Sunday, March 21, 2010

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

Posted in by blkris | Edit
Tonight we are having Grilled (actually baked tonight!) Bruschetta Chicken, baked asparagus, garlic bread baguettes and herbed chicken couscous.  YUM!  My friend and I did this chicken recipe for a cooking class and it turned out great!  She cooked it on the grill and in the oven for variety.  The grill is much better, but hey, it was still good in the oven too.  It has lots of flavor and it a healthy way to cook chicken.

Found on Kraft.com


what you need!

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
1/4 cup  KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing, divided
1 tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup  KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

make it!

HEAT grill to medium heat.
COVER half the grill grate with sheet of heavy-duty foil. Place chicken in large resealable plastic bag. Add 2 Tbsp. dressing; seal bag. Turn bag over several times to evenly coat chicken with dressing. Refrigerate 10 min. Remove chicken from bag; discard bag and dressing.
PLACE chicken on uncovered side of grill; cover with lid. Grill 6 min. Meanwhile, combine remaining dressing, tomatoes, cheese and basil.
TURN chicken over; place on foil. Top with tomato mixture. Grill, covered, grill 8 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF).

Baked Asparagus

Posted in , by blkris | Edit
I thought I had posted this already, but came back looking for the recipe and couldn't find it.  So sorry to the people I told to find the recipe on my blog!  I like this recipe for the fact that it is a non-measuring, do it to your liking recipe.  Just throw on the ingredients, pop it in the oven, and there you have it!  A different way to cook asparagus rather than just steaming it.  My Mother -in -law has a recipe like this but it also calls for adding bread crumbs on top to give it some crunch.  Hope you like it!

Handful of asparagus
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese (green tube kind)
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 350.  Place a handful of asparagus (chop off the ends to get rid of the "woody" parts) on a cookie sheet.  Drizzle (now go easy on this or it will get mushy) extra virgin olive oil on top and mix the asparagus around to coat.  Sprinkle salt, pepper and parm. cheese on top.  Cook 10-15 min. depending on how thick the asparagus is.  It is best still a little crunchy and better for you so you don't cook out all the great vitamins.  Enjoy!
Thursday, March 18, 2010

Pot Roast

Posted in by blkris | Edit
My sister made this recipe a couple weeks ago and said it was really good.  Just thought I would post it and hopefully try it sometime soon.  Let me know what you think!

Aaron's Pot Roast
3-5 pound roast (mine was 3.75lb - it feed us, Randall and Sara and their kids and left us a little for leftovers the next night.)
1 can basil and garlic flavored stewed tomatoes
some minced garlic (I did about a spoonful)
1 can beef broth (about 2 cups/bouillon cubes)
onion and carrot on bottom of pot under roast (I did about 1/2 onion and 1/2-3/4 small bag of carrots)
1 packet McCormick's Roast seasoning for crockpot
1 packet onion soup mix
a little soy sauce
salt and pepper
a little worchestershire sauce

Cook on low 10-12 hours in crockpot.
Add red/yellow bell pepper last 20 minutes.  (I forgot to do this last week but it still tasted fine without it.  Nobody noticed.)
I also added 1 stalk of celery cut up to add a little extra juice and flavor. 

The recipe calls for putting red potatoes in with the roast to cook.  I left these out because I didn't have any room to put them in and was afraid it all wouldn't cook if I stuck them in.  So we steamed them and then added them to the juices later to get the flavor.  This made so much yummy gravy too!  Really yummy and really easy!

Bruschetta

Posted in , , , by blkris | Edit
I have wanted to try bruschetta before but have never gotten around to making it until the last couple of weeks.  And I wish I would have made it a long time ago!  It was great!!!  I did my own variation of the recipes I found online though.  Most of them called for fresh basil, olive oil and tomatoes, with a few added ingredients here or there.  I had just made a fresh batch of pesto that same week and decided that since pesto has olive oil and basil in it, I would try that.  So glad I did.  Here is my made up recipe below:

-One long bread baguette
-Pesto (If using frozen pesto from ice cube trays (http://sweettoothqueen.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-pesto.html), use 4 ice cubes worth.  If using bottled pesto, you will need to just eyeball it!)
-1 1/2 tomatoes chopped (something like hot house tomatoes... the round ones)
-shredded parmesean cheese
-Salt and pepper to taste

Slice baguette into 1/2-1 inch slices.  Spread with pesto.  Pop in the oven on broil until warm.  Then add chopped tomatoes and a little parm. cheese on top.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Put back in oven until warm (try not to cook too long so the tomatoes don't get mushy).  Serve warm with soup and/or salad  and a smoothie for a light dinner.  This is also great as an appetizer.  To add a little more substance, add chopped chicken pieces.  Enjoy!

Banana Bread w/ Sour Cream

Posted in , , by blkris | Edit
If you are like me, you buy sour cream for tacos or fajitas, but don't end up using the rest of the container.  Need something to use it for?  Try banana bread.  I know, I know, it will just add to the bread to make it fattier.  Point taken, BUT it tastes oh so good!!  I am a fan of banana bread.  Some people like it, others don't.  To each his own, and that is fine because it means more for the rest of us!  Anyway, back to the recipe... I like this one because even though I add whole wheat flour, it still turns out moist because of the sour cream.  I am sure you can probably substitute for something less fattening like plain yogurt, but I never buy that, so I go with the original version.  Let me know if you try it with yogurt.

PS This is even better with chocolate chips in it :)

Ingredients:
2/3 C. butter (I try to cut down a little each time I make this)
1 1/3 C. sugar (ditto to the above statement.  My norm is about 1 cup)
2 3/4 C. flour (I usually do at least 1 C. whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla (If you are using real Mexican Vanilla like I do, only use 1/2 -3/4 tsp)
1 1/2 C. mashed bananas (If you do add whole wheat flour, add a little more bananas and make it about 1 3/4 C.)
1/2 C. sour cream

Cream butter and sugar.  Add all others.  Mix well.  Grease bread pan, muffin pan, bundt pan, etc.  Cook at 350.  If using a bundt pan, check bread at 1 hour.  If using muffin pan, check at 12-15 min.  If using bread pan, check at about 30 min, but probably cook for about 45-50 min depending on size and how full.  Good luck!