Skillet Chicken with Mexican Green Rice

I have to say I've been on a bit of a cooking roll this week. I love when that happens. I wanted to try some new things but also use up some ingredients we had on hand. I had found chicken thighs marked down recently at the grocery store and originally planned on making a recipe that involved roasting apples and chicken thighs, but since it's definitely summer here (the high temps have been in the low 100s), roasting sounded like a horrible way to cook dinner. I pulled out one of my trusty America's Test Kitchen 30-Minute Supper magazines for a different idea. I found this recipe in the issue from last summer. I had always wanted to try it, but chicken thighs aren't something I usually have on hand.

Skillet Chicken with Mexican Green Rice
Source: America's Test Kitchen 30-Minute Suppers, Summer 2010

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, excess fat trimmed
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped fine
2 poblano peppers, cored, seeded, and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 14-ounce can green enchilada sauce
1 cup long-grain white rice
1-1/4 cups water
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chicken until well browned on one side, about 5 minutes. Transfer to plate.

Add onion, poblanos, and remaining oil to now-empty skillet and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add enchilada sauce, rice, water, and any accumulated chicken juices and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits. Nestle chicken in rice browned side up, cover, and cook over low heat, stirring every 5 minutes, until rice is tender and chicken registers 175 degrees, about 20 minutes.

Stir in cilantro and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

*****

This ended up taking me more like 45 minutes than 30 because I couldn't fit all the chicken in my skillet without really crowding it and had to cook it in two batches. I was a bit worried my kiddos wouldn't like this because Boy #1 doesn't dig on spicy food, but it wasn't really spicy at all which was good. If you wanted it hotter, you could add in a minced jalapeno with the onion and poblano. I don't think I stirred mine often enough because I had some rice that stuck to the bottom of the skillet.

All in all, we really liked this. My kids ate it no problem, and the rice cooked in the enchilada sauce was really tasty. I don't know about you, but I cannot find 14 ounce cans of enchilada sauce lately, only the big 28 ounce cans. It works out okay because I freeze the other half to use later, but it sure would be nice to get just the size I need. It was actually kind of funny because I had found a bag of something dark red in my freezer recently and had no idea what it was. Then when I was packing up the remaining green enchilada sauce, I realized what was in the mystery bag--red enchilada sauce! Why I hadn't labeled it, I don't know.

Anyway, this is definitely something I'd make again! I finished up the leftovers for lunch yesterday, and they were still tasty, although the rice wasn't quite as good as it was originally.

FYI, the picture in the magainze is a lot nicer looking. Their rice isn't nearly as saucy as mine, but that's okay...I like saucy rice. And their pieces of chicken were more browned than mine.

Easy Chop Suey

How's this for back on track...new recipes, posting daily. I guess I shouldn't brag on it too much in case it doesn't last.

I was flipping through a Betty Crocker vegetarian cookbook I have to get ideas for dinners this week and saw this one for Easy Chop Suey. I had most of the ingredients and had just bought veggie sausage at Costco. I've made other recipes from this cookbook and really liked them, so hopefully this one is a success too.

Easy Chop Suey

Cooking spray
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 cups frozen sausage-style soy-protein crumbles
1/3 cup uncooked regular long-grain rice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup reduces sodium soy sauce
2 cups water
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 bag (1 lb) frozen seven-vegetable stir-fry, tahwed
4 cups crisp chow mein noodles

Spray 4 to 5 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Generously spray 12-inch skillet with cooking spray. Add onion and celery; generously spray with cooking spray. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except stir-fry vegetables and noodles. Spoon into slow cooker.

Cover; cook on low 6-7 hours.

Stir in stir-fry vegetables. Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook about 15 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Serve with noodles.

*****

Once I got this all together I really wasn't sure how it's going to turn out. I went and saw my friend Jen and her new babies today and was telling her about it. I said it's either going to be awesome or gross and we'll need to go get pizza for dinner, I don't think there's going to be any halfway on this one. Even know I'm still not sure how it's going to be, and it's been in the slow cooker for 5.5 hours. It actually looks pretty done, so I may go ahead and add in the veggies. I'm starving, so I really hope this isn't totally nasty.

Oh, and since I've sworn off canned soups (have you ever read the ingredients for cream of mushroom soup?! Gross!!), I made my own. What?!, you may be asking. She made her own cream of mushroom soup? I did. It was really easy. I was looking through the Make it Fast, Cook it Slow slow cooker cookbook and saw that she had a recipe in there for an alternative you make yourself. It's really more like a quick little cream sauce, but I chopped up some mushrooms, sauteed them and tossed them in the mix so it would be slightly more authentic. I'm so ridiculously excited to have found a substitute for the nasty canned stuff. I really don't like to eat foods that have ingredients I have to struggle to pronounce.

Interested in making your own cream of whatever soup? Check out the Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe on the Year of Slow Cooking blog. She has the ingredients and instructions listed with that.

*****

Did you know that Domino's Pizza is having a two medium two topping pizza for $5.99 each special right now? Guess how I found out...that's what we had for dinner. I tasted this before putting the vegetables in, and all I could taste were the veggie grounds. The husband said the texture was weird--I think partly because the sausage broke down so much it was like mushy rice with veggie sausage particles. I decided to save the bag of stir-fry veggies for another use and went to my UDBP (universal dinner back-up plan): pizza.

Chicken Spectacular

Neither of my kids are napping today like they were supposed to, so this is going to be really short. Years ago when I was doing Weight Watchers I stumbled across a WW recipe website that had a ton of great recipes on it. This was one I printed off, and we've loved it ever since. It's one of my most favorite casserole recipes. Have I mentioned I'm on a casserole and crockpot kick lately? I don't know why, maybe because dinner time has been so crazy lately I want something easy in an effort to make things slightly calmer. Anyway, I had originally planned on roasting a chicken on Thursday night (the baby's birthday) and then using the leftover chicken meat to make this casserole tomorrow night. But, I got too excited at the idea of having this casserole because we haven't had it in forever, so I changed it around and just cooked up some chicken breasts to use for it.

Chicken Spectacular

By the way, it's 8 points per serving. I have a hard time sticking to just one serving though. ;)

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I have some massive blog updating to do! I was really trying this week to get back into a normal groove and get my house back in order after all the traveling we've been doing, but in doing that my blog fell to the wayside.

As I said in my last post, my challenge this week was to make dinners using only ingredients I had on hand. I cheated only a little and had to buy some chicken broth and brown rice, but that was it. I was excited to realize I had everything on hand for this recipe because it's one we really like, but for some reason I don't make it very often. I definitely need to add it to the rotation more often!

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I had some andouille sausage in the freezer that needed to be used up, so I cooked that in a skillet to render off some of the fat, then I sliced it and threw it in the slow cooker. The husband and I always enjoy this when we have it for dinner, the boy ate it okay, but I was SHOCKED that the baby shoveled it down! He ate about as much as I did! He's going to be my spicy food kid for sure, even though it wasn't that spicy, but I have to imagine for a baby it was.

Pork Katsu Donburi

I'm so excited for dinner tonight. I was feeling kind of ho-hum earlier today about what we were eating this week, but then I looked at my meal plan again and wondered why exactly I felt like that because there are some tasty things slated for every night! I've been thinking about this dinner for a few weeks now, how we haven't had it in so long. I don't know why I haven't made it more recently (apparently St. Patrick's Day was the last time...yikes).

Pork Katsu Donburi

Yum, yum, yum! I cannot wait for dinner. I went to Trader Joe's today (the boy's preschool is a mile away from TJ's...that may end up being detrimental to my grocery budget) and got some egg rolls, so we'll have those along with this.

Shrimp Creole

One of the dinners I had planned for this week was a jambalaya recipe I haven't made in a long, long time. In thinking about it, I decided I'd rather make shrimp creole, which is something else I haven't made in a long, long time. I figured I could make jambalaya next week with just chicken and sausage, then this week I can use some of the shrimp I have for shrimp creole. It's really super yummy, and I can't even remember the last time we had it. I'm really excited!

Shrimp Creole
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup butter
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, undrained
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp water
1 pound uncooked, medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 to 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
Hot cooked rice

In a Dutch oven, saute onion, green pepper, and celery in butter until tender. Add the tomatoes, garlic, bay leaves, salt, and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard the bay leaves.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour and water until smooth; add to tomato mixture. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp, worcestershire, and hot pepper sauce. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Serve over rice, garnish with parsley and green onions.

*****

This is one of the first cajun dishes I ever made, and the husband (although he was the boyfriend at the time) loved it. I think we'll just have some bread and a salad on the side. Mmmmm...I can't wait for dinner!

Lentil Burritos

We were running kind of low on funds this week until the husband gets paid on Monday, so I wanted to plan dinners based on what we had here or that didn't require buying a lot of groceries. I did pretty well because I spent $20 less than I usually do, although I didn't realize how low on coffee we were, so I may need to make a stop so I'm not a zombie in the next few days.

Anyway, the last time I made these I only used half of the lentil/rice filling, so all I needed to buy for these were the tortillas, which I wanted to buy anyway because I like to have breakfast burritos in the morning. I really didn't plan a side dish with this, but I'll probably heat up some kind of frozen vegetable.

Lentil Burritos

Lentil Burritos

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! Since I didn't stick with the right heritage for St. Patrick's Day I thought for this holiday I should try and make something befitting the day. I needed something vegetarian, and I was trying to use up items I had on hand since we're heading out of town soon. Jen B. made these lentil burritos recently and really liked them, so I figured I'd give them a try since I had some lentils in my pantry already. I don't think they're very authentic, but burritos are, right? Maybe. I may have to have a margarita along with dinner because it's just been that kind of day.

Jen found this recipe on a great budget-friendly blog, $5 Dollar Dinners. I've read it a few times but need to be better about checking it because I love finding new, inexpensive dinners to make. I just wanted to give credit where credit was due!

Lentil Burritos
From: $5Dinners.com

1 cup white or brown rice
1 cup lentils, any color
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt/pepper
6-8 tortillas
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
1. Cook rice. In saucepan, bring 2.5 cups of water or chicken broth to boil. Add 1 cup of white or brown rice. Return to boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer. For white rice, cook for 20 minutes. For brown rice, cook for 50 minutes.
2. Cook lentils. In saucepan, add 1 cup of lentils plus water to cover lentils by an inch. Bring to boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until lentils are soft. Drain any excess water.
3. Combine rice, lentils and can of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles. Stir in garlic powder, ground cumin, salt and pepper.
4. Lay tortillas (corn or flour…whichever you prefer!) out and spoon rice/lentil mixture into the tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and roll up. Place burritos in 8×8 baking dish.
5. Place lentil burritos in a warm oven (250) for about 20 minutes, giving cheese time to melt. Don’t leave in too long or the tortillas will get crispy!

*****

Mine are in the oven now. Jen's family really liked these, and I hope we do too. This is only my second time using lentils, and the first attempt was kind of a bomb. I filled up six tortillas and put them in a 12x8 casserole dish. I have at least half the filling mix left, so if we like these I'm going to try freezing what's left to have a quick, easy dinner for another night. I'm going to make some guacamole to go along with these and have that and Tostitos as a side.

*****

I didn't need to have low expectations for these at all--they were great! They were really filling tasty. I'd maybe add in some additional green chilies next time to add a little more flavor, but they were fine on their own. I'm glad it ended up making so much--we'll gladly have this again!

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I really like cooking Sunday dinner in the crockpot. It's so nice to get the whole afternoon with my family instead of them getting to have fun while I'm in the kitchen. The husband always calls his parents on Sunday after church, so while he and the boy were talking to them this morning I got this in the crockpot. And now all I have to do is put on some rice to cook in an hour or so. Fantastic!! In fact, I'm sitting outside in our backyard enjoying this FABULOUS 80 degree day while the boy runs through the sprinkler. This is why I love living in AZ (and I'll try to remember that in a couple months when I'm complaining about how freakin' hot it is).

Anyway, we've had this before but not in a long time. I was looking for something in my freezer and saw some frozen sausage, and I knew I had kidney beans in the pantry, so I added it to the menu for this week. It kept getting pushed back for varoius reasons, but it's worked out great now that we're having it tonight.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
3 cups water
1 cup dried red kidney beans
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 (14-ounce) package turkey, pork, and beef smoked sausage, thinly sliced (such as Healthy Choice)
1 bay leaf
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups hot cooked long-grain rice
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Combine first 12 ingredients in an electric slow cooker. Cover with lid; cook on high heat for 5 hours. Discard bay leaf; stir in salt. Serve over rice; sprinkle servings evenly with green onions.

*****

Instead of the red pepper and black pepper I added in some Cajun seasoning instead. And my sausage wasn't Healthy Choice, it was Hillshire Farm. I'm so excited for this dinner. I went grocery shopping this afternoon, and the house smelled amazing when I walked in from that. I think we'll probably just have a salad with this and call it good.

I had planned on making a really yummy dessert for tonight, too, because blackberries were on sale this week, but the store was all out of them. I'm so bummed! I did get a rain check at least, and I may stop in there tomorrow to see if they have some so I could still get them and have the rain check for later. On a bright note, I finally spent less than $80--I only spent $37! I feel like I must have forgotten some important things because that seems like way too little to have spent.

Get ready for some yummy dinners this coming week--I'm really excited for the menu line-up I have planned!!

Mock Vegetable Risotto

Well, we're home from our vacation. We had a good time, although Myrtle Beach totally wasn't what we expected. It reminded us of Laughlin, NV but on the beach. There were no oceanfront restaurants or bars that we could find, really there were very few seafood restaurants we could find. And the weather was only okay--we only made it to the beach twice because the other days were rainy or cold. We did drive to Charleston, SC and went and toured Fort Sumter, so that was way cool. Charleston was a neat town--I'd definitely go back there. The boy had fun playing on the beach, and he played mini golf for the first time, and we went to an aquarium. It was a good trip, but I'm glad to be home. I'm pretty tired of eating out, so I was excited to plan out my menu for the week.

I filled in a few days with some things I've been wanting to make, but I had a couple holes. The husband said to try and fill them with vegetarian options, and I remembered this "risotto" recipe I had made awhile back. We really liked it, and all I needed to buy were a couple vegetables for it, so I thought that would be good.

Mock Vegetable Risotto
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced
1 cup converted white rice
2-1/4 cup vegetable stock
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, cored and finely diced
1 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into sixths and thinly sliced
1/4 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 cup seeded, diced tomato, either fresh or canned
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
liberal seasoning of freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp white wine or dry vermouth
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 Tbsp minced fresh basil

Heat the butter in a 3-4 quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and saute for 2 minutes, stirring often. Pour in the vegetable stock and salt and cover the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Do not let it brown. Stir in the red pepper and saute 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and fennel and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the tomato and saute 2 minutes. Stir in the peas and a generous seasoning of freshly ground pepper. Remove the pan from the heat.

After the rice has cooked about 17 minutes, it should be tender, not mushy, and there should be a little stock left over that has not been absorbed. At this point, stir in the wine and then all the sauteed vegetables.

Sprinkle in the two cheeses and the basil, then gently stir to incorporate them. Cook 1 minute and serve.

*****

I used brown rice last time I made this, and that's what I'll use this time as well. When I went back to look up this recipe I read my review and noticed I let the rice cook about 45 minutes. Since there's a lot of veggies in this, I think the only side we'll have is some good looking bread I bought at the grocery store today and some salad. I swear everytime I travel I come home wanting to eat nothing but vegetables.

*****

This was good, just like the first time. I ended up using roasted red peppers because regular red peppers were $$$$$ at the store, and I had some roasted ones in the fridge. I also added in some canned corn because we'd had it the night before and about half the can was left. It was tasty. There were hardly any leftovers. And...I remembered to take a picture!



And, this was the first time I used my new Le Creuset mortar and pestle...very exciting!

Pork Katsu Donburi

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!! May the luck o' the Irish be with you today! Did you know that the husband is Irish (well, Irish and Cajun)? He is. We actually went to Ireland in 2005 with my in-laws and the husband's sister and her family. It was a fantastic trip. My FIL even met up with some cousins he didn't know about until he did some family tree research once we were there. It was amazing. In fact, to celebrate today, here's a picture of me kissing the Blarney Stone!



And the husband and I having our first pints of Guinness in Ireland. It tastes so much better over there than it does here!



So to celebrate, we're having...Japanese for dinner. I know, I know, but I couldn't come up with anything Irish that sounded good. I was originally going to do this on Thursday night, but I moved it to tonight. I don't remember why, but I'm excited for it. We've had this once before, about two months ago, and we all really liked it. It's from the Meal Planning 101 blog that I follow and love. Jen B. made it first, and they really liked it, then of course I followed in her footsteps because I'm completely co-dependent on her. With her? I don't know the right phrasing. I bought some pork chops last week when they were on sale for super cheap ($1.66/pound for BONELESS!!), so I'm going to bust out those for this.

Pork Katsu Donburi
2-4 pork loin chops
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs (try not to substitute or the result will not be the same)
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chicken broth
6 shitake mushrooms, sliced into strips (you can substitute regular button mushrooms)
1 carrot, julienned (I am using a frozen Asian Veggie Blend with carrots instead)
2 tbsp white sugar
4 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped green onions
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups cooked rice

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Cover the pieces of pork in plastic wrap and using a meat tenderizer, bash the meat until the piece is about 1/4 inch thick. Make sure you flip it over and do the other side as well. Do this to all your pieces. Then cut pork into cutlet sized portions, if needed. Now that your pieces of pork are cut and tenderized, season both sides with salt and pepper. In three separate bowls put flour in the first, beaten eggs in the second and Panko breadcrumbs in the third. Dredge each piece of pork in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and place on a baking sheet with a baking rack on it. Drizzle lightly with oil and place in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip the pork, drizzle the other side lightly with oil and then place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

While pork is cooking chop veggies (or follow stir fry directions for cooking frozen veggies). In a large frying pan set to medium-high heat saute the onion in oil for 3-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and carrot and stir-fry a couple more minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, sugar, soy sauce and salt and let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle in half of the green onions, stirring gently.

When pork comes out of the oven, cut into strips.

Turn the heat down to medium-low for the veggies and pour beaten eggs over the mixture, stirring a bit to incorporate the sauce and egg. Gently add the pork over the top and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the eggs are cooked. You may need to add a lid for part of the cooking time to get the eggs to cook through on top.

To serve, scoop rice into four bowls. Divide pork and veggie mixture into four, and place on top of rice. Garnish with a little more chopped green onion. Serve immediately!

*****

I'm only modifying it a little. Jen mentioned she had used some chili paste in her egg wash, so I bought some at the store today to mix in because I thought the last time I made it, the pork could usse a little more flavor. I'm skipping the mushrooms and carrots and just using a frozen stir fry blend. I think last time I microwaved the veggies, and they were a bit soggy, so this time I'll stir fry them so they stay crisp and yummy. Oh, and I didn't add the pork back in because I thought it might get too soggy. I don't think I'll make any side dishes with this since there's rice and veggies in it already.

Pork Katsu Donburi

I have a sick kid in my house. We've spent yesterday and today on the couch watching TV and movies. Normally I don't let him sit and zone out to TV all day, but I figure lazing around will help him get better. I think I've watched enough Disney Channel, PBS Kids, and Noggin over the past two days to last me quite awhile. Actually I've just been hanging out reading food blogs, playing on Facebook, and basically being incredibly unproductive. Plus being home for two days straight is helping me get the baby in a routine which I've been dying to do, so that part of it all has been pretty nice.

I'm super excited for the dinner I'm making tonight. Jen B. made it last week and got it from the blog Meal Planning 101, which thanks to Jen, is now one of my favorite cooking/food blogs. Good find, Jen! When I saw the recipe on Jen's blog I knew I had to make it--and soon! Luckily I was planning on buying pork chops at Costco this week, so I knew I'd have everything for it. There was a little Japanese take-out restaurant near my house growing up, and they had awesome chicken katsu donburi. My whole family loved it. I don't know if I've ever had it with pork, so I'm excited to try this.

I have to mention the benefits of meal planning since I linked to a meal planning blog. I've been doing it for years now. It used to be--back when the husband and I were DINKs--I'd make whatever sounded good on the way home from work, which a lot of times meant stopping at the store to get ingredients. It got very expensive. It wasn't that we couldn't afford to eat like that, I just thought it was ridiculous how much we were spending on groceries each month for two people. So I started planning out meals for the week. Then after awhile I took it one step further and planned out our dinners based on what was on sale at the grocery store that week. That's how I still do it. Normally I spend around $50 a week on groceries, if I'm buying meat (which I only buy when it's on sale) it's usually around $70. I try to match coupons to items that are on sale as well, but I don't buy a whole lot of packaged/processed foods, so I don't always use that many.

Anyway, on to the recipe. I'm so excited for this!!!

Pork Katsu Donburi
2-4 pork loin chops
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs (try not to substitute or the result will not be the same)
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chicken broth
6 shitake mushrooms, sliced into strips (you can substitute regular button mushrooms)
1 carrot, julienned (I am using a frozen Asian Veggie Blend with carrots instead)
2 tbsp white sugar
4 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped green onions
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups cooked rice

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Cover the pieces of pork in plastic wrap and using a meat tenderizer, bash the meat until the piece is about 1/4 inch thick. Make sure you flip it over and do the other side as well. Do this to all your pieces. Then cut pork into cutlet sized portions, if needed. Now that your pieces of pork are cut and tenderized, season both sides with salt and pepper. In three separate bowls put flour in the first, beaten eggs in the second and Panko breadcrumbs in the third. Dredge each piece of pork in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and place on a baking sheet with a baking rack on it. Drizzle lightly with oil and place in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip the pork, drizzle the other side lightly with oil and then place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

While pork is cooking chop veggies (or follow stir fry directions for cooking frozen veggies). In a large frying pan set to medium-high heat saute the onion in oil for 3-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and carrot and stir-fry a couple more minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, sugar, soy sauce and salt and let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle in half of the green onions, stirring gently.

When pork comes out of the oven, cut into strips.

Turn the heat down to medium-low for the veggies and pour beaten eggs over the mixture, stirring a bit to incorporate the sauce and egg. Gently add the pork over the top and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until the eggs are cooked. You may need to add a lid for part of the cooking time to get the eggs to cook through on top.

To serve, scoop rice into four bowls. Divide pork and veggie mixture into four, and place on top of rice. Garnish with a little more chopped green onion. Serve immediately!

*****

Doesn't this sound sooooo yummy?! I seriously cannot wait for dinner tonight! I have a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies I'm going to use, and I bought regular button mushrooms because they were on sale. Although I don't think I bought green onions this week, so mine will just have to do without. Jen said that she toasted some sesame seeds and sprinkled those on the top before serving, so I may give that a go. If we weren't all wearing jammies today I'd maybe run to the store and pick up some green onions, but that would require me wearing something other than yoga pants, a t-shirt, and fluffy pink socks.

*****

Mmmmm...this was really good!! I will definitely be making this again. Jen had said she mixed some chili paste into the egg wash, and I think next time I'll try to remember to do that. The pork was good on its own, but a little extra kick would have made it even better. I used half a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies which worked out fine. Under normal circumstances I think this would all come together really fast, but the baby needed to eat, so I fed him while the pork was cooking, which meant I didn't start on the veggie/egg mixture until after the pork was done. Overall we really liked it. The boy didn't eat much, but he's had a nasty cold, but I think under normal circumstances he would eat it and enjoy it.

Hoisin Pork Medallions

Good lord, according to the ol' blog I haven't made this in almost a year! Unless I made it and forgot to update which is entirely possible. I really like making things with hoisin sauce. If you aren't familiar with it, it's almost like Chinese ketchup. It's the sauce that's used when you order mu shu to get all that yummy goodness to adhere to the pancake. Oh how I love mu shu. Now I wish we were having that for dinner.

I threw a baby shower today for my friend Jen A. today, so really all I've eaten today is shower food. Since somehow the only items left at my house were sweets, so I've been on a major sugar high all day. Okay, not really, but I do feel kind of sick from all the sweets I've had. Since the shower ended I've had probably five glasses of water because all I'd had before that was my customary morning diet Coke (which I'm trying so desperately to replace with coffee but can't because I forgot to buy coffee last week at the store. I should go put it on my grocery list for next week right now.) and punch (recipe coming shortly). the punch was yummy but super sweet. It probably didn't help that after everyone left and the punch was all gone that I got out a fork and ate the maraschino cherries in the bottom of the punch bowl and some of the orange slices. I'm not embarrassed--they were yummy! Anyway, after all of that sweetness all day, I'm ready for a good non-sweet dinner. Not that we ever have sweets for dinner, but you know what I mean. Kind of like when all I eat is junk all day, a really good salad always sounds the best to me...like I need a lot of vegetables to balance it all out.

So, this is what's on the dinner plan for tonight. I'm excited for it now that I have realized how long it's been since we had it. The recipe calls for pork tenderloin, but I always use a portion of a pork loin roast instead because, well, I'm cheap, and pork loin roasts are a whole lot cheaper than pork tenderloin.

Hoisin Pork Medallions
Cooking Spray
1 Tbsp dark sesame oil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1-pound pork tenderloin, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices
6 Tbsp water
1/3 cup dry sherry
3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp hoisin sauce
2 cups hot cooked long-grain rice, cooked without salt or fat
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil, and place over medium-high heat until hot. Add pepper and garlic; saute 1 minute. Add pork; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove pork from skillet. Wipe drippings from skillet with a paper towel.

Combine water and next 3 ingredients in skillet; cook over medium heat 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return pork to skillet, turning to coat. Place rice on a platter; spoon pork mixture over rice and sprinkle with green onions.

*****

I think the only item I don't have are the green onions, but I'm not too concerned. I'm going to make some brown rice to go with it, as well as a package of Asian vegetables I have in the freezer, and I also have a couple Trader Joe's eggrolls left in the freezer to use up.

Mock Vegetable Risotto

The new vegetarian recipes continue! Are you excited? I am. And a little scared. I'm branching out beyond my comfort zone and using zucchini tonight. I don't like zucchini, and I never have. Just ask my mom. She and my dad love zucchini and always knew people that grew it in the summer and had too much and would pass it along to us (how's that for a run-on sentence?!). She tried to sneak it into everything. My mom wasn't ever a baker (she said she didn't want to have cookies around because she'd eat them, which as a child I never understood but now I completely get!), so when my brother and I came home one day and found a batch of cookies on the counter, we were understandably skeptical. Yup--she had put zucchini in them. But, I'm going to try and embrace the zucchini because a lot of the vegetarian recipes I've found include it. I figure it can't be that bad mixed in with other stuff, right? Right?!??! I sure hope so.

This is another recipe from the almost-got-rid-of-it vegetarian cookbook. I had slated it for last week and then decided I'd do something else instead and wait to make it until red peppers were on sale. But, when I got to the grocery store last week, they were on sale! So I got one and the zucchini, but then I never made it, which worked out great for this week because that was one less dinner I needed to figure out when planning my meals.

By the way, I'm trying to use up stuff I have on hand this week, which is kind of killing me because I want to be using all my new cookbooks. The three I got for Christmas weren't enough--I bought another Giada cookbook and the new Barefoot Contessa. I haven't even had a chance to sit down and read through them yet. Arrgh! I hate having unread cookbooks!

Mock Vegetable Risotto
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced
1 cup converted white rice
2-1/4 cup vegetable stock
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, cored and finely diced
1 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into sixths and thinly sliced
1/4 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 cup seeded, diced tomato, either fresh or canned
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
liberal seasoning of freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp white wine or dry vermouth
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 Tbsp minced fresh basil

Heat the butter in a 3-4 quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in the rice and saute for 2 minutes, stirring often. Pour in the vegetable stock and salt and cover the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Do not let it brown. Stir in the red pepper and saute 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and fennel and cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the tomato and saute 2 minutes. Stir in the peas and a generous seasoning of freshly ground pepper. Remove the pan from the heat.

After the rice has cooked about 17 minutes, it should be tender, not mushy, and there should be a little stock left over that has not been absorbed. At this point, stir in the wine and then all the sauteed vegetables.

Sprinkle in the two cheeses and the basil, then gently stir to incorporate them. Cook 1 minute and serve.

*****

I don't have any converted rice, so I'm going to use brown. I'll let you in on a secret--I have a hard time making white rice. I don't know what it is, but it always comes out too sticky and over-cooked, no matter how long I cook it for. I do much better with brown rice. I prefer brown, but I keep white on hand for those nights where I forget to start the brown rice early enough. Apparently, Uncle Ben's rice is converted, so I looked up the cooking directions for that. It says cook 20 minutes then remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes, so I figure I'll stop my brown rice from cooking about 5-7 minutes before it's supposed to be done. Actually I'll probably just check it after 30 minutes and every five minutes after that. I don't have any white wine, but I do have dry vermouth. I think. I'm pretty sure I bought it at Trader Joe's one time and haven't ever used it. Either that or I bought marsala wine. Now I'm not sure which I bought. I'll have to check. I doubt the husband would mind having to stop for wine on his way home, if I need it.

*****

This was really yummy. At first I thought it was just okay, but it grew on me as I ate it. The husband at first said he thought it was only "so-so" and that it would be better with some seafood added into it. I told him that defeated the vegetarian aspect of it, then he said for a vegetarian dinner it was pretty good and one we should have again. My rice ended up cooking for close to 45 minutes I think it was. I busted out a little algebraic equation to figure an approximate cooking time based on the cooking time listed for converted rice compared to brown rice. I'm a geek, what can I say. My equation said equivalent cooking time would be about 42 minutes, and I think that was about right on. I'll be adding this one in to the vegetarian dinner rotation for sure. It was really easy to put together which I love.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, it was cream sherry I bought at Trader Joe's. Oops. I think Jen B. bought vermouth that trip, and that's what I was thinking of. I told you were entirely too co-dependent.

Cajun Smothered Chicken

Mmmm...sounds yummy doesn't it? It was! We had it for dinner last night. Although I have a confession...it was a mix. All I did was cut up some chicken breasts, brown them, pour in the mix, and add water. I'd recommend the mix though! :)

Chicken and Yellow Rice

I wasn't really "feeling" the dinner I had originally planned for tonight, so I consulted the menu plan to see what I could move around and make tonight instead. This was originally slated for Monday because the husband was going to be gone, but his plans changed, so I also changed dinner plans. I decided it sounded good for tonight because it's super easy, and I didn't feel like cooking. I would have tried to convince the husband to get some kind of take-out (which would not be a hard sell), but my days of cooking dinner are numbered. I had an OB appointment today and am dilated to 5 cm!!! This kid is coming ANY TIME NOW. So, given that, I figured I might as well make dinner while I'm still relatively feeling up to it.

This isn't something we have very often because I don't think the husband is a big fan. Or I never think to make it, not sure which. It's insanely easy and pretty cheap, too, so I don't know why I don't have it in higher dinner rotation. My mom would make chicken and yellow rice when I was growing up, and I had mentioned it to my friend Nanci (Hi, Nanci!!) one time, and she said that her family had it too only they added black beans to it. Actually she may have told me that's what they were having one night and we got to talking about it. I don't know, it was a long time ago. I just don't want her to feel slighted if I got the story wrong. ;) Anyway, I love black beans, so I figured I'd try it that way and have been including black beans ever since. The husband doesn't like them, so I scoop some out for him before adding in the beans. I know, I know...I'm such a good wife.

Chicken and Yellow Rice
1 package saffron rice mix
1 or 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

Cook rice mix according to package directions. Mix in chicken and black beans.

*****

See? Insanely easy. I'm almost embarassed to include it, but I had included it before so what the hell. I was worried it wasn't going to be enough but there's at least one--if not two--servings left. The boy eats it pretty well, too. We didn't have anything fancy with it, just some peas and salad.

I think it would be good in a vegetarian version as well with just black beans and no chicken. Not sure how filling it would be, but it would at least be a good side dish.

Chicken and Yellow Rice

The boy and I are on our own for dinner the next couple nights, so I wanted easy stuff and things that the husband doesn't necessarily like. ;) Tonight's dinner is super easy and one of my favorites. And it's relatively cheap.

Chicken and Yellow Rice
1 package saffron rice mix
1 or 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

Cook rice mix according to package directions. Mix in chicken and black beans.

*****

See what I mean, super easy. If I don't add the black beans, I'd probably do two chicken breasts, but since the beans add some substance to the dish, I think I'll just do one chicken breast.

Risotto

I only had time last night to post one recipe because we ended up eating really late and it was about time for bed. I was cooking some marinated mahi mahi filets I got at Trader Joe's, and I thought--like their ahi tuna steaks--there were only two in the package. So I suggested to the husband that we eat dinner after the boy went to bed. We had some brie to tide us over...I heart brie so much. When I took the fish out to let it thaw in a bigger container, I found there were five pieces of fish in it. Oops. Oh well, the boy doesn't really eat fish anyway, unless it's tuna from a can.

I had been dying to try this risotto recipe and had bought stuff to make it a couple times, but for whatever reasons it never worked out. It's from one of my favorite websites, Pioneer Woman Cooks!. If you haven't been there yet, GO NOW! This will still be here when you get back. ;) My friend Jen B. made it before and said it was awesome. I heart risotto, so I couldn't wait. I decided to half the recipe because she had said it made a lot and wasn't as good the next day. The recipe below is for the whole shebang.

PW’s Perfect Risotto
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small or 1/2 medium onion
3 to 4 cloves garlic
1 pound Arborio rice
7 to 8 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 cups (total) grated Parmesan, Romano, and/or Asiago cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chopped chives

Heat oil in large skillet, then add chopped onion and garlic and cook until soft. Dump in 1 pound dry Arborio rice, and stir to coat. Then add the broth, in 1-cup increments, stirring after each addition until liquid is absorbed. Rice is done when it no longer has a hard bite. After all liquid is absorbed, add cream, cheese, salt & pepper, and stir to combine. Stir in chives and serve immediately.

*****

Now, somehow I didn't have any onions. Not sure how that happened, but I did have some shallots, so I used those instead. And there was a near mishap with the heavy cream. I bought some last week, and the date on it was yesterday. I opened it and poured it into my measuring cup...and clumps came out. GROSS!!! I had some fat free half and half I was going to use (you have no idea my disappointment), but then I saw another container of cream in the fridge that was still good! Hooray!! Mine took about 3 cups of chicken broth, which was good because that was exactly how much I had.

The risotto was AWESOME. The husband and I both had seconds, and there was about one serving left. I put it in the fridge but haven't tried it yet today to see if Jen's right and it doesn't reheat well. She's usually right about that stuff, so I trust her opinion. Oh, and I'd say it probably took 30 minutes for the risotto. The husband and I both agreed we could have stood over the pan and ate the remaining portion, but as it was 9:00, we figured that probably wasn't the best idea. I will DEFINITELY be making this again!

(No dinner tonight, by the way...we have a birthday party to go to!)

Chicken Korma

We were going to have this last night, but I've come down with a yucky cold. I did make dinner to take to a friend (a Rick Bayless Mexican recipe that I'll eventually make for us), but that was it. I was going to post that recipe, but I couldn't find it online and didn't feel like typing it out. I'll type it out when I eventually make it.

Anyway, my week of Trader Joe's feasting continues. Tonight we're having Chicken Korma which is my most favorite Indian dish. I heart Indian food and NEVER get to have it. Remember when I said I had a friend that used to go eat Thai food with me? We went for Indian a lot too. The husband HATES Indian food (he doesn't know tonight's dinner is Indian), so I really never ever get it. This dinner is ridiculously easy.

Chicken Korma
1 lb. chicken breast, diced (or tofu)
1 jar Trade Joe's Chicken Korma simmer sauce
8 ounces water

Brown chicken in skillet until mostly cooked. Add jar of simmer sauce and eight ounces water. Simmer until heated through.

*****

We're having basmati rice with it and some garlic naan bread. I heart naan! It's on the stove right now, and it's looking like the eight ounces of water might be a bit much. Granted it's been a long time since I've had chicken korma, but I'm pretty sure the sauce was thicker than this is looking.

Easy Stuffed Peppers

This is a recipe from the new cookbook I mentioned last week. It was my first time making stuffed peppers. I've only ever had the frozen Stouffers kind before, which I didn't think were bad at all. This seemed really easy, and I wanted some vegetarian dinners this week, so it sounded perfect!

Easy Stuffed Peppers
2-3/4 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
4 medium green peppers, seeded, tops removed

Preheat oven to 400. Mix rice, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce, and 3/4 cup of the cheese. Place peppers in 2-quart baking dish. Fill with rice mixture, cover dish. Bake 30-35 minutes or until peppers are crisp-tender and filling is heated through. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

*****

I used two cups of dried rice and got slightly more than the 2-3/4 cup called for. I used all of it and added in some additional sauce to make up for it...I was worried the extra rice would make the filling kind of dry. And I missed the part about covering the dish, but I don't think it made too much difference, although I have nothing else to compare it to.

Overall, the peppers were good. I think I'd use different sauce next time because the one I used was a bit bland. I might try and add something more to the filling, too. I'm not sure what, I'll have to think on it. They were really filling...I could only eat half of one. The husband ate a whole one, the boy ate all of the filling out of half a pepper.