Chris's Birthday Dinner!

This is one of my favorite meals ever. EVER.


To my luck, Chris enjoys it too so I figured it would be nice to have it for his "home-cooked" birthday dinner. We'll be going to a steak house for dinner on Saturday with friends and I'm sure we'll get our fill of red meat and potatoes then.

So tonight:
Tequila-lime chicken with grilled pineapple and spicy black beans finished with citrus sour cream and pico de gallo.

Phew, that's a mouthful!

A delicious, mouthwatering mouthful.

Here is what you will need:
2 chicken breasts, well trimmed
1 lime, divided
1/4 cup tequila
pico de gallo
a few slices fresh pineapple
black beans
shoe peg corn
green onion
fresh avocado (not too soft now!)
sour cream
fresh cilantro
cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

Start by marinating your chicken breasts in the tequila and lime juice from half a lime. Allow a few hours to marinate before cooking.

I used a can of Bush's seasoned black beans and a can of chipotle shoe peg corn.

Toss in a saute pan and add some chopped green onion and cayenne pepper to taste. Allow to simmer until the liquid reduces down. keep warm.

Drop your pineapple slices in a HOT, lighted oiled grill pan. About 30 seconds on each side then remove from heat and set aside.

Add chicken to the grill pan.

Once the chicken in finished you can prepare the last few ingredients.



Give the cilantro a rough chop and add it to the black beans.
Now take the juice from the other half of the lime and add it to a 1/4 cup sour cream. mix well.

If you got a ripe (and not over-ripe and bruised) avocado slice that up now too.

This is so disappointing. Mostly because I think the avocado is an important player in the dish but also because I was totally deceived by this avocado's mostly firm with just a bit of give exterior.

oh well. So today we go sans avocado.

Lets plate it! Here's the order I like it best: Layer the bottom of your plate with the black beans, next a slice of pineapple, then grilled chicken, avocado, pico de gallo, and a dollop of sour cream. If you have extra chopped cilantro left over toss then on there too. I subscribe to the "you can never have too much cilantro" school of thought. As opposed to my sister who is a card carrying member of the "get that nasty green shit off my plate" club.

I don't get it, but I still love her.

Viola. I ate this in two bites.



And then I ate a big slice of birthday cake! Happy Birthday Honey!

Rosemary Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

I think I may have mentioned it before but Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs. The flavor is so versatile, lending itself well to meats, potatoes, vegetables like carrots or corn on the cob. You get the point. I love it. And to my good fortune, it just so happens that my neighbor has a rosemary plant growing in her yard that she so graciously shares with us. Now under normal circumstances I would have to practice a bit of restraint. You know so as to be sure I didn't leave her with just a skeleton of her former plant. But as luck would have it this aint no ordinary rosemary bush...

I don't really talk like that. I just thought, for effect.. you know?

Anyway, back to the rosemary bush.

This sucker is mammoth! Rosemary for everyone!

There is more rosemary here than two families could possibly use in a season, but that wont stop me from trying. "Say, Liam how about some rosemary chocolate milk?" Or "oh, you like it? Its peanut butter and rosemary"

Have I gone too far? Perhaps.

For the purposes of this post lets just stick with what works, shall we?

This works.

Here is what you will need:

6 Boneless skinless chicken breasts, well trimmed
Red potatoes halved or quartered depending on their size
3 cloves garlic, minced
fresh rosemary, chopped- I probably used two heaping tablespoons
zest and juice from half a lemon
4 Tbsp EVOO, divided
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper

In a large skillet add two tablespoons of evoo and heat to med-high. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper then add to heated pan to sear. About 3 minutes a side. If you cant fit all 6 in one pan break it up, one tbsp evoo to 3 breasts.
transfer chicken to a large roasting pan or baking dish and arrange cut potatoes around the chicken.

In a mixing bowl add garlic, rosemary, lemon juice and zest, two tablespoons of olive oil and chicken stock. whisk together and pour over chicken and potatoes.

If your rosemary grows on trees like mine does throw of few sprigs in the pot for good measure.

Bake (uncovered) at 375 for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

I love this dish, its easy and it has always won me compliments from dinner guests. The olive oil and stock keep the chicken juicy and tender and the flavors are mouth watering. Enjoy it soon!

Grilled chicken with smokey salsa and herbed white beans

For Christmas this year my amazing husband got me a membership to the local fitness club. Now, I know a lot of women would be pissed thinking their husband was implying they need to lose weight. But I actually was DYING for this gift because I DO need to lose weight or, rather, I need to get back in shape. Its not so much the quantity I'm concerned about as the quality of the weight, if ya know what I mean.
Since I've been staying at home and not bringing in an income we've had to cut out certain luxury expenses. Unfortunately for me, my gym membership was the first to go. So on Christmas morning when I opened the little black felt jewelry box and found the keyring membership card, I was ecstatic. This new gym has a nursery with free childcare for members and a large indoor pool along with a fitness room that also offers a wide selection of classes from spinning to yoga to boot camp. Have I mentioned I'm super excited about this?
So to kick off the new year and my new membership right, I thought it only appropriate to start sharing some of my favorite no guilt recipes. I got a little off track while I was pregnant and then as a new mom I had all of these people bringing me delicious dishes... it would have been rude not to accept. And then it was summer and it gets so hot in the summer here that you NEED ice cream to keep you from overheating. And then it was autumn. And then the holidays came 'round and well, you know, its the holidays. Well now I'm fresh out of excuses. Not to mention the fact that when Liam was first born my mantra was: It took 9 months to gain all that weight it will take 9 months to lose it all again. Liam is now 1 and No, I did not lose it all.

Back before I got married I was at the pharmacy waiting for a prescription when I decided to check my blood pressure. Imagine my surprise when at 32 the result was hypertensive in flashing red lights. I thought "It must be a fluke, the machine isn't calibrated properly." So the next time I passed by a different machine I sat down and stuck my arm in. HYPERTENSIVE. Hmm. That is no good. When I got home I made an appointment with my doctor. Together we discussed my options. Not wanting to resort to medication right away we agreed that I should try and get my BP under control through diet and moderate exercise. After only 6 weeks my BP dropped from 145/90 to 130/80 and after 6 months it was 125/70. At which point I became a firm believer that the food we use to fuel our bodies can heal as well as harm us.
So this is not a diet and these are not diet recipes. This is me getting back on track and being conscious.

Here are the rules I chose to live by:
Adapted from Dr. Mehemet Oz & Dr. Michael Roizen.

1. Never buy anything with these ingredients: Hydrogenated oils, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Enriched/bleached grains, or phenylalanine. Those 4 little ingredients are in almost everything we buy off the shelf at the supermarket. Go to your fridge and pantry and take a look. bread, cereal, colas, BBQ sauce, rice, pasta, the list goes on and on. You'll be tossing a lot, which is a waste, I agree but you're better off in the long run.
2. Go brown. Whole wheat pasta instead of white, brown rice instead of white, whole wheat bread instead of white, substitute sweet potato for white baking potato unless you're one of the few people I know who can eat a baked potato without all the butter and sour cream and bacon bits. If it looks like it did when it came out of the ground you can eat it. ;)
3. Do not deprive yourself, totally, of anything you are craving, just make a comparable substitution and practice moderation. If you're like me you NEED something sweet to cap off a meal. If you've got the time make a big batch of deceptively delicious chocolate chip cookies and freeze them. When a craving hits you can defrost them in the microwave in just a few seconds but they wont be as readily available for you to eat the whole batch in one sitting.
4. Get off your butt. There is no escaping it. Move your body enough to get your heart rate elevated for 30 minutes a day. And 30 minutes is nothing, that's a mini-dance party in the living room with your toddler.

Now that you've got the foundation lets cook! Tonight's Dinner: Grilled Chicken with smokey salsa and herbed white beans.

Here is what you will need:
2 chicken breasts, trimmed.
1 cup chipotle salsa
1/2 avocado, diced
2 teaspoons olive oil
cilantro, chopped
1 can great northern beans
1 clove garlic
1/2 tomato diced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper


Will start with the Herbed white beans.

Of course you'll need some garlic minced up.

And a small saucepan with a teaspoon of olive oil in the bottom to which you'll add the garlic.

While the garlic is getting intimate with the oil in the saucepan open a can of white beans. I prefer great northern beans simply because of the name. I love the north.

Strain and rinse your beans

Then add them to the saucepan with the oil and garlic

Pretty tomato.

Diced tomato.

Pretty diced tomato tossed in with the white beans.
One tablespoon of balsamic vinegar gives these beans the tangy kick that makes me love them so much.

Fresh Herbs. Any fresh herbs you want. I chose cilantro because it goes with the rest of the meal but basil, chive, parsley, thyme, you name it, it would work.

Add salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to very low otherwise while you're making the chicken the beans will get mushy.


Take two well trimmed rinsed chicken breasts. I like the thin ones, they cook quickly. If yours are the fatter ones just pound them out with the flat side of a meat mallet.

Salt and pepper generously.

lightly sprinkle a grill pan with a little olive oil and set heat to medium-high

When the pan is hot drop the chicken breasts onto the grill pan seasoned side down, then season the other side.

I left mine for about 8 minutes each side.

Perfect!


Avocado! and more cilantro. Two of my favorite things in the world.

Once the chicken breasts are cooked through top with the salsa and leave on the heat until everything is nice and warm.



We also had broccoli with ours but it didn't look proper on the plate.

There you go, our light and healthy dinner with LOADS of yummy flavor! Enjoy!

Hugo's Chicken

This recipe came to me by way of my nephew's mother in law, Cherrie, who was once a postal carrier. On her route she delivered mail to a little old man who, on occasion, would invite her in for lunch. On the days that they dined together Hugo would make her paper thin, pan fried chicken cutlets. Cherrie has long since retired from her postal service career but the memory of her friend lives on through his chicken. I never had the pleasure of meeting Hugo or having him cook for me but sometime during their friendship he shared his secrets with Cherrie. This recipe is a family favorite, and will fast become one of your family's as well.



Here is what you will need:

(Because I have a tendency to 'eyeball it' as always, all measurements are approximate)

2-3 chicken breasts
2 cups Panko Bread crumbs
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan
1/4 cup fresh grated Romano
2 tablespoons Italian herbs/spices (basil, oregano)
1 egg
1/2 cup Olive oil
Splash milk or cream
salt and pepper


I'm going to build and assembly line. Lets first start with the breading mix. The secret here is in the cheese and isn't that always the way?

You will want to blitz the cheese so throw both the Parmesan and the Romano into your food processor


and give it a few pulses.

Put your bread crumbs in a shallow dish, add your dried herbs and salt and pepper. As you can see here I am cutting corners and using an Italian style bread crumb which already has the herbs in it.

Now combine the cheese and the bread crumbs and mix together.

In a separate dish whisk together cream and egg. Set aside.

Now for the chicken. Ready to get your hands dirty? Lets go:

Trim away the fatty pieces and cut the breasts in half making thin cutlets.

To make sure I get the breasts as thin as possible I cover the trimmed breasts with cling wrap and gently pound with the flat side of a meat mallet. Once the chicken is prepared, its time for a bath.

Dip the chicken in the egg wash. Make sure it gets a good dunk.

Now for a roll in the hay, er, bread crumbs. Thoroughly cover the chicken with breadcrumbs and place on a clean plate. If you are using regular bread crumbs I recommend doing a double dip in the egg and then back in the breadcrumbs. However, this isn't necessary with panko. They're good and crispy in just one coat.

Continue until all of the chicken is breaded and ready to be cooked.

In a large skillet add your olive oil and heat over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, drop the cutlets in the pan. Wait just a few minutes and flip.

Because they are so thin they will cook quickly. So keep and eye on it. Once the chicken in firm to the touch and your breading has browned on both sides remove the chicken from the pan and place on a serving dish lined with a paper towel (to soak up and excess oil).

To ensure you are fully enticed by the goodness that lies within lets have a closer look shall we?

Those little golden brown bits of cheese are calling your name.

But this is my plate, so you're just going to have to make your own. Yum!