Again it has been a while since I last posted - if anyone has been following me I am sorry! I actually ended up losing my last job - finance is not the field to be in right now. Luckily I received a severance package and picked up some free lance work for the last few months before landing a new position (I am now officially out of finance- which I feel is a good thing) in a small firm in NYC.
Anyway, I will post a couple of recipes here that are very easy to make and are pretty good (I think that is the theme here right? It has been a while...)
Oh - I also found in my local store a pretty great thing. I usually head to Costco when I can and buy the bags of individually wrapped chicken breasts- but I do not get to Costco too often and when I run out (I freeze them) I just head to the store across the street to buy two at a time for my wife and myself. This can get expensive, and usually the breasts are so huge half of my wife's meal goes uneaten.
I found a new thing by Perdue that my store started stocking - bags of ten individually packaged chicken breasts! Now you can't use these for everything - they are thinly pounded and really are small portion sizes - but they keep you from eating too much (a good thing?), thaw quickly, and are easy to use.
Anyway, I will post a couple of recipes here that are very easy to make and are pretty good (I think that is the theme here right? It has been a while...)
Oh - I also found in my local store a pretty great thing. I usually head to Costco when I can and buy the bags of individually wrapped chicken breasts- but I do not get to Costco too often and when I run out (I freeze them) I just head to the store across the street to buy two at a time for my wife and myself. This can get expensive, and usually the breasts are so huge half of my wife's meal goes uneaten.
I found a new thing by Perdue that my store started stocking - bags of ten individually packaged chicken breasts! Now you can't use these for everything - they are thinly pounded and really are small portion sizes - but they keep you from eating too much (a good thing?), thaw quickly, and are easy to use.
Simple Chicken and Potatoes
Ingredients:
Two boneless, skinless breasts of chicken - pounded to an even thickness.
Three or Four (or more depending on size) red potatoes
Two Slices American Cheese
Chicken Seasoning (any store bought kind is fine)
Salt and Pepper
Steps:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Thinly slice potatoes (or use a Mandolin) and season with salt and pepper
Season Chicken with Rub
Preheat an oven safe skillet on burner (cast iron pans are great for this sort of thing, I like a 12" round one for nearly everything, you just have to read how to care for them...) with some oil (olive or vegetable, it doesn't really matter).
Place potato slices evenly around the pan - cook for a couple of mins
Once slices start to brown, flip them over and them place chicken on top.
Insert pan into oven and cook for 15-20 mins or until breasts are done
A few mins before done, add a slice of cheese on the top of each breast - return pan to oven.
Thats it!
Easy to cook, you only have one pan to clean, cheap, and good for you - add some steamed broccoli on the side and you have a great meal for two!
Here's the next one for now - an easy veggie soup that is extremely healthy, filling, and tastes great. It also freezes well, which is good because this recipe makes a lot!
I use a slow cooker for this (I love the one I got at Williams Sonoma that uses a oven-safe aluminum insert you can place on the stove top as well...great for one pan cooking), but you can just use a covered stock pot as well.
What you will need:
a large 6 qt+ stock pot (or slow cooker)
one head of cabbage (red or green, its your preference) - roughly chopped
Two bunches of carrots, peeled and sliced
a few stalks of celery, sliced
one medium sized onion, chopped
six pieces of garlic - chopped
four cups of green beans, cut into bite sized pieces
any other veggies you have lying around (I used a handful of grape tomatoes as well)
One can tomato paste
Three 32 oz boxes of chicken broth
Two teaspoons or so of dried basil
Two teaspoons or so of dried oregano.
Salt and pepper to taste (remember that chicken broth can be salty)
Steps:
Sweat onions, carrots, celery and garlic in pot over medium heat (until onions start to turn translucent) for ten mins or so. you can use some olive oil here if you want as well.
Pour in the rest of the ingredients - bring to a boil, and then simmer for 3 hours or until all veggies are soft.
You can use a slow cooker too and not have to worry about watching the pot - one of the benefits!
Thats it! Easy to make, feeds and army (and if not freezes well, which is good because you can get sick of veggie soup after a couple of days), and great for you! If you do eat a lot of this, make sure you have a bathroom handy however, cabbage is great for cleaning out the system!
OK -- thats all for today, hopefully I will have more more for you soon. Now I am off to the dentist (again, it seems I never leave) - fun!
Ingredients:
Two boneless, skinless breasts of chicken - pounded to an even thickness.
Three or Four (or more depending on size) red potatoes
Two Slices American Cheese
Chicken Seasoning (any store bought kind is fine)
Salt and Pepper
Steps:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Thinly slice potatoes (or use a Mandolin) and season with salt and pepper
Season Chicken with Rub
Preheat an oven safe skillet on burner (cast iron pans are great for this sort of thing, I like a 12" round one for nearly everything, you just have to read how to care for them...) with some oil (olive or vegetable, it doesn't really matter).
Place potato slices evenly around the pan - cook for a couple of mins
Once slices start to brown, flip them over and them place chicken on top.
Insert pan into oven and cook for 15-20 mins or until breasts are done
A few mins before done, add a slice of cheese on the top of each breast - return pan to oven.
Thats it!
Easy to cook, you only have one pan to clean, cheap, and good for you - add some steamed broccoli on the side and you have a great meal for two!
Veggie Soup
Here's the next one for now - an easy veggie soup that is extremely healthy, filling, and tastes great. It also freezes well, which is good because this recipe makes a lot!
I use a slow cooker for this (I love the one I got at Williams Sonoma that uses a oven-safe aluminum insert you can place on the stove top as well...great for one pan cooking), but you can just use a covered stock pot as well.
What you will need:
a large 6 qt+ stock pot (or slow cooker)
one head of cabbage (red or green, its your preference) - roughly chopped
Two bunches of carrots, peeled and sliced
a few stalks of celery, sliced
one medium sized onion, chopped
six pieces of garlic - chopped
four cups of green beans, cut into bite sized pieces
any other veggies you have lying around (I used a handful of grape tomatoes as well)
One can tomato paste
Three 32 oz boxes of chicken broth
Two teaspoons or so of dried basil
Two teaspoons or so of dried oregano.
Salt and pepper to taste (remember that chicken broth can be salty)
Steps:
Sweat onions, carrots, celery and garlic in pot over medium heat (until onions start to turn translucent) for ten mins or so. you can use some olive oil here if you want as well.
Pour in the rest of the ingredients - bring to a boil, and then simmer for 3 hours or until all veggies are soft.
You can use a slow cooker too and not have to worry about watching the pot - one of the benefits!
Thats it! Easy to make, feeds and army (and if not freezes well, which is good because you can get sick of veggie soup after a couple of days), and great for you! If you do eat a lot of this, make sure you have a bathroom handy however, cabbage is great for cleaning out the system!
OK -- thats all for today, hopefully I will have more more for you soon. Now I am off to the dentist (again, it seems I never leave) - fun!
Labels: baked chicken, vegetable Soup
posted by LUNYC at Thursday, May 15, 2008
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