Happy Summer, and welcome back to the blog! 

This weekend I knocked out not one, but two new recipes.  Yay!  Here's one of them.



It's been said before on the blog, but we love to grill in summer, but grilled chicken doesn't always excite us, because if you make sure it's done, it's often overdone and a little dry.  This particular recipe utlizies a sort of combination of brining and marinating the chicken for flavor and moisture infusion, and boy is the end result tasty.  A full 24 hours of prep time is required, so planning ahead is essential.  Everything does, however, come together easily.  Depending on the appetites in your household, you can get 4-6 adult servings off one bird.  I made the recipe as is and will post it below.  You can also click the link below to see professional pics and the original webpage for the recipe.  Definitely put this in your summer grilling repertoire.

We served it with a salad and baked sweet potato, but any of the summer sides would work great.



Buttermilk Brined Grilled Chicken
from June 2012 Southern Living

1 whole chicken, cut into individual pieces (breast, leg, thigh, wing) or the equivalent of a whole chicken already in pieces
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups water
1/4  c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. hot sauce
3 Tb. Kosher salt
1 Tb. pepper, freshly ground preferred
1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, halved

In a bowl (or even the bag you'll marinate in), combine the buttermilk, water, sugar, hot sauce, salt and pepper and stir.  At this point make sure it's in a resealable bag or container for brining.  Add the lemon and onion and then the chicken.  Place in refrigerator and let sit 24 hours. 

When ready to grill, prepare your grill for indirect grilling and heat to medium high (300-350).  Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towels.

Place chicken on unlit portion of grill and grill, skin side up, covered, for 40-50 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of meat regoisters 165.  Flip the chicken over and place over lit portion of grill and grill for 5 minutes more or until skin is crispy. 

Remove from grill and let the meat rest, loosely covered with aluminum foil, for approx. 5-10 minutes before serving. 

I have largely refrained from posting lettuce or greens based salads on here because I kind of scoff at the idea of recipes for these sorts of things.  I mean, you just layer a bunch of fresh ingredients over a bed of lettuce or other greens, and you have the dish.  Where's the need for instructions in that? 

So, why, you ask, do I post this one?  It's just so pretty!  I made this up a couple weeks ago because Drew brought home a whole gallon of strawberries from Strawberry Hill USA after taking his grandparents there and we wanted to start eating them immediately, and I saw a salad recipe that used tomatoes and avocado and somehow thought the strawberry and avocado would play together.  I was right! Oh, and bonus!  The salad is made from romaine lettuce that grew on its own from a renegade seed in our garden. 

So, it's simple.  I'll post the "recipe" below but really, just go with what you love.  Please note that because I tend to just throw salads together until I think they look pretty, measurements are anything but exact.

Strawberry Avocado Salad
serves 2 an entree sized salad

1 head romaine lettuce (or 2 cups baby greens), washed and roughly chopped
1 shallot or 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup sunflower seeds or sliced almonds
2 tb. olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, place lettuce.  Top with shallot, strawberries, avocado, and seeds or almonds.  In a small bowl, stir together the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Drizzle over salad.  Divide between two large plates or bowls and serve. 

*for added protein, feel free to add cooked and shredded or diced chicken- maybe even steak or tuna or white kidney beans/tofu. 

I have always had a sweet tooth.  My sweet tooth lines up very well with today's fudge on a proper breakfast.  Look on any breakfast aisle in a grocery store, and you will find anything from cereals to instant grains to granola bars and now cookies.  Cookies for breakfast?!  Yes, please! 



I found this recipe in the January 2012 issue of Bon Appetit and market it for trial.  They passed the test!  Easy to make, tasty, lightly sweet, and semi-healthy thanks to the quinoa, they're a great breakfast or even mid-morning snack. 

Changes I made to the include the use of dried cherries rather than cranberries and a mix of whole wheat and white flour. 

You can find this one through epicurious.com, but I'll post here as well.  The recipe title is the link to the page on epicurious.com. 



Almond-Cranberry Quinoa Cookies
from January 2012 Bon Appetit

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour





Enjoy!

This is such a lame post to have not posted for two weeks!  I must apologize because I have been too busy to put together a suitable post, but this recipe is worth posting now.  It's a delicious, easy way to prepare salmon (or any firm fish) that utilizes fresh ingredients not always commonly found together.  It's titled Salmon and Spinach in Parchment and comes from the April 2012 issue of none other than Everyday Food.  Did I mention you can make this dish ahead, which is wonderfully helpful for those of us pressed for time because we're overcommitted?  Did I mention that it also tastes like you took much longer to make it than 10 minutes plus baking time?  Drew and I are the only ones who ate this, but I bet it'd be a great meal to serve to family and guests alike.

I made this recipe as is, except that I used ground ginger as a substitute for the fresh.  I know that causes me to lose some culinary points, but it's what I had, and it worked.  Also, don't skimp on the parchment.  You'll be amazed at how much room the ingredients take up pre-baking!

The recipe title is a link to the recipe and corresponding picture on the Martha Stewart Website.  I forgot to take pictures, which is why I'm a lame food blogger at times, so please forgive me.  

Salmon and Spinach in Parchment
from Everyday Food, April 2012
serves 4

8 oz baby spinach
1 Tb fresh orange zest
3 oranges, peeled and sliced into 1/4" rings
4 skinless salmon fillets (approx. 6 oz each)
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin strips (or about 1/2 tsp dried ginger)
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 Tb extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Cut four pieces of parchment to be 16"x16."  Divide the spinach evenly among the parchment squares.  Place on top of the spinach the orange zest, orange slices, salmon, ginger, and shallot.  Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. 

Bring long ends of paper together and fold down 3 times to make a seam. Tuck ends underneath to secure.

Do you have a certain dish that, when you think about that dish, it evokes some sort of picture of elegance or sophistication in your mind?  Feel free to laugh, but for my younger version, shrimp cocktail is that dish.  I can't tell you why, but growing up I always saw it as this food associated with lavish meals or parties and people dressed to the nines.  Fast forward from my 15 year old self to now, when "we" don't eat shrimp because Drew has always hated shrimp and now "we" are slightly rag-tag followers of the Maker's Diet and for some reason I have been on a cauliflower kick.  Yes, the above thoughts are related. 



Imagine my intrigue when Bon Appetit published this shrimp cocktail fake out using cauliflower in place of shrimp, par boiled in a poaching liquid to give the cauliflower a taste and texture similar to the shrimp eaten in shrimp cocktail.  I tried the recipe, and, sure enough, it does mimick the taste and texture of shrimp cocktail, but it's vegan, or at the least, vegetarian.  It's a low fat, low calorie snack that should definitely make it into your next elegant gathering for those who don't eat shellfish for whatever reason.  I plan to make this again just because.  I snacked on it for a week. 

Find the original recipe with intro by clicking on the recipe title.  I sort of tampered with it a bit because I didn't want to spend the money for all ingredients and I didn't want cauliflower cocktail overtaking my fridge, so I'll post my changes. 



Poor Man's "Shrimp" Cocktail
from Feb. 2012 Bon Appetit

It's been a little while since I made this but I wanted to share it with you since it's a little cooler today in the piedmont of NC.  A couple months back I was watching the Rachael Ray Show on TV and she made these on her show.  We had some bell peppers we found at Aldi that we needed to use up, so I decided to give these a go.  I'm always up for a new recipe. 

I am so glad we made these; they're delicious!  The filling is decently healthy, with a generous amount of spinach and I used lean ground beef.  Instead of a rice or other grain binder, these rely on the use of a panade of bread and milk, similar to that found in a meatball.  This contributes an almost creamy quality to the filling that blends really well when it meets the tomato sauce. 

I made these peppers pretty much as is.  I will post a link to the printable recipe and video on the Rachael Ray Show site and will post my changes below. 

Meatball Stuffed Peppers With Garlic and Spinach
from the Rachael Ray Show (click on recipe title to see recipe)

Notes

• I had no fresh basil- winter is a lousy season for finding it around here, so I simply omitted it.
• As I stated before, I used lean ground beef in place of the meatloaf mixture.
• I used a mixture of colored bell peppers rather than all red; I buy mine at Aldi in a three pack and they're all different colors.  They worked just fine.  You can also use green bell peppers.
• I did use San Marzano tomatoes.  They are more expensive but are truly worth the additional cost.  Their mellow acidity and light sweetness make all the difference.  You just can't get it from other canned tomatoes. 

Enjoy!

After an unintentional 5 month hiatus, I am back!  I have several recipes to share with you, but for today, here's a quick and healthy one. 

A couple months ago I had lunch with two wonderful ladies at a local Mexican restaurant, and one of them ordered this salad that looked amazing.  A bed of spinach is topped with chicken, black beans, avocado, and cheese.  I have since ordered the salad at Mi Pueblito, the local Mexican institution, and have loved it, but I also decided that I can make my own for less at home. 

This salad has a good variety of textures, with the spinach leaves, beans, and chicken and is super healthy. 

At home I left off the cheese to decrease the calories and I didn't even miss it.  The creaminess of the avocado completely renders the cheese unnecessary for me. 

I also used salsa in place of salad dressing.  I recommend that you use a homemade salsa such as this one or a Mexican restaurant thinner salsa for this purpose. 

If you're cooking for one or want a different spin on salad, go for this.  If you like black beans, avocado, chicken, and spinach, this just may be a new favorite!

The Edge Salad, a Recreation
inspired by Mi Pueblito restaurant chain

For two people
3 cups baby spinach leaves (adjust to your plate and taste)
2 chicken breasts, cut into thin strips and sauted
1/2 cup prepared black beans, drained and rinsed
1 avocado, sliced thin
1/2 cup thin or restaurant style salsa
1/4 cup shredded cheese, such as cheddar, Mexican blend, monterrey jack (optional)

Place the spinach leaves on two plates or in two larger bowls.  Top with remaining ingredients.  Pour salsa/cheese last.  Enjoy!