Chili-Basted Chicken w/ Pineapple Salsa, Over a Bed of Homemade Buttery Noodles

Going all out tonight folks!! Initially it was supposed to be GRILLED Chili-Basted Chicken, but as I have an online class starting in 30 min... I may have to improvise by sauteing. Remember guys- when in doubt, saute! Hmmm... I think I may TM that phrase, or whatever it is you do when you want money for people to copy your words. Moving right along... I have the chicken basted, sitting on a pan to be transferred when my saute pan gets hot enough. The "baste-paste", yet another soon to be TM-ed phrase, is made of: Dijon mustard, cayenne, paprika, chili powder, and oil. I'll check back with you when I come to another stopping point!

....

The noodles were a complete failure!! I apparently didn't have anymore all-purpose flour, so I decided whole-wheat would work just the same. I don't know if it was the flour or what, but I couldn't even work with the dough as it was just a big 'ol pile of flour cement.



The chicken came out beautiful, but I wish I had had time to grill it. I think the flavor would have been completely different. I also wish I had added more paste to it, the flavor/spice was definitely lacking. But I could definitely sense the match up between the salsa and the chicken, they paired well together! Again though, I wish I had a stronger flavor on the chicken to combat the sweetness of the pineapple.



All-in-all, the flavor was lacking. Not sure this is a make-again dish... I am actually quite disappointed, I had higher hopes for the outcome than what was put in front of me.

Second Shot at Veggie Pizza

The hubby and I decided last night to make Veggie Pizza!! Or, we made pizzas and mine was vegetarian, but that's beside the point. This time I knew what to expect... That the original recipe would have too much dry, and not enough liquid. So I was able to tweak it my own measurements, or what I thought would be a good amount of whole wheat flour! Couple extra additions of flour later, I finally had a great consistency at the original recipes amount... WHAT?! I am not sure what I did the first time, but I will choose to blame the weather. That affects stuff, right?

Anyways, I topped my pizza the same way- tomato slices and spinach underneath a blanket of molten cheese. MMMMMMM! It was positively divine! I am actually going to link the crust here...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whole-Wheat-and-Honey-Pizza-Dough/Detail.aspx

Enjoy, my fellow foodies!
KC

Honey-Wheat Pizza

I am doing something completely out of character tonight- starting a blog update in the middle of meal prep! What else do I have to do, besides save the world, while my dough rises??

My hubby is gone for the night on a business trip so I am having my girl Kelli over for a healthy meal- pizza! Well, at least the crust will be half-way healthy :-) It is a honey-wheat pizza crust... kneaded and mixed by yours truly! I am planning on topping it with sliced tomatoes, spinach leaves, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese.

... Pizza crust in the oven... photos and update to come post-consumption...


And the verdict is:
All's well that ends well! Delicious. Magnificent. Great outcome! Just as I had hoped, it was healthy with a side of sweet, sweet honey :-) We ended up nixing the pepperoni, more because I thought about it after I put it in the oven, but this is a minor detail.

I couldn't even wait for the pizza to stop steaming before my first bite because the aroma was just that intoxicating!

The aroma rising off our pizza was so intoxicating, it impaired my judgment and caused me to bite into a slice before the molten mozzarella had settled and the pizza stopped steaming... but I did not care the slightest bit, I was in heaven! Definitely one to make again! Words from this point on seem to fail me, just take a look for yourself at our pizza masterpiece...




Tomorrow... broccoli-chicken casserole!

To Piccata, or Not To Piccata?

The recent lag in posts is mostly due to my slacking as a wife, and deciding I was tired of meal planning. However, I have decided I am tired of running to the grocery store right after work and should resume with meal planning. I mean, who really wants to deal with HEB at 5:30?? 

One of my four recipes for this specific week was- Turkey Piccata. The picture in my wonderful Crockpot Cookbook shows golden brown nuggets of turkey, sitting on a steamy pile of rice and wonderfully placed next to a generous helping of broccoli. Sounds wonderful right? Seems to cover all necessary colors for a meal? 

My first mistake in this meal was deciding the appease my husbands wishes to do away with the vegetable of choice that night. No broccoli = minus green. Second mistake? Not browning the chicken I substituted the turkey for. No golden nuggets = minus yellow. And yes, ladies and gents, there were three mistakes... third mistake? Wondering to myself JUST how crucial the cilantro would be to the final product. It is, after all, just a garnish. Right? 

Maybe I'm getting to ahead of myself here... I will break down the recipe for you. You are to cut breasts into strips and then dredge in flour, salt and pepper. Then, brown on each side of the strips before placing them into the crock pot. Next, you are to pour in a can of chicken broth and the zest/juice of one lemon. Cook on low for one hour, then add in cilantro. 

Oops, that makes four mistakes... forgot the lemon too! 

Hind sight is 20/20. Lemon and cilantro combine for a fresh hispanic flavor. I had neither of these, so I suppose I just had a fresh! The picture was anything but beautiful, but I swallowed my pride and plated up our dinner bracing myself for the look of, "What are you feeding me??" Picture this- soggy pale chicken, on a plate of white rice... the only color being the gold-ish color of the chicken broth. I couldn't even take a picture! Below is a picture of what should have been-

Guess we should've gotten the broccoli :-) 

Till next time, 

KC

Chicken Dumpling Pie?

Growing up, it was always so exciting to hear that we were going down to visit Memaw and that she was making Chicken n Dumplings!! I decided I wanted to attempt a recipe for my slow cooker that would in some way imitate my Memaw's. I was certainly in for a shock -- tasty, but still a shock. 

The recipe was made up of simple ingredients- cubed chicken breast, cream of chicken soup, and chicken broth along with a few dashes of spice. Oh yeah, and refrigerator biscuit dough. I am almost ashamed to admit that! Especially if any of my culinary peers/instructors see this. But my intent in doing a slow cooker recipe was for something easy that I could throw together, so I swallowed my pride and purchased two cans of the biscuits I would later roll out into dumplings. 

It slow cooked for 6 hours, while I was busy at work, and when I got home I rolled out the biscuits and quartered each one to be placed in the aromatic liquid. I suppose you should never try out unmarked territory with presuppositions for the outcome... but I did that anyways. I assumed the dough would stay small and flat like my grandma's homemade ones. I never imagined they would expand as they did! They all floated to the top and expanded as if I had just turned over a pan of biscuits! Rolling them out, dividing them... they weren't even phased. 

I was a little nervous to try the dish, especially since we had invited our neighbor over (for the first time) for dinner. But I dished out our bowls anyways and waited for their reactions to decide if I would be heating up leftovers instead. Terrible, I know. I served dinner without even trying it! 

Definitely soupy, like I had grown up with... but I might even make it again! It was rich in flavor and the biscuits actually seemed to fit with the dish. 

Until next time, 

KC

Cajun Pork Chops of Death

In another attempt to be a good wife and to fill my husband's stomach with some great tasting food, I searched out some new recipes on Allrecipes.com -- Cajun Spiced Pork Chops it was! 

It required few ingredients, all of which were dirt cheap: 4 center-cut pork chops, and teaspoons upon teaspoons of incredibly strong spices (paprika, cumin, black pepper, cayenne, dried sage, and garlic powder). The recipe instructed me to "coat evenly", so I did just that. Immediately preceding being thrown into a searing hot saute pan, the pork chops let off a cloud of spicy steam so lethal I instantly started coughing and had water pour from my eyes. However, I attributed this to allergies and just shrugged it off.

After I flipped them, I removed them from the pan to cool until they were to be plated with oiled and salted baked potatoes. It really was such a beautiful looking dish, I couldn't wait for my husband to get home to try them! The color was such a deep, beautiful red. Then The Andy called. He was letting me know he couldn't come to a camping trip we had planned for Halloween. I made the mistake of tasting dinner just as he did so. Now remember the spices I listed before? And that I had EVENLY coated the pork chops? Just as he broke the news to me, I placed the devilish meat on my tongue and cursed like a dirty, old sailor. He began to apologize profusely and I couldn't seem to calm the burning enough to explain the reason for my offensive exclamations and that it wasn't his fault. Those must have been the guiltiest 20 seconds of his life as I reached for the milk and gulped down ounce after ounce, attempting to quell the never-ending pain that had afflicted my poor, unsuspecting tongue. Finally the spasming has subsided enough for me to excuse myself for my previous choice of words, and we had a good laugh over it. Having survived such an ordeal though, I decided I needed to have someone else experience the death-defying act I had just been through. So, I got off the phone with The Andy and plated up my husband's dinner. Cruel? Maybe. But it certainly was entertaining! That dinner was the most painful, sniffly, and entertaining dinner I have ever had and hope to ever make in my entire life! Oh, did I mention I forgot to put milk on my grocery list? Oops! 

We decided against making this recipe again, or atleast coating evenly. 

Tomorrow's recipe: French Dip! Hopefully this next dish will go over better than the last.

Goodnight all! 

Bahama Mommas and Cracked Conch

We are now officially back in the States after a beautiful wedding, and an even more beautiful honeymoon in the Bahamas! True to my foodie nature, I documented most of the trip's cuisine and would like to post my favorite taste-bud experiences here. 

The resort we stayed at had a cafeteria, available for five separate meals a day. This dining schedule included a wonderful midnight bar for those who either spent too much time in the sun that they forgot to eat dinner, or those who indulged in the flowing drinks from sun-up to sun-down and need food to soak up the excess alcohol. I never found myself in either category, so I created my own "those who love desserts" category that fit quite nicely. It also had a poolside "burger joint" whose fries were nearly equivalent to the "chips" I so often indulge on when I find myself in Wales. These two locations were the normal places for normal people to eat. 

Should you feel abnormal one day and decide to strip from your bikini and don a nice dinner dress, they had a Garden of Eden you could dine at. The menu here was complete with Abel's Temptation (a gourmet crab cake, nicely paired with a creamy aoli) and other assorted dishes to follow with the mystifying biblical theme. Below you will see a few pictures labelled on top with my meek description of the dishes. Sorry for the low-quality, I kept getting looks from my table-neighbors about the flash... 

Crab Cake

                

 Scallops

Later, while perusing the island we followed the advice of a few locals to visit the "Fish Fry". The Fish Fry is a section of street right on the edge of the water where you could find a dozen or so seafood restaurants stocked daily with local marine life. One creature in particular being the most popular and desired by the Bahamians is the Conch. Pronounced "con-k". You know those large shells you can supposedly hear the ocean in?? Well, that my friends, is a Conch. When pried from its salmon colored shell it offers you a meat that is so incredibly fresh tasting that even someone who often turns their nose up at seafood, namely me, can't help but to follow up a bite with sounds of utter satisfaction. My friend from the bar at the resort, Marko, had correctly persuaded me to try the Cracked Conch. Following such indulgence, I proceeded to take several photographs of my dish from all sorts of angles. The two men sitting at the table next to us proceeded to stare, I guess I can see how odd that might look. But if they had ordered the Cracked Conch they would completely understand.

Cracked Conch, paired with a side of homemade potato salad and macaroni casserole:

A few random pieces of advice I have from my trip should any of you decide to venture out to the Bahamas:

- If you are going snorkeling, ladies, take care to apply plenty of sunscreen to your backside. Turns out your suit doesn't cover as much as you think it does. The inevitable sunburn makes sitting down for an approximate 5 hours on the plane the next day an interesting experience. 

- Left is right, right is suicide. They drive like people in Britain, don't find yourself on the wrong side of the road! 

- Drinking and driving is acceptable there, in fact... one very entertaining cab driver might start informing you that he drives better drunk. Watch out for that cabby... 

Until next time!