Spicy Strawberry Chicken- I'm not crazy!!!

The ingredient s in the marinade made my husband turn his nose up, but when he tasted it he was very surprised!  A spicy, strawberry chicken was for supper this evening and I was even surprised at how well my latest recipe turned out.  It is a spicy dish, but doesn’t burn your mouth.  The meal is a sweet and spicy chicken leaving you wishing for more.

The marinade was very easy to make.  Two heaping tablespoons of strawberry jelly, a diced jalapeño, and Worcestershire sauce.  Put enough Worcestershire sauce in to make the marinade just a tad runny.  On the chicken add a dash of cayenne pepper and garlic to both sides.  I put the marinade on the chicken for about an hour, but next I will do it a little longer. 

I cooked the chicken on medium high and browned both sides (about 4 minutes each). Don’t forget to add the left over marinade from the bottom of the dish.   Then, I added about ½ a bag of sliced, frozen strawberries.  Next, I drained a can of zesty, diced tomatoes and then added the tomatoes to the pan. Finally, I added garlic and crushed red peppers.  I covered the pan and cooked it for about 15-20 more minutes.  The chicken had to be turned a few times so it didn’t stick. 

The dish turned out great.  I can’t wait to eat my leftovers tomorrow!

Happy cooking.

A quick appetizer

Have you ever needed to make or take an appetizer somewhere and you didn’t know what to make?  I have something for you and it is very versatile and extremely easy!!!!  It is dip and you can use it on sliced cucumbers or with crackers- whatever your heart desires!!!  What do you need? All you will need is: Fat free cream cheese, green pepper, yellow pepper, red pepper, and garlic. 

Soften the cream cheese and put it in a bowl.  Dice a little over half of each pepper and add it to the cream cheese.  Add garlic and mix it all together. 

The first time I made the dip it was for another purpose.  It was a mixture to stuff a chicken breast -which was awesome, but that can be a recipe for another day.

Happy cooking!

Stuffed Shells

Wow, I did something different with pasta last night and I have to admit I was proud of myself!!  We had a vegetarian meal… I made stuffed shells and used a marinara sauce to top them.  Normally, I put meat in the sauce and in the stuffed shells, but last night there wasn’t meat in either!  The shells are really easy to make and come from a recipe from my mom. 

You need:

2 boxes of jumbo shells

1 cup Romano or parmesan cheese

½ to 1 box of frozen spinach (drained) and squeezed

1 crt. Cottage cheese

Bag of mozzarella cheese

Parsley

Garlic

Salt and pepper

Parsley

1-3 eggs (use as a glue to hold everything together- I had to use 3 last night)

If you do want to add meat... brown 1 lb. Hot Italian Sausage.

Cook the shells and let cool.  You mix up everything in a large bowl and stuff the shells with mixture.  Spray the bottom of two cake pans and put a little marinara sauce so the shells do not stick while baking. Drizzle the top of the shells with a little more marinara.  Cover the pans with aluminum foil.  Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  Serve the shells with some more marinara sauce on top!! 

The reason why you need two boxes of shells is because a lot of the shells will break and not be able to be used… you’d rather have too many shells than not enough!!!! 

Sorry, I can’t give away my special recipe on the sauce!  Happy cooking!

Pineapple and Chicken-- really??

Pineapple, tomatoes, and chicken???  I am sure you just turned your nose up at my latest creation, but don’t knock it until you try it!!  Two people ate it with me this week and both of them gave me a funny look when I told them what was for supper.  Guess what… they both loved it!!!  What are the main ingredients?  Chicken breasts, pineapple chunks, diced tomatoes, and crushed red pepper.  If you have that, you can make the dish. 

First, I threw a dash of Italian dressing on the three chicken breasts.  Next, I put Italian seasonings, garlic, and basil on both sides. On the stove, I browned both sides of the chicken and then added two cans of diced tomatoes (I used the basil, garlic, and oregano tomatoes).  Then, I added about 2 cups of frozen pineapple chunks (Where I am there isn’t very much fresh fruit to chose from!).  Finally, I added some more garlic, Italian seasonings, and a bunch of crushed red pepper.  Add enough for your own taste buds.  Cover it and cook it until it is done… it took about twenty minutes for the chicken to cook the rest of the way. 

The pineapple made the dish very tasty.  It was sweet at the beginning of the bite and then follows up a little spicy. Another way I have tried this dish it to make it with mango instead of the pineapple.  Believe it or not, the different fruit made the chicken and sauce taste completely different!!

 Let me know if any of you try the dish yourself (with either fruit)!!! 

Happy cooking!

Five ingredients....

A few people have asked if I ever cook vegetarian meals- I do.  A great soup recipe that I like is made with only five ingredients!  I am not able to make it too often, because it is made with refried beans and my husband doesn’t like them… too bad for him when I am in the mood for them!!!  The ingredients are: 1 can fat free refried beans, 1 can chicken broth, 1 can black beans, and 1 can diced tomatoes.  I throw it all in together (don’t forget to rinse the black beans) and cook until the refried beans are no longer thick.  I know the recipe calls for chicken broth (which I prefer), but can be substituted with vegetable stock.  Another twist that can be used is to use the black beans with jalapenos and lime to give it more flavor.  As always, add garlic and whatever seasonings you like to your taste!!  This recipe is low in calories and fat, but high in flavor!  Happy cooking. 

Spicy Walnut Pork Loin

Walnuts, hot sauce, and pork loin is all it took for my latest creation.  Don’t ask where the idea came from, but that is what was for supper last night.   I marinated five pork loins in hot sauce (I use Texas Pete).  Then, I finely chopped a bunch of walnuts and dredged the pork loins in the nuts.  Baked them in the oven for about twenty minutes and they were ready!!  When they were ready to serve, I poured a little more hot sauce on top of it…. Wow, another great idea.  I had to go back for a second piece and ate it completely!!!  If you're a wine drinker at all, I drank reisling with it last night and it really brought out the spicy flavor.  Next time, I will try a chardonnay to bring out the buttery flavor of the nuts!!  Happy cooking!!

Hoegaarden....

Would you like to try a new beer and a new recipe?   I have both for you!!  Hoegaarden, a Belgian beer!!  If you know me that fact that I found a beer that I like is shocking.  First, let me explain how I first drank the beer.  I was at the gas station and a table was set up. As I walked by, the lady offered me a sample of beer or Jager.  I said no thanks and I didn’t drink beer.  She said I needed to try Hoegaarden.   I looked at her and asked if she called me a ho- her mouth dropped and she was shocked.  I laughed and said I was kidding, so of course I tried the beer then.  Surprisingly, I liked it!  I bought a six pack!! 

Normally, I try new recipes with any of the drinks I have around the house.  So with the Hoegaarden beer I tried to bake a chicken with it a few weeks ago, but something was missing.  It just wasn’t right.  Tonight, I got it right!!  The missing ingredient from the last time was rosemary.  The chicken turned out great.  I have leftovers for my husband since he wasn’t home for supper, but I may hide them and eat them for lunch tomorrow.

Once again I used two chicken breasts.  I seasoned them with quite a bit of lemon pepper, garlic, and rosemary. I decided to cook it on the stove. I poured half a bottle of beer in and cooked it on med-hi until the beer cooked off. I turned it a couple time- right before the chicken starts to burn and stick I added about a ¼ of the bottle of beer and let it cook longer.  By this point, the chicken was getting a nice brown coating without burning.  Then, before it burned again, I added the rest of the beer and let it cook off.  The chicken was very flavorful and moist!!  We had green beans and a crescent roll with it to eat.  Dinner was great. 

Disappointment....

So the meal for last night was NOT a huge hit… so for anyone who loves beef listen to the following advice:  honey is not the best ingredient for a marinade.  I wanted to make a nice supper for my husband last night.  We ate ribeyes, macaroni and cheese, and green beans.  Unfortunately, the marinade wasn’t the best- my husband did say it wasn’t bad, but I saw the look of disappointment while he was eating!  I guess this blog will also include some of the bad foods so you know what not to do with food or you could always share a better idea with me!!

The marinade included: Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, Italian dressing, garlic, honey, ground pepper, and cayenne pepper.  The marinade was just too sweet for us. 

Oh well, I guess I can’t always make everything that tastes the best! 

Chicken with a Mediterranean Flare!

Cooking seems to give me sanity.  Without it, where would I be?  I don't even want to think like that!!!  A friend came over for dinner this evening.  She enjoyed supper -so I wanted to make sure I shared with all of you!  Dinner tonight was a spin-off of a recipe from allrecipes.com.  It is called Quick Mediterranean Chicken.  I don't do well following recipes- so mine is definately different, but gave me the idea.  I used two large boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I used a Greek Marinade to marinate them and put garlic and cracked black pepper on the chicken.  Next, I browned the chicken on both sides for about 4  minutes each.  While they were browning I diced about half of a small white onion and browned it too.  Then, I poured in a can of diced tomatoes- basalmic orgeneno and a can of diced tomatoes with diced green chile peppers.  I let that cook for about 5 minutes covered.  Then I added a can of drained French Styled Green Beans.  I added some more garlic, pepper, and dash more of the marinade.  It cooked for about 20 more minutes.  The thing with official recipes that I don't like is my taste may be completely different than someone else's tastes.  What if I have a huge chicken breast and someboday else uses a 3 oz. piece.  So the way I look at it is use a thermometer, don't go on times- they are not always right.  Don't follow recipes to the exact measurements.... if you like more garlic or spicy foods- add more!!!  If you don't substitute flavors.  Have fun and play with your food.  What is the worst that can happen?  It turns out bad?  Big deal, eat a sandwich or a frozen pizza... you learned what works and what doesn't!!  Happy cooking!

Husband's request

Greetings!  I am so thankful to see I already have a few people following! You will notice a trend in my recipes... mainly chicken.  It's not that I don't enjoy other food, but we live in a village in Germany.  We don't have a huge choice for fresh meat!!! Some of the recipes will be mine, some will be a combination of recipes, and others will be cited!  I will let you know where each recipe came from. 
 I told my husband I created this blog and he told me another recipe I needed to add to let others know about.  He was amazed at how simple it was when I explained it to him. I came up with this one on my own.  It just sounded good.  It is chicken wrapped in proscuitto. Incase you do not know, proscuitto is like an Italian bacon.  It is heavenly to eat;-)  Maybe I love food too much!
First, I marinated two chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) in Italian dressing. ( Something you may not know- when you marinate-don't just pour it over the meat.  Use a fork and poke a bunch of holes into both sides.  It lets the marinade go into the meat.)  You can throw it in the refrigerator and marinate if you have time- no big deal if not... I usually don't have time!  Save the marinade once you take the chicken out. Next, I used a packet of dry italian dressing mix for seasoning over the chicken on both sides.  I sprinkled garlic all over (yes, I use garlic all the time), a little lemon pepper salt, and threw on a dash of dried Italian seasonings(mine are flown here from Graziano Bros. in Des Moines, IA- I swear by them).  Next, I wrapped a slice of proscuitto around the chicken and held in place with a toothpick. Bake in a pan in the oven- use what is left of the  marinade from the bottom of the pan and pour over the chicken.  I baked it for about 3o minutes at 375.  You may need to check your chicken- unfortunately, my oven sucks!!! It cooks quickly somedays and slowly other days.  It's an old german oven!! The proscuitto will get crispy by the end. 
My husband has requested this dish be put on a rotating schedule in our house!  The list of his requests keep getting bigger and bigger!!
A friend is coming for dinner tomorrow which means a new recipe!  I can't wait to see what I use then!!

This is the first!

Today after watching Julie and Julia I decided to create my own blog- not to become famous or to follow a year of cooking with Julia.  To put it simply: I love to cook and trying new recipes.  At least once a week I try new recipes out on my family.  Why not share these recipes with friends and others so you can quickly find a good and usually easy recipe.  Having two children does not allow me to spend long extended times to making meals. 
The first recipe I will share is one I created recently by adding things together and it was a HUGE hit with my husband. 
I used salsa, black beans, and chicken!  Sounds simple?  It was, but very flavorful.
First, I browned two boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a little olive oil (amount varies on size of chicken). Sprinkle garlic all over both sides and a dash of dried basil.  Brown the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side.  Add about 1 1/2 cups of salsa (adding fresh cilantro makes it even better).  Then rinse a can of black beans and add.  Add a dash more garlic and any hot sauce or crushed red better if you like it spicy.  Cook for about 7-10 minutes.  The meal turns out great!
Hope you enjoy if you try it yourself.  Let me know if there are any types of recipes you are looking  for!!!