Bacon Wrapped Chicken

Chicken with bacon and goat cheese

I am a chicken breast hater. I understand that it is probably the most popular meat in the United States. It is very boring to me and often over cooked. This is a yummy chicken recipe mostly because it involves two of my favorite things...bacon and goat cheese. I made this the other night. I had some extra jarred tomato sauce that I added cream to. That is sort of optional. It would be good without the sauce. Here is what I did.

Chicken with Bacon and Goat Cheese


2 Chicken Breasts
2 pieces of bacon
1/2 tsp of italian herbs
2 ounces of goat cheese
1 cup tomato sauce
1/8 cup of heavy cream
Salt/pepper
Olive oil (your preference of how much you use)


1) Make a slit in the side of the chicken
2) Put your finger in there to make a hole for the goat cheese
3) Put one ounce of cheese in each breast
4) Salt and pepper the chicken
5) Season chicken with herbs
6) Wrap the chicken breast with one slice of bacon (you could use two if you like)
7) Pour olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan
8) Brown chicken on both sides
9) Transfer to 350 preheated oven
10) Cook until done
11) For tomato sauce, heat up sauce and add cream. Pour it on the plate and place chicken on top

Enjoy!

The Perfect Paleo Breakfast (or for any one who likes eggs!)

Check out this super easy (I mean super duper easy) egg recipe. Mark Bittman, who is pretty much a big deal in the cooking world, talked about cooking simple yet elegant egg dishes. Buy his book, How to Cook Everything. It is a great addition to your cookbooks. He uses ramekins, but I don't have any of those. I improvised by using muffin tins.

Egg Cups (Serving size: 1-2 eggs per person)

Using your muffin tins, spray or butter each tin you intend on using. Put a piece of cooked bacon or proscuitto in the muffin tin. You can add a tomato slice if you like. Spinach would work well too. Crack your egg, being careful not to break the yolk. Add salt and pepper to the egg. Drizzle a little bit of cream or put a tiny pat of butter on top. I added hot sauce, of course. Sprinkle with cheese. Whatever you want. Get creative. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. I cooked mine for 15 minutes and the whites were slightly undercooked. My hubs likes his whites cooked, so his eggs were in the oven for 18 minutes.

At this point, you are done. This is the easiest egg dish I have made in a while. Serve with fruit or a salad, if eating this for dinner. Enjoy!

Curried Chicken and Vegetables

Curried Chicken with Vegetables and Peanuts

I came home from a wonderful weekend in Fayetteville, AR visiting friends. I was hungry and knew that I was going to cook something for dinner. I had the hubs pick up some chicken, asparagus, and cauliflower. I had coconut milk, curry paste, and fish sauce at home. This is another reason to keep a stocked cabinet! I whipped this together in under an hour. There are short cuts that can be made, which I will point out as I go. The hubs ate his with rice. I ate mine as is. This made a ton, which is wonderful for a family. We have three tupperwares of leftovers for the week. Yippee! Here is what I did.

Curried Chicken and Vegetables (Makes 5 servings)

1 pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 can full fat coconut milk
1/2 head of cauliflower
1 yellow pepper
1 small Zucchini
1/2 bunch of asparagus
1.5 TBLS of Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste
2 TBLS of Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
Coconut Oil or EVOO for sauteing vegetables
Salt and Pepper to taste

*Caveat: I sauteed the vegetables individually starting with the cauliflower then the peppers and then the zucchini. I did not saute the asparagus, but threw it into the pot at the last minute. This is totally unnecessary and will save you time if you omit this step.

1) Cut up vegetables into bite sized pieces
2) Using 2-3 TBLS of fat (whatever you like), saute your vegetables. Season them with salt and pepper
3) After 3-4 minutes, remove the vegetables
4) Season chicken on both sides. Begin to brown
5) Remove chicken and set it aside. It only needs to be browned. It will cook in the curry.
6) Once chicken is removed, deglaze with 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Scrape up browned bits
7) Add curry paste to the chicken stock
8) Add coconut milk. Stir
9) While the coconut milk is bubbling, cut chicken into bite sized pieces
10) Add chicken to coconut milk mixture. Cover the pot and let gently simmer for 10 minutes
11) Add vegetables into the mix. Let cook 5 more minutes. Add Fish sauce to the mixture. Stir
12) Serve into bowls and garnish with chopped peanuts

*This sauce was so good. I commented that I wanted something to sop it up like rice or bread. You can make this vegetarian very easily. Simply use vegetable stock instead of chicken and add one can of drained garbanzo beans.

Enjoy!

It's Octoberfest Y'all

Ok, ok, I have sort of started to embrace my Midwestern life....well, maybe a Polish or German life really. I now love many things that are foreign to my upbringing. Merck's cheese spread, cheese curds, bratwurst, any sort of encased meat and italian beef (the list goes on) are sadly some of my favorite things to eat now. My obsession with bratwurst rivals my obsession with wine and with beef. I will say though that nothing satisfies more than a grilled brat. So the other night, I made this super easy 4-ingredient dinner. My husband had three servings of this. He loves any sort of grilled brat. Add sauerkraut, mustard, onion, and Giardinara and he is one happy man.

Try this recipe now. Feel free to use turkey sausage if you prefer, but those don't really make much of a rotation at my house. If using turkey, you may need to add some additional fat so they don't dry out on the grill.

Jarred sauerkraut and beer

Quickly grilled onions to add to the sauerkraut mixture

Grilled sausages on top of sauerkraut, onion and beer mixture. Be sure to nestle them down into the sauerkraut.

Grilled Sausage and sauerkraut. Serve with hot mustard and pickled hot vegetables.

Grilled Sauerkraut and Bratwurst (Potentially serves 6, but for us, 3 servings)*


6 Fresh Bratwurst
1 Onion (sliced)
1 28 ounce jar of sauerkraut
1 lager beer


*This can be made in the oven instead of the grill. Simply saute onion and sear sausages in a pan. Then pour sauerkraut in a oven safe casserole dish. Place browned sausages and onion on top of sauerkraut, pour beer in and bake for 30-60 minutes at 350.


1) Preheat grill. Make a medium sized fire with coals on one side
2) While you are waiting on the fire, quickly saute one onion in a little bit of EVOO. 
3) Place onions in a grill safe casserole dish. You can use a skillet too, but only copper, stainless steel or cast-iron. 
4) Cover with sauerkraut. Set aside until ready to go on the grill 
5) When the coals are ashy, place the sausages on the hotter pot of the grill
6) Monitor the sausages. Turn them when they begin the brown. Make sure they don't burn
7) When browned, simply place casserole dish on the hotter part of the grill. Add sausages on top of the sauerkraut and pour beer in. 
8) Make sure you sort of bury the sausages in the sauerkraut and beer mixture
9) Cover the grill
10) You may want to check to make sure that the mixture is simmering not boiling 
11) Cook for 30 minutes on a covered grill
12) Serve with mustard and Giardinara. YUMMERS!

Fall in a Bowl!

I love the fall (except that for us, it means that winter is just around the corner and Chicago winters are tough). Fall reminds me of butternut squash, apples, braised meats, soups, pumpkins and fallen leaves. I made a recipe that was inspired by Emeril. I don't often like him but I have had to get creative and think out of the box since giving up carbs. My husband and I went on an adventure to Wisconsin this weekend. We bought brats from a meat market in Lake Geneva, had lunch in Lake Zurich with our friends, and hiked in Eagle, Wisconsin before returning home. This is the supper I made when we got home. It was a one pot meal with tons of flavor.

Apple Brandy Chicken with Cabbage (serves 4)

6 organic Chicken thighs with skin and bone
3 slices thick cut bacon or 6 slices thin bacon diced
2 granny smith apples diced
1 bulb of fennel sliced
1 head cabbage sliced
1 large onion sliced
1 cup no sugar added apple juice
1/3 cup Brandy or apple brandy
1/2 cup chicken stock
Salt and Pepper
1 TBL of fennel seed (optional, but delicious)

1) Get out your biggest dutch oven. Mine is a 7 quart red beauty that I got for my birthday from Pat
2) Dice your bacon and put it in the pot
3) Brown the bacon. While this is happening, start your prep
4) Slice your fennel first in half vertically. De-core (like an apple) and thinly slice
5) Slice your cabbage first in half (vertically) De-core and then thinly slice
6) Slice your onion and dice your apple after it is de-cored too
7) Remove cooked bacon to a plate and remove all but 2 TBL of bacon fat. Fat=flavor!
8) Salt and pepper your chicken thighs on both sides. (make sure that you are working with medium hi heat)
9) Place chicken SKIN-SIDE DOWN in the pot. It will be crowded, but give it some time
10) Let them cook for 5 minutes or so. Take a peak and see if there is a crust
11) Flip chicken (the first side should be beautifully browned)
12) Remove chicken and begin cooking your vegetables. I poured out some of the chicken fat before adding the vegetables. It is your choice. 
13) Fennel and onion go in the pot first (saute maybe 5 minutes)
14) Remember to season every layer as you go. Lightly salt and pepper the fennel and onion
15) Add 1/2 of your cabbage. Begin to saute the cabbage
16) After 5 minutes, add the rest of your cabbage
17) Add your fennel seed. Season with salt and pepper. Remember to do this with every layer of food
18) Once the second batch of cabbage is wilted slightly, add your brandy. Stir the brandy and it will help to deglaze your pan...i.e. pick up yummy bacon and chicken bits from the bottom. Let it evaporate
19) Place chicken on top of cabbage mixture
20) Scatter apples around the chicken (I don't like mine mushy. Add them earlier if you want)
21) Carefully pour one cup of apple juice and some chicken stock around the chicken and cabbage
22) Put a top on and let it cook on low heat for 45 minutes to an hour
23) Serve in bowls with juice
24) Garnish with fennel fronds (the green tops you cut off the fennel) and some diced raw apple
25) This was YUMMERS as my hubs says. It was not too sweet. The brandy and the apply juice produced a slightly sweet rich sauce.

*There is a caveat. I like crispy chicken skin. I removed the chicken from the pot at the last minute and crisped the skin on my cast-iron griddle. This is unnecessary, but I liked the effect.

Thick cut bacon rendering in the pan

Chicken browned in the bacon drippings

Sauteed fennel and onion. The brown on the bottom of this pan is called the FOND. It is flavorful and the brandy helps to pick up those yummy brown bits. 

Arrange your chicken on top of the cabbage mixture. Scatter apples around the chicken at this point

Finished product. Raw apple and fennel fronds are great garnishes for this meal. 

Spice Rubbed Flank Steak=Yum

Um, yeah. We eat a lot of beef in my house. Like a lot. My husband loves flank and skirt steak, which is fine with me since they are cheaper and leaner than ribeyes and strips. They are perfect for a busy home cook and a week night dinner. Of course, I cooked it too rare and had to throw the hubs' steak back on the grill. Sigh, he has not acquired my taste for rare meat. A rub, like I have discussed before, truly works wonderfully on a flank or skirt steak. This was a grass fed flank steak from Whole Paycheck that I had frozen in my freezer. I thawed it out on Tuesday and rubbed it with a rub on Wednesday before work. Wednesday night....steak dinner. Here is what I did.

Grass-Fed Flank Steak (feeds 4)


1 pound of flank steak
1-2 TBL of EVOO
1 TBL of rub (I used my blackening seasoning which includes salt/pepper)

1) In the morning, take out steak and pierce it with a fork all over. Rub it with the spice mixture and a good splash of olive oil. Rub the mixture into the meat. Put it in a baggie or wrap it back up in the butcher paper
2) When you come home, take it out on the counter to get ready for the grill (at least 30 min)
3) Set up medium sized grill with coals on one side
4) It is ready when the coals are glowing but slightly ashy. Put meat on hot part of grill (over coals)
5) Cook for a total of 12 minutes for medium rare
6) Flip after 5-6 minutes
7) Let rest 5 minutes
8) ALWAYS ALWAYS slice flank, skirt, tri-tip, and brisket AGAINST the grain. Look at the grains in the meat. Cut the opposite direction of the grain

Spice rubbed steak after 12 hours 

After spending 10 minutes on the grill. It is easy to see the grain running horizontally

Sliced and ready to eat, but too rare for the hubs

Thank goodness we are both carnivores in my family. I love steak, like a ton. Cheers!

The Wonderful World of Vegetables

Cast-iron Cooked Vegetables

Caramelized broccoli, peppers, and onions

I love my griddle. Seriously. It is the best kitchen gadget I have. Get one now. It caramelizes meats and veggies perfectly. At my house, we eat a lot of vegetables and I cook some sort of veg every single night. My hubs is sort of ambivalent about vegetables and always always leaves them for last on his plate.  I love thinking of new ways to cook them, but sometimes the simplest approach is the best. A little olive oil, salt, pepper and bam....delish vegetables. My trusty cast iron griddle makes it super easy for me to make them taste good. Veggies have lots of natural sugars in them. With the help of the super hot griddle and some oil, they turn crunchy and have little tasty brown bits on them. The brown bits equal flavor.

Always preheat the griddle (medium heat) before using it. It must be hot. Before putting the veggies on the griddle, toss them with salt/pepper and 1-2 TBL of EVOO in a big bowl. Make sure they are seasoned and evenly coated with oil. Then simply place chopped vegetables on the griddle. Make sure the cast iron griddle is on medium heat. Turn your veggies several times throughout the cooking process. To see if they are ready, pull a veggie off and cut it open. Cook it to desired doneness, anywhere from 10 minutes for green beans and peppers to longer periods like 20 minutes for broccoli.

THE ART OF ROASTING

*If you don't have a griddle, use a super hot 450 oven. Put the cookie sheet or sheet tray in the oven as it preheats. Then when you put the veggies on the tray, they immediately start to cook and caramelize. There is nothing worse on earth than soggy steamed vegetables. Gross.

You can cook almost any vegetable by roasting them (or using your cast iron griddle). Cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, brussel sprouts, asparagus, bok choy, peppers, onions, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, mushrooms etc. For some vegetables, cast iron will not be appropriate. Beets, acorn squash, potatoes, butternut squash have longer cooking time and are ideal for oven roasting. When roasting, try not to crowd the cookie sheet.

Paprika dusted butternut squash ready for the oven

Become comfortable with this cooking method, your food will taste better as a result. In addition, never overcook your veggies. They should be al dente (to the tooth) and have some bite to them. If you need help learning how to do this, cut a veggie open after 5-10 minutes and taste it. Then assess if they need longer. Check again after 5 more minutes. The end result should be perfectly cooked and delicious. Sometimes it is trial and error before you are comfortable roasting vegetables. Think about the veggie itself. If it is long and skinny like green beans or asparagus, it will have a shorter cooking time like 10 minutes. Cauliflower and broccoli take a longer amount of time. The butternut squash in this picture required around 50 minutes of roasting. I dusted hot spanish paprika on the squash with salt, pepper and oil before going into the oven.

Perfectly roasted brussel sprouts and mushrooms

The brussel sprouts required a two step cooking process. I cooked the mushrooms first. I cut them into quarters and sauteed them in 1 tbl of oil until water was released and they were tender. I then put them aside and added them to the roasted brussel sprouts toward the end of cooking. Always halve brussel sprouts and allow around 20-25 minutes to roast. Coat with oil, add salt, pepper and put them on your preheated cookie sheet. They are delicious and make a frequent appearance at my house in the fall and winter.

Vegetables are truly a wonderful thing. Roasting them brings out their natural sugars and really makes them an enjoyable part of the meal versus just a side dish that people eat because they have to.