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So I was having a conversation with a South African lady I met the other day at a cooking class and we were talking about what type of food we prepare most in our homes.  I told her we like lots of Tex-Mex flavors.  I don't think this could be more true!  Hopefully, my faithful readers, you are not tired of reading about cilantro because here goes...

While menu planing a little while ago, I came across this great looking recipe for rosemary chicken thighs.  They have a fresh rosemary, Dijon mustard, garlic, and honey marinade and are grilled to perfection.  Sounds great, right?  Well, then they had a note about being able to substitute cilantro (or some other herbs) for the rosemary.  Say no more!  I was determined to switch it up to the cilantro because of my love affair with said herb (1. Drew knows all about it and is usually ok with it; 2. yes - I am aware that others are in love with another herb, not me!)

Paired with the chicken recipe was a procedure for sauteeing spinach for a side dish.  We had some Chinese spinach from our CSA box, as well as garlic and leeks.  So I heated up the pan, threw some garlic and the leeks in, and waited a minute or so, then added the spinach.  After the spinach wilted down, I turned off the heat and added salt and pepper.  Great results. 

We had an avocado that was ready, so that got thrown on the plate with the chicken and the spinach.  Easy, simple supper!

Taco Tuesday

OK, seriously there is a pattern forming.  What can I say?  We heart Mexican flavors.  So, for your salivation enjoyment, I bring you Pollos Dorados (from the Ultimate Mexican cookmag - like I said before, purchase it - you will not be sorry).

The recipe is fairly straightforward, but I did change it so here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. oil
1/3 cup chopped onion
can of Rotel tomatoes and chiles
1 cup of shredded cooked chicken (I used a rotisserie)
corn tortillas
Oil for deep frying
Choose your own garnishes (suggestions: cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, onions-green)

Procedure:
1. Start heating the oil for deep frying (You want it to get to 375F before dropping in the food)
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in saute pan over medium heat.  Saute onions until soft.  Add the Rotel (do not drain).  Cook uncovered until most of the liquid evaporates.  Turn off heat.  Stir in chicken to the tomato mixture. 
3.  Warm the tortillas in the microwave (wrapped in damp paper towels) for 20 seconds (2 at a time).  Place a small amount of chicken mixture on one end of the tortilla, roll up and secure with a toothpick.
4.  Place prepared tacos into the heated oil in batches of 3 or 4.  Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.  Remove and place on paper towel lined plate. 

These are very good, if somewhat greasy.  It's good to have something junk foodie every once in a while.  And, hey, we southern woman love us some deep-fried food.

Chick and Champ

Tonight's dinner was one of those easy to throw together kind of meals you need for a Monday night.  In about 30 minutes, dinner was on the table.  It was flavorful and comforting.

The menu: Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Tenders (Cooking Light), with Green Onion Champ (Cooking Light) and green beans.

For the Spicy Honey- Brushed Chicken, I swapped tenders for the recipe-called-for chicken thighs because I got a great deal on tenders this week at the market.  After getting half of my tenders in the rub mixture, I went ahead and cooked some plain ones alongside the ones for the recipe so I can use it for a recipe later in the week.  The only thing I changed about this recipe is the glaze that is brushed on at the last minute.  The glaze calls for honey and apple cider vinegar.  I wanted to kick it up a notch on the spice, so I added about a teaspoon of Siracha to it.  Drew likes his food really spicy, and the results were definitely spicy.  They had a great flavor.  I would definitely do this treatment for chicken tenders again, using alternative spices because it adds lots of flavor without adding any fat!  Gotta love that.  Since they are very figure friendly, we thought we would add a little bit of ranch and buffalo sauce for dipping - a great pairing.

For the uninitiated (as I was before this afternoon), "champ" is an Irish term for buttery mashed potatoes.  This version is very comfort-food pleasing.  For some reason, potatoes are not often on our menu.  We both grew up in household that ate potatoes often, but I still haven't added it to our list of "often" foods.   This might be because that list is incredibly short!  If you get a chance to try this recipe, do.  It is really good and flavorful.  A new cooking technique for me was the addition of green onions to the milk, heating it up and then adding it to the potatoes before mashing.  It infuses the green onion flavor very nicely into the potatoes and could have many applications.

all while waiting for sauce to thicken

Last night's dinner was an adventure.  Let's back up to Monday, when I went to SuperTarget to shop and discovered they had boneless, skinless chicken thighs for a price somewhere around $2.29/lb.  I was pretty sure I could find a better price, so I passed.  Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon.  I go to my go to spot for chicken thighs (Stater Bros.) to discover they don't even have any in the store.  I was bummed because I was tired and wanted to get home and get dinner started.  So I had to go back to SuperTarget.  Imagine the joy this bargain shopper had when I got to the chicken thighs and found they had a $3.00 off coupon on the package!  This bumped the price of the chicken thighs I got to just under $.99/lb.  Oh yea!!!

Well, I got home and got started on dinner.  The recipe from the Southern Living Slow Cooker Cookbook was Sweet Glazed Chicken Thighs.  Putting it all together to put in the slow cooker is speedy; I think I had it together in less than 6 minutes.  So I sat back and relaxed while they got going.  Little did I know the hard part was yet to come.

When the chicken is ready (tested with a thermometer), the recipe states: "Whisk together water and cornstarch in a small bowl; add to sauce in slow cooker, increase heat to HIGH.  Whisk constantly until sauce begins to thicken, about 6 minutes later."  What happened six minutes later?  Besides an arm cramp, absolutely no thickness - none.  So I added more cornstarch...and then a little more....and then, at the 15 minute mark - I gave up.  So we had chicken and rice.  Nothing else.  Sad dinner.  I was even going to get some broccoli going, but my arm hurt!  The saving grace for the recipe is the chicken is really good and tender, if a bit dry. 

Medi-Madness

Tonight's menu was somewhat in the Mediterranean genre.  It included Mediterranean chicken kebabs and a Cauliflower dish with Feta and Tomatoes (both from Christmas with Southern Living 2009).  I will introduce this review by stating a little known fact about me:  I could easily be Greek - I can eat a plate of almost any type of olive in seconds flat and I am sort of obsessed with feta cheese.  I love all things Greek!  I will further introduce this review by stating a (most likely) more well-known fact about Drew: He hates feta cheese and warm olives.  I know both of these things and tonight's menu tells you who won out in my menu plan this time.  They can't all be for Drew, can they?  In my defense, there was something that he does enjoy thrown in there, too.  He has not gone hungry, I assure you. 
With that introduction, here goes the review: 

The kebabs are a good weeknight menu choice for us.  I did not include the bell peppers, because Drew is not a big bell pepper eater.  I also cheated a little on this one by using a bottled Italian dressing to marinade these for 30 minutes, instead of making the marinade.  I do realize that this is the wrong thing to do when reveiwing a recipe, but I was at the store shopping by memory (never a good idea for me - I forgot at least 3 ingredients for this recipe).  The marinade worked and the chicken was very tender.  I grilled these on the George Foreman grill (which hadn't seen use in a while - George was happy to oblige).   

While the chicken was marinating in the fridge, I turned on the oven got some potatoes going.  I used the mandoline discussed just recently, with much better results (thanks, Becky, for the tip). 

Then I got started in the cauliflower dish.  For this recipe, you parboil the cauliflower and then let them hang out in a colander for a few minutes while you get red onion going in a skillet, then you add the cauliflower, the tomatoes and the feta to the mix and heat and serve (garnish with the kalamatas).  It is straight-forward and I enjoyed the results.  This could not be said of Drew, he refused to try it because of the "smell" of the cheese. 

So there, you have it, my small contribution to the enjoyment of all things Greek.  Maybe some day Drew will change his mind about the feta - he doesn't know what he is missing! 

Mavs 121 Rockets 103 - OH YEAH!

Two for one, what a great deal!

So, I have a little problem "working" on the long weekends.  I do enjoy the break.  But I did cook last night and tonight, so I am going to let you in on a little deal: two reviews, one post! 
Last night we had Moroccan-Spiced Apricot Chicken with Couscous from Pampered Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner.  By the way, the dinners are, as promised, less than 29 minutes to cook.  As always, I did a couple of modifications.  For the couscous, I used regular couscous and omitted the almonds and apricots (both Drew and I are disturbed, for the most part, by fruit in savory items).  We are large couscous fans in this house and this was wonderful.  I can take my regular couscous and my Pampered Chef spices and make any flavor combination I desire.  This discovery has made me really happy (it doesn't take much).  The chicken was incredibly flavorful and easy to make.  I made it in one of my pans, instead of pulling out the George Foreman, but had good results.  I really need to get another one of the thermometers that I like.  I am really frustrated not having it, while trying new recipes. 

Somedays, you discover new things about your spouse that you did not know before.   Yesterday, I half-discovered something about Drew.  I cannot call it a full discovery because he would probably say it was not true and it is mainly my conjecture (you will have to read the comment I know he will post).  What was this discovery/conjecture?  Drew does not like dark meat.  There I said it.  He did not like the texture of the chicken.  This led me to question all previous attempts to make chicken thighs (catalogued in my brain), which led to this conclusion:  He prefers it if it is slow cooked or cut up and then cooked.  Both of these are acceptable, but he does not prefer his chicken thigh to be whole and boneless.  You can psycho-analyze him according to your own parameters, I will just be sure to fit within his in the future.

On to tonight...
We had a late dinner, because I went to Ralph's for Triple Coupons before the end of the grocery ad week and saved a really, really good amount of money!!  Then I came home and got started on the Zesty Ravioli Skillet from Pampered Chef's Seasons Best Cookbook.  Quick review: Good flavors.  Like the spinach.  Great for a busy weeknight meal.  Drew says, "it was too pasta-y, not that that is a word."  This review from my husband is to be expected.  We have pasta about once or twice a month, because it is not his favorite.  This is proof that God gives us someone to balance out our weaknesses.  If He gave me a pasta lover, I would be the size of a barn.  If He gave Drew someone else...well, I don't know how I balance him out on that one. I enjoyed my pasta and have some leftovers for lunches.

Mixed Review

So I feel a little bad about this one:
Tonight I made a new recipe (I should stop referring to them as new, from here forward, I will only note an "old" recipe, should one come up) from the Pampered Chef 29 Minutes to Dinner 2 Cookbook.  Usually I am enamored of the simple, quick-cooking, and flavorful recipes.  Tonight's was just...ehhh.  Not great, not inedible.  So the middle ground is good.  Everything I make does not have to be spectacular.  Here's the rundown:
Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken with Lemon Basil Rice.  I did a couple of modifications: switched the rice for orzo (I dressed it with a little extra-virgin olive oil and parmesan) because we have a lot of rice in our week and thought Drew would be a little burned out by week's end. I also cut the recipe almost in half (I had a teeny tiny chicken breast that probably came from a very sad, very young chicken + two normal sized chicken breasts).  The process of making the recipe is very simple. The instructions easy to follow.  I would throw a little pesto into this situation next time to fill out the flavor profile.  Drew said, "I don't like the tomatoes." 
Here's the problem I have with cooking chicken in the oven:  I like my chicken to brown on the outside so that I know it is done.  I need some feedback, chicken.  When you do it in the oven (or in poaching liquid), it remains, sadly, just white enough to trick you into thinking it is done, but pink on the inside.  My solution: cook it for at least 5 more minutes than it says to.  I have never had a problem when doing this - the chicken is still moist, but it is cooked through.  Not that you needed this tip: but this is what I was thinking whilst dining on said chicken.
So, maybe its me, but I don't think this one will make it around again (funny, because very often even the successes don't make it around again).  Sorry Pampered Chef, you will have the opportunity to redeem yourself Thursday night (I know you can do it!).