Herb Marinated Chicken

This recipe is super simple! I've made it once and let it marinate for 2 days. I'm marinating it now to cook for the 2nd time...put it in to marinate last night and I'm cooking it tomorrow...I'll add finished product pictures then!

6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup white wine
2 T extra virgin olive oil or canola oil
1 T white vinegar
2 tsp dried crushed basil
1 tsp dried crushed oregano or tarragon
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 cloves garlic, minced

Set a heavy Ziploc bag in a large mixing bowl and place the chicken in the bag. Add the wine, oil, vinegar, basil, oregano or tarragon, onion powder and garlic. Close the bag and turn it to coat the chicken well. Marinate for 5-24 hours in the refrigerator, turning occasionally.



Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade. Place the chicken on an unheated rack in a broiler pan. Brush with the marinade. Broil 4”-5” from the heat for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned, brushing often with the marinade. Turn the chicken and broil for 5-15 minutes more, until the chicken is tender and no longer pink.

My mom shared a Passover Gateau au Chocolat cake recipe with me several years ago. It doesn't have any flour in it, (hence the 'passover' part...) It's wonderful, but requires several items I didn't originally have. I had to purchase a food chopper and a Springform pan...as well as go in search of Matzo meal. It's worth it, but oh, so much easier when you already have the needed materials!

1/4 c blanched whole almonds
3 T matzo cake meal
9 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
6 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
salt
Confectioner's sugar for dusting





Preheat oven to 375.






In food processor, with knife blade attached, pulse almonds and matzo meal until almonds are finely ground.










In microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Heat in microwave on Medium (50%) 1 minute, stirring once. Microwave 30-60 seconds longer, stir until melted and smooth. Cool slightly.





In medium bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat egg whites until foamy. Increase speed to high; gradually beat in 1/3 cup granulated sugar until stiff peaks form.


This didn't work as well for me...I will be using the tried and true "back and forth til all the yolk is out" method from now on.


Mine aren't quite as stiff as they should be, because some egg yolk got in that I couldn't get out.



To large bowl, add yolks, peel, brown sugar, 1/8 tsp salt and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Using same beaters, and with mixer on high speed, beat mixture 2 minutes or until pale and thick. On low speed, beat in chocolate mixture.





Fold almond mixture and one-fourth of egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Fold in remaining whites. Transfer batter to ungreased 9 inch Springform pan. (I use a 12 inch and it's fine, just a little thinner. My mom uses two 6 inch pans for 2 smaller cakes and that's fine too...just thicker cakes! Bake 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 1 1/2 inches from edge comes out almost clean (top of cake may crack.) Cool cake in pan on wire rack.

To serve, run knife around side of cake to loosen from pan. Remove side of pan; transfer cake to serving plate. Spring cake with confectioners' sugar (if not for Passover.)

Ugg! Sorry, I don't have a final picture! I will add one next time I make it!

Pinwheels

I was in charge of some food items at a recent going away party. A co-worker had made these for various work showers and since the going away party was for a church friend (thus not same party circle!) I got the recipe! Yumm!


Cast of fresh characters, in a supporting role :)


Refrigerated main characters


All mixed up


Act 1


Just roll it up and slice!

They're wonderful for a wedding/baby shower or just any kind of party where finger foods are on the menu!

Small snack

Who doesn't like a little snack? Yummy and fairly healthy, too!

My family has a salad recipe I'll share sometime, but I modify it a little and voila! a tasty treat!

Toasted nuts (I've used pecans, walnuts and slivered almonds...just whatever I have on hand!)

Crumbled Feta cheese (flavored or original...Gorgonzola works, too!)

Sliced apple (I prefer Gala, but choose your favorite!)

Raspberry vinaigrette dressing

Combine any amount in a bowl...how hungry are you? How many are you feeding? Really, just whatever amount works!

Drizzle just a LITTLE bit of dressing over it and YUMMMM!

I just chowed down or I would show you some pictures. :)

Helpful Gadget

Do you have one of these?

Super helpful for chopping anything! Especially onions, since my tear ducts get a work out when anything with an onion peel comes my way.




It has two pieces that insert separately. Each one with a different size of cutting tool. Then all you do is put your onion or garlic or potato or carrot or whatever on top of the cutting instrument and press the lid down. Voila! You have a chopped vegetable. And the container at the bottom has marking for measurement, too. So it's super easy!

Pioneer Woman is a blog that many of you probably read. I've tried out a few of her recipes. They're really easy to follow and absolutely delicious!

Her Restaurant Style Salsa





This was absolutely wonderful! It was still fresh a week later! So good!


Live By Chocolate Cupcakes



These were good, too. Rich, though. And the Hershey's Kiss didn't melt inside like I was hoping it would. Also, many of the kisses stuck to the pan, and dropped out of the cupcake. Pushing them back in is easy, but I need to think of a way to do it slightly different next time.

Drip Beef







The Pepperoncini's gave this a WONDERFUL flavor! I will most DEFINITELY be making this again! (over and over and over again!)

This recipe is from a friend at work. I usually just add a can or two of Rotel to Velveeta, but this! This is flavorful, HOT and yummy!

Queso





(Please pardon the slightly burnt edges. I'm still figuring out my crockpot apparently...)

Italian Pork Tenderloin with Jack Daniels

I'm keeping to my personal challenge and it's been fun! (Again, I know this is silly. I don't care. It makes me smile. =) And it's super stewardship!)

I had pork tenderloin in the freezer. I cut some of it into pork chops



and marinated it in Jack Daniels for about 20 minutes. (I'd prefer to do it longer, but this wasn't really preplanned, so I didn't have time.)



Then I sauteed onion and garlic in a light olive oil

before adding some beef broth and 2 cans of mushroom steak sauce.



I let it cook for about 5 minutes and then added a corn starch and water mixture to thicken. The pork chops went in next



and the final touch was a can of diced Italian style tomatoes. Just a little Italian seasoning for flavor and cook for about 25 minutes.




It was wonderful!




(PS: Now, I'm out of
Does my challenge include whiskey? Hmm...)

Pasta with Cream and Marinara Sauce

Update: Best eaten hot...not as good warmed up. :)

Keeping with this post, I am only cooking things that I have on hand. I am allowing myself to go to the grocery store for perishable items only: meat, bread, vegetables, milk. I am not allowing myself to purchase canned goods, boxed goods, bags, etc.

Why?

Because I have a pantry full of perfectly good food and I need to use it! My thinking is that this will be cost effective and pretty much Proverbs 31 woman. (Yeah, I just thought of that last part...but it's true!) I don't need to go off a recipe where I need five or ten things when I could simply make something else for which I already have everything!

Case in point: I texted Julie on Thursday to see if she wanted to come over for some tortilla soup. It was leftovers, but we're close enough friends I was okay with that and it was a cold day so soup was definitely a good option. However, I didn't have any chips. You have to have chips with tortilla soup! So the thought of running to the store flits through my mind. "Wait! You have crackers and sliced bread. You could make toast. You do NOT need to go to the store."

Now, it turned out Julie didn't come over that night, but I did eat tortilla soup for dinner. I tore a slice of bread into little pieces and put it in my bowl of soup. It was really good!

Tonight, I made some pasta for dinner and lunches for next week.


I used green onions, bell pepper and garlic. Added some white wine, cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup. Let it simmer while the pasta was coming to a boil. Then combined it all together and added a little marinara. It was great!

Earlier today, I had washed a carton of strawberries and blackberries. I don't usually combine those fruits, but decided to do so today. I sprinkled a little sugar on top and put them back in the fridge to chill and to give the strawberries time to masticulate in their juices.

Voila! Dinner! :)