Chicken with Potatoes, Onions, and Carrots

This is a dish my grandmother invented, and to me it is wonderful Fall/Winter comfort food.  It makes the house smell amazing.  This is a meal that almost begs for some kind of apple-y dessert after.  I also like it because it bakes in one dish, which makes for easy clean up.  The potatoes also reheat pretty well, which is very rare with potatoes. 

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Bone-in Chicken breast cut in half
• 4 medium potatoes, cut in half length wise and thinly sliced
• 4-6 medium carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 to 1 1/2 medium onion sliced in half and then thinly sliced
• 1 8 oz can plain tomato sauce
• About 2 T chopped fresh Italian parsley
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Romano cheese (or Parmesan if you prefer) for sprinkling over
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to taste

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large roasting pan, place the chicken on the bottom, add the onions around and then the potatoes on top.  Coat everything with olive oil and sprinkle
• with salt and pepper.
• Roast in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove pan and add carrots and the can of tomato sauce.  Mix everything around.
• Bake for another 1/2 hour and then remove pan.  Stir the veggies and add Romano (or Parmesan) cheese.
• Raise oven temp to 400 and return the pan to oven.  Roast for another 10-15 minutes, or until chicken is done.
• If you don't have bone-in chicken breasts, you can use boneless chicken breasts, just add them in during the last step, when you raise the oven temp to 400.  Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, but make sure to coat it in the pan juices to make it flavorful.

Teriyaki Chicken over Brown Onion Rice

I like healthy food that is tasty, easy to prepare, and uses minimally processed ingredients.  Sounds like a tall order, eh?  So I get a thrill whenever I find a recipe that fills all of these needs.  Often with a little tweaking, I can get just what I want, and that makes me happy.  This is another remix of a Weelicious recipe with a twist of Mark Bitman inspiration and my family's own preferences mixed in.  Delicious.  The onion rice was a staple at my house growing up.  My mom invented it to replace Rice-A-Roni, which she deemed more expensive and less healthy.  I used brown rice and it worked wonderfully. 

Teriyaki Chicken (Serves 2, double to serve 4).

Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz can crushed pineapple in juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium)
• 3 Tbs honey
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 3 Tbs water
• 1 tsp dried ground ginger (because I didn't have fresh on hand, I would use A LOT of fresh if you go that way, maybe 3 tsp?)
• 2-3 medium to large garlic cloves.
• 2 large chicken breasts

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together in a plastic bag, except chicken.  Add chicken and make sure it is coated.  Refrigerate for an hour +.
• Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium high heat until the pan is hot.  Add the chicken breasts and cook for 6 minutes on each side, or until done.
• Remove the chicken and keep warm on a separate plate.
• Add the remaining marinade to the skillet with 1 tsp cornstarch.  Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until thick. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
• Serve over plain steamed rice, brown rice, or my favorite, brown onion rice and veggies of your choice.

Directions for Brown Onion Rice

Ingredients

• 1 can of reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 small onion finely diced
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 cup brown rice (or white if you prefer)

Directions:

• Melt butter over medium heat and add onions.  Saute until onions are translucent.
• Add rice and mix together
• Add chicken broth, bring to a simmer, cover and let cook until rice is tender (about 1/2 hour)

Italian Chicken Pasta Bake: A Remix

Breaded chicken and pasta is one of my staple meals.  I can make it without thinking and I always have the ingredients on hand.  It's simple and easy, yet elegant enough that I can serve it for company.  I used to make extra because I love leftovers, but the chicken never tastes as good the second day and the pasta gets kind of mushy.  I was also thinking about the Italian Chicken Pastina Bake from Giada.  It always left me a little disappointed: I wanted it more flavorful and it seemed silly to cook chicken and pasta to then bake it in the oven and essentially cook it again.  I was always left with a million dishes to do (and I hate doing dishes).  It's almost like the dish was made for leftover chicken and pasta.

So it hit me.  I could make extra chicken and pasta and use it to remake the chicken pasta bake.  Brilliant.  It turned out way better than the original, and much easier.  Two different dinners for the price of one night of cooking (and one night of dishes, yay).  And it tricked my leftover hating toddler into eating leftovers and enjoying it.  I may never make the original again.

Ingredients: (fed 3 of us plus leftovers for lunch, could probably feed a family of 4)

• 1/2 cup leftover breaded chicken, cubed.  See here for recipe.
• 1/2 box of medium size pasta (penne, rigatoni, rotini, cavatappi, your favorite)
• Enough sauce to cover the pasta to your liking (I probably used about 1/3 to 1/2 cup) See here for a really good sauce recipe.
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup good Parmesan cheese (i.e. NOT Kraft)
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 TBS butter
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Mix chicken, pasta, sauce and mozzarella in a 9x9 in baking dish (sprayed with cooking spray).
• Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan and garlic powder in a small bowl.  Pour over the top and dot with butter.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until browned on top and hot throughout. 

*You can easily add extra seasoning to the bread crumb topping if you like, I bet oregano, basil, and parsley would be delicious. 

World Famous Tomato Sauce

This is the real deal.  From my Sicilian great-grandmother to my Sicilian grandmother to my half Sicilian mother to me.  It is so easy yet so delicious.

Ingredients-makes enough for 2 lbs of pasta

• 2-3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 7-8 Peeled garlic cloves
• 1 28 or 35 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes (My mom and I both like Hunt's whole peeled tomatoes, but get the plain ones or with basil) put them in the blender or food processor until crushed.
• 8-10 fresh basil leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

 Directions

• Heat oil in a heavy pan.  Sauté 5 or 6 (save 2) garlic cloves. 
• When garlic is starting to sizzle, add the remaining 2 garlic cloves through a garlic press (if you don't have a garlic press, you can chop the garlic and mash it with a fork). 
• Sauté for about a minute and then add tomatoes. Carefully lower tomatoes into the pan and use a screen to help prevent splattering. 
• Bring to a boil and then lower heat, simmer for about 20-30 minutes. 
• Taste and add salt (maybe 1/2 teaspoon) to taste.  Add basil, cover pan and let stand off the heat for about 10 minutes.  Taste again and adjust seasonings.  Add another Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil if you want.

*I usually double the recipe and freeze half for later.  It thaws and reheats amazingly well.

Breaded Chicken

A staple that I grew up with so it should be listed.

Ingredients-to serve 4, increase as needed

·         4 large chicken breasts sliced in half on the diagonal

·         1 egg, slightly beaten

Ingredients-to serve 4, increase as needed

·         4 large chicken breasts sliced in half on the diagonal

·         1 egg, slightly beaten with a clove of minced garlic + salt

·         Bread crumbs to cover chicken

Directions

·         Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a large baking pan with cooking spray and pour in olive oil-just enough to make a thin film.

·         Dip the chicken in the egg and then coat with bread crumbs. 

·         Lay in a single layer on the baking sheet, drizzle top with a little bit more olive oil.

·         Bake for 15 minutes, turn, bake for another 10-15 minutes

      Alternate Directions:

           Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. (Prepare the chicken as usual)

           Pour about 2 TBS olive oil in the pan and heat for a minute.  Add the chicken and cook about 5-6 minutes per side (depending on thickness).  *This skillet version tends to be a little crispier and therefore tastier, but if you are making a lot it's easier in the oven.

Meal Ideas

·         Serve with pasta and sauce

·         Serve with onion rice

·         Make Panini’s using tomato sauce, pesto, cheese, etc.

·         Add to a salad with fruit, nuts, avocado, Caesar, vinaigrette, honey mustard, ranch, bbq sauce, etc.