Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

So this was a fun little experiment with my husband. Since he's been back from japan, he hasn't has much time to cook, with being in the barracks and all. So we decided to cook together at least one night a week. Last night we tried out hand at balsamic chicken, completely from scratch (no recipe being followed)


2 chicken breasts (or 4 chicken cutlets)
bread crumbs
1 cup wine
1.5 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 button mushrooms, sliced
1/3 cup balsamic salad dressing
3 tbsp italian seasoning
1 tsp flour
2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 lemon, juice and zested
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Run the chicken through breadcrumbs to get it nicely coated
2. in a 10 inch skillet, add 1tbsp olive oil and cook the chicken til its no longer pink in the middle (about 4 minutes each side, but depends on thickness)
3. remove chicken and dry on paper towl
4. Add the white wine to the pan, then the chicken broth, balsamic dressing, seasonings, lemon juice, lemon zest. Let it come to a boil.
5. OPTIONAL: Depending on how thick you want your sauce you can add the right amount of flour. For a less thick sauce add about 1 tsp flour, 2 tsp for a more thick. Let the flour dissolve, constantly stirring so there aren't any clumps.
6. Turn the heat to low and add the mushrooms + chicken. Cover the skillet and cook for 10 minutes or until the mushrooms are done.

Right before the lid went on.

Dinner time =)

Now, we thought the flavor of the chicken was a little bland and the sauce was too thin. I would have added more balsamic dressing (or balsamic vinegar but we didn't have any) to intensify the flavor. I also probably would have cut down the amount of wine and added more chicken broth. The mushrooms were delicious though.

Roasted Vegetables

I am amazed sometimes at what I discover. How have I missed out on roasted vegetables this long? Roasted carrots are almost my favorite thing ever! Last night, Husband and I were watching T.V. and didn't want to eat frozen foods, but at the same time we didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen with skillets and 10 minute times... because let's face it, sometimes being stuck in the kitchen while preparing a meal sucks. So thats when we decided to just throw some potatoes and carrots in the oven and let them cook for an hour, then we would work on meat.

This is something every college student (and newlywed!) should learn to do. It's not hard at all, just you have to think ahead.

Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

5 medium red potatoes

6 medium carrots 

Olive oil

2 tbsp dried oregano

1 tbsp dried parsley

1. Pre-heat oven to 375

2. Cut potatoes into 1 inch slices. 

3. Peel and cut carrots to 3-4 in pieces, remembering that thicker sections should be shorter than thinner for even cooking time. 

4. Toss all cut ingredients into a shallow roasting pan. Coat with olive oil and toss in the dried herbs. Make sure you toss everything so it's nice and coated before putting it in the over

5. Cook for about 1 hr - 1 hr 10 minutes. Around 35-40 minutes just make sure to take out the pan and shake up the potatoes and carrots so they don't stick.  

Now this isn't a hard dish at all. In fact you can add sweet onions as well (just quartering them) or even something fancy like fennel. It's a pretty standard roasting idea that gives you 10 minutes of prep and an hour to unwind before reheating left over meat or just sauteing some chicken, pork, beef, tofu, whatever your choice. The only thing I wouldn't deviate from is the dried herbs and olive oil.

Updates

I am alive everyone I promise!

I am hoping to get started blogging Bout my awesome food adventurers soon, especially since now I am married (yay) and now living with my husband, not in a kitchen I share with roommates. Also a benefit of getting married is we have an awesome kitchen set up right now,

A lot of friends have been on my back and trying to get me to start blogging again. I suppose I have gotten out of the habit of taking pictures and remember what I cook, but my husband has been encouraging me and last night at dinner, which was an amazing lemon thyme chicken my husband made, I decided to give it a go. I haven't decided if I want to make a new blog, but I know I would lose the few readers I have.

Any who I will be updating soon. You can follow me on twitter (_pathologie)

Apricot Rum Cookies

Yummy =) 

So I made these for gameday (UF vs Tennessee!) And they were wonderful

1 package sugar cookie mix
10-12 dried apricots
3tsp dark rum
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg

1. Follow instructions on cookie mix. Add in apricots and rum. Enjoy =)

What wonderful & fluffy cookies

Crostata two ways

"A crostata is an Italian baked dessert tart, and a form of pie. It is traditionally prepared by folding the edges of the dough over the top of the jam/marmalade filling, creating a more "rough" look, rather than a uniform, circular shape" - Wikipedia

Before Baking =) 

So we made these for girls night. It was experiment inspired by a few of Giada's recipes.

Apricot

1/4 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup marscapone cheese
handful of dried apricots, diced.
1 refrigerated pie crust
sliced almonds for garnish

Pear

2 pears, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tbsp cream cheese
1/4 cup marscapone cheese
1/2 lemon zest
squeeze of lemon juice
sliced almonds as garnish
Cinnamon, Nutmeg

They were alright. Nothing special. The apricot one was a lot better than the pear one. Probably should have used apples since they are a sturdier fruit.  

Yum.

BBQ Pulled chicken

adapted from this recipe.

BBQ Pulled chicken

3 Chicken breasts
1/2 cup Honey Dijon dressing
12 oz Honey BBQ sauce
1 8 oz can pineapple tidbits
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
hot sauce to taste
1 sweet onion

1) Put everything (minus onion) in crockpot on low for 6 hours.
2) About 10 minute before you are ready to eat, sautee onion =)






This was so good. Sadly my camera skills suck hardcore. But It was delicious =)

Update

I haven't forgotten about you. My new apartment has a horrible kitchen and I'm not really motivated to cook much.

Maple- Mustard Chicken Thighs

Maple- Mustard Chicken Thighs

Ingredients

• 4 large bone-in chicken thighs, skins removed (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons grainy French mustard
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Combine mustard, garlic, marjoram and maple syrup in a small bowl. Spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons mustard mixture evenly on top of each chicken thigh, being careful to cover as much of the surface as possible to form a "crust." Arrange chicken in a glass baking dish. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until mustard mixture has formed a crust and is slightly hardened, and juices run clear when the chicken is pierced.

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The flavor was awesome, I'm just not a fan of thighs.

Roasted Pork Shoulder with Citrus and Garlic

Slow Roasted Pork with Citrus and Garlic

Recipe can be found Here

Ingredients

• 10 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 4 bay leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 6-to-8-pound Boston butt pork shoulder
• Juice of 6 oranges, peels reserved
• Juice of 4 lemons, peels reserved
• Juice of 4 limes
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 white onions, thinly sliced

Directions

Pulse the garlic, oregano, thyme, coriander and cumin seeds, bay leaves, 2 tablespoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper in a food processor to make a thick paste. Trim off all but a thin layer of fat from the pork, then make deep slits all over the roast (about every 2 inches) with a paring knife. Rub the spice paste over the pork and into the slits.

Mix the citrus juices, Worcestershire sauce and olive oil in a large glass bowl. Submerge the pork in the marinade and top with the onions and reserved orange and lemon peels. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 8 hours or up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature 1 hour before roasting.

Preheat the oven to 450. Remove the citrus peels from the bowl and refrigerate. Place the pork on a rack in a large roasting pan (reserve the marinade and onions); roast, uncovered, about 1 hour. Add the marinade to the pan and pile the onions on top of the meat. Cover with foil, lower the oven temperature to 350 and roast 2 more hours. Uncover, place the citrus peels around the pork and continue to roast, basting occasionally, until the meat browns and a thermometer inserted into the bottom half registers 190, 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Transfer the pork to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, skim any excess fat from the pan juices. Slice the pork and serve with the onion and pan juices. Garnish with citrus peels.

So we tried this at girls night and I really did not like pork shoulder being roasted, I prefer it to be slow cooked I guess. But The flavors were awesome and I would totally replicate the flavors with maybe a pork tenderloin.

Chicken Noodle Soup

My attempt at chicken noodle soup. I really don't like soup. I don't remember the ingredients or recipe because I made it back in January. Sorry. It wasn't that good anyways.

Homemade Salsa

• 4 large ripe tomates
  
• 1/2 white onion (finely chopped)
  
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• 2 green onions thinly sliced
• 2 chipolte peppers in adobe sauce
• 1 red jalapeno seeded & finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Roast the tomatoes in the oven at 450 for 10 minutes
2. Remove seeds and skin from tomatoes.
3. Add Tomatoes, onion, cilantro, green onion, chipotle chilies, lime juice, vinegar, olive oil, and garlic to a food processor and pulse a few time ( you can pulse more if you like a less chunky salsa)


So this recipe was found by my roommate on AOL food (I can't find the link to link it). It's what we did since the original recipe called for a handheld blow torch (?) and some other kitchen goodies we don't have. It turned out wonderfully.

Magic Cookie Bars

Magic Cookie Bars

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 1/2 cups of crushed graham cracker
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 can swetened condensed milk

Directions:

1. Preheat to 350.
2. Melt the stick of butter in a 13x9 pan, making sure it's evenly distributed.
3. Add the graham crackers, making a traditional crust.
4. Add the following ingredients in a layer on top of the crust; walnuts, chocolate chips, coconut.
5. drizzle the condensed milk on top.
6. bake for 20-30 minutes.

Overall: These might have been my favorite cookies of the night. They were made by alli's roommate and when we walked into the apartment, these were in to oven baking. They are so good =) I asked for the recipe so I could try and replicate. Super awesome.

Christmas Cookies!

Let me explain:




Hope that was good enough... ONTO COOKIES



Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 (14oz) can condensed milk
• 6 tablespoons crushed peppermint candies
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or peppermint)
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:
1. preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips, over a double boiler or carefully in the microwave.
3. Combine the melted chocolate chips with 1 can condensed milk. Mix thoroughly.
4. Add the egg, vanilla, melted butter, and about half the crushed peppermint. Stir to combine.
5. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
7. Once combined, add the remining chocolate chips.
8. Cook for 7-10 minutes. Remove and sprinkle some peppermint on each cookie. Finish cooking for about 2 minutes.


Overall: So since the semester is almost over, the regular girls night crew, plus some new awesome faces, decided to go out with a bang. Cookie style. These cookie's were found by Alli. These were awesome. Love! Be warned, they are very very chocolaty, so make sure you have a cup of milk handy with each cookie.

Turkey day

Happy Turkey day to everyone celebrating.

This is Halloween

So my eyeballs were a hit last night. They were gone within 15 minutes of me being there and they weren't even on the main display table!

Scary Eyeballs-
1 box doughnut holes
2 bags white chocolate
1 bag lifesaver gummies
1 bag mini m&ms

Directions
1. Melt chocolate over a double boiler, add about 1 tbsp of whole milk and mix together. It should be a bit runnier than normal melted chocolate.
2. Remove from heat. Dip doughnut holes in white chocolate
3. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Once all doughnuts dipped, refrigerate for about 30 minutes...
4. Take them out, assemble eyes as shown...

OVERALL:

Oh boy the fiasco of dealing with melted chocolate. I ruined 2 batches of white chocolate because I didn't know I was suppose to add milk for dipping. Once I added the milk we had, which was NOT whole milk and was a bit runnier than I would have liked. See how the chocolate looks more like a glaze? But anyways, That worked well and my roommate mentioned we could also use Oil instead of work. So thinking that I might as well see which one is better, we do the oil for the last batch... and it turns out horrible. It did not coat as evenly as the chocolate with the milk did. But everyone liked them... For added effect I got raspberry jelly doughnut holes. Yeah it's not accurate but it's awesome!

Vitamins

It's interesting being a science major. After semester of calculating velocities and memorizing mechanisms in organic chemistry, I've stumbled across a class that actually has some practical applications... you know if you aren't going to graduate school for physics or chemistry... which I'm not.

Biochemistry. Yes it sounds intimidating, but I assure you there are hidden interesting nuggets to be found. After our second exam memorizing tons of pathways (can I get a Kreb's Cycle Woot Woot!) our professor lectured on something I found to be extremely interesting.

Vitamins!

Yes, remember those things that your mother made you take every morning? Maybe that was just mine... But here are some that I though would be applicable to the college student... or anyone for that matter:

Vitamin B1 (the one I found most important...)

According to our professor, almost 60% of the population has a vitamin B1 deficiency. Vitamin B1 (or Thiamine) is critical in energy pathways of the body. Mild cases of vitamin B1 deficiency present as fatigue and depression. Ringing any bells among college students? Not even kidding, I've been taking a regular old multivitamin and I've been less tired since I've started taking them... Thank you biochemistry! Here's some more tidbits you might like to know!

For the record, Most daily vitamin pills contain a Vitamin B complex, which contains a whole slew of vitamin B's for your body's pleasure. See:

B vitamins are found in all whole, unprocessed foods. Processing, as with sugar and white flour, tends to significantly reduce B vitamin content. B vitamins are particularly concentrated in meat, and other good sources are potatoes, bananas, lentils, chile peppers, tempeh, beans, liver oil, liver, turkey, tuna, nutritional yeast, brewer's yeast, and molasses.

300-calorie dinners

Almond-Crusted Pork with Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)—Sliced almonds add a delectable, almost-like-fried-chicken crunch to the breading for these tender pieces of pork. We slice the pork thinly to keep the cooking time quick. The resulting pork “fingers” are great dipped in this surprisingly simple, delicious honey, soy and mustard sauce.

Catfish & Potato Hash—Hash isn’t just for corned beef. It’s also great made with catfish—or other flaky white fish. Any ham adds flavor to the hash, but we think a higher-quality smoked ham will give you the biggest flavor-bang for your buck. Serve with a poached egg on top and a green salad.

Sweet Potato-Peanut Bisque—This satisfying vegetarian sweet potato soup is inspired by the flavors of West African peanut soup. We like the added zip of hot green chiles, but they can sometimes be very spicy. It’s best to take a small bite first and add them to taste. Try chopped peanuts and scallions for a different garnish. Serve with a mixed green salad with vinaigrette.

Lemon Chicken Stir-Fry—Spiked with lots of zesty lemon, this delectable chicken stir-fry has a colorful mix of snow peas, carrots and scallions. But feel free to substitute other thinly sliced vegetables, such as bell peppers or zucchini. Serve with: Rice noodles or brown rice.

Almond-Crusted Pork with Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce

1 cup coarse dry breadcrumbs, preferably whole-wheat (see Note)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 large egg white, beaten
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices

Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Set a wire rack on a baking sheet and coat it with cooking spray.
2. Place breadcrumbs, almonds, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a food processor; pulse until the almonds are coarsely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a shallow dish.
3. Place egg white in another shallow dish. Dip both sides of each pork slice in egg white, then evenly coat with the almond mixture. (Discard any remaining egg white and almond mixture.) Place the pork on the prepared rack and coat on both sides with cooking spray.
4. Bake the pork until golden brown and no longer pink in the center, 16 to 18 minutes.
5. Meanwhile/, whisk honey, soy sauce and mustard in a small bowl. Serve the pork with the honey-mustard sauce.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 299 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 4 g mono); 74 mg cholesterol; 30 g carbohydrate; 29 g protein; 3 g fiber; 561 mg sodium; 562 mg potassium. Nutrition bonus: Potassium & Zinc (16% daily value).

Note: We like Ian’s brand of coarse dry whole-wheat breadcrumbs, labeled “Panko breadcrumbs.” Find them in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets. To make your own breadcrumbs, trim crusts from firm sandwich bread. Tear the bread into pieces and process in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. Spread the breadcrumbs on a baking sheet and bake at 250°F until dry and crispy, about 15 minutes. One slice of bread makes about 1/3 cup dry whole-wheat breadcrumbs.

- from yahoo (Carolyn Malcoun)

Tapa: Crema de Cabrales (sorta...)

• ¼ pound blue cheese (the Spanish variety is cabrales, but gorgonzola or roquefort may be used)
• 2 teaspoons raisins
• 1 Tablespoon white grape juice or cider
• 1 Tablespoon cream
• 2 Tablespoons apple, finely chopped (about half a peeled apple)
• 2 Tablespoons walnuts, finely chopped
• ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme

Procedure

1. Remove blue cheese from refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature (let it sit on the counter for an hour or more).
2. Soak the raisins in the fruit juice for 20 minutes.
3. Using a spoon, remove the raisins from the juice and set aside.
4. When the cheese has reached room temperature, place it in a small mixing bowl.
5. Add the cream and fruit juice.
6. Using a fork or wooden spoon, combine ingredients until smooth.
7. Stir in raisins, apple, walnuts, and thyme.
8. Serve with crackers.

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Found this on the internet while searching for spanish foods. Okay, so the ONLY thing I did differently was use goat cheese instead of bleu cheese, mainly because a few of my friends don't like bleu cheese. But this came out wonderfully! It's a little rich with the goat cheese, but well worth every bite.

Girls Night:: Spanish/Latin food

Another great night getting together with my favorite girls. We tried to do a latin/spanish inspired dinner. We ended up with Quesadillas and Paella, both which were awesome. Sadly, the picture of the quesadillas came out poorly, so I omitted that. I'll also post the recipe for the paella once I get it :)

Stop Overeating?

Interesting article on a new drug to stop over eating using real science?

yeah right....