Lemon Chicken with Spinach Soup

Its my birthday week!!! Yes, I feel the need to celebrate my birth for a week. I think I work hard enough to have a week to celebrate me :) We will be leaving for a few days to relax at the lake house and I am counting down the hours til we get to leave. Two jobs is exhausting, but I am really proud of myself. I haven't had to ask my parents for help and I have already paid about $8,000 in school loans. Fingers crossed that I pay my remaining $6,000 off by the end of the year. Thank you to my parents for helping me out every time I've struggled, and of course thank you Jeff for everything too.  2012 has really been super amazing!!

Tonight I got off of work WAYYY early! With all the construction going on at 281 and 1604 and now Fiesta, we barely have any business on the weekdays. I would complain if I was a server, but I have always been the kind of person that needs a steady cash flow and I know exactly what my paychecks are going to look like as a hostess.

For tonight's dinner, I have decided to make Ina Garten's lemon chicken breast. I saw her make it on Barefoot Contessa and thought it looked amazing. I have 4 lemons that have been sitting in the fruit bowl for quite awhile and I figured I'd use them before they went bad. I also want to make my dad's spinach soup that I've told Jeff all about. I have been craving it for quite sometime now and just haven't had the chance to pair it with anything. This dish might not be the right dish to pair it with either, but I REALLY want to make it and since Jeff is at work I have dinner choice :)

I forgot to mention, Jeff and I have started our garden! We bought mint, rosemary, and thyme plants and we bought seeds for parsley and basil, which we will be planting when we get back from the lake house. I just hope Jeff and I have a green thumb and can sustain our plants.

I would make this into two blogs, but the directions to both are pretty simple.

INA GARTEN'S LEMON CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup good olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless chicken breasts, skin on (6 to 8 ounces each)
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, add the garlic, and cook for just 1 minute but don't allow the garlic to turn brown.

Off the heat, add the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt and pour into a 9 by 12-inch baking dish.

Pat the chicken breasts dry and place them skin side up over the sauce. Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle them liberally with salt and pepper. We made ours without the skin to make it healthier. We have made this dish both ways and they both taste great.

Cut the lemon in 8 wedges and tuck it among the pieces of chicken.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts, and start the spinach soup. Bake the chicken until skin is lightly browned. If the chicken isn't browned enough, put it under the broiler for 2 minutes. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot with the pan juices.

 

Now for my favorite part, the spinach soup. This is a recipe that my grandma use to make my dad all the time and he use to make it for us when we were growing up. I am glad I took the time to learn the recipe so I'll try my best to explain it all. Its hard to explain when the measurements were always a handful of this and a sprinkle of that.

INGREDIENTS

Spinach (I ended up using about half the amount shown in the picture below)

2 Small Red Potatoes, cubed

3 Cloves of Garlic, minced

1/4 cup Onion, diced

2 Tomato Sauce Cans (8oz)

Milk (4 8oz cans worth)

2 tablespoons Chicken Bouillon, divided

1-1/2 tablespoons Butter

Pepper, Salt, Garlic Powder, and Onion Powder

Cut the potatoes in good thick chunks, this is the "meat" of the soup.

 In large pot, melt the butter in med-high heat and add the garlic and onions. Cook for a good 2 minutes. I absolutely love the smell of garlic, onion, and butter! I wouldn't mind coming into my house and having it smell like that everyday. This could possibly be the reason I am in love with Italian food.

Next, add the potatoes and season them with pepper, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste. Cook until potatoes are a golden brown color.

Now add one can of tomato sauce and with that same can, add two cans of milk. Sprinkle a tablespoon of bouillon, mix with wooden spoon, and boil.

After it boils, cover the pot and put a medium to low heat for 20-30 minutes. Make sure to open and stir once in awhile. This is to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom, and also to check the potatoes. They should be soft, not to where they are mush but a good soft and hard consistency (if that makes any sense). The broth will basically be gone by the time the potatoes are gone, but don't worry. We will be adding more milk and tomato sauce.

Add the spinach about 15 min before serving. It is going to shrink down and basically melt, so we don't want to keep it in the pot for long. Remove the stems of the leaves and cut up the big leaves in half.

Raise the temperature back up to med-high and add the spinach. Next, repeat the step for the tomato can... one can of tomato and two of milk with a tablespoon of chicken bouillon. I also added a little more salt and ground pepper. Remove when its about to start boiling and now its ready to serve. My dad always topped his with Parmesan cheese, we however just ate it as is.

Not the healthiest of soups but very very tasty. This was Jeff's first time trying it and I quote "This is so good its like something they would serve in restaurants." I know I am making my grandma proud =]

Banana Nut Bread

Jeff's FAVORITE dessert! He could eat this all day if given the option. Nice and warm, with a little bit of butter melted on top. It's really quite comforting and always great with a nice cold cup of milk =]

We've been searching around for a good recipe for quite awhile and Jeff's mom told us that she had gotten an email containing the original recipe of Jeff's dad's grandma. We had her print out a copy and send us a picture of it so we could try to recreate it.

INGREDIENTS
5 ripe bananas
Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Shortening
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup Chopped Walnuts

 First, in a small bowl we beat the 4 eggs and in another small bowl smashed the ripened bananas. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.

Then, we creamed the shortening and sugar. Both of us took turns doing this, because we had just bought a new hand mixer and we wanted to try it out. Slowly we added the smashed bananas and beaten eggs.

 Sift together dry ingredients and add a little at a time into the wet ingredients. At the end add the cup of walnuts and mix thoroughly.

Now its time to butter and flour the loaf pans. This is where things gets messy!! Jeff had the honor of buttering the pans by hand and flouring them.

Gently pour the mixture in the loaf pans and bake for an hour and 5 min.

LOOK HOW PRETTY THEY TURNED OUT AND THEY TASTE AMAZING!! We have one in the freezer because there is no way we can eat it both loafs without it going bad. I'm thinking we'll use it as my birthday cake next weekend ;)

Chicken and Tofu Stir Fry

 Work, work, and more work. It feels like that's all I do now, but I can't complain about the money. Two jobs is hectic, but slowly and surely I am getting my stuff paid off. Two more loans to go and I'm set!

Jeff and I have both had a packed schedule, so cooking seemed more like a chore than something exciting to do. For the couple of days that we didn't blog we ate lots and lots of sandwiches. Some homemade, but mostly it was a quick stop at Subway or Panera Bread. We do take into consideration the calories we eat and did our research on what was the healthiest thing to get.

Today Jeff had off and it was up to him to find something to make. He asked me what I wanted and all I said was something that includes tofu. There is just something about the texture of tofu in my mouth that I really enjoy., plus its so easy to cook and it just soaks in all the flavor you marinate it in.

I got off as soon as Jeff was coming home from the grocery store so we divided tasks. We have been waiting for our bananas to ripen to make banana bread, so while I chopped and minced all the ingredients needed for our stir fry, Jeff started on the banana bread, which I will give the recipe to in another blog. It was sort of hectic and messy in the kitchen.

Jeff and I don't do to well with flour. It seems to get EVERYWHERE!!! Even our poor dogs can't avoid our mess and get flour on them too. Its kind of there fault though, they are the little vacuum cleaners in our kitchen and desperately try to find anything we drop. We do our best to keep them out, but we get so focused we just let them roam around. Eventually they accept defeat after nothing falls and they watch us from the couch.... waiting.

Before the cooking started I opened all the windows and opened the back door. We wanted to avoid filling up the whole house with smoke and we both knew the wok would do just that.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup Teriyaki Sauce
2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Rice Vinegar
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
2 tablespoons Canola Oil
1 pound Chicken Breast
Portobello Mushroom
1 cup Shredded Carrots
4 Hard Tofu Squares
3 Scallions, minced

For the marinade, whisk in a small bowl the vinegar, teriyaki, and soy sauce. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in 1 tablespoon of water and then add to the marinade.

Cut the tofu squares in medium pieces and cube the chicken. Have all the veggies, tofu, and chicken nearby to start up the wok and throw them in as it goes.

Now to start up the smoke screen! Heat up the oil in  the wok at high heat. Turn your oven fan on as high as it goes.

After the wok is smoking, add the chicken and caramelize all side. Take chicken out and set aside.

Now its time for the veggies. We started with the mushroom first since all the other veggies wouldn't take long to cook. Slowly add all the other veggies until they are cooked through.

Add chicken, marinade, and half the scallions.

We served our stir fry with white rice and since Jeff was the one cooking, it was made in the neuro fuzzy rice maker. Even though I prefer making my own, I do admit the n.f.m. is fast, simple, and it keeps warm while we are getting everything prepared.

Serve the chicken and garnish with the rest of the scallions.

Today our meal was paired with Negra Modelo

Garlic, Cheese, and Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushroom

This morning when I was thinking about what to make for dinner all I knew is that I REALLY wanted portobello mushrooms. I was either debating making it a meal and substituting it for meat, or just making it an appetizer. Usually when we go up to the lake house we marinate the mushroom in garlic and olive oil and grill it, but today I was making a meal for one (Jeff doesn't feel good and has decided for soup instead) and I really don't know enough to operate the grill on my own.

I finally decided I would try a vegetarian meal. Plus, I made some peanut butter blossoms today so that would be my source of protein. =]

Also, my pictures are really terrible today. HEB didn't have rounded portobello mushroom caps so they kind of came out ugly, but they tasted really good!!!

INGREDIENTS (4 servings)
4 large portobello mushroom caps
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
2 minced garlic cloves, divided
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3/4 cup prepared marinara sauce
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450°F and prepare mushroom and stuffing. If you can tell by the picture, the mushroom I chose was not a good one for stuffing. The edges weren't curved up like a bowl so it flattened out when I heated it up. Those were the only ones at HEB so made do with what I had.

Chop the spinach and then mash with ricotta, 1/4 cup Parmesan, minced garlic clove, Italian seasoning and the pepper in a medium bowl. Place marinara sauce in a separate bowl, cover and microwave on High until hot, 30 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes.



Carefully cut the stem off the mushroom and with a small spoon curve the inside like a bowl.

Place mushroom caps, gill-side up, and coat with olive oil and a minced garlic clove. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

When the mushrooms are tender, carefully pour out any liquid accumulated in the caps. Return the caps to the pan gill-side up. Spread 1 tablespoon marinara into each cap; cover the remaining sauce to keep warm.

Mound a generous 1/3 cup ricotta filling into each cap and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until hot, about 10 minutes. Spoon some of the marinara on plate to put the mushroom on top of and then use remaining to smother on top. I paired my stuffed mushroom with a Cesar salad.

I was so full that I didn't have any room for my cookies. Fortunately, I got to taste two after I made them. THEY WERE DELICIOUS!! I'm ok with giving up 100 calories for a cookie instead of beer or wine tonight!

Pork Tenderloin Marinated in Spicy Soy Sauce

Weekends are probably the hardest days for Jeff and I to cook. We both usually work the closing shifts and by the time we get home we just want something quick and easy to make and eat. As of lately its ham sandwiches and chips or 7 pot stickers and a beer, small but relatively healthy.

I've finally reached that point in loosing weight where just eating healthy won't cut it. I need to pick up a work out regime and stick to it. I definitely need to start some sort of cardio, maybe run or bike every other day.  I'm at 143 and it seems I've been stuck there for quite awhile. I need to get motivated and think about the whole picture, get down to 135 and Jeff will shave his beard. That's what I will keep reminding myself when I start to slow down. Hopefully I can get to this point by ends of May. 2 months to lose 8 pounds. That is very doable.

Today I happen to get the afternoon off and since we always seem to eat the same thing (chicken or fish), I've decided to make some pork tenderloin. I have never been disappointed by anything pork tenderloin, this is definitely the best meat to make if you know how to cook it correctly.

Ingredients
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons Sriarcha
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1-1/2 pounds pork tenderloin

Whisk soy sauce and sugar in a medium bowl until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir in garlic, ginger, sriracha, and oil.

Place pork in a resealable plastic bag. Add the marinade and seal the bag, squeezing air out. Turn the bag to coat the tenderloin. Refrigerate for 2 hours, turning the bag once to redistribute the marinade.

After the 2 hours, preheat oven to 425 degrees F. While oven is preheating, heat about 2 teaspoons of canola oil in a large skillet at high heat. Discard excess marinade and brown all sides of the tenderloin. You might want to start the fan up and open the windows. It tends to smoke up a lot and the sriracha stings the nostrils a bit when burnt.

Transfer tenderloin to a foiled baking sheet and cook for about 15 minutes or until thermometer registers 145 degrees. Take out of oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice into 1 inch thick medallions. The tenderloin should have a warm pink center.

We served our plate with a side of white jazmin rice and garnished the tenderloin with scallions. We accompanied our food with Victory Golden Monkey. Expensive, but oh so delicious.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend has not been friendly to Jeff's and my cooking habits. We both closed last night and we have to close today too. We come home tired and with no motivation to make anything worth blogging about.

Last night I got out before Jeff and decided to make avocado chicken sandwiches for dinner. I had chicken left over from the night before and most of the ingredients for the sandwiches at home. I did a quick run to HEB after work and got kaiser rolls and a small avocado. I was really craving a big hoss avocado, but have you seen the prices for those. Its $1 EACH. I wish it was like $1 a pound. That would really make my day. I wonder if we could grow some in the backyard?? hmm

Anyway, I tenderized the chicken and seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Asian chili powder. Then I lightly breaded it and stuck it in the oven at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. When that was done, I took them out and while they rested I cut the rolls in half, put pepper jack cheese and toasted them. We put our sandwich together with mustard, jalapenos, red onion, lettuce, and tomato.

Sorry I don't have any amazing pictures, but like I said. We were both tired and ready to eat and sleep. Holiday weekends are always long in the restaurant business. The only good thing is, Jeff and I have stuck to making home cooked dinners =]

Tonight I might have a little more motivation to cook and take pictures. We have one more chicken breast left, so I'll look around the kitchen and see what I can make.

Random picture, because I feel like this post is naked. This was last summer at the lake house for my brother's birthday. Those are the chicken sandwiches that I made last night, except we had whole avocado slices instead of guacamole.

Vietnamese Rice Noodles with Chicken

Thursday is the best day of the week at home. Jeff and I always have it off and we have labeled it our date night. We usually go watch a movie at Alamo Drafthouse and if there isn't anything we want to watch then we usually grab a pint and a growler to go. Thursday at the Westlakes Drafthouse is $2 pints and $10 growlers. A great deal, especially considering that some of the beers on tap are so much more expensive in the grocery stores.

Tonight there wasn't anything interesting to watch so we decided to get a Stone IPA to go and go make Vietnamese food. There is this restaurant we LOVE to go to off of Braun and 1604 called VN Bistro, and they have this dish that we always get. So today we decided we would try to mimic it. We got a recipe online and tweaked it with things we knew came in the VN Bistro dish. Jeff was so excited about this dish that he basically made it all on his own.

The dish is a big bowl with different layers. The first layer is an assortment of veggies, then goes the vermicelli noodles, and then topped with chicken, crushed peanuts, cilantro, scallions, and a sauce.

I have broken down the ingredients and instructions as best I could. The final picture will show how it all comes together.

INGREDIENTS FOR SAUCE
1 tablespoon Lime Juice
1 crushed Garlic Clove
1/4 cup Water
1/4 cup Fish Sauce
2 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
2 tablespoons Sugar

In small bowl, pour in the ingredients and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Let stand for 30 minutes so the ingredients come together.

INGREDIENTS FOR CHICKEN MARINADE
2 Large Chicken Breast, tenderized
1/2 Lime, squeezed
2 Cloves of Garlic, diced
1 Serrano Pepper, sliced
2 Scallions, sliced
2 teaspoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
 
Tenderize chicken by putting them in a zip-lock bag and pound chicken with cast iron skillet. Pour in marinade and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

INGREDIENTS FOR NOODLE BOWL
4 bundles Vermicelli Noodles
1/4 Head of Lettuce, shredded
1/2 Cucumber, sliced thinly
1 cup shredded Carrots


The noodles that we used were bought from an oriental store and were already separated. This is the bag we used:

  To make noodles, boil a pot of hot water and pour over noodles in a pyrex bowl. Let stand for 4-6 minutes, then drain and run under cold water. We used 4 bundles for 2 people, I would probably suggest less if you aren't that hungry. It turns out to be a lot of food.

Next, blanch the carrots in boiling water for 30 seconds. Then drain the carrots and immediately put in a bowl of ice cold water.

  

Drain the carrots, shred the lettuce, and slice the cucumber into small strips. Place in a large bowl.

 

 Now we are ready to start the chicken. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Foil a baking sheet and place the chicken on it with all the contents of the zip-lock. We wanted to lightly bread it to make it crispy, so Jeff decided to sprinkle some Panko bread crumbs on top. To make the Panko bread crumbs stick we added a little bit of olive oil to it. About 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs and 2 teaspoons of olive oil.

Bake the chicken for 15-20 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are a golden brown and chicken juices run clear.

 

While chicken is resting, we finally get to prepare the layers of the bowl. The bottom layer will be a handful of veggies, followed by noodles.

Slice the chicken and arrange on the top of the bowl. Garnish with peanuts, scallions, and cilantro. Add more flavor with Sriracha and Hoision Sauce.

This was probably the hardest recipe I've had to explain, but hopefully with all the pictures it made a little bit more sense. =] ENJOY!!