First recipe!

SAVORY GRILLED CHICKEN WITH SESAME HONEY BUTTER

Back by popular demand! Our sesame honey butter tops our all natural chicken breasts marinated in a scrumptious blend of sweet sesame, ginger and garlic for a punch of flavor. This moist golden brown chicken is ready in just 15 minutes and is bursting with flavor.


So, when you get through the fancy terms you see sesame honey butter on top of chicken breast that was marinaded in a sesame, ginger and garlic sauce. Pshaw, easy!

Here is a recipe for the chicken.

4 boneless & skinless chicken breasts
3 garlic cloves peeled & crushed
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 Tbsp fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
4 medium green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
4-6 sprigs fresh cilantro, rinsed and dried
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)


Combine the soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, honey, ginger, onions, sesame oil and optional sesame seeds to make a marinade. Pour the marinade into a large plastic zipper baggie. Add the chicken breasts to the baggie, squeeze out the excess air and seal. Transfer the baggie to the refrigerator and allow the chicken to marinate for 3 to 4 hours.


Prepare a grill or grill pan by spraying with a bit of canola cooking spray, then get it very hot. Pick the cilantro leaves off the stems and set aside. Remove chicken from the marinade. Broil or grill 3 to 4 minutes per side, until it is tender and fully cooked. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve.

Here is the recipe for the butter.

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil*
3 teaspoons lightly toasted sesame seeds† (or a mix of black and white sesame seeds)
*Use toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds to bump up the sesame flavor.

†To toast sesame seeds, place seeds in a single layer on an ungreased, shallow pan. Bake at 350°F for 5 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to cool.

Preparation

Place the butter in a medium mixing bowl and, with an electric mixer (fitted with the paddle) or wooden spoon, beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides.
Add the honey, sesame oil and sesame seeds and beat to incorporate, scraping down the sides. Taste for salt.
Scrape into a small bowl, serving crock or butter molds and cover tightly; or shape into a long roll in grease-proof paper (plastic, wax or parchment) for storing and slicing as needed.


Ok, don't let the times listed on the sites freak you out. If you're planning your menu for the week and doing prep ahead of time, you can prepare the marinade and put it in a baggie with the chicken ahead of time. It can hang out in the marinade in the freezer and then when it's thawing. The butter is super easy to make, but if you're going for a lighter dish, you can easily leave it off. I'm going to be trying this in the next few days to test out the recipes.

A thought on where to take the blog

A friend of mine had told me that this local business that supplies food for dinner was a great value. I trusted her opinion and we placed an order for carne asada and something they called "Pacific Rim chicken". We paid $40 for it and when I saw how much we got, I was upset. It was barely enough for dinner and a lunch leftover in both bags. The beef was sliced, making it hard to grill (even though that was the method of cooking they recommended), they were really heavy handed with the cilantro and the tortillas they provided were awful. The fact that the beef was sliced in the manner it was told me that the beef they used was a cheaper cut of meat, so they cut it for their customers to make sure no one cut it wrong (because cutting skirt steak, flank steak, and cuts of that nature the wrong way makes it really chewy.) It was $20 for just marinaded meat and bad tortillas. I was peeved to say the least.

I gave them one last chance with the Pacific Rim chicken. Pacific Rim chicken is not good! It tasted like teriyaki chicken, which to be quite honest is a breeze to make simply (Kikkoman teriyaki, the runny kind, in a baggie with chicken for 30 minutes, then cook, all done!) The sugar content in the marinade was through the roof, and to cook the chicken until it was done (ie, so it was safe for consumption!) it burned the crap out of a nonstick skillet I had. Notice, I said HAD! After a week of soaking, scrubbing, and bitching, I finally threw it away.


Needless to say, I'm not going back to this place. I can get marinaded meat anywhere around town for a fraction of the cost of what I paid at this place. A lot of places offer free marinades for meat you buy, and it's really not that hard to whip up a marinade. Maybe it was my fault for picking 2 things that were seriously simple to make, but if you can't do simple properly, then you have issues.

I've looked at the different menus of businesses that are of the same model (come pick up premade freezer meals and/or make them yourself) and I have to say that a lot of the dishes are super simple to make, or would take a few minutes on google to find a good recipe that would work for you. I've made copies of these menus for myself (not naming any names!) and I'm going to share recipes on how to make them yourself. Save yourself some money! Get comfortable in the kitchen!

Red snapper baked Alaska style and Vichy carrots

Here is the recipe for the snapper.

2 tablespoons butter
2 pounds red snapper fillets
salt and white pepper to taste
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
3 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spread butter into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange fish fillets in a single layer over the bottom of the pan, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for about 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Meanwhile, whip egg whites in a clean dry bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in the parsley, mustard and tarragon. Spread the egg white mixture over the fish in a layer about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top.

Return to the oven, and bake for about 6 more minutes, or until meringue is golden, and fish flakes with a fork.

Here is the recipe for the carrots.

2 pounds carrots
4 tablespoons butter
Kosher salt
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
Handful chopped fresh parsley sprigs

Slice the carrots into coins. Put them in a saute pan with the butter, salt, sugar, and 1 cup water. Cook, tossing occasionally, until the carrots are tender and the liquid has reduced to a glaze. Scatter over the parsley, and serve.

Ok, where do I begin in this review? Well, the carrots, basically, waste of butter. Seriously. The recipe just wasn't good and it left a residue on my plate that was unappealing. The fish was interesting, but Kevin hated the meringue on top. The girls were stealing it, so it might be a fun way to make eggs for the girls in the future, but I won't be trotting out this dish again.

Update time!

I didn't get a picture on Sunday but I'm down almost 3 lbs, so yay! I've been going to the gym and working out on the elliptical every day this week for an hour, except for today. I was just feeling blah and didn't want to do much of anything. Oddly enough, last week I felt the same way on Thursday. Hopefully next Thursday I won't be feeling blah too.

Last night I made a very tasty spiced shrimp recipe which was so simple! The recipe also had a papaya salsa that went with it, but Emily is the only one in our family that likes papaya, and she wouldn't be eating spicy shrimp anyway, so it seemed like a waste of money to make that part of the recipe. I got the recipe from an old Weight Watchers recipe book, but I figured even if things had changed, it's still a good recipe because it's shrimp and spices, nothing else (except some Pam.)

Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried thyme (I used ground because that's what I have)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne (I used 1/4 tsp chipotle peppers and it was spicy!)
1 1/4 lbs large shrimp, peeled (tails left on) and deveined (I took the tails off)
(I left this out, but I'm including it in case it sounds tasty to you!)
2 cubes cubed papaya
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 lime, peeled and diced

Spray a grill basket or the broiler rack with canola oil nonstick spray; prepare the grill or preheat the broiler. Combine the paprika, thyme, salt, pepper, and cayenne in a zip-close plastic bag; add the shrimp. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag; shake to coat the shrimp.

Meanwhile, combine the papaya, scallions, and lime in a small bowl; set aside.

Grill the shrimp in the basket or broil the shrimp 6 inches from the heat until just opaque in the center, about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with salsa on the side.

I didn't use my broiler, I just did it in a frying pan. I was using cooked shrimp, so 2 minutes in the skillet was enough. I served it with rice, peas, and a salad. The shrimp was a 2 pound bag, so I split it and made some with garlic salt for the girls, they are very anti spicy!



Best of all, there's leftovers!

Amazing tip I just got from Daisy Cooks!

When making things with clams, put them in salt water with some corn meal in it. She said that the clams will eat the corn meal and spit out the sand, so you don't have sand in your dish. This is a pet peeve of mine, so I'm definitely going to try this in the future!

Moroccan chicken

I love trying new dishes (obviously!) and this one seemed like a nice stewed chicken dish with lots of sauce to put over tasty couscous. If you haven't tried couscous yet, it's super simple to make. You can buy it by the ounce at Sprouts for very cheap, and it's quick to make. You use 1 part couscous and 2 parts of water/stock/broth. You bring boil the liquid, add the couscous, make sure it's all in the liquid, turn off the heat, put the cover on, and leave it alone for 5 minutes. You can then fluff it with a fork and it's good to go. It's great for a quick snack or a side dish when you realize that you forgot to make something (or the kids are still hungry!) It's one of the best grain dishes to use, containing protein and more vitamins than pasta and rice.

Here is the recipe.

4 chicken leg quarters, skinned
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
2 medium carrots, cut into chunks
1 cup canned chick-peas, drained
1/2 cup golden raisin
2 cinnamon sticks
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
5 cups water
2 medium zucchini, cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups couscous

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, place olive oil over high heat. Add chicken and cook about 10 minutes, turning to brown on all sides.

Stir in onion, garlic, ginger, carrots, chickpeas, raisins, cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, and water. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile make couscous according to directions on package and divide among 4 serving bowls and set aside.

Stir in zucchini to the chicken in the pot, and cook about 10 minutes more. Remove cinnamon sticks and add salt and pepper. Serve chicken over the couscous with sauce spooned over.

I made some changes to this dish. I knew my husband wouldn't eat it if it had raisins in it, so those weren't added. The chicken leg quarters didn't thaw in time, so we ran to the store and got some chicken thighs to use instead (because we couldn't find chicken leg quarters.) I pretty much did the rest of the recipe as it's written, using my vegetable bouillon to make the couscous (seriously, make the bouillon, there are so many applications for it, and it's nice to have in the freezer when you need stock or broth and realize you have none!)

Here is a picture of it:


The changes that I would make in the future would be to leave the zucchini and chickpeas out (per the hubby's request), and use boneless skinless chicken breast, so that we don't have to worry about skin sticking to my pan! Other than that, it's a tasty dish. My 5 year old loved it, and my 2 year old ate it without complaining, so win for me!

Tasty steak marinade

At the beginning of September I went to a bunch of the stores having meat sales and stocked up. I think I spent about $150 and got a month's worth of meat hanging out in my chest freezer (which is full, yay!) I was looking for different ways to make the meat, even though the hubby would love it if we just grilled it with some spices and served it with rice and a vegetable. I'm not down with that! I found this recipe and I used it on a ribeye (because Kevin didn't want to dig around to get the sirloin!) He was worried he wouldn't like the steak, so he took out 2 and asked me to only marinade one. Sure, no problem, but you're seasoning the other steak. I followed this recipe for the marinade and it was super tasty.

1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
2 (5 ounce) boneless beef sirloin steaks
3 green onions, sliced

In a blender, combine the honey, soy sauce, oil, vinegar, garlic and pepper; cover and process until blended. Pour 1/3 cup marinade into a large resealable plastic bag; add steaks and onions. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours. Cover and refrigerate remaining marinade for basting.

Coat grill rack with nonstick cooking spray before starting the grill. Drain and discard marinade. Grill steaks until they're done to your liking.

I used my indoor grill for this, and it doesn't have a cover, so I couldn't follow the recipe exactly, and I didn't baste it, but that wasn't an issue because it was juicy and flavorful!

Here's a picture of the steaks. Top is not marinaded, bottom is.


The best part is that Kevin liked the marinade! The simple seasoned and grilled steak was forgotten, poor thing. He ate it for lunch later in the week (as did we, we're really trying to focus on our portion sizes, so most of the time a single steak will be a meal for the 4 of us.) The marinade really helped get those lovely grill marks that people look for, more so than the simple seasoned one.