Winner, Winner! Chicken (Pan-Seared with White Wine Sauce) Dinner!

I'm always looking for tasty chicken recipes...basically because it's quick (usually) and cheap. But chicken can get, well, boring. So I needed a fun chicken dish. After several unsuccessful searches, I hit the jackpot. It was a rather unusual, non-cooking site, but the recipe and attached photo were too eye-catching (and tummy-grabbing) to pass by.

I found it on www.kennesawpatch.com, a hub of local news, weather, and goings-on in the town of Kennesaw, GA. (Which is located just north-northwest of Atlanta; if you're still interested in Kennesaw, check them out at www.kennesaw-ga.gov. Maybe I'll give them a visit in the future!) But I digress...

The recipe, submitted by Aaron Sewell, is for the chicken as well as a stuffed potato; I only made the chicken, though, as I had two sides already in mind (sweet corn and green beans).

It's a colorful plate, and I even dressed up the green beans by adding some garlic powder as they cooked, topping them off with slivered almonds.
 

Usually when I'm in the kitchen, I'll pour a glass of red wine to sip on while I prepare dinner. Tonight, however, since the recipe called for a white wine sauce, I opened a Chardonnay that Mark and I brought back from our Napa Valley honeymoon. (A half-cup for the recipe, and a half-cup for me!) It was a 2009 Regusci, and a perfect addition to the dish. Not only was its aroma appealing, but it made every savory bite of chicken even more flavorful.

Mmmmmm...now that's a winner!

Mongolian Beef

One of my favorite restaurants is P.F. Chang's. And my favorite menu item is Mongolian Beef. So you can imagine my joy the day I stumbled across Sun-Bird brand's Mongolian Beef Mix in the grocery store. I was browsing the Asian Food section to check the price on rice wine vinegar, but instead found a little yellow packet that made my mouth water. For 72 cents (and $6.03 for a pound of flank steak and $1.00 for a bunch of green onions), I was on my way to another delicious budget meal!

In a matter of five steps and about 35 minutes (prep and cook time) you will have a tasty P.F. Chang-quality dinner for two for less than the price of one of their appetizers! I will say the prep work was a bit time consuming because I chose to very thinly slice the steaks; in other words, one 1/2-inch steak became two 1/4-inch steaks, then I continued slicing them into one-bite pieces from there. (If you've ever had P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef, you know what I'm talking about!)

The taste was comparable, although Sun-Bird's mix packed more heat. (Keep your beverage glass full...it felt like my mouth was on fire!) I made a side of brown rice to serve with the beef, and you can see from the picture below one dish looks more "soupy"...that's because I like to pour the rice in and let it soak up the seasoning, too!

JP's Spicy Chicken Quesadillas

For those of you who know me, you know I do not do "spicy." So I am still not really sure why I decided to coat the chicken with chili powder, paprika, and crushed red pepper. (Yikes...I know...) It actually was quite delicious, although I paid for it with hours of discomfort after the meal. Next time, I'll leave my chicken pieces "naked" and only spice up Mark's!

All in all, this was a relatively quick and inexpensive recipe. I only used one chicken breast (to serve two), but it was a plump one. Here's what you'll need and how you can do it:

• 1 large chicken breast
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon thyme
• dash of black pepper
• pinch of crushed red pepper (or more, depending on how "hot" you like it)
• salt

Butterfly chicken breast, then cut into thin, long strips. Place in a shallow dish (and add a dash or two of salt).

In a small bowl, mix all remaining ingredients. Sprinkle liberally over strips of chicken, then dredge chicken into spice mixture to coat evenly.

Place chicken in a large skillet (I used an olive oil cooking spray to coat the skillet) over medium heat. Cook for about five minutes or until cooked through. (It won't take long...be sure not to overcook the chicken. You want it HOT, but you don't want it DRY!) Remove from heat; place chicken strips on a plate and reserve for quesadillas.

  For the quesadillas:

• 4 medium flour tortillas
• 1 red bell pepper (chopped)
• 1 medium white onion (chopped)
• 2 cups of any Mexican blend or "fiesta" blend shredded cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter

In an open tortilla, sprinkle a handful of cheese (about 1/2 cup), and chopped bell peppers and onions to taste. (Don't go overboard with the veggies...you'll end up with an overwhelming flavor.) Add 4-5 strips of cooked chicken. Fold tortilla in half. Do this for a total of four tortillas.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pan over medium heat. Place two of the folded tortillas in the pan, taking care not to spill the insides into the pan first! Carefully flip after four minutes; remove after 2 more minutes. (The second side almost always takes half the time to cook...be careful not to burn the tortillas. You may even find it necessary to decrease the heat ever so slightly.) Repeat for next two tortillas.

Serve with an ice cold cerveza or your favorite beverage for a spicy and deeee-lish dinner!

PS - You'll notice in the picture below that one plate contains the chicken and quesadillas separately. What can I say...I'm a little weird in that I just don't like my chicken in my cheese! Kind of like how I order a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit without the cheese. Call me special. ;-)

Dinner For One

Since Mark was out of town for a few days--and I didn't want to survive on fast food for dinner every night...or worse...cereal--I decided to use what I had in the pantry to create a quick and healthy dinner. (Well, more healthy than fast food!)

I had a box of Butter & Herb Rice-a-Roni, so that was definitely going to serve at least as a side dish, and I had just bought some chicken breasts, so I knew I was going to also have chicken with my rice. Now the dilemma: Serve them together as one dish or separately?

I chose the latter, and instead of having one large chicken breast, I cut it up into several smaller pieces...nugget-size, if you will.

Here's how you can make the chicken: Pour about a cup of Italian bread crumbs into a Zip-loc bad, and after dipping the chicken pieces in egg, shake them up in the bag to cover them with the bread crumbs. Melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet and cook the nuggets over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes or until cooked through. Remove chicken from skillet; reduce heat to low.

For a tasty, creamy sauce to bump up the flavor, combine and whisk 1/2-cup milk, 1 tablespoon butter, and 2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese into skillet (be careful not to pour too fast; the milk will bubble and burn). Let sauce thicken then pour over chicken. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

"Cheap Week" Part I

Welcome to "Cheap Week," where the meals are still delicious, but they won't break the bank! Not that any of my meals put a hurtin' on the pennies, but every now and then you do have to tighten your grip on the wallet and suck it up at the grocery store. And that's what we did this week...budget meals.

C'mon, you know you've been there: mac 'n' cheese a couple nights a week; toast and grits, eggs and bacon...for dinner; cereal with milk (maybe two bowls if you're really hungry); heck, some of us have relived ole college days and brought back the RAMEN NOODLES.

Well, here's a couple of good, old fashioned dinners that are substantial, yummy, and--best of all--CHEAP!

#1 - Spaghetti
I would be okay having any kind of Italian dish two or three nights a week. They're easy to prepare, relatively inexpensive, and bursting with flavors! And you can't go wrong with spaghetti. Make it with simple marinara or a meaty sauce. I usually add a pinch more of garlic and/or oregano to the sauce as I'm heating it, just to bump up the flavor. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (and some shredded mozzarella for an even better touch) and top it off with some fresh parsley to make a "plain" dish great!

#2 - Beef Tips & Noodles
All you'll need for this is medium (or wide) egg noodles and beef tips; and I like to use the Hormel beef tips--they're already prepared and packaged (with no yucky preservatives). Just follow the microwave instructions, spoon beef tips out over your cooked egg noodles, and voila!--a deliciously cheap meal in 10 minutes! (And there's usually enough for leftovers!) For an added bonus, use a slotted spoon to remove the beef tips from the microwave package once cooked; pour au jus from package into a pan over medium heat and slowly add a cornstarch-water mixture, stirring frequently. Once the mixture bubbles and thickens, remove from heat and stir into beef tips and noodles.

PS - I'm labeling this post as "Part I" because I can assure you there will be subsequent parts to follow!

Dinner With Mom & Dad

Well, Mom & Dad are in town for a few days, so--naturally--I have to whip up something special in the kitchen. Mom isn't much of a fish eater, but you just can't go wrong with tilapia. It's special in that's it is a relatively "bland" tasting fish...but it takes on the flavor of what you serve it with. Just a dash or pinch of a spice or two, or any special seasoning, goes a long way with flavoring tilapia, transitioning it from an ordinary fish to a flavor-packed dish. Not to mention it is a very INEXPENSIVE fish to buy fresh! I like to buy mine from Whole Foods to cook it the same day, but otherwise I find good deals at Costco then divide it up and freeze it for later use.

On tonight's menu we have Rachael Ray's "slaw salad," and the main course is Brown Butter-Sauteed Tilapia with Pistachios from FoodNetwork.com. They are both super-easy dishes to create, and I like that they combine so many different flavors...it's a guaranteed party in your mouth!

The slaw salad features red cabbage and fennel (the bulb has a licorice taste) tossed in an equal-part honey-vinegar dressing with grill seasoning (yup...grill seasoning), poppy seeds, and toasted sesame seeds. (The toasting of the sesame seeds is important. If you don't buy them already toasted, be sure to do so before stirring them into the dressing; it adds a more nutty flavor.) The fern-like foliage, or top, of the fennel bulb is edible, so chop and add that along with the actual bulb and red cabbage. Save some of the fennel tops, too, to use in your final presentation of the dishes.

While my dinner "guests" ate their slaw salads, I was busy in the kitchen putting on a show preparing the main course. Tilapia is so quick and easy to cook, and the total time to prepare (prep and cook) was about 15 minutes. Now I have to mention, we have a pantry full of "North Carolina Pecans" straight from the pecan tree in Mom & Dad's back yard. So instead of buying pistachios (which can sometimes be a bit expensive), I decided to crush some pecans and roast them in some melted butter to serve in place of the pistachios. It was a delicious substitute, if I do say so myself!

You can see I used some of the reserved fennel tops to garnish each plate, and added a thinly-sliced lemon on top of each tilapia fillet. Serve it with a side of wild rice and you have a restaurant-quality meal in less than 30 minutes! And a four-serving dinner for roughly the price of one equivalent serving at any local restaurant. So if you're looking for something quick, easy, and deeee-lish, make it tilapia tonight!