Chicken fingers, Asparagus, and Chipotle Dip

A few weeks ago, I got a new cook book. As I've said previously, I absolutely love to read cook books and use them for inspiration, but I typically do not love to use them when it comes time to cook. One recipe I found, though, changed my mind. There was something about the warning of "if you skip anything or do not follow all of these steps exactly your dish will not turn out" on a baked chicken finger recipe that caught my eye. Could these possibly be so complicated that they warrant that warning? I just had to know. So, I filled in Tim on my meal plan and he requested a dipping sauce for the chicken, and I decided to make some asparagus spears too. With a few tweaks, this meal could be absolutely great! The chicken was really tasty, but we found that dipping it in barbecue sauce was much tastier than the chipotle sauce. Next time I will either do barbecue or buffalo, but I will definitely make these chicken fingers again!

 Chicken Fingers

• 1 pound chicken breast tenders (I bought mine pre-cut, but it would be very simple to just cut up chicken breasts... or leave them whole for that matter).
• about a cup of buttermilk in a shallow dish
• about a cup of panko breadcrumbs in a shallow dish
• salt and pepper
• cooking spray 

First, preheat the oven to 425 with your baking sheet in it. While it's preheating, season the chicken tenders really well with S&P, and then dip in buttermilk. Allow excess to drip off and dip in Panko bread crumbs-- press them on so they stick and then put tenders on a wire rack to sit for a minimum of ten minutes. This is where, in the book, they had a big warning: DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP IF YOU WANT TO LIVE (okay maybe not that severe). After ten minutes, spray tenders all over with cooking spray. Take hot pan from oven and spray it with cooking spray too, and then bake tenders for 22 minutes. Yes, exactly 22. Weird, I know. Anyway, when you take it out, you will have golden brown, crunchy, amazing "fried" chicken tenders.

my go-to asparagus dish

Grilled Asparagus

• Asparagus
• Olive oil
• salt and pepper

Toss asparagus in oil and shake on seasonings. Grill or broil for 6 to 8 minutes depending on thickness of stalks. 

too-spicy chipotle dip

Chipotle Dipping Sauce

•  1 chipotle pepper from a can (I rinsed of the Adobo sauce b/c I don't love that added flavor)
• 3 TBSP mayo 
• zest from 1 orange
• 1/4 cup (? I didn't pay attention) plain yogurt (mine is local AND organic cuz I'm cool like that)
• a couple chopped chives (both in the mix and then for garnish

Put all ingredients into a food processor-- pulse til smooth. Taste and add more yogurt or pepper to achieve desired spicy level and add any other seasonings you see fit. Remember, the longer the dip sits, the spicier it will get. I forgot this little fact and thought "it hardly tastes like pepper" and stupidly added a second one. Three hours later when it was time for dinner, the sauce was so spicy I could barely stand it.

Mini Pizzas: Tomato and Scallion

As much as I love to cook, there is something about the work and love that goes into preparing a meal (or even just a dish) that makes it almost mandatory to share with others. I find it difficult to cook for one, not just because my portion sizes get screwy, but because cooking and eating are communal activities to me.

But, sometimes I have to cook just for myself. Though I occasional indulge in something fancy or try out a new recipe (so I can perfect it before I feed it to my friends) usually I just opt for something quick, easy, and healthy. This is a perfect meal for one-- especially if that one is rushed for time. This could also be an appetizer for a group!

A few weeks ago I had another mini-pizza entry, and now I'm coming back for more! This time I was using up an overripe tomato,basil from my garden, some scallions that were on their last day, and the last bits of goat cheese and parmesan (I used about an oz of each). I mixed and matched these ingredients on two of my favorite little sandwich thins. Then I lightly sprayed them with olive oil and popped them under the broiler until golden and gooey (about five minutes).

Bruschetta three ways

***First off, I need to be better about blogging because this post is a good two weeks late.

Sometimes I am overly proud of myself for creating meal ideas out of thin air. This was one of those days. I had a produce drawer with a half a tomato and a verrrry overripe red pepper, and one of those baguette portions that Panera gives you as a side dish on my counter. And it just came to me!

Tomato: I diced up the tomato and threw it in a dish with a little EVOO and the juice of half a lemon. I added fresh basil (which I always have on hand, but dry would be fine), garlic powder (because I didn't have fresh on hand... embarrassing), a few red pepper flakes and some S&P to taste.

Red Pepper: I sprayed the pepper with cooking spray and then broiled the crap out of it (about 10 minutes a side) until it was almost entirely black. I put it in a baggie to cool, and then used a paper towel to wipe off all of the charred skin and get the seeds out. Then I roughly chopped the flesh and added probably 1/4 tsp of olive oil and some sea salt.

Goat Cheese: this one was tough. I opened a package of goat cheese and dumped it into a ramekin. Whew!

The bread: I sliced it as thin as I could, sprayed lightly with cooking spray, threw on a baking sheet and put it under the broiler after the peppers were done (probably 2-3 minutes?) just until crisp

Goat Cheese + Red Pepper on the left, and Tomato Basil on the right.

Daiquiris.... sorta

Looks so much better than it tastes

The ingredients for a Daiquiri are simple:

• Rum 
• Lime
• Sugar

Making it taste good is a little more complicated. (And I never figured it out). I guess mixing tasty drinks is just going to take some practice! So far I have not been doing so well.

spinach and tomato quesadilla

Monday night, I was a hungry girl. The kind of hungry where I couldn't make decisions, including what to eat for dinner. So I kept putting it off as I ran around the house whining about being starving. And then I went to the grocery store. Disclaimer- I do not under any circumstances recommend going to the grocery store while hungry because you will spend ten times more than usual. Except... I was still so indecisive that I this time I some how did not spend more money than usual. And I came home with ingredients for last night's sweet potato gratin and tonight's fish tacos and still nothing to satiate my crazy hunger. And then out of nowhere, as if my body took over, I was wilting baby spinach leaves with some garlic and a drop or two of EVOO and slicing a tomato and putting them on a corn tortilla with a little bit of sharp cheddar and before my eyes a quesadilla was forming. By even more of a happy accident, I accidentally made it into a crispy quesadilla as the tortilla fried in the tiny bit of oil (smart balance + omega 3) I had in the pan. I topped it with a dollop of greek yogurt and some cilantro (but this wasn't needed)

lousy photo... but I'm honestly surprised I took a photo before I jumped in.

It was delicious. And not just because I was so hungry I'd think anything was delicious. It really was. The veggies were so fresh, and the tiny bit of cheese was so melty against the crisp tortilla. Other bonuses were the fact that it took five whole minutes to make, and it was actually quite healthful.  Yippee.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

A few weeks ago, strawberries were on sale at the store. So, like any rational person, I bought like six times more strawberries than I was capable of eating. At least I was smarter at home-- I washed, chopped, and froze all the little beauties that I knew I wouldn't eat before they went bad. So, I've been sitting here pondering what to make every since.

Enter-- rhubarb season. I wish I had rhubarb growing in my yard. I would be rhubarbing it up like crazy. But, I don't. Instead, I bought really overpriced rhubarb at the store and decided to bake strawberry-rhubarb crumble.

Oh, did I mention that I decided to bake this on a day which had record high heat in Iowa City? Nothing like a 91 degree day in early May that makes you want to turn on your oven (I am an idiot). Anywho-- I used this recipe from smitten kitchen. And... well... I didn't totally love it. The rhubarb never got sweet enough, and the topping tasted too baking powdery to me. I wish I had made rhubarb bread instead and found something else to do with my frozen berries (like a strawberry-banana smoothie, which I wish I had right now).

I'm going to pawn off the rest of the crumble to my step-dad who is definitely the rhubarb nut in the family. Maybe he will see some potential in the dish that I didn't (likely with the help of vanilla ice cream).

Update-- Roman liked it, and even I thought it was okay when accompanied by some ice cream. But still not the best thing I've ever eaten. 

Grilled Chicken, Lemon-scented Asparagus, and Panzanella

Oh my gosh my blog is so messed up. Part blogger maintenance and spontaneous deletions, and part procrastination... but it is taking way longer than I would like to catch up.

So, instead of racking my brain for details about dishes I made two weeks ago, I figure I should jump to what I made last night (5/16/2011) for dinner while it is still fresh!

Grilled Chicken
After a successful marinade for my pork chops this weekend (blog entry will probably appear in a month), I have been on a marinade kick. When I was flipping through a grilling magazine grocery store, I saw the headline "black tea soaked chicken" and thought, "whaaaaat?" Anyway, I was so intrigued, I had to do it.

• 3 boneless, skinless, organic free range chicken breasts (b/c I'm paranoid about chicken)
• 2 scoops of loose English Breakfast tea and two cups boiling water
• whole cloves
• whole peppercorns
• 1 TBSP agave nectar (honey would also work-- but put this in while water is hot)
• worstestecan'tspellit
• olive oil
• salt

First, I made the tea (just left the leaves in) and allowed it to cool to room temperature. I then added the other ingredients minus olive oil and salt. The oil I rubbed directly on the chicken, and then sprinkled it with sea salt. Then, I poured the marinade over the chicken and put it in the fridge for two hours. With chicken marinades, it's usually the longer the better, so if I could do this again, I would probably try to put it on in the morning. Also, I might try pounding out the chicken to thinner, even pieces.
When it was time to grill, I just scraped off most of the tea and cloves and threw the breasts on a pre-heated grill for 12 minutes (turning once).


Lemon-scented Asparagus

Over sharing-- I have never in my life had my pee smell funny after eating Asparagus. I hear people talking about it a lot (which I realize is also weird), but have never experienced it myself. But this weekend I got fresh asparagus (or ass-per-gas as my dad used to call it) from the farmer's market and WHOA. Now I know what everyone else is talking about... and I do NOT like it! I'm going to go back to store-bought asparagus to avoid this horrible plague.

• Asparagus
• Olive oil
• Salt, Pepper to taste
• Lemon juice (could have used zest too but forgot and juiced it first)
• leftover cheese from Panzanella

Toss asparagus in oil (you hardly need any, just keep tossing), S&P, and a bit of juice. Grill for 6-8 minutes. Drizzle more juice and put cheese on to get melty. Eat and enjoy!

Panzanella
Leave it up to the Italians to come up with a salad made out of bread. I haven't had a good panzanella since I was in Rome last, but I for some reason was inspired to make it. Actually I know the reason. I looked at my counter and saw nearly-stale dinner rolls, ripe tomatoes, a red onion, a lemon, and olive oil. And then I looked in my cupboard and saw a bowl to put all of those things in and it was done. Anyway, panzanella is one of those things that allows you to get use out of ingredients you otherwise might throw away. It's different every time based on what you have available, so you should be creative!

• day-old (or more) bread (preferably crusty) cut or torn into bite sized pieces
• tomatoes, diced (I used two yellow and one red)
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• lemon
• olive oil
• S&P
• red pepper
• basil
• capers
• cheese-- I used a combination of parm, romano, and mozarella

Put the bread in a large bowl-- this is where the whole salad will end up. Put the tomatoes in a smaller bowl with a dash of olive oil and a generous amount of salt. Then, wait five minutes and be  amazed at how much juice the tomaters produced. Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the tomatoes and add to the bread, and keep all of the juice.  Put the onion in yet another bowl and cover with juice of half a lemon. Let this sit 5-10 minutes to "pickle" the onions. Then, put the onions (but NOT the juice from the bottom of the bowl-- throw that out b/c it is nasty onion flavored) with the bread. Add basil, capers, black and red pepper, and whatever other flavor you like to bread bowl. To the tomato juice, add more olive oil and the rest of the lemon juice and lighty whisk. Then, pour it over everything in the large bowl and toss. Finally, toss with cheese.

Shaved Asparagus Pizza and Strawberry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad

Shaved Asparagus Pizza

What a disappointment. I think I just had too high of expectations going into this dinner. I saw this recipe on smitten kitchen ages ago and have been drooling over it, and then when my friend Lisa sent me a very similar recipe and sang her own praises, I thought, "I have to try it!" It was definitely something that was outside of Tim's comfort zone, but I was hopeful he would adapt since he likes pizza crust, cheese, and asparagus separately...

Anyway... it was okay at best. I was just really disappointed. I feel like it was bland and the textures creeped me out. But man oh man, is it pretty!

Strawberry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad

• 1 bag baby spinach
• 1.5 TBSP poppyseed dressing (I just use store-bought)
• Sliced strawberries
• chopped pecans
• crumbled chevre goat cheese (about an ounce)

My salad totally stole the show-- It was a little twist on my go-to salad and it is one I will re-create again and again. My rule for salad is to toss it til you think you are done and then toss it three more times. The more you toss, the less dressing you need to use. So, for both Tim and I, I was able to use less than one serving of dressing. The flavor is still there, but the calories and fat are not. Another trick I use, is I first toss just the leaves. Then, I throw on half the mix-ins and toss a few times, and then throw the rest of the mix-ins on top.  For this salad, I only put the goat cheese on top. It was insanely good. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

**Note, I am two weeks behind in blogging, so this post is OLD.

I've been in the mood to bake like crazy lately. I think it was the birthday that got me craving chocolate cake. But more than anything, I just wanted to share goodies with friends at work. Of course, nobody wanted to touch my goodies (baked or otherwise) while I was sick, so I'm a week late in preparing any treats.

So, in hopes of having a happy Monday at work, I made some chocolate cupcakes today.

I'm bad at decorating so I just covered 'em in sprinkles!

Chocolate Cupcakes
***Okay, since I started this post on May 1st, and now it's May 17th, I don't remember where I got the cupcake recipe. But, it had a cup of buttermilk in it and man were the cupcakes delicious... though they dried out a bit after only one day!



Vanilla Frosting
"That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had"
Oh man. That REALLY WAS the best frosting I've ever had. Don't be scared of the flour goop-- it is incredible. It's light (in flavor, not in calories), and delicious, and despite people's comments on the Tasty Kitchen recipe, I found that the consistency stayed really great over time. The only thing I did differently is I used 1% milk, and I used superfine sugar. I actually hoarded the extra frosting and ate it on strawberries, graham crackers, and my finger (I'm not ashamed) until it was gone. YUM.

Watermelon Margarita

Few things represent the carefree feeling of summer more than a sunny patio and a cold margarita. So,  the mere presence of the sun over the last few weeks has made me crave my good friends tequila and lime. And, in the spirit of using other summery ingredients and my fancy juicer (see Sangria post), I searched through some recipes and found one for --- wait for it--- WATERMELON MARGARITAS. This seemed too good to be true. And well, it was. I am so disappointed. No matter how much watermelon I put in (I think I was supposed to use a 1:1 ratio with the tequila, and I ended up with a 5:1 ratio) I still couldn't actually taste the watermelon. In fact, it just tasted like straight tequila. The one saving grace is that it LOOKED fabulous. I think I might try using watermelon again, but instead of juicing it, I will just throw the flesh into the blender. Also, it might be suited for sweeter drinks (like a mojito?) instead.

• Watermelon juice
• Tequila
• Orange Liqueor
• Lime juice
• Agave nectar (if needed)

Combine and pour over ice. Garnish with watermelon slice or lime wedge.

Tropical Sangria-- Royal Wedding Style

Somewhere inside of me lives a tiny girl who likes to believe in fairytales. Well, that girl came out to play on April 29th-- that is, the Royal Wedding day. While I vowed not to be one of those people who stayed up all night, I thought that DVR-ing the event seemed like perfectly acceptable behavior for a mature 28 year old woman. (Forget the fact that I woke up at 4 to make sure it was recording, and then stayed in bed for an hour at 7 waiting for the first kiss). What seemed even more acceptable was to share this event with other mature 20 something women. If everyone was watching and interested, then it couldn't possibly be silly or childish to be excited about this, right?

Anyway, I hosted a casual affair, and while I originally thought of making a British meal, when my friend Lisa offered to make so-good-you-won't-care-you-gained-five-pounds mac and cheese, I quickly accepted. And my friend Mandy brought strawberry margarita pie which was just as glorious as it sounds. So, I decided to be completely lazy and provide a beverage. My dad gave me an awesome juicer for Christmas, and I was looking through the recipes that came with it and decided to make Tropical Sangria. It was surprisingly delicious. It was very light, and sweet but not sugary. I think the canteloupe was the most interesting part. Though the flavor is recognizable, it is so unique to drink it instead of eat it.

• 1 bottle white wine -- mine was actually peach wine that my sister got me in Georgia. I liked the peach flavor so much that I think I would include peach juice if I ever made this again with other wine. 
• a few shots of brandy (this is optional, and I didn't include it since nobody was really interested in drinking too much)
• juice of 1/2 canteloupe
• juice of 1/2 orange (slice other half for garnish)
• juice of 1/2 apple (slice other half for garnish)

Combine ingredients in a pitcher and serve over ice.

Salmon Patties-- all grown up!

Growing up, we had salmon patties in the house probably twice a month. They were one of the first dishes I prepared on my own, actually! Salmon patties always consisted of a can of salmon (you know, with the bones that you can crush with a fork and add calcium to your meal?), whatever variety of onion was on hand, some celery, egg, and breadcrumbs or crackers. When I saw Ina Garten on tv making salmon patties with  fresh salmon, I felt like my eyes were open for the first time. I couldn't wait to try the new grown-up, all fresh ingredients version of my childhood favorite!

Salmon Patty (on a bun)

Salmon Patties- adapted from Ina Garten's Salmon Cakes 

• 1 salmon fillet (around 1/3 lb)
• olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 rounded teaspoon capers
• 1/4 cup (or maybe a bit more) fresh parsley, rough chopped
• dash tobasco
• 1 teaspoon (or so) worcest-that-thing-I-can't-spell
• toasted bread crumbs (mine are home made)
• 1 TBSP dijon mustard
• 2 TBSP mayonnaise (NOT miracle whip.)
• 1 XL egg  

First, you cook up the salmon in the oven or on the grill (mine was grilled) and then let cool completely. So, if it's not entirely obvious, salmon patties are a fantastic use of leftover salmon! Okay, anyway, throw everything from olive oil to Worcestershire sauce into a saute pan and let it cook til the veggies soften. Then, allow THAT to cool.

Once everything is cooled, flake up the salmon with a fork and add to the veggies. Then add mayo, dijon, and an egg. I like to keep bread crumbs til last so I can add the exact right amount. They should even out all the liquidy stuff that you added and make it possible to form this mess of ingredients into little patties.

I formed cakes using a 1/2 cup measuring cup. My ingredient list made exactly six patties of this size. I typically would make them smaller, but Timmy has an affinity for sandwiches so I tried to make them the size of the buns I had on hand. You can just form them and immediately drop them into a hot skillet, or you can put them in the fridge until you are ready.

Salmon Patty Fail

Add a touch of oil to the pan if it's not no-stick, and heat over med-high heat. Then drop in as many patties as can comfortably fit. Cook time is around 6 minutes, flipping half way through, but this will definitely change depending on how big and thick your patties are.

I had one pan of disaster patties that I tried to flip too early and they completely stuck. But, the second pan-ful turned out great. These were definitely different to the salmon patties I grew up with. I liked using fresh ingredients and having the colorful bits of peppers in them, but in the future I think I'd like a greater salmon-to-stuff ratio.

Typically, my mom would serve peas as a side dish to salmon patties. While I love peas, my dinner guest for the evening does not. So instead, I made frozen green beans on the grill (foil packet + 1 TBSP smart balance + salt and pepper), and some taters.

Parmesan Chive Mashed Potatoes

• 5 B-sized red potatoes, skins on
• 1 TBSP smart balance
• 3 TBSP plain yogurt
• 3 TBSP finely shredded parmesan
• 1 TBSP chopped chives

I boiled the crap out of the potatoes-- side note, I have a hell of a time with getting potatoes to be done at the same time as the rest of the meal. They always take longer than recipes suggest and completely infuriate me. So, the way I make mashed potatoes work is that I boil them way longer than they will need. Once they are fork tender I turn the pot on low until I'm ready to drain and mash. It's not an idea solution, but it works for me.

Anyway, once they were drained, I put the "butter" in the pan and threw the potatoes back on top. Then I threw in the rest of the ingredients and mashed away, and garnished with some more chives.

These were surprisingly delicious. I love Parmesan in all of its salty, nutty glory. The flavor was subtle but definitely came out in this dish. I will definitely repeat it, as it's pretty healthy too!