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Chicken and Rice Chile Verde

categories: Chicken, Posts, Recipes, Rice & Grains

 

 

I don’t do much cooking with rice, which is kind of ironic considering most Arabic dishes are stews that require rice on the side. I should be making more stews like Bamiya (okra and meat in tomato sauce), Fasoolia (string beans and meat in tomato sauce), and Sabanekh (spinach with rice) but those dishes take way too long on weeknights.

When I came across this Chicken and Rice Chile Verde recipe by Cooking on the Side, I was excited to try something new. Actually, it was delicious. I would definitely make it again.

Recipe adapted from Cooking on the Side.

 

Chicken and Rice Chile Verde Recipe

Ingredients

1-1/4 cup Chicken Broth
4 large Chicken Thighs (about 1-1/2 lb), skin and excess fat removed
1 medium Onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 clove Garlic, minced or pressed
3/4 cup Calrose Rice (short-grain sushi style rice) If you use other rice, you may need to adjust chicken broth accordingly
1 (4 oz) can Diced Green Chilies
1/2 teaspoon Oregano, dried
1 cup Frozen Peas, thawed
1/4 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
 

Directions

Heat a large frying pan over high heat.
Lightly coat the inside of the pan with cooking spray.
Add chicken in a single layer.
Cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until browned. Remove from pan.
Add onion and garlic to the same pan; sauté 30 seconds.
Mix in rice, chiles, oregano and chicken broth. Arrange the chicken, in a single layer, over the top. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to low.
Cover and simmer 25 minutes.
Sprinkle the peas over the chicken.
Cover and cook 5 minutes longer, or until the liquid is absorbed.
Remove from heat; let stand covered 10 minutes.
Sprinkle cheese on top. 

Servings = 4

Chocolate Bridal Shower Cake

categories: Posts

 

It must be wedding season – again – and I guess since my last rose cake experiment, I’ve been named cake baker for bridal showers/bachelorette parties. I absolutely don’t mind, in fact, I love the idea.

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with this cake. The theme was a black and gold lingerie party which meant that I had to match the cake to the theme. After much research into cake decorating ideas, and some creativity on my part, I came up with the perfect idea.

Isn’t it great?! You can find anything and everything online – Google is your oyster. I decided to make a chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting. The dark chocolate is the closest I could come to black without dealing with licorice-flavored anything. So I made a 3-4 tier chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting filling as well as dark chocolate frosting on the outsides and a dark chocolate glaze to top it all off. It was a chocolate lover’s dream. I then got some gold-shimmer edible sprinkles. My original plan was to push the sprinkles up against the outsides of the cake. However when I decided on a glaze, that idea went out the window. I had to figure something out. I decided to just put a ton of gold sprinkles on top.

Okay it didn’t turn out exactly as I had imagined, but it was still delicious. Oh, and it was a bit lopsided from transport. I had someone drive me over so I could hold the cake and stop it from falling apart in the car – well, the photos are self-explanatory. It’s very Alice in Wonderland.

 

 

 

 

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Skillet Chickpeas

categories: Posts, Recipes, Vegetables & Sides

 

Monday night, my dinner situation was a mess. Let me start off by saying that my commute home was what started the domino that affected my night. My 30 minute commute took me an hour and 15 minutes. I was stuck in traffic with people who don’t know how to drive and thought they could get around the traffic and weasel themselves in front of me. I was practically at a standstill. Perfect. Just how I wanted to spend my Monday night. When I got to the source, there was no source. It was an obvious case of stupidity and inability to merge in high-traffic zones – whoever started this was obviously from out of town and had no experience whatsoever driving in and out of the city. Tourist season is over – or so I thought.

After using colorful words, shaking my head and waving my hands around in frustration of the subpar drivers around me, I finally made it home. My frustrations were not easily subsided.

I had been thinking about my baked chicken and Tuscan beans and couldn’t wait to have them for dinner. I started all the prep, put the chickens in the oven, started the mix for the beans and began sautéing the garlic. Then I went to get my white beans. They were nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere – I don’t have a large kitchen or a large pantry for that matter. I even got other family members involved searching the top shelves. Then came the questions, “Are you sure you bought them?” Am I sure I bought them?! Of course I did! I remember spending almost 15 minutes in the beans aisle searching for them and was so excited when I found them. They had to be here somewhere. We spent 20 minutes searching and nothing turned up. I was starting to think I was going crazy.

[Update: I found the white beans. They were sitting next to the other cans of beans.]

I gave up, and subbed the white beans for chickpeas and then heated the whole thing up and ended up with a completely different dish. At least the chicken turned out.

 

Skillet Chickpeas

Ingredients

2 cans Chickpeas
½ Red Onion, chopped
2 small Roma Tomatoes, chopped
Basil, dried
Garlic Salt
Lemon Juice
2 cloves Garlic, smashed
 

Directions

Sauté garlic with olive oil spray
In a bowl, mix together red onion, tomatoes, chick peas and basil
Add lemon juice
Pour mix into a large skillet and cook on medium heat for 20 minutes, add Garlic Salt and stir.

Chocolate Corn Flake Clusters

categories: Desserts, Posts, Recipes

 

One of my good friends is a baking genius. Since she has young children, she’s getting ready for all the school-related Halloween festivities. This afternoon, she shared some photos with me of her baked goods and I instantly fell in love with the Corn Flake Clusters.

She’s amazing with desserts and one day, when she opens up her own shop, I’ll be the first to share a link to her website (and driving directions of course).

 

 

Chocolate Corn Flake Clusters Recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
1 Bag Chocolate Chips
2 cubes Baker’s Chocolate
½ box Corn Flakes
 

 

Directions

In a saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter and add the bag of chocolate chips along with the baker’s chocolate.
Add Corn Flakes and mix together until all the Corn Flakes are coated.
Line a baking tray with wax paper or use cupcake cups and scoop a heaping dinner-sized tablespoon full to make one cluster. Repeat scooping until mixture is finished.
Refrigerate for an hour, at least, before serving. 

Twenty Minute Tuesday

categories: Pizza, Posts, Recipes

 

Following a failed after work outting attempt, I found myself at home, hungry with few options that didn’t involve pasta, rice or red meat. I stared at my fridge with both doors open searching for something to have for dinner. Then it hit me – Pizza. It only took twenty minutes to make. Five minutes prep and 15 minutes in the oven. Easy.

 

Spinach Shrimp and Mushroom Pizza

Ingredients

Pillsbury Pizza Dough
Olive Oil
Mozzarella Cheese
Baby Spinach
Shrimp, tail-off
Romano Cheese
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease a baking sheet (I used olive oil spray)
Unroll dough on baking dish and spray with olive oil
Sprinkle mozzarella and romano cheese
Arrange shrimp on the pizza, layer spinach on top, followed by mushrooms then mozzarella and Romano cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes.

Baked Pasta and Meatballs

categories: Pasta, Posts, Recipes

 

We’ve had a pretty busy Sunday running errands and getting ready for the upcoming work week. I’m sure I’m not the only one that thinks weekends are way too short. If it were up to me, we’d have five-day weekends and two-day weeks. Doesn’t that sound much better? If only …

Since I made it to the grocery store and filled our fridge and non-pantry up with goodies for the week, I thought I’d throw together a laid-back early Sunday night dinner. It’s a little twist on the average pasta.

Baked Pasta and Meatballs

Ingredients

Pasta of Choice (I used Bow Tie Pasta)
Tomato Sauce of Choice (We had some Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil)
1 can Mushrooms
Mozzarella Cheese
Beef Meatballs 
 
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Boil pasta as directed.
Saute drained mushrooms in a small saucepan, add pasta sauce and simmer. 
Drain noodles, mix together pasta sauce and noodles, then pour into a baking dish. 
Place meatballs on top of the pasta, add thick layer of mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 25 minutes, until cheese is fully melted.
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