Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Fritters

Oh yeah, these babies are delicious! Amazing is basically the only word that truly does them justice!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 cup chicken, cooked and shredded
1/4 cup "hot sauce" ( I used buffalo wing sauce)
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/4 blue cheese, crumbled
1 egg
1/4 cup gluten free panko bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil to fry

How to:

Add quinoa and water to pot with lid. Simmer until all liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. I recommend getting it to a boil first then bringing it down to low-heat for the 15 minute cooking period. Once cooked, stir with fork to fluff. Set aside, lid off, until cool enough to handle.

Once quinoa has cooled to handling temperature, add all quinoa, chicken, hot sauce, onion, cheddar, blue cheese, egg, breadcrumbs and salt & pepper to a large bowl.  Stir all ingredients until well combined.

Then, take mixture and form patties. Place patties on cookie sheet and place in fridge for 15 minutes. (Yields between 10-12 patties for me).

In the mean time heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Oil should cover the entire skillet. Once oil is hot, remove patties from fridge and cook in oil for 3-4 minutes per side. Once cooked, remove from skillet and place on paper towel to drain.

Viola! There you have a delicious and not TOO unhealthy snack/lunch/dinner. I recommend serving the quinoa fritters with extra wing sauce and blue cheese dressing for dipping. Cut up celery and carrot sticks also make a nice addition!

Enjoy! And as always- if you have comments or suggestions please share them with me!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This Sunday, and for the past 3 Sundays, Rob and I have made Chicken Tortilla Soup. Needless to say.. we are addicted. The nice thing about this dish is that it provides dinner for the night you make it and at least 2 lunches afterwards and it only costs around $10! See a picture below (before we add cheese and chips of course):

Ingredients:

4 Boneless, Skinless chicken thighs

1 Cup Chicken Broth (Pacific Natural Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth, 32-Ounce Containers (Pack of 12))

2 Cans Organic diced tomatoes with garlic, oregano and olive oil (Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes, Diced, 14.5-Ounce Cans (Pack of 12))

1 Can of Organic Black Beans, drained and rinsed (Eden Organic Black Beans, No Salt Added, 15-Ounce Cans (Pack of 12)_

1 4oz. Can of diced green chilies (Chi Chi's Green Chilies Diced, 4.25-Ounce Units (Pack of 12))

1 Yellow Onion, diced

3-5 Cloves of garlic, minced

1-3 Tsp. Cumin

Lawry's seasoning salt

Pepper

Garlic Pepper

Italian Seasoning

Sprinkle of Chili Powder

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Tortilla Chips

Process:

To begin, take out your crockpot and turn it onto high heat. Add chicken to the crockpot and cover chicken with chicken broth, diced tomatoes, black beans, onions, garlic and all spices. (I did not specify quantity of seasoning to put in but use your judgement, you do not need a ton of each spice; spice to your own taste). Mix items in crockpot until well blended, make sure chicken is covered completely. Let cook for approximately 3 hours on high heat. After 3 hours, spoon chicken out of the crockpot and shred it with a fork. Once shredded, return chicken to crockpot and turn it down to low heat. After about 10 minutes, add your diced cilantro to the crockpot; mix well and turn crockpot down to "keep warm" setting (basically whatever setting stops cooking but keeps the food hot). Let sit for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, serve. I choose to serve it in bowls with shredded cheese over the top and pieces of tortilla chips spread around the sides of the bowl. See below:

You can also serve it with chips on the side however I like serving it with the chips in the bowl so they slightly soften in the broth.

Serve hot and enjoy! Per usual, if you have comments or suggestions on this recipe or any of my other recipes, please feel free to share and leave a comment.

Oven Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters

I made chicken leg quarters tonight just how my mom always tells me-- and they came out fantastically!  The best part about getting this type of chicken is that its CHEAP; two legs cost us under $2 (from Whole Foods, with skin on)! There are multiple flavors you can make your chicken leg quarters (BBQ, Buffalo, etc) but tonight I just went with a traditional flavoring. Here's how we make them:

Ingredients:

Chicken Leg Quarters, washed and dried
Italian Salad Dressing
Olive Oil Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 51-Ounce Bottle
Garlic Pepper Simply Organic Garlic Pepper Certified Organic, 3.73 Ounce Containers (Pack of 3)
Lawrys Seasoning Salt Lawry's Seasoned Salt, 16 oz * Economy Size

Process:

Preheat your oven to 350 and make sure it is completely preheated before putting food into it. Take your washed chicken and place it into a glass cooking dish that has a small amount of olive oil in it. Gently pull the skin away from the chicken (do not rip it off!!! just gently pull it so there is space between the chicken and the skin). Drizzle italian dressing and crack garlic pepper into the space you have just created. Then, drizzle olive oil and italian dressing over the top of the chicken (on top of the skin). Finally, sprinkle lawry's seasoning salt and garlic pepper over the top of the pieces of chicken. Put the chicken in the oven for approx 1 hour at 350 and up the heat to 375 for the last 10 minutes. Flip twice while cooking. Finally, before you take the chicken out of the oven, broil the skin for about 1-2 minutes so it starts to get a little crispy, YUM! Let the chicken sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Our Prep:

Tonight we served the chicken with bow tie pasta with pesto basil sauce and shredded cheddar cheese on it and peas (Rob had salad since he loathes peas). But--- its chicken--- serve it with whatever you want and enjoy it!

Baked Zitti and Homemade Sauce with Chicken

Tonight I made everyone's (my family and Rob) all time favorite, my homemade sauce and baked zitti. It literally just got done cooking so I want to go eat it... but here is a picture (UPDATED, RECIPE BELOW):

Alright-- so I am back and let me tell you it was delicious!!! Here is the recipe for the sauce (cooked in a crock pot of course! I love using the crock pot):

Ingredients:

1 to 2 whole yellow onions, diced

4+ cloves of garlic, minced (I say 4+ because everyone likes a different amount of garlic.. I used about 8 cloves)

1 Lg. can crushed tomatos (do not strain)

3 Reg. Cans of diced tomatos with basil, oregano and garlic (do not strain)

1 Sm. Can of tomato paste

2 tomato paste cans full of water

8+ Large fresh basil leaves, chopped (I like to use ALOT of basil)

1/8-1/4 cup of olive oil (approx)

1 Tb butter

1 Lb. Chicken, parboiled

Pepper (approx 1/4-1/2 tsp)

Lawrys seasoning salt (1/4-1/2 tsp)

Oregano (1/4 tsp)

Parsley (1/4 tsp)

Minced, dried garlic (1/2-1 tsp)

Italia seasoning (1/2 tsp)

Garlic salt (1/4 tsp)

Process:

First saute onions in a little olive oil and butter until soft over medium heat. Once onions are soft, add all fresh minced garlic cloves and saute for about 2 minutes (make sure the garlic does not burn). Then, add the onions are garlic into your crock pot. Turn to high heat. All everything else except for the chicken. Let it cook for about 1 hour on high heat, once hour is up, add chicken. Cook for an additional 3 hours. After 3 hours-- open the crock pot and gently shred the chicken apart. Once chicken is shredded, turn it down to low and let it cook for a least 1 more hour (preferably 2-3 more hours). Before serving, turn crock pot down to the "keep warm" setting for at least 10 minutes. And... that is it! With almost no work you have yourself a delicious and homemade sauce! YUM!!!

Baked Ziti assembly:

To make the beautiful dish you see at the top of this page... first cook 1 box of pasta so its almost fully cooked, but not quite. Once cooked and drained, take half the pasta and spread it into a 9 X 13 inch glass baking dish. Cover that pasta with lots and lots of the delicious sauce you made. Then, cover that with lots of shredded sharp cheddar cheese and an italian mix blend of cheeses. Once you have your desired amount of cheese... cover it with the rest of the pasta and cover the pasta with more yummy sauce. Make sure the pasta is completely covered with sauce. Then, sprinkle more cheddar and italian blend cheese over the top of it. Finally...cover the top of the dish with circular pieces of provolone cheese. Pop the dish in the over for 28-30 minutes on 350. Make sure you watch it so the provolone does not burn... it should turn brown, but not burn. After it is cooked, let it sit for 10-15 minutes before serving,this will allow the dish to come together and settle. Cut and ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicken & Beef Chili

This recipe has become a staple; I probably make it twice per month. The best part about it is 1) delicious of course and 2) the recipe makes plenty for dinner and provides lunches for about 2 days. The ingredients I am listing, per usual, may not be 100% exact because I send to switch it up and do not measure. Another thing to note is for this recipe I am listing the ingredients as 1 Lb of ground white chicken and 1/2 Lb of 85/15 ground beef... you can change the quantities as the total remains around 1.5 Lbs.

Ingredients:

1 Crockpot
1/4 cup olive oil (Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 51-Ounce Bottle)
1 Lb. Ground White Chicken
1/2 Lb. 85/15 Ground Beef
1-2 (small-medium) Whole yellow onions diced
1 Red Pepper, dices
1 Poblano Pepper or Habenero Pepper (I like poblano, Rob likes Habenero), diced
3-5 Cloves of freshly minced garlic (Use REAL garlic)
2 Cans of Roasted diced tomatoes with green chilis Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomatoes, 28-Ounce Cans (Pack of 12) This is the brand I use, just not the flavor)
1 Can of Roasted roasted garlic diced tomatoes
1 Tb of tomato paste
1 Can black beans, rinsed and dried (Westbrae Natural Vegetarian Organic Black Beans, 15 Ounce Cans (Pack of 12))
1/3 of a jar of tomato sauce (preferably a regular flavor like marinara) (Cucina Antica Tomato Basil Sauce, 16-Ounce Jars (Pack of 6) This is a yummy brand!!)
Chili Powder
Cumin
Pepper
Lawry's season salt
Oregano

Procedure:

First, turn your crockpot onto low heat and add all but 2 Tb of the olive oil into it, leave it alone to start heating. Then, in a large skillet (on medium heat), add the remaining olive oil. Let the olive oil heat for a minute and then add all the diced onions to start sautéing. Sauté the onions for about 2 minutes then add in the diced red pepper and poblano pepper). Let these sauté until they start to become soft but not brown. Once vegetables are soft(er) add in the ground beef, chicken, about 1/2 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of chili powder, 1/2 tsp of Lawry's and a 1/2 tsp of pepper. Sauté until cooked through. Once the meat is cooked, turn the skillet down to medium/low heat and add in the freshly minced garlic. Make sure you mix it around so the garlic goes all through your skillet mixture. Allow that to cook for 2-3 minutes. Once that has had 2-3 minutes to cook, dump everything in the skillet into the crockpot. Cover the crockpot and turn it up to high.

Now for all the cans... open all 3 diced tomato cans and dump them into the crockpot, juice and all. Then add in the tomato sauce and add in black beans. Finally, add in the tomato paste along with spices. Approximation of the spices are as follows: 2 Tsp of chili powder, 1 tsp of cumin, 1/4 tsp of oregano and 1/4 tsp black pepper (this is in addition to the spices you added to your skillet mixture). Mix well and allow to cook on high for about 2 hours without stirring. After 2 hours (or it starts to bubble) turn down the mixture to low heat for at least another 2 hours, preferably 4 hours. 30 minutes before serving, turn the crockpot down to the "keep warm" setting, this allows for the chili to start to settle. After 30 minutes, serve in bowls with spoons-- ENJOY!
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I like to sprinkle either a little cheddar cheese or sour cream on the top (sometimes freshly chopped scallions) and serve corn muffins (Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix 8.5oz) on the side.

This recipe really warms you up on a fall or winter day! If you have any thoughts or suggestions please let me know! If not.. hope you enjoy this!

Oven Baked Breaded Chicken

The other night Rob requested I make my homemade breaded chicken with sauce, cheese and pasta. It is basically chicken parm, but not quite. The thing I like about making it... is that it is SO easy and you can make it look so fancy! Here is how you make the chicken:

Ingredients:


1 lb of boneless, skinless, chicken cutlets
1 Package of bread crumbs (I use italian style panko bread crumbs) (Ian's Original Panko Breadcrumb, 9-Ounces (Pack of 12) )
2-3 Eggs
1/8 cup (or so) of cold water
2 Tb melted butter
Pepper
Dried minced garlic (McCormick Minced Garlic 3-Ounce Unit (Pack of 6) )
Lawry's seasoning salt (Lawrys Seasoning Salt, 16 -Ounce Bottles (Pack of 6) )

Process:


First, preheat oven to 350.  Then, rinse the chicken and leave it to dry. Get out 2 medium sized bowls. In one bowl add eggs and water, slightly whisk until lots of the big egg chunks are well mixed. In the second bowl, add bread crumbs (not the whole package! Maybe half) and add some extra spices to them; dried garlic, pepper and lawry's seasoning salt, mix well. Now, go back to the chicken and pat it dry with a paper towel. Take the chicken piece by piece, and dip one piece into the egg wash then dip it in the bread crumb bowl and make sure the piece of chicken is completely covered in bread crumbs. Once each piece is covered place them in a single layer in a glass baking pan. Sprinkle a small amount of extra bread crumbs on each piece of chicken and pat them down, then drizzle a little bit of melted butter on each piece of chicken. NOTE: The chicken should not be covered in butter, just a small sprinkle on each piece. Once that is complete, place the chicken in the oven for about 30 minutes (give or take). Then, after 30 minutes remove it and et it sit for 5 minutes. Viola! Your delicious chicken in complete!!

Plating:


Now, if you want to make your chicken with sauce and pasta and cheese--- and you want it to look pretty... First, take a plate and put a small serving of pasta on it, put a little sauce of the pasta and a little cheese. Then, take one piece of chicken and place it on on top of the sauce and pasta, place a piece of provolone cheese on top of the chicken and cover the chicken with sauce. Then, top off the plate by sprinkling some freshly grated cheese on. It will look lovely and taste even better!!

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Hope everyone enjoys this! You can obviously pair the chicken with whatever sides or dishes you are in the mood for but I just happen to make it with pasta, sauce and cheese... so I thought I would share that with you! As always, any thoughts.. critiques, suggestions or other ideas... feel free to let me know!

Quick and Easy Chicken Chili

Well, it is time for recipe #2...
Tonight I made my quick and easy chicken chili (in a Crockpot), yum yum! This is a recipe me and my boyfriend, Rob, made up one day and it has turned into one of my favorites.. a weekly staple. The best part about this recipe is that it only takes about 15 minutes to get the ingredients mixed together (then it obviously needs to cook for a few hours after that...but at least the prep is easy!) leaving you plenty of time to relax, do chores, or go to the gym like I did... knowing that dinner was being cooked for me while I worked out and I would have delicious chili waiting for me when I got home!

The Ingredients:

1 Can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1 Lb. Ground Chicken

1 Yellow Onion, diced

3 Cloves fresh minced garlic

1 Can of corn (optional), rinsed and drained
1 Lg. can of stewed tomatoes (with celery and peppers if you want, approx 20-25 oz) DO NOT DRAIN
8 oz Tomato sauce (approx)

All the following ingredients are approximate and to one's personal taste:
Chili Powder
Cumin
Pepper
Oregano
Garlic Powder


The Process:

First, start by getting out your Crockpot (Rival 5025WG 2-1/2-Quart Crockpot) and turning it on to high; add about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil to the Crockpot to begin heating.

Next, heat a skillet to medium heat, add about 1 Tb of olive oil (Bertolli Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 51-Ounce Bottle) to the pan; add chicken and cook through. Once you cannot see anymore pink, add onions and sauté for about 3-5 minutes. While chicken and onions are cooking, add about 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp pepper and continue cooking. Just as you think the chicken and onions are done, add the minced garlic and cook for one more minute. Once cooked, add to Crockpot.

Then, add rinsed black beans, corn, tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes to Crockpot. Mix well. Finally, add approximately 2-3 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin (Simply Organic Cumin Seed Ground Certified Organic, 2.31 Ounce Containers (Pack of 3)), 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp oregano (OREGANO FRESHLY PACKED IN LARGE JARS, spices, herbs, seasonings) and 1/2 tsp garlic powder, mix well and cover Crockpot. Cook for at least 1.5 hours on high, best is to cook the chili for about 2 hours on high. After 1.5 hours, if the chili seems to dry, add a little bit more tomato sauce.

Once chili is cooked, serve in a bowl with a little shredded cheddar cheese on top. It can be served with a little rice as well... I tend to go back and forth between rice and no rice. Tonight I just ate the chili as is, with a little shredded cheese on top.

Clarification:

Sorry if this recipe is a little unclear, it is a personal creation and none of the spices are exact. If anyone reads this and thinks it is unclear, please do not hesitate to let me know. Hope you enjoy!