Orange Bourbon Chicken

This past weekend I had the pleasure of preparing a nice meal for a wedding reception that was held at Iowa Wesleyan. They had some nice hors d'oeuvres to keep their guests busy and then we served dinner when the bride and groom arrived. The hors d'ouevres were simple yet some what elegant . I carved a couple of watermelon swans to make a nice fresh fruit display, and we piped out some garlic flavored cream cheese on a cracker and garnished it with some fine diced tomato and fresh basil. It was really quite tasty. Add a simple fresh vegetable tray with some dip and you have a nice beginning to  give your guests something to do while they wait for the wedding party. The dinner was also very simple but yet a very pretty dish and loaded with flavor. They brought me a recipe and I tried not to deviate from it but I usually find this a very difficult thing to do. How about a list of ingredients to get us started.

Chicken tenders                                                  1 pound
Butter, melted                                                     1/4 cup
Sea salt                                                               1/4 tsp
Black pepper, fresh ground                                  to taste
Garlic powder                                                      1 tsp
OJ concentrate                                                     6 ounce can
Bourbon                                                               1/4 cup
Sliced Almonds, toasted                                        1/4 cup
Fresh parsley, chopped                                          1 Tbsp

First rinse the chicken with cold water and season with the sea salt, black pepper and garlic powder. In a skillet with medium heat melt the butter and add the chicken. Brown the chicken lightly on both sides and then add the OJ concentrate. Reduce the heat and let this simmer for about 10 minutes, remove the chicken and keep it warm on a platter. Allow OJ to thicken a little more and then add the bourbon, now if you want to show off you can flame the booze if you like but stay back if you do because alcohol burns hot. Allow to cook for a few minutes to cook out the booze, check the seasoning and adjust to your liking. To serve family style pour the sauce over the chicken on your platter and garnish with the toasted almonds and fresh parsley. Serve this with some rice and a nice green vegetable and you have a very pretty and pleasing plate. For the wedding we served it with white rice as requested but I would suggest a brown rice or maybe a nice mixed grain pilaf. Either way I'm sure this is one you will enjoy!!!

I love the brick wall background!!!

Chicken Fajita Flat Bread Wrap

Here's another outlet for some leftover chicken breast. I love chicken, there are just so many things to do with it. For this recipe you can use some left over chicken or you can start with fresh, either way take your chicken and cut it in strips. I think the general package size at the store is about a pound and a half. So lets work with that for chicken. Lets see what else we might need.

Chicken Breast, raw cut in strips                                        1-1/2 pounds
Red Bell Pepper, cut in strips                                             1 large
Green Bell Pepper, cut in strips                                          1 large
Yellow onion, cut in strips                                                  1 medium
Cajun Spice                                                                       to taste
Salad oil, for cooking                                                         about 1 ounce
Whole Wheat Flat Bread                                                    package of 6
Spring Mix Lettuce                                                             1 package
Colby Jack Cheese, shredded                                             about 10 ounces
Tomato, diced                                                                    1 large
Your favorite Ranch dressing

In a skillet with medium heat add the oil and chicken, season generously with Cajun spice, when the chicken is about 1/2 cooked add the peppers and onions and stir. Cooked until chicken is fully cooked and vegetables are hot and yet still a little crisp. Set up your flat bread and on each one place 2-3 ounces of cooked fajita mixture, 1-1/2 ounces cheese, about an ounce of  lettuce, a nice amount of diced tomatoes,  Ranch dressing and maybe some salsa as desired. Cut in 1/2 on the bias and serve it up. Add your favorite chips, fresh fruit, green salad or maybe even a pasta salad and you have a nice light summer meal. Enjoy!!!

BBQ Chicken Flat Bread

So I roasted a whole chicken and we only ate about half of it. What to do with the rest?........There are plenty of things we can make with left over chicken, the possibilities could go on forever but tonight we are going to focus on just one. BBQ Chicken Flat Bread. I found a nice flat bread made with stone ground whole wheat. The brand is Flat Out and you can usually find these by the deli at the grocery store. They are oblong and are about 10 x 8 inches. You can also use Pita bread for this recipe. The first thing to do is to strip all the chicken off the bones of your roasted chicken and chop it up some. I ended up with about a quart of chicken meat, to this I added about 1-1/2 cups of BBQ sauce, some fresh ground black pepper, a little garlic powder, 1/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Put all this in a sauce pan and get it hot. While its getting hot preheat your oven to 400 degrees. I decided that we would have some sweet potato fries to go along with our flat bread. For this I used  about a pound of  fresh sweet potato, peeled it and cut fry size strips. Toss the sweet potato with  enough Olive oil to coat them well, season with a little sea salt, black pepper and garlic powder, I also added some Cajun spice just to give it a little kick. Lay the sweet potato fries out flat on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 30 -40 minutes. I found if you turn them at 20 minutes you will get better results and they will cook more even. Back to the flat bread.....Spread a generous amount of BBQ chicken evenly over the flat bread and top with a nice amount of shredded Colby Jack cheese. You can use a little cheese or a lot  depending on your own taste and really you can use what ever kind of cheese that you may prefer. Swiss, Mozzarella, Pepper Jack, sharp or mild Cheddar all work very well with this. Another option is to use BBQ pork or beef  instead of chicken, it just depends on what you are hungry for. Any way once you get the flat bread topped pop it in the oven for 10 -12 minutes. The cheese should be bubbly and starting to brown a little. Bring it out and cut in wedges or strips or squares, what ever you may prefer and eat it like you would a pizza. Add a green salad, maybe some sweet potato fries and you have a well balanced meal. Enjoy!!!

Camping Out

A week or so ago I had the pleasure of camping with the youth group. Although we didn't have great attendance it seemed that everyone had a good time. Of course if your camping at some point in time you will need to eat. For our dinner on Friday evening we decided that we would have some Cajun chicken breast, fresh grilled corn on the cob and some potatoes in foil. It's all pretty simple stuff and we cooked it all on the fire, something I haven't done for a very long time. The chicken I seasoned up with my homemade Cajun spice and we covered a grate from Seth's small grill with foil, propped it up over some good coals with a couple of  large logs and it cooked up real nice. I would say it probably took about 30 minutes. Before we started the chicken I cut up about 8 Idaho potatoes split them into 2 foil packages seasoned with a little salt, black pepper and plenty of garlic powder. Also you need to add about 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter to each foil package, wrap it all up good and put those potatoes right in the hot coals. These took probably 45 minutes and I moved them around some to help them cook evenly. Just push on the foil package and if it is soft the potatoes are done. I had planned on putting some onions in with them but found that no one else really had any interest in them so I left them out. If you like onions toss some in there it really adds a lot of flavor. The corn we cooked in one of those grills that they have up on a post. We built a fire in it let it build up some good coals, covered the grate with foil and covered the corn with more foil. It seemed to be cooking kind of slow so when the chicken came off the fire the corn got moved and soon was finished. Now I'm not sure, either every one was pretty hungry or the food was pretty good, either way there really wasn't much left over and everyone seemed to be full or at least close because it wasn't long before it was time for s'mores. Now James made what he called a Boy Scout S'more. He had at least 6 marshmallows, a full bar of chocolate and 2 full graham crackers. It looks awesome and I can't believe he ate the whole thing. We had a good time, ate well and I thought it would be nice to share with you our experience of cooking on the open fire. If  you are doing some camping you might try some of this out. Enjoy!!!

Grilled Bratwurst

Brats on the grill is like a staple of summer meals. You have to have those brats, it's just one of those things. I like to par-cook my brats first by placing them in a pot of cold water and bringing it up to a boil. Once it boils turn it off and the brats are ready to hit the grill. You may have noticed in the picture another type of sausage on my platter. Well if you are trying to avoid all the fat and calories of a bratwurst here is a good alternative. Hillshire Farms makes a Turkey Cheddar Sausage that is really pretty tasty, has only 6 grams of  fat and 120 calories. It grills up great and I have made it my alternative to the bratwurst. Of course others in the household don't need to worry about that stuff as much so they get the real thing. Anyway today with our brats we are having grilled sweet and Idaho potatoes. I slice them about a 1/2 inch thick the long way, toss them with a little Olive oil, pepper, garlic powder and some Cajun spice. Try to put the sweet potatoes in a cooler spot on the grill as they will burn easy, otherwise I start the potatoes before the brats as they will take just a little bit longer. Also I made a foil boat, chopped some onions and tossed them with a little Olive oil, the same seasonings and put them on the grill in a hot spot at the same time. You will need to give them an occasional stir. They cooked up real nice and turned a nice golden color. Add a bowl of Sweet Bavarian Kraut and all your favorite condiments and you have a great summertime meal. Enjoy!!!

Rosemary Roast Chicken

Today we are going to roast a whole chicken out on the charcoal grill. For this I bought a fryer that weighs about 5-1/2 pounds. Lets get the grill ready. We want to use indirect heat to roast the chicken so what you need to do is line the outside wall of your round Weber grill with the charcoal. Stack them on top of each other all the way around the grill until the charcoal is just below the level where the grate sits that you cook on. Today I used about 100 charcoal briquettes. Soak them good with some lighter fluid and fire those babies up. While the charcoal is getting ready we will prepare the chicken for the grill. First you need to make a foil boat to cook the chicken on. It should about 10 x 12 inches so double up the foil and make it a little larger as you will need to fold up the edges a couple of times to hold in the juices. Place your foil boat on a pan for support and once the chicken is ready you can slide it off right onto the grill. Next lets give the chicken a good bath rinsing it very well with cold water and place it back side down on the foil boat. Fold the wing tips back under the chicken so it looks like the chicken has its hands behind its head.  For seasoning I clipped some fresh Rosemary and Chives, rinsed them and gave them a little chop. I would guess about a 1/4 cup of each. Sprinkle the herbs over the entire chicken, season generously with fresh ground black pepper, garlic powder and some Cajun spice. Off to the grill we go. Slide the foil boat off the pan on to the center of the grill, place the lid on and let it cook.The chicken is going to take about 2 hours and should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees. I usually check the thigh with a meat thermometer, be sure not to be touching the bone. You can also check the breast sticking the thermometer in close to but not touching the bone. The breast has a tendency to get done a little earlier than the thigh so I check the thigh. Tonight we are going to have a nice green salad and some fresh grilled corn on the cob to go along with our chicken. Two hours have passed and the chicken is done. Chicken is another one of those things when roasted whole it needs a little time to rest before you start cutting it up. Slide the foil boat off the grill and back on to the pan, take it inside and lay a piece of foil over it loosely. Grab your corn and head back to the grill, knock that charcoal down and spread it out, place the corn on the grill and put the lid back on. Give it a few minutes and turn the corn being careful to get some nice color and not to burn. The corn should take 10 minutes or so. When you have some nice color and it seems tender pull the corn and take it in. Try a little chopped cilantro and a squeeze of  lime on your corn in addition to the butter and salt and pepper you normally use. It really gives it some nice flavor. Well the corn is done, the chicken is ready and the salad is in the bowl....lets eat. Enjoy!!!

Baked Tilapia & Shrimp

They say that seafood helps your brain or that it is brain food. Well if that is the case then today we are going to get smart. There are many different ways to cook Tilapia  and we will explore some of those as time goes by but today we are going to keep it very simple and bake our fish and shrimp. Now if you are in an area where you can get fresh fish that's great, do it, but I'm here in Iowa and most everything you come across is going to be frozen. Now I can get some fresh stuff through work but I'm at home and I would never be able to use up the amounts that I would have to buy. So we have some frozen Tilapia  and some small shrimp that are frozen. You can put this in the refrigerator the day before and let it thaw or you can put it in a bowl and run some cold water on it for about 20 minutes and it should be thawed for you. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with some pan spray and lay out the fish and shrimp. Season the fish and shrimp with some fresh ground black pepper and some garlic powder and a little sea salt if you like. Cut a lemon into some wedges and give a good squeeze on to the seafood. A little fresh dill will be good and today I am going to save it for after the fish is cooked. Chop it kind of coarse and toss it on the fish when you are ready to eat. Bake the fish and shrimp for about 10 minutes, the fish should start to flake and the shrimp will be firm. Plate it up with some brown rice and a nice colorful vegetable and you have a wonderful, healthy and nutritious meal. And you know they say fish is BRAIN FOOD. Enjoy!!!

Picnic Time Salads

It's that time of year when we all hit the great outdoors and if you are spending the day at the park or the beach or where ever sooner or later you will need some nourishment. Here are a couple quick salads that are sure to please and go well with most anything. Lets start with a summertime favorite, coleslaw. Coleslaw always goes well with burgers, brats, dogs and anything BBQ. It's also very economical to make so here are the ingredients you will need:

Green cabbage, shredded                          1 medium head (about 3 pounds)
Carrot, shredded or matchsticks               1 cup
Mayo                                                          2 cup
Celery seed                                                1 tsp
Black Pepper, fresh or coarse ground      1 Tbs
Salt (optional )                                           1 tsp
White wine vinegar                                    1/3 cup
Sugar, granulated                                          3/4 cup
Parsley, fresh chopped                                1/4 cup

First shred the cabbage. You can buy cabbage already shredded if you like but I find it to be too fine for my taste. I like mine a little more coarse. I think it has better texture and holds up to dressing much better. Turn the cabbage so the core is facing up, take your knife placing the blade in the center of the core and push it down cutting the cabbage in half. Cut those in half so you have quarters and turn the quarters so the core side is down and trim the core out. Cut the quarters in half so you have eight wedges of cabbage. Lay each wedge on its side and start cutting thin slices so you have a coarse shredded appearance.
Now you can leave these alone or you can chop them a little more so they are shorter. I prefer to buy the little packages of matchstick carrots as again I find the shredded to be too fine. Ok, so the veggies are ready now lets mix in all the ingredients, add a little chopped fresh parsley if you like and chill this stuff up until it's time to eat. This recipe will yield about 1-1/2 quarts and doubles easily if you need more than that.

The other salad I want to share with you today is a pasta salad. Ingredients for pasta salad are endless, this is one variation I enjoy. I used bow-tie pasta but any pasta you like will work. For this we will need the following.

Bow-tie pasta, cooked                                 1 pound
Broccoli fresh, cut in florets                       1 bunch
Red bell pepper, cut in strips                       1 each
Yellow bell pepper, cut in strips                 1 each
Green  bell pepper, cut in strips                  1 each
Red or yellow onion, cut in strips,             1/2 medium onion
Grape tomatoes, cut in 1/2                         1 pint
Carrot, shredded or matchsticks                 1/2 cup
Parsley fresh, chopped                                 1/2 cup
Italian dressing, your favorite                      8-12ounces

Put your water on to cook the pasta and while it is getting hot chop your vegetables. When the pasta is done rinse it with cold water and let it drain well. Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl and chill. Today I am using a balsamic salad dressing.  Even though the salad dressing has plenty of seasoning I always add a little extra black pepper and garlic powder and maybe a touch of sea salt. Just makes it all a little better. This recipe will yield about 4 quarts. Try one or both of these at your next picnic or pot luck. Enjoy!!!  

                        

Cajun Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa

Cajun spice is one of my favorites because you can use it on just about everything. It's great on fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, veggies and rice and today we are going to use it on pork. Now a true pork tenderloin is not to be confused with the pork loin as it is much smaller and actually is  taken from the rear of the pork loin. Generally they will weigh about 1-1/4 pounds. They usually come packed in 2 per package and cost about 4 dollars a pound. Watch for them to be on sale which of course is the best time to buy them. They will have a little bit of fat that you need to trim off but it's a pretty simple procedure as long as you have a good sharp knife. I guess the first thing we need to do is make the salsa. I like to make this a few hours in advance so the flavors have  time to blend together. Here's what you will need:

Ripe Mango, peel and dice                                 1 each
Ginger, fresh, minced                                         1 Tbs
Garlic cloves, fresh minced                                2 each
Roma tomato, diced                                           2 each
Jalapeno, fresh, seeded and diced small             1 large
Green onions, chopped                                       4 each
Cilantro, fresh chopped                                       1 Tbs
Lime juice                                                            2 limes
Black pepper, fresh ground                                 about 10 turns of pepper mill
Olive oil                                                               2 Tbs

If you've never used a mango before you will find them a little different to clean. In the middle of the mango is a large seed that is pretty much the shape of the mango, turn the mango on its side and cut starting toward the center of the mango and follow the contour of the seed so you get a nice big slice. Repeat on the other side and then trim whats left off also. Now you can take a spoon ad scoop the mango right off the skin. Some will have you take a knife and cut through the mango down to the skin, you can slice or dice and then scoop it out with a spoon. This works well also. Any way once you have everything cut up mix all the ingredients well and put in the fridge and let those flavors grow for a while.

I thought we might have some roasted sweet potato crisps to go with the pork. Take a couple of medium size sweet potatoes and scrub them good with a vegetable brush. Slice them thin, about 1/8 inch, coat them with a little olive oil and lay them out flat on a cookie sheet. Season them with some black pepper, a little garlic powder, and a touch of sea salt. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. These will only take about 20 minutes in that hot oven and if you're not careful they will burn. I turned the pan at 15 minutes and they were close at 22 minutes some of them were burnt. I think you might have to pull some off as they get done. Anyway they are pretty tasty and went well with the pork. You can do the same thing with a regular potato also. They will never stay hot so just plan on serving them at room temperature.

Lets cook pork. We  have one family member that doesn't care for the hot spicy stuff so we will season 1 of the tenderloins generously with Cajun spice and the other we will use some fresh ground black pepper and a little garlic powder. Get that grill hot and away we go. The pork will only take about 20 minutes on the grill. Start with the grill medium hot so you get some nice color. This usually takes about 10 minutes, then turn one side of your grill down low and put the pork on that side. In about 10 more minutes it should be done. The last 5 minutes or so brush a little of your favorite BBQ sauce on the one without Cajun spice. Of course I had some of both and they both go very well with the Mango Salsa. For many years they have told us that pork has to be cooked to death, 165 degrees or higher for it to be safe. This generally leaves it very dry and tasteless. Now they are saying 145 degrees is good but I have always cooked it to about 140 degrees for my personal taste and I'm still alive. It comes out nice and juicy, tender and full of flavor. Use a meat thermometer and when you reach 140 pull that pork off the heat. Let the pork rest a little before you slice it, about 10 minutes. This helps seal in the juices and gives you a little time to get everything on the table. This recipe should easily feed 4 and have some leftovers for the next day. Slice the pork up, put it on a platter, top it with some salsa, time to eat. Enjoy!!!

Grilled Chicken Kabob

What would we ever do if there were no chicken in the world. I suppose someone would come up with something to replace it but it just wouldn't be the same. There are just so many things you can do with chicken, the options are endless. Today we are going to cut it in cubes and put it on a skewer with some veggies. For this you will need about 2 pounds of boneless chicken breast meat. Of course the first thing you need to do is rinse the chicken well with cold water. I guess I better list some ingredients so we can get started.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast                                                          2 pounds
Green bell pepper                                                                                  1 each
Red bell pepper                                                                                     1 each
Red onion, medium                                                                               1 each
Chives, fresh, chopped                                                                          2 Tbs
Garlic powder                                                                                        to taste
Black pepper, fresh ground                                                                    to taste
Wishbone Italian dressing                                                                      8 ounces

 Clean the peppers and onion and cut them in about 2 inch chunks.Trim the chicken of all fat and cut it up in chunks about the same size. Thread it all on to skewers starting with a piece of chicken, then red onion, red pepper and green pepper and repeat the process until the skewer is full ending with a piece of chicken. (Leave a little room so stuff doesn't fall off.) I had a little extra onion so I turned it around the other way and put it on the end to help hold it all together. This should fill 4-12 inch skewers easily. Again if you are using wooden or bamboo skewers you will want to soak them in water for about an hour before you put this all together. After you have them all assembled put them in a shallow pan and season them generously with the garlic powder and black pepper, sprinkle with the fresh chives and drizzle about 2 ounces of Italian dressing over each one. Find a spot in the refrigerator and let them marinate for a couple of hours or over night if you like. If overnight be sure to cover them.

While they are marinating lets come up with something to go with it. A nice green salad is a good start and today I think we will have some Rainbow Angel Hair Pasta with a Tomato Basil Sauce. Iceburg lettuce really has no nutritional value but I like it just the same and to get the nutrition I load it up with plenty of fresh veggies such as cucumbers, carrots, green peppers, red onions and tomatoes. Toss it all together and you have a salad that is very pretty and good for you too. Now Tomato Basil Sauce:

Olive oil                                               1/4 cup
Garlic, fresh minced                             6 cloves
Onion, yellow diced small                    1/4 large
Black pepper, fresh ground                   to taste
Tomatoes, petite diced                          2- 14.5 ounce cans
Sea salt                                                  pinch
Granulated sugar (optional)                  1 Tbs
Sweet Basil, fresh chopped                   about 1/2 cup

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan with medium heat, add the garlic and onions and saute until slightly browned, add the tomatoes, black pepper and salt and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. In the mean time put on a pot of water to boil for your pasta, keep in mind that angel hair pasta will only take a couple of minutes. While the sauce is simmering lets cook chicken. After you put the water on to boil fire up the grill, if using charcoal start it a little sooner. When the grill is hot go ahead and put the chicken on. Once you get some nice color (about 8-10 minutes) turn the chicken over, cook about another 8-10 minutes and the chicken should be done. You can use your tongs to cut into a piece of the chicken to check if you like. Remember nobody likes medium rare chicken. Now the chicken is done, pull it and bring it in the house, cook the pasta real quick, add the basil and sugar to the sauce, drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce and serve. I think you will find the results of your labor quite pleasing. I've used angel hair pasta today but any pasta you like will work for this dish. I'm anxious for tomatoes from the garden as I am sure that they will make an even better sauce. I'm sure as we get farther in to summer we will have to revisit this dish with some fresh tomatoes. Can hardly wait. Thanks for visiting and enjoy!!!

Ice Cream Crepes

Ok so I promised to give you a way to use up the extra crepes since the cream cheese and strawberry filling wasn't enough to fill all the crepes in an earlier post, (Strawberry Cream Cheese Crepes). First you need the left over crepes, I wouldn't go past 5 days in the refrigerator, after that you will need to make fresh which is what I did today. I cut the recipe in half and that will give you 8 crepes. Here is the recipe cut in half.

Eggs, lightly whipped                                 2 each
Milk, skim                                                 2/3 cups
Flour, all purpose                                       1/2 cup
Salt (optional)                                            1/8 tsp
Butter, melted                                            1 Tbs

After whipping the eggs add the milk and whip a little more. Add the salt and gradually add the flour, whipping the batter as you add. Continue until all flour is added and batter is smooth. Add the butter and mix well, set aside until you're ready to make crepes. Using an 8 inch skillet with medium high heat, spray lightly with pan spray. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup (not quite full) add batter to the pan and kind of swirl around in the pan to spread the batter evenly. When the crepe is slightly browned turn the crepe with a thin spatula, I like to flip them like an omelet but that might take a little practice. Cook briefly on the opposite side(it should brown a little also) and turn it out onto a sheet of wax paper. Continue process until crepe batter is gone, spraying pan for each crepe. After the crepes cool some you can fill them with ice cream. Pull your ice cream out and let it soften for about ten minutes. It will take about 3 to 4 ounces of ice cream to fill the crepe. I usually do about 1/2 a scoop so it is easier to shape and do this several times to have enough to fill the crepe. Get it all on there and roll the crepe up, place it on a cookie sheet and repeat the process until you have all the crepes filled. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer and let them freeze back up. Usually an hour or two should be enough time. Now there are many things you can top these with, Hot Fudge, nuts and whipped cream and of course the maraschino cherries is a good one, also pecans praline is excellent. Chocolate syrup with whipped cream and nuts, you can cook up some fresh pineapple with butter and brown sugar and add a shot of rum and it goes on and on and on but today I want fresh strawberries because they are plentiful and sweet and that's what I have in the refrigerator right now. So get those berries sliced up and sugar them up while the crepes are freezing back up. Top the crepes with a generous amount of strawberries and some whipped cream and away you go.
If you want to cut back on some fat and calories try it with frozen yogurt and fat free whip topping. Still lots of great flavor. Enjoy!!!