Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Cooking whole birds can be intimidating. 

I'm comfortable pot roasting whole ducks.

I'm also comfortable with cooking whole chicken in a gumbo.  (It's a pretty simple process of throwing the whole bird in a vat of boiling water.  Those of you who have never made gumbo should really try because its easy, cheap, yummy, and will feed masses of people.)

I am uncomfortable with any other attempt at cooking an animal whole.

But for some reason, I really, really, really wanted to try this recipe I saw in Southern Living.



Obviously, this is the Southern Living picture of the recipe, not my own.


So I gave it a go.

Best.Decision.Ever.

This chicken turned out sooo good, and was much more simple to prepare than it seemed.
And cheap!  A whole chicken is less than $5.oo and will serve at least 6.  (Or in my case, it will serve one single lady 6 times.) 

During the "skillet portion" of the recipe, all the fat is rendered out.  The skin of the breast becomes almost blackened and melts into the meat.

Some may argue that you can purchase a rotisserie chicken in a grocery store already cooked for the same price as an uncooked chicken, but trust me.  The rotisserie chicken ain't got nothing on this! 

Try it.  Right now.  Fire up your grills.  Go!  I demand you!

Not really.  But I do demand you have a great weekend!

On my weekend agenda: the last of my long, long runs - 12 miles, an 80's party, finishing my book, a little bit of crafting, a lot of laundry, and spending time with my family & my Lola.


What is on your weekend agenda? 
Do you have a fear of cooking animals whole?

Free Food

I'm sure by now you have noticed a recurring theme in my cooking...  I am a scavenger and revolve my meal planning around food that is given to me.

Whether its vegetables from my dad or grandma's gardens for my Roasted Veggie Frittata, Stuffed Peppers, or Vegetable Chili; ducks from Jeff for my Pot Roasted Duck; or fresh trout from Mike for my Mediterranean Fish Tacos or what I whipped up for dinner last night:


Pan Seared Trout with Asparagus Pesto
2 servings

trout:
2 trout filets
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp worcestshire sauce
salt, black pepper, red pepper to taste
non stick cooking spray
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 tsp flour (This is used to thicken the sauce.  You could use any type of flour, cornstarch, or xanthan gum. I would have used xanthan gum, but am too cheap to pay $10 for 1/2 lb of it!)

Pesto:
1/2 cup raw asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp parmasean cheese, grated
1 tbsp pecans (You could substitue with walnuts, pine nuts, or whatever you have on hand.)
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp chicken stock
salt & pepper to taste

- Pour 2 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp of worcestshire sauce over filets of trout.  Salt and pepper both sides of filet.  Leave filets to marinate while you prepare the pesto.

- Add asparagus, 1 tbsp lemon juice, garlic, cheese, pecans, salt, and pepper into food processor. Turn on the food processor and slowly add olive oil.  Then slowly add chicken stock until you have the consistency you want.  (I use the chicken stock to cut down on the amount of oil I need, therefore reducing the fat.)

- Heat a non stick skillet sprayed with non stick cooking spray over high heat.  When pan is really hot, add trout filets.

- Sear for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side.  Reduce heat, add 1/4 cup of chicken broth, and cover with a lid. 

- Continue to cook for about 5 minutes.  Remove trout filets.  Add 1 tsp of flour to remaining juice in the pan and whisk to thicken the sauce. 

- Plate trout over asparagus pesto and finish with sauce from pan.

Chef worthy plating? I think not.

This was my first attempt at asparagus pesto and I loved it!  It was so bright and refreshing. No one ingredient overpowered the others; I could taste every single one and they all worked well together.  Perfect for a hot summer night.

You can't get much fresher than from in the lake on Sunday to in my belly on Monday night! Organic at its finest.


Look who sat at the window and watched me cook. :) 

Eggplant Lasagna

I have eggplant coming out of my ears! My mom didn't realize I already stole some from her house and brought me some more. (If my parents read this and about my other raid, they are going to revoke my key to their house!)  So now, I'm on eggplant overload!  But that's okay.  I'll never say "no" to garden fresh veggies, especially since eggplant season will be over soon.

I used these purple pals to make the following:

Eggplant Lasagna
6 servings

The lasagna noodles are replaced with roasted eggplant slices in this recipe.

If you are short on time, you could use a store bought tomato sauce. 

Tomato sauce:
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 cans whole tomatoes
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste

-Spray a saucepan with non-stick cooking spray and put over med-high heat.  Add chopped onion and garlic.  Cook until they become aromatic. 

- Add tomatoes, oregano, red pepper, and worcestershire.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.  Salt and pepper to taste.

- Break up tomatoes as they cook down.

ricotta mixture:
1 cup fat free ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp fresh basil, shredded

- Stir together all ingredients.

3 small eggplant, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 cups rotisserie chicken, deboned
1/2 cup fresh basil, shredded
3/4 cup fat free shredded mozzarella

-Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place sliced eggplant on baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Salt and pepper both sides of eggplant slices.  Spray eggplant slices with non-stick cooking spray.  Roast until tender or about 40 minutes.

- Reduce oven heat to 375 degrees.

- In a 12x9 inch baking dish, layer tomato sauce mixture, chicken, eggplant slices, ricotta, then basil.  Continue to layer, ending with tomato sauce.  Top with mozarella and fresh basil leaves.

-Bake for 15 minutes covered with foil, then another 15 minutes uncovered.

It was very yummy, but I accidentally spilled the red pepper flakes in the tomato sauce.  Oops! I tried to scoop it all out, but to say it had some kick would be an understatement.

Next time I make this recipe, I think I will replace the parmasean and mozarella with feta, the chicken with shrimp, and add roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts.

Other substitutions that could be made are using ground turkey in lieu of the chicken. I just had some leftover rotisserie chicken that needed to be used.   Leaving out the meat all together would make a great vegetarian dish. You could also add layers of other veggies, such as squash, zucchini, spinach, etc. 

This is another freezer friendly recipe!  You could freeze individual servings, if you are a single gal like me, or you could make double and freeze the entire pan.

Veggie Chili & Dresser Makeover

What do you do when you have a ton of squash, zucchinni, and peppers in your fridge that need to be cooked before they go bad?  Make chili!

Veggie Chili

ingredients:
1 small white onion, chopped
1/2 purple onion, chopped
1 can chicken broth
1 tbsp garlic
2 green bellpeppers, chopped coarsely
2 red bellpeppers, chopped coarsely
4 banana peppers, chopped coarsely
4 small zucchini, chopped coarsely
1 extra-large squash, chopped coarsely
1 can chili beans
1 can ranch style beans
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp red/cayenne pepper
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp oregeno

*These quantities were based on what I had in my fridge and pantry.  The great thing about cooking is you can always change things up.  Feel free to use less or more or substitute ingredients based on your preferences.

1. Spray bottom of stock pot with non stick cooking spray.  Put on stove over high heat.  Add onions and sweat them down.  If they start to stick, add a little chicken stock. (This is my trick to use less oil when cooking.  Sautee in non-stick cooking spray and chicken stock.)

2. When onions are translucent, add garlic.  Cook for about 30 seconds or until garlic is browned. 

3. Add peppers, zucchini, squash, beans with juice, tomatoes with juice, the rest of the chicken broth, tomato paste, and the rest of the ingredients.  Bring to a boil.

4. After it starts to boil, reduce heat to medium.  Simmer for at least 30 minutes, or until chili is as thick or juicy as you like.

5. Enjoy! I eat mine with fat free sour cream & fat free shredded cheddar, and maybe a couple of slices of avocado and some fresh cilantro.

It didn't turn out as spicy as I would have liked. Next time I will use Rotel instead of diced tomatoes. Normally, I would add jarred jalepenos, but I didn't have any, so I squeezed some sirracha hot sauce on top. It added just the kick I was wanting. Hi-ya!

This recipe made a ton!  But that's okay, because it is a great one to freeze.  What I don't eat in the next few days will go to the freezer, and come back out on a cool, fall day, which is hopefully sooner than later.


Remember my dresser I was making over?

Here it is, all gussied up!

I used a spray adhesive to cover it in wrapping paper, then sprayed it with an aerosol polyurethane.  I also spray painted the knobs black, and ta da! 

Excuse my mess of clothes on the floor.  I need a chest of drawers the size of Antarctica! 

She is all dressed up and has a date with my pajamas!

I'm off to CrossFit to meet "Katrina".  I am going to try this one as prescribed! Wish me luck!

Mediterranean Fish Tacos

I used my leftover roasted vegetables as inspiration for this recipe:

Mediterranean Fish Tacos
roasted vegetables (I used about 1/3 of the recipe)
2 whole grain, low carb tortillas
pepperoncini peppers
fresh parsley
2 fillets of fish (I used trout that my good friend & trainer caught and gave me :))
For marinade:
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp parsley
For tzatziki sauce:
1 small cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp plain, non fat greek yogut
1 tsp garlic
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper