Honey Chicken Stir Fry

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carrot, chicken, chicken stir fry, dinner, easy dinner, food, foodie, honey chicken, meal, quick and easy, quick dinner, red bell pepper, soy sauce, stir fry, yellow carrot, zucchini

Finally back in the kitchen! I haven’t taken a complete hiatus, but I haven’t cooked anything new over the holidays. Our lives are busy, I never feel like I get as much do as I actually want to get done. So it’s time to start prepping meals ahead of time.
I like to buy and cut/slice/dice veggies and chicken ahead of time and vacuüm seal them for later use. This is a fantastic use of a surplus of summer veggies, just vacuüm seal and freeze. Stir fries, casseroles and soup tend to be the best meals to prepare this way, as well as anything you want to put over pasta or rice. Tonight’s dinner was simple to cook, since I prepped everything ahead of time.*

Honey Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil, 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, 5 Tbsp. honey, 1 tsp. minced garlic, 1 tsp. minced ginger, 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 orange carrot, 1 yellow carrot, 1 zucchini, 1/2 red bell pepper, green beans, steamed brown rice

Directions:
Cut, dice, slice, julienne and chop veggies anyway you like (I played around with all of these techniques, have I mentioned before that I love my crinkle cutter and julienne peeler?). Cut chicken into small pieces. Warm oil, garlic, and ginger in wok. Add soy sauce and honey and stir until dissolved. Add chicken pieces and cook until chicken is done. Add veggies and sauté until tender. Serve over hot brown rice.

*Disclaimer: I did find the yellow carrots already sliced in the freezer section, this was a score because I love love love them and can never find them in our regular produce section. That’s one root veggie I plan to grow this year.

What’s on your dinner plate?

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Sausage & Watercress Penne

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dinner, easy dinner, easy meal, easy recipe, food, foodie, lunch, meal, pasta, penne, postaday2011, quick & easy, quick and easy, quick recipe, recipe, sausage, watercress, yellow pepper

A tasty heap of comfort food is the perfect way to end the day…

Sausage & Watercress Penne

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey sausage, 1 lb. penne, 3 c. chopped watercress, 1/2 shallot (minced), 2 diced yellow bell peppers, 1/2 c. dry white wine, fresh ground sea salt

Directions:
Cook penne according to package. Drop sausage by the spoonful into pan of shallow water and simmer until meat is done (water should be gone, if not drain water). Remove sausage from pan then add wine and deglaze pan.  Toss peppers, shallots and watercress in pan and simmer. Sprinkle with fresh ground sea salt. Return sausage to pan. Pour over pasta and garnish with freshly grated pecorino romano.

*I actually use turkey breakfast sausage for this recipe. I prefer the flavor of breakfast sausage over the other varieties…
*Some people use only the watercress leaves, I roughly chop the leaves and stems alike, it adds to the texture.

What are your weekend plans?

Braised Pork Loin

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braised pork loin, braising, dinner, easy cooking, easy dinner, easy meal, easy recipe, meat, pork, pork loin, postaday2011, recipe

Hubster’s Sixth Course was Braised Pork Loin…

Braised Pork Loin

Ingredients:
Tied pork loin, 1 bottle wine, 1 minced shallot, 2 Tbsp. olive oil, 4 bay leaves

Directions:
Warm olive oil in large pot and brown shallot. Add pork loin to pan and brown for about two minutes on each sides. Add bay leaves and wine to pot, bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat, allow to simmer for 2 1/2 hours. Slice meat and serve hot.

*You can use beer, juice, apple cider, wine, really any liquid to braise your pork loin. Experiment with a few different fluids and see what tastes you prefer.

How do you like your pork loin?

Grilled Salmon Cakes

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appetizer, easy, easy dinner, easy recipe, fatty acids, fish, food, foodie, omega 3, omega-3 fatty acids, postaday2011, recipe, salad, salmon, spinach

I love salmon… it’s the only fish I actually like. Unfortunately I don’t get eat it very often, since Hubster doesn’t like seafood. I felt in need of a little omega-3, but I didn’t want to torture him with this one… so I made these salmon cakes for lunch on Sunday while we was out. I also forgot to take a picture before cutting into them…

Grilled Salmon Cakes

 

Ingredients:
can of salmon, 2 eggs, 1 piece bread crumbled (or 1/3 c. plain bread crumbs), 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard, 1/2 orange pepper (finely chopped), 1/2 tsp. dill weed, 1/2 tsp. lemon peel, pinch of celery seed, fresh ground sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper

Directions:
Flake salmon apart. Beat eggs and set aside. Add peppers, mustard, dill, lemon, celery seed, salt & pepper to the salmon and mix throughly. Mix in bread crumbs and eggs. Chill for 20 minutes. Form mixture into salmon cakes (roll into small balls, then press down to flatten) and chill again. Place on a hot grill. Grill on both sides, until crispy on the outside and completely done in center.

Serve salmon cakes on bed of baby spinach with a mustard vinaigrette or on a bun with crumbled bleu cheese & baby spinach.

*When using canned salmon, I retain some of the liquid for Rory to drink.

*Make these salmon cakes petite and serve them as an appetizer

You could also pan-fry, bake or broil the salmon cakes.

What is your favorite side dish to eat with a salmon cake or crab cake?

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

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chowder, corn, dinner, easy dinner, easy meal, food, foodie, lunch, one pot meal, one pot recipe, postaday2011, quick dinner, quick meal, recipe, rivels, seafood, shrimp, soup, supper, sweet corn

Every restaurant has a different variation of this recipe, some appease my palate more than others. Hubster doesn’t like  seafood or soup and he’s avoiding creamy foods now, so this was the perfect recipe for me to indulge myself. Afterall, I had some leftover shrimp from New Year’s Eve and some leftover champagne (which I used in place of the white wine). So New Year’s Day, I whipped up a batch, here’s my version of Shrimp & Corn Chowder.

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. shrimp, 2 Tbs. butter, 1 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning, 1/4 tsp. celery seed, 1 chopped red bell pepper, 10 oz. sweet corn kernels, 4 c. soup stock, 1 c. white wine, 2 c. heavy cream, 1 tsp. fresh chopped parsley, rivels, 1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Directions:
Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat. Saute shrimp and add Old Bay, cook until done. Remove shrimp from pot and add chopped peppers, sauté until softened. Add white wine and simmer. Add stock and corn, bring to a boil. Return shrimp to pot (you can leave them whole, but I prefer them chopped). Add cream and stir throughly. Drop in rivels, boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Mix 2 Tbsp. of the broth with 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch and then return mixture to soup. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened.

What warms you up on a cold winter night?