Baked Chicken, Stuffing and Corn

4 servings

4 chicken breasts
1 box of Stove Top stuffing
1 ½ cup of hot water
1 can of mushroom soup
1 large carrot, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
½ yellow onion, diced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced
1 can of corn
Sea Salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, add stuffing and mix with water. Set aside.

In a medium frying pan, sauté carrots, celery, onion, garlic and parsley until veggies are tender. Add veggies to bowl with stuffing; mix well.

In a casserole dish, lay chicken across bottom; season with salt and pepper. Cover with mushroom soup and top with stuffing. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through. Bake uncover for the last 5 minutes to allow stuffing to get crispy.

Serve chicken and stuffing with a side of corn.

Broccoli Potato Soup

1/2 onions, chopped

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

2 potatoes, diced
1 large broccoli head, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
½ sour cream
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

In a large pot over med-high heat, combine onions, broth, potatoes, and broccoli and cook until vegetables are tender.

Puree mixture in a blender until creamy. Add most of sour cream, saving a spoonful. Puree again until blended together.

Swirl a dollop of sour cream into the soup and serve.

Clam Chowder in Sourdough Bread Bowls

2 strips of smoked apple wood bacon, diced

3/4 cup chopped onion

2 tsp fresh thyme, minced
2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup water
1 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2-3 ribs of celery
3/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 Tbsp butter
2 (6 ounce) can minced clams (1 drained, save the juice of one)
2 small sourdough bread bowls

In a frying pan over med-high heat, cook diced bacon until crispy. Add onions, celery, thyme, rosemary and garlic; cook 5 minutes. Stir in water and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.

Pour in half-and-half and butter. Drain clams, reserving clam liquid from one can; stir clams and 1/2 of the clam liquid into the soup. Cook until heated through. Do not allow to boil.

Cut tops off bread and scoop out insides. Be careful not to puncture bottom or sides of bowl.

Serve chowder in bread bowls and season with Tabasco and more pepper, if desired.

Grilled Halibut with Crab Fettuccine

2 halibut filets

Juice from ½ a lemon

EVOO
1 tsp fresh parsley, minced
Salt
Freshly cracked pepper
½ cup of imitation crab, chopped
Fettuccine
1 ½ cup of Cream Sauce (pre jarred from the store)
1 Tbsp red bell pepper, minced
Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Marinate halibut in lemon juice, a drizzle of EVOO, parsley, salt and pepper for about 30 minutes.

Grill halibut over medium high heat, about 10 minutes, flipping half way through.

Cook fettuccine according to package directions. Drain. Over the stove top in the same pot used to boil pasta, add cream sauce and crab. Heat crab all the way through. Add pasta and toss.

Serve halibut with pasta. Sprinkle pasta with parmesan and red bell pepper.

Zucchini Fritters

3 medium zucchini
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
1/4 cup onion, minced
1/2 egg, beaten (only use half of one egg, unless too dry then add more)
½ tsp fresh parsley, minced
½ tsp fresh rosemary, minced
½ tsp fresh thyme, minced
1 small garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
EVOO

Grate zucchini into a medium mixing bowl. Press moisture out of grated zucchini by squeezing between paper towels.

In a medium bowl, combine grated zucchini with the next 10 ingredients. If the mixture is too wet, add more bread crumbs. If the mixture is too dry, add the rest of the egg. Shape mixture into patties.

In a large skillet, heat EVOO over medium heat. Cook patties 3 to 4 minutes per side, until crispy and browned.

Serve with ranch, marinara sauce or left-over crab salad from the Crab Cucumber Cup recipe.

Crab Cucumber Cups

Sticking with my festive red and green theme, I made these tasty little guys for a friend’s New Year’s Eve party.

Makes about 10

English cucumber, cut in 1 inch slices
1/2 cup crabmeat, chopped
zest from 1 lime
Juice from ½ lime
1 green onion stalk, sliced fine
½ medium red bell pepper, finely diced
1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
1 tsp fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, minced
Salt & Pepper, to taste
EVOO

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients (except cucumbers), drizzle with EVOO and mix well. Set aside.

Scoop out centers of cucumber slices using a melon baller, creating little cups. Season cups with salt. Fill each cup with crab mixture.

Enjoy bringing in the new year with these tasty and beautiful little guys!

Brick Pressed Cornish Game Hen

My stepdad made this dish for us during one of their last visits. My husband and I spoke about this delicious dish often, so I thought we'd try it ourselves. Cooking the hen under a brick creates a nice, crispy skin, while the meat stays juicy and moist.

Salmon with Sun Dried Tomato Rice Pilaf

Around Christmas time, I like to cook with ingredients that are red and green. This is how I was inspired to make this rice pilaf.

2 salmon filets
Lemon pepper seasoning
1 cup of white, long grained basmati rice
2 cups of water
3 Tbsp dried mushrooms, chopped
2 Tbsp sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 green onion stalk, chopped
1 Tbsp of red pepper and artichoke bruschetta, jarred
Juice from ½ a lemon
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
Sea salt
EVOO

In a rice cooker, add rice, water, a drizzle of EVOO and mushrooms. Cook until almost done and then mix in sun dried tomatoes, green onions and bruschetta. When finished, season with salt, to taste.

In a medium sauté pan, heat EVOO over med-high heat. Season salmon with lemon pepper seasoning and salt. Skin side down, cook salmon for about 5 minutes. Flip fish, turn heat to low, remove skin from other side and drizzle with lemon juice. Cover and cook for a few more minutes, until fish is no longer pink in the middle and flakes easily. Remove from pan.

Add zucchini slices to the same pan and turn heat to high. Sauté zucchini until tender, about 2-3 minutes.

Make a little bed of zucchini slices and top with salmon. Serve with rice.

Grilled Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Mash and Green Beans

2-4 thin, boneless pork chops
1 large sweet potato
3 tsp butter
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
2 large garlic cloves, minced, split
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
1-2 handfuls of fresh green beans, ends trimmed
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1/2 lemon
½ onion, sliced
EVOO

Peel and cube sweet potato. Steam potato until fork tender, about 15 minutes. Drain water from pot. In the same pot over medium heat, add cream, butter and one garlic clove. Stir until butter melts, allowing garlic to cook a little. Remove from heat. Add sweet potatoes and mash together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a medium frying pan, heat EVOO over medium high heat. Season pork with salt, pepper and sprinkle with half of lemon zest. Sear pork, browning both sides. Turn down heat, sprinkle with lemon juice and cook until no longer pink in the middle. Cooking time depends on thickness of chops. Remove pork from pan and sauté onion, scrapping up bits of pork.

In another frying pan over high heat, sauté one garlic in EVOO. Add green beans. Toss in EVOO and garlic. Sprinkle with the rest of lemon zest. Cover and cook until beans are soft to your liking.

Pate pork with sweet potato mash and green beans. Top with sautéed onions.

Chicken Mushroom Stroganoff

1 lb chicken tenders, cut in half or thirds
1 package of McCormick’s beef stroganoff seasoning
1 cup of water
1 cup sour cream
2 large fresh white mushrooms, chopped
¼ cup of dried mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt
Freshly cracked pepper
Freshly minced parsley, for garnish
EVOO

In a medium pan, heat EVOO over med-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook chicken for about 7 minutes, until all sides are browned. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add fresh white mushrooms and garlic. Sauté until mushrooms are soft. Mix in water, dried mushrooms and stroganoff seasoning, bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover and for about 15-20 minutes. If the sauce is too thick, whisk in more water.

Add mixture to blender and puree until smooth. Add mixture back to pan with chicken and add sour cream. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles or nice. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Fresh Juice

I wanted to use up some fresh fruits and veggies before we went out of town, so I decided to put them through the juicer and came up with this yummy concoction.

1 pear, cored
2 ½ apples, cored
1 ½ handfuls of baby carrots
2 small Meyer lemons, peeled
1 bunch of mint

Put everything through the juicer and enjoy!

Holiday Bark

9 oz white chocolate chips
9 oz milk chocolate chips
3 oz dried cranberry
½ pecans, chopped

In a double-boiler over hot water, melt white chocolate chips. Pour melted white chocolate onto a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil. Sprinkle pecans over chocolate and lightly press the nuts into the chocolate.

Melt the milk chocolate chips in the double-boiler. Drizzle the milk chocolate over the white chocolate and pecans. Sprinkle with cranberries and any extra pecans; lightly press into the chocolate.

Let cool in the fridge for 30 minutes or until chocolate is hard. Break into bite sized pieces.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls

We're going to Chicago next week and I wanted to bring some home-made treats to celebrate the holidays with. The Rice Krispies and chunky peanut butter gives these balls a delicious crunch!

Broccoli Potato Soup

This week I’m cleaning out the fridge from our Christmas party last Saturday. We’ll be gone next week and I want to eat up all the food before it goes bad. This is what I made from the broccoli and sour cream I had.

Shrimp and Asparagus with Pesto Totillinis

This is a quick, easy and elegant meal.

Broccoli Salad

Pretty and Tasty

In the kitchen with my brother

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Meatballs with Angel Hair Pasta

Grilled Chicken with Rice Pilaf and Asparagus

I've never tried nuts in a rice pilaf but it really makes the dish. It adds a tasty crunch and delicious nutty flavor.

Serves 2

2 chicken breasts

Grill seasoning

1 cup of basmati rice

2 cups of chicken broth

1/4 cup pecans, or walnuts, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 Tbsp parsley, minced
S&P to taste
EVOO

about 10 asparagus spears

In a medium sauce pan, sauté nuts until fragrant. Remove from pan and set aside. Add EVOO to pan and toast rice until slightly browned. Add toasted rice and chicken broth to rice cooker and cook until done. In the same pan, add more EVOO if necessary, add carrots, zucchini and garlic. Sauté until veggies are tender. When rice is done, mix in veggies, parsley and S&P.

Season chicken with grill seasoning. Grill chicken over medium heat until cooked all the way through and no longer pink in the middle.

Steam asparagus until tender.

Serve chicken with rice pilaf and asparagus.

Veggie Soup

Soup mix: lentils, barley, ABC pasta



Sauté veggies



Serve with warm, crusty bread

Herb Turkey Patties with Sauteed Leeks and Potatoes