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Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken) and Broccoli Rabe

19 Jan

First, another great recipe from Cyndy at Daily Cynema, Kotopoulo Lemonato.  I love lemon chicken, and this is an AMAZING dish.  And yes, in the picture, that is a whole onion and lemon rinds in the cavity of the chicken.  Trust me, it works. The chicken was moist and flavorful.  My potatoes did get a little crunchy, I probably should have stirred them more, but I like crunchy roasted potatoes.  If they are mushy, then what was the point of roasting them, right?  For this dish, I used the red onion, a yellow onion, 3 lemons, fresh rosemary, and fresh oregano from the Italian themed veggie pack.

For full instructions on how to make this, please visit Daily Cynema: Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken).  She does a great job walking your through making this with great pictures.

I made this at a friend’s house tonight, and she was in charge of a veggie side.  She got the organic basket from Bountiful Baskets this week, and one of the things she got was broccoli rabe (rabe is apparently pronounced like the word “rob”).  I had never heard of this before, but we decided to give it a go in cooking it.  My friend did all the work on this one, following this recipe.  The taste is a mix of a broccoli taste and a leafy vegetable taste like spinach.  It is a tad bitter, but I still really enjoyed it.  I didn’t get a picture of all of it before we ate, my phone was not cooperating, but here is some of it so you can see how it turned out:

This dinner was a great success!

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Spinach Basil Pesto Pizza

17 Jan

 

In the Italian themed veggie pack I got from Bountiful Baskets, I got some fresh herbs, which included basil.  I like pesto, but have never actually made it, so I decided the basil would be made into pesto.  I still have some spinach left from my 1/7 basket, so the Spinach Basil Pesto recipe I came across on allrecipes.com seemed perfect to try.  Since I had plenty of tomatoes to use, I wanted to make a pizza with the pesto as the sauce.  I had sliced olives on hand, and I used chicken from a rotisserie chicken I bought at the store.   I was hoping to also add feta cheese, but it didn’t make it into the fridge after the store, so I used mozzarella.  The crust was from a pouch, since I’m really bad at making breads from scratch.  The results were delicious!  There are a number of other toppings that would go great with this, red onion, yellow onion, green peppers, mushrooms, so I suggest using your favorites!

 

Spinach Basil Pesto Pizza

What you need for the Pesto:

1 1/2 cups spinach leaves
3/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts, optional (I omitted them)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

How to make the Pesto:

Blend the spinach, basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor until nearly smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Drizzle the remaining olive oil into the mixture while processing until smooth.

What you need for Pizza:

Pizza crust, pre-made, from a pouch, or your favorite recipe to make a 12″ pizza
Pizza toppings, such as sliced tomatoes,  cooked chicken, olives, mushrooms, onions, green peppers
Cheese, like crumbled feta, fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella

How to make the Pizza:

Prepare pizza crust.  Spread pesto evenly on crust.  Add the pizza toppings, then the cheese.  Bake according to the directions for your crust, most likely around 425 F for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Moussaka (Eggplant Casserole)

16 Jan

Moussaka is a dish that I have never helped make nor have I made it myself.  It’s been on my list of recipes to try for a while, and I knew it was close to Pastitsio, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.  When I got eggplant in my Italian themed veggie pack from Bountiful Baskets, I decided it was time to give it a try.  Normally, you would need more than one eggplant, but I decided to make it as an eggplant and zucchini casserole since zucchini was on sale at the grocery store this week.  I also wanted to use the mushrooms I got in my basket, so I incorporated them into the meat sauce.  It turned out amazing, I’m very happy with the results!  It’s somewhat lighter than Pastitsio, because it’s vegetables instead of pasta.  Next time, I think I may come up with a mix of the eggplant, zucchini, and noodles.

If you would like to make this meatless, substitute another package of mushrooms, diced, or some diced zucchini and/or eggplant for the 1 lb of ground beef or lamb.

Moussaka

What you need:

Filling:
1 eggplant, cut lengthwise, 1/2 in  width
3 zucchini, cut lengthwise , 1/2 in width
Salt
Olive oil
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 lb ground beef or lamb (for meatless, use more mushrooms, or diced zucchini or eggplant)
1 8 oz package whole mushrooms, diced
1 medium onion
1 12 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Grated Kefalotiri, Parmesan, or Romano cheese

Cream sauce (krema):
2-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set on paper towels for 15-20 minutes to let them drain.  Pat tops with a paper towel.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet and brown eggplant and zucchini slices.  Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown onion and ground beef or lamb.  Add mushrooms, tomato paste, and seasonings.  Cook for 5 – 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make cream sauce. Melt 1/4 cup butter and pour in 1/4 cup flour; brown slowly. Beat 2 eggs with 2-1/2 cups milk, salt, and pepper, and pour into butter and flour mixture very slowly; mix well. Cook over low heat until it thickens.

To assemble, grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Sprinkle bread crumbs to cover the bottom of the pan.  Lay out eggplant in a single layer.  Spread half of the meat sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle with grated cheese.  Lay out zucchini in a single layer.  Spread the remaining meat sauce over the zucchini.  Pour cream sauce evenly on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 – 50 minutes, or until golden brown.

Freezes best unbaked, thawed for 1/2 hour, then baked as above.

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Shredded Brussels Sprouts

15 Jan

 

The last time I got Brussels sprouts from Bountiful Baskets, I had to figure out how to cook them. I’m not a big fan of them just steamed, so I came across this recipe.  It’s not the healthiest way to eat these, but it’s definitely tasty.  I do use turkey bacon for the bacon, just because we prefer turkey bacon.  With turkey bacon, you won’t have the grease to set aside like with regular bacon, but it’s ok, there is still plenty of butter.  The original recipe also calls for pine nuts, but I didn’t used them and I don’t think it’s missing them.

 

Shredded Brussels Sprouts

What you need:

1/2 pound sliced bacon
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup pine nuts (optional)
2 pounds Brussels sprouts, cored and shredded
3 green onions, minced
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
pepper to taste

How to make it:

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons grease, crumble and set aside.

In the same skillet, melt butter in with reserved bacon grease over medium heat. Add pine nuts (if using), and cook, stirring until browned. Add Brussels sprouts and green onions to the pan, and season with seasoning salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until sprouts are wilted and tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in crumbled bacon just before serving.

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Weekly Meal Plan: 1/15/12 – 1/21/12

15 Jan

I did pretty well with last week’s meal plan.  I didn’t make the Spinach Bacon Macaroni and Cheese because I didn’t have bacon and forgot to get it at the store.  I made a bag of frozen tortellini in it’s place.  I also didn’t make pizza, I got Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake pizza.  Close to homemade, but not quite.

Here is what I have planned for the upcoming week:

Moussaka (Eggplant Casserole)

Chicken Pesto Pizza with Spinach Basil Pesto

Kotopoulo Lemonato (Lemon Chicken)

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Fish Tacos with Avocado Cream Sauce and Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Sausage Florentine Pizza, possibly with homemade pizza sauce

Garlic Herb Chicken with Broccoli and Cauliflower

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Bountiful Baskets – 1/14/2012

14 Jan

Once again, very pleased with today’s basket.  Some new things, and some we haven’t had in a while.  This week I got the conventional basket for $15 and the Italian themed veggie pack for $8.50, so after the $1.50 handling fee, it was $25 total for this week.  Here is what I got:

The conventional basket included bananas, a watermelon, a pineapple (not pictured because I gave it to the friend who gave me her unwanted vegetables last week), kiwi, oranges, tomatoes, avocados, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, Brussels sprouts and mushrooms.

The Italian themed veggie pack included yellow onion, red onion, eggplant, mushrooms, Italian flat leaf parsley, fresh oregano, fresh rosemary, fresh basil, fresh bay leaves (I think that’s what they are), garlic, and lemons.

I’m currently working on my meal plan for this week using this produce.  My Italian veggie pack is quickly turning into a Greek veggie pack for me.  I’m going to use the red onion, a yellow onion, rosemary, oregano, and lemons to make Kotopoulo Lemonato (lemon chicken).  I’m thinking the eggplant, mushrooms, garlic, and the other yellow onion will be used to make Moussaka (Eggplant Casserole).  The Brussels sprouts I will shred and saute with cooked, crumbled bacon for a side dish one night.  I still have tomatoes from last week too, so I may try to make my own pasta sauce with them so I can make a pizza.  Still deciding what to do with the broccoli and cauliflower, although we might end up just eating it raw.  Maybe a pasta dish with it.

Note: The type and amount of food may vary from another basket because of geographic location and because of variances in how the ends of produce cases are distributed after everything has been distributed evenly.

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Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

12 Jan

 

I know it doesn’t look very pretty, but really, it is very good.  I read this recipe for Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff last week on CrunchyMetroMom, and decided I wanted to try it sometime.  Then, I was able to get some of the ingredients cheap at the store this week, so I decided it was time to make it.  Here is the cost breakdown:

1 1/2 lbs stew meat: $6.54 (I need to work on a way to get stew meat cheaper!)
1 1/2 packages of whole mushrooms, $1.99 each at Fry’s: $2.99 total
2 cans Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup, $1 each at Fry’s minus $.40 off 2 coupon doubled to $1: $1 total
24 oz container of French Onion sour cream dip, $2.29 at Fry’s, $.095/oz: $.76 for 8oz
8 oz. bag No Yolk egg noodles, $1.25 at Safeway minus $.40 off 1 coupon doubled to $1: $.25

So, the total cost for this meal is $11.54, should have cost $17.08.  Not bad to feed the 4 of us for dinner, plus enough leftover for 1 person’s meal.   And, a $5.54 cost savings may not seem like much, but that savings over time would add up quickly.

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Spinach Mushroom Quiche

10 Jan

 

Since pie crusts come 2 in a package, I had 1 crust I left from when I made Sweet Potato Pie at Thanksgiving time.  I wanted to come up with a way to use some of the spinach I got in this week’s Bountiful Baskets, so I decided a quiche would be perfect.  I’ve made quiche a lot of different ways, but also wanted to use up some ingredients in my fridge, so I used parts of a few different recipes I’ve used in the past.  This is a great, versatile dish.  If you feel like adding meat, add in some cooked crumbled bacon, or cooked diced ham.  If you would like to make this gluten-free or don’t like pie crust, omit the crust, lightly grease a deep dish pie pan, and pour filling directly into the pan.  The amount of cook time should remain the same, but you may want to check it earlier just in case.

 

Spinach Mushroom Quiche
Serves 6

What you need:

4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced mushrooms
2 cups chopped spinach
4 eggs
1 cup small curd cottage cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 9 in refrigerated pie crust

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large skillet, melt butter.  Add onions and cook until soft and translucent.  Add mushrooms and spinach, cook until mushrooms soften and spinach is wilted.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat eggs.  Stir in cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese and spices.  Add the spinach mixture and stir.

Place pie crust in a 9 in deep dish pie pan.  Pour in the filling.  Place in preheated oven and cook for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

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Pumpkin Pancakes

10 Jan

 

When Cyndy at Daily Cynema posted a recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes, I knew I had to try them.  One of the neighboring towns to my hometown has a Libby pumpkin processing plant, so they have a Pumpkin Festival every year.  They offer many pumpkin treats, including pumpkin pancakes, and since I’ve only been able to have their pumpkin pancakes twice in my life (too early and too much of a line to go), I wanted to see if I could make some of my own.  Unfortunately, the first time I attempted to make these was a failure.  The outsides cooked, but the insides were still gooey.  I had used a whole can of pumpkin, and the texture inside may have just been because of the texture of pumpkin, but it was hard to tell if it was that or if they were undercooked.  This time, I opted for about half a can of pumpkin, or 3/4 cup.  They turned out perfectly this time.  You do have to watch how you cook them, I found for me, low heat and a longer cook time was what I needed to get them to cook fully without overbrowning the outsides.  With some maple syrup, these make a wonderful breakfast!

Pumpkin Pancakes

What you need:

2 cups dry pancake mix (like Bisquick)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

How to make it:

Mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl, then mix together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.  Heat an electric griddle or a griddle on the stove to just under medium heat, grease with oil or butter. Pour batter onto griddle to the size you want your pancakes.  When pancakes start to bubble and get dry on the sides, flip to brown the other side.  Cook until golden brown on both sides.

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Copycat Fiesta Lime Chicken

9 Jan

Fiesta Lime Chicken at Applebee’s is my favorite dish to order there.  A while back when I had gotten a bunch of limes from Bountiful Baskets, I decided I would look up how to make this dish online, and found this recipe.  It really tastes very similar, and with a few tweaks to that recipe, it’s fairly easy to make.   The original recipe uses tequila and liquid smoke, but I omit those 2 ingredients.  Tequila isn’t something I have on hand, and I’m not going to get it just for this recipe.  I grill the chicken, so the liquid smoke isn’t necessary.  If you broil the chicken, you may want to add the liquid smoke to get more of a grilled flavor.  Also, the original recipe makes the Mexi-Ranch sauce from scratch, but I cheat and just mix salsa and ranch dressing together to get the same result.  The first time I made this, I used fresh salsa that I had made, but this time used a jar of salsa from the store.  I did find the multi-colored tortilla strips at the grocery store, but I’m too cheap to buy a small bag of them for $2.99, so I just crumbled regular tortilla chips.  Not as pretty as the restaurant version, but tastes just the same!  Tonight, I served it with Spanish rice and black beans.  Some day I’ll get around to making Spanish rice instead of from a package.

Copycat Fiesta Lime Chicken
Serves 4

What you need:

1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon tequila, optional
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
Crumbled tortilla chips

How to make it:

In a small bowl, combine chicken broth, teriyaki sauce, lime juice, garlic, salt, ginger, and tequila.  Place chicken in a gallon size zipper bag or large baking dish and pour the marinade over chicken.  Fully coat the chicken in the marinade, seal bag or cover the baking dish, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Remove chicken from marinade, and discard any remaining marinade.  Grill chicken until cooked through juices run clear.  Place cooked chicken in a broiler-safe 9×13 baking dish.

Combine ranch dressing and salsa.  Spoon the ranch/salsa mixture over each piece of chicken.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded cheese on each piece of chicken.

Broil on low heat setting for 2 to 3 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

To serve, spread crumbled tortilla chips on each plate, then place a chicken breast onto the chips.

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