Avocado, Tomato & Arugula Salad

I rarely have the chance to eat in our restaurant at work but when I do, I am NEVER disappointed. This past visit to JORY inspired me to try and recreate a lunch entree at home. It wasn't quite the same but it still turned out just as colorful and delicious!

Check out my Avocado, Tomato & Arugula Salad (topped with chicken).

As usual, I found several different citrus chicken marinades online and landed on one of my own (by combined ingredients until it had a good flavor). 

Chicken Marinade Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of white wine
1 tablespoon of brown sugar (white will work too)
juice from half a lemon
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
dash of salt and pepper 

Salad Stuff
1 cup of arugula
1 avocado, cubed
1 cup of sliced grape tomatoes (cherry tomatoes will work too)
2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup of cooked barley
2 tablespoons of your choice vinaigrette

Preparation 
Slice chicken breasts into small strips and set aside. Whisk all the marinade ingredients together and pour into a container with a lid. Add the chicken strips to the container and cover with the marinade. Seal container, refrigerate for at least three hours. I recommend marinating overnight if time allows. The flavor is so much better!

When chicken is ready, bake in the oven at 350 degrees like I did or you can grill it for some barbecue flavor. Mix all the salad ingredients in a bowl and toss with dressing. Top with your cooked chicken and voila!

The entree at JORY was prepared with Steelhead, farro and a house made dressing. So, you can see mine was slightly different, but still so fresh tasting!

Chicken Alfredo - Cajun Style

My cute apron was calling my name and it felt like a Cajun cuisine kind of night. To my surprise, I had all the ingredients on hand, so I went for it. My Creole dishes of choice? Cajun Chicken Alfredo & Jambalaya.  

The Cajun Chicken Alfredo recipe is not a new one but it took me a little bit to rack my brain on how to make it. After some online recipe research, I was ready. What I do remember from last time is that I had a heavy hand with the cayenne and pepper spices. This recipe is a bit more mild, but feel free to add red pepper flakes or more cayenne to your blackening spice. 

Ingredients 

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup of blackening spice (I made my own) 

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves of minced garlic 

8 ounces of roasted cherry tomatoes (sun dried tomatoes work too) 

1 pint of heavy cream or half n half

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese

salt & pepper to taste

1/3 cup sliced scallions 

16 ounces of cooked fettuccine 

Preparation 

Dredge the chicken breasts in blackening seasoning. If they are thick, filet them in two and dredge with the seasoning. Place in skillet over medium heat until chicken breasts are fully cooked. Set aside. 

Add two tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and then add the minced garlic and roasted tomatoes. Sauté in the skillet for 2 -3 minutes. 

Slice the cooled chicken and add to the skillet. Pour white wine in the pan to deglaze and then add the heavy cream. Increase the heat to a simmer and reduce the cream sauce until you reach your desired consistency.  

Once the sauce's consistency is to your liking, add the 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Mix in the cooked fettuccine pasta, garnish with scallions and the remaining Parmesan.  

 Enjoy! 

What's for dinner? Well, what's in the pantry?

It was a typical, "what's for dinner?" kind of night and I wasn't in the mood for grocery shopping. The challenge: using the ingredients I already had in my pantry. A game that I don't play well. My inspiration was some chicken, mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce.

Naturally, that lead me to Chicken Parmesan! I made it on the fly and I didn't have to spend ten minutes looking up a recipe....it was so easy! Read and learn.

Recipe - Simple Chicken Parmesan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

You need:
Egg & milk (for the egg wash)
Mozzarella cheese
Marinara Sauce
Chicken breasts

Make your Parmesan crust:
Bread crumbs
Italian seasonings (oregano, parsley etc...)
Minced garlic
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese

Now, follow the steps:
Flatten chicken breasts, dredge each one in the egg wash and then cover with your homemade Parmesan crust.
Brown the chicken in a hot skillet with olive oil for about 2-3 minutes.
Place the crusted-chicken in a "bake safe" dish (like a glass baking dish or pan).
Cover with mozzarella cheese and top with marinara sauce.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.


Voila! Serve over noodles and you are good to go (add some delicious garlic bread if you have it)!

For next time, I might try to add some red pepper flakes. My recipe needs something else but I am not sure what. Might need to have a chat with good ol' Giada, the Italian expert herself.

What would you add to this recipe?

Brown Butter Chicken Parmesan Pasta

Chicken. That was my inspiration for tonight's meal. I had two chicken breasts that I needed to use but I was lazy and tired and definitely not into trying a new recipe. But, I was determined. Eventually, I discovered a new food blog called How Sweet It Is and this recipe was on her home page - brown butter parmesan chicken linguine. YUM.

I have never made brown butter before, so that was what first intrigued me (yes, I know...who hasn't made brown butter?). I jumped up off the couch and instantly started pulling out ingredients. The only thing I lacked was the mushrooms and dry wine, but I improvised and it turned out pretty darn good. 

Making brown butter was a success! I just loved how Jessica from How Sweet It Is wrote this post because she made me so excited about something as simple as brown butter. Reading her post made me want to find as many dishes as I can with brown butter! :) 

Here was the photo that inspired me to make this dish: 

brown butter via How Sweet It Is

A quick look at the ingredients:

1.5-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium sweet onion, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 pound whole wheat pasta (preferably noodles)

2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese + more for topping

fresh chopped parsley for topping

Check out her blog for other delicious recipes! 

Chicken/Shrimp Kabobs and Chocolate Mousse

Alright so I am a couple weeks behind on this one...but I have to tell you about the awesome kabobs and chocolate mousse we made on Memorial Day. I lucked out for two reasons, one - I had the day off on Memorial Day and two - the weather was nice! You know what that means, time for barbecuing!

On the menu - chicken and shrimp Kabobs (with an array of veggies) and an easy easy chocolate mousse



We already had most the ingredients for the mousse and we had shrimp and pineapple already for the kabobs. But, we still needed a few more things so, my sister Kenzie and I headed to the store for the remaining ingredients:

Chicken (look for the $1.99 a lb chicken on sale at Albertsons)

Zucchini

Bell peppers

Sweet yellow onion

Red potatoes

Strawberries

Heavy whipping cream

A great baguette (which was gone before it hit the table...oops)

When we got home, we fired up the grill and cut up all the vegetables while we waited for it to heat up. Kabobs are fun because you can give everyone a couple skewers and they can customize their meal however they would like.

We then added the spices to the kabobs. You can do whatever you want (lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder, coriander...), but we used Dean Jacob's Seafood Rub for the shrimp and Poultry Rub for the chicken. A tasty melody of spices and each rub complemented the meat nicely.

*When you are grilling kabobs, remember that some items cook faster than others. We cooked the shrimp on separate skewers because they cook so much faster than the chicken and vegetables. Also, cut the potatoes smaller than your zucchini, onion, peppers etc...because they take a lot longer on the grill and you don't want undercooked potatoes.

While that was cooking, we starting to make our easy chocolate mousse. We found a recipe online that we used and I usually add or subtract ingredients, but this one was perfect the way it was and it took us 5 minutes to make:

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 c. strong hot coffee
1 tbsp. rum or Kahlua  (We used Kahlua)
2 eggs
1/2 pt. whipping cream

It looked so good, we doubled it...and thank goodness we did because it was gone in less than 24 hours!

So another successful dinner and I had leftovers to take to work which was even better. Now it is your turn, get cooking and enjoy!