CHILI CILANTRO CHICKEN

CHILI CILANTRO CHICKEN
In our neck of the woods it has been a somewhat wet spring.  This is bad for overflowing rivers and some very wet farmland but it has been good for our small gardens and potted plants.  Included in those homegrown items are herbs such as cilantro and vegetables such as asparagus.  Olivia made this delicious cilantro chicken dish (two flavors that are fantastic together) and served it with asparagus.

If you haven't already, start checking out your local farmers markets.  The early vegetables such as asparagus, radishes, onions, and a great variety of lettuces are starting to appear.  The freshness and goodness of these homegrown foods cannot be matched by anything you will find in the grocery.  Support local growers and improve the quality of food you eat.  Happy eating!
-Nanette

CHILI CILANTRO CHICKEN

• 2 pounds boneless/skinless chicken thighs or breast meat
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, mince
• 3/4 bunch fresh cilantro (save remaining for garnish)
• 1 teaspoon salt & pepper
• Sweet chili sauce for basting

Cooking Process: 

Soak skewers in water for at least 20 minutes to prevent burning.

Cut chicken into 1" cubes and place into bowl.  Add olive oil, garlic and cilantro in a food processor and pulverize. Pour the marinade into the bowl with the chicken, add teaspoon of salt and pepper and marinate overnite if possible.

Preheat the grill to medium heat and coat with oil. Remove chicken from the refrigerator and put 5-6 pieces of chicken on each skewer.  Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. Brush chili sauce on chicken just before done cooking to create a nice glaze.

Saving Money with a YUMMY Recipe!

It seems as though every time I go to the grocery, I notice food costs continuing to go up.  One way I save money is by buying bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts instead of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Now, before I go on any further with this post, I have to share my tale of woe.  I had taken pictures of how much chicken I got off of my bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, the prep work I did ahead, and the final food created with the recipe which will follow, but I had a mishap, and the pictures didn't end up on my phone.  When I told my husband about this, he said with a hopeful tone, "Soooooo....you have to make it again?!?"  To say the recipe I made last night was a hit is an understatement.  Since I didn't want to wait to post this until next week, when I make this again, I thought I'd go ahead and post, even without the pictures.  Please forgive the lack of pics!  :)

So back to the money savings here...  I put the bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts in a gallon sized bag with the marinade the night before I was going to grill them.  The package of chicken I was able to get on sale had three enormous pieces in it, and was $2.97.  It was an awesome deal! 

After marinating chicken overnight, I grilled the chicken when I had the grill going for another meal.  I wanted to get the chicken cooked so I could have a quick meal the following night.  I allowed the chicken to cool after I grilled it, so I could easily take it off the bone.  I put the chicken in a plastic container and stored it in the fridge.  I also cut the onions and peppers the night before.  Storing them in a gallon sized bag was an easy way to have everything ready to throw together when I wanted to prepare them.

The flavor of brushing the lime butter over the quesadillas gives this recipe a blast of flavor on the shell of the tortilla.  I sprinkled a bit of  Fleur de Sel Salt from the S.A.L.T. Sisters website.  This salt works wonderfully as a finishing salt and added the perfect touch on these quesidillas.  (You can order it here:  http://www.saltsistersonline.com/classicsalt/product/fleur-de-sel-organic-french-grey-sea-salt) 

With a bit of thinking ahead, you can easily save money and have a delicious meal with this recipe.  Please let us know how you like it if you try it!  :)

-Olivia

Margarita Chicken Quesadillas

Recipe from:  Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)
• 3/4 cup thawed frozen limeade concentrate
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 medium sweet orange pepper, julienned
• 1 medium sweet yellow pepper, julienned
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 4 flour tortillas (10 inches)
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• Lime wedges, optional

Directions

Place chicken in a large resealable plastic bag; add limeade

concentrate. Seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 6 hours or

overnight.

In a large skillet, saute the onion and sweet peppers in oil until

tender; season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Moisten a paper towel with cooking oil; using long-handled tongs,

lightly coat the grill rack. Drain and discard marinade. Grill 5-8 minutes

on each side or until a thermometer reads 170°. Cut chicken into 1/4-in. strips; set aside.

On one half of each tortilla, layer Monterey Jack cheese, chicken,

pepper mixture and cheddar cheese; fold over. Place quesadillas on a

baking sheet. Combine butter and lime juice; brush over tortillas.

Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges. Sprinkle with cilantro; serve with

lime wedges if desired. Yield: 16 wedges.

Grilled Steaks with Poblano Pesto

If you live anywhere in the Midwest, you are likely experiencing a warmer than normal Spring!  Even though the temps here in Indiana have resumed a "normal" level, the eight days of summer-like weather still linger in many of our minds.  Summer weather means one thing - grilling.  I love to grill. 

Grilled food tastes fresh, flavorful, and clean up is a breeze!  I absolutely love to marinade meats before placing them on the grill.  I often times marinade meats up to two days before I think I will throw them on the grill.  I love big, bold flavors, and grilling is perfect for achieving both.  The above picture is from last night.  Nothing is better on a Sunday evening than grilling out in the backyard, with our dog, Annie, running around, after a good day's work in the yard. 

You'll notice in the picture that along with the enormous ribeyes grilling, I have asparagus on the top rack of the grill.  If you like asparagus, and if you've never had it grilled before, run, don't walk, to try it soon!  After snapping the ends off of the asparagus, drizzle a bit of olive oil over the spears and dust with salt and pepper.  Place the asparagus directly on the grill (don't use a high flame as I did initially...note the flame ;)), and monitor it to flip while it is cooking.  Once I have it to the desired degree of being cooked, I move the asparagus to the top rack to let it stay warm while the remainder of the meal finishes grilling.  Honestly, I love grilled asparagus just as much as a good steak.  When the tips of the asparagus begin to char, it produces a slightly nutty flavor.  It is delicious.

The recipe I am sharing today is for a Poblano Pesto.  This recipe is one of Melissa D'Arabian's from the Food Network.  I saw this recipe on TV on a cold winter day and knew I had to try it!   I made this recipe back in January and served it with broiled steaks.  I kept part of the pesto back and froze it in a glass container.  This made for an easy condiment for last night's dinner.  I just placed the pesto out on the counter and let it thaw in the afternoon.  I love making enough of a recipe to use for another purpose later on.  This pesto froze beautifully!  You could not tell it had been frozen.  Pesto is typically formed from an enormous amount of basil.  This pesto is a bit different - it's primary ingredients are poblano peppers and cilantro.  The flavor of this pesto is bold and stands up to any deliciously grilled steak.  I enjoy pesto of any form, and the smoky flavor of this pesto is no exception.  You could easily whip this pesto up this weekend, enjoy it with a steak, and freeze the remainder and enjoy it again a month later without any of the work of making it.  Yum!

-Olivia

Poblano Pesto

Recipe courtesy Melissa D'Arabian

Ingredients

• 2 poblano peppers
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• Kosher salt

Directions

Char the poblano peppers on top of a gas burner, on a grill, or under the broiler) until all of the sides are blackened. Place in a bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap, allowing the steam to help loosen the skin. With your fingers or a spoon, scrape and discard the blackened skin then remove the seeds and core. Coarsely chop the poblanos, and place into a mini food processor. Add the Parmesan, cilantro, garlic, chili powder and oil and process until well combined, but not totally smooth. Taste and season with salt.

Grilled Rosemary Ranch Chicken

Here in the Midwest, we are having an unusually warm end to our winter season.  It has been over 80 degrees out for the past four or five days now.  While I love the different seasons and I don't generally mind snow, I must say - I have really enjoyed the summer weather.  The flowers are sprouting, trees are flowering, grass is growing, robins are plentiful, and the grill has reappeared from the garage.  I love to grill.  I can marinate some meat for a couple of days, throw vegetable packets together in foil, and have dinner grilled in no time, with very little clean up!  Now that is my kind of weeknight cooking!

I do not keep ranch salad dressing in the house usually.  With that being said, I do keep my ranch salad dressing seasoning (see my post about homemade mixes) in the cupboard.  Instead of using ranch dressing in this, I used 1 cup of buttermilk and 3-4 tablespoons of ranch seasoning mix.  (I like a lot of seasonings in my marinades.)

This marinade resulted in the juiciest, most flavorful chicken ever.  I love this marinade so much that while I just used this recipe last week, I already have more of it made and marinating pork chops as we speak for dinner tomorrow night!

Try it for yourself and let us know how you like it!

Happy Grilling!

Olivia

I allowed this chicken to marinade for about 48 hours or so.  You certainly do not have to, but I like to throw it together on a Saturday or Sunday for dinner Monday or Tuesday night when I get home from work!

Rosemary Ranch Chicken

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup ranch dressing

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon dried rosemary  (I used fresh.)

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon white vinegar  (I used apple cider vinegar.)

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste

1 tablespoon white sugar, or to taste

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves -

In a medium bowl, stir together the olive oil, ranch dressing, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, salt, lemon juice, white vinegar, pepper, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Pound chicken breast to 1/4" thickness. Place chicken in the gallon size Ziplock bag, and stir to coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours (all day). Preheat the grill for medium-high heat. Grill chicken for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear.

All grilled up and ready to eat...  MMMMMMMM!