Chicken Piccata

I loved this chicken piccata and so did my family. I just haven't known what to make here in Vancouver because it seems like the weather changes every hour. This morning I was going to make something warm and cozy for dinner when we had a hail storm and now with the sunshine and fresh air washing through my living room, I'm leaning toward something fresh and springy. Goodness knows my fruit basket is simply overflowing with Spring's abundance. So now what? With this crazy change of weather I think Chicken Piccata is the perfect Winter/Spring infused meal. Enjoy!

4 boneless chicken breasts pounded out to 1/4 inch thick...the kids might enjoy doing this. Put chicken between two pieces of parchment paper and mallet away but don't get carried away!

Salt and pepper, 1 cup of flour, 2 large eggs, 1 1/2 cup of seasoned bread crumbs, olive oil, 3 tbsp. of unsalted butter, 1/3 cup of lemon juice, 1/2 cup of dry white wine, sliced lemons and parsley for a la decoration.

Put flour salt and pepper together onto one plate, bread crumbs onto one plate and mix eggs with a little water and put into a bowl. Then dip the chicken into flour mixture and shake off extra, then dip into the egg mixture, let drip off a little, then dip into the bread crumbs and shake off again. Repeat this process for the other 3 chicken breasts.

Heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil into a medium low pan and saute each side of chicken until nicely tanned, but not too brown on each side. You may need to add a little more olive oil for the other chicken breasts. Put onto a sheet pan and pop into the oven for about 5 to 10 minutes.

In the meantime, wipe out the saute pan with paper towel and melt 1 tbsp. of butter then add lemon juice and white wine and lemon halves, 1/2 tsp. of salt and 1/4 tsp. of pepper. Boil on highish heat until the liquid is reduced by half, about a minute or so. Take the pan off the element and add remaining 2 tbsp. of butter and whisk. Take out the lemon and spoon the sauce over the chicken and garnish with lemon slices and parsley.

Left Over Roast Chicken With The Works Linguine

I love easy cooking nights especially when you have unexpected dinner guests (teenagers)to feed. Of course you can perform miracles with pasta and feed a pile of hungry younins for very little dough. This is a good time to use up left over veggies and meat. Here's what I did.

Cook linguine (or any other pasta you have) until just done, drain and rinse with cool water. While the linguini's cooking pour a little olive oil into another pot, add 1 tsp. of fresh garlic (I use jarred minced), a pinch of nutmeg, a pile of spinach leaves and steamed broccoli and saute for about 10 minutes on medium heat or until just soft. Toss the cooked pasta and maybe even a little more olive oil into the pot and mix. Here is where you can season with some salt and pepper and serve as is or like I did last night, add 1/4 cup of pesto, a handful of pine nuts (yes they are quite expensive at the moment), left over roast chicken and the juice of one lemon. Mix up and serve into bowls topped with freshly grated Parmesan. It's a gorgeous green healthy pasta and yummy too!

Best Roast Chicken

If you ever get the chance you have got to tune into Cristina Ferrare's new cooking show BIG BOWL OF LOVE on the OWN network. If you don't get OWN, just google her and you'll find lots of really amazing recipes. I love that her recipes are so easy, non-fussy, but so delicious. I made her pumpkin chiffon pie one Christmas and gave out the recipe to so many people. It's heavenly! The recipe for her chicken is very easy and my whole family loved it. Rather than buying a "fryer" chicken I got a nice plump roasting chicken, probably about 5 pounds at Thrify's.

This marinade is for two chickens but I didn't read that part until after I poured all of the marinade over one. It won't make any difference

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (I was surprised too!)

Mix together 1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 cup of lemon juice (I squeezed mine then stuffed the rinds into the cavity of the chicken), and one cup of Dijon. It won't look pretty. Once you stir the marinade together, pour over the chicken in a roasting pan and stuff the chicken with fresh herbs like sage or tarragon and lemon rinds. I poured about a cup of chicken broth into the roasting pan.
Don't salt the chicken.

Then put into the oven and bake for an hour and a half. Put a meat thermometer in for best results. Cover the chicken with tin foil and baste every once in a while. The funny thing is I forgot the tin foil until the last half hour of cooking time and basted also the last 1/2 hour and it still turned out divine. The perfect Sunday or mid-week dinner.

Creamy Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

I got this recipe from the health magazine Prevention and it was major yummy! My hubby thought it was really good but a little mushy. So if you are not into that don't layer the casserole with the stuffing mix but just put it over the top of the casserole. You'll also need your slow cooker.

1 package of chicken stuffing mix, four boneless (I used six so it doesn't really matter) chicken breasts cut into cubes, 1-2 cups of fresh sliced mushrooms, 1 onion chopped, 1 bell pepper chopped (I used red because it looked so pretty,4 potatoes cut into four, 1 can of reduced fat cream of chicken soup and 2 cups of chicken broth. You can also add a couple of zucchini if you like. Combine stuffing mix with 1/2 cup of water, stir until moistened and put aside. Mix all of the above except for the stuffing and put into the slow cooker and then top with the stuffing, put on the lid. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or medium for 2-3 hours.

Oven Shake and Baked Buttermilk Chicken with Tri-Coloured Nugget Potatoes

I racked my brain yesterday for something to make for my family's dinner and buttermilk drumsticks came to mind.  Buttermilk, especially if the chicken is marinated in it over night, or at least for several hours, tenderizes the meat.  The other quick ingredient I've been using lately and my kids love it, is Southern Fried Shake and Bake breadcrumbs.  It's so quick and easy and considering I'm not a huge fan of the taste of drumsticks, these two ingredients really do a nice and delicious job. 

1 litre of buttermilk, 1 pack of drumsticks (mine had 11 in it), and Shake and Bake!  Now put the drumsticks into a large bowl that will fit into your refrigerator and pour the entire litre of buttermilk over the chicken (rub it in the chicken if you don't mind, but don't worry if you don't) and put into the fridge, overnight, or in my case it was just for four hours.  When you are ready to bake, remove and shake each drumstick as you take it from the bowl and dip into Shake and Bake bag making sure you coat the chicken, then lay each drumstick on a lightly Pam sprayed cookie sheet.  Cook for about 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  I served the chicken with these gorgeous tri-coloured nugget potatoes I've been buying (purple, orange, and yellow) together with a leafy pear salad.

Cracked the Bourbon Chicken Code!!!!

OK - for too long I've been trying to find a recipe that remotely comes close to the one and only bourbon chicken recipe that I so adore and I got it! I can't wait to experiment with spices and stuff, but this is definitely the beginning! Though I will say, it was bourbon less....this time.

First I marinaded skinless chicken thighs for the afternoon in a little concoction of fresh garlic, olive oil and Greek salad dressing. Hell that's all I had. Then I put it in the oven at, you guessed it, 350 for about 20 minutes. Then I tossed the chicken into a frying pan with a little bit of butter and maple syrup, let it cook until brown/blacked on both sides and voila! Fantastical! I did a no sugar version with maple extract, a little butter and 2 whole packs of splenda. Oh baby, I am in heaven. I'm thinking some chipoltle may do the trick next time.

Larry and Garry's Beer in the Rear Chicken

This chicken is succulent, delicious, and super easy. I used two whole chickens, two cans of beer, and some chicken rub. The cool part about this recipe is that you have to drink 1/2 can of beer before you can shove the beer can up the chicken. I don't like wording it this way, but it's exactly what you do. So drink two 1/2 cans of beer and set the cans up in a roasting pan that you can use on the BBQ. Then put the chickens over top of each can and season. I used a chicken rub I got at the grocery store. You can actually put herbs into the beer can before you sit the chicken on it to infuse more flavor. ***Oh yes, I used a can opener to take off the top of the beer can. I also kept the seasoning simple for my first time. Make sure the chickens don't topple over. Carry them to the BBQ and cook on a high flame for about an hour or an hour and a half. I cooked my chickens for one hour and should have cooked for at least an extra 20 minutes. They weren't big chickens and you know how chicken takes a while. I ended up cooking some of it in the oven because parts of it were just a little pink. It was amazing!

Dining by the Pool

Yesterday I cracked open a $70 bottle of champagne at exactly 12 noon and together with my friend we toasted the end of the school year. I wish that I was more like my mom and put tea on mid-day to toast, but it wouldn't have gone with the simple although Frenchy like lunch I prepared. I will admit...I fed my children, as well as hers Kraft Dinner. Though I am certain our children would have tried the lunch we were eating, I'm sorry to say I wasn't about to waste any bites on "maybes." So after we toasted we ate the simplest chicken and salad dish fit for the mother queens we are. Here is what I did. Keeping in mind that the French enjoy palm-sized portions of meat, I poached two chicken breasts, the size of "my" palms which actually look like maps of North America...in white wine and garlic, salt, and pepper. Once done, and don't over do, set aside. Layer a bunch of gorgeous organic salad mix over a flat tray and sprinkle in bits of fresh basil. Oh yes, prior to this, I'd sliced up a tomato and generously doused it in salt (about a tsp. total) and set aside for about an hour to suck out all the juices. Once the tomatoes are done, add about 1/4 of olive oil and 1/4 cup of balsamic over tomatoes and pour all of it over the mixed organic lettuce. I then added pristine white boccaccini cheese over top. (sorry I am too lazy to see if this is how to spell it).

OK. Take a chicken breast and top with Boursin Cheese. Then add about 2-3 leaves of fresh basil and wrap up in prosciutto and put over salad. Now you can see why I served champagne! The rest of the afternoon was spent lying around in the sunshine watching our kids swim. La Dolce Vita!

Roasted Lemons/Onions with Sausage and Chicken

Goodness this was good. I was looking for recipes to use up my left over chicken and came across Nigella's Lawson's "One-Pan Chicken Sausage and Sage Bake." I did my own variation of this as my chicken was already cooked, but I forgot how wonderful a roasted lemon is in a casserole. I have an old pork casserole recipe with roasted lemons that I'll print here when I find my old family cookbook....Ok, here is what I did. Get all your left over chicken, chop it up and put it aside. Make a marinate of a squeezed lemon - saving the lemon for the casserole, 1 chopped onion, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1 tsp. of garlic, 1 tbsp. of poultry seasoning, 2 tsp. of dried mustard, 1 tbsp. of powdered sage, a pinch of salt, and pepper and pour over the chicken and let it sit for awhile. Cook about four sausages. I used a low calorie turkey/chicken sausage stuffed with spinach and feta cheese - oh yah! Once the sausages are almost cooked, put the chicken and the marinate over the sausages and warm through for about 20 minutes at 300 degrees. This was a perfect for a cosy rainy Sunday night dinner.

Chicken Prosciutto with Goat Cheese and Fig Jam Wrapped in Filo

Yummy! I took my boys into the kitchen tonight to each produce part of our dinner menu. I handed them a kids' cookbook that I purchased years ago. I heard once that everyone ought to know at least 10 good dishes to cook from scratch. Tonight was the beginning for my children. Soon I will be publishing a group of books, the 10 best of everything. I can hardly wait.

My son Liam tonight made a fabulous delicious Potato Leek Soup, and my son Brayden is preparing Chocolate Boxes for dessert! Yes, my 10 year old is making the most fabulous, yet surprisingly easy dessert tonight. P.S. Super Delicious.

This is the second time I worked with filo and it is really easy. Roll it out and have some melted butter on hand to brush each piece before you hug it around your chicken. Rememeber, you need not treat this filo with kid gloves. It will work out in the end.

First cook your chicken breasts in some wine and herbs of your choice. I used the already seasoned, Costco, Tuscan wine/garlic chicken.

Once cooked, cool, and put into a casserole. Top with a slice or prosciutto, a slice of goat cheese, and top with some fig jam - oh and it must be fig, it is so delicious.

Then brush butter over one sheet of filo, lift gently and lay it over top of the chicken and envelop the chicken, using your hands, so it is wrapped all around. Repeat this process four times. Then put it into the oven at 300 degrees until the filo is nice and toasty brown. Simply lovely.

Also, we made a little rice dish out of Paula Dean's cookbook tonight that was comforting and tasty. We didn't add the mayo but loved the artichoke hearts and shrimp - y'all!

Hot Chicken Salad

This is an old favorite I enjoyed a few years back at my friend Mrs. Govette's home. Yesterday my Dad, his girlfriend, and my sister came over for lunch and they LOVED this simple salad; asking for the recipe (it's great if you have left over chicken). I served a lower fat version of the original recipe since my Dad had been having a few chest pains of late. He seemed just fine after eating this dish, though to tell you the truth I haven't spoken with him today. But as far as I am concerned this lower fat dish can be served to anyone whose health is a little "iffy" because it's good for the soul! Put the following ingredients in a casserole: 2 cups of left over chicken, 1 cup of chopped celery, 1/4 cup of toasted almonds, 1/2 cup of low fat sour cream, 1/2 cup of half fat Hellman's Mayo, juice from one lemon, 1 cup of shredded cheese, pepper, and a pinch of salt. Top the casserole with a cup of crushed potato chips. Enjoy