Chicken Saltimbocca

Have I mentioned before how much I adore Giada De Laurentiis? Because it's definitely worth mentioning again. She is one of my all time favorite chefs on the Food Network. Everything she makes is fairly easy but still somewhat challenging. You won't go completely out of your comfort zone cooking her recipes but she'll challenge and inspire you to try something new. At least that's what she does for me. I printed this recipe out ages ago and finally decided to try it. Really, it's not that complicated, just something fun and new to try.

What you'll need:
6 chicken cutlets, pounded flat
salt and pepper
6 thin slices of prosciutto
1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 can low-salt chicken broth (14 oz).*
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

* One thing I learned from watching Giada on TV is to always use low-salt/low-sodium chicken broth, that way you can control the amount of salt that is in your dish. You can always add a little bit more salt, but you can't take it away.

Pound your chicken cutlets flat and once that's done, sprinkle each with salt and pepper on both sides and lay flat. Place one slice of prosciutto on top of each piece of chicken.
Squeeze your spinach dry (or as dry as you can get it, it will still be moist either way). Place the spinach in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper then toss with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil until well coated.
Spread the spinach in an even layer over the prosciutto. Once that's done, sprinkle each chicken cutlet with Parmesan. Next, you'll need to roll up the chicken cutlets into jelly-roll looking rolls. This is why it's important to have the chicken as thin as possible. Roll up the chicken cutlets and secure with toothpicks. Don't be afraid to use three or four toothpicks in each. I had to use several toothpicks in each as no chicken cutlet will roll up perfectly.
While you are rolling up the chicken, heat the remaining 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet (make sure to use one that has a matching lid).

See what I mean about using a lot of toothpicks? Yeah, don't be shy.
Carefully cook each chicken bundle until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. You don't want to cook the chicken all the way through just yet. Once the chicken has a nice golden brown colour on each side, add the chicken broth and lemon juice and carefully scrape the browned bits off of the bottom of the pan. Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 to 10 mins. Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer to a plate and drizzle some of the liquid over top.

Obviously I don't need to tell you this, but make sure you take the toothpicks out before you eat them! No one wants a toothpick stabbed in the roof of their mouth.

Eat it like this. Toothpick free and a little bit more Parmesan sprinkled on top. This dish would be one that is sure to impress company! Good luck, my friends.

Until next time,

xoxo
_A

Football Feast: Dessert Edition

Alright, so my posts got a little mixed up when I tried to edit one I had created earlier on. Sorry for any confusion everybody! Here is what my next post should have been, the final part of my Football Feast Mini Series...

Everyone loves cookie dough. Am I right? Loves it. The only problem - raw eggs. It's fun to munch on here and there while baking a lovely batch of cookies but more than a lot of raw cookie dough is setting yourself for salmonella! And nobody loves salmonella. Why am I going on and on about raw eggs and salmonella, you ask? Because of the following recipe: Brownie Cookie Dough Sandwiches. These babies are amazing, and the "cookie dough" is egg free! This is another recipe I found off of Pinterest, here ya go. Now you don't have to go looking for the original recipe yourself (which I followed exactly, so I won't post the recipe myself this time).

I baked the brownie cookies in the morning and did the filling later when I was ready to assemble. They're very filling and VERY sweet but oh boy are they good. Seriously, do yourself a favour and make these. And the filling in the middle really does have the taste and texture of cookie dough. It's amazing. I wouldn't make cookies out of that alone, however.

Aaaaaand, just for fun and as an homage to my Grandma Annie, I made Cherry Chip Cupcakes...

My grandma made Cherry Chip cupcakes for us all the time when we were kids. Something so delicious is also very simple, all you need is a box of Cherry Chip cake mix, muffin tins and paper muffin cups. I made the icing myself using butter, milk and powdered sugar with a little bit of red food colouring mixed in at the end to make the icing pink. And that my friends, is the end of this particular series.

Now that it's Christmas holidays I hope to be doing a lot more blogging! I'm wwaaaaaayyyy behind - the football feast food was all made in September, yes, I'm that behind! Stay tuned!

xoxo
-A

Penne Rosa and Mini Turkey Meatballs

These days, my husband and I hardly eat ground beef anymore. Since discovering ground turkey we substitute that in almost everything. I find that because of the mild flavor of the turkey I am able to spice it up in so many different ways. Ground beef isn't as versatile in my opinion because of the distinct flavor it has on it's own. Don't get me wrong, I still love the occasional beef burger, I just prefer turkey nowadays.
Anyway, this recipe really doesn't have anything to do with beef. I just had to have a little rant, I guess. I found this recipe on Pinterest (my new obsession) and the original actually uses shrimp. I love shrimp but didn't have any in the house and since we rarely eat it anyway I didn't want to go buy some. So, I decided I would make cute, little turkey meatballs instead!

So here's the original recipe for the Penne Rosa: http://backtoherroots.com/2012/03/20/penne-rosa-with-shrimp/

And here's what you'll need for the turkey meatballs:

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (or whatever you prefer)
1 egg (to act as a binder)
Spices (oregano, salt, pepper, Italian parsley, garlic) approx 1 tsp each

I've been getting better at writing down the recipes that I make up on my own so when I finally get around to blogging about it I actually know exactly what I put in it! Thanks for being patient with my non-quantaties, my friends.

I started making my meatballs first before I started any of the pasta. The pasta dish itself only takes about 15-20 minutes so I wanted to make sure that the meatballs were done first so I could just throw them in and serve as soon as the pasta element was complete.

Mix all of the ingredients for turkey together in a bowl until nicely combined. Once that's done you can start rolling your meatballs. Have a heated pan with a little bit of olive oil ready to go and start dropping your meatballs onto the pan. I did mine in several batches, just so the pan wouldn't be too full and unmanageable. Cook them through all the way because they won't have a chance to do more than heat up once in the pasta.

Once these little guys were chilling out on the counter, I started making the pasta. So get your pot of water boiling for your penne, and in another pan get your garlic and red pepper flakes going. I didn't use mushrooms in this recipe because my hubster doesn't like them. I just don't get it. Anyway, once your garlic and red pepper flakes have cooked for a bit, add the tomatoes, salt and pepper (and mushrooms, if using). Cook that for a second, turn up the heat and then add the turkey meatballs (or shrimp if you're following the original recipe). Cook that for another second (actually about two minutes) and then add your spinach and put the lid on so the spinach will wilt.

Spinach before wilting...

Spinach after wilting! Also with the pasta sauce and Greek yogurt mixed in. Once that's all mixed together, throw in the pasta and there you have it. A ridiculously easy and delicious weeknight pasta dish.

Now that I'm looking at this I seriously want to make this again. Yep, executive decision, it's going on the meal plan for next week.

Much love to you all,

-A

Football Feast Part 2

Sorry everybody, I know it's been a while since my last post! I'm in the middle of studying for my LAST psychology exam (well, for my B.A. that is...) so I've been rather busy. But since I have the day off from work today I figured I would take a little study break and continue with my Football Feast posts. As promised, what follows is the recipes for Chicken Parmesan Bites and Mediterranean Won Ton Cups...

First, the Chicken Parmesan Bites. Well, more accurately, mine would be called Turkey Parmesan Bites. Pretty much the same thing. Anyway, these were so cute in delicious, they had the honor of making it to my favorite recipes binder. Here's the link to the original recipe. And here's my version...

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots (I just used a regular yellow onion, minced really small)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground turkey
1 1/4 cups panko
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
16 small fresh mozzarella balls (I used Boccocini and I actually got 30 out of this recipe. I'm pretty sure I didn't double it. Whatever, just use as many mozza balls as it takes to get rid of the meat mixture).
1/2 cup marinara sauce (I used my homemade sauce)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet and saute onions (shallots) until soft. Add garlic and saute for one more minute.
Mix the shallot/garlic mixture with the ground turkey (or chicken, if using), 1/4 cup panko, oregano, basil, and salt in a large bowl. Carefully wrap one mozzarella ball completely with the turkey mixture, then roll in the remaining panko crumbs. Continue until turkey mixture is gone, placing balls on a lightly greased baking pan. Once all the balls are complete, place in oven and bake for about 20 mins or until turkey is cooked through. When they come out of the oven, place a toothpick in each ball and serve with marina sauce.

Ta da!! Frickin' adorable. And addictive.

Next up, Mediterranean Won Ton Cups.

I had made these for the first time a few days prior for a dinner party with some friends. I had prepped the mixture ahead of time and left it in the fridge at work so when it came time to assemble, the mixture was cool and a little difficult to work with. When I made these for the second time, I left the cream cheese at room temperature and it was much easier to work with. This recipe comes from Kraft Canada and though I am a little bit of a recipe snob these days, this one actually was pretty good. Also, I couldn't find the cream cheese this recipe asked for so I used a mixture of two different kinds. So here goes...

Ingredients:
24 won ton wrappers
1/2 of a 250g tub of roasted red pepper cream cheese and 1/2 of a 250g tub of herb and garlic cream cheese.
1/4 cup finely chopped roasted red peppers
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Miracle Whip

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Place one won ton wrapper in each cup of a 24 cup mini muffin tin that has been lightly greased. Press the won ton wrapper gently into edges of the cup with the ends sticking out over top. Bake for 5 minutes. While those are baking, mix the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl. Take won ton cups out of the oven and place about 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture into each cup. Bake these for 12 to 14 minutes or until filling is heated through and the edges of the won ton are golden brown.

Bite size snacks are some of my favorite things in the world.

Next up, the dessert that I made to go along with all of this deliciousness. Stay tuned....

xoxo

-A

Football Feast Part 1

If there is one thing you should know about my husband and I, it's that we're big NFL fans. Huge. His team is the San Francisco 49ers and my team is the best team in existence, the Pittsburgh Steelers. As such, I love to use Sundays as an excuse to watch football and make a huge feast to go along with it. A few weeks ago, the Green Bay Packers (booooo) were playing the 49ers and since my bro-in-law and a few of our friends are Packers fans (boooo!!!) I thought what a perfect excuse to have people over and spend all day in the kitchen! I made deviled eggs (which will be featured in this post), Mediterranean wonton cups, Chicken Parmesan Bites, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cookie sandwiches, and just because, Cherry Chip Cupcakes (all of which will be featured in subsequent posts).
I will begin with the deviled eggs which were a product of my own brain :)

My husband and I had recently gone out for our anniversary (and for those of you who know when our anniversary is, you will see how far behind I am in my blogging!) and at the restaurant we went to we ordered an appetizer that consisted of three different types of deviled eggs and oh my word were they good. It inspired me to make my own version for our Sunday afternoon football extravaganza.
I boiled and peeled my eggs the night before as that was definitely the part of all of this that was the most time consuming. I think I boiled about 16-18 eggs. I had about 30 halves in the end and some of them I had to get rid of because the egg didn't peel nicely and it just wasn't up to my standards. As I was cutting the eggs in half, I divided the yolks into two bowls as I was making two kinds of deviled eggs...

Horseradish Deviled Eggs

3 Tablespoons creamy horseradish (enough for the distinct flavor)

4 Tablespoons Miracle Whip (I figured the zest of Miracle Whip would work well here)

1 teaspoon celery salt

Paprika and Green Onions for garnish

Smokey Bacon Deviled Eggs

4 slices of bacon, diced really small

6 Tablespoons Miracle Whip

1 teaspoon Epicure Louisiana Hot and Spicy Seasoning

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire

Paprika and Green Onions for garnish.

For each of these, I added the ingredients (except for the paprika and green onions) into the bowls along with the egg yolks and mashed until very smooth. Once smooth, I put each of the egg yolk mixtures into a Ziploc bag and cut off a little corner of the bottom of the bag. I squeezed the rest of the air out of the bags and then started piping the egg yolk mixture into each of the egg white halves. Once I had all of the egg white halves filled, I sprinkled a little bit of paprika on each and then topped with the green onions.

Look at how cute those are! They turned out exactly how I imagined they would! Hooray!

Next up on Food Talk at Five, Mediterranean wonton cups AND Chicken Parmesan Bites.

xoxo

-A

Trout with Avocado Mango Salsa, Rice and Parmesan Zucchini Sticks

For those of you who have been following my blog, you will know that I have been trying to eat more fish. I'm still not a big fan, but if it's dressed up right, I usually enjoy it. It's been a journey (re: fish is a whole food group, schemas of myself as a foodie, too many psychology courses, etc.) but I have found another recipe that I enjoy and it's only right that I share it with you, dear readers. The original recipe (http://www.tastespotting.com/features/salmon-with-avocado-mango-salsa-recipe-canyon-ranch) called for salmon but we only had trout in the house at this point. So here goes...

Trout (or Salmon) with Avocado Mango Salsa

 For the salsa:
half of a large avocado, peeled, diced
1/3 cup peeled, diced mangoes
2 Tablespoons minced red onions
2 Tablespoons minced red bell peppers (I had a yellow one in my fridge)
1 Tablespoon cilantro (I'm not a fan so I used parsley instead)
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice (about half of a small lime)
1/2 teaspoon minced jalapeno peppers
1/4 teaspoon salt

Basically all you need to is chop everything up, chuck it in a bowl and give it a good stir to combine everything nicely. Voila.

Once your salsa is made and the flavours are combining, start sauteing your fish. Remember, fish doesn't take very long to cook at all so if you're making multiple dishes, maybe cook your fish last.

For the trout:
1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
trout (or salmon) filets
salt and fresh ground pepper

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with salt and pepper then place in pan and sear each side for about 3-5 minutes, or until cooked through.

With this dish, I also made zucchini sticks. My neighbour had given me an obscene amount of zucchini from her garden and since I hate to waste perfectly good vegetables, I decided to try something different with them. I had made zucchini sticks once before but they were blech. This new recipe I found seemed to be much  more promising. Here's the recipe I found (http://www.closetcooking.com/2009/02/parmesan-crusted-baked-zucchini-sticks.html) and we're off!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup bread crumbs (I used panko, like I do in everything)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 teaspoon oregano
1 pound zucchini (I'm sure I had more than this so I just adjusted and made a little more of everything)
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:
Mix the bread crumbs, parmesan and oregano in a small bowl. Season the zucchini with salt and pepper. Dip the zucchini in egg, then dredge in the bread crumb mixture. Place zucchini on a baking sheet in a single layer with the skin side (the dark part) down. Bake in an oven preheated to 425F for about 20-25 mins, or until golden brown. Like this...

These were good dipped in marinara sauce. I don't think they would be very good the next day if you had left overs as I think they would get pretty soggy. So the moral of the story is that they are best if eaten right away. For the rice, I cooked it in my trusty rice cooker and added seasonings (salt, powdered chicken bouillon).

 And there you go. A perfectly easy and delicious meal.

Much love,

- A

Mom's Tortellini Bake

This is one of my all time favorite recipes. My mom made it all the time when I was growing up and now that I'm a grown up I make it all the time. It's the best comfort food. Even just thinking about it makes me feel all warm and cozy inside.
Not many pictures this time as I only thought about blogging it after the fact. But whatever, the end product is the best picture anyway.

What you'll need:

One package tortellini (I usually get the 3 pack of multicolored tortellini from Costco and just use one package, sorry not exactly sure of the size).
One large onion, or two small, diced fine (I like to use red and white onions)
Milk
Flour
Butter
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese
Cottage Cheese (500 mL tub)
Mozzarella Cheese
Frozen Peas, about a cup (I usually don't include them because my husband doesn't like them but my mom always does)
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
2 tsp Oregano
Bread Crumbs
More Butter

First, preheat your oven to 350F. Chop up your onion(s) and saute them in a pan on medium heat with about 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup oil until soft. Once the onions are translucent, add your flour. About a third of a cup but you can test for yourself. Basically you're making a roux with onions in it so whatever consistency you like it. I don't make it  very thick as you will be adding lots of cheese later and that makes the sauce thicker. Once you've added the flour and stirred it around, add your milk, 1 to 2 cups. I'm really guessing on the measurements here because I just make it by sight and as I didn't take any pictures, (never making that mistake again) it's a little bit hard for me to explain. Anyway, add your milk and get the cottage cheese in there right away too. Mix that together then add your Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese as well as your spices (salt, pepper, oregano). Also add your peas and let that simmer for a little bit and just keep it warm if your tortellini isn't fully cooked. Oh, I forgot to mention, while you're making your sauce, get your water boiling for your tortellini. Cook the tortellini according to package directions and once they're all done, drain the water and pour them into a greased baking dish. The one I use is probably 12x12 square. A 9x13 would work well too. Okay, get the tortellini in there then pour your sauce over top. Next, make your breadcrumbs. I use about a quarter cup of butter, melted, and then just add breadcrumbs until it has the consistency of wet sand, maybe a cup? Probably more. Yeah, probably closer to a cup and a half to two cups because you need to cover the whole dish. I used Panko breadcrumbs for this batch and just added my own spices (pepper, oregano, basil, salt) and they worked really nicely. I have used Italian breadcrumbs before and that's even easier because the spices are all there for you. Anyway, once your breadcrumbs are the right consistency, sprinkle them in a good layer over the top of the tortellini. Stick it in the oven and bake for about 30 mins, or until the edges are bubbling and the breadcrumbs are a nice golden brown.

Now that I'm looking at the picture I definitely added some of that lovely dried Italian parsley I have. So there's something else you can add.

The best. Also, I love my white dishes.






And there it is. Hope you're all staying warm and cozy with the people you love most. I'm going to spend the rest of my evening on the couch with my favorite person and a huge glass of egg nog. That stuff rocks my world.

xoxo

A