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Honey Chicken, Sweet Potato and Peach Kabobs

As I posted last week, I was intrigued by the recipe mentioned in the peaches round-up on theKitchn,  Honey-Glazed Chicken, Sweet Potato, and Peach Skewers. I picked it as my “must try” recipe for the week (I actually picked another too, couldn’t help myself). We tried this last night and it was a wild success! I will say that this is a bit too much work for me for most week nights. Matt cut and marinated the chicken at lunch and I came straight home and started the rest of the prep and let him pick up the kids. There were also quite a few dishes to do after the meal was over. But the results were worth it – adults and kids agree – and we would definitely do this again, but probably on a weekend.

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 24 1 1/2 inch pieces
  • 3/4 C sherry vinegar
  • 1/3 C honey + 1 T
  • cumin
  • pumpkin pie seasoning
  • 4 T canola oil, divided
  • 2 med sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 24 1 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1 large sweet onion, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces, layers separated
  • 3 lg peaches, pitted and cut into eighths
  • salt & pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

An hour or few before cooking, toss chicken with 2 T canola oil, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp cumin and some salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for a couple of hours.

When dinner time is approaching … Soak 12 twelve-inch skewers in water. Heat gas grill to medium. In a pot with a steamer basket, heat 1 inch of water to boiling. Steam sweet potatoes 10-12 minutes until soft, but not fully cooked.

Heat sherry vinegar in a small sauce pan over high heat. Boil, reducing volume by over half. Stir in honey, 1 T oil, and salt and pepper to your taste. Glaze should be thick enough to coat chicken, but thin enough to brush on easily. Thread skewers with chicken, onions, sweet potatoes and peaches. Reserve half of the glaze and brush kabobs with the remaining half.

Thoroughly oil the grates of the grill. Grill skewers 4-5 minutes covered until well- marked. Meanwhile toss pecans with remaining 1 T oil, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, salt and pepper. Place in foil “dish” and grill along side the chicken skewers, being careful to not burn these. Cook chicken until done and nuts until toasted.

Serve kabobs brushed with remaining glaze and sprinkled with pecans. Swoon.

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Strawberry Lemonade Cake

My mom had a birthday this past week and one of my small joys is to make a birthday cake for those I love. I always do it with good intent, but my cakes are never particularly… pretty. They always taste good, I will give them that, but they’re not big on the looks.

I tried to give my mom a choice of cake recipes I’d been storing up to try out, but after a bunch of back and forth, we really didn’t have a good answer, so in the interest of what went well with my dad’s fabulous dinner (salmon, rice, asparagus, salad), I picked out this Strawberry Lemonade Cake from Baking Bites and decided to give it a whirl. At the last minute, though, I ditched the standard cream cheese frosting for some of the lovely whipped cream cheese frosting I used on the kids’ birthday cakes. I was running out of time and nervous about properly frosting a layer cake with thicker frosting. Sometime I would like to make this as written, but I was extremely happy with the results. The birthday girl enjoyed it as well and my lemon-loving husband just raved.

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Pork Ragu with Creamy Polenta (GRITS!)

So one of my favorite food blogs, Dinner a Love Story posted a recipe for Pork Ragu sometime back late this winter. The minute I saw it I marked it in Google Reader and vowed to make it as soon as possible. The recipe is ridiculously simple as far as prep goes and the only time consuming thing about it is that it cooks for 4-5 hours … but all you have to do is turn it once in a while. It’s the perfect thing to make on a Sunday afternoon while the kids are napping and you’re doing laundry and getting read for the week and darn if it isn’t super tasty. I will say that I have rarely if ever cooked pork before this (except bacon) because I don’t like it much, but this blew me away.

We have always served it with noodles (no yolk – healthier and just as tasty!) and everyone loves it that way. But after a meal I had a couple of weeks ago at Black Cat in Boulder (oh what a meal!) where I was served some tasty tasty pork on top of polenta/grits, I knew that this pork ragu would go AWESOME on some creamy polenta (GRITS) …. and it does. They are just the right offset to the richness of the pork and so so tasty together.

Ingredients

for the pork ragu

  • 3.5-4.5 lb lean boneless pork shoulder
  • salt and pepper
  • pat of butter
  • olive oil (2 T or so)
  • 1 large can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup wine
  • 1 tsp hot sauce for smokiness
  • handful of fennel seeds
  • a few sprigs each fresh thyme and oregano (or a tsp or 2 each dried)
  • parmesan for serving

for the grits/polenta

  • 1 C stone ground grits/polenta
  • 4 C milk
  • 1 T butter
  • salt and pepper

Directions

Heat your oven to 325. Salt and pepper the heck out of the pork. Heat your olive oil and butter in a dutch oven and brown the pork on all sides … about 2 minutes per side. Add the tomatoes, wine, herbs, spices and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Then transfer to the oven and braise for 3-4 hours. If the liquid does not come 1/3 of the way up the roast, add a bit more (water or wine) to the mix to keep it going. The meat is done when it’s falling apart. Remove from the oven and shred with a couple of forks.

When the roast is almost done, make the polenta. Heat the milk to a low boil and whisk in the grits/polenta. Lower the heat slightly and stir frequently to make sure it doesn’t burn. Continue cooking until desired consistency, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and butter. Serve pork over top of a bed of polenta and top with parmesan if desired.  Dilly green beans were excellent with this! Make it soon before it gets too darn hot to turn the oven on.

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Mango, Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

Summer is a hard time for me cooking wise. I don’t want the heavier comfort foods I am crazy about in the winter. It’s too hot. And we also take advantage of the longer days and get up to all kinds of things and have later, more casual dinners. So I’m up for anything that’s cool and light and super easy to make and have around. This recipe (well a recipe similar to this) was in my Google Reader for a while before I tried it but when I did I was an instant fan. I traded out vinegar for lime juice (I love anything with lime in it) and nixed the cilantro, but of course you can put these back in for a slightly different flavor.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cooked quinoa
  • 1 cup finely diced red pepper
  • 1-2 mangoes finely diced
  • 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
  • 2 T lightly flavored oil (sunflower oil was what we had)
  • juice of two limes
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • salt and pepper
  • cilantro, chopped (optional)
  • scallions, chopped (optional)

Directions

Combine lime juice, oil, cumin and S&P in a small bowl. Whisk until well combined. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and toss with dressing. I think this is best served chilled. We first ate it with Garlic Lime Chicken and I imagine it would be a great thing to take to any picnic or to have with burgers as well. Tomorrow I’m having it with Tortilla Encrusted Tilapia from Costco. mmmmm

Nutritional Info (1 cup)

Calories 150; Sodium 59 mg; Total Fat 6g; Potassium 31 mg; Saturated 0g; Total Carbs 35g; Protein 6g


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Salmon Rice Bowls

When we lived in Nashville, we frequented a little place off of Division St., right near Vanderbilt called Ken’s Sushi. It’s definitely not the fanciest place but it has good pretty cheap eats and my favorite Japanese entree I’ve ever had, Sakegohan. It’s a rice bowl with seaweed and salmon and some sauce. I’ve never seen it anywhere else and so I have only get to have the super yummy salmon bowl when we got back to Nashville and managed to make it to Ken’s.

So when I saw the salmon rice bowl idea featured on Dinner a Love Story, I was more than a little intrigued. So we tried it out – well our own version anyway – and while it isn’t EXACTLY a Sakegohan, it’s darn good – a keeper.

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Hula Pizza

The folks at my house are big pizza fans (I know it’s rare to find an American who isn’t). We’re completely happy with the garden variety mushroom and pepperoni variety (we frequently order it from down the block), but we also like something a bit different. We’ve put lots of different things on pizzas including buffalo chicken, shrimp scampi and various “Mexican” combinations. I don’t think we’ve had a loser yet. Surely this wasn’t it! This pizza, adapted from a Devin Alexander recipe I saw in the Biggest Loser Family cookbook, combines slightly disparate but always yummy ingredients into something really tasty and unexpected. It was a hit with the whole family. Matt and I ate it in its entirety.Tabby (who normally loves pineapple) ate all of the chicken and handed Ben her pineapple.  Ben picked off and ate all pineapple, including Tabby’s and then licked off all the cheese. #facepalm

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

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Strawberry Milk Cupcakes

I think it’s an established fact that I “read” too many blogs. There are 125 subscriptions in my Google Reader. Yea, I know it’s a bit weird. But read is in quotes, of course, since I don’t actually read them. I skim headlines. I quickly tag what I want to save for later or read something that is momentarily amusing but of no real long-term value. I am also merciless about tossing a blogs that no longer hold my interest. It probably shouldn’t surprise you that I have a tag for recipes. Then usually when I’m making a menu up for the week I like to run back through the recipes I’ve marked and see what looks tasty.

As I was in the midst of this process on Sunday, I saw the Strawberry Milk Cake. I have absolutely NO recollection of marking it, but there it was in all its pink glory and it smacked me in the face with the realization that “Oh sheesh! I need to make a treat for Tabby to take to school for her birthday!!” Because, of course, I’d completely forgotten about that small fact. And had I not realized it in the midst of menu and shopping list making then we would have been reduced to making the Funfetti. For shame.

Seeing as I don’t want Tabby’s teachers to have to deal with cake cutting, etc. we made the cake into cupcakes. Recipe is as follows:

Strawberry Scalded Milk Cake
(adapted from Mrs. Joe Montgomery’s recipe card via The Kitchn)

2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup scalded strawberry milk
1/4 cup butter

Heat oven to 350. Line about 18 muffin tins with liners. Beat the eggs, vanilla and sugar until fully combined (I used the stand mixer). In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.  In a small sauce pan, heat milk until almost boiling (look for a bit of steam and some bubbles around the edges), add butter and turn off heat then stir until butter is fully melted. Alternate additions of milk and flour to make a nicely consistent batter. Don’t overmix!!

Cupcakes take 20-25 minutes to bake and are better on the slightly less cooked side from our findings.

Whipped Cream Frosting
1 package cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
food coloring as desired

Use your stand mixer again and beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and almond extract until smooth. With the mixer on medium-high speed, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Try not to make a big freaking mess. Keep whipping, adding more speed if you need to until you get the stiff peaks about 2 minutes. Add food coloring if you wish.

This frosting goes on super easy but it is very susceptible to melting so make sure those cupcakes are cool!

I give this recipe HIGH marks. It was really easy to execute and produced excellent results. The frosting in particular is a triumph. I am a huge fan of cream cheese frosting and this was cream cheesy AND light and fluffy and super super tasty. I anticipate making it quite a bit in the future.

 

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Popovers

I have to say, I really love popovers. They require no leavening agent and rely, rather, on high-heat generated steam for their towering height. They have a nice, slightly custardy flavor and are incredibly easy to make.

I think this was the second time I’ve made popovers. It seems to me there was a go before this, perhaps while we were in Vail, but it’s a bit foggy up there so I can’t say for sure. I was reminded of them near the end of last week and I thought they sounded like a good thing to make with the yummy loaded potato soup we had on Friday. Every time (whether it was once or twice), they came together quickly and easily and turned out perfectly. As an added bonus, I almost always have the ingredients around. Popover connoisseurs insist that these must be baked in popover-specific pans, but I make mine in muffin tins and do not succumb to the dreaded unitasker. I am sure they taste just as good.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 C all-purpose flour (I think it helps if you sift, but it’s not strictly necessary)
  • 1 C milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions
[flickr size=”small” float=”right”]http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesser80/5484034383/[/flickr]Heat oven to 450. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with butter or non-stick spray. Beat eggs gently in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk in remaining ingredients until just smooth. Do not over-mix. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins until they are about 2/3 full or a bit less. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce oven temp to 350 and bake another 10-20 minutes or until popovers puffed up nicely and golden brown on top. Enjoy as you see fit … I suggest butter and strawberry jam.

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Butternut Squash Pasta

from:

Ingredients
green beans
butter
dill (fresh or dried)
salt & pepper

Directions
Cook your green beans until done. I like to steam them in skillet with just a little water if fresh, or nuke them if they're frozen, of course. While still hot, add the butter and mix it in so it melts. You do not need much butter. A tablespoon gives an entire pound of green beans a very nice flavor. Then season with dill and salt and pepper.

from: adapted from Dinner a Love Story

Ingredients
1 package egg noodles (we like no yolk)
1 large butternut squash, peeled and diced in 1/2″ or 2 packages prepped frozen winter squash
1 large onion
rosemary leaves
2 T butter
salt and pepper
parmesan

Directions
Heat oven to 425. Peel onion and cut into large dice. On a rimmed baking sheet, place squash and onion in one layer, distributing evenly. Season with salt and pepper and rosemary leaves. Bake for 20-30 minutes until squash and onions are nicely roasted.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook egg noodles according to package directions. Once noodles are done, drain and return to pot. Add butter and then combine with roasted squash and onions. Season with more S&P if necessary.

Serve topped with grated Parmesan.

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No Bake Granola Bars

from: Yum Food & Fun For Kids Dec 2010

Ingredients
2.5 C granola
1.5 C rice cereal
1/2 C quick oats
.5 C dried cranberries or blueberries
.5 C chopped dried apricots
.5 C honey
.5 C brown sugar
.5 C peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Directions
Grease a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray or butter. Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl. Combine brown sugar and honey in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar is melted. Remove pan from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Pour peanut butter mixture over the cereal and fruit and mix thoroughly. Press mixture into 9×13 pan and allow to firm up for an hour or so. Cut into squares and ENJOY!