Recipe: Grilled chicken and strawberry salad with BBQ baked potato

Temperatures are topping the 100 degree mark here this week so all of our dinner making moves outdoors.  One small thing is made indoors and can be done early in the day before it gets too hot to use the stove.  Or, you can just buy that one thing pre-made and keep your indoor kitchen cool.  The preparation may seem long, but it's really not... I just wrote every step out so you can see how everything is ready-to-go at the same time.

Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Salad with BBQ Baked Potato
(serves 2 adults and 2 children)

Ingredients:
For the grilled chicken

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt or other coarse salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1 tsp. granulated onion
• 1 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. sweet paprika

For the BBQ Baked Potatoes

• 3-4 8 ounce Idaho baking potatoes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1-2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt or other coarse salt
• Unsalted butter, sour cream or toppings of your choice

For the Strawberry Salad

• 2 heads romaine lettuce
• 1 pound ripe strawberries
• 1/2 cup candied walnuts (pre-made or make ahead)
• If making, need 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded
• Balsamic vinaigrette 

Directions:  The first two steps can be done earlier in the day if you have time.

Make the candied walnuts.  Toast walnuts on stove top on low flame for three minutes, stirring constantly.  Add butter, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon and stir for 2-3 more minutes.  Lay on napkin or paper towel to cool.  Set aside.

Shred cheddar, chop lettuce and slice strawberries.  Set aside separately in the fridge to keep cool.

About 1 hour before dinner, make BBQ Baked Potatoes.  I wrote about these two summers ago and they have become a staple for us.  When you turn the potatoes at the halfway mark (about 25 minutes), you can start on the chicken.

Making the grilled chicken.  Combine olive oil and lemon in a small bowl.  Combine salt, pepper, garlic, onion, sugar and paprika in another small bowl.  Wash chicken and pat dry.  Take everything out to the BBQ.

Brush oil/lemon on top of chicken breasts.  Sprinkle seasonings on top and place, face-down on BBQ.  Repeat for the other side of chicken quickly without burning yourself.  Close lid and let cook for 8-9 minutes depending on size of chicken breasts.  Turn and let cook until done and then bring in the house to cool. The potatoes are almost ready, so you can turn your BBQ off and leave them there for a few minutes.

• On dinner plates, place chopped romaine, candied walnuts, and sliced strawberries
• Bring potatoes in from BBQ, slice open and place on the side of plate (see photo up top).  Add toppings as you prefer but honestly, these only need a pat of butter.  The salt from the outside is deliciously crunchy and will find its' way in to the potato adding a smoky salt punch.
• Slice cooled chicken and put on top of salad.  Sprinkle white cheddar over chicken and salad.
• Lightly dress with balsamic vinaigrette and serve.

We had additional strawberries on the side, but honestly, the meal was the perfect size for each of us.

I hope you love this meal as much as we do.
Happy Grilling!
Hettie

Yogurt Marinated Chicken Recipe

Many months ago, I bought the wrong yogurt (plain instead of vanilla) for Em and Ro's breakfast.  Since I had purchased a large container, I used most of it for baking and had a bit left to experiment with.  This yogurt marinade recipe is probably the most tested and retested recipe I've ever done... trying to get it "just right" and so I hope you love it as much as we do.

A note on the ingredients, well, one ingredient specifically.  Everything in the ingredient list can be purchased at your local grocery store except for the Penzey's Sate Seasoning.  I found this spice mix quite some time ago and find it to be much much easier for quick mid-week dinners than using all the spices individually.  Penzey's is my own personal choice and I'm not paid or endorsed by them (oh how I wish!) and I feel having this in your kitchen will prove to be worth it.  Just my two cents.

Yogurt Marinated Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 Pounds Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped
• 3 tbsp. (1/4 cup) Penzey's Sate Seasoning
• 3 tbsp. crushed garlic
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt plus 1 more tsp. salt set aside
• scant 1 tsp. white pepper

Directions:

1. Combine yogurt, onion, Sate, garlic, olive oil, 1 tsp. of the salt & pepper in the smallest dish that will hold the chicken breasts.  Preserve 1/2 cup of marinade in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for basting later.
2. Coat chicken breasts in remaining marinade, cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours.  6 would be better.
3. When ready to grill, take chicken and remaining marinade out of fridge to come to room temperature while your BBQ is warming up.  Set BBQ to medium.
4. The chicken will be thickly coated with the yogurt marinade and that is fine.  Place on BBQ and set your timer for 7 minutes.
5. Turn chicken and baste with 1/2 reserve marinade and 1/2 remaining salt.  Set your timer for 7 more minutes.
6. Turn chicken final time, baste with marinade and salt.  On average, the chicken will only need about 2-3 more minutes of time.  Transfer to a plate and let sit, covered for 5 minutes.
7. Your chicken should be juicy, tasty and perfectly cooked!  Serve with BBQ'd potatoes, a sweet bowl of cut melon and a simple salad.
8. If you have any chicken remaining, refrigerate pieces whole.  The flavor will be enhanced overnight and is a perfect cool accompaniment to a salad or warm Naan bread.

That's it!  Again, I hope you love it as much as we do.  And if not, feel free to change up the ingredients and concoct a marinade of your own!  :-)  Happy Grilling!

Turkey Meatloaf

Nummy Nummy Turkey Meatloaf!

We switched over to ground turkey as a staple over ground beef quite some time ago. I have continued to tinker with my meatloaf recipe and think it's juuuust about right for us now. The lower temperature and longer baking time keep the meat nice and moist. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

1 package Ground Turkey, about 1.5 lbs.

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

1/4 cup milk

2-3 tablespoons sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, minced fine

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil, or 2 tablespoons fresh, chopped fine

1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley, or 2 tablespoons fresh, chopped fine

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup ketchup to top meatloaf if preferred (Trader Joe's organic ketchup rocks and it keeps the top from drying out.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Coat 4x12 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray. If you do not have this size pan, a regular loaf pan will work, just increase oven baking time as listed.
3. Combine first 9 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
4. To a warm skillet, add olive oil and butter. Brown onions and garlic until soft.
5. Add onion/garlic mixture to turkey mixture. Combine and place in the loaf pan, patting into all corners.
6. Cover with ketchup if preferred.
7. Bake for 65 minutes. For the smaller pan, bake for 80 minutes.
8. Take out and let site for 5 minutes before slicing.

If you make this, I'd love to hear what you thought of the recipe!

Enjoy. :-)

Fall Preparations and Quesadilla Pizzas

Every morning, our home smells like freshly baked warm and yeasty bread or cinnamon and buttery muffins or chocolaty chip cookies.

Every trip to the grocery store adds on an extra bag of flour or sugar or butter for more upcoming baking... and more root vegetables to roast to caramelized goodness.

Every afternoon has a bit of Fall Cleaning of closets and drawers and cabinets. Summer reading books have already been banished to the top bookshelf making way for all things autumnal (reading "A Creepy Countdown" above).

Halloween costume suggestions by both Em and Ro change hourly... even one little leaf fallen along our evening walking path is excitedly celebrated!

It's "only" going to be 90 today... Fall is finally, hopefully on the way!! With all this hustle and bustle in the house, I've been trying to whip up quick meals and make the most of the cooler temps. Here's a fast recipe I'm sure many of you have already done... otherwise, how did California Pizza Kitchen come up with it!?!

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla Pizzas (seen here being munched down by Ro)
These are a wonderful family favorite! I round out the meal with sides of a fresh salad, corn, rice and beans... oh, and fresh brownies for dessert! This meal is fun and fast!!

Ingredients: All at room temperature. (Flickr pic is bigger)
Add freshly sauteed veggies like red onions, peppers and tomatoes as your family prefers.

What to do:
Put a large non-stick skillet, dry, on a medium setting on your stove top. Let the skillet warm up. Place flour tortilla in pan, then add about 2 tablespoons sour cream/BBQ sauce, then 1/3 cup cheese, then 1/3 cup leftover BBQ chicken & veggies. Let cook for about a minute.
Add another tortilla to the top, cook another 30 seconds. Gently flip over.
Cook another 1-2 minutes and remove to cutting board. Cut as you would a pizza. Repeat process until you're out of ingredients. Use the remaining sour cream sauce as a dip.

We made a total of four pizzas for 2 adults and 2 munchkins... there's a little leftover that I'll be shamelessly eating, cold from the fridge, right after I publish this blog.

Favorites for a quick dinner

1- Leerdammers Swiss cheese from Holland. I originally fell in love with this cheese when visiting my mom in Massachusetts. There is this super awesome cheese shop there named Wasik's. Every trip back East, I would make my customary visit to the shop and buy this yummy cheese-- even bringing it home on the plane with me once. For years, I looked everywhere on the West coast for this cheese and it finally showed up a year or two ago... a wonderful indulgence!
2- Organic apples from Trader Joe's. Cool, sweet and crispy. Mmmm.
3- Everything bagel chips from Trader Joe's. Crunchy and slightly salty and the perfect accompaniment for #4.
4- Tuna fish! When I worked outside the home, I'd stop by Gelson's deli every once in a while and indulge in their tuna. I finally made my own creamy version at home... and here it is.

Yummy Yummy Tuna Fish (serves 2 adults, 2 children)
2 cans of tuna, I use water packed
1/4 cup real mayonnaise
1 1/2 tbsp. crushed dill
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 1/2 tbsp. yellow or dijon mustard
1 1/2 tbsp. parsley
1 1/2 tbsp. chives
1 1/2 tbsp. minced onion (or more/less to taste)

Combine dill, salt, pepper, parsley, chives and onion. Set aside
Combine mayonnaise and mustard in a medium bowl. Add dry ingredients.
Add tuna and mash with a fork until it is super creamy.
Cover and let sit in fridge for ten minutes before serving for best flavor.

This tuna is also perfect for tuna melts or wee cucumber sandwiches. I personally love it best on lightly toasted sourdough with thin cucumbers and carrot sticks on the side.

Another yummy chicken dinner

Cordell my sweet, this one is for you!

We eat a lot of chicken in this family... so I have a lot of chicken recipes to use and try and then send out into blogland. This recipe is one I keep modifying based on the ingredients I have on hand, so each time it's a little different... I hope you like it. The prep work is messy and extensive but well worth it. Plan for about an hour in the kitchen.

Ingredients: This will feed about 3 people
1 chicken breast cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes per person (I've also cut the chicken into 1 inch strips, that's yumm-o also)

--

2 cups buttermilk (can also use plain yogurt)

--

Entire box/canister of Italian bread crumbs (Panko can also be used wonderfully, the whole bag. Just omit the Parm!)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon granulated onion powder

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

--

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon sugar

--

3 flat bottomed pans (like 8x8 brownie pan) for each mixture

Canola oil or grape seed oil (A lot as you will be making chicken in batches)

Extra grated Parmesan

Paper towels

Instructions:

Put the chicken pieces in the buttermilk and put in fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes while prepping everything else. (Making a salad, cooking pasta, garlic bread, green beans, etc.)

In the flat and wide containers, put the buttermilk/chicken, the flour mixture and the breadcrumb mixture with buttermilk in the center.

THIS IS MESSY! Just a warning... :-)

Preheat canola oil in dutch oven or 12 inch wide skillet. Can be cast iron, non-stick, whatever you've got. You need just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan and up the sides 1 inch. I set my oven to a medium temperature and wait for the oil to get warm rather than turn it up too high and risk burning the chicken.

You'll do this process three times so prepare to wash your hands often.

Take 1/3 of the chicken out of the buttermilk and dredge it in the flour mixture. Once coated in flour, dip it back into the buttermilk quickly and then into the breadcrumb mixture. I can usually do about 3-5 pieces at a time. Put these in the frying pan and repeat until all the pieces (the 1/3 of the chicken) are cooking. Usually this takes up the bottom of the pan.

WASH HANDS!

Turn pieces over so that other side cooks. Since they are cut up, they go quickly. With tongs or a bamboo skimmer, put cooked pieces of chicken onto paper towels and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on them.

You can leave the chicken here at this point or put it on a tinfoil covered sheet in a warm oven.

Add oil to the pan as needed and repeat process until all chicken is done.

Plate chicken on top of the pasta of your choosing and cover with marinara sauce. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese. A salad and some sauteed green beans on the side with warm rolls or garlic toast to round out the meal would be perfect!

SIDENOTE: This chicken is a great snack item, a salad topper, great with a plum sauce glaze and jasmine rice (when done with Panko)... and the munchkins will eat it too! You can also spice it up by adding cayenne or chipotle to the flour and breadcrumb mixtures. Ground Ginger if going for an Asian dish... once you get the basic fried chicken thing down, let your imagination invent new ways to enjoy the chicken.

Okay, now I'm hungry...!

Dinner with family

Last night, Rob's cousin and Aunt came over for dinner. I decided to make one of my staple dinners-- lemon chicken skewers, and used a new dessert recipe as part of my New Year's Resolutions.

Lemon chicken skewers. This is a cinch!

Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes (easiest to cut if a little frozen). One breast per person usually works well and will make about 2 skewers. Marinade below was used for four chicken breasts.
• Juice from 2-3 lemons - at least 1/2 cup
• Juice from 1 lime (optional)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. ground pepper (white or black)
• 2-3 medium onions, chopped into 1 inch pieces (big enough to skewer)
• 1 pound white mushrooms, whole
• About 15 wooden or metal skewers. If wooden, soak in water for 20 minutes before using to avoid scorching on grill or BBQ.

I made this indoors on a Lodge cast iron grill pan. Outdoors is even better... less cleanup!

Directions:

• Throw lemon/lime juice, oil, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic and sugar into a big bowl. Whisk to combine.
• Put all ingredients in the marinade and mix around to coat everything. Seal bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours, stirring at the one hour mark if possible.
• When done marinating, put chicken on skewers alone. Veggies on their own skewers. Can add tomatoes, pineapple, bell pepper or anything else you like as long as they are lightly coated with oil.
• Grill or BBQ until done. Can re-coat chicken and veggies while grilling with marinade but do not use it to pour over everything after done cooking as it held the raw chicken.
• Serve with Jasmine rice, Pita and Naan bread, a giant salad and any side veggies you like. Cous cous is another great side with toasted pine nuts and golden raisins.