recipes for it, but its still chicken… lol Ive roasted, fried, stuffed, diced, shredded, and spun various cuts on a rotisserie, but Ive never braised anything. I had no idea how simple it was, and how juicy and flavorful the meat would end up being. And the spiral is a great twist on simple, healthy veggies! Enjoy!

Braised Chicken

3 chicken quarters, leg & thigh – bone in, skin on
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 large carrot – roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic – roughly chopped
6 Cippolini onions – quartered
1 pack sliced crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon EVOO
2 tablespoons of your fav seasoning mix
salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1 can chopped tomatoes

In a deep cast iron skillet, or dutch oven, heat oil until glassy. Rinse your chicken, pat dry, season generously with salt and pepper. Brown on all sides, about 10min total, and set chicken aside.

Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to the pan. Sautee until tender, about 3min. Add tomatoes and carrots and bring to a simmer. Add wine, broth, and seasoning, mixing everything together so it is all incorporated and bring to a boil. After about 3min, add the chicken back to the pot, skin side down. Make sure to shimmy the chicken all the way under the veggies, so that its covered in broth. Put a lid on and let it simmer, untouched, for 1 hour.

Veggie Spiral

2 green zucchini
2 yellow zucchini
2 russet potatoes
1 large onion
1/2 cup cheese (I used a blend of Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago)
1 tablespoon garlic herb seasoning mix, or whatever you prefer

I dont have a fancy baking dish, so I used a round pie pan. *shrugs*
(you can prep all of this while you’re browning the chicken, and while “sauce” is coming together)

In a skillet, sauté onions so they are translucent. Meanwhile, slice zucchini and potatoes into thin disks. After the onions are cooked, spray baking pan with non-stick spray and fill the bottom of the pan.

 

 

Arrange the zucchini and potatoes on top of each other, at an angle going in a circle, around until you’ve filled the whole pan. Cover with cheese and seasoning mixture.
Bake at 400°F for 1 hour

Teriyaki Salmon and Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

This is a recipe I grew up on that my daddy used to make all the time. I was such a picky eater when I was little, but salmon was something I loved. I still am not too much of a seafood fan, but I dont think I could live without salmon. It is so good, almost every way you can think of making it!

This is possibly the easiest recipe Ive ever made, seriously. There arent too many ingredients, and the prep takes about 10min. Feel free to marinate your salmon as long as you’d like beforehand.

Salmon

2 Salmon Filets (or 4, or 10.. depends on your dinner size)
1/2 cup Kikoman teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon onion powder
fresh cracked pepper

First and foremost, you want to debone your salmon. The grocery store wont do this for you, unfortunately. It really isn’t too hard, and all you need is a pair of tweezers. Take your fingers and slowly rub your fingers along the top of the flesh, you can feel where the bones are. Using the tweezers, grip the bone as hard as you can, slowly pulling the bone out. This isnt like doing your eyebrows where you want to go quickly, fish is slippery, and you’ll lose the grip with the tweezers if you go too fast.

If you’re not into deboning, and your family is cool with bones and knows how to avoid them, keep them in. Its ultimately up to you.

In a sealable container, add filets skin side up. Pour in teriyaki and soy sauce, chopped garlic, onion powder, and cracked pepper. Put the lid on and refrigerate for however long you want before wanting to cook your salmon.

When you’re ready to cook the fish, heat your oven to 400°F and cook for 20min. Personally, I prefer my fish one extreme or the other; completely raw or very well done. Cook to your liking…

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

1lb green beans
1 pack of thick cut bacon
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon favorite seasoning

Take about 8 green beans and bundle them, wrapping the bacon around the center of each bundle. Arrange on a baking pan, one with sides so grease doesnt get all over your oven. Heat oven to 400°F. While the oven is heating, melt butter in a small saucepan and add your favorite seasoning to the melted butter. I used McCormick’s Garlic and Herb blend. Spoon mixture over each bundle and you’re ready to go!

I put the bacon bundles in the oven first since they take a little while longer, 10min early. Then I added the salmon and let them both go. Dinner was delicious and easy! Served with white rice on the side, and some nice white wine. 🙂

Pinwheel Skirt Steak with Spinach and Feta

Ive always wanted to make a pinwheel something or other.. So I decided to make this recipe I found on Pinterest. I normally dont trust recipes from pinterest, but what they hey.. I made some changes to this recipe, you will see as follows. It actually turned out really really well.

Prep: 20 minutes
Roast: at 425°F for 25 minutes

Ingredients:

2 thin skirt steak (2 pounds)
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese, I used the garlic herb kind
1 jar (7 ounces) roasted red peppers, drained and chopped (NO.)
2 tablespoons seasoned dry bread crumbs (NO)
1 egg yolk (NO)
2 fresh garlic cloves, diced small
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Meat ties/twine

I rubbed the meat down with a black peppercorn rub about 2hrs before I wanted to make it and set it aside. When time came to make dinner, I flattened the meat out on a cutting board, one at a time.

In a small bowl mix together spinach, garlic, feta, and whatever spices you want. I added salt, pepper, a little onion and garlic powder.

With the meat flat on the board, use a spoon and put half of the mixture on top of the meat. Spread the mixture to all ends, and make sure its pressed in. Start rolling your pinwheel from one end of the steak, not the side. You want this to resemble a log once its rolled.

After you’ve gotten both stuffed and rolled, tie them with your meat ties or twine. I have ties that came with my rotisserie, so I use those.

Spray a baking sheet with a small amount of PAM or whatever you have on hand, and roast at 425° for 25min. This makes for a perfectly crusty outside, and pink inside! Remember to let your meat rest for 10min before cutting into it so you dont lose all the juices/flavor.

I served this with Roasted small golden potatoes, and bacon brussels sprouts! Mmmmm… Definitely something I’ll make again!

This looks delicious!!

The Porto Bellas

I always serve little bite sized appetizers when I invite my friends over for hangouts, and these never last very long at the table. You can change around the ingredients here… once I added japanese seaweed (nori), for a little crunch. Or why not make them extra creamy by adding sour cream. Whichever way you decide to make them, you really can’t go wrong. Have fun, and get creative!

Ingredients:

• 1 package pollack crab (chopped)
• 2 cucumbers (peeled)
•  ~2 Tbsp mayonaise (more or less)
• ~1 tsp thai spicy sauce (more or less)
• 2 tsp chopped dill
• salt & pepper
• (optional: capers)
• (optional: + 1 tsp dijon mustard)
• (optional: nori)
• (optional: + 1 Tbsp sour cream)

Directions:

Peel cucumbers, then chop approximately into 1 inch ‘bites’. Scoop out seeds. In separate bowl, add remaining ingredients, mix. Add spoonfuls into cucumber. Serve!

JulieC

Music: Need a new song for that night…

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Chili Cheese Beer Dip

Im super late posting this recipe, but whatevs. Super Bowl was awesome! Our team won, woohoo Ravens! We spent the day at a friends house eating all kinds of fattening food and betting on various parts of the game. Hubs asked me to make something “guys would like” lol So I decided on a cheesy chili beer dip! I mean, what man wouldn’t like that?

Ingredients

1 large can kidney beans, drained
1lb Velveeta Cheese
1lb ground beef
1lb spicy italian sausage
1 can sliced olives
1 large onion chopped
1 12oz jar thick and chunky salsa (I used hot)
3 garlic cloves diced small
salt and pepper to taste
1 bottle of your favorite beer (I used an IPA we had handy)

Directions

In a large skillet combine chopped onion and garlic and one tablespoon of oil. Let them sweat together for a good 3min. Add all meat and brown, about 10min. Break up the sausage and beef as you go along, remember you can use a potato masher to make this much easier.  Add your bottle of beer and let it simmer until the alcohol has cooked off.

While the meat is cooking, take out your crock pot and add the cheese, beans, and salsa. Set to medium and let it melt while the meat is cooking. When the meat is done, add to crock pot and mix well.

When everything is melted and fully combined, you’re ready! I unplugged the crockpot and brought it with us to the party.