Tomato Basil Chicken

I had some chicken. I had some fresh basil (thank you to the parentals for that). I needed to use them. Allrecipes.com to the rescue!!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups olive oil for frying
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, or to taste
1/4 cup olive oil, or to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Heat 2 cups olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place the eggs and bread crumbs in 2 separate bowls. Dip chicken in the eggs then in the bread crumbs to coat. Place chicken in the skillet, and fry until golden brown and juices run clear. Drain on paper towels.

In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, onion, and basil. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Spoon over the fried chicken to serve.

COMMENTS:

To save time, we ignored the breading option, and just grilled our chicken on the stove. Personally I think this sounds better than doing the tomato mix on breaded chicken, and it did taste really good.

Also, we used roma tomatoes instead of grape tomatoes, which worked fine. I like them because they're a little easier to dice up.

I highly recommend the fresh basil! The stuff we used was right out of my parent's garden and it tasted soooo good. Enjoy!

Balsamic Tortellini

Back when we first started living together (and I couldn't cook AT ALL yet), one of our favorite easy dinner staples was tortellini with marinara sauce. We had a craving for the tortellini, but I found this recipe online to change up the flavor a bit. Courtesy of allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

5 slices pancetta bacon, raw

1 (9 oz.) package cheese-filled tortellini

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

-Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion and bacon until onion is translucent and bacon is brown; remove from skillet and drain on paper towels.

-Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

-Return onion/bacon mixture to skillet and add cooked tortellini. Toss with 2 tbsp olive oil and heat through. Place in serving dish or bowl, sprinkle with vinegar and cheese, and serve immediately.

COMMENTS:

-Not being onion fans, we skipped the onion and put in some garlic instead. We also used regular bacon instead of pancetta.

-I'll say up front, this was not my favorite. I think maybe I used a little too much balsamic vinegar? I found the taste of the vinegar to be very strong and I didn't get to enjoy the pasta/bacon at all. I think it might be a good idea to use a little less of the vinegar than the recipe called for. Tweak and tell me what works!

Asian Beef with Snow Peas

As you've probably noticed, we love our stir fry. Many of our stir fry dishes have been with chicken in the past, so I found this variation on allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice wine

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 lb. beef round steak, cut into thin strips

8 oz. snow peas

DIRECTIONS:

-In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar and cornstarch. Set aside.

-Heat oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat. Stir fry ginger and garlic for 30 seconds. Add the steak and stir fry for 2 minutes or until evenly browned. Add the snow peas and stir fry for an additional 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce mixture, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer until the sauce is thick and smooth. Serve immediately.

COMMENTS:

-We didn't have rice wine, so we used red wine vinegar instead--a good substitute.

-This sauce was good--I'm not a big fan of soy sauce on its own, but the other things it was mixed with made it better, and a bit spicy too.

-Next time, we might vary the veggies a bit. The snow peas were great, but I think you could also get some good flavor with green/red bell peppers, onions, etc.

Easy French Dip Sandwiches

Craig looooves French Dip when we go out to eat, so I thought I'd try some at home. I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com and it was very quick and tasty!

INGREDIENTS:

1 (10.5 oz) can beef consomme

1 cup water

1 pound thinly sliced deli roast beef

8 slices provolone cheese

4 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise

DIRECTIONS:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Open the hoagie rolls and lay out on a baking sheet.

-Heat beef consomme and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat to make a rich beef broth. Place the roast beef in the broth and warm for 3 minutes. Arrange the meat on the hoagie rolls and top each roll with 2 slices of provolone.

-Bake the sandwiches in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, or until the cheese just begins to melt. Serve the sandwiches with small bowls of the warm broth for dipping.

COMMENTS:

-I wasn't able to find any "beef consomme" at the store, so we just bought regular beef broth and heated it up...no water added. I did see a suggestion online to try to add rosemary to the beef broth, but we didn't try it. Might be a good add though!

-These came out really good, and were very fast to make. We'll be adding it to our 30-minute meal playlist. :)

Pesto Chicken and Pasta

Whenever we are having a hectic night, one of our go-to dinners is just regular pasta with jarred pesto sauce. I decided to try this one (from our Betty Crocker Chicken cookbook) because it's a slight variation on our old favorite...a bit more flavor and spice in this one, but still quick and easy.

INGREDIENTS:

-3 cups bow tie pasta

-2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey breast

-1/2 cup pesto

-1/2 cup coarsely chopped drained roasted red peppers (from 7-oz jar)

-Sliced ripe olives, if desired

DIRECTIONS:

-Cook and drain pasta as directed on package, using 3-quart saucepan. Mix hot cooked pasta, chicken, pesto, and bell peppers in same saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly, until hot. Garnish with olives.

COMMENTS:

-This is a quick and easy meal. The roasted red peppers add a little more spice/flavor to it, in comparison to just using regular raw red peppers.

-We didn't use the olive garnish because...sadly, we have an olive-hater in the house. (Hint: not me.) I bet it would have been good though. Note to others: if you ever cook me dinner at your house, load on the olives, cuz I can't use them at home!! (Sorry honey!!) :)

Shrimp Creole

This one got RAVE reviews from the husband. Will definitely be added to our regular dinner rotation. Very spicy, good for summer or winter, and healthy to boot! From Betty Crocker.

INGREDIENTS:

-2 pounds uncooked fresh or frozen (thawed) medium shrimp in shells

-1/4 cup margarine or butter

-3 medium onions, chopped

-2 medium green bell peppers, finely chopped

-2 medium stalks celery, finely chopped

-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

-1 cup water

-2 tsp chopped fresh parsley

-1 tsp salt

-1/8 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)

-2 bay leaves

-1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

-6 cups hot cooked rice

DIRECTIONS:

-Peel shrimp. Make a shallow cut lengthwise down back of each shrimp; wash out vein. Cover and refrigerate.

-Melt margarine in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook onions, bell peppers, celery, and garlic in margarine about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender.

-Stir in water, parsley, salt, red pepper, bay leaves and tomato sauce. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered 10 minutes.

-Stir in shrimp. Heat to boiling, reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are pink and firm. Remove bay leaves. Serve over rice.

COMMENTS:

-Yeah, we are definitely in love with this one. You've got meat (okay, seafood), veggies, and starch. Perfect!

-As mentioned in previous entries, I never buy uncooked shrimp. I have yet to see the value of it over pre-cooked shrimp, which save me time (and ewie-gooey deveining). Highly recommended! This will not require you to simmer so long in the last step. We also used instant rice. I am all about the quick dinner.

Five-Spice Barbequed Pork Chops with Asian-Style Succotash

This is a fun new recipe from my newest Rachael Ray cookbook...something a little different to do to your pork chops!

INGREDIENTS:

4 center-cut boneless pork chops

1 tsp five-spice powder

2 tsp grill seasoning blend

4 tbsp veggie oil

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 generous handfuls of snow pea pods, coarsely chopped

2 cups frozen corn

4 scallions, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

2 tsp hot sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Season the chops liberally on both sides with the five-spice powder and grill seasoning. Heat 2 tbsp of the veggie oil in a nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Cook the chops for 6 minutes on each side, then add the hoisin sauce to the pan. Heat through and turn the chops to coat in the sauce. Turn off the heat.

While the chops cook, heat the remaining 2 tbsp of oil in a second skillet over med-high heat. Add the garlic and bell peppers, cook for 2 minutes, then add the pea pds, corn, and scallions and cook for 3 minutes more. Toss the succotash with the lime juice and hot sauce to combine.

Serve the chops with succotash alongside.

COMMENTS:

First off, it's important to know that five-spice powder and hoisin sauce are both found in the Asian foods aisle of the store. Now you won't have to go on a crazy witch hunt for these things like I did at my local Price Chopper.

Overall, we were really happy with this one. We forgot to use the grill seasoning on the pork, which probably would have given it more of a "barbeque" flavor, but it was still really good. What I LOVED was the succotash. (I have no idea what the difference is though between "succotash" and "veggie stir fry".) Anyway, the hot sauce and lime juice added some good kick to the veggies. Will definitely be trying that again!