Jamaican Style Red Beans and Rice

I found this delicious-sounding Red Beans and Rice dish from Emeril Lagasse and decided it must be done. With some minor alterations. Okay, a LOT of alterations. But the deal remains the same; you'll need a good two and a half hours to make this, so get onnit early!

You will need:

8 oz dried kidney beans ( about 1 1/4 cups)
6 garlic cloves, chopped big. ly
3 cups cold water
946 ml chicken stock, unsalted and fat free (sounds DELISH, right??)
1 cup light coconut milk
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon butter
2 tsp salt
4-6 Thai chiles, or 1 giant Scotch Bonnet pepper (I don't even know what that is)
1/2 tsp ground all spice (about 10 seeds)
2 cups uncooked brown rice
8 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2)

Prep! You can do most of it while the beans start, so rinse them and throw in the pot with the garlic, water and chicken stock. Bring them to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Now do the rest!

Strip the thyme off the sprigs; save those stalks for your stock, yo! I lurrrrvvvvvee fresh thyme, I just wanna lick my fingers after.

Chop your onion, halve your chiles, cut your chicken into bite-sized pieces and um, open your canned coconut milk. After cutting the chicken, you may as well cover it and put it back in the fridge. You don't need it for awhile.

After the 30 minutes, add in the thyme and coconut milk, cover and cook for another 45 minutes to an hour.

So then it looks..thusly

Now dump in the onion, chiles, salt, butter, all spice and some pepper, stir and cover for three minutes.

Dump in rice! Stir well, bring to a boil, stir again, cover, let cook for five minutes then stir and cover again. Whew! Got all that? Awesome! High fives all around, go take a break, let that cook for 25.

Until it looks thusly. Ish

Now add in the chicken, stir well AGAIN, cover and let cook for 10 more minutes.

Now set it aside and don't look at it for 10 minutes. Eyes up here, soldier!

Give it ANOTHER good stir (we're gonna have wrestler forearms soon!), portion between 6 people at 359 calories per, that's not bad, right?? We could have a salad and a wee eensy bit of dressing and we'd be in around that 400 calorie range, woo hoo!

Enjoy!

I like walks on the beach, days that end in Y and sunsets and rainbows...

Morrocan Chicken and Lentil Stew with Peppers

I found this great recipe in Chatelaine magazine called Moroccan Lentil Stew; I liked it so much I cooked it a bunch of times in a really short period of time, fancy dinners, lunches and then I started thinking...I bet it would be magic with chicken in it. Ooh, and peppers! Yeah! Peppers! And then this is what happened:

You will need:

2 tsp vegetable oil, divided
8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasteses
1 large onion
1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper
4 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp Madras curry paste
1 c lentils, dried
3 cups water
796-ml can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper

Frist, prep!! Chop up your pepper and onion, mince your garlic and slice your chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Rinse your lentils, open up your can of tomatoes

Heat one teaspoon of the oil in a large heavy pot / pan dealie (Smurf-bum lid optional),

add in chicken and cook until no longer pink, about 4-5 minutes. Ish.

 Remove the chicken from the pan and add in the remaining teaspoon of oil. Cook the onions and peppers for 3-4 minutes, until almost softened and then add in the garlic and cook for just one more minute. Just until you can smell it! Don't you burn that garlic! I'm such a garlic nerd nagger.

Stir in the curry paste, lentils and water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Return the chicken to the pan, pour in the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes, stirring here and there, with the lid off

As t thickens, it will go from this

To this. Ish

This works out to 6 big protein-rich servings at 223 calories per, according to MyFitnessPal, you could serve it on it's own, or over rice, either way, es delish.

Enjoy!

Turkey Parmesan Meatballs with Rose Sauce: SHV

It's Wednesday! Which means it's odd food night. I wanted to do another pasta with a cream sauce, mostly so I could use another finishing salt, but was also obsessed with the ground turkey I picked up the other day. Throw in some parmesan cheese and blammo! Supper! Using ground turkey and whole wheat pasta means I get to call this a Somewhat Healthier Version, yay!

 

You will need:

2 tsp olive oil (NOT ever EVOO)
360g ground turkey ( I would suggest 1/2 lb, but that's what I used)
1 lg slice stale whole grain, whole wheat bread
1/3 c 1% milk
1 tsp thyme, divided
Salt, pepper, basil
4 cloves roasted garlic (you know, if you have some kicking around), optional
1/2 oz parmesan cheese - about 14 g if that helps. I know, not really.
1/2 red onion
1/2 red pepper
4 garlic cloves
1/2 c wine
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 c chicken stock
1 c homogenized milk
170 g whole wheat spaghettini (about half a small box)

Not pictured: stock. Dang it

Prep! Breaking with my usual prep-absolutely-everything-in-advance style, I like to get the meatballs started right away, as they take a little while and afford all kind of time to get everything else prepped.

First, soak your stale bread in the 1/3 c of 1% or skim milk. Throw the turkey, the roasted garlic if using, 1/2 of the parmesan cheese (so 1/4 ounce. I know), 1/2 of the thyme, salt, pepper an some basil into the bowl of a stand mixer.

When all of the milk is absorbed into the bread, add it to the mixer bowl and blend with the paddle for 2 minutes. This style of making meatballs with milk-soaked bread is called using a panade, and I usually prefer it to using an egg and crackers as binding agents. Not always! But today.

After two minutes, start rolling the mixture into teaspoon-sized balls, basically bite-sized. Ish. It's your mouth, judge yourself accordingly. When you are about half done, heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large saucepan (NOT non-stick. sticky) and drop them into the hot pan in a single layer. No crowding! Crowding means steaming and stewing and we just want luscious browning. On all sides, please!

While the meatballs are doing their thing, go ahead and finish your prep. Chop your onion and red pepper into a large dice, mince your garlic.

Heat the second teaspoon of oil, brown the second batch of meatballs; set all aside somewhere relatively warm. Add in the onions and red peppers. Ignore the mushrooms, I only had two so they don't really count. I bet a couple of cups worth would have been magic, though.

Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until almost softened. Add in the 4 cloves of minced garlic, cook for just one more minute. Just one! I mean it! Deglaze with the 1/2 of wine, stirring to scrape up delicious brown bits on the bottom

When the wine is just about gone, stir in the 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, some salt, pepper, the rest of the thyme and some basil.

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the paste turns dark and starts to stick. Add in the cup of chicken stock. This is a good time to start boiling water for your pasta! I wanted to use angel-hair, but I couldn't find any whole wheat stuff, so I went with the finest whole wheat noodle I could find: spaghettini.

Scrape! Cook until reduced by half. Start adding in milk, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring all the while.

When all the milk is incorporated, let reduce until you can make a full trail across the middle with your spoon, about 7-10 minutes.

Add your meatballs back in, cover and warm through, about 5 minutes.

Drain your pasta! Plate and cover the pasta with the sauce. Finish with a little of the rest of the parmesan cheese and a wee dram of finishing salt. I am using Wild Porcini Sea Salt tonight, but any kind would work, I am sure.

 

Including the pasta, this works out to 4 servings at 430 calories each, which is on the high side, but still puts us within the recommended 400 - 500 per meal. Add a small salad! Yay us!

 

Enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Freedom Fries

Have you ever really wanted some nuggets and fries but thought that taking an extra hour and a half was the way to go? Then this is your recipe! Seriously, though, I love feeding the boys this type of thing, but the pre-made stuff is all chemicals and preservatives and deep fried and exactly what the kiddos love. So I make my peace with it by doing it myself; then I at least have an idea of what's actually in it and they will eat anything that looks close enough to store or restaurant bought fries. This recipe makes a couple of meals' worth, depending on how many / how big mouths you have to feed.

You will need:

2 lbs red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed
2 Tbsp Olive oil (I've said this before, but not EVER EVOO for cooking, right? Save it for salads)
Kosher salt
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5 egg whites or egg-related substance (about 3/4 c)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 c whole wheat / whole grain flour
Kosher salt, pepper
1 1/2 c panko bread crumbs
Dried thyme leaves, ground sage, fresh rosemary
Spray oil

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prep! I have an awesome freedom fry (sorry, I read online that there was actually a bill put in after 9/11 to change French fries to Freedom fries and it was too awesome to not repeat) cutter, made by Starfrit, but if you don't, chop your potatoes into 1/2 centimetre matchsticks. Approximately. Ish. Cut your chicken into bite-sized chunks, depending on the size of your chompers.

Set up your breading station, starting with the egg wash. Mix your egg whites and mustard in a pie plate or equivalent. Instead of using shallow dishes, given the size and amount of the chicken pieces, we are going to use sealable plastic bags for the rest. Put the flour and some salt and pepper in one bag, the breadcrumbs, sage, thyme and rosemary in another. Get two sets of tongs!

For whatever reason, whenever I strip herbs, I always think of the line in Brokeback Mountain about "you boys playing stem the lily". I don't even know what that means.

I like to get the fries going first; put all your 1/2 centimetre matchstick potatoes into a large-ish bowl, drizzle on the (NOT EVER EVOO) olive oil and kosher salt. You can really use any coarse salt, I really like sea salt also, but my kids don't know from fancy.

Swirl around with  spatula, then spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

Bake for 30 minutes, flipping halfway. On to chicken!

Take your cutup chicken, dump by batches into the flour bag, bounce around until completely covered.

Take the floured chicken out of the bag and dip it into the egg wash. Flip once to make sure completely wet. I suggest tongs, but it's your fingers.

Dump the eggy chicken into the breadcrumb baggie, bounce around until coated.

Lay out in a single layer on a baking sheet (I strongly suggest parchment paper), spray with oil and bake for 25 minutes, flipping halfway through. More tongs!

When you are done, the should look something like zo:

I didn't work out the calories because I kind of messed around with serving sizes, but I would guess this is way lower than whatever you can buy at a store or restaurant. Approximately. Being a Canuckleadian, I also usually add a homemade gravy for the Freedom Fries, but that is totally up to you.

Enjoy!