Roast Chicken, the English Muffin & A New Love in My Life

Let's start at the beginning of the day. Breakfast. Remember those very large English Muffins I made last week. Well this week I made them the correct size, still came out rather large, but added Cinnamon. Wow wow wow. Want to try them? They really are easy. Click here for a life changing experience, well sort of life changing.

Now on to dinner. A Roast Chicken. A simple meal but one that I am not quick to make. Why? Fear of serving raw meat? Maybe. But I have a meat thermometer so that should not be the issue. It is because I tend to over think the roasting of the chicken. But it is quite simple. Just put some lemon and herbs into the cavity and pop it in the oven. Ta Da! Don't believe me? Well read this recipe and you too will see how simple this is.

Side dishes were Roasted Acorn Squash and Roasted Potatoes. And dinner caught Archie's attention!

Now about that new love in my life. Bread pudding. Panettone Bread Pudding to be exact. My mother never made Bread Pudding, at least not that I can remember. We received a loaf of Panettone at Christmas and I wanted to find a use for it, other then toast. I put half of the loaf in the freezer and the other half was transformed into something so wonderful. The recipe is from Epicurious. I did not have enough Vanilla, I know I could not believe it myself. But I had Brandy extract. Oh yeah. That is the way to go. It was moist and the flavors were out of this world. The recipe is suppose to be prepared in a 13"x9" pan. Way to much for the 2 of us so I cut the recipe in half and used 2 round cake pans. Perfect!

Grilled Chicken, Green Onion and Radish Salad

 

I found tonight's recipe on the Whole Foods site. We have never had grilled radishes before tonight. Wow. They taste like a peppery beet. A very nice surprise! The original recipe called for a dressing of lime juice. I decided to use olive oil and lemon juice because I was putting everything on a bed of Arugula. This was a perfect salad for a hot day.

Ingredients -
1 large chicken breast (about 3/4 pound)
2 bunches green onions
2 bunches radishes, halved
1/2 cup toasted and crumbled sliced almonds
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint
Baby Arugula
Lemon juice
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

       
Method -
Prepare a grill for medium-heat cooking. Grill chicken until browned and cooked through, turning occasionally, about 12 minutes. Place onions and radishes in a grill basket or on a vegetable grilling screen to prevent them from falling though the grill grates. Grill, turning frequently, until browned and softened, about 4 minutes for green onions and 8 minutes for radishes.

Allow chicken and vegetables to cool slightly, then dice the chicken and coarsely chop the onions and radishes. Place in a large bowl with the Arugula and top with almonds, mint, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and toss.

Savory Corn, Tomato and Feta Hand Pies

Can I make this a wordless Wednesday... Please.... I will give you the link to the recipe.
Click here for the recipe!

Thank you!

So what did we have for dinner a year ago?

Hurricane Cooking - Day 2. "We are living like animals."

So what did we have for dinner 2 years ago?

Perfect Grilled Pizza

So what did we have for dinner 3 years ago?

Grilled Pork Chops

Grilled Veggie Caesar Salad

Oh this was good. 

But much left for lunch tomorrow  : (

We added some rotissarie chicken and someone 

added some olive oil to the dressing... 

no harm done it was still quite good.  

Click here for the recipe.

Italian Flank Steak Pinwheels, Green Beans, Cats, Flowers & Sargent Pepper

 

Okay Sunday night dinners have been pushed up a notch. With last week's hot weather I spend some time online trying to find recipes that require little to no heat being produced in the kitchen. And first up we have Italian Flank Steak Pinwheels from the Whole Foods web site. I had the butcher butterfly the flank steak. Talk about an amazing meal. Wow! Arugula and provolone.  The rolling up the meat with the filling was a challenge but it is amazing what you can accomplish by saying a Hail Mary!

 

The side dish was also from Whole Foods, Green Bean Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing. Nice dressing. A nice lemon flavor.

 And the deer did not eat our flowers!

 And someone enjoyed their new window seat!

And this morning as I am doing my Sunday morning cooking listening to Breakfast with the Beatles it was stated that the Sargent Pepper album came out 45 years ago this month. I remember when my brother brought the album home... Let's just it was a turning point...

What did we have for dinner?

Sometimes time is something I do not have. I am sure all of you have been in the situation where taking the time to "blog" is not possible. Well that is what last week was like.
Anyway on with "What did we have for dinner?"
Wednesday, Feb. 15 - Zhangs General Tso's Chicken, sorry no photo.

 Thursday, Feb. 16 - Eggplant Meatballs with Penne Pasta.
Recipe for Eggplant Meatballs from Claire's Corner Cookbook.

 Friday, Feb. 17 - From Whole Foods, Sole Stuffed with Feta and Spinach.

Saturday, Feb. 18 - Bradley and Wall's Chicken Rustico.

 Sunday, Feb 19 

Braised Short Ribs,

 recipe from Smitten Kitchen... 

well except I did not have the Port... when did I use that up?

Meatballs with Quinoa

Once again the freezer is my friend. I made this meal on New Year's day and popped in the the freezer.
I found the recipe for Beef and Quinoa Meatballs on the Whole Foods site. I had all that fantastic sauce leftover from the Osso Bucco.  Meatballs were the perfect addition.
And this recipe seemed like a good way to stretch the meat ($$$) and also cut down on the amount of meat we are eating. And we both like Quinoa.
This got two thumbs up from both of us.

Ham Steaks with Rice and Green Beans

 

Ham Steaks have been my "go to" meal when I have not idea what to make for dinner. It has always been my least favorite dinner. That is until tonight. I picked up ham steaks at Whole Foods. Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Uncured Ham Steaks. Amazingly moist and the flavor! It was a very nice surprise.

Fried Chickpeas and Sausage and Ice Cube Tray Cookies

This is my new favorite Sunday night dinners. I love fried chickpeas. Tonight instead of spinach I used escarole and kale... I think I liked it better than the spinach. Need to see the recipe? Click Here.


So these Ice Cube Tray Cookies... My Aunt Marie use to make these all the time. While  I was making these cookies I was thinking about how fortunate I was to grow up in a family were there were always amazing baked goods.

To start off you take an Ice Cube Tray... Yeah I found these in my Dad's basement... Mom use to make these cookies too!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup nuts
3/4 vegetable oil
1/1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Method

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat eggs, add sugar, oil, flour, vanilla and nuts. Grease ice cube trays. Fill 1/2 full, bake for 30 mins. Slice on an angle when cooled.

Now I added chocolate shots, coconut and Rice Krispies. I also put them back in the oven after slicing them, like a biscotti. They tasted exactly as I remember my Aunt Marie's. Amazing how a simple cookie and bring back such happy memories.

Oh and one more thing... for lunch this week I made Greens with Carrots, Feta Cheese and Brown Rice.

 

It was Saturday's recipe of the day from Whole Foods. I am planning on adding some chicken to it tomorrow, and perhaps some tofu later in the week.

Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu

One of the newsletters I receive is EatingWell.com. This week they featured a recipe for Quick Chicken Cordon Bleu. It was quick and very good. I used Prosciutto, of course, and added thyme to the breadcrumb mixture.

For sides I sauteed the extra vegetables I had from last night's dinner and also picked up Risotto Cakes from Whole Foods. Wow. Risotto, Peas and Goat Cheese. The man behind the counter suggested I cut them in half when heating them. Good suggestion!

The Whole Foods Visit

When some people are on vacation they go to places like Disney World or Universal Studios. I go to Whole Foods. Yes I am a foodie.

The Whole Foods store opened near us right before Thanksgiving. This was my first visit. I picked up my dad and off we went. It was really amazing. It was just like Stop and Shop or Big Y except the quality of the food was over the top. It was easier to find items that had very short ingredient lists. The prices varied. Some were the same as other grocery stores while some were higher. I have heard the name of the store be referred to as Whole Paycheck.

Cara Cara Pink Navel Oranges, Golden Beets, Whole Wheat Matza Ball mix were purchased. I was able to buy a 5 pound bag of bread flour (the store I shop in only sells a 3 pound box for almost the same price).

Also picked up dinner. The food to go section was very impressive. For dinner tonight we had roasted pork loin stuffed with cranberry-pecan stuffing, and roasted corn pudding. For Chris, I picked up some roasted butternut squash with dried cranberries. For myself, I got some roasted brussel sprouts with pancetta. The meal was fantastic.

When my dad and I got back from Whole Foods we fried up an eggplant he had bought.

Then when I got home I baked bread that I had started yesterday, Steeca, which is a small baguette. I think tomorrow I may take a day off from bread baking...