Chicken Parmesan

Now that winter is officially here in Chicago (negative 15 wind chill today), I can finally share this wonderful recipe with you! I've tried making chicken parm several ways but this is my favorite. It is cheesy, comforting, and a crowd pleaser! Perfect Sunday dinner or dinner party meal. 

Ingredients:
3 T olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 C bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 C flour
1/2 24 oz jar traditional prego sauce or homemade tomato sauce
4 thick slices mozzarella cheese
1/2 C grated parmesan

Directions:
preheat oven to 350.
heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.
pound chicken with meat tenderizer until 1/2 inch thick.
dredge chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.
place chicken in pan and fry each side for a few minutes or until golden brown.
transfer chicken to greased baking dish.
place mozzarella slices over chicken.
cover each piece with tomato sauce.
sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.
back for 30 - 35 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and parmesan golden brown.

tips & extras

Tomato sauce - I think prego tomato sauce is the best canned pasta sauce in the world. If you want to make your own, Giada de Laurentis has a good recipe, here.

Dredging chicken - I make a little assembly line to make for easy cleanup. I put paper towels under the bowls to catch any dripping. Chicken -> Flour -> Egg wash -> bread crumbs -> skillet -> pan

Sides - I serve this with penne and the remaining prego sauce and a salad.

Portions - You can easily halve or double this recipe. No real measurements here!

Lining pan - Although this doesn't look beautiful, Reynold's has a new product with aluminum foil on the bottom and parchment paper on the top. The aluminum allows it to mold to the pan and the parchment ensures nothing sticks. It is the easiest clean-up ever!

Chicken stir fry

I've now been married for almost 3 years and have used my wok a whopping 2 times! I love stir fry, but I always default to my frying pan so I can cook everything at once and just get it over with. This time around, I decided to give the wok another try and I loved it. Even with smaller batches, everything cooks so quickly, you don't even notice the difference. My veggies and chicken cooked perfectly! I searched the food network for some good recipes and this one from the The Neelys caught my eye. I doubled the sauce, changed a few things, and used chicken breast instead of thighs for a healthier alternative. Added some red peppers that were lying around and created something I will definitely make again. 

Ingredients:
2 T vegetable oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips
3 T ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 bunch green onions, sliced on an angle
1 red pepper, sliced
1 bunch broccoli florets
red pepper flakes to taste

sauce:
4 T soy sauce
2 T lemon juice
2 T rice wine vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 T corn starch

Directions:
whisk together soy sauce, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, and corn starch in a separate bowl.
turn heat to medium-high and add 1 T oil to wok. 
when oil is hot, add half the chicken. 
cook for around 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through.
transfer to plate.
cook remaining chicken and transfer to plate.
add remaining 1 T oil to wok.
add broccoli to wok and cook for 5 minutes. transfer to plate.
add red pepper to wok, cook for a few minutes, transfer to plate.
add garlic, ginger, green onions, red peppers, and red pepper flakes to wok and stir-fry for a few minutes.
add chicken and brocolli back to wok. 
add sauce, stir, and cook for about a minute until it starts to bubble and thicken. 
serve over rice or on its own.

Tips & Extras

Rice - If you live near Trader Joe's, they sell boxes of frozen rice (brown & jasmine) that you can microwave in 3 minutes. They are a life saver for quick weeknight meals. 

Brown sugar storage - Feel like you are always buying brown sugar because it turns into a rock? Put the box or bag of brown sugar in a ziplock back and place in the refrigerator - it will last forever! If it's too late, you can grate the brown sugar (in rock form) with a standard cheese grater. 

Red pepper flakes - I add a dash for flavor and then let my husband add as much as he likes! I can't really take heat, so a few flakes does the trick for me. If you like heat, add about 1 tsp to the stir-fry. 

Ginger - If you can't find fresh ginger, leave it out. There isn't a really good substitute for fresh ginger. 

Quinoa with Swiss Chard and Mushrooms

As you can see from my past few posts, I've been doing a lot of dining out and not so much cooking. Although I love a good restaurant, I don't always choose the healthiest options. I'm starting this week off with this super healthy protein-packed creation.

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
1 bunch swiss chard, stems removed, roughly chopped
2 C sliced mushrooms
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper
4 t parmesan cheese (optional)
1/2 C quinoa
1 C water

Directions:
cook quinoa according to package directions.
while quinoa is cooking, heat olive oil in a large pan.
add onions and sauté until they start to change color (about 5 minutes).
add garlic and mushrooms and cook until mushrooms are tender (about 5 minutes).
add chard and mix until it wilts.
season with salt & pepper to taste.
turn off heat.
add quinoa to pan and stir.
sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

found rainbow chard - so beautiful

remove the thick red stems

trim the stem down the middle of each leaf

remove stem

stems & stems 

saute onions in olive oil 

add mushrooms

it wilts to almost nothing!

tips & extras

Quinoa - You can use other grains here. Pasta, rice, or barley would all work.

Garlic - You can omit the garlic if you aren't dining alone.

Mushrooms - I used baby bellas, but whatever is available will work.

Swiss chard - Although the stems look really nice, they don't really get tender (especially the thicker parts). You need to remove the center stem and use just the leaves. You can substitute spinach for the chard if it isn't available at your grocer. It might seem like you are using a lot of chard, but it wilts away to almost nothing.

Bistrot Margot

We got together with my husband's family for dinner on Sunday night in Old Town (Chicago). We switched it up a bit from our typical Italian spot and tried out a French restaurant, Bistrot Margot on Wells Street. It was a great decision - what a beautiful dinner! I think I probably ate about a pound of butter throughout the meal, but it was totally worth it.

It's a cute little spot, perfect for a family dinner or date. I don't know if I'd make it a girls night out or swing in with a bachelor party, but it's great for a more formal or intimate occasion.

I started the night with french onion soup, which was very good (not the best I've had, but definitely an 8 out of 10). There's nothing like melted gruyere cheese over an onion broth with a big hunk of bread - yum. My brother-in-law ordered mussels and was kind enough to share a few with me. Covered in a white wine shallot sauce, they were quite possibly some of the best mussels I've ever had. Would definitely recommend these to start.

french onion soup - cheesy

For my main, I ordered Blanc de Poulet Au Moutarde. While I had no idea what that meant and could definitely not even pronounce it, the description caught my eye: Pan Roasted Dijon Basted Chicken Breast, Green Peas, Carrots, New Potatoes, Dijon Beurre Blanc. This is the type of dish that makes you want to return to a restaurant. They served a breast and leg quarter of chicken, bone in, skin on. The vegetables and potatoes were cooked perfectly and the sauce really made it something special.

It was so good, I almost forgot to take a pic!

My husband ordered the restaurant's staple, Steak Frites. While he wasn't crazy about the parsley butter (I thought it was great), the meat was cooked perfectly and the fries were thin and crispy.

steak frites - how can you go wrong with steak & fries?

Dessert was really out of this world. The table ordered profiteroles, but I went with my all-time fav, creme brûlée. The profiteroles were wonderful, but the creme brûlée was a creamy and smooth bowl of heavenly bliss. The custard had the perfect amount of sweetness and hint of vanilla.

creme brûlée - so good, definitely shareable

profiteroles - that's just one order!

Greek Meatballs or Keftethes

Keftethes are Greek fried meatballs, very similar to the middle eastern kefte (you may have had these in a middle eastern or Lebanese restaurant). Open the windows and get ready to clean your burners! However, the frying is totally worth it for these delicious little balls of heaven. You can serve them as an appetizer or a complete meal with Greek spaghetti or salad. They also taste great with some pita and tzatziki. They are even better the next day cold out of the fridge (if you like cold food...I am a sucker for cold pizza).

keftethes

Ingredients:
4 T olive oil + 1 T olive oil
1/2 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb ground sirloin
1 medium onion, grated (on a grater or food process0r)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 t ground cumin
1 egg
1 piece of french bread, crust removed
1/4 C grated kefalotiri cheese
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
salt & pepper
1/4 C flour

Directions:
dampen french bread with water, squeeze to release water, and crumble in your hands.
combine the chuck, sirloin, 1 T olive oil, onion, garlic, cumin, egg, bread, cheese, parsley, and salt & pepper in a bowl.
mix with hands until ingredients are blended.
heat 4T olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat.
roll half of mixture into 1 inch balls and dredge in flour.
place in oil and fry until cooked through, turning occasionally (about 7 - 9 minutes).
transfer keftethes to a plate covered with paper towels. 
repeat with remaining meat mixture.

get ready to use your hands and mix!

get ready to roll

coat each meatball in flour

tester ball! 

batch 1

second batch

transfer to a plate with paper towels

yum

tips & extras

"tester" ball - Create a "tester" ball to taste the flavor. Roll one meatball, dredge in flour, and fry. Taste and adjust ingredients as necessary.

salt - The cheese has a lot of salt, so be careful how much you add to the original mixture. I like to create a tester and then see if it needs more salt.

cumin - Depending on the quality of your cumin, you might need more than 2 t. It really creates the flavor in these meatballs, so make sure you have enough (use the tester meatball to check). If you have a spice grinder, grind the cumin on your own and it will be even better!

meat - I combine sirloin & chuck to make it a little lighter. You can use all chuck or all sirloin (all depends on the amount of fat you want).

healthier keftethes - When I don't want to fry and want something healthy, I make these with lean ground turkey and grill them. You need to make the keftethes more into a patty-like shape to hold up on the grill, but they are still really delicious. 

frying - Use a splatter screen for easier cleanup. These don't need to be deep fried, but there has to be enough oil to coat the skillet.

bread - You can skip this step and just use some bread crumbs. 

mixing - Don't overmix the meatballs or they will be mushy.

size - Smaller meatballs (more work) for appetizers, large meatballs for a main course. Serve with toothpicks for apps.

Greek Spaghetti

Greek spaghetti with meat sauce is the ultimate comfort food. I remember going to my Yiayia's growing up and eating plates of spaghetti while soaking up the sauce with heaps of bread. The ingredients are simple, but a tiny bit of cinnamon, parsley, and a bay leaf give it a unique and warming flavor. Perfect for a cool fall day. 

I made this for a family dinner the other night and my Yiayia gave me her stamp of approval. Enjoy!

greek spaghetti with meat sauce

Ingredients:
1 T butter
1 medium onion, shredded (with a grater or food processor)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 C red wine
1/2 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb ground sirloin
1 bay leaf
1/4 C fresh parsley, finely chopped
15 oz can tomato sauce
salt & pepper
1/8 - 1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 package spaghetti
1/4 C grated kefalotiri, mizithra, or parmesan cheese

Directions:
in a large pot or pan, melt the butter over medium-high eat.
add the onion and sauté until it starts to change color (about 5 - 7 minutes).
add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute).
add the beef and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon.
cook the meat until there is no more pink.
add the red wine and continue to cook (about 3 minutes or until alcohol burns off).
add the tomato sauce, bay leaf, parsley, salt & pepper, and cinnamon.
stir and bring to a boil.
lower heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
with 15 minutes left, cook spaghetti according to package.
drain spaghetti and add gradually to meat sauce.
stir to coat spaghetti and disperse meat.
sprinkle with cheese and serve.

shred onions in a mini food processor (great kitchen gadget and pretty cheap)

cook onions in butter with garlic

brown the meat, mix with the onions

boil the mixture - look at all that parsley!

perfect bite

tips & extras

onions - Shredding the onion releases all of its flavor. I use a small food processor, but you can also grate the onions. Grating onions makes me cry like crazy, but it still works. 

cinnamon - Cinnamon is a very powerful spice and can easily overwhelm the sauce. I'd recommend starting with an 1/8 t (or even less) and possibly increasing it to 1/4 t after tasting your sauce. Greeks can't get enough of it, and even sprinkle cinnamon on spaghetti with just butter & cheese (another great quick recipe). 

salt - Watch how much salt you add to the sauce. Add just a bit to start and then taste the sauce while cooking and adjust where necessary. The tomato sauce has quite a bit of salt and so will the cheese.

cooking meat - Be careful not to burn the meat while cooking it. Stir it occasionally and loosen it from the bottom of the pot.

leftovers - You can double (or even triple) this recipe and freeze the sauce. Boil a pot of spaghetti, defrost the sauce, and you have an easy weeknight meal.

meat - Chuck makes this sooo good, but you can use all sirloin or even turkey for a healthier dish.

cheese - If you can't find Greek cheese, serve with parmesan.

wine - No biggie if you don't have this ingredient. The sauce is still delicious (but better with the wine of course).

sauce consistency - If you want a thinner sauce, add water or more tomato sauce. I like it thick and meaty, but you still want to be able to coat the spaghetti. 

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

There were so many green peppers at the farmer's market, I felt I just had to make stuffed peppers this week. I usually go with Greek stuffed peppers, but I wanted to try something new and healthy. A great little app I downloaded, Ziplist, recommended this gem of a recipe from an amazing blog, Skinnytaste. I made a few tweaks, and it was delicious. The best part of this recipe is you can make the filling the night before and bake the peppers the next day.

Side note - you have to download Ziplist. It is a grocery list app that turns ingredient lists from your recipes into actual grocery lists and even suggests recipes you'd like based on your shopping history. It organizes everything into aisles, so you never have to backtrack when you forgot tomato sauce and are already in the deli! Beyond that, the app lets you check things off your list so you can see how many items still need to make it into your cart. 

mexican turkey stuffed peppers

Ingredients:

filling

1 T olive oil

3/4 lb 99% lean ground turkey

3/4 C black beans, drained & rinsed

3/4 C frozen corn kernels

1 hot serrano, jalapeño, or banana pepper, diced (I used a banana pepper)

1 large tomato, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 C chopped onion

2 T fresh cilantro, chopped

1 t cumin

1 t chili powder

salt

1/3 C water

optional - scallions, sour cream, avocado

peppers

3 green or red bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed

1/3 C reduced sodium, fat free chicken broth or water

9 T grated Monterey Jack Cheese, reduced fat if available

Directions:

filling

heat olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat.

add turkey and cook through, breaking up with a spoon.

season with salt.

add black beans, diced pepper, tomato, garlic, onion, cilantro, cumin, and chili powder. 

add 1/3 C water and mix.

lower heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

remove lid, add corn, and simmer for 5 minutes uncovered.

if you are making this the night before, transfer mixture to a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.

cover with saran wrap or put in tupperware and refrigerate. 

peppers

preheat oven to 400 degrees.

remove meat from refrigerator if you made it the night before.

place peppers on a baking dish.

spoon filling into peppers.

pour chicken broth or water into dish.

cover with aluminum foil.

bake 30 - 35 minutes.

remove and discard foil.

sprinkle cheese on peppers.

bake uncovered for 5 minutes. 

serve with a sprinkle of scallions, a dollop of sour cream, or some avocado (optional).

you can make the filling the day before and refrigerate (make your live a bit easier)

perfect plate

tips & extras

peppers - You can use red or green or any pepper you have available. I like the flavor of green peppers when they're stuffed

filling - If you hate turkey, use ground beef. 

cheese - I used Monterey Jack, but white cheddar or something similar would also work. 

heat - Add the jalapeño seeds and some cayenne pepper if you want to spice this up a bit.

serving size - If you want to make this for 4 people, add another pepper and up the turkey to a full pound. I'd add a bit more onion and cheese, but the rest of the ingredients should be ok.  I was good with 2 peppers, my husband went for 3. 

Greek Lamb or Beef Stew "Hilopites"

There are a few things we never learn to cook because we love the way someone else makes it. I'm finally making an attempt at my grandmother's hilopites! Hilopites are egg noodles and every Greek family and Greek restaurant has a different recipe for hilopites with some type of meat (beef, lamb, or chicken). 

This recipe uses either beef stew meat or lamb stew meat (if you can find it on the bone, even better). The lamb definitely has more flavor, but it is sometimes difficult to find. 

hilopites with lamb

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil

1 T butter

1 lb beef or lamb stew

1 15-oz can tomato sauce

1 C water + 1 1/2 C water

1 medium onion, diced

1 - 2 garlic cloves, minced

salt & pepper

4 C egg noodles

grated kefalotiri & mizithra or parmesan cheese

Directions:

meat

heat olive oil and butter in a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. 

pat meat dry with paper towel.

when butter is melted and starting to sizzle, add meat and brown on both sides (about 3 minutes per side).

remove meat from pot and place on a plate.

with a spoon, skim off and discard any dark-colored fat from top of liquid in pot.

add onion and garlic and sauté until the onions start to brown (about 5 - 7 minutes).

add meat and juices back to pot.

add salt & pepper.

stir meat and cook with onions & garlic for another 5 minutes.

add tomato sauce and water to pot and stir.

cook on high heat until tomato sauce starts to boil.

reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 - 5 hours. 

remove meat from pot with a slotted spoon.

turn heat up to medium-high until sauce begins to boil.

noodles

add 1 to 1 1/2 C water to sauce and bring to a boil. 
add noodles to sauce and cook according to package.
salt & pepper to taste.

serve beef over noodles and sprinkle with cheese. 

onions will thicken the sauce and add flavor

use butter & olive oil - best of both worlds

raw meat, pat dry before adding to pot

brown meat in oil & butter on both sides

remove browned meat and transfer to plate

add onions directly to pot after skimming fat

onions will brown and become translucent

add meat back to onion mixture and cook

simmer time! oh boy, it smells good in here 

this is my favorite shape of egg noodle 

sauce is a beautiful vibrant red / orange

tips & extras

cheese - If you can find Greek cheese (kefalotiri or mizithra), use one of those. If not, parmesan is fine. freshly grated cheese is always better.

noodles - Unless you are doing so for health reasons, do not use egg noodles without yolk. The ones with the yolk taste much better and have a nicer texture.

cooking time - The longer you cook the meat, the more tender it will become. For beef, I'd recommend at least 3 hours. Lamb is naturally more tender, so an hour or two is will work, but 5 hours is better.

water - Depending on the amount of sauce, you may need to add more or less than 1 1/2 C water to the sauce before adding the noodles. When the noodles are finished, the remaining sauce will be thick (you don't want it runny, so watch the water).

noodles - You can use any shape of egg noodle you want. Greeks often use mini squares.