Chicken Fajitas

Who doesn’t love fajitas?  They’re quick, easy, versatile, and most importantly – delicious!  My recipe consists of a little of this, some of that, which makes it so simple to swap out some of the ingredients for new ones.  For example, try changing up the chicken for steak; or replacing a pepper with corn.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken, cut into long strips

1 medium size red pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium size green pepper, thinly sliced

2 onions, thinly sliced

4 tortillas (corn, flour, or I even use Rudy’s Organic Spelt Tortillas)

1 tsp each of cumin, paprika, and oregano

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Juice of half a lime

Salt and pepper

Salsa and sour cream, optional

Directions:

Saute the vegetables with a little salt and pepper over medium heat until softened; remove onto a plate.

Add chicken to the same pan and cook over medium heat.  Once no longer pink, add the spices and cook for 1 more minute.

Add the vegetables back to the pan and saute all together for another minute to develop their flavors.

Turn off the heat and squeeze the lime over the top.

Serve in a warm tortilla with salsa and sour cream, if desired.  Olé!

A Lovely Anniversary Meal

Recently, my boyfriend, Eric, and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary.  I had the day off from work, so I decided to spend the day cooking for this special occasion.  My menu included a filling and deliciously creamy Chicken Divan Casserole with a refreshing Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert.

Chicken Divan Casserole, inspired by Rachel Ray.

Ingredients:

1 head of broccoli, cup into florets

Salt

2 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed of fat

1 medium onion

2 bay leaves

1 pound farfalle (bow-tie) pasta

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 tablespoons butter

2 rounded tablespoons flour

2 cups whole milk

Freshly ground black pepper

Nutmeg

3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed and chopped

2 egg yolks

1 cup plain bread crumbs

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

A handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

Place a large pot of water on to boil for the broccoli and pasta. Salt the water and cook the broccoli until tender, about 2 minutes. Turn the heat off of the pot, but leave the water in it.  Remove the broccoli to a plate and chop into bite-size pieces when cooled.

In a large pan, place the chicken in a few inches of water with a peeled quartered onion and a couple of bay leaves. Bring the water to a low boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and gently poach the chicken for 10 to 12 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, heat the extra-virgin olive oil in skillet over medium-low heat and saute the onions and garlic until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add in the broccoli and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat off pan and set aside.

While the onions and garlic are softening, heat the butter in a medium saucepot over medium heat, whisk in the flour for 1 minute, then whisk in the milk and season with salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, and the chopped thyme.  Allow the sauce to thicken for 5 minutes then whisk in a little to the egg yolks to temper, and then add the egg yolks back to the sauce and whisk to combine.  Turn the heat down to simmer.

Shred the poached chicken with forks or dice into small, bite-size pieces.

Return the large pot of water to a boil, and drop in your pasta.  Cook the noodles according to package directions for just before al dente. Drain the noodles very well and add them back to the hot pot.

Stir in the broccoli, chicken, and sauce (Note: If sauce seems too thick, add a splash of chicken poaching liquid).  Transfer to a casserole dish.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the casserole in the oven and bake 30 minutes.

While baking, mix together the breadcrumbs, Cheddar cheese, Parmesan, and parsley.

After 30 minutes of cooking, add the topping and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, or until brown and crispy on top.

Crust-less Lemon Meringue Pies, methods based on Nadia G.

Ingredients**:

Filling

4 eggs, separated, at room temperature

½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp fresh lemon zest

1 ¼ cups brown sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

Pinch of sea salt

1 ½ cups water

2 tbsp butter, melted

**You can also replace half of the lemon juice and zest for grapefruit for a new flavor.

Meringue

3 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp white vinegar

Directions:

To make the filling

Combine egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a bowl.  Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan add: brown sugar, cornstarch, a pinch of sea salt, and water.  Bring to a boil over medium heat whisking constantly for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture thickens.

Slowly whisk in a small portion of this mixture to the egg yolks-citrus mixture to temper.
Whisk the egg yolk-citrus mixture back into the pot, reduce the heat to low, add in 2 tablespoons of butter and whisk for 8 more minutes, until very thick.  Cover and refrigerate the mixture for 3 hours.

To make the meringue and serve

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In clean, dry bowl, combine the 4 egg whites, white sugar, and white vinegar.  Using an electric mixer, whip until stiff peaks form, about 10 minutes.

Evenly divide and spoon the chilled citrus filling into ramekins or shallow ceramic coffee mugs.  Top with lots of meringue.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the meringues brown slightly.

Enjoy this meal with someone you love!

Pancakes for Everyone!

These fluffy and delicious pancakes are the perfect morning (or lunch or dinner) meal.  Coincidentally, they are not only soy-free, but also egg, peanut, tree nut, fish, and shellfish free as well.  These scrumptious little cakes are extremely versatile and serve as a fantastic base for any flavor or add-in you choose.  This time, I chose bananas and cinnamon, and the always popular chocolate chip.

This recipe is inspired by Emily Hendrix, of Sophie-Safe Cooking.

Ingredients**:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 cups milk

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp vanilla

1 ½ tsp vinegar

Add-ins of your choice:    1 banana, chopped

                                         1 tablespoon of cinnamon

                                         1 cup of chocolate chips (I use EnjoyLife)

**If you want to make extra to have as a “quick-mix,” triple or even quadruple the dry recipe above.

Directions:

Whisk together all of the dry ingredients, then slowly add in the wet ones.

Heat a griddle over medium heat and drop ½ ladle at a time onto the pan.  If your pan is not non-stick, add a little butter or olive oil first.

After putting the batter onto the pan, drop on your extras.  For the chocolate chip, I sprinkled the chips all over the surface of the batter.  For the banana-cinnamon, I evenly dispersed the bananas and dusted the top with cinnamon.

 

Cook until the edges dry and bubbles begin to form on the surface.

Flip and cook the other side (Hint – It will take about half the time to cook as the first side).

Indulge with some pure maple syrup and have a great day!



Honey Mustard Dressing

Being soy-free, I found it next to impossible to find a honey mustard dressing or marinade in the grocery store without the first ingredient being “soybean oil.”  So, like anything else – I made it myself:

Ingredients:

1 cup olive oil

2 cups honey

½ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

¼ cup Dijon Mustard

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and whisk until incorporated.  Serve over a green salad or use to marinate chicken.  This dressing will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

Apple-butter-milk Muffins

Summer is coming and we all could do away with a few extra pounds before hitting the beach.  In conjunction with this notion, I conveniently had some leftover buttermilk.  I went scouring through recipe collections in search of the perfect low fat use-up for it.  These healthy muffins are the result and they sure are delicious.  They make the perfect quick breakfast or handy take away snack.

I adapted my recipe from And Then I Do the Dishes, but altered it quite a bit.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup apple butter (I love Medford Farms because it is simple and NJ local!)

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Handful of chocolate chips (I always use Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips because they are soy-free)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 F.  Grease muffin tins (I used mini and regular size for mine).

In a bowl, soak oats in buttermilk for 15 minutes.  Stir in sugar, oil, apple butter and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into oat mixture just until moistened – do not over mix your batter or your muffins will come out tough.

Fill prepared muffin tin three quarters of the way full. Sprinkle the tops with chocolate chips.

The size of the muffin tin you are using will affect the cooking time for the muffins.  My mini muffins took about 8-10 minutes, while the regular ones baked for 16-18 minutes.  Test them with a toothpick until it comes out clean.

Cool (if you can wait that long) and enjoy!