Category — Chicken

Happy Tuesday, friends!  I hope your week is off to a good start.  Today’s recipe highlights the flavors of North Africa – and because it involves a marinade, it’s got great depth of flavor.  But best ever, once you’re ready to cook, it’s 30 minutes from counter to table.  Hooray!

Ginger Spiced Chicken And Rice

Put the chicken in a gallon sized zip-top bag.  For the marinade, combine green onions, orange juice, brown sugar, ginger, oil, garlic, corriander, paprika, salt, cinnamon and pepper in a small bowl.  Pour over the chicken, seal the bag, and mix the contents all around so the marinade covers the chicken.  Marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or up to 6 hours, turning the bag occasionally. 

Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade.  Lightly coat a baking dish with cooking spray.  Arrange the chicken in the dish and pour the remaining marinade over the chicken.

Bake, uncovered, in a 375 oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink.  Spoon the rice onto 4 dinner plates, and place the chicken atop the rice.  Spoon the remaining pan juices over the chicken and rice.  Serves 4.

Add some steamed green beans on the side, or try these:

Ginger and Honey-Glazed Carrots

Line a baking sheet with paper towels.  In a large skillet, combine water and salt.  Bring to a boil and add carrots.  Return to boiling and then reduce heat, cover and simmer about 12 minutes or until carrots are just tender.  Drain carrots.  Turn the carrots out on to the baking sheet and pat them dry.

To make the glaze – in the same skillet combine butter, honey and ginger.  Stir constantly over medium heat until the butter is melted. 

Add the carrots to the glaze and toss gently until the carrots are throrughly coated with the glaze and are heated through.  To serve, divide carrots among the dinner plates and drizzle with the remaining glaze from the pan.  Serves 4-6.

Both recipes adapted from the Better Homes & Gardens New Dieter’s Cookbook.

Print This!

This short but pointed post about the nutritional benefits of kale on Andy Bellatti’s blog “Small Bites” was perfectly timed – that night we were scheduled to eat one of my all-time favorite quick-n-easy kale recipes – chicken sausage with bulgur and kale.  This recipe is a pain-free way to introduce this nutrient powerhouse into your diet:  It’s a pretty, nutritious, one-dish meal you can serve your family in 30 minutes or fewer – what’s not to love??

Sausage With Bulgur and Kale

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and set over high heat.  Add the sausage and brown, stirring frequently.  Transfer to a plate.  Reduce the heat and add the kale and garlic to the skillet and cook, tossing frequently, until the kale is wilted (see note below).  Stir in the broth, bulgur and sausage – your liquid will not cover the mixture entirely – don’t panic!  Cover and bring just to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove the skillet from the heat and let the mixture stand, covered, until the liquid is absorbed and the bulgur is tender, about 5 minutes more.  Fluff the mixture with a fork, stir in the tomatoes and cheese, and serve!  Serves 4. 

A couple of notes.  If you haven’t cooked kale or any other sturdy leavy green before, you need to know it’s bulky.  You will probably have to add 1/2 the kale to the skillet and toss it around (tongs are a great tool for this) until it wilts a bit, then add more, wilt, etc., ’til you can get it all in the pan.  It’s always stunning to see how much it reduces in volume.

Next – this is the second recipe I’ve posted with bulgur as an ingredient, and I’m thinking now that many of you might not be familiar with this nutritious and versatile grain.  I grew up eating bulgur.  Mostly, I think, because I’m part Lebanese.   But as you can see, bulgur doesn’t need to be limited to Middle-Eastern cooking.  It’s got much more bang-for-the-buck nutritionally than rice or couscous, and it’s just as easy to prepare.  For more about bulgur, click here, here and also here.

Print This!

It’s getting chilly more often here in Massachusetts, and my tastes are transitioning from cool crisp salads to warm comfort foods.  That pasta I posted  a couple weeks ago is great, but you can’t eat rich foods like that all the time – you need to balance those out with some lighter selections.

This is a recipe adapted from one in Eating Well Magazine.  Eating Well is great – if you haven’t seen it, you might want to try to snag yourself a copy to check it out.  Their emphasis is on whole foods and seasonal ingredients, but also on relatively quick preparations (most are ready in 45-minutes or fewer).  Nutrition information is included for each recipe.  A subscription is a great way to keep yourself from getting into a rut with your cooking and might encourage you to try new combinations and ingredients.  There’s also an iPhone app, available for $2.99, which looks great for meal ideas on the fly.

This “salad” really isn’t “salady” at all, but rather a warm mixup of sausage, arugula and red potatoes.  Despite the ingredients, it cooks up quickly into a healthy, hearty weeknight dinner, perfect for these cool autumn days.  Enjoy!

Warm Chicken & Potato Salad

Bring 2-inches of water to a boil in a large saucepan.  Place potatoes in a steamer basket and steam, covered, until just cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl and add arugula, tent with foil to keep warm.

Meanwhile, spray a medium skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat.  Add the sausage and cook until browned and heated through, about 5 minutes.  Add this to the potato/arugula mixture and re-cover.  Save the pan!

Using the same skillet in which you just cooked the sausage, add vinegar, maple syrup and the mustard, and scrape up any browned bits.  Gradually whisk in the oil.  Pour the dressing over the salad and toss until the arugula is wilted.  Season with pepper.

Serves 4.  Great with some crusty bread – I often get a bake-at-home loaf or French rolls (better portion control with these!) from the freezer at Whole Foods.

Print This!

This is a staple at our house.  If you use prepared ingredients, it’ll take you approximately 20 minutes to get this from counter to table!  That’s less time than ordering take-out, and this is a low-cal, high-fiber one-dish meal that’s fresh and flavorful.  You can’t say that about anything at your local pizza house, can you?

Chicken With Broccoli & Bulgur

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.  Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and the garlic and cook until chicken is almost cooked through, approximately 2-3 minutes.  Stir in broth, bulgur and lemon peel.  Arrange the broccoli florets on top.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 7-10 minutes until the chicken, broccoli and bulgur are tender.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 1.5-cup servings.

Adapted from the American Heart Association Quick and Easy Cookbook.

Print This!

Some of you who know me know that I’m currently sporting this crazy brace – I have terrible tendinitis in my left leg/ankle and this thing is supposed to give my leg a rest and help decrease the inflammation.  The jury’s still out on whether it’s making any difference in the tendon, but the verdict otherwise is that it’s a huge pain in the a** to wear around.  It weighs over 5 lbs. on its own, and comes up to just below my knee.

For some, takeout would be the way to go, but now, more than ever, I want a healthy meal at dinnertime.  I can hardly exercise at all, and, well, I’m “of a certain age” such that exercising is pretty much a necessity – unless I want to show off everything I eat on my lower-half.  So I’m trying to find more convenient dinners that minimize prep but which also emphasize healthy components.  And where do I go for inspiration?  Trader Joe’s, of course.  [Read more →]

Print This!

• Michael Pollan on Big Food vs. Big Insurance
• Training apps for your smartphone
• Mark Bittman’s twist on chicken w/40 cloves of garlic
• Are you a “foodie,” “cook,” or “home-cook?”
• Learn to make a Asian fusion dish with Gwyneth (video!)
• What Marion Nestle has to say about BPA

Print This!

It’s not over ’til it’s over, right guys?  There is still more time to grill, enjoy eating alfresco and to savor some summery weather.  This menu has been top-of-mind lately because I made it for a family celebration of my daughter’s August birthday last year.  My husband, in particular, found it mind-blowing – in fact, the salad here is what turned him into a fresh fig lover.  Serve it up to people you love, and treat them to a last, fresh taste of summer.

For a main course, this Rosemary Chicken Skewers With Berry Sauce recipe from Simply Recipes is simple to prepare, but looks and tastes like it took much more effort.  The sauce is very delicious.

For starch, this Couscous Salad with Dates and Almonds, from Bon Appetit has a nice sweet/savory thing going on.   I use whole wheat couscous to amp up the nutrition and protein and I also make double the dressing – I find I need more than the amount called for in the recipe (but not the entire doubled amount) to dress the salad.

For greens, this Late Summer Salad is an adaptation of a recipe from the Fields Of Greens Cookbook by Annie Somerville.  It is a beautiful composed salad that makes a striking presentation for your guests.

Late Summer Salad 

Wash the spinach and dry it in a salad spinner.  Arrange it on a serving platter.  Make the vinaigrette. 

Cut the melon in half and scoop out the seeeds, then thinly slice and peel, following the contour of the rind.  Rinse the figs and pat dry.  Cut them into halves or quarters.

Arrange the melon and figs atop the spinach.  Drizzle the vinaigrette over the fruit and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Serves 4 – this can easily be doubled – just use a medium cantaloupe.

Orange Vinaigrette

Combine everything but the oil in a small bowl, then whisk in the oil.  Makes 1/3 cup, but again, can be easily doubled.

Print This!

The September/October issue of Clean Eating magazine is out, and there are a bunch of good recipes to try.  Are you familiar with this magazine?  With “clean eating” as a concept?  From the magazine:  “The soul of clean eating is consuming food in its most natural state, or as close to it as possible.  It is not a diet; it’s a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading to an improved life – one meal at a time.”  Sage words, folks!

I like their lack of hype and their focus on good nutrition and exercise, but I gotta say, this publication is poorly edited.  I find typos in every issue, and some of the recipes aren’t quite right – for instance, the one I highlight here doesn’t tell you to put any sort of oil/cooking spray in your skillet before you try to cook your chicken breasts . . . that could lead to bad things.  So consider this a little “buyer beware” warning from your friendly neighborhood hausfrau.

Last night, I decided to satisfy my husband’s desire for “a little more meat” with a chicken dish from the issue – it was a solid recipe, despite the lack of a little grease, but you know me – I couldn’t leave it alone.  I tweaked it and this is what I came up with:

Arugula Polenta With Chicken

Sprinkle both sides of chicken breasts with salt & pepper.  Spray a large skillet with vegetable oil cooking spray, and heat over medium heat.  Add chicken and cook until no longer pink in the middle, about 6 minutes per side.  Transfer chicken to a plate, tent with foil and let rest.

Meanwhile, put broth in a medium saucepan with garlic.  Bring to a boil, then add the polenta slowly, whisking constantly to avoid lumps.  Return to a boil, and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly until polenta is tender and the consistency reaches that of loose mashed potatoes.  Remove from heat and stir in arugula and yogurt.  Cover to keep warm ’til you’re ready to plate the meal.

Cut each chicken breast on a diagonal into approximately 1/2-inch slices.  Divide the polenta among 6 shallow bowls, top with chopped tomatoes and chicken, and serve.

Serves 6.

I steamed up some green beans to serve as a side – despite the polenta, it was a quick fix – 30 minutes from counter to table!

Print This!