Easter Dinner

Legs of lamb are all prepped and ready to for our Easter dinner! Happy Easter to each and every one of you!!!

Seared Scallops with Lemon-Wine Sauce

Served over Wild Rice... Leave a comment for the recipe!

Bacon Wrapped Pesto Chicken

This was so easy and delicious!! My father-in-law fell in love with it!! Pleasing others through food is a true joy!

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, butterflied

8 slices bacon

1/4 c pesto sauce (see below)

1/8 c parmesan cheese, fresh grated

pepper

1/4 tsp  dried oregano

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium (350 - 375 ℉ ). Combine the pesto sauce with the grated cheese, mix well.

2. Spoon 2 tbsp worth of pesto mix on one half of butterflied chicken. Close top half and wrap each chicken breast with two slices of the bacon. Wrap tightly, as the bacon will constrict when cooking and will hold chicken and pesto in place. Repeat for all chicken breasts.

3. Place on heated grill. Cook for 5 minutes, flip over and cook additional 5 minutes. Bacon should be brown and crispy and the juices from the chicken should be clear (a sign that the chicken is done).

4. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

For Pesto Sauce:

Ingredients: 

• 1 c pine nuts
•  salt and pepper
• 8 cups (4 ounces) lightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Bring 4 cups salted water to a boil; add basil, and submerge with a spoon. Immediately remove and drain in a colander. Rinse with cold water until cool, then pat basil completely dry in paper towels.

2. In a food processor or blender, combine nuts, basil, and garlic; season generously with salt and pepper. Process until nuts are finely chopped. With machine running, pour oil in a steady stream through the feed tube; process until smooth. Use immediately, or freeze.

Butterflying Chicken:

Lay chicken flat or stand on up on one side. Run a sharp knife along one side, making sure not to cut all the way through. two flaps should open up - making "butterfly wings". 

Anise Beef Kabobs

Served with Orzo and Tomatoes...
This was a big hit- even with toddlers!!!

For the Orzo:

Ingredients:

1/2 lb orzo

1 large tomato, diced

2 scallions, sliced, white and tender green parts only

2 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Cook orzo as instructed on package. Meanwhile, dice tomatoes and scallions. Drain orzo and return to pot it was cooked in. Drizzle the olive oil and fold in the tomatoes and scallions. Season with salt, pepper, and vinegar.

For the Kabobs:

Ingredients:

2 tbsp anise seed

3 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 lb of boneless sirloin, cut into 1 inch chunks

4 metal skewers

Directions:

1. Prepare grill, heating on medium heat (325 - 350 ℉). 

2. In a mortar and pestle, or a ziploc bag with rolling pin, crush the anise seed. In a medium bowl combine the anise seed, oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Add the beef and toss well, ensuring all beef pieces are coated well with seasoning. Let stand 10 minutes at room temperature.

3. Thread the meat on the metal skewers, fairly loosely. Place skewers on the grill, turning occasionally. Cook for approximately 5-8 minutes for medium-rare. Serve Kabobs over the orzo.

For the Sauce:

Ingredients:

2 tbsp garlic, minced

3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 tbsp Steak Sauce (A-1, or similar)

pinch of pepper

2 tsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Add first four ingredients in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly, drizzle in the olive oil. Spoon sauce over kabobs and orzo.

Lemon-Garlic Pork Tenderloin

We had the tenderloin with rice pilaf and a mixed green salad. We entertained our neighbors this evening and the meal was a success!! A great evening had by all!
Post a comment for the recipe!!

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 - 2 lb pork loin

salt and pepper

3 tbsp garlic powder

lemon juice of two lemons

zest of one lemon

2 tbsp onion powder

2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp dried oregano

Directions:

1. Liberally salt and pepper the pork loin, set aside.

2. Combine the remaining six ingredients in a small bowl. The consistency should be that of a thick paste. Rub the entire pork loin surface (top, bottom, and sides). Set aside to marinate.

3. Heat the grill for direct cooking to high (500-525 ℉). Place loin on grill, meat side first - allowing the meat to be seared, locking in juices. Fat side should be done last. Cook on high for about 15-20 minutes. Turn only once during cooking, half way through.

4. To serve, let the pork rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. Slice in 1/2" pieces against the grain.

Panko Crusted Chicken Strip

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 6 oz. each), sliced into strips

1 1/2 c panko breadcrumbs

1 c all-purpose flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tsp paprika

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 ℉. Prepare a large baking sheet by spraying non-stick spray.

2. In three shallow bowls: Bowl 1 - add the flour and salt and pepper to season. Mix through. Bowl 2 - add the eggs and beat lightly. Bowl 3 - add the panko breadcrumbs and the paprika, mix through.

3. Dip the chicken strips in the flour, shaking any excess flour off. Dip into the egg, coating lightly. Transfer to the breadcrumb bowl and coat thoroughly. Place strip onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat for all strips. 

4. Bake for 14 minutes, turning baking sheet once halfway through.

Bacon-Cheeseburger

Made with Angus beef, bacon, cheese... What more can one ask for!?!

Ingredients:

1 lb Angus beef, made into 1/4 lb patties

4 slices cheese, (any you prefer: American, Cheddar, Swiss, Bleu)

salt and pepper

1 lb bacon

1 head of romaine lettuce, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 large tomatoes, sliced medium-thick

4 onion buns

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium-high - about 400 ℉. Salt and pepper patties liberally on both sides. Set aside to come to room temperature (10 minutes).

2. Meanwhile, begin cooking bacon. Cook until just crisp, being careful to not over brown the bacon. Drain excess grease on paper towels. 

3. Place the beef patties on the grill and cook until desired doneness. 2 - 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Flip over only once and do not press the patties down with a spatula. This will ensure juice to remain in the meat. Once the patty has been flipped over, add the cheese slices. Immediately after adding cheese put both sides of the buns on the grill. Remove the patties and then remove the buns. Loosely cover the meat with foil, let rest 5 minutes. (I prepare condiments now.)

4. Assemble burgers, dressed buns, patty, bacon, lettuce and tomato and topped with bun. Enjoy! 

Tostada Tuesday

Seasoned ground bison with all the fixin's! Leave me a comment for the recipe!

Ingredients:

4 - 6 corn tortillas

canola or vegetable oil

1 lb protein (ground beef, steak, shrimp, chicken- cut into bite size pieces)*

2 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper

1 can refried beans, low-sodium

1 heart of romaine lettuce, shredded

2 roma tomatoes, diced

4 radishes, sliced

3/4 c shredded cheese (Mexican mix preferable)

sour cream

guacamole

salsa

1. In a medium skillet, add enough oil to cover about 2 inches of pan. Warm oil over medium to medium-high heat. As the oil heats up, lay out newspapers and /or paper towels as a place to transfer corn tortillas to help drain.

2. In a medium sized bowl, add your protein along with the following six ingredients. Mix thoroughly and set aside.

3. Using tongs, add one tortilla at a time to the hot oil. Leave on one side about 30-45 seconds. Using the tongs again, flip the tortilla over and leave on remaining side for another 30 seconds. Remove tortilla letting the tortilla drip off the excess oil into the pan before transferring to the paper towels. Repeat for remaining tortillas.

4. Once the tortillas are complete, in a non-stick skillet, heat over medium-high heat. Add the seasoned protein, along with 1/2 cup water - if using shrimp, instead of using water, replace with lemon juice. Let the meat brown and cook thoroughly.

5. in a small non-stick skillet warm up the refried beans until just heated through. Alternatively, you can warm the beans up in the microwave - in 30 second intervals as the beans can scald easily.

6. To assemble, take one drained tostada shell, add about 2 tbsp of refried beans and spread entirely over the tostada shell. Add a generous helping of the protein, top with lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, cheese, then guacamole, sour cream and salsa as desired.

*My family and I use ground bison. It has much more flavor than ground beef and is also lower in fat and cholesterol!

Chicken Caesar Salad

Easy and quick, it was the first meal of the season with not cooking any element inside! Love it! Leave me a comment for the recipe!!

March Meal Madness

And no, this has nothing to do with basketball!

After having the kids sick and getting them better, I of course came down with it this past weekend - thank goodness for the magical qualities in Pho (along with an entire day spent in bed resting)!!!

So I'm back in the swing of things and decided to buckle down and get the menu planning for the week finished. This led to me realizing we have a busy month ahead of us and I may as well get the month's meals in order - as it will mean one less thing for me to do each week! 

The weather here in Las Vegas is warming up and that means less cooking indoors and more grilling outdoors! Personally I love this time of year, grilling means less mess in my kitchen! So without further ado, I present March Meals (and the first week in April too)!

Meal planning like this helps me in many ways, but the biggest one is it enables me to go bulk shopping for my meats/proteins. I prefer to bulk shop this way since it is a good forecast of what we will be consuming this season. It means more fish and leaner meats and less of what I bought for winter like roasts, etc.

Send me a comment on the ones that sound interesting and I will make sure to post the recipe!

Chicken and Soba Soup

Chicken and Soba Soup

Ingredients:

10.8 cups Chicken Broth (or 6 cans chicken broth)
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, cut thinly
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups water
4 oz soba noodles
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced across the grain
1 red bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, sliced thinly in about 1/2 inch pieces
6 ounces snow peas, ends and string removed, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 scallions thinly sliced
course salt

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot bring the chicken stock, ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes and water to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles, reduce teh heat to a simmer and cook until noodles are tender, about 6 minutes.

2. Add the chicken, bell pepper, and snow peas. Cook until the chicken is opaque throughout, about 1 minute. Add the lime juice and the scallions, season with salt. 

3. Using tongs, serve out noodles among four bowls, then ladle the soup over each.