30 minute dinner: Grilled Chicken and Kashi Pilaf

Another 30 minute dinner night. I was lazy!

Grilled Garlic Chicken and Kashi Rice Pilaf

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3/4c Salad dressing, oil based, garlic flavored (add cloves of garlic to make it even better)
1 packet kashi rice pilaf

1. Make the rice pilaf according to box directions
2. Heat grill, grill chicken until cooked.
3. Serve.
4. I feel like there should be a 4th direction....
   

Scalloped Potatos and Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joes are really good, and I discovered a good mix for them a few months ago. Its called Not So Sloppy, you'll find it in a small jar near the canned chili in the grocery store. Use the best ground beef you can to keep the fat content down, serve on a bun.

The scalloped potato recipe is from Cooking Light Magazine, I highly recommend it.

Scalloped Potatos
2 medium or 3 small potatos cut into 1/8" slices
2 tbsp butter
Salt, pepper to taste
1/2c cheese (I used cheddar, but asiago and Greuyer are great too)
1c skim milk
1 clove garlic, halved

1. Preheat oven to 425.
   
2. Rub the clove of garlic onto the bottom and sides of your baking dish, then coat with cooking spray.
3. Lay 1/2 of the potato slices on the bottom of the pan. Drizzle 1/2 of the butter, salt, pepper, and 1/4 of the cheese onto the potatos. Repeat.
4. Warm the 1c of milk on the stove, then pour over the potatos.
5. Bake for 40 minutes or until the potatos are tender.
   

And trust me, these are REALLY good.

Spicy Hot Sausage Pasta

Tonight I made the spicy 30 minute sauce a few posts back, but this time I added 3 links of hot italian sausage and served it over whole wheat pasta with whole wheat bread toasted with garlic. No new recipes, but doesn't it look good? It was ungodly spicy. So good.

Breakfast of Kings

Donald and I decided to make breakfast this morning. Usually on saturday mornings we go out to our favorite diner for breakfast. All the waitresses know us and everything, and will give us crap when we go there next (probably tomorrow...). However, we woke up to a monsoon. It was pouring, windy, and thundering. The RADAR told me that this wasn't a short lived storm, so we decided to make breakfast. And let me tell you... it was good.

Breakfast of Kings (for 2)
100% wheat toast, mexican omelette (cooked hard like I like) and hashbrowns.

Hashbrowns:
2 medium potatos, shredded using a cheese shredder or something like that, they should look like this:


1/4 onion, also shredded
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a medium pan, the oil and pan need to be very hot. We used our express burner on medium high.
   
2. Add the potato and onion to the pan, add salt and pepper.
3. Cook potatos over med high heat for 5-8 minutes or until they're cooked through (they start to shrink a lot). Stir occasionally to keep from browning too much. The moisture will begin to cook out of the potatos. You may have to add a little more olive oil.
4. Once the potato is cooked through, use the bottom of your spatula to flatten the potatos into the bottom of the pan. Cook that way until the bottom of the potato pancake is dark brown.
5. Flip the entire potato pancake (cut if you need to before flipping) and repeat on the other side. Remove from pan when its done cooking. YUMM!

Mexican Omelette:
5 eggs (for 2 omelettes)
Shredded cheese, mexican blend
Chopped tomato
Salsa
Cooking spray.

1. Heat pan and coat with cooking spray.
2. Scramble eggs in a bowl then pour into heated pan. Allow to cook for a few minutes or until you can flip it.
3. Put cheese, tomato (if desired) on top. Once cooked, fold the omelette over onto itself and allow cheese to melt. Serve immediately with salsa on top (there is no salsa on ours, but normally we do this!).

Serve breakfast with toast, preferably made from the bread in my last post.

Here's a picture of Donald's half eaten breakfast!

100% Whole Wheat 'Crunchy' Loaf

Mmmm. Homemade bread. Seriously, the best thing in the world. I got some gluten at the store today, which apparently helps make wheat loves work a bit better. This is my first attempt at a 100% wheat loaf. Its cooling on the counter now.

100% Whole Wheat 'Crunchy' Bread
3/4c+1tbsp warm water
4tbsp EVOO
4tbsp honey
3tbsp brown sugar dissolved in 1tbsp warm water
2c wheat flour
3tbsp gluten
1tsp salt
2/3c seeds (I used flax and sunflower)
2tsp active dry yeast... proof your yeast!

Whole wheat setting, medium crust, 1.5lb loaf. Enjoy!

Swedish Meatballs

This is a favorite of mine. I used to buy the packet of spices, but I can't find it anymore. I make them from scratch now, and by god they're good. Enjoy!

Swedish Meatballs
I used my ugly plates. These are why people should buy our china.

For the meatballs:
1.0-1.5 lb ground beef, 90%lean or better
1c breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tbsp butter, soft
2tbsp dried minced onion
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Sale, pepper to taste
2 tsp paprika
Lemon zest (I use lemon pepper seasoning if I have no zest, about 1tbsp)

Olive Oil to cook

For the sauce:
1c milk
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt, pepper to taste
Flour (to thicken)

1. Mix 1/2c breadcrumbs and all other ingredients to the meat.
2. Add additional breadcrumbs as necessary, the mix should be relatively dense to hold meatball shape.
3. Make 1" meatballs.
4. Heat oil in pan, add meatballs. Cook about 10 minutes, moving often. Check that the meatballs are cooked thoroughly before moving on.
5. Remove cooked meatballs and drain on paper towels.
   
6. In the same pan, add the ingredients for the sauce. Heat on medium until about to boil, then drop the heat to low until the sauce is thickened.
7. Add the meatballs back to the pan, cover in sauce.
8. Serve over rice, egg noodles, or whatever your little heart desires.

Enjoy!

Choosing China

We've registered for 2 different sets of china for our wedding. We like both a lot, but I'm considering dropping the 'fancy' one for now and keeping the casual set. Here are both, what do you think?

CASUAL - FANCY -

Birthday Panini!

For Donald's birthday, which was the 4th of July, I made him corned beef paninis to take on a picnic in the local park. It was a gorgeous day, and the corned beef was fresh and great. They're simple but good. I had to take the pic while they were still on the grill, but you get the idea!

Corned Beef Panini for a picnic

1/2 lb corned beef, shaved thin
1c sauerkraut
Thousand island dressing
8 pieces Italian bread, sliced moderately thin
Fat Free butter (I can't believe its not butter makes a good one, but don't eat it on bread, just use it for cooking)
- Makes 4 sandwiches

1. Butter one side of each piece of bread, place buttered side down on George Foreman grill.
2. Place 2-3 slices of corned beef on the bread and then 1/8 to 1/4 cup sauerkraut to taste.
3. Place other piece of bread on top, butter side up, and lower the lid of the grill. NOTE: If serving immediately, add the thousand island dressing before grilling.
4. Once heated through, wrap in foil to keep warm. They will stay warm for 20-30 minutes like this.
   
5. Add thousand island dressing just before eating, if necessary.

Enjoy!