Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Tomato, Olive, and Feta Relish




I've been making this chicken recipe for a few years now. I found it on Epicurious.com and it's a great recipe for the warmer months. I think it is very fresh tasting and a little different twist on chicken. The topping can be eaten as a dip with chips too - yummy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes (about 10 oz)
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
4 large skinless boneless chicken breasts (we use two but keep the rest of the ingredients the same)
Directions:

Mix cherry tomatoes, olives, 2 tablespoons olive oil, mint, and vinegar in medium bowl. Gently stir in feta cheese. Season with salt & pepper.



Prepare grill to medium high heat. Brush chicken on both sides with remaining olive oil. Sprinkle with salt & pepper (I would recommend seasoning a little more than just salt & pepper.) Grill chicken until cooked through, about 7 minutes per side. Transfer chicken o plate and slice if desired. Top with relish and serve.



I just served the chicken breasts whole and top with the relish.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Fruit Pizza



I should have put the cookie on a pretty plate for presentation purposes. But, I didn't - sorry! :)

We had some friends over for dinner the other night and the weather was just beautiful. It had gotten above 75 degrees that day so we decided to grill out. I wanted a light dessert - nothing too heavy - and I stumbled across this recipe on allrecipes.com and combined it with another recipe I found on grouprecipes.com We all really liked this dessert recipe. It's definitely one that you can play with and one I'll make again! You can make your own cookie recipe and add whatever fruits you like. Have fun with it! As I was eating it I thought this would be great for a 4th of July dessert!

Ingredients:
1 tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 package softened cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla
7 ounces marshmallow cream or fluff
fresh fruit of your choice
I used, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries & blackberries

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the tube of cookies into 1/4 inch slices and lay them, sides touching, on a round pizza pan. I put a piece of parchment paper on the pan first to help get the cookie off. Pat the cookies together once they are all in the pan, pressing so that there are no open spaces in the bottom of the pan.



Bake cookie crust just until it barely begins to brown on the edges, being sure not to over-bake it. Mine cooked for about 10 minutes I think. Cool baked cookie crust completely.



Mix together softened cream cheese, vanilla and marshmallow creme and spread over the cookie crust. (I eyeballed the fluff instead of measuring 7 oz out. I had a large container and that stuff is super sticky! I just mixed and tasted until it had the flavor I wanted.)

I cut the cookie then to make it easier than trying to cut through the fruit as well.



Layer whatever fruits you have chosen over the top of cream cheese layer.



Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Corned Beef & Cabbage



(Not the most photogenic meal in the world!)

I made corned beef & cabbage on Sunday for dinner. Jordan will be out of town for St. Patty's Day so we enjoyed a nice Irish meal a few days early. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it turned out very nicely. I made a few changes to this recipe based on some of the reviews I read. I thought it was good - and Jordan had 3 helpings so I am assuming he liked it too! :)

Ingredients:

3 pounds corned beef brisket with spice packet
10 small red potatoes (I used about 6 because they were so big. I also quartered mine)
5 carrots, peeled and julienned (I used about half a bag of baby carrots)
1 large head cabbage, cut into small wedges
1 bottle of beer (I used Magic Hat's #9)
3 large cloves of minced garlic
1 onion
12 whole black peppers

Directions:

Place corned beef in large pot or Dutch oven and pour in the bottle of beer. Cover the rest with water. Add the spice packet that came with the corned beef along with the garlic & black whole peppers. You'll need to cook for about 50 minutes per pound. I cooked mine for about 2.5 - 3 hours.



Cover pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. When you have about an hour left, add in the potatoes, onion & carrots. Cook until the vegetables are almost tender - about 30-40 minutes. Add cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes or until tender.



Place vegetables in a bowl.



Remove meat and let rest 15 minutes. (Mine only rested for about 5 minutes) Slice meat across the grain. Serve with horseradish or mustard.

Hope you have a great St. Patrick's Day ~ whatever you eat for dinner!



Enjoy!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Homemade Play Dough



I know this isn't a food recipe, but you still need to cook it on the stove! Doesn't that count? ;) If you have children or teach definitely give this recipe a try!

This is by far my favorite play dough recipe. I started using this recipe when I first started teaching and just stuck with it! It will last a really long time if you keep it sealed in a zip lock bag. I made some at the end of November and I am just now throwing it away and replacing it with some new stuff. Of course, I only have one child so if you are making this for a school or more children it won't last as long. When I was teaching I replaced our play dough monthly.

I also like this recipe because it has kool-aid in it which gives the play dough a nice smell. Most homemade play dough smells kind of nasty to me. :)

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 Tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup salt
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 package of kool-aid & food coloring of your choice

Directions:
Stir together flour, cream of tartar and salt. Combine water with oil, food coloring and kool-aid packet. Since I was using cherry kool-aid this time I added 5 drops of red food coloring to the water mixture. The kool-aid gives the play dough a nice smell and some color but with all that white flour a little more color is needed.

Mix in all the ingredients and cook over medium heat.



Stir until the mixture can no longer be stirred.



It will get lumpy; stir until it turns into a ball and starts pulling away from the sides of the pan.



Remove to a plastic mat (I just use my counter) and knead.



Let it cool and keep in an airtight container. I find zip lock bags work the best.



Have fun playing, releasing stress & working on building those fine motor skills!

On a side note, the cream of tartar is what really makes the play dough soft and last longer. Don't skimp on it as it won't turn out the same.