Caesar Salad

So last night’s meal was a little different.  This weekend I think my husband had a Caesar salad for the first time, and actually liked it quite a bit.  So that is what he requested for dinner, odd I know.  So I made a Caesar salad using some of the roast chicken I had left over from last week and also made a soup from the roast chicken carcass.  I will admit I am not a very good soup maker; they never have as much flavor as I am anticipating.  “It tastes like soup” is what my insightful husband had to say about it.  But since I had the chicken bones, plus extra carrots, celery, and potatoes that I bought last week, soup seemed to make the most sense to go with the salad.

Caesar Salad

2 big handfuls of greens, I used sweet baby spring mix which has romaines, spinach, arugula and some other greens

2 tbs parmesan cheese

1 tbs pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds

½ hard-boiled egg

½ cup croutons

¼ cup diced chicken

Dressing

2 tbs Greek yogurt

2 tsp olive oil

½ tsp malt vinegar

1 tsp mustard, something spicy like whole grain or Dijon

Salt and pepper to taste

You can make this a meal on its own or as a side, depending upon how much protein you add to it.  I didn’t want this to be the whole meal so I only used ¼ cup chicken so we could have something to go with it.  

As I prepared the recipe, 124 calories undressed, 200 calories and 11 g fat dressed.  If you use 2 8-oz chicken breasts that would get you up to 600 calories

So I think there are 3 really quick ways to ruin a salad.  1. Dirty greens.  Be sure to wash your greens well, grit isn’t a texture that adds much to a meal.  2.  Wet greens.  Make sure you dry the greens really well before assembling the salad, sogginess also doesn’t add much.  If you don’t have a salad spinner, which I don’t, I usually wash them, dry them and let them set aside well before I actually start cooking.  3. Dressing the salad prematurely.  You don’t want all of your dressing to sink to the bottom.  Especially if you are using an oil/vinegar mix be careful of this because the oil and vinegar will start to separate.

For the dressing I used Oikos Greek yogurt.  I usually use the yogurt of the Gods or whatever that one is called, but I succumbed to advertisements and thought I would try it and let me tell you that John Stamos was right.  This yogurt is really good, my husband didn’t turn into John Stamos, but he’s close enough for me to begin with so that's ok, I will definitely be switching to this yogurt anyway.  I also used this unbelievable mustard that my in-laws brought us back from Germany.  So I apologize you have no chance of making your dressing as good as mine because this is quite possibly the best mustard in the world.  Every time I open the jar I have to refrain from just eating it with a spoon, sounds crazy to do with mustard I know, but it is so good.

So I feel like this is already getting kind of long and I still have the soup to tell you about.  It really wasn’t that good so I will just tell you what I did briefly and you can experiment to improve upon it.

I cut up the chicken carcass, added salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and simmered for 30 minutes, the timing may have been where I went wrong in the first place but the hubs was “starving”.   Then I removed the bones and added potatoes, carrots, and celery and cooked until tender.  I took off all of the chicken that was still left on the bones and added back to the stock, seasoned again and served.  The more I ate the more used to it I got, but it was a little bland, “just tasted like soup”.

Chicken and Dumplings

This meal makes me feel like a kid again, sitting at my grandmother’s kitchen table.  I will admit that this attempt doesn’t compare to hers, but still turned out decent.  I think today I under-seasoned it.  I didn’t taste the broth before adding the dumplings, my mistake.  

I had this for lunch the next day and I think it was a lot better after sitting.

2 ½ pounds chicken breasts
7 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 ½ pound new potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 carrots carrots, cut into ½” pieces
2 ribs celery, cut into ½” pieces
1 small yellow onion, sliced
5 oz peas
Dumplings
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, cold
¾ cup milk
¼ cup parsley

Boil the chicken breasts in the water over medium heat until cooked through. Be sure not to overcook them or the meat will be tough. When done, remove the chicken and set aside to rest.  If you slice the chicken while it's hot it will be dry and tough. Add the seasoning and vegetables to the broth and simmer until the vegetables are softened. 

Meanwhile, mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter until it is broken up into fine pieces. Mix in the milk and parsley.

Cube the chicken and add to the broth. Stir and TASTE, this is where I failed. Season the broth again if necessary. Drop heaping tablespoon sized dollops of the dumplings in the stew. Simmer uncovered for ~10 minutes then cover and simmer for another ~10 minutes or until the dumplings are tender and cooked through.

Serves 8, 550 calories, 20 g fat

This is my second big meal of the week, so I won’t have to cook again until next week. These groceries cost me about $45. Lunch and dinner for 2 people for 7 days, that's about $1.61/serving, not too bad.

Roast Chicken with Pistachios, Peppers and Corn

I love a good roast chicken. I rarely make them because I have it in my head that they are some big to-do, but what could be easier than putting some seasoning on a chicken and throwing it in the oven for an hour, pretty much nothing. I found some interesting sides to go with this chicken that turned out pretty well.

1 2-lb chicken
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs chopped fresh thyme
2 tbs chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbs chopped fresh sage
1 lemon
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and sage in a small bowl and set aside. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. A dry chicken going into the oven will make the skin crispy. Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper and place in a resealable plastic bag. Pour the marinade into the bag and spread over the chicken. Seal and chill for 4-24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 450. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and gently pat off some of the excess marinade, leaving the herbs. Stuff the sliced lemon and a few sprigs of thyme into the chicken cavity.

Roast until well browned, 30-35 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375 and continue roasting for 30-40 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165 in the thickest part of the thigh. Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let rest 20-30 minutes.

It is very important to let the chicken rest before slicing it to keep the juices inside. This will deliver an absurdly juicy chicken with beautiful golden skin.

For the sides I made a chopped pistachio concoction to eat with the chicken, simulating a pistachio crust on the chicken. I was really quite impressed with this, the flavors really complimented each other well and it gave the chicken a completely different flavor if you ate it alone or with the pistachios. I also made a side of peppers and corn that was pretty tasty, not quite as flavorful as I was anticipating, but still good.


For the pistachios, this is enough for 2 servings of chicken

3/4 cup coarsely chopped unsalted shelled pistachios
¼ cup thinly sliced chives
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste


Peppers and corn

2 bell peppers, cut into thin strips (I used 1 orange and 1 yellow, but I think I should have done red and orange, the yellow just didn’t add much flavor)
1 cup red onion, diced
1 tbs olive oil
1 jalepeno, diced
1 can corn
1 tbs flat leaf parsley
2 tbs red wine vinegar

Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium heat until tender, not quite browned. Add the bell
peppers and jalepeno and season to taste with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 10-12 minutes. Add the corn, parsley and vinegar just before serving. One tip that I learned in a cooking class is you should be seasoning your vegetables every time you add something new to the skillet. This way the seasoning cooks into the vegetables as they are cooking, rather than coating the surface of something that is already cooked. So salt and pepper your onions, then when you add the peppers, salt and pepper again.

A few times a week I like to make something kind of large so we have a couple days worth of leftovers to eat for lunch, and this works well for that.

The entire dinner is about 800 calories. If you ditch the pistachios (or just use less than I made) you’ll save about 330 calories. The amount of calories in those pistachios took me by surprise.

Chicken Parmesan

Today my husband requested chicken parmesan. I of course readily obliged as this is also one of my favorites and any chance I have to eat fresh pasta I take it.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin

Bread crumbs (I like the Italian seasoning flavored bread crumbs)

2 Eggs

Garlic powder

Dried Oregano

Dried Basil

Salt

Black Pepper

¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Olive oil

14 oz canned diced tomatoes with basil and oregano

After pounding the chicken breasts as thin as possible without tearing, dredge in egg wash seasoned with salt and pepper then coat with bread crumbs seasoned with garlic powder, oregano, basil, and parmesan cheese. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a skillet over medium heat, once hot add each breast, one at a time, adding additional oil in between if needed. Just cook the chicken long enough to brown the bread crumbs on each side. I finish cooking the chicken in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes and I think the pan you use is critical. I put a cookie cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and cook the chicken on the rack. This way the juices run out into the cookie sheet and the breading stays intact. I hate it when the breading gets soggy and comes off, this keeps it crispy.

For the sauce I cheat a little and use canned diced tomatoes with basil and oregano. I pulse it in the blender to break down the big chunks and season to taste with more basil, oregano, garlic powder and salt.

Serves 2, the vast majority of the calories in this are in the chicken, so you can set your calories based on how big of a piece of chicken you use. For 2 large chicken breasts it will be about 750 calories.

I think the most important tip you should take from today is not to be intimidated by homemade pasta. Making pasta is not that difficult and it is well worth the effort. Once every month or two I make a big batch and then separate it into 2-4 serving sizes in individual baggies and throw it in the freezer. An hour or so before I need to cook the pasta I put the baggy in a bowl filled with warm water to thaw it. This way I can have fresh pasta any time and rolling out the pasta once it’s thawed might add 10 minutes to your time in the kitchen versus using dried pasta. I promise that 10 minutes is worth it. I will post my pasta recipe another day.

To go with this I made a spinach salad with carrots, feta cheese, dried apricots, pine nuts and a red wine vinegar/olive oil dressing.

Chickpea Cauliflower Curry

Today is my first day of this endeavor.  I have been cooking nearly every day for a few years, bur never really thought about sharing any of my experiences with other people. I like to experiment and try new recipes and hopefully I can inspire someone else to also.

Last night I made a chickpea cauliflower curry with an Asian carrot salad. I think my curries taste pretty good and they are really pretty easy, but they never turn out looking very pretty, so I could not bring myself to have my unattractive looking curry as my first post, but I will go ahead and give you the recipe anyway.

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

6 whole cloves

1 tsp cinnamom

3/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 head cauliflower, chopped to bite-size pieces
1 can garbanzo beans
1 cup basmati rice
¼ cup green peas

2 servings, 800 calories, 10 g fat

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, fry the onions and garlic until tender and lightly brown, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the whole spices in a medium-high heated skillet just until they become fragrant, about 30 seconds. Do not let the spices burn, if they do, start over.  Grind the spices in a spice mill or coffee grinder to a powder. Once the onions are cooked, add all of the spices and mix well.  Add the drained garbanzo beans and cauliflower and toss well to coat the spices on the vegetables. Cover the skillet and let cook until the cauliflower is tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep vegetables from sticking. Before serving I like to taste this to see if I need any more salt. The curry can taste a little bitter if there isn’t enough salt. I think salt brings out the flavors of the spices and you can have a completely different flavor depending on how much salt you add.
Serve over basmati rice. I like green peas in my rice with Indian food.

You could use any meats or vegetables with this, just use the spices as your  base and add what you like.  You could even add coconut milk if you like your curry saucy and sweeter.

Asian Carrot Salad

1 small carrot, julienned
½ small zucchini, julienned
Small handful sugar snap peas, julienned
¼ orange or red bell pepper, julienned
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
Salt to taste

2 servings, 55 calories, 0 g fat

This is a really easy way to get my husband to eat more vegetables, and I think it’s pretty. Just remember to cut all of the pieces so they are bite-sized, I always hate when my vegetables are too long to put in my mouth, you don’t look very graceful fumbling to get a long piece of carrot in your mouth.