Rachael Ray's Lemon Chicken

This is one of the first of Rachael Ray's recipes I ever saw her cook, and probably the first I ever made. I have made it before, but this time it didn't turn out as well in the past. There are several factors as to why that could be, not the least of which is that I forgot to add the vinegar, and didn't have lemon zest or scallions on hand. Also, I think I didn't brown the chicken long enough the first time it was in the pan, which contributed to a slight taste of raw flour. Still, it's a good recipe, and if you follow it better than I did, I'm sure you will have better luck than I did.

We ate this with steamed white rice and green beans. Below is the exact recipe from food network.

Rachael Ray's Lemon Chicken
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1 1/2 pounds chicken breast or chicken tenders, cut into chunks
1/4 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons wok or vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan (preferred brand: House of Tsang)
1 tablespoon (a splash) white or rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
8 ounces (1 cup) prepared lemon curd
1/4 cup hot water
1 lemon, zested
2 scallions, thinly sliced or 20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped

Coat the chunked chicken lightly in flour, seasoned with a little salt. Heat a large skillet or a wok-shaped nonstick pan over high heat. Stir fry chicken until golden, 3 or 4 minutes. Remove chicken from the pan and return pan to heat. Reduce heat to medium.

Add a splash of vinegar to the pan and let it evaporate. Add stock or broth to the pan and scrape up any drippings with a whisk. Thin curd by stirring in a little hot water. Add curd to broth and whisk to combine. Add chicken back to the pan and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken sauce and finish cooking chicken pieces through. Remove the pan from heat, add the scallions or chives and zest, and toss chicken pieces well to combine zest and scallions or chives evenly throughout the sauce.
***

One reason why I haven't made this in a long time is because lemon curd is hard to find around here, and even when you can find it, it's usually expensive. This time, I decided to make my own lemon curd! Below is the recipe, taken from allrecipes.com. I made only 1/3 of the following recipe and again, did not have actual lemons to zest.

Microwave Lemon Curd
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup fresh lemon juice
3 lemons, zested
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from the microwave, and pour into small sterile jars. Store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

My Favorite Soup

Back in the days before I discovered Rachael Ray, there was probably only one thing other than Hamburger Helper that I ever made regularly: this soup. I bought a cookbook from a student doing a fundraiser, and this recipe was in it. I loved that I could make it in one pot, that I always had all the ingredients on hand, and that after some initial chopping and browning of the meat, all I had to do was cover it and wait. To me, it tastes a lot like the Pasta e Fagioli from Olive Garden.

All these years later, it's still one of my favorite things to make, and as with most homemade soups, it tastes even better the next day. It's highly adaptable to your preferences. I have made it with ground turkey breast and chicken broth in place of the beef and beef broth, and it's great. It's even good without meat, as I discovered last week when I forgot to add it. Dinner rolls or thick slices of homemade bread are a lovely accompaniment. I just cant say enough good things about this soup! Enjoy!

My Favorite Soup
1-2 T olive oil
1/2 lb. extra lean ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
handful of baby carrots, chopped
1-2 stalks celery, chopped
1 can (15 oz) low sodium beef broth
1 can (15 oz) kidney beans
1 can (28-32 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 cup ditalini or other small pasta
Garlic salt, papper, and/or other seasonings, to taste
Shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, for topping

In a stew pot, heat olive oil over medium heat, add beef, and brown. Add vegetables and cook 5-7 minutes, until tender. Add beef broth, kidney beans, tomatoes, pasta, and seasonings. Stir and cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook about 20 minutes, until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with cheese before serving, if desired. Makes approximately 4 servings.

Patty Melts

These are kind of a go-to meal in our house. They are tasty, filling, and easy. We stock up on Jennie-O turkey burgers when they go on sale, so we always have everything on had. Usually I eat them between toasted slices of whole grain bread, but that adds 2.5 Weight Watchers points, and I just wasn't in the mood to give up those points the day I made these. For anyone who is curious, the turkey patties are four points each, 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese is 2 points, and onions cooked in a tiny bit of olive oil are 1-2 points, depending on how much you use. For some reason, cooked onions are 1 point, while raw onions are 0 points. One teaspoon of olive oil is 1 point.

Patty Melts
2 Turkey burger patties
Steak seasoning
1-2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 onion, sliced into long, thin strips
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, or 2 slices provolone cheese
2-4 slices whole grain bread, toasted
Fat-free Italian dressing

In a medium-sized pan, sprinkle turkey patties lightly with steak seasoning, and cook through. Remove cooked turkey patties from pan, add olive oil, and cook onion strips until lightly browned. Meanwhile, top patties with 1/4 cup each of mozzarella cheese or one slice each of provolone. Toast bread and drizzle lightly with fat-free Italian dressing. Top patties with cooked onions and serve between two slices, open-faced, or without bread, if prefered.

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

As you might be able to tell from the photo, this was not really our favorite dinner. It wasn't terrible, in fact, is was actually pretty good, just not great. For anyone who likes to customize recipes, this might be just your thing. I'm sure with a few adjustments it wouldn't be hard to get some awesome Mac-n-cheese. I'll even suggest a few things I had in mind as we ate it: add some broccoli or spinach, or even diced ham if you don't mind adding some meat. Definitely use a good, firm cheddar. And if you're going to put breadcrumbs on the top, I'm afraid the only way to keep them from looking like sand on top of your pasta (and tasting a bit that way too) is to combine them with some butter so they can get golden and toasty.

I'll write the recipe pretty much as I made it, and you can make your adjustments from there. Happy cooking!

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
1/2 box bowties or other pasta
1-2 T olive oil
1-2 T flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups Mexican blend cheese
1/3 cups seasoned bread crumbs
cooking spray

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and add pasta. Cook until just short of al dente.

Meanwhile, in a medium-sized pot, heat olive oil and add flour. Cook for a few minutes to create roux, being careful not to let it burn. Whisk in milk, then add cheeses. Stir until no lumps remain in cheese sauce.

Stir cheese sauce into slightly undercooked pasta, then pour pasta into greased baking dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs over top of pasta and coat with cooking spray. (Yeah, that was the fatal flaw. Got to have butter in those bread crumbs, I'm afraid.)

Bake in oven preheated to 350 F for 10-15 minutes, until bread crumbs are toasty. Makes 4-6 servings.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

These muffins were the highlight of our afternoon! They have a very, very moist, dense texture. I used cinnamon roll flavored oatmeal, so I'm sure that played a big part in their deliciousness. You could use whatever flavor you like, or plain (if using plain, I'd probably use a little cinnamon or other flavoring to give it a bit of a boost).

As you can see, the chocolate chips sank to the bottom, which didn't stop them from tasting great, but probably could have been avoided by dredging them in a little flour before adding them to the batter. Speaking of which, I think the original recipe calls for raisins instead of chocolate chips. I personally think they would taste great, but I don't think the Bass would eat them with raisins.

They didn't rise much, so go ahead and fill the muffin tins right to the top. This recipe should make you 12-14 muffins when filled to the top.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cup instant oatmeal (three packets)

1 1/4 cup milk

1 egg

1/2 cup applesauce

3/4 cup* brown sugar

1 1/4 cup wheat flour (I used flour I ground from white wheat in my K-Tech Mill)

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Grease muffin tins and heat oven to 350 F.

In a large cereal bowl, heat milk for one minute in microwave, then add oatmeal. Set aside for approximately 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium-sized bowl, combine egg, applesauce and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside a little flour mixture to dredge chocolate chips. Alternately add oatmeal and flour mixture to sugar mixture. Stir until just combined, then gently stir in chocolate chips. Fill muffin tins to the top and bake for 20-25 minutes.

*Note: In retrospect, using 3/4 cup of brown sugar might be unnecessary when using sweetened oatmeal and chocolate chips. Next time, I'll probably decrease brown sugar to 1/2 or 1/4 cup.

Chicken Meatballs

These were SO good! We had a few leftover hot dog buns, so I toasted them, piled the meatballs inside, sprinkled a little mozzarella on top and called them meatball subs.

Chicken Meatballs

1/2 bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce

1/2 lb. ground chicken breast

1 egg

1/3 cup* Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup mozzarella** cheese

Garlic salt, pepper, and Italian blend seasoning, to taste

In a medium-sized skillet, heat spaghetti sauce over medium heat. Meanwhile, combine ground chicken, egg, bread crumbs, cheese, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Form into meatballs and place into sauce. Cook 3-4 minutes, then turn meatballs over in sauce to coat. Cover, reduce heat, and cook 10-15 minutes. Enjoy in sub rolls or over cooked pasta. This made 11 or 12 good sized meatballs.

*Note: I'm not sure exactly how much of the bread crumbs I used. I discovered as I was mixing the ingredients (I'd put in probably about 1/4 cup) that the mixture was too runny, so I poured in some more, and a little more came out than I meant, but it worked out to be the perfect amount. If your mixture seems to runny, I'd suggest adding more bread crumbs until they come to a better consistency.

**Note: I think it's more traditional to use Parmesan cheese in meatballs, but we rarely have it on hand. Mozzarella adds a nice flavor and seems to keep them very moist.

Bean and Cheese Taco Bake

Before I start on my listed menus, I thought I'd get some practice in blogging and food photography by showcasing a few things I've made lately. I know my photography leaves a lot to be desired, especially in comparison to the professional looking photos I've seen in so many blogs. I hope you will not be deterred from trying some of these recipes due to their lackluster photos. There's an old saying about not judging a book by its cover, and I think that is applicable here. Hopefully along the way my skillz will improve and I will eventually get some photos that do justice to the deliciousness of the food!

One more thing: I have been trying the last couple of months to incorporate more vegetarian (or maybe meatless would be a more appropriate term) meals into our family's diet. This recipe was great as written, but I'm sure it would also be great with some seasoned taco meat or chicken, if you should feel moved to do so.

Bean and Cheese Taco Bake
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 can (10 oz.) red enchilada sauce
1/2 cup mild or medium salsa (or go for hot if you prefer)
1 can (15 oz.) black beans
1/2 bag tortilla chips (or maybe a whole bag)
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

Lightly grease 6 x 10* baking pan and heat oven to 375 F.

In a medium-sized skillet, heat oil and add onion. Cook approximately five minutes, until onion is tender and slightly browned. Stir in enchilada sauce, salsa, and beans and heat through.

Lightly crush a few handfuls of chips and place at bottom of greased baking pan. Pour about half of bean mixture over chips, then cover with about half of the cheese. Layer with more chips and remaining bean mixture and cheese. Bake approximately 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and lightly golden.

*Note: I am guessing on the pan size. It is a small pan, definitely smaller than 9 x 13, that fits perfectly inside our toaster oven, which we keep outside on the porch so we don't have to heat up the kitchen in the already insane summer heat.

This made about four large servings. I had mine on top of a bed of salad, which tasted great.

One more note: the original recipe called for the entire can of enchilada sauce and two cups of salsa. It seemed to me like that would be way too pungeant, not to mention overly liquescient, but if it suits you, go for it!