Recipe: Mediterranean Baked Chicken

I don’t know if you all have noticed but I have been on a Mediterranean kick recently. I love the fresh flavors and the bright ingredients. It also is decently healthy if you balance it with the right ingredients.

Family dinner last week I got to make this deal. It was my sister-in-laws last meal before going into labor so I’m glad she got something good before the hospital food. Along side this dish I also roasted some brussel sprouts and artichoke hearts as some side dishes.

I set the chicken in a small bowl with the spices to soak in while I prepped the green onions and dill.

I placed the chicken and covered them in the capers, lemon slices, dill and green onions. My personal preference especially when I am cooking with a liquid is to either make a small bowl with tin foil to keep all the juices closer or to cook it in a glass dish. I prefer the first for this dish.

Bake the chicken in the oven for 15 minutes. Serve with the juices poured over.

Mediterranean Baked Chicken

• Servings: 5
• Time: 30 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:
Juice of 1 Lemon
2 tbls Butter (melted)
2 tbls Olive Oil
4-6 Green Onions (chopped)
3 Garlic cloves
2 tbls Capers
1 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 lb Chicken (4-5 fillets)
1 Lime sliced
3/4 cup Dill (chopped)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In small bowl, combine oil, butter and lemon juice.
3. In second bowl, place fillets and add seasonings minus, green onions and dill to it. Mix until covered.
4. Place the chicken on a lined baking sheet. Cover with the buttery-lime mixture and sprinkle capers. Place lemon slices on top with the chopped onions and dill.
5.  Bake for 15 minutes
6. Remove from oven and Serve!

Recipe: Pizza Dough (from scratch)

Do you all know who Alton Brown is? He’s a Food network chef and cooking show host. He’s known for his slightly bizzare takes on food shows. He started with a show “Good Eats” and then recently has been hosting “Cutthroat Kitchen”. If you like Chopped, you will love Cutthroat Kitchen. Seriously.

Exhibit A: Contestant had to cook in a ball pit due to losing a bid against his competition.

I do recommend checking out his show Good Eats, it has a great approach to cooking and making it accessible to people. Cause let’s face it, not a lot of people cook any more and the ones who do its baffling to their friends. Trying to explain how much money I save by making my own food rather than ordering in every other night doesn’t always make sense to people.

I bring all of this up because today I made pizza dough, its my twist off of his recipe that he talked about on his show Good Eats. My main difference is that I swap honey for sugar and that I add powdered or shredded Parmesan cheese to my dough to bring out that extra umph of flavor. Especially when I decide that I am grilling my pizza instead of baking it.

Now all in all this is a pretty basic and forgiving recipe. I start by warming the water up and adding the yeast to it. If you want to add the sugar or honey to it here as well that would be good for getting it nice and foamy.

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​I mix all of the dry ingredients together while waiting on the yeast to activate. I want to mix this extra well since the Parmesan will want to be fully combined before adding the yeast and water in. I add in the yeast water mixture and start kneading. It will take a couple minutes to come together completely but it will form a very smooth, elastic dough.

Let the dough rise for 1-2 hours. Basically at least 1 hour but its not vital to start using it right away when you hit that mark. I let mine rise for about an hour and 45 minutes since we were waiting on someone stuck in traffic.

This dough when finished will make 2 12 inch pizzas or 4 personal pizzas. It rolls out nicely and is easily formed to do whatever you want to create. I really do encourage people to get creative when making their own pizzas. My sister made a calzone while I ended up doing a stuffed crust pizza.

We also grilled our pizzas. There are two main methods to this, you can use a pizza stone which works fine. Or you can just toss your rolled out dough on the grill for a couple minutes then when its time to flip it, you take it off, load up the cooked side with ingredients and stick it back on the grill. You get a nice char this way that you don’t get with a pizza stone. Also, if you do not have a pizza stone, you can flip a baking sheet upside down and achieve near identical results.

Our pizzas turned out great. How did yours?

Pizza Dough

• Servings: 10-12
• Time: 10 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Water (warm)
1 packet of Active dry yeast
1 tbls Honey (sugar works too)
2 tsp Salt
2 tbls Olive Oil
2 2/3 cup Flour
1/3 cup Parmesean Cheese
1 tbls Garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Combine warm water, honey and yeast together. Let it become foamy
2. Mix together all other ingredients before adding in yeast water mixture.
3. Knead until completely combined. Dough should be smooth and elastic.
4. Let rise for 1-2 hours
5. Use as desired!

Recipe: Tomato Basil Bread

On this next edition of Zim loves bread, I came across this recipe and decided at 8pm to make it. I know the grand tradition of bread making is an early morning activity before the sun rises. I just do it a couple hours early. Late hours of the evening are better right? It’s when I am most used to being productive with my work schedule.

The internet was down so I went to the kitchen and started pulling ingredients.

Tomato, basil and a little bit of Parmesan going into a bread dough makes such a lovely bread that tastes like tomato soup and home.

The warm water, yeast and tomato sauce mix together to give light foamy orange mixture. It smells amazing just right off the bat.

I had fresh basil in my fridge that I chopped finely and added in 1 tablespoon. Along with dash of cayenne pepper, tomato paste, oil, sugar, salt and parmesan cheese.

The dough will come together slowly. It is a dryer dough but not flaky.  It will smooth out into a nice elastic ball after about 5 minutes of kneading.

I love the look of this dough with the light orange color. I let it rise for an hour for its first proof. It should just about double in size. If it needs more time don’t fret.

I punched down the dough and kneaded it once again for about a minute. I formed it into a smooth ball and placed it on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. I covered it once again and let it rise for another 45 minutes.

Preheating the oven to 375, I scored the dough and placed the bread in it for 30-35 minutes. This batch came in at about 32 minutes. When you pick up the bread the dough should sound hollow if you knock on the bottom.

I did have to let it cool a bit before cutting and serving but it was painful to wait. It smelled so good just baking.

Once I was able to get some slices cut I immediately made a grilled cheese cause why not? It was delicious.

Let me know what you think!

Tomato Basil Bread

• Servings: 1 loaf
• Time: 2 hours 20 mins
• Difficulty: medium
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INGREDIENTS: 
2 1/2 cup Flour
1 tbls Basil
1/2 cup Tomato Sauce
3 tbls Tomato Paste
1 packet Active Dry yeast
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tbls Sugar
1 tbls Olive Oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
1/4 cup Water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix together warmed up sauce and water and yeast.
2. Add in Basil, Tomato Paste, Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Sugar, Olive Oil, and Parmesan cheese. Mix well.
3. Add flour and mix together. It is a dryer dough so it will take a bit to come together but it will form a smooth dough. Knead for about 5 minutes.
4. Oil bowl and let the dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled.
5. Punch down dough and knead for another minute. Place on parchment paper lined sheet and cover. Let it rise for another 45 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
7. Score dough with a sharp knife. Place in oven for 30-35 minutes.
8. Let cool and serve!

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Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (x3)

Fall is never complete without roasting pumpkin seeds. I don’t care about the pumpkin carving, I just want seeds. This past week I talked my family into pumpkin carving and then created my own little pumpkin seed harvesting slaves. Just kidding. They were more than happy to carve and rescue all the seeds because that meant they got to chow down on them too.

Here’s the final results of the carving: Cloud 9 logo, Toothless, happy face and the letter Z. (Not everyone is born artists)

Base recipe is easy, you harvest, soak, and bake. Its what you add to it that makes or breaks your snacking. I decided to add some different flavors to my base salt and pepper recipe and I ended up with one with some Indian flavors and the other more spicy.

Enjoy!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• Time: 2 hours
• Difficulty: easy
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INDIAN SUMMER:
1 tsp Tumeric
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ginger
1 tsp honey
Salt and Pepper to taste

SALT & PEPPER:
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1 tbls Olive Oil
1 tsp Garlic Powder

SPICY:
1 tbls Chili Powder
1/4 tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Lime zest
Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Clean and soak seeds for about 1 hour
2. Dry completely
3. Coat in seasonings of choice
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
5. Cook for at least 20 minutes, stir then cook about 10 minutes more
6. Serve!

Recipe: Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa

Sales make me happy, sales in the grocery store dictates more what I’m going to make for the week than anything else. I find the ingredients then figure out what fits. Which is usually why my family ends up eating around the world some weeks cause what else are you going to do when you end up with a bunch of chicken? Make the same thing every night?

This week it was salmon fillets. Now I didn’t buy enough for a week but it definitely something I had to make a meal together.

I love Cuban flavors so I tried to tie those rich flavors in with something a bit lighter — cue Avocado. I made it into a salsa so almost guacamole just a bit more chunky and no jalapeno.

I mixed the spices together and rub them gently onto your salmon fillets. And drizzle with olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes afterwards to let those flavors sink in a bit.

While that is in the fridge, I turned on the grill and I got started on the salsa. I sliced the avocado into small cubes then smashed it with a fork until it was smoother with some large chunks. I added the lime juice, onion, tomato, cilantro, salt and pepper. I love tomato in my salsa but its not required to get a great taste.

I stuck that in the fridge to wait and headed to the grill with the salmon.

Grilling the salmon only takes a couple minutes. I only had mine on the grill for about 5 minutes before I pulled it off. You can serve it immediately and just pile on the salsa until you run out.

My family loves this recipe. What do you think?

Grilled Salmon with Avocado Salsa

• Servings: 4
• Time: 30 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS: 
1 lb Salmon
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Chili powder
1 tsp Pepper
1 tbls Olive Oil

For salsa:
1 Large Avocado
1/2 Small Red Onion (sliced)
1 Lime (juiced)
1-2 tbls Cilantro
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 small tomato (diced, optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Mix together Salt, Chili powder, Cumin, Paprika, Onion and Pepper. Rub the salmon fillets with olive oil and the seasoning mix.
2. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes
3. Preheat grill
4. Combine Avocado, onion, cilantro, lime juice, tomato, and salt in a bowl. Use fork to combine and chill until ready to serve.
5. Grill Salmon (about 5-7 minutes)
6. Top with salsa and serve!

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Recipe: (Vegan) Black Bean Soup

I am not vegan or vegetarian. I love my meat and potatoes but with the recent surge in popularity there have been some amazing recipes coming out that are healthy, vegan and affordable.

This chunky soup was spicy, hearty and best of all healthy! And it was so easy!

Seriously!

Plus it makes enough that you can keep it in the fridge for leftovers or you can even freeze it to reheat later! If you end up adding in quinoa or even subbing in rice it gains so much flavor with that overnight refrigeration.

I started by chopping up my onion, carrots and garlic. I diced everything pretty small because it cooks a bit faster and I wanted my soup to take less than an hour (30 minute meals anyone?). I add 3/4 cup of water to my pot and the onions and turn my heat on medium high.

I cook the onions until they are translucent and add in the carrots, peppers and garlic. I also add in the spices: cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, hot sauce(your favorite) and paprika. Once the carrots soften a bit add in everything else, the broth, the corn, quinoa, and the beans.

I used canned corn and beans, there is no really pro to using canned over dried. Today it was the cheaper option. Since I did use canned I made sure to drain them and rinse them off before adding them to the broth.

Bring it to a boil then let it simmer for about 20 minutes or until the beans have softened.

Add in the cilantro and lime juice and serve! I topped mine with some tortilla chips and avocado.

 

Vegan Black Bean Soup

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 30 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup water
2 tsp Hot Sauce (I used Red’s)
2 medium Carrots
1 Onion
3 cans Black Beans
1 can Sweet Corn
3 tbls Garlic
2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
2 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
1 tbls Chili Powder
4 cups Vegetable Broth
1/4 cup cilantro
1 Lime (juice)
Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In large pot on medium high heat, pour 3/4 cup of water and onions and cook until translucent.
2. Add in carrots, red peppers, and garlic to pot. Add seasonings: cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, paprika and hot sauce (your favorite). Cook until carrots soften, about 5 minutes.
3. Add broth, corn, quinoa, and beans. Bring to a boil then let simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add cilantro and lime juice.
5. Serve!

 

Recipe: Greek Chicken

Meal prep is calling me. Especially when I am working both of my jobs its easier to make meals ahead of time and reheat them on the go. My goal is always to find healthy alternatives that still taste good and spend less money on take out.

Easy goals right? Right….if I can talk my frequently lazy butt into actually doing the work.

But this recipe is easy and has those fresh flavors that are characteristically Mediterranean.

Now this can either be a fix it and freeze it meal or you can make it immediately. I recommend letting it sit in the marinade for at least an hour but its not necessary.

I let mine sit in the marinade for about an hour and a half before I moved it to a foil lined baking sheet(You can also grill the chicken as well). Right before I put them in the oven i drizzled a bit of the marinade on top.

20 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees and you have wonderfully tender chicken that is full of fresh Mediterranean flavor.

Baked Greek Chicken

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 30 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1 lb Boneless chicken breasts
3 tbls Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic
1 tbls Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbls Lemon
1 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Onion powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In bag mix together the chicken and the seasonings. Seal and mix thoroughly.
2. Let sit for 1 hour
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
4. Place chicken on foil covered baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Serve!

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Recipe: Jambalaya

Not everyday can be a 5 ingredient recipe. I frequently fall victim to the crazy recipes that seem to be all over social media. Everything seems to have unique ingredients and a lot of them. Its really hard to keep to any kind of budget if you end up wanting to make all of these recipes.

I try to stick to simple because first off there is nothing wrong with simple and secondly simple can be delicious. And it makes it easier to not break the bank each week trying to keep up with all of the new food trends.

This is not one of those 5 ingredient meals but it makes a lot and its hearty. Its got those deep Southern flavors that just remind you what home-cooking should be. I’ll make this meal and box up the second half for lunches the rest of the week. It reheats incredibly well because of the moisture involved. There is even a convincing argument that it is better the next day since the rice can soak up all of the flavors. But, I digress.

I start with a large pot on the stove and add a tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom along with the chicken. I just measure out and dump the spices on top and stir to coat. Once the chicken is almost cooked I add in the sausage.

Its all about getting those flavors infused into your protein. I let it sit on medium heat for 3 minutes before removing the meat from the pot. I add in the garlic and the second tablespoon of oil. Let that come to a soft simmer and then add in your rice, onion soup, water, rice and bay leaves (if you want to add more heat you would add it here, whether that is hot sauce or jalapeno). Bring it to a boil then add your meat back in. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.

After those 10 minutes its the final step. I add in the shrimp and let that simmer for 5 more minutes. We’re just letting that cook through. Then its ready to serve. The soup should have cooked down so you will have a thick mixture with a decent amount of juice.

Doesn’t this look amazing? Let me know what you think?

Jambalaya

• Servings: 8
• Time: 35 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:
1 lb Chicken
4 Italian Sausage Links
1 lb Shrimp (peeled)
2 tbls Olive Oil
1 tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tbls Cajun Seasoning
4 cloves Garlic
8 oz Tomatoes (diced)
1 can French Onion Soup
2 cup Rice (cooked)
2 Bay Leaf

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Heat 1 tbls of oil in large pot, add chicken, cayenne, paprika, pepper, salt, garlic powder and cajun seasoning. Stir to coat chicken. Cook for 3 minutes
2. Add Sausage to pot and let cook for 3 to 5 minutes
3. Remove chicken and sausage and set to the side. Add 1 tbls Olive oil and Garlic to pot and let simmer
4. Add Tomatoes, onion soup + 2 cups water, rice and bay leaf to pot. Let mixture come to a boil then add chicken and sausage back to the pot. Let simmer for 10 minutes
5. Add Shrimp and let simmer for another 5 minutes or until shrimp is cooked
6. Serve!

Note: This is a mild version of the recipe. If you want more heat, add 1 jalapeno (finely chopped) or a teaspoon of your favorite hot sauce to the recipe.

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Recipe: Sticky Asian Ribs

Sometimes my boyfriend decides to help in the kitchen, but him “helping” usually means getting in the way. He’ll help cut some veggies or stir something on the stove. But he’ll mostly sit in the kitchen, give opinions and mess around on his phone. I love him anyways for it (most of the time).

He’s been obsessed with Asian food recently. Mostly sushi. But this is something I can do at home. I found some boneless pork ribs at the store and knew this was the perfect thing.

This pork is tender and juicy with just a little bit of char on it from the grill.

I boiled the pork in water with a bit of vinegar in it for 20 minutes. While that was happening I made the marinade. This needs to sit in the marinade for at least 4 hours before you grill it. Once the ribs were finished on the stove I moved them to a bag with the marinade and into the fridge.

4 hours later, its finally time to grill these babies. They go on a hot grill and get a nice char on each side. I pulled the marinade to the side and put it in a small sauce pan with a teaspoon of corn starch. Bring it to a soft boil then turn the temperature down to let it thicken.

Pull the pork off the grill and right on to the plate with some sauce drizzled over it and some rice. Heaven.

Sticky Asian Ribs

• Servings: 8-10
• Time: 30 mins
• Difficulty: medium
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INGREDIENTS:

2½-3 lbs Boneless Pork Ribs
¼ cup White Vinegar
1 tsp Salt

Marinade/Sauce:
1 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
½ cup Soy Sauce
½ cup Sugar
½ cup Ketchup
¼ cup Lemon juice
3 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Ginger, diced
1 tbsp Garlic, diced

Garnish: Sesame Seeds & chopped Green Onion

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Fill a large pot halfway full with water. Stir in the vinegar and 1 tsp of salt, then add in the pork ribs. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar, ketchup, lemon juice, honey, ginger, and garlic. Whisk to combine.
3. Place the cooked ribs in a large ziplock bag and pour on the marinade. Marinate for 4-6 hours, turning occasionally to mix.
4. Barbecue the ribs till slightly charred, reserving the marinade.
5. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the marinade to a boil, then reduce the heat and let thicken. Drizzle over the ribs.
6. Serve hot!

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Recipe: Pasta with Marinara

Family secrets should be shared right? Right.

We’re in a heat wave right now. It was 107 this past Tuesday and today was in the high 90s. All of the stores and advertising are saying that fall is here but someone needs to tell the weather. It’s hard to be in the kitchen when it is so hot. Especially when my house does not have any A/C. So quick, easy and delicious was my goal.

Hence today’s shareable recipe. Chunky Marinara Sauce.

I grew up with my mother making her marinara sauce from scratch. All of that chunky tomato-y goodness was a favorite for my siblings and I that we would beg for it.

I started my pot of water with plenty of salt in it. You want to smell the ocean.  Cover it and let it come to a nice rolling boil.

Once that is set up, I start on my sauce. I pour my oil and garlic into a sauce pan.

Another thing my family loves is garlic. We always put extra in no matter what the recipe calls for. This picture is a nice example of that.

Add your tomatoes in and mix together. I added the last couple ingredients: basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and minced onion.

Cover and turn the heat to low. I’m going to let this summer for at least 10 minutes. Water was boiling by this point so I added the noodles.

I make sure the sauce get stirred every little bit. I want to make sure that the flavors get distributed well. Once your pasta is cooked drain it. And you are ready to eat!

I added parmesan to top it all off.

YOU WILL NEED: 

• Spatula
• Sauce Pan
• Strainer
• Pot

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Chunky Marinara Sauce

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 20 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS: 
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2-3 Garlic cloves (minced)
2 tbls Dehydrated Onion
2 tbls Fresh Basil
1 tsp Parsley
28 oz Diced Tomatoes
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat oil and sauté garlic
2. Stir in Tomatoes
3. Add in the rest of your ingredients
4. Let simmer on low heat for 10-20 minutes
5. Turn off stove and serve

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If you have left overs, I recommend storing the sauce and noodles separately. Also leftover sauce turns into an excellent bruschetta.