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Barbecue Chicken and Spinach
This is pretty simple:
This is the favorite around here.
I started with bone-in chicken thighs. Washed, dried, seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper. Placed in a baking dish, skin-side up, covered with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Removed the foil and baked for an additional 15 minutes, brushed with favorite barbecue sauce every five minutes. Then baked for an additional 5 minutes. This allows the chicken to cook without burning the barbecue sauce and the additional 5 minutes let it get a nice coating.
If you’re grilling, grill for 20 minutes, turning the chicken several times before adding the barbecue sauce, allowing it to grill evenly. Turn skin-side up and add barbecue sauce. After you start brushing on the barbecue sauce you probably won’t want to turn it, keeps it from being too messy.
Thursday Recipe Exchange: Potato Soups
Cross-posted at Balloon-Juice.
JeffreyW's Awesome Potato Soup & Homemade Bread
This week I made a pot of Creamy Potato Soup and almost immediately knew what I really wanted was the Italian potato soup I usually make. So that is my plan this evening, to put together a pot of this:
Zuppa Toscana
- 8 oz ground beef or (4 0z ground beef & 4 oz spicy sausage)
- 6 green onions, chopped (including greens)
- 2 tsp crushed garlic, divided
- 6 -8 medium potatoes, sliced thin (do not peel)
- 3 cups chicken broth (or equivalent)
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups milk
- 2 tsp to 1 tbsp dried basil, crushed
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 cup spinach or kale, chopped
- grated Parmesan
Large dutch oven or saucepan
Heat pan and brown ground beef, onion and 1 tsp garlic. Remove and set aside. Add chicken broth, water and potatoes to pan, bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender. Add meat mixture, spices and milk and let simmer on medium-low, stirring occasionally to makes sure milk doesn’t scald. Just before serving, add spinach or kale and let simmer 2 minutes. Serve with grated Parmesan.
Now hit the comments and share your favorite soups, potato or otherwise. Next week: Chicken & Vegetables
Thursday Recipe Exchange: Rice
JeffreyW makes a delicious rice side.
Brown rice – I prefer long grain, though at the local Asian market I can get brown jasmine, basmati and aborio fairly easily, each with a unique flavor. Brown rice is nutty and a bit sweet. It’s a great compliment with any fish, beef, poultry or pork. The only addition it needs is a touch of butter and salt. Besides being full of flavor, it is also packed with nutrients. Per cup it has 5 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and niacin, as well as other vitamins and minerals. It’s a great side that adds flavor to many dishes. Brown rice cooks like regular rice in a 2:1 ratio of water to rice. But it takes longer to cook. About 45 minutes at a low simmer.
I still use white rice, though. White rice varieties are more delicate and are necessary when you want the rice to take on the flavor of a sauce or spice. Brown rice’s rich flavor can overpower the balance of flavors in some dishes.
Jasmine—A long grain rice, delicately fragrant, soft, moist and slightly sticky, compliments any Asian dish.
Arborio (white) - A medium grain rice, with a chalky white appearance. It is this chalky area that makes this grain unique, allowing the grains to absorb unusually large amounts of liquid and hence flavor during cooking. This is also what makes it especially suited to risottos, paellas, dolmades and other Mediterranean dishes.
Basmati— An aromatic long grain rice that has the unusual characteristic of doubling in length but not width during cooking. This dry, separating grain is especially suited to Indian and Middle Eastern dishes, such as curries, pilafs.
Time to hit the comments with some of your favorite rice dishes. I’m curious if anyone makes a good paella. Next week: Soup
Now here’s a little something with brown rice:
Chicken and Rice Wraps
Substitute raspberries, peaches or plums if you like.
- 2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup cooked brown or wild rice
- 4 large tortillas (flavored ok)
Dressing:
- 1/4 cup Raspberry Dressing
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
- Fresh mint
Mix together chicken, spinach, strawberries, pecans and rice. Mix together dressing ingredients, toss with chicken mixture. Let sit 15 minutes or more. Roll 1/4 of mixture in each tortilla.
Thursday Recipe Exchange: Super Bowl!
JeffreyW's Awesome Nachos look "super" in a "bowl"
You can’t go wrong with nachos – easy and easy to pile high with your favorites ingredients. Here’s rather healthy (?) version: Black Bean and Corn Nachos, JeffreyW gets a little more creative with his pizzas, here , here and here (the man does love a good pizza).
I’ll never turn down nachos, or pizza for that matter, but when I was thinking about favorite party foods, tortilla pinwheels came up pretty quickly. So many things you can do with them. Four variations follow.
Now it’s your turn, what are you planning on making this Sunday and more importantly what beer are you serving? Who has the best recipe for hot wings, a football must have food? (Up next week: Slow Cooker/Crock-Pot ideas)
Basic Tortilla Pinwheels
- 1 (8 ounce) package whipped cream cheese
- 10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
- 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
- 1/4 cup black olives, chopped (optional)
- 3/4 cup chopped ham slices
You spread the ingredients on the tortillas, roll them up and slice them into 1 inch pinwheels. Couldn’t get much easier.
So how do we add some dazzle? Flavored tortillas and a variety of fillings.
Here are some ideas I had:
Jalapeño & Cilantro Tortillas and Black Bean Tortillas
- Cream Cheese
- Pickled jalapenos
- Sliced green chilies
- Turkey
- Salsa
- Black olives
- Shredded cheddar cheese
Roasted Red Pepper Tortillas and Sun-dried Tomato & Basil Tortillas
- Cream cheese mixed with crushed roasted garlic
- Spinach
- Pepperoni
- Grated parmesan
Plain Tortillas and Whole Wheat Tortillas
- Cream cheese
- All-fruit style strawberry preserves
- Crushed red pepper flakes
The list is endless, limited only by your creativity.
Cross-posted at Balloon-Juice.
Thursday Night Recipe Exchange: Spinach Recipes
Recipe Exchange cross-posted at Balloon-Juice.
I thought last week went really well. Thanks for playing along. This week we delve into spinach recipes. I used to hate spinach. This is probably because I am a child of the 70′s and the only spinach I ever saw was canned or frozen, with the consistency of slime. As an adult I discovered fresh, baby spinach and I never looked back. One of my favorite spinach recipes is Spinach Lasagna.
JeffreyW's stuffed manicotti with spinach
To get us started:
Spinach Lasagna
This is one of my most requested recipes. Every time I make it, someone wants the recipe. Since the prep time is long, I usually only break it out for special occasions. It freezes well, so you can make a double batch and freeze two 8×8 pans of uncooked lasagna for two more meals. Thaw the night before (in the refrigerator) and cook until heated through, about 45 minutes to an hour. This recipe is great vegetarian, or you can add ground beef and sausage if desired.
This recipe takes about an hour to prepare and another hour to cook. It easily serves 6 – 8
Sauce:
- 3-15 oz cans tomato sauce
- 2-6 oz cans tomato paste
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 tsp oregano, crushed
- 3 tsp basil, crushed
- 3 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 medium carrot, peeled & finely grated
- pinch of sugar (reduces acidity of the tomatoes)
- Optional: ½ lb ground beef and ½ spicy Italian sausage, browned
Saucepan
Add all ingredients to saucepan on medium-high, stirring constantly until it begins to boil lightly. Turn to low and let simmer while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Lasagna:
- 1 pkg lasagna noodles (16 oz), cooked and placed in cool water until layering*
- 16 oz ricotta cheese
- 8 oz fresh baby spinach, washed and dried and chopped
- 1 egg
- 12 oz sliced mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
13×9 baking dish (I prefer glass), lightly oiled
To prepare: Mix ricotta, spinach and egg until well blended. Ladle a layer of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover in a single layer of noodles. Ladle sauce over noodles. Spoon ½ of the ricotta mixture evenly (if you place large dollops evenly like putting cookie dough on a baking sheet, fairly close together, it will spread as it cooks, no need to smooth it). Layer 1/3 of the mozzarella over the ricotta. Repeat: noodles, sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, noodles. On top of the last layer of noodles, add remaining sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, uncovered – I like to place the baking dish on a baking sheet to catch any spills as it bubbles. Place knife through the center, if it comes out heated through, remove and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving. If it needs more cooking time, you can cover with foil to keep the cheese from burning and cook 10 more minutes. Let stand uncovered before serving.
*if you’d like to make your own noodles, here is the recipe I use:
Lasagna Noodles
When I do make the pasta, I make three, pan-sized noodles, rolled very, very thin. I place them uncooked in the dish, so they absorbed much of the sauce. I usually make a bit extra sauce to serve on the side with the lasagna.
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
In a large bowl, add flour. Make a well in the center and add egg yolks, eggs and salt. Mix well with a fork. Mix in water, 1 tbsp at a time until dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a well floured board or pastry sheet. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Roll one ball out as thin as possible (I use a marble rolling pin, you can also use a pasta machine). Make sure to cover remaining balls with a damp towel until ready to use. Cut to fit pan. Repeat with remaining dough until you have 3 pan sized noodles. DO NOT COOK homemade noodles before putting lasagna together. Follow directions above for putting lasagna together.
Next Week: Favorite Super Bowl Food
Christmas Eve: Turkey Dinner with Traditional Side Dishes
Bald Eagle from my hike the other day. Wish I had my camera, not just my cell phone
Would we still have turkey if it had become our national bird instead of the Bald Eagle?
The menu is set for Saturday. I’m doing an Orange Glazed Turkey. The sides will be Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Oven Baked Stuffing, Green Beans with Bacon and Onions, Spinach-Raspberry-Walnut Salad and Homemade Cranberry Sauce. Appetizers will be Tomato-Basil Crostini, Chips w/Dip and a Raw Vegetable tray. Dessert will be a Dark Chocolate Torte with a Dark Chocolate Ganache (this recipe with a chocolate ganache* instead of confectioner’s sugar) and Fruit Pie Cookies.
I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to mull cider or not.
I’ll add more recipes as I go along.
==========================
*Chocolate Ganache
- 6 oz dark chocolate
- 6 oz heavy cream
Double boiler (I use a metal bowl over a saucepan with about an 1 inch of water)
Place chocolate and cream in top of boiler, bring water in bottom half to a boil, reduce heat to med-high and let chocolate melt, stirring occasionally. When completely melted, remove from heat and stir until cream and chocolate are completely mixed. Let cool and pour over cooled cake.
A Quick Dinner
Busy doing chores and packing for my trip. What to do for dinner? Especially when I’m trying to deplete my refrigerator of fresh foods that will certainly go bad while I’m gone. How about a quick pasta dinner (sorry no pictures, did I mention I was busy packing)?
I put the pasta on to cook. Meanwhile I placed some cleaned baby spinach in a plastic colander, diced up a couple of tomatoes and pulled out some spices. I tossed the tomatoes with olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. When the pasta was ready, I drained it in a colander that I held over the spinach colander, wilting the spinach with the hot pasta water. I set the spinach aside and quickly rinsed the pasta with cool water. I drained the spinach well and then tossed the pasta, spinach and tomato mixture together. Toss with some Parmesan and dinner is served.
Chicken and Rice Wraps
This recipe takes advantage of what’s available from the garden these days. Substitute raspberries, peaches or plums if you like.
Chicken and Rice Wraps
- 2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup cooked brown or wild rice
- 4 large tortillas (flavored ok)
Dressing:
- 1/4 cup Raspberry Dressing
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
- Fresh mint
Mix together chicken, spinach, strawberries, pecans and rice. Mix together dressing ingredients, toss with chicken mixture. Let sit 15 minutes or more. Roll 1/4 of mixture in each tortilla.
TaMara
jeffreyww
LFern7
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