Lemon Basil Chicken and Rice

I love this recipe! I believe it originally came from Southern Living. You can cook the chicken breasts whole, but it's so much quicker to cut them into bite-size pieces before cooking!

Lemon Basil Chicken and Rice

1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped basil
3 chopped green onions
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp pepper
Chicken Breasts
1 tablespoon hot oil
Hot cooked rice

Whisk together first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, blending well. Add chicken and chill for 40 minutes, turning occasionally. Cook the chicken in 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet for 5 minutes on each side until golden brown. Pour reserved marinade through a wire, mesh strainer into skillet. Reduce heat to med-low, cover and simmer 8-10 minutes until chicken is done. Serve over hot cooked rice and enjoy!!!

Mmmmmmm...Pear Bread...

I couldn't find my mother-in-law's recipe and they're out of town, so I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com. I made a few changes, but I think it turned out great! I used 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup oil instead of 1 cup oil. I also used walnuts instead of pecans b/c I like them better and they were on sale!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pear-Bread-II/Detail.aspx

Slow Grilled Shrimp with Israeli Couscous

Another recipe from my recent Seafood 101 cooking class! The shrimp didn't stand out much, but it went perfectly with the couscous! I'll definitly make this for my next party! This was to serve 4 people, but can easily be multiplied for your needs.

Israeli Couscous

3/4 cup Israeli Couscous
1/2 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 cup Feta, crumbled
1 tbsp Italian parsley finely chopped, reserve stems
1 tbsp mint, finely chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Pinch of sugar
Olive Oil to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Bring to a boil 2qys heavily salted water and add couscous. Remove from heat and cover for 15-20 minutes until couscous is al dente., drain remaining water and allow to come to room temperature or chill completely.
Combine couscous with all other ingredients and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.

Parmesean (and Pecorino) Chicken and Rice

This recipe is from Cooking Light, but I swiped it from http://amberskitchen.blogspot.com/!

It was really good and soooo easy! When I went back to the kitchen to clean after we ate, I was in shock to find one pan and 1 spoon to clean. Usually, after trying a new recipe, I come back to the kitchen and every dish I own is there to be cleaned! I didn't have enough Parmesan, so I used what I had and supplemented with pecorino romano. Turned out great!

Parmesan Chicken and Rice(Source: CookingLight.com)

Ingredients1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion (I used dried onion)

1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic (I used 2 cloves fresh)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 (8-ounce) package pre-sliced mushrooms (I used baby bellas)

3/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio-it's what I had opened!)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup uncooked instant rice (I used one bag of boil-in-bag rice, uncooked)

1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese (I used some pecorino)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, thyme, and mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Add chicken; sauté 4 minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned. Add wine, salt, and pepper; cook 3 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in rice and broth. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in cheese and parsley.

Yield 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 395(18% from fat); FAT 8g (sat 2.8g,mono 3.7g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 29.9g; CHOLESTEROL 57mg; CALCIUM 171mg; SODIUM 656mg; FIBER 2g; IRON 4.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.4g

Coriander Crusted Sea Scallops with Hatch Chimichurri

So, two dear friends bought me a cooking class for my birthday and I finally got to attend this week. I chose Seafood 101 at Central Market. I just want to get more comfortable cooking seafood and this was a great learning experience! The food was too good not to share, even though I didn't necessarily cook it!

Coriander Crusted Sea Scallops with Hatch Chimichurri

8 u-10 scallops

1/2 tsp corriander seed

1/2 tsp cumin seed

Grapeseed Oil

Salt and Pepper

Creme fraiche in squeeze bottle

Finely chopped cilantro

Course grind coriander, cumin, salt and pepper and press each side of the scallop in the mixture.

Sear scallops over high heat in a little grapeseed oil, 1 minute per side.

Hatch Chimichurri

1 roasted hot hatch pepper, seeded and rough chopped

1 roasted mild hatch pepper, seeded and rough chopped

1/2 small shallot

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup cilantro leaves

1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves

2 tbsp lime juice

2 tsp champagne or white wine vinegar

2 tsp honey

Extra virgin olive oil for smothness

salt and pepper to taste

Blend all chimichurri ingredients and let set at least 2 hours, and up to 2 days.

Spoon 1-2 tbsp chimichurri on small round plate in a thin layer. Place scallops directly from pan onto chimichurri.

Squeeze small dollop of creme fraiche on scallop and press a cilantro leaf in for garnish.

Coffee Cake Muffins

I found myself with a free hour and the urge to bake, so I flipped through my Better Homes and Garden's Cook Book and decided I had most of the ingredients for their Coffee Cake Muffins. I left out the ginger...

3 tablespoons flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1. Grease 12 2 1/2 inch muffin cups or line with paper bake cups; set aside; preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. For topping, combine first 5 ingredients in small bowl until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, white sugar, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Cut in the 1/4 cup butter until this mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4. In another bowl, combine egg and buttermilk. All egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. Batter should be lumpy.

5. Scoop 1/2 the batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each one 1/3 full. Top with 1/2 the topping mixture, the remaining batter and the remaining topping. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until wooded toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack and serve warm!

Sinful Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo

If a restaurant serves fettucinni alfredo, I'm probably going to order it. I always feel guilty since I know it's fattening, but I'll feel even more guilty now. This dish was amazing, but I felt so bad eating it, actually knowing what went into it because I made it. 12 TABLESPOONS of BUTTER!!! Yikes! The garlic cheddar biscuits didn't help any!

Fettucinni Alfredo from Giada DeLaurentis

1 package fresh fettucinni

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 T lemon juice

1 clove of minced garlic

12 T unsalted butter

2 cups grated parmesean

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally. Drain.

Stir the cream and the lemon juice in a heavy large skillet to blend. Add the butter and garlic and cook over medium heat just until the butter melts, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Add the pasta and toss. Add the Parmesan to the cream sauce in the skillet. Add the salt, and white pepper. Toss the pasta mixture over low heat until the sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute.

I grilled chicken breasts to top the pasta with...there had to be some redeeming healthy-factor to this meal!

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

I had a recipe, but I ended up just kind of improvising here since there were just 2 of us (and I still had too many biscuits)!

1 1/2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Mix well, form biscuits on cookie sheet and bake according to Bisquick directions at 450 degrees for around 10 minutes.

Melt 1/4 cup butter. Add a little garlic powder, onion powder and parsley. Spread over cooked cheddar buscuits.