Two Happy Bellies

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

We were first introduced to this soup at our niece's birthday party last year. She was born in the winter and there is always a huge family and friend's party in December for her (there is also one for her brother in August). Scaled up to serve 20, the recipe as given to us calls for quite a bit of ingredients. We scaled it back down to a more managable 6-8 servings and enjoy every bite. The orzo does continue to soak up the broth so leftovers either become "not" soup or need additional broth added.

• 9 C. chicken stock
• 2 t. olive oil
• 1 1/3 C. carrots, chipped
• 1 1/3 C. onions, chopped
• 1 C. celery, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 t. fresh thyme
• 2 t. salt
• 1 C. shredded cooked chicken
• 8 oz. orzo pasta, uncooked
• 1/4 C. fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 1/2 t. lemon rind, grated
• 1/4 C. fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 t. fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 C. romano cheese, grated

1. Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven.
2. Add carrot, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, lemon rind, and salt. Saute over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften.
3. Add chicken stock and lemon juice. Bring to a boil.
4. Add chicken and orzo. Simmer until orzo is cooked through.
5. Just before serving, add parsley. Garnish with black pepper and romano cheese.

Enjoy every last tasty drop of soup that night or as leftovers. Yum!

Greek Salad Sandwich

From a recent (oops, don't know which one) issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, we pulled out a recipe for a Greek Salad Sandwich. Originally we were going to do this for lunches, however we ended up making it for dinner and that was a good thing as it would have been complicated to pull off at work. We also did not follow the directions exactly as we were using a round loaf of bread so ours don't look nearly as pretty as the ones in the magazine . . . and I only took pictures from the first night we ate it. Tonight we had the leftovers and made much lovlier sandwiches, however no pictures. Sorry folks!

• 1 C. canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 T. fresh lemon juice, divided
• 8 t. EVOO, divided
• 1/4 C. fresh parsley leaves (we didn't have any) finely chopped
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 oz. crumbled feta
• 1/2 medium cucuber, thinly sliced
• 1 tomato, thinly sliced
• rustic or olive bread
• salt and pepper

In a food processor, pulse chickpeas, 1 T. lemon juice, 1 T. evoo, and the parsley until finely chopped. In a small bowl, stir together red onion, other T. of lemon juice, and 2 t. of evoo, season with salt and pepper. In another small bowl, mash feta with 1 T. of evoo.

Spread chickpea mixture on 4 slices of bread. Top with cucumber, tomato, and onion mixture. Season with S&P. Spread feta on 4 more slices of bread and top your sandwiches.

Makes four servings.

Tonight Aaron toasted the bread and while I'm not a huge fan of hot sandwiches, this improved the taste dramatically. Shh, don't tell him I said that ;-)

Southern "Fried" Chicken Supper

As part of my ambition to be a better meal planner (as well as get back on track with trying some of the umpteen-gazillion recipes we've marked from various magazines) I have planned out the entire month of June and have it posted on the refrigerator. Our original plan for dinner tonight turned out to be a big fail in that we didn't mark down where we had found the chicken korma recipe we wanted to try (oops!) so we moved on to a Plan B. Plan B is a page torn from the April 2010 issue of Food and Wine Magazine: Southern Fried-Chicken Supper created by Grace Parisi. It consists of Oven-Fried Chicken, Sweet-and-Sout Green Beans, and Jalapeno-Roasted Potatoes. Let me just say our kitchen smells fantastic!

 

Suggested order of events: Roast potatoes and jalapenos first, cook chicken while potatoes are roasting, prepare green beans while both other dishes are in the oven.

Oven-Fried Chicken (35 minutes, 4 servings)

• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 C. panko
• 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t. celery salt
• 1/2 t. garlic salt
• 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
• 4 large skinless, boneless chicken thighs, lightly pounded
• 1/2 C. canola oil
• Lemon wedges, for serving

1. Place a rimmed nonstick baking sheet on the lower rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Put the beaten eaggs, panko, and flour in 3 shallow bowls. Season the flour with the celery salt, garlic salt, and cyenne pepper. Dust the chicken with the flour, then dip it in the egg, and finally in the panko, pressing to help the bread crumbs adhere.
2. Pour the canola oil onto the baking sheet. Carefully dip the chicken thighs in the oil, being sure to coat both sides evenly, and set them on the baking sheet. Bake the chicken thighs for about 25 minutes, until they're golden and crispy, turning halfway through. Drain on paper towels and serve with lemon wedges (as you can see, we had no lemon wedges).

We would make this again, however increase the amount of seasoning as it didn't really stand out to us next to the potatoes.

For ease in using our search engine, I will post the Sweet-and-Sour Green Beans and the Jalapeno-Roasted Potatoes as two separate entries. I love my search engine.

Cheese Enchilada Stack

Inspired by a recipe found in More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow (9781401310387) or at A Year of Slow Cooking, we made the Cheese Enchilada Stack (with chicken) for dinner this week.

Definitely not the prettiest meal, it really was easy to make. However, we found it to be on the bland side and if we do decide to make it again, we will definitely need to find a way to add some flavor. It is a good base recipe though so here you go:

• 8 corn tortillas
• 4 C. shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 (4 oz.) can sliced olives, drained
• 2 C. shredded cooked chicken (optional)
• 2 C. enchilada sauce
• sour cream
• salsa

Put a layer of tortillas into the bottom of a 4 quart slow cooker. Add a handful of cheese and some sliced olives. If you choose to add meat, we added some cooked shredded chicken we had on hand. Scoop some enchilada sauce on top of that. Repeat your layers until you've run out of ingredients, finishing with tortillas on top. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or until the cheese is melted and the top layer is beginning to pull away from the sides. Let sit unplugged with the cover off for about 15 minutes. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

Adding a green salad made this a complete meal . . . although why I chose to plate up an orange recipe on an orange plate confuses me!

Crispy Herbed Shrimp with Chive Aioli with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes

From Cooking Light March 2012, we decided to try their Crispy Herbed Shrimp with Chive Aioli. This is served with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes. While we did not create the recipe exactly as written (no chives so we used cilantro - good use of ingredients around the house), we still proclaim this one a winner! Using items such as Greek yogurt to create the Aioli sauce and taking advantage of the seasonal nature of the asparagus we happily ate this one up. It also halved very easily which is always lovely as this was not one in which we were looking forward to leftovers. Dinner Tonight? This one is easily ready in the 40 minutes they promise.

Chicken Divan

Last Monday we made dinner for a new mom. We love to help feed others, so volunteer to do this quite frequently. We have several dishes we'll do in rotation and this one is perfect for feeding others. It is (almost) a perfect one dish meal. The only reason it isn't perfect? I can't stand not having something on the side. In this case we made a beautiful fruit salad as the side item and actually hit all the food groups with the main dish and side. Amazing!

While it isn't the prettiest thing on the plate, it sure is tasty! We made a double batch - one 9 by 13 for them and two 8 by 8 for us (one went promptly into the freezer for a future meal). Due to their sensitive palattes, we also made theirs the traditional recipe. Ours? Got doused with sriracha sauce, only our favorite sauce of the moment. We discovered it when we first made spicy chicken wraps. Speaking of them, it is just about time for them to show back up in rotation. Hoping our basil comes in soon!

Anyway, here is our recipe for one 9 by 13 pan:

• 8 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (about 4 cups meat)
• 1 bunch broccoli
• 1 1/2 C. cooked rice
• 1 stick butter
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 can cheese soup, condensed (this is one ingredient I'd like to swap out)
• 1 can evaporated skim milk
• 1/4 C. slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/2 C. crackers, crushed (the Ritz type, not the Saltine type)

Spray a 9 by 13 pan. Cook broccoli in boiling water for about 6 minutes. Meanwhile, saute onion with 1 T. butter. Add soup and milk to create sauce. Layer bottom of pan with broccoli, then rice, then chicken. Pour sauce over chicken. Don't stir, but jiggle the pan around to make sure sauce seeps through. Melt rest of butter. Scatter crackers across top of pan, then drizzle the butter, and scatter the almonds. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve with hot sauce for those who like extra seasoning.

With our fruit salad made of kiwi, cantelope, and watermelon, we had two happy bellies in the house.

Chicken Fajita Medley

I was asked by a friend the other day about our penchant for "makeover" meals. While I don't call them out that often here on the blog, we do try to find a way to change up leftovers whenever possible. One of the easiest ones to share would be our chicken fajitas/fajita rice bowls/chicken quesadillas. The first night of this series we saute up a bunch of peppers and onions

 
and Aaron grills a couple of chicken breasts.

We enjoy these that first night on tortillas and with whatever accompanists we feel like . . . in this case: cheese, sour cream, salsa, and grilled corn.

The next day we make rice and then have those same ingredients of chicken, peppers/onions, salsa, cheese, etc. in a bowl

and then on the last night, we make quesadillas once again using our chicken, pepper/onions, cheese, etc.

There you go, three meals out of one set of ingredients.

Grilled Sirloin with Anchovy-Lemon Butter and Broccoli Rabe

New grill + sirloin steak for our 1/8th of a cow + Super Fast 20 Minute Cooking recipe = Dinner Monday night and leftovers for Tuesday. Tracy eyed this recipe in the March Cooking Light issue. Under the heading of Super Fast 20 Minute Cooking we thought this would be a good one to try on a week day night. This was an easy recipe to make but that 20 minutes does not include the time it takes to gather, measure out or prep all ingredients. From pulling stuff out of the fridge to dinner plate on the table was really about 45 minutes and still not bad for a work night.

Verdict- I love anchovies so this recipe was up my alley. The combination of butter, lemon, and the anchovy paste could be delicious on just about any meat, not just this grilled sirloin. How was the broccoli rabe? Well… I think this was my first time to be exposed to rabe so my judgment might not be the best. I found them to be bitter. I think I would make this again but substitute the rabe for spinach or some other green. Tracy, on the other hand, loved it just the way it was.

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Pesto Butter

Still trying to use up pesto in the house, we adapted a recipe from Don't Panic -- Dinner's in the Freezer (9780800730550).

The authors actually make homemade pesto as part of the recipe, which is great - we do the same. Problem is we're trying to use up already made pesto and just had to guess how much prepared pesto equals their original ingredients. Not sure we guessed correctly, but it worked. Because we made a "half" recipe, I'm just going to describe what we did, rather than give you the recipe as written.

I mixed a generous dollop of pesto with 4 T. of softened butter, made a rectangle, then chilled that until firm.

Next, Aaron pounded three chicken breasts until flat, and passed them off to me. I placed 1/3 of our pesto butter stick inside each breast, wrapped it like an envelope, and flour'd/egg'd/panko'd the breast. Then it was back to Aaron to put in the skillet that had been heating some butter and olive oil.

After they hung out in the skillet for about 15 minutes, turning to brown on all sides, they went into a greased baking dish and baked at 350 degrees for another 45 minutes (or until meat is white all the way through).

We served these lovely chicken breasts with pesto rice (another attempt to use up pesto) and sauteed asparagus.

I'd definitely eat these again!

Split Pea Soup

I haven't had split pea soup in years, my aunt used to make a wonderful one however my cousin no longer remembers the recipe as her husband doesn't like it. Virginia Willis shares another tasty recipe from Basic to Brilliant, Y'all (9781607740094) and now I can once again enjoy Split Pea Soup.

• 2 T. canola oil
• 2 sweet onions, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
• 8 C. chicken stock (preferably homemade)
• 1 1/4 C. green split peas, rinsed
• coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• bouquet garni (3 sprigs flat-leaf parsley; 2 sprigs thyme; 1 bay leaf; 1 T. whole black peppercorns tied in cheesecloth)
• 1 ham hock or hambone (optional)

Heat the oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and carrot; saute until the vegetables begin to soften (4 to 6 minutes). Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 45 to 60 seconds. Add the chicken stock and split peas; season with salt and pepper. Add the bouquet garni and hambone (if using). Bring to a boil; then decrease the heat to simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peas are tender, about 1 hour. Taste and adjust seasonings. Ladle into warmed bowls and serve immediately.

This was her "basic" recipe. Moving it up to "brilliant" she suggest adding Deviled Ham Garlic Toasts. While we did not take the soup up to this level, I look forward to trying this next time.