| Bakersbeans (Wanda Baker) logo

Chicken

Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs

0 · · 1 Comment

Flavourful and simple to pull together, make these Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs for dinner tonight.

Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs
Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs served in a bowl on top of rice noodles

Sticky, sweet and spicy are a great way to describe these chicken meatballs when served with the glaze.

They are still tasty on their own for those who prefer simple flavours, or kick it up a notch and add the sweet and spicy glaze lightly drizzled on top for some extra wow factor.

The Meatballs
The Meatballs

The Meatballs

We developed the flavours of the meatballs after making them a few times and using a few traditional Thai ingredients like fish sauce, chili, lime, and garlic, plus fresh cilantro and mint. Shrimp paste was added for another hit of umami as we already had it in the refrigerator.

With so much flavour coming from the meatballs and the glaze itself, salt and pepper is not needed.

Thai Chicken Meatballs with glaze
Thai Chicken Meatballs with glaze

The Glaze

Our finger licking good glaze was created following similar instructions for a chicken wings recipe made earlier this year. This glaze touches on salty, sweet and spicy.

We recommend you play with your glaze as soy sauce can be salty so perhaps start with less soy sauce.

Four of us tried the glaze and we each tasted something different. My daughter thought salty, my son spicy, I got sweet and then my daughter got spicy for a second flavour. Both my husband and I liked the salty flavour (when tasting out of the pot) and found it lightened up when drizzled on the meatballs and the rice noodles.

Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs
Sticky Thai Chicken Meatballs

Enjoy these meatballs served with rice noodles in a bowl or rice noodles in a lettuce cup.

If you enjoy this recipe, check out our Vietnamese Pork Meatball Banh Mi served in buns.

Simple Roast Chicken

1 · · 10 Comments

Our Simple Roast Chicken is juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Pan leftovers create a superior tasting chicken gravy.

Learning to roast a chicken is one kitchen basic everyone should learn how to do. A roast chicken can provide a delicious meal and leftovers (my favourite part) can be turned into several new meals like Chicken Soup, Chicken Pot Pie, Tacos, Salads and more.

Preparing the Chicken for Roasting
Preparing the Chicken for Roasting

Roasting your own chicken tricks

Over the years I’ve roasted my fair share of chickens. In fact my first ever roast turkey was cooked when I lived in a bachelor suite in downtown Vancouver over 30 years ago. It was small quarters, with dirty dishes ending up in the bath tub, but I pulled out all stops and served up a darn good bird.

Once you roast your first chicken it will be easy for you to roast a turkey.

To keep my chicken moist, I cut slices of butter and gently push them under the skin. Note in the raw chicken photo the chicken breast skin is torn, but in the cooked chicken photo you can not even see the tear.

There is no fancy photo editing happening here. It is merely the butter under the skin keeps the chicken moist as it cooks therefore the skin does not tear any more or dry out causing it to shrink and the breast meat to show. Cool tip right?

Trussed Chicken
Trussed Chicken

Essential Chicken Gravy

I adore roast chicken and roasting a bird is something I could possibly do in my sleep since I’ve done it so many times. When I didn’t have a rack for my roasting pan, I improvised using vegetables.

As the chicken cooks it releases it’s juices into the pan and flavours the vegetables. The cooked vegetables become the base of an incredibly flavourful chicken gravy.

The vegetable roasting rack
The vegetable roasting rack

Lemons in the pan will add lemon flavour to your gravy so if you prefer more of a classic tasting gravy do not add the lemon to the roasting pan. A few simple herbs are all you need, let the chicken speak for itself. Our herb of choice is rosemary.

Roasted vegetable rack ready for gravy making
Roasted vegetable rack ready for gravy making

Ovens and bird sizes will vary so plan accordingly factoring about 1 – 1.5 hour cooking time. Your meat thermometer is your best friend when it comes to cooking poultry or any meat so have it handy for checking the bird.

 

 

Simple Roast Chicken
Simple Roast Chicken is the real deal. No food styling shots here, just chicken before being sliced

PRO TIPS:

  • Bring your bird out of the refrigerator one hour before cooking to warm up
  • Completely dry chicken with paper towel
  • Ensure you have a meat thermometer on hand to check internal temperature of chicken
  • The chicken is done when your internal temperature is 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the thigh, the drumsticks and wings wiggle easily and juices run brown
  • Plan for 1- 1.5 hours total roasting time for your chicken
  • We use vegetables to create a rack on the bottom of the pan, no rack required

What to do with Roast Chicken Leftovers

We love roast chicken leftovers and are always trying new recipes. Here’s a few tried and true to help you use your roast chicken leftovers.

 

 

 

 

 

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

1 · · 9 Comments

In less than an hour you can make these Instant Pot Chicken Tacos served with your favourite toppings and warm tortillas.

Growing up my mom had a pressure cooker. She was no Julia Child and she could not cook a roast if her life depended on it. When she pressure cooked a roast it tasted like leather. It was a turn off and most likely the reason I do not love roasts and have always shied away from pressure cookers.

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

Since we received an Instant Pot at Christmas I have been playing with it a lot. I have no fear of pressure cookers and recall my mom making leather often. It was a bright orange/yellow pressure cooker which would now be considered vintage or a relic, even a blast from the past if it surfaced somewhere! Always amazes me how technology advances into something like the Instant Pot.

Seared chicken breasts for tacos
Seared chicken breasts for tacos

My initial plan in making chicken tacos was to use salsa. However when I pulled the salsa out of the refrigerator it had grown legs. Big white moldy ones on the surface. Gross right. I knew I wanted diced tomatoes of some sort in this dish and just so happened to have some frozen diced tomatoes available. A quick defrost and into the tacos they went. Either or will work in this dish, even canned tomatoes with green chiles.

Shredded cooked chicken
Shredded cooked chicken

Taco toppings are endless. For these tacos we stayed simple and used diced white onion, shredded iceberg lettuce, cilantro, jalapenos and shredded cheddar cheese. There is so much flavour in this chicken it really didn’t need any kind of salsa on top however being a salsa lover I would never judge if you added some to yours!

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

Four chicken breasts fed 5 people with enough for leftovers. If you like spicy use spicy salsa. Lots of options with this dish.

Pro Tips:

  • Get a good sear on the chicken – it adds flavour
  • Having liquid is key as you want to nestle the shredded chicken back in to it so it can soak up all those juices
  • Prepare your toppings in advance to save time
This recipe was cooked in a 6 Quart Instant Pot

 

Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas – 30 Minute Meal

1 · · 8 Comments

Meals come together quickly when you use the broil feature in your oven to make these simple Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas.

Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

These fajitas can be on the table in 30 minutes or less when you prep things in advance or get the gang to help with dinner preparation. Once dinner prep is done, it’s as simple as preheating your oven, tossing items onto your baking sheet and selecting broil. In about 12 minutes you are sitting down to eat dinner.

Serve with bowls of your favourite taco or fajita fillings like grated cheese, jalapenos, banana peppers, guacamole, sour cream even salsa.

We make up our own seasoning for the chicken however buy a pre-made taco or fajita seasoning to save time or if you don’t have all the spices available.

PRO TIPS:

  • Change up your onions by using white or yellow instead.
  • Use whatever peppers you love.
  • Cut everything the same size to ensure even cooking times.
  • Warm flour tortillas before serving.

Warming Flour Tortillas

On the Stove: turn your burner to medium, toss one on, watch it, after a few seconds flip it with tongs and set onto a plate. Do this with all of them and keep them covered under a dish towel until ready to serve.

Microwave: Add a few tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave in 30-second intervals until they are warm. Repeat in batches of until all your tortillas are warm keeping them under a dish towel until ready to serve.

Oven: In a 350F pre-heated oven, wrap tortillas in foil, place on rimmed baking sheet and put on lower rack in oven until warmed through (about 15-20 minutes) while your fajitas cook.

Let’s get cooking!

 

Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad

0 · · Leave a Comment

Using up leftover rotisserie chicken just got easier with this Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad.

 

There’s something to be said about roasting more than one chicken at a time or in our case buying two rotisserie chickens from the store when time is not on our side.

While the chicken’s are sometimes smaller, it is also cheaper for us to buy them pre-cooked.

One of my favourite things to do is cook once and eat twice using leftovers. Lots of great food can be made using leftover chicken like casseroles, soups, salads, quesadillas, tacos, taquitos, nachos, pot pies, pasta dishes, sandwiches, wraps and more. It’s a winning situation as long as you are prepared for meal 2 or 3.

 

Crunch Asian Chicken Salad
Crunch Asian Chicken Salad

 

This Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad is a family pleasing quick dinner that can be ready in under 30 minutes or less if you cook your chicken the night before. Or buy it like we often do.

Toss together all ingredients, add dressing and top the salad with crunchy itchiban noodles and toasted cashews just before serving.

What do you love making with leftover chicken or turkey (which can be subbed in for any dish that calls for chicken).

 

 

Baked 3 Cheese Penne with Chicken and Pancetta

0 · · 8 Comments

Happy week before Christmas food friends! I planned out our meals this week with as little cooking as possible to ensure there were not many leftovers in the refrigerator to save room for all the Christmas dinner items soon to be taking up residence in there. Tonight leftover Baked 3 Cheese Penne with Chicken and Pancetta + leftover Pulled Pork turned into tacos. My goal is by the time Friday rolls around to have as little leftovers as possible since we are out each night until Christmas Day and it’s our turn to host dinner!

This Baked 3 Cheese Penne is made with a three cheese sauce that thinks it’s an alfredo sauce. Seriously. But it’s better because it’s home made and entirely delicious featuring provolone, parmesan and asiago cheese. I tossed in some leftover pancetta and cooked the chicken in the bacon fat. Cheese in the sauce, cheese on top, bake it for 25 minutes and dinner is on the table.

This recipe was loved by the family so I’m definitely making it again!

 

 

Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry

0 · · Leave a Comment

Chicken pot pie wasn’t something my mom made much of when we were growing up, however she did make a mean beef pie using leftover roast beef. The chicken variation was something I discovered in my Vancouver days during employee potlucks and lunches. I didn’t play with meat pies too much back then, but started to get more involved making them when I got married.

Chicken pot pie is one of those cook once eat twice meals when you have leftover baked or roasted chicken to use up. A few additional and simple pantry items like onions, potatoes, carrots and stock turn this into an easy to make and delicious meal. My frozen peas were getting ready to crawl away so I stirred the last of them into the pie when it came off the heat.

chicken Pot Pie

This recipe calls for some spices you may not have access to but don’t worry! Seriously. Grab some thyme, lemon pepper, Mrs Dash, oregano, or whatever seasonings you can find and improvise. Remember this is an easy and simple pie to make.

Chicken Pot Pie

The puff pastry idea was inspired by a soup I love to have every time I visit a certain pub in Canmore. They serve this spicy cheese soup, which I am going to try to make at home, with a puff pastry topper. I’ve been ordering it for years and love how the puff pastry puffs and hugs the top of the soup while cooking in the oven and flakes into the soup while you eat it. I might just puff pastry everything at this point.

I baked these in individual dishes allowing more for the bigger appetites and less for the littles. Equally delicious if you substitute chicken with leftover turkey after the holidays.

 

 

Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry

0 · · 1 Comment

Stir-fries can be many things. An easy clean out your fridge dinner, a healthy meal after an all you can eat holiday, a quick dinner on a busy evening or as simple or complicated as you choose to make it. This Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry is a quick dinner on a busy night in our house. You could make this meal every day of the week changing up your proteins, veggies, carbs and flavour add ins and never have the same meal. I definitely need to stir fry more.

 

Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry
Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry

 

I tend to learn towards chow mein noodles or rice when I stir fry, however this time while browsing the International aisle in the grocery store, egg noodles called my name. So I called back and they came home with me. Get the whole family involved in chopping and dinner is ready in no time at all.

Here’s how we did it.

 

Sweet Red Chili Glazed Chicken with Salad

0 · · Leave a Comment

Summer days can be hot, and there is honestly no desire in this house to cook a big meal. Instead we love real simple meals. Like grilling up some meat and having a nice flavourful salad with it.

This meal was inspired by expiring sweet red chili sauce in our fridge (ha ha!) and the fact we love grilled corn and asparagus. The Cilantro dressing is the perfect dressing for this meal and one I could literally drink up or put on everything. I will make it again and again.

This meal may seem labour intensive but it’s really not. First thing get your lettuce cleaned and corn/asparagus ready for the grill and BBQ them. Grill chicken next. While it’s cooling a bit get your dressing ready. Finally finish off the chicken and assemble. The first time I made this dish I admittedly kept two of the chicken thighs out of the glaze as I thought the kids would like it. Boy was I wrong. They devoured all the glazed chicken and LOVED it!

Sweet-Chili-Chicken-v2

Here’s how we did it.

 

Grilled Garlic Chicken

0 · · Leave a Comment

Since about mid January we’ve had mild weather here in Calgary. It’s very unusual for this time of the year as we typically have tons of snow on the ground. I kid you not. In my world we would have 2-3 months of cold winter and snow with the rest of the year sunny and green.

With warm weather comes serious spring fever. Last weekend we did yard work and cleaned up the yard in preparation for planting and Spring. My rhubarb is popping up and I’m ready to start seeding the lawn and eager to start planting. The kids have already advised they will each be having their own pepper and tomatoe(s) plants again this year. Sun and warmth feels so good. With this warmer weather we find we want to grill all the time. Fish and soy sauce are always on hand here and since we are die hard grillers (we will grill in any weather unless it hits -20), it’s not the first time we fired up the BBQ this year. We served up this chicken with our Green Rice.

I prep the food, my husband tends the grill. We make a good team. The longer this chicken can marinate, the more flavour you get.

The flavours in this chicken shine when allowed to marinate up to four hours or overnight. If you do not have the time, give the chicken at least 30 minutes to get cozy with the marinade.

 

Grilled Garlic Chicken
Grilled Garlic Chicken

Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Sauce

0 · · 3 Comments

Inspired by BC Blueberries, a bottle of bourbon I was recently given, a bottle of Guy Fieri Bourbon/Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce, and a Crosby Molasses contest, I decided to try and create a Blueberry BBQ Sauce. With molasses. I’ve never made a BBQ sauce with molasses before but I know it’s been done. The bourbon was honestly an afterthought but it works. In fact I have received 4 thumbs up from the in-laws on this BBQ Sauce. Yahoo!

If you don’t like bourbon, leave the bourbon out. The first night we had it we slathered it on a pork tenderloin. Next we mixed it into turkey burgers (with blueberries) and used it as a sauce for the top.

 

Blueberry BBQ Sauce
Blueberry BBQ Sauce

 

 

Grilled Citrus Chicken

0 · · 1 Comment

My kid watches me in the kitchen and has been doing so since she was little. She’s 9, almost 10 going on 14. She’s a true Leo as she was so stubborn during her birth, that after 64 hours of labour, she ended up being escorted out of my belly via emergency C-section. She brings this stubbornness into the kitchen when she bakes. Always wanting to race ahead, and do things her way without reading instructions properly or sitting back to listen & learn. I do love this about her, but it can be challenging.

A couple weeks ago I gave my kids a chicken challenge. Cook any kind of (simple) chicken dish you wanted for supper. Think about it, go through recipe books, or make up a recipe. Hailey’s first idea was to make up a watermelon marinade for the chicken. Since we don’t care for grilled watermelon, and watermelon logged chicken didn’t seem to appeal, I talked her out of it (maybe a mistake?). I could have googled ideas, but I wanted this to be hers. So I suggested she think up something different. She decided on this citrus chicken. Created it entirely on her own. I directed her to the fresh herbs, she smelled & tasted and decided which she wanted to add to the marinade. She loves grilled halloom cheese (from Superstore) and knew she wanted grilled this cheese as part of her meal (she calls it the squeaky cheese), with the grilled chicken placed on top. And her favourite Tabbouleh Salad. I helped with suggesting grilled lemon or lime on top. Her dad did all the grilling.

For the first time we worked together in the kitchen (I helped with the chopping) without any battles. It was flawless and so much fun to watch her follow her vision. And she did an amazing job. While it may not happen again anytime soon, this mom is super proud.

To assemble plate place a little salad on bottom of plate in a circle. Add a slice of grilled halloom cheese. Top with a piece of grilled chicken and if using, grilled lemons or limes.

 

Grilled Citrus Chicken
Grilled Citrus Chicken

 

 

Planning dinner & making a list
Planning dinner & making a list

 

Asian Pulled Chicken

0 · · Leave a Comment

Asian Puled Chicken
Asian Puled Chicken

Summer is coming, grilling has ramped up, camping is around the corner and I’m all about the grill this year. And pulled meat. With Canadian Beef prices here in Canada skyrocketing, there won’t be much beef in our house this year. It’s a sad state of affairs when you can actually buy lobster cheaper than Alberta beef. Here’s hoping things change and we get back to some better prices.

In light of watching our beef intake, we came up with this Asian Pulled Chicken recipe cooked in our slow cooker. I’ve played with these flavours many times before and decided with a broken stove I needed to get creative with dinners. So I pulled out the slow cooker, added all my favourite ingredients and success! Asian Pulled Chicken was born.

Since my chicken breasts were boneless it’s important to note they will cook quickly. I gave them 1.5 – 2 hours tops in the slow cooker before I pulled them out avoiding dry chicken. Wrapped them in foil and set them aside until ready. Boneless chicken breasts will take a little longer and hold the moisture. I pulled the chicken apart with my fingers and put the leftover liquid into a saucepan to reduce and intensify flavours.

I topped this chicken with some sliced green onions and served with buns. Feel free to add a slaw or dressed green salad as a topper.

 

Chicken Milanese with Spinach & Arugula

0 · · Leave a Comment

A quick and easy meal your family will love cause it’s simple. The kids think these are just “big” chicken fingers and one eats it with plum sauce. The other BBQ sauce (not complaining). The dressing on the salad is so simple and light. The whole meal cooks up quickly and is perfect for a busy activity night or night where you just don’t feel like cooking much.

Chicken Milanese has variations. Some fry the chicken and the salad is more basic than what I’ve made. I like to bake the chicken in the oven. It still crisps up and tastes great. Add a few extras to the salad and it’s just as delicious.

 

Chicken Salad with Crackling

0 · · 3 Comments

This chicken salad with crackling (crispy chicken skin) is a spinoff or variation of coronation chicken, a dish created and served at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on June 2, 1953. She became monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon. To this day we still sing God Save The Queen.

As I was researching this recipe I came across a recipe by Jamie Oliver. This recipe in fact. Remade in his style with flair and whimsy. I’ve always loved Jamie’s rustic approach to food. He is one chef I would most definitely like to meet in this lifetime.

After looking at his recipe, I made a few modifications to the salad to suit my family. You could easily add in some curry paste to the greek yogurt for an extra hit of curry love. A good curry paste just makes things taste better. I was thrilled the by the response I received from the family, it was a hit. I was even told this is the best supper ever. Cool Mom over here. *Waving

The first time I prepared this dish for my family I served all the bits in separate bowls, allowing everyone to scoop up what they wanted and assemble their own chicken salad. I also served it with noodles. The second time I tossed the whole lot on a platter and served it with rice. Scoop it up and if you don’t like something, pick it out, is my new motto.

In the end this dish takes just over an hour to make. And I let the chicken marinade for about 30 minutes before it goes into the oven.

 

 

Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken

0 · · 2 Comments

My 3rd and final entry into the Great Cream Challenge 2014 was this really tasty Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken. For those that don’t know, this cross Canada recipe challenge pairs 3 Canadian Food Bloggers against each other in a special monthly cooking challenge. At the beginning of the year you pick three challenges (one per month) to participate in using real cream, and then start recipe testing until you find a winner.

One of the themes I picked was Grilling, perhaps cause the rest looked easy?! (honestly no idea why I choose grilling lol) When it came time to create and submit the recipe, I panicked for a few minutes thinking about how to use real cream on the grill. But once I settled down, I was able to brain storm and realize there are many options when it comes to grilling with cream.

And so enters a stuffed chicken breast (with cream cheese, cream and other goodies), wrapped in bacon, slapped on the grill and finished with a sage cream sauce. It was very good and of course you can use anything you like to stuff the chicken breast. I used what I could find in my fridge/pantry.

Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken

I enjoyed being part of the challenge, and got to know several of the food bloggers better through this friendly competition. Here is how I made the Grilled Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken.

 

 

Honey Ginger Chicken

0 · · Leave a Comment

Chicken recipes are always enjoyed in our house. The kids loved this honey ginger chicken I made the other night, enhanced with garlic, oyster sauce and fish sauce. A sweet and savory combination that required no marinating. Brushing the sauce on during cooking did the trick. And since we busy parents don’t always have time to marinate meat before we cook it, it’s the perfect quick meal to make after a busy day.

 

 

 

Kung Pao Chicken

1 · · Leave a Comment

Kung Pao Chicken is a classic Chinese dish made using cubed chicken breasts and a mouthwatering kung pao sauce.

Kung Pao Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken

Kung Pao Chicken also goes by the names Gong Bao Chicken or Kung Po Chicken in Chinese restaurants. It’s a simple stir fried chicken dish made with a complex sauce of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy flavours making it irresistible.

Kung Pao Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken

This recipes dates back to the 90s when I worked in an office in Vancouver. Book sellers would drop by with a stack of books, many of them cookbooks, and an order sheet returning a week later for any orders and the books. You know how my lunch hours were spent – pouring through these cookbooks looking for ideas and inspiration.

Since this is a popular recipe in Sichuan cuisine typically calling for red thai chilis, we make our Kung Pao Chicken with sambel oelek and chili flakes. This gives us full control control over the amount of heat in this dish ensuring the kids will enjoy it too.

Kung Pao Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken

The sauce is made with flavours like sambal oelek, soy sauce, and sherry adding levels of flavour. You will want to let your chicken marinade in the sauce for a minimum of 30 minutes. Have your Jasmine or Basmati rice ready to go or even serve with cooked Asian noodles as your stir fry will come together quickly once started.

PRO TIPS:

  • have your ingredients chopped and ready to go to save time
  • A stir-fry pan or wok is best for this dish, however a non stick sautee pan will also work
  • we prefer boneless chicken breasts however you can substitute with boneless chicken thighs

Antipasto Salad from Just A Pinch of Ginger

0 · · Leave a Comment

 

You will probably hear me talk a lot about how much I love the world of Food Blogging. While I’ve been blogging since 2006, I’ve only really honed in on the Food Blogging World the past 3 or so years. And with it I’ve met and made some wonderful friends from all over the world, who share my passion for Food.

Deidre over at Just A Pinch of Ginger, is one of them. Deidre and I started chatting last year, and connected immediately. She’s originally from Northern British Columbia and so am I, although we never lived there at the same time. Even though we have yet to meet in person, I can honestly say it feels like I’ve known Deidre forever. You know that feeling when you meet someone and it’s just comfortable. You feel like you can talk about anything? Ya that. Deidre and I will be seeing each other at a couple of Food Blogger Conferences later this year and I can’t wait to enjoy some good food, beverages and laughs with her.

I love her inspiration for this salad that includes “Heaven at the top of Spanish Steps”, so make sure you get to know this month’s Guest Blogger, Deidre over at Just A Pinch of Ginger.

I was delighted to be invited to share a recipe with Bakersbeans because the most rewarding aspect of blogging is becoming part of such an inclusive community, and I am thrilled to have made a friend in Wanda through our shared passion. I began this journey as ‘Just A Pinch Of Ginger’ just over a year ago. A wonderful friend convinced me to blog instead of writing a family cookbook, and it simply evolved from there. It has been quite the wild ride. I must admit I’ve been shocked by the response, who knew people would actually want to hear about my recipes and crazy family?! My previous careers have included teacher, interior designer, florist and dance studio owner…eclectic, I realize. That’s me! Although I have no formal training as a cook, I have always been fascinated with ‘playing’ with my food and over the last couple of decades I’ve been experimenting on my six children. Yup, I said six. Nineteen all the way down to almost nine year old twins. It’s never boring, let’s put it that way. We traveled a lot as a family and I’m thankful for the opportunities to have my taste buds pushed to their very limits. Many of my own food adventures have started with trying to replicate some delectable dish gobbled down in a foreign country.

The recipe I’m sharing here was inspired by a day in Italy, Rome to be exact. We had been visiting the sights all morning…hitting some big ones; Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Boboli Gardens and we were all exhausted! Not only from the walking and map reading and heat, but also the non-stop ‘posing’. Yes, that’s correct…posing. When you visit a country that adores families as much as Italia, with many, very blonde little kids in tow, you become somewhat of a celebrity. Every time we tried to take a quick shot as a family, we’d have several people…uhm…add their kids to our pictures and begin snapping away. The photo sessions inevitably ended with warm compliments, enquiring about each name and enthusiastic cheek pinching. Much to the chagrin of my offspring. Ahhh well…’bella, bella famiglia’…what can I say?

Our frazzled tribe were caught in a sudden downpour and ducked into a restaurant that we would not have sought out otherwise. Too pricey. Too frou-frou. We quickly ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, an antipasto platter. I was just thinking easy, finger food. What they served up was instead, a little sample of heaven! This was well before the current ‘I Must take a photo of every meal’ craze, so I have no photo evidence. You’ll just have to trust me…Heaven at the top of the Spanish Steps. I’ve combined my favourite elements of that platter into this salad, with a few adjustments to keep the minions happy. Hope you enjoy…buon appetito!

Just A Pinch Of Ginger can be found here & there & everywhere! Follow her here:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Justapinchofginger13
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/redisbest13/
My Blog http://justapinchofginger.com

 

Chili Lime No Tequila Chicken

0 · · 2 Comments

This recipe is simple with simple flavours. I created it while doing the wild rose d-tox. It was satisfying, tasty and filling. You could easily add half a cup of tequila to the recipe for some added flavour and even toss in some chopped jalapenos. But it’s not necessary.

Chicken kabobs can be made in the winter, by broiling them. The one thing about broiling meat in the oven, is there will always be smoke when you open your oven door. But they cook quickly. Fortunately when I made them I was able to open the windows as we were having a Chinook here in Calgary. As always grilling them while camping or on the deck is just as tasty.

The first time I made these kabobs I used one chicken breast. It made two kabobs which gave me two meals. The second time I prepared 2 chicken breasts and ended up with four kabobs or four meals. This recipe is for 2 chicken breasts. You could easily substitute turkey breast. I’d say it’s a keeper since the minions were picking the chicken off my plate hence prompting me to make more the second time around.

Serve it on a salad, on top of  grains or brown rice.

 

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with Red Chili

0 · · Leave a Comment

Growing up my mom used to make stuffed peppers. She used ground meat, rice, tomato sauce or soup and a few other simple flavours. It was quite good and I always looked forward to it.

Fast forward to the present. I am married to a man who does not like peppers. Lord give me strength. Fortunately the kids do like them raw. Well really they prefer most of their vegetables raw. But it does make cooking challenging at times since I have to miss out on adding the peppers to stews, soups, chili’s, etc. This is why I try to introduce my kids to a variety of foods constantly so they are more open to foods as they get older and not as fussy as my husband.

I’ve made a quinoa stuffed pepper before, but like so many other dishes I make, I’ve never documented it. Now that I’m doing a cleanse and wanting to keep better track of the recipes I use on this cleanse, I am adding it to the blog.

Things to note: I added in some leftover roasted chicken….you can leave the chicken out and keep it strictly vegetarian if you prefer. This recipe makes enough for one person, so if you are cooking for more than one, double it. I like my peppers on the crispier side vs softened when stuffed, so if you like a softer stuffed pepper, bake it for an additional 5 minutes or so. If you love heat, add more chopped chili pepper. The quinoa mixture could also be eaten as a salad. If you are not doing a D-Tox that requires no dairy, a small scoop of shredded cheese mixed in is equally delicious or even sprinkled on top.

Hope you love it as much as I do!

 

 

Chicken & Sausage Soup

0 · · 2 Comments

Tis the Season. For colds and flu. Always amazes me how one can get sick and the other one can miss it entirely. It was a day where one of the minions was under the weather. When this happens I always make a big batch of chicken soup. Sometimes with noodles. Sometimes with rice. This soup had sausage.

The last time I was in the store I picked up a couple fresh links of Spolumbo’s Chicken & Apple Sausage. I had the intention of making a soup or stew with it one day and this was going to be the day. Just so happens we had leftover roasted chicken in the fridge and so the union was meant to be. Rummaged around for some chicken soup vegetables, grabbed some broth and a Chicken & Sausage Soup was born. I always use some form of broth in my soup since it adds so much flavour.

Everyone loved it and it didn’t take very long to make. It was so comforting to have a bowl of hot steaming soup on a cold Calgary day and a pimped up version of chicken soup. Here are the particulars.

 

Chicken, Apple & Halloom Skewers

0 · · Leave a Comment

It was about a year and a half ago I first discovered Halloom cheese in one of our local stores. I was curious, and as such the cheese came home with me. This became the beginning of a beautiful love affair. Since then we’ve enjoyed the salty, yet mild grilled halloom cheese on skewers with fruit or meat, in salads, as a desert with a balsamic drizzle, as an appetizer/on a canape or on a baguette in a sammy. So many ways to eat this delicious cheese, but it must be grilled first to fully enjoy the cheese in it’s entirety. The smokey but light flavour adds impact to whatever you serve it with.

For the past couple of weeks Ambrosia apples have been everywhere in the stores and so I picked some up. I had been throwing the idea around of grilling up some skewers for lunch on my indoor grill/panini pan but kept putting it off as the amount of smoke that comes from the grill pan is almost to much to handle at times, especially in the winter months. Finally a warm day came along which meant windows open and grill pan pulled out for lunch time fun.

I placed some chicken, halloom and ambrosia apple pieces, in no particular order, on small skewers. They needed a quick marinade so I poured some Maille Old Style Mustard into a bowl, added a few other ingredients and whisked it all together. This became the marinade and dip when all was said and done.

Quick and easy, it was the perfect lunch for the minions and leftovers were served up and devoured for dinner.

 

Buffalo Chicken & Bacon Dip

0 · · 3 Comments

Grey Cup to Canadians is like Super Bowl to Americans. As luck would have it, our Calgary Stampeders didn’t win the Canadian Football League’s Western Division Final over the weekend, it was the melon heads who took the win to advance to the Grey Cup. I can of course affectionately call the Saskatchewan Roughriders and their fans melon heads because most of my family lives in Regina, including my brothers, and they are loud and proud Riders fans who openly admit to wearing watermelons on their heads. All in good fun.

This means the Roughriders advance to the Grey Cup and will play against the Eastern Division Final winners, the Hamilton Tiger Cats. This year Regina is hosting the Grey Cup and I predict a whole lot of frozen melons at that game cause it’s gonna be cold. And since we are in the West, we will root for the West, cause West is Best! Go Roughriders Go!

This recipe came about as I had some leftover buffalo chicken from the Salad in Toast Cups recipe I am testing (to be posted soon). We roasted two whole chickens this weekend so we would have leftovers for a busy week. Plus leftovers of this kind always mean a new recipe or two must be attempted.

I didn’t have any blue cheese but I would definitely sprinkle some on top prior to putting this dish in the oven to melt a little….or after it comes out. Cut avocado sprinkled on top before serving would also be a nice touch. Baking this dip not only blends the flavours but it mellows out the buffalo sauce a little. I also sprinkled on a little extra cheddar before baking.

I served the dip with a variety of chips and crackers, but celery, carrots and fresh veggies would be just as delicious.