Thursday, 1/27/2011

I put together the following delicious salad for our dinner tonight.  I used a honeycrisp apple and bagged spinach.  The honeycrisp apples are expensive compared to many of the other varieties, but I find that they are consistently good in flavor and texture and the others are not.  So, I choose to spend the money on the good apples rather than waste it on the bad apples.

CHICKEN, APPLE, WALNUT, SPINACH SALAD

Toss the following ingredients together in a poppy seed dressing:

1 1/2 cups of chopped rotisserie chicken
1/2 apple- diced
1/4 cup glazed walnuts
Freshly ground black pepper
baby spinach

Katie ate some blueberries, mandarin oranges, ham, and peanut butter toast. 

Wednesday, 1/19/2011

A couple weeks ago I started setting candles out on our dinner table Monday nights.  I dim the lights and we have a special family meal with some candlelight.  Well, I forgot to set our table with candles this week on Monday.  I made up for it tonight with a few Valentine's Day themed candles.  Katie really loves it!

For dinner, I made a salad of spinach leaves, diced honeycrisp apple, glazed walnuts, crispy bacon pieces, and a poppyseed dressing.  It was much better than the salad I made the other day.  For the main dish, I made chicken cutlets with bacon, rosemary, and lemon.  It is a really good dish that doesn't require that much prep.  I used chicken tenderloins instead of chicken breasts.  They cook faster and are more tender.  Here's the recipe:)

CHICKEN CUTLETS WITH BACON, ROSEMARY, AND LEMON
- from Cook's Country magazine

Ingredients:
5 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:
1.  Fry bacon in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 5 minutes.  Transfer bacon with slotted spoon to plate lined with paper towels.  Spoon off all but 2 tablespoons bacon fat.


2.  Meanwhile, place flour in shallow dish.  Season chicken with salt and pepper, dredge in flour, and shake to remove excess.  Add butter to reserved bacon fat in skillet and heat over high heat, swirling to melt butter.  When foam subsides, reduce heat to medium-high and cook chicken until browned on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side.  Transfer chicken to plate, leaving fat in skillet and over loosely with foil.

3.  Reduce heat to medium and add garlic, rosemary, and pepper flakes.  Cook until garlic is browned and crisp, about 2 minutes.  Add broth and lemon juice, scrape up browned bits from bottom of skillet with wooden spoon, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes.

4.  Return chicken and bacon to pan and simmer, turning chicken once or twice, until sauce is thick and glossy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Adjust seasonings and serve.

Sunday, 10/3/2010

There is a great butcher shop at Pike Place Market called Don and Joe's Meats.  The guys that work there are super friendly and give helpful suggestions about which cuts to purchase for a recipe.  Yesterday, Katie and I met Ben downtown for his lunch break.  We walked up to the market for some chowder and stopped at the butcher shop on our way back to the car.  We purchased one of their "All-Season Special" bags of meat.  For $42, we got:

• 1 lb. Bacon
• 1 lb. Bulk pork sausage
• 3 lb. Ground beef
• 2 lb. Whole chicken legs
• 2 lb. Prime top sirloin steak
• 1 1/2 lb. Pork chops
• 3 1/2 lb. Cut-up Fryers

It is already packaged, labeled, and frozen.  All I had to do was take it home and put it in the freezer.  Done:)  I did keep out the prime top sirloin steak for dinner tonight.  I let it defrost in the fridge overnight, and then Ben took it out this afternoon to get to room temperature.  He seasoned the steaks with salt, pepper, and olive oil.  They were grilled on Direct High heat for about 8 minutes.  Ben said there were some flare ups on the meat and that he thought his piece was overcooked.  I really liked the charred bits and thought my piece was great!  

We made a salad with mixed greens, glazed walnuts, and Bartlett pears tossed in poppy seed dressing.  Katie ate a good amount of cheese and pears for her dinner. 

Wednesday, 9/29/2010

Tonight we dined on left over pork chops.  I thought we were going to have enough for three meals, but we chopped some up for Katie and will only have enough for two and a half meals.  No, she didn't eat any of the pork we gave her, but she touched it enough that we won't be saving it for later. 

I made a green salad to go with the pork chops.  It included mixed greens, strawberries, and glazed walnuts tossed in poppy seed dressing.  Ben liked it enough to have a second, small helping.  Katie enjoyed her strawberries too. 

Monday, 8/16/2010

Katie and I picked up Ben from work today on our way home from the grocery stores.  I drove up to Ballard so that we could go to Fred Meyer and the relatively new Trader Joe's.  It is really hot today, and I didn't want to heat up the house by cooking. So, I opted to grill instead.  I bought a flank steak pre-marinated in kalbi sauce at Fred Meyer.  The butcher was nice enough to offer me a steak from the bottom, because it would have been sitting in more sauce.  Ben grilled the steak on direct medium heat while I made up a salad.  I used sweet butter lettuce and added a poppy seed dressing and glazed walnuts.  The sweetness of the dressing was a nice compliment to the kalbi sauce.  Ben said the steaks were on the grill too long, but I still liked mine a lot. Katie had a little steak and cheddar cheese.  I gave her a piece of lettuce, but she stuck out her tongue and gave it back to me. 

Monday, 7/19/2010

Tonight I revamped the strawberry, chicken, spinach salad I made in June. It was much better!

This time I used chicken tenderloins, seasoned with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, and sprayed with olive oil. The oil kept them from sticking to the grill. They were cooked on direct medium heat until cooked through. I think having more flavor in the chicken was the key to making the salad taste better.

I also opted for mixed greens instead of only spinach tonight. It made the salad more interesting in texture and appearance. I still finished the salad with sliced strawberries, candied walnuts, poppyseed dressing, and a parmesan crisp on the side. We poured a little dressing on Katie's tray and let her dip chicken and strawberry pieces into it. She likes to dip her food.

On a side note, Katie only asked for a cookie a couple times today. Thankfully, she did not resort to a tantrum when she was denied:)

Tuesday, 6/22/2010

I've been hearing radio advertisements for a new, seasonal salad being offered at Panera Bread this summer. I attempted to make it at home tonight with pretty good success!

STRAWBERRY, CHICKEN, SPINACH SALAD

Ingredients:

1 can chicken broth

1 lb. cooked, thinly sliced chicken breast

baby spinach

strawberries

candied walnuts

poppyseed dressing

Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Poach the chicken in chicken broth on medium heat until cooked through. Remove chicken from the broth, cool, and slice into thin strips.
In a bowl, combine baby spinach, cut strawberries, candied walnuts, cooled slices of chicken, and toss with poppyseed dressing.

Parmesan cheese crisps:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Make 3" circles of grated parmesan, piled a little. Cook for 5 minutes. Let cool and serve with salad.

I didn't measure out exactly how much spinach, strawberries, or walnuts I used. Mix it however you want to:) I didn't toss the chicken in with the salad dressing tonight, but would do that the next time. It was a nice, light summer salad. Definitely worth making again. Katie ate some plain chicken and strawberries for her dinner.