Chicken "Shepherd's" Pie

Ok. I know true shepherd's pie is made with lamb... but I had leftover chicken to use and topping my pie with mashed potatoes sounded awesome.  But in this recipe I even used *gasp* instant mashed potatoes.  I didn't have any potatoes and since it was snowing I didn't want to go out.  I had the instant mashed potatoes around because a lot of the bread recipes Jeremy and I have been making in our bread machine call for them.

I made this using 5" pie dishes so that each of us got our own pie.  :)  You could certainly double this recipe and make it in a normal size pie dish to make it for 4 people.  I made sure to put the pie dishes on top of a sheet tray when baking to keep the oven clean in case of any spillovers.

This was incredibly comforting and delicious.  The herbs I used in the filling were reminiscent of a great thanksgiving meal (mostly due to the sage...).  The mashed potatoes were fine (a little like potato grits if you ask me...) but would probably have been better if I'd made them from fresh potatoes -- I'd recommend doing that and if I have them around in the future I probably will.  But this was a good substitution in the meantime -- and they were easier.

You could also substitute other types of meat.  Like I said above, real shepherd's pie is lamb, cottage pie is beef.  But you could also use turkey or pork and it would be delicious.  This would also probably make a great veggie pie if more veggies (and veggie stock) was used.

This was a great way to use up a lot of veggies and chicken that wouldn't have lasted too much longer.  And since it was in the oven for a while, I got some work done while it was cooking.  Overall a great success.

The filling

Recipe:
1 1/2 c. shredded, cooked chicken
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
3/4 c. chicken stock
1/4 c. skim milk
1 1/3 c. garlic mashed potatoes (I put 1 tsp. of minced garlic into my instant mashed... just follow the directions or make your own.)
1/2 tsp. minced sage (I had fresh that needed to be used)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley leaves
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary (I crush this in my hands before putting it in the filling)
2 tbs. margarine
1 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. AP flour
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add olive oil.  Add carrots, onions, and celery.  Saute for 3-4 minutes until they begin to soften.  Add garlic, sage, thyme, parsley, and rosemary, saute for 1-2 min.  Add margarine and allow to melt.  Add flour and mix well to combine.  Add chicken stock and milk and stir to combine.  Bring the liquid to a boil to thicken.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add chicken and corn and mix well to combine.  (It should be a fairly thick mixture. If it's too thin, boil longer or add a little flour.)
2. Spoon the filling into two individual pie dishes or oven-proof bowls.  Top with mashed potatoes.  Smooth the mashed potatoes evenly to cover the filling.  Place the pie dishes on top of a sheet tray.
3. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown on top.

Chicken and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

I had some tomatoes that I needed to use.  Given that Jeremy doesn't like the taste of raw tomato, I decided to cook them down and use them in a stuffed pepper filling.  I've been trying to find more uses for quinoa and since I also had some leftover chicken (from the whole bird I roasted about a week ago) I came up with this recipe to combine them all.

This turned out really well.  Jeremy thoroughly enjoyed it and it was quite filling. One pepper each (with a little extra filling on the side) was a great dinner.  This didn't make any leftovers for us but since I've made quite a few meals recently with leftovers it's not a bad thing that I don't have to find any more room in the fridge. :)  This recipe could certainly be scaled up to feed more people though.

Because I had chicken already cooked, I just stirred that in at the end.  You could easily use rotisserie chicken or cook some while the rest of the filling was cooking.  This could also be made vegetarian by substituting other veggies, cheese, or tofu/tempeh for the chicken (and replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock or water).

If you don't have quinoa on hand, you could certainly substitute rice or barley or any other grain.  The amount of liquid and the cooking time may need to be adjusted.  I've only recently started using quinoa but I love its chewy texture.

Overall this was a very healthy meal that was really easy to prepare.  While it took a bit of time, most of that didn't require attention since it was just sitting in the oven for nearly an hour.  Definitely a meal I'd make again. :)

Recipe:
3 tomatoes (I had two tomatoes on the vine and 1 roma)
1 small onion
2 green bell peppers
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/3 c. quinoa (uncooked)
1 1/3 c. chicken stock, divided
2 tbs. tomato paste
1 c. shredded chicken (I used all white meat)
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dice the tomatoes and the onion. Cut the tops off the peppers and dice the pepper tops (leaving the rest intact -- set aside for later).
2. Place a sauce pan over medium heat.  Add 2 tbs. olive oil. Add the tomatoes, onion, diced peppers, and garlic.  Mix to combine.  Add crushed red pepper, black pepper, salt, oregano, and parsley.  Saute for approximately 5 minutes until the veggies begin to get tender and most of the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated.
3. Stir in the tomato paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes until it disappears and cooks out a bit.
4. Add quinoa and 2/3 c. chicken stock. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for approximately 15 minutes until the quinoa gets tender and white strings appear from the quinoa.
5. Stir in the shredded chicken.
6. Spoon the filling into the peppers and place in a deep casserole dish. Spread any remaining filling around the peppers and pour over the remaining 2/3 c. chicken stock.
7. Cover the casserole dish with a lid or foil and bake for 50-60 minutes until the peppers are tender, removing the lid for the last 10-15 minutes.
8. Serve and enjoy.

Sesame-Crusted Scallops with Veggie Noodle Stir-Fry

This morning/early afternoon, Jeremy and I went to the gym and did some quick grocery shopping. We wanted to get some seafood (of some type) for dinner. When we looked at what BJ's had (because we didn't want to make multiple stops), the scallops looked the best. So we brought a little under a pound home. :)

As I contemplated how I was going to cook them, I kept thinking about a meal I had at the Ginger Man Restaurant - sesame crusted divers scallops with vegetable nori rolls. I had those the first time we went there (for our anniversary a few years ago) and they're still on my mind now. Delicious. I decided to try to recreate them here. These were also great.

This was a very quick recipe. It took me less than a half an hour total (and it didn't take long for the food to disappear either!). We have a serving of stir-fry leftover but all the scallops are gone (which is good since they wouldn't reheat well anyway). It had a great salty flavor and the scallops were still sweet and tender.

Be careful when you cook the scallops so you don't overcook them. They can get tough and rubbery if overcooked. You want a nice sear on both sides and close to raw in the middle. This is accomplished by having a super-hot pan that cooks them very quickly on each side. When you're preparing the scallops, remember to remove the adductor muscles. Sometimes they have already been removed when they were taken out of the shell... but if not it has to be removed because it's tough. The adductor muscle looks like a strip of scallop that sticks off of the rest of it - it will look out of place on the otherwise nice circle/oval. Just rip them off and throw them away. I usually don't even need to use a knife to remove them.

The stir fry was nice and simple. You could substitute any veggies you had on hand. Tamari is an aged soy sauce. If you don't have that you can certainly substitute soy sauce. And if you don't want it spicy, eliminate or reduce the amount of sriracha or crushed red pepper flake. This wasn't overly spicy but since I eat a lot of spicy food my tastebuds probably don't notice or mind spicy foods as much as others. I made the stir-fry completely before I even started the scallops since they cook so quickly.

Overall this was a great success - Jeremy just wishes there were more scallops in the kitchen. Even though scallops are more expensive than most things I make, just think what it would have cost if Jeremy and I had gone out to a restaurant for this meal! Definitely worth it to make this at home and enjoy some tasty scallops while watching football. :)

Recipe:
Scallops:
~ 1 lb. sea scallops, adductor muscles removed (if they aren't already) (I had 12 scallops)
3 tbs. toasted sesame seeds
1 tbs. vegetable oil
1 tbs. margarine
1 tbs. reduced sodium tamari
1 tbs. rice wine vinegar

Stir Fry:
1/4 of a head of cauliflower (about 2 cups), cut into bite-sized pieces
1 small onion, diced small
1/2 carrot, sliced into matchsticks
1/2 c. frozen shelled edamame
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flake
1 tbs. reduced sodium tamari
1 tsp. sriracha sauce
1/4 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 tbs. vegetable oil

1. Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook according to package directions. 3-4 minutes before the spaghetti is done, add the cauliflower and cook until slightly tender. Drain.
2. When the cauliflower is added, heat a wok over high heat. Add 1 tbs. vegetable oil. Add crushed red pepper flake and garlic and swirl to combine the flavors. When the garlic is fragrant, add the onion and cook 1-2 minutes until it starts to get tender. Add carrots and edamame and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the spaghetti and cauliflower and mix to combine. Add the tamari, sriracha, and sesame oil and mix to combine. Turn off heat and cover.
3. Spread sesame seeds in a shallow casserole dish. Place the scallops on a paper towel and pat dry on both sides. Press into the sesame seeds, coating one flat side of each scallop.
4. Heat a large frying pan over high heat. Add 1 tbs. vegetable oil and 1 tbs. margarine. When the pan is hot and the margarine is melted, add the scallops, sesame seed side down. Cook for 2 minutes, turn the scallops over and cook for 1-2 more minutes until nicely seared on the second side.
5. While the scallops are cooking, plate the stir fry. When the scallops are done, place on top of the stir fry.
6. Turn the heat on the scallop pan down to low. Add the tamari and rice wine vinegar to deglaze the pan. Stir to pick up any browned bits. Turn off the heat and pour the sauce over the scallops and stir fry. Enjoy!

Chicken and Veggie Noodle Soup

Since today was a little cooler, I decided to make a soup for dinner. I had some parsnips that I wanted to use so I put them in along with typical soup veggies. They added a delicious gingery flavor to the soup. I never ate parsnips growing up but I've discovered I love them.

This had lots of veggies in it. Everything was nice and tender by the time the soup was finished. I love veggies so most of my dishes are pretty veggie heavy. This was no exception. My cutting board was overflowing with veggies when I started the soup and the combination of them in this soup had a spicy, sweet flavor. Definitely delicious. :)

I roasted a whole chicken a couple nights ago so I had a lot of leftover chicken meat in the fridge. I tore the meat into smaller pieces and dropped it in the soup. I used a mix of white and dark meat since that's what I had. This could easily be made with meat from a rotisserie chicken or by poaching some chicken in the soup and then chopping it. Either would be fantastic.

I also cooked my own dried beans for this. If you wanted to substitute canned beans, it would be about 2 cans worth of beans. Using dried beans helps me control the sodium in the soup since I don't add salt to the beans while they cook. Some of the canned beans can be quite high.

Speaking of sodium, I also used an unsalted chicken stock. This was the first time I bought Kitchen Basics stock and it was delicious! It was much darker in color than most boxed broths and stocks and it had a much richer flavor. If you don't use unsalted stock, go easy on the salt and pepper in the recipe until you see how it tastes.

This was a delicious soup that I'll certainly make again (ok... probably with some variation... I rarely make the same thing exactly the same way twice). It made a nice large pot of soup that will feed us for several more meals. Nothing beats a hot bowl of soup on a cool day. Yum!

Recipe:
3 stalks celery
3 carrots
2 medium onions
1 lb. parsnips
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary (crushed)
1/2 tsp. thyme leaves
1 1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
6 c. chicken stock
1 c. dried beans, cooked according to package
1 1/2 c. shredded chicken
6 oz. whole wheat egg noodles
salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop the celery, carrots, parsnips, and onions into bite sized pieces.
2. Heat a large soup pan over medium heat. Add 2 tbs. olive oil. Add veggies, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Saute for 5-7 minutes until they begin to get a little tender.
3. Add chicken stock, garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, and parsley. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add beans and chicken. Continue simmering for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Right after adding the beans and chicken, in a separate pot, bring 6-8 cups of water to a boil to cook the egg noodles. Boil the noodles until tender. Drain and add to the soup. Mix well to combine. Allow to simmer together for 3-5 minutes.
6. Taste soup and adjust seasoning as needed. Ladle into bowls and enjoy!

Cheesy Baked Penne

I've made this several times. The most recent being last night.  I almost always eyeball the amount of sauce to just use what looks right (basically the amount I'd normally eat if I was just eating the pasta without the cheese/baking). It's quite easy and very delicious. Jeremy and I both love it when the pasta around the edges gets a little chewy.

I've sometimes added spinach to this or peppers, onions, and sausage. All delicious. It's definitely a base recipe that you can play around with.

I split this recipe approximately into thirds. Jeremy got a slightly larger third, I got a slightly smaller third, and a third was leftover. I'm sure it will be very tasty leftovers for whichever of us gets to it first. :) I served this with a salad so that we got a few more veggies in us. Definitely delicious.

3/4 box (13.25 oz.) whole wheat penne
1 c. skim milk ricotta
1 c. part skim mozzarella
1/2 c. parmesan cheese, grated
1 1/2 c. marinara sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions.
3. Mix in the sauce, ricotta, 1/2 c. mozzarella, and 1/4 c. parmesan.
4. Spread into an 8x8" glass baking dish.  Top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan.
5. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and begins to brown. (Be careful toward the end... once it starts to brown, it will go quickly.)
6. Enjoy!

Beer-Battered Fish and Sweet Potato Chips with Green Beans

Today Jeremy and I went grocery shopping after hitting the gym.  I like to take advantage of the days we go grocery shopping to pick up some fresh seafood.  Today some haddock looked great.  I have quite a soft spot for beer battered fish so I decided to make it. Yum.

I had a sweet potato lying around so I decided to oven fry it to make some "chips" (french fries for those not across the pond).  And I just microwaved some frozen green beans to round out the meal.  Overall this was fairly simple (although Jeremy isn't looking forward to the dishes... but he never is.).

This was probably more food than we needed to eat in one meal but it ended up getting eaten anyway.  Maybe next time I'll get a little less fish and save some of the fries for the next day.

This could be made with any kind of white fish (or probably any fish you wanted to fry for that matter). I used a deep fryer but you could certainly just put a few inches of oil in a pot and watch the temp with a thermometer.

Fish:
2/3 - 3/4 of a pound of haddock or other white fish
1 1/4 c. flour, divided
3/4 c. beer (I used Yuengling light but any beer you like will do - it will just taste slightly different)
1 tsp. hot sauce
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbs. vegetable oil (plus oil for frying)

1. Mix 3/4 c. flour, salt, cayenne, and baking powder in a medium bowl.  Add oil, beer, and hot sauce and mix well to combine. Refrigerate until ready to fry.
2. Heat oil to 375 degrees. Cut the fish into 3"x1" strips.
3. Put 1/2 c. flour into a shallow dish. Working in batches of 2 or 3 pieces, dredge the fish strips in the flour. Dip into the batter. Fry for 4-5 minutes until crispy and golden brown.
4. Place on a cooling rack over a paper towel for a couple minutes to cool slightly. Enjoy!

Sweet potato "chips"
1 large sweet potato, cut into 1/4"x3" sticks
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tbs. olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet.  Add sweet potato fries.  Top with salt, pepper, and oil. Mix well with hands to coat.
3. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Chicken Parmesan

I make chicken parmesan quite frequently.  It's one of the most comforting, and delicious, things I make on a regular basis.  I usually eyeball the ingredients but I actually took the time to measure this out tonight so I know it's accurate.

I've scaled this up and down depending on how many people I'm feeding but this is a good amount in that it gives us at least one more meal of leftovers.  It's not a quick meal but it's not overly complicated.  I usually serve this with a salad and some spaghetti.

Tonight I made it with a whole pound of whole wheat spaghetti (which was way too much food).  So we have a lot of spaghetti and about half the chicken left over -- not that that's a bad thing. :)

The breadcrumb mixture is a little more than you need to actually coat the chicken, but I never like to risk running out.  I don't reuse it though as I'm leery of keeping raw chicken soaked breadcrumbs to reuse at some point in the future.

Overall, this is a delicious and simple meal that I will continue to make over and over.  We just never tire of it.  :)

2 chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs)
2 eggs
1 c. plain breadcrumbs
6 tbs. grated parmesan (divided)
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tbs. garlic powder
1 tbs. parsley flakes
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
~1 c. spaghetti sauce
3-4 tbs. olive oil

1.  In a medium bowl, mix breadcrumbs, 3 tbs. parmesan, garlic powder, parsley, salt, and pepper.  In a second bowl, beat eggs.
2.  Butterfly the chicken breasts and then cut each half in half (so you have 8 relatively thin pieces of chicken).
3.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and add 3 tbs. olive oil.  (You may need to add more oil to the pan while the chicken is cooking if the pan looks dry - just keep an eye on it.)
4.  Dip each piece of chicken into the egg, then coat in breadcrumbs. Repeat with all 8 pieces, placing each piece into the pan as you coat it.  Fry until golden brown, flipping halfway through to brown on both sides (about 4-5 minutes on the first side and 3-4 on the second).
5.  While the chicken is cooking, spread 1/2 c. of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a lasagna pan or casserole dish.  When the chicken is browned, transfer to the lasagna pan.  Top each piece of chicken evenly with the remaining sauce (about 1 tbs. on each piece).  Top with mozzarella cheese and the remaining parmesan.
6.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and slightly browned on top.

(To serve it with the pasta, I started the pasta water just before I was about to put the chicken in the oven.  Everything was done at about the same time.)