Pasta Salad with Shredded Chicken

Pasta salad is no longer relegated to plastic tubs to be carted off to picnics. This version is a riff of a pesto pasta salad and uses spinach and almonds, instead of basil and pine nuts. It's light and tangy without being too cloying. 

Preparation time is minimal, with the bulk of time spent chilling the mixture. This dish is versatile  and can be a satisfying side dish or light main dish. As a main dish, expect 6-8 servings, and as a side dish, about 10-12 servings.

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Chill time: at least 4 hours

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs chicken breast, shredded
• 1 package rotini pasta, or other short pasta like ziti or penne 
• 4 cups of  baby spinach
• 3-4 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon water
• dash of salt
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise 
• 1.5 cups sliced almonds
• option to toast for extra texture

Brown the chicken in a pan. Once cooked, shred and set aside. Cook pasta according to directions and cool under cold water when finished.

In a food processor, combine spinach, cheese, olive oil, salt, sriracha and water. Pulse until well combined. Mix mayonnaise and spinach mixture  with pasta. Chill for at least 4 hours. Serve over a bed of spinach and a sprinkling of sliced almonds. 

Baked Chicken Noodles

Another great adaptation from Cooking Light. This chicken and pasta recipe combines two unlikely companions, Asian and Italian staples. Using linguine instead of chow mein noodles, and a soy sauce based sauce instead of a marinara dish yields a surprising new family favorite. While on paper the taste combination may not instantly sound appetizing, they somehow work together to create a light and non-greasy tasting noodle dish. 

Of course we've added a bit of sriracha, but even with just the red peppers, the dish has a subtle heat that doesn't overwhelm the other flavors. 

As always, we used the Cooking Light recipe as a guide and edited it to our tastes (and, admittedly, what was currently in the pantry). The recipe below yields a 9x13 dish and can easily yield 8 servings. Bonus: it heats up well and make for great leftovers or packed lunches. 

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 17-20 minutes, depending on how brown you like your bread crumbs

Ingredients:

• 1 16oz package of linguine 
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 medium sized red bell pepper, diced
• 8 oz mushroom caps (shiitake or portobello work nicely)
• 1.5-2 lbs chicken breast, cubed
• 3 small to medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 less-sodium cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
• 1 to 1.5 teaspoons sriracha (optional)
• 2-3 heads of bok choy, leaves thinly sliced
• .5 to 1 bunch of green onion
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Cook the pasta according to your taste and preheat the oven to 400.

Heat peanut oil in a large pan or wok and add the bell peppers and mushroom. Saute for 2-3 minutes then add the chicken and garlic. Add the soy sauce and coat the mixture, stirring frequently.

In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch and chicken broth, whisking until cornstarch is dissolved completely. Add the mixture to the pan and cook until the liquid is slightly thick. Be sure to stir, stir, stir. 

Remove the pan from heat and add the vinegar, red pepper, and if using, sriracha paste. Then drain the pasta and add it to the mixture, followed by the bok choy, onions and 2 teaspoons of the sesame seeds. Toss to combine.

Grease your 9x13 dish (glass works best) and spoon the pasta mixture evenly into the dish.

Combine the melted butter and breadcrumbs, then sprinkle evenly on top of the pasta.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the bread crumbs are slightly browned. 

Crumble Apple Pie

Paula Deen knows her desserts. And just in time for Thanksgiving, we took a liking to her crunch top apple pie and made it a bit easier for those uninitiated with baking, or just those without a lot of time. 

A note on equipment needs: you'll need a pie pan, ceramic, glass, or even foil, as well as an apple peeler and corer. While you can definitely make this pie without the peeler and corer, a knife would do, the specialized equipment makes it an easier and faster task. 

Prep time: 30-35 minutes

Bake time: 45 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 2 pie crusts at room temperature

Filling:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 medium sized Granny Smith Apples, cubed and peeled
• 16 ounces applesauce, option to go with the cinnamon flavored sauce
• Juice of half a lemon, about 1 tablespoon
• 2 tablespoons cold butter, chopped into small pieces

Crumble topping:

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature

Preheat oven at 425. Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon is a large bowl. Coat the apples with the lemon juice and combine with the sugar mixture. Add apple sauce and spoon the mixture in the pie crust and dot the top with the 2 tablespoons of butter. 

Unroll the second pie crust onto a floured surface. Cut it into 1/2 inch ribbons and create a lattice top. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the top evenly. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for 45 minutes or until the crust and topping are slightly browned. 

Cool for 30 minutes then serve. 

White Fish with Tomato and Pepper Sauce

Fresh produce always makes a good meal great. We stumbled upon some fantastic grape tomatoes and tweaked this Cooking Light chicken recipe to use tilapia we had in the freezer.

The mixture of tomatoes, red and yellow peppers would pair well with other white fishes and, of course, chicken. The sauce does not overwhelm the fish or poultry and it's a quick sauce, making it perfect for a mid-week meal.

This amount of tomatoes and peppers makes enough sauce for about 6-8 fish fillets. 

Prep time: 15-20 minutes

Cook time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 medium sized onion, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 package of grape tomatoes, halved (about 2.5-3 cups)
• salt, pepper to taste

Optional: 

• black or green olives

Heat the oil in a medium sized pan. cook the onions until brown on the edges. Add the red and yellow peppers. If including olives, add them after the peppers. Cook until tender then add the tomatoes and cook until the skin is slightly wrinkled. Transfer mixture to another container and keep warm.

You have the option of cooking the fish in the broiler, or pan frying it in the same pan as the mixture.

• Broiler: line a pan with foil. Broil the fish for 2-3 minutes on both sides, taking care not to over cook.
• Pan fry: Using the same pan as the tomato mixture, pan fry the fish until browned, about 3-4 minutes on each side. 

Once the fish is cooked, top with the tomato mixture. Pair with a simple salad or grain, such as quinoa. 

Arroz con Pollo

Fresh spices have taken over our lives. We've moved on from our vanilla beans and onto saffron. While expensive, you use a very small amount to achieve a very satisfying flavor. Adding saffron to rice gives it a subtle flavor and a wonderful yellow color. 

Chicken and rice is an easily customizable dish, with a savory flavor made up of a number of vegetables. We put our spin on the classic Joy of Cooking recipe and did without the Dutch oven, ham and green olives. 

Very important tip: make sure the chicken is very brown and almost crispy before combining it with the rice mixture. This prevents overcooking the rice from cooking too long and sticking to the bottom of the pot. Making sure the chicken is well cooked also avoids a mushy dish, where all the textures melt into each other. 

This meal takes some time to prepare, but the reward is almost a whole week's worth of dinner for at least two people. 

Prep time: 30-40 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3.5-4.5 pounds of chicken parts. The more variety the better
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups uncooked long grain white rice 3 cups chicken broth
• 3-4 strands of saffron, roughly 1/4 teaspoon 
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 red pepper, diced
• salt, pepper to taste

Optional:

• 1/4 cup chopped green olives
• pimentos
• 1/2 cup of diced ham
• pinch of oregano
• 1 green pepper, diced

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a pan and brown the chicken well on both sides. Once browned, take the pan off heat and set aside. 

Heat 2 tablespoons of pan drippings in a large pasta pot. Add the onions, garlic, red and green pepper. Cook until onions are tender but not yet brown, then add the rice. Stir and cook for another minute, until the grains are coated with fat, then add the chicken broth and saffron. Bring the mixture to a boil, taking care to scrape the bottom of the pot in case rice begins to stick. 

Place the chicken in the pot and cover. Allow the mixture to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the unthawed frozen peas. 

Cover again and cook until the rice is tender, about 10-12 more minutes. 

Vanilla Rice Pudding

Rice pudding recipes are pretty easy to find online (thanks Google!). However, we wanted to post this as we used our fresh vanilla beans. 

While we've always read about the difference in taste with fresh vanilla, we didn't fully believe it until we actually had some.

Here's a standard recipe for vanilla rice pudding-with the added bonus of using fresh beans. Note: the thought crossed our mind to reduce the fat intake ever-so-slightly with skim milk. We learned the hard way that it tastes watery and not great with skim. Go with the whole milk and pretend it's skim.

Cook time: 45 minutes

• 1.5 cups water
• 3/4 cup basmati or short grain rice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups whole milk 
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 vanilla bean scrapings

Bring the water, rice, and salt to simmer in a large pot, uncovered. Once simmering, reduce heat to low and cover. Stir occasionally and simmer until the rice absorbs the water.

Add in the milk, whipping cream, and sugar, then scrape in the vanilla. Uncover and set to medium heat.

Cook until it thickens (about 35-45 minutes) and enjoy. We enjoy a cold rice pudding, but this can be served warm as well.

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

Back to our homemade shenanigans. Honey mustard vinaigrette was something we were craving. This recipe is savory and not as tangy as others we've tasted. It is a good complement to more spiced salad toppings or seasoned meat or poultry. We used Dijon, but also recommend a whole grain mustard for a more robust mustard flavor. 

Prep time: 2 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1.5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon or whole grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey
• dash of Kosher salt
• dash of black pepper

Using your favorite whisk or salad dressing contraption, whisk together ingredient. Serve cold or at room temperature. 

The Week's Favorite Meal: Barbecue Pork and Cheese Biscuits

We wanted to share one of the easiest menus that last a number of meals-it's pretty well balanced to boot. It's easy to reheat and initial preparation takes about 45 minutes. 

Menu:

• Barbecue Pork, with homemade barbecue sauce (prep time: 20 minutes)
• Baby spinach salad with thai vinaigrette (prep time: 5 minutes)
• Cheese biscuits (prep time: 25 minutes)

To prepare the barbecue pork, use thinly cut, boneless pork chops:

• Set the broiler
• Brush one side of the pork loin with the barbecue sauce and broil for 6 minutes
• Flip and brush the other side and broil for another 6 minutes

Experiment Update: Vanilla Extract

We wish there was a way to hold a taste test with you all! For the past few weeks, we've baked cookies (White Chocolate and Almond cookies to be exact) and banana bread with the newly made extract. The difference in flavor between our homemade version and store bought was quite shocking.

Both products had a more noticeable and crisper vanilla taste, which in turn enhanced the other ingredients; almost as if you could taste the individual morsels in the baked good. However, because the taste was stronger, half the amount should yield a less prominent taste.

For fun, below are all the pictures of the six week experiment and one we took today.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

August 20, 2012

Barbecue Sauce With Six Ingredients

We're on a homemade kick and we blame the salad dressing. With Labor Day approaching, we wanted to try our hand at barbecue sauce. The base of all sauces is roughly the same: ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce. We wanted something a bit sweet and spicy and ended up with a six ingredient sauce:

• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar 
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons sriracha (natch)
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Mix it all together and slather on your favorite meats!