Chicken

March 27, 2017

Easy Oven Fajitas + Fajita Bowls

laura.smoak@gmail.com Chicken, Prep Ahead, Quick and Easy Mains, Veggies 4 Comments

Stepping off of the freezer meals this week, and bringing you one of our favorite slash easiest slash cheapest weeknight dinners turned workday lunches ever. I’m talking about oven fajitas. With tons of veggies and lean protein, what we have here is one weeknight dinner of fajitas with all the fixins and two days of fajita bowl lunches ready to go with minimal work.

You’ve seen oven fajitas on Pinterest for a while now, and I can’t really claim these to be very far off except maybe the addition of mushrooms? And taking them a step further by throwing in the whole meal prep thing?

I first need to discuss the ease of the whole oven fajita sitch. I generally plan to have these on a Monday night, so we get dinner Monday and lunches on Tuesday and Wednesday out of the way, and I generally prep it on Sunday. While I’m already in a veggie chopping groove after making our weekly veggie bags, I just finish up with the veggies for these oven fajitas. If you really don’t like veggie prep, you can buy most of these pre-chopped. I’m just so used to chopping things that it doesn’t take me more than 5-10 minutes, but if you need to save a little time then the prepared veggies are the way to go. Once I have everything ready, I just leave them covered in the baking dish for the next day. When I’m ready to cook the oven fajitas, I add the chicken, olive oil and seasoning. (Also – helpful hint – have the meat guy at your grocery store cut the chicken breast for you to save extra time and mess.)

While we generally just do standard fajitas for night one – chicken, veggies, tortillas, cheese, sour cream, salsa, avocado – I prepare other ingredients for the fajita bowls that we’ll have for lunch. While the oven fajitas are cooking, I make white rice (any rice works, but my rice cooker is a one-trick pony) and beans and corn for the fajita bowls. The beans and corn are just cooked with a little of the same taco seasoning as the oven fajitas, and really just need to be heated up to cook out the powderiness (word?) of the seasoning.

As written this recipe makes a ton, but that is because I want to get those three meals out of it. The fajita bowls look like a lot of food – and they are – but it’s mostly veggies and protein, so the calorie count is still in the 400-500 range (including a serving of shredded cheddar and sour cream). You can change up the amount of veggies and chicken used to cut down on the number of servings, but when you can get so many easy meals out of it, why in the world would you?

Oven Fajitas

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts – cut into strips (get your meat counter guy to do this)
3-4 bell peppers – cut into strips (I use 2 green and 1-2 red depending on what I have on hand)
1 large or 2 small yellow onions – sliced
1 lb white mushrooms – sliced
1 tbsp olive oil (plus more to drizzle over chicken)
1 tbsp taco seasoning (plus more to drizzle over chicken)
For fajitas: tortillas, optional toppings (avocado, salsa, shredded cheese, sour cream)
For fajita bowls:
Cooked rice
One can EACH beans and corn
A little taco seasoning

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Slice all veggies and combine in a baking dish. Add the olive oil and taco seasoning, and mix well.
Place the chicken strips on top of the veggies. Drizzle with another 1-2 tsp oil and taco seasoning, and rub over to make sure each piece is covered.
Bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes, or until chicken is done.
To make fajitas: serve chicken and veggies with tortillas and toppings of choice.
To make fajita bowls:
- While oven fajitas are cooking, prepare the rice.
- Rinse and drain the black beans and corn, then cook in a skillet over medium heat with about 2 tsp taco seasoning. I just cook them long enough to let the water from rinsing cook off.
- Assemble the bowls – place rice in the bottom, top with bean/corn mixture and then the oven fajitas mixture. Add any additional toppings as preferred.
Enjoy!

March 13, 2017

Freezer Quesadillas

laura.smoak@gmail.com Chicken, Freezer Friendly, Prep Ahead, Quick and Easy Mains 2 Comments

The lack of organized photos in this post is a good indication of life right now: busy. We have six weekends between now and when baby Pea #2 is due, and four of those are booked. I’m trying to stay on top of posting, but heads up there will be some weeks I won’t have a post. Please bear with me!

If you’re my husband, mom, dad or sister, then I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, so no need to continue reading. If you’ve been reading this blog for the last few weeks, I may be getting there for you, but today we’re back on the meal-prepping-for-baby train. If I’m being completely transparent, these posts are almost more for me than for you. If we decide to go for #3 down the road, I want to be able to look back at how I prepared for #2.

Anyone that’s done the new baby thing will probably be able to relate, if not let me paint you a picture…

You have a newborn, and your husband has gone back to work, so it’s just you and bebe. Bebe insists on being held during waking hours unless you’re good with constant (ummm, LOUD) crying <– not an exaggeration. The clock strikes three in the afternoon and you suddenly realize you haven’t eaten a single thing all day. Leftovers from last night’s dinner are tonight’s dinner (and it would also require you to put the baby down – see above), so you reach for a tortilla and shredded cheese and nuke it for 30 seconds. It’s one of the few things you’ve found that only take one hand to both prepare and eat. You know you need more, but you’re just too wiped out to make it happen.

Enter these pre-made freezer quesadillas. Stuffed with protein-y chicken and black beans, and ready to eat (one-handed for the love) straight from the freezer in less than three minutes.

Now, I know these aren’t exactly healthy, and my goal is to keep up with the veggie prep once baby Pea #2 arrives, but for me the first several weeks are all about survival. Last time I was totally unprepared for a baby that constantly needed holding. I mean, any moms that have babies that can happily lay in a floor gym or swing for any amount of time should take a moment right now to send up praise hands because having a baby that will not do that makes it that much more physically/mentally/emotionally hard. I loved my time at home with Anna Ruth, but I was just a mess, and I largely attribute that to trying to establish a milk supply while not keeping myself nourished. Sure the hormones played a part, but the physical parts of breastfeeding and not eating had the bigger impact. Knowing what I do now it won’t matter if #2 is also a stage-five clinger. Having simple things like freezer quesadillas ready to go will mean I can better take care of myself before hitting that wall of physical exhaustion in the afternoons from forgetting to eat.

As you can tell by the pictures, I had two little helpers making these freezer quesadillas over the weekend. Anna Ruth and Abigail love helping in the kitchen, so I promote that any chance I can. These quesadillas are perfect for little helpers. There are no exact measurements, so you really just have to supervise to make sure they’re not using too much or too little of any one ingredient.

The recipe here doesn’t include exact measurements because it is all to taste and preference. I used a chicken that I roasted earlier in the day, and large tortillas. You can easily use shredded rotisserie chicken, different cheese and beans and any size tortilla you prefer. This particular batch was one chicken, 2.5 bags of shredded cheese and one can of beans. We made 16 quesadillas, but ran out of black beans after about 12.

Freezer Quesadillas

Ingredients:

1 roasted chicken – shredded (rotisserie chicken works as well)
Shredded cheddar (or other cheese of choice)
Canned black beans – drained and rinsed
Tortillas – any size

Directions:

Preheat a skillet over medium heat.
Prepare tortillas with desired amount of chicken, cheese and black beans.
If freezing*: heat quesadillas on each side just until the cheese melts.
Allow the quesadillas to cool completely, then wrap individually in plastic wrap and then place into a zippered freezer bag.
To reheat
- In the microwave: remove plastic wrap, wrap in a paper towel and heat for 1.5-2 minutes.
- In the oven: remove plastic wrap, wrap in foil and cook at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through.
- On the stovetop: allow to thaw completely in the fridge, then heat in a skillet as you normally would.
Enjoy!

*If eating right away, simply cook as you normally would and serve hot.

February 27, 2017

Sweet + Spicy Cheesy Chicken Sticks

laura.smoak@gmail.com Appetizer, Chicken, Quick and Easy Mains 2 Comments

Oh hai, sweet + spicy + cheesy chicken sticks – where have you been ~~my whole life~~ this entire pregnancy? Kinda pizza-like, but more appetizer-like, these cheesy chicken sticks are your college-late-night Pokey Stix cravings amped up to a more adult level.

We love this recipe because it’s super quick and easy (looking at you, 5-ingredient list), and it is also a great way to use the chicken breast meat from last week’s roast chicken. (Rotisserie chicken breast also works well here.)

The combo of the sweet barbeque sauce with the spicy wing sauce is perfect, so you don’t have to choose between the two flavors. We’ve had this multiple times lately, and it gets two thumbs up from everyone that’s had it. If you want more of a “pizza” experience, just make larger pieces, but we love having the smaller stick version.

Enjoy!

Sweet + Spicy Cheesy Chicken Sticks

Ingredients:

2.5-3 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast (homemade roast recipe here, or rotisserie is also great)
1 can refrigerated pizza dough (we use Pillsbury brand)
1/3 cup barbeque sauce (we use Sweet Baby Rays)
1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce* (we use Franks)
1.5 cups shredded Colby-Jack cheese
2 green onions thinly sliced (optional – green parts only)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Roll the dough onto the sheet and bake in the oven for 8 minutes.
While the dough is baking, add the chicken, barbeque sauce and wing sauce to a skillet and heat through over medium heat.
Pull the dough out, and cover with the chicken and sauce mixture, getting as close to the edges as possible.
Top with the cheese then bake for an additional 6-10 minutes, or until the dough is done.
Top with onions (if using), and enjoy!

*Make sure to use actual wing sauce, as hot sauce would make for a much much spicier sauce.

Notes: Anna Ruth loves these sticks, but I leave out a small portion of chicken to combine with just barbeque sauce, so she doesn’t get the spicy.

February 20, 2017

Roast Chicken – Two Ways

laura.smoak@gmail.com Chicken, Freezer Friendly, One Pot Dishes 4 Comments

Thighs and drumsticks and breasts, oh my! We’re getting into one of my ultimate weekend prep loves: roast chicken. A single chicken cooked on Sunday afternoon easily feeds my family for three dinners and generally 1-2 lunches for Andy…and all for around $7.

When it comes to whole chickens, where are you? Do you get excited like late-20s/early-30s me with the knowledge that one little bird goes so far with so little work? Or are you like early-20s me, and the thought of cooking a whole animal seems very overwhelming? The truth is, it’s only been in the last few years that I’ve embraced the whole chicken, and I’m so glad I did because the time and money money money it saves is right up my alley. Here’s how we generally break this down, so that we get three meals (there are dozens of other ways we use it, but here’s last week’s use):

Night one: eat the dark meat as is with sides of potatoes and kale
Night two: shred or chop one chicken breast for quesadillas (enough for a lunch ‘dilla, as well)
Night three: shred or chop the other chicken breast to put over salad

The chicken is good for several days, so we don’t eat it in three consecutive nights…meaning we don’t get tired of it.

Oh – and the flavor! I’m on paragraph three, and haven’t even discussed the best part. Roasting a whole chicken is hands down the way to get the juiciest chicken ever. Even the breast meat <– and that’s saying a lot. So many people are just ho hum about chicken, but it’s because they’ve only had ho hum chicken. Roasting it locks in the flavors, and is anything but boring.

The most versatile way for roast chicken that you’re using in other recipes is to simply stuff the cavity with celery. The chicken does not come out tasting like celery, but the celery provides plenty of moisture to keep it nice and juicy. The other way I do roast chicken is by stuffing it with lemon, garlic and rosemary. This preparation is better IMO if you’re eating it as chicken and not part of another dish. The flavors infuse so beautifully, and the pan juices can be used to make a delicious lemon sauce.

So, obv, the pictures in this post show how I roast chicken two ways, so the pan was pretty full. If I’m only roasting one chicken, I’ll generally throw in diced potatoes to cook with it, and have a nearly one-pan dinner situation. If you want to go that route, the chicken prep/cook time is no different, but you just arrange the diced potatoes around the bird and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. I don’t usually roast two at a time, but am starting to do that more now that I’m stocking our freezer for once the new baby is here. Y’all. Roast chicken freezes beautifully and is just as juicy and delicious as fresh out of the oven. To freeze, I just roast the chicken and then carve it into the servings I would use throughout the week (leg/thigh combos and individual breasts). I put them into freezer bags and into the freezer once they’re totally cool. The key for using after frozen is to let them thaw in the fridge for 1-2 days before using them.

As far as roasting pans go, you don’t need an “official” one to do this because we don’t use the rack in this preparation. Just an oven-safe pan with high sides is fine (though if you use a cast iron dutch oven the cooking time may vary because the pan would cook from the sides as well). We got this one as a wedding gift from one of my favorite families on Andy’s side, and use it at least once a week for things other than just chicken. If you want one, I would definitely suggest it.

The recipe below is for ONE chicken, so make sure to double it if you want to roast two at once**. I’m giving the ingredients for the lemon/garlic/rosemary preparation because the amounts of those are more specific, but if you want to go the celery route, just replace those items with celery pieces (about 4 stalks should do the trick). Do you have other combos you use for your roast chicken? I’d love to hear them!

Roast Chicken – Two Ways

Ingredients:

4-5 lb whole chicken
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter – melted
Salt and pepper
1 lemon* – cut in half
1 head of garlic* – cut in half
8-10 sprigs of rosemary*

Directions:

Remove chicken from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before putting it in the oven.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Dry the chicken with paper towels, and remove the giblets and neck.
Season the inside of the cavity with plenty of salt and pepper (about ¼-1/2 tsp, but you really can’t use too much here).
Stuff the cavity with the lemon, garlic and rosemary* – gently squeeze juice from one half of the lemon just a little bit.
Place the chicken breast side up and season with more salt and pepper – just eyeball it, but I’d say about ¼ tsp.
Brush the chicken with half of the melted butter, and tie the two legs together.
Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, then brush on the other half of the butter.
Continue roasting until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees – about 45 more minutes.
Remove from the oven and let sit for at least 10 minutes before carving.
Enjoy!

*Replace these ingredients with celery stalks if you want to use the chicken for other preparations that don’t necessarily work well with this flavor combo (think tex-mex).

**If you roast two chickens at a time, you may need to up the cook time by about 10-20 minutes. Just start checking the internal temp after it’s been cooking for a total of an hour and 15 minutes.

September 28, 2016

Fallish Salad

laura.smoak@gmail.com Chicken, Prep Ahead, Salads 1 Comment

Well hello there beautiful, glorious Fall. I’ve been waiting about nine months for you to come back around. Today we’re transitioning from summer with a Fallish salad. We’re taking the base salad we’ve eaten basically every day all summer and adding a little coziness to it because what is this life if everything in Fall isn’t cozy?

Let’s break this Fallish salad down, shall we…

Really this isn’t so much of a strict recipe, but more of a guide for building your Fallish salad. The beauty of salads is that you can load as much of a particular topping as you prefer. (I know some of you like exact amounts, so the recipe below has the portions we generally go with.) We start with grilled chicken breast because every salad we’re calling a meal needs a protein. Grill with just a little salt and pepper, and you’re good to go. Next we have the roasted sweet potatoes. They add just a hint of savory sweetness, and (oh, hello!) bright orange yummmm to your salad. Then we have the brown rice and quinoa. Guys, just trust me here, grains on salad = good. These three things are the only “requirements” for this Fallish salad, but I added cherry tomatoes (from our garden, thankyouverymuch) and sliced avocado for good measure. Top with a little balsamic vinaigrette (hint: the Good Seasons spice pack made with balsamic vinegar and olive oil is muah muah muah), and you’re done.

I love this salad because you can prepare the chicken and sweet potatoes the day of or several days ahead because – ta da – this Fallish salad is good hot or cold. Also, the whole “brown rice and quinoa” situation sounds fancy, but it’s really just these awesome, organic, ready-to-go-in-90-seconds pouches that you can buy at your local Costco. We go through so many boxes of these a year because who has time to make their own quinoa and brown rice with garlic? As. If. (Feel free to use whatever grains you have on hand, though. I just prefer the convenience of the magic pouches.)

Fall: the season where Laura gets back on her prep all the things train. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a solid place in my heart for summer, but getting back into this groove just makes me feel like myself again. Sure, I’m myself all summer, but just a lazier, unprepared version, and that is just so unsettling for this type-A planner.

As detailed above, this Fallish salad uses two of my current favorite prepped foods – grilled chicken breast and roasted sweet potatoes. You may remember how I like to roast cauliflower and butternut squash on Sunday’s. We took a break from that over the summer, but now I’m into the same thing, and sweet potatoes have joined the mix. Sweet potatoes just scream Fall to me. And have you ever tried them on a salad? So good.

My latest food prep obsession, however, is chicken breasts. This is probably a duh thing for most of you, but I hope I’m not the last one to figure this out. Over the summer we got into the habit of grilling 3-4 chicken breasts on Sunday evenings, and using them throughout the week for at least two dinners and two lunches. During the season where my cooking interest involved going into my garden, plucking a few tomatoes and cucumbers off the plant and putting them on a bed of lettuce, having grilled chicken at the ready was a life saver. My goal was to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible, and having extra chicken ready for the week was key. So why not continue that into Fall? I certainly can’t think of a good reason not to. Now, instead of using all of the chicken for salads, we make other hot things with the chicken that is already prepared – think burrito bowls, quesadillas, chicken salad, chicken sandwiches, etc. The skies really limit on this one.

So there you have it. Grilled chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, brown rice and quinoa on a bed of lettuce. I hope you’re as excited as I am about all of the delicious Fallishness coming your way from Miss Foodie Two Shoes!

Ingredients:

Boneless/skinless chicken breast (about 1/4-1/3 lb per person)
Sweet potatoes (about 1-1.5 for every two salads)
Grains (I use this pouch of brown rice and quinoa)
Salad greens (Spring Mix, spinach or arugula work best)
Optional: avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, any other salad topping you like
Dressing of choice

Directions:

Grill the chicken breast(s) with a little salt and pepper until the juices run clear.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the sweet potatoes into cubes, spray with olive oil spray (or mix with ½-1 tbsp olive oil if you don’t have spray), and season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning (Rosemary also works here by itself). Roast in the oven for one hour, stirring half way through.
Prepare the grains you are using according to package directions.
Prepare any other toppings you wish to use.
Assembly: add the chicken, sweet potatoes, grains and any other toppings to a bed of salad greens. Top with dressing of choice and enjoy!

July 13, 2016

Chicken Pita with Avocado Tzatziki

laura.smoak@gmail.com Chicken, Dips, Quick and Easy Mains, Sauce 1 Comment

Warning: this post is picture heavy with yummy chicken pita and family time – I just couldn’t help myself! You can scroll through for the recipe, but then you’ll miss all of the mouthwatering goodness.

Happy hump day, friends! Did you miss me? I’m back after a week off because #vacation. I know I only took one week off from posting, but man it feels like it’s been ages. Last week my little family went with Andy’s parents, aunt, uncle and cousin and took a trip far into the NC mountains where we kayaked, tubed, rode a train and just generally relaxed for several days, and it was incredible. Since starting MFTS it was the first time I let myself go completely offline and not worry about anything blog related. I wish I had tons of pics to share with you, but they’re basically all of AR playing in the creek behind our house. Okay okay, here’s some of that, and our family train ride on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad (sorry it’s blurry – thanks a lot, train).

After a few days, though, it was back to reality. And back to our current obsession, which made up our 4 meals pre-mountain trip and now 4 meals post-mountain trip. Ask me if I’m mad about it and the answer is a resounding as if, you guys. As. If. I present to you Chicken Pita with Avocado Tzatziki.

*Let me first state that I make no claims to this being an authentic tzatziki recipe. I’ve tried making traditional tzatziki and haven’t gotten it quite right yet, but this is my blog and I get to call it what I want amiright? Call it magic sauce for all I care. That may actually be a better name for it given how easy, healthy and absolutely delicious it is. Srsly, you’ll want it on errrythang once you’ve made it.

What we have here is the easiest, freshest, green on green on green meal you can have ready and on the table in less than 30 minutes. Let’s break down my chicken pita with avocado tzatziki…

First you have the pita. Flatbreads or pockets work, but we generally prefer the flatbread. Andy likes to spiff ‘em up a little by warming them in a pan with a teensy drizzle of olive oil and salt <– this step is 100% optional, but you should definitely warm your pita a little before loading it up!

Then you have the magic sauce avocado tzatziki. This sauce was the inspiration for the entire dish. See, every week we buy a bag of avocados from Costco. We share one for breakfast most mornings, but we generally still have 1-2 leftover later in the week. I thought it would be good to mix with Greek yogurt, and then I decided to see how it would be with some grated cucumber.

Y’all.

I can’t.

It was SO good I had to stop myself from eating it with a spoon. The key here is the grated cucumber. I use my microplane, but a box grater would work too – just make sure to grate it directly over the bowl. I’m showing you a picture of the before mix so you can see what you’re going for with the cucumber. You’ll think there’s a lot of juice, but you want it. Embrace the magic, green, glow-giving juice.

Next you have the Greek chicken. Simply cube up chicken breast, season and cook in a skillet. Dunzo bunzo. If you have an awesome meat counter like I do then you can ask your meat guy if he’ll cube the chicken for you. I’ll have them do this if I’m at the store when it’s not really busy. If you do this you’ll save a good 5-10 minutes on the total prep time. I use this Greek seasoning that I bought at my local grocery store, but it’s also available on Amazon and (hey look!!) it’s Prime eligible. You can make your own mix, but if you’re busy like me then the seasoning mix is the way to go.

Finally, top it all off with a little extra diced cucumber and dill. Annnd we’re done! Dinner is on the table in less than 30 minutes.

I could end there, but it would be cruel of me to not talk about the leftover situation here. Of course, you can use the leftovers to make the same dish with pita included. Orrrrr, you can pack up the chicken, leftover sauce, veggies and lettuce and have a super delicious/healthy dinner at the pool/beach/park/dock/whatever. No greasy pool bar food for this family (though, we may have ordered cheese sticks, but whatevs).

One last close up of this little greeny to show off her good looks. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs)
1 tbsp Greek seasoning
1 ripe avocado
½ cup Greek yogurt
1 English cucumber (1/3 for grating, then small dice as much as you want for topping)
Splash lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
6 pita (flatbread or pockets)
Optional: chopped dill

Directions:

Dice the chicken breast, then stir in the Greek seasoning making sure all pieces are evenly coated.
Let the chicken sit in the seasoning while you prepare the avocado tzatziki.
Make the avocado tzatziki: mash the avocado in a bowl, and combine with the yogurt. Grate about 1/3 of the cucumber into the mixture, add lemon juice and salt and stir until well combined.
Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Season the chicken with the Greek seasoning and sauté until done.
Assemble: smear the avocado tzatziki over the pita, top with chicken, extra cucumber and dill.

February 17, 2016

Sriracha Honey Lime Chicken Thighs

laura.smoak@gmail.com Chicken, Freezer Friendly, Grill 1 Comment

I’m taking a break from my obnoxious veggie prep obsession to bring you my current sweet, spicy, tangy, chickenny kind of obsession…don’t you worry, I’ll be back next week with an in your face veggie lasagna, but for now let’s just adore these Sriracha Honey Lime Chicken Thighs together, mmkay?

I love when I can make a bunch of something and freeze the leftovers for later on. I mean, don’t we all love that? Well these Sriracha Honey Lime Chicken Thighs are just what we need. A couple weekends ago we had a break from the dreary winter cold, so what did Andy want to do? -> Grill. Always grill. And while we’re firing up the grill, why not use the opportunity (aka: cooking space) to make extras? I love this recipe so much because it is so super easy (hiiiii, 4 ingredients!) and completely adjustable for what you want. Want to only make enough for dinner? Fine. Want to go boneless, skinless? Okay (weirdo). Want to bake in the oven rather than grill? Absolutely! Want to make these using chicken wings? Yes, and you’ll officially be my hero. You just take the basic recipe, and tweak it to fit your needs.

My need, however, is having as many of these babies grilled, cooled and frozen as I can for easy weeknight meals for the rest of the winter. I’ll freeze them in packs of four – two for Andy’s dinner, one for my dinner and one for Andy’s lunch the next day. Full disclosure: these are better when you eat them fresh just after grilling (or baking). They’re still really good after being frozen, but just not aaaaas good. Still, for me and my life right now, I’m willing to sacrifice a little fresh cookedness for the easy meal it gives me. Here is my favorite kind of weeknight: get home from a late afternoon playdate, throw some broccoli florets in the oven to roast, heat up a package of organic, pre-cooked rice (buy this brand at Costco for $8) and reheat these delicious sriracha honey lime chicken thighs. Dinner is done in less than 30 minutes with maybe 5 minutes of actual hands on time. Easy peasy!

Random side note – this blog was thiiiiis close to being named “Easy Peasy”– get it? Peascoe -> Peasy? I thought it’d be a fun way to use our name and give an idea of what types of recipes you’d find here. Anyways, I’m really glad I came up with something else because sometimes a girl just wants to make long, involved recipes, and then blog about it. Amiright? Second random side note – you’ll also notice a yellow sauce in the pic below…you guys, this curry yogurt sauce has been my LIFE for the last couple of weeks. If I can get it together, then I’ll do a mid-week post to share it. Moving on…

Friends, if you like spicy things, you’re likely to love this. It is so super simple and incredibly delicious. First, you get the zing from the lime juice, followed by a hint of sweetness from the honey and then you finish with a one-two punch of heat from the sriracha. The last thing you do is add a little torn cilantro on top, which is optional, but not really optional if you know what I mean. The recipe below is the basic, but I generally double or even triple it depending on how much freezer space I have at the time. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
4 tbsp honey
6 tbsp sriracha
Juice of one lime
Cilantro for garnish

Directions:

In a bowl whisk together the honey and sriracha.
Place chicken thighs in a zipper plastic bag and add the marinade.
Marinate at least two hours and up to overnight.
Heat the grill to medium then start with the skin side down.
Pour the leftover marinade into a small sauce pot, add the lime juice and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer 5-10 minutes to thicken.
Continue to cook the chicken over medium heat, flipping and basting with the marinade 3-4 times.
Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the grill, top with cilantro and enjoy!

January 27, 2016

Chicken Philly Cheese Dip

laura.smoak@gmail.com Appetizer, Chicken, Dips 9 Comments

In case you haven’t heard – the Panthers are going to the Super Bowl!!!!! The last time this happened I was just a wee college freshman watching it in a dorm room with friends. We’ve been waiting a long time for this.

It’s not just that we’re going to the Super Bowl. The entire season gave us weekly cardiaCAT arrests ( <—bleh – WHY DO YOU LET ME SAY THINGS LIKE THIS???). However, Sunday’s game was almost magical. At one point I thought Andy was rewinding the game to rewatch an interception, but – NOPE – it was just another interception, thank you!

–>DAB<–

I swear I think he may have had tears in his eyes by the end of the game…and I…I just had a huge grin plastered across my face the entire time. I mean – how can you watch Cam and not just smile?? He is so fun. Sunday was also a great day because…

We were still snowed in, so lots of family time and snuggles
Carolina beat Virginia Tech in men’s basketball (Go Heels!)
This Chicken Philly Cheese Dip ↓

Andy took his first bite of this and did his quiet chuckle, followed by “wow.” If you’re someone that loves food, I’m sure you can relate when you know something is probably going to be good, but then is actually much better than you even expected. Close your eyes….now imagine the scent of baked chickenny, peppery, onionny, cheesy goodness wafting through the air. Now…dip a piece of soft, yet crunchy, baguette into said goodness, then taste……. I know, right?!?

One thing you should know about me is that I generally don’t do much in the way of dippy-type appetizers. Usually, I’ll just put out blocks of gouda and brie with some crackers and apple slices and call it a day. If not cheese, I’ll do little one-bite type things, but almost never a dip. I just don’t prefer making something so heavy when dinner is the star. The Super Bowl is an exception to that. If there was ever a day meant for purely snacking – this is it. Meatballs, chicken wings, pigs in blankets and dips….all the dips. I’m not gonna lie. I’ll even go for the processed cheese block dip. It’s fine for just one day, right?

This year I’m taking my dip making game up a notch, which (let’s be honest) is like from zero to one. I love this dip because it allows me to use two of my favorite kitchen things: my cast iron skillet and my stand mixer. You’ll see the iron skillet come across this blog quite a bit, but the stand mixer not so much because I don’t bake very often. But you guys (((YOU GUYS!!))) my stand mixer is seriously the most beautiful thing in my kitchen. It’s the Martha Stewart Blue that was only available at Macy’s a few years ago, and it was a gift from my now mother-in-law while Andy and I were still dating. I’m pretty sure she knew I’d stick around, but figured it would seal the deal. She was right! Just kidding, I’m not that vain, but it really did mean a lot because she knows how much I love the color. The picture makes it look similar to the Ice Blue color that’s still available, but it’s really much closer to a Tiffany blue. It has a permanent place in the corner of my kitchen (not as pictured), so we can see each other anytime we want. (Insert all the googly heart eyes.)

If you don’t have a stand mixer, no problem – just mix this by hand. You could try a hand mixer, but I just don’t think it would work as well. One other thing you’ll learn about me from this post……………………… I sometimes use canned chicken……… *Buries face in pillow.* Actually, no. I’m gonna own this. Y’all, in a pinch, canned chicken works well for stir-fries, casseroles and dips (and many other things, I’m sure). I actually prefer it for dips like this because why in the WORLD would I take time to boil or bake my own chicken just to smother it in cheese? And… (listen closely because you will never hear me say this again) –> I wouldn’t even substitute rotisserie chicken here. Just make this as is, and take it to your Super Bowl party with some fresh sliced baguette. And for all you people without kids that go to bed at 7:30, have fun at your parties! We’ll be at home watching with AR because she is totally obsessed with football and an early bedtime. If you happen to make this dip, can you just come over to our house and watch?? You bring the dip, and I’ll have plenty of gouda and wings!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion – diced*
1 green bell pepper – diced*
1 tbsp Montreal steak seasoning
8 oz block cream cheese – room temp
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (plus more for topping)
2 (10 oz) cans chicken breast
Garnish: chopped jalapenos from a jar (if desired)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat the oil over medium-high in an iron skillet (or other frying pan if using a different baking dish). Add the onion and bell pepper, and cook until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in steak seasoning.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine cream cheese, mozzarella, chicken, onions and peppers using the paddle attachment. (You don’t have to use a stand mixer for this, but it does make it much easier – I would not recommend using a hand mixer – just use your arm muscles 😉 )
Spread mixture back into iron skillet (or other baking dish), and top with additional shredded mozzarella and chopped jalapenos if desired.
Bake for 30 minutes until hot and bubbly. Serve hot with baguette slices and additional jalapenos.

*You could easily double the veggies in this. I only had one of each on hand when I made it, but they cook down so much between the sauteing and baking that it would be fine. If you do that, I would add an additional 1-2 tsp of the steak seasoning.

January 20, 2016

Soul Warming Chicken Pipette Stew

laura.smoak@gmail.com Chicken, Freezer Friendly, One Pot Dishes, Pasta, Soups and Stews 8 Comments

Winter has finally arrived in North Carolina…if you need me you can find me bundled up in a chunky sweater and fluffy socks and probably curled up under a big blanket. All that unless there is snow on the ground! People tend to laugh at the South for shutting down when it snows, but I actually love it. As a teacher, Andy is automatically in the group that gets to stay home, and sometimes my office will close or tell everyone to work from home if we’re able. We’ve only had one dusting this year, but snow’s in the forecast for Friday, and I’m really hoping it’s a good one. Last year Anna Ruth was just under a year old and we were dealing with ear infection after ear infection, so we didn’t take her outside much.

This year I have visions of sledding and building snowmen, then coming inside for hot chocolate and warming up by the fire. The reality, though, will be playing trying to get a perfect picture outside for 10 minutes before deciding AR is too cold, then trekking back in and getting snow and dirt all over our mudroom. Then no hot chocolate because this loser mom generally just can’t justify the amount of sugar, and also HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN MY KID HOPPED UP ON SUGAR?? <—I’m sure it’s like most almost two-year-olds, but I try to avoid it as much as possible. I know the day’s coming when she’ll know what sweets are, but for now she doesn’t and, therefore, doesn’t feel deprived by not having them.

One thing I can get behind on a cold, snowy day is this Soul Warming Chicken Pipette Stew. Yes, I just went there. It doesn’t even have to be a cold, snowy day. Below 80 degrees? I’ll have the soul warming stew, please. This is really somewhere in between a stew and a soup, but closer to stew, so that’s what I’m going with. This is so easy – especially when prepped ahead. A couple of variations – if I happen to have it I like to make it with homemade turkey stock and leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or Christmas. Also, *leaning forward, looking at you over the rim of my glasses* I cannot stress this enough – subbing tortellini with the pipette takes it completely over the top. I’ll use tortellini if I have it, but generally just use whatever little tube pasta I have on hand, which in this case is almost always pipette (Barilla brand). There’s just something so fancy sounding about making Chicken Pipette Stew, right? Any small tube pasta works, but then it can’t realllly be called Chicken Pipette Stew…it would be something like Chicken Elbow Macaroni Stew, which would be very sad. Ok, fiiiiine, you can still call it Chicken Pipette – I won’t tell. Anyways, back to the point, this is great for a crowd and freezes really well if there are leftovers. We generally get two dinners and two lunches out of the batch, but Andy eats a lot, so it may go even further for some families.

If you’re making this all at once, you’ll need to give yourself about an hour (though, more than half of that is just time to let it cook). Let’s talk about your prep ahead plan for a minute. When I plan this for a weeknight meal I always dice the veggies and shred the chicken on the Sunday afternoon before. I prepped this during the commercial breaks while watching the first quarter of the #Panthers game. Then the night of it’s simply softening the veggies, adding the other ingredients and stirring occasionally. If you’re making this all the night of, just dice the veggies first, then shred the chicken after you’ve added the broth. Feel free to add any other herbs or spices you like. I like to add a little crushed red pepper or hot sauce, but don’t add it until serving so that AR can eat it. Ok, now it’s your turn – run on to the store and make sure you have everything on hand, so you can have this ready to warm you back up after a long, cold day. Thanks for reading!

I’m looking for a reliable recipe calorie calculator, but when I put the ingredients into a free online counter it came out to roughly 380 calories per serving if you break this into 8 servings. One serving is perfect for me, but Andy generally goes for seconds.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
3 carrots – fine diced
4 stalks celery – fine diced
2 small shallots (or one medium onion) – fine diced
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic – minced
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 (24 oz) can crushed tomatoes (I use the kind with basil, garlic and oregano)
8 cups chicken broth or stock (or 6 cups broth and 2 cups water)
2 cups uncooked short tube pasta (I use Pipette from Barilla)
1 whole rotisserie chicken – skin removed and shredded off the bone (or 3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded)

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
Add carrots, celery and shallots and cook until tender – about 5-7 minutes
Stir in Italian seasoning, bay leaf, garlic, crushed tomatoes and chicken broth. Reduce heat to just under medium, but not quite medium-low. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Bring mixture to a boil then add pasta and cook according to package directions.
Towards the end of the pasta’s cooking time, add the shredded chicken.
Serve hot garnished with parmesan and hot sauce if desired.
Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for three months.