Chicken Bruschetta

It's "Family Dinner" Wednesday again and the dinner theme is Italian. Mr. Max and I were given the appetizer category and brought the incredible crab dip recipe I made for his birthday dinner - that I have yet to post, but it's coming! - and this Chicken Bruschetta recipe. The original base of the recipe was sent to me from AllRecipes.com, but of course, I changed it adding fresh diced tomatoes instead of sundried, an already prepared breast of chicken instead of grilling chicken, a balsamic vinaigrette rather than Italian dressing and I chose goat cheese crumbles over Feta. I also added strips of fresh julienned basil - you have to have basil.

Grocery List:
Soft or toasted baguette slices
Roasted Chicken (I bought one from the store and carved it up)
Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing
Goat Cheese Crumbles
Fresh tomatoes, diced
Fresh basil, julienned
Olive oil

I started by carving up my chicken into bite-size chicken bits.


Dice up your tomatoes then add it to the bowl.


and julienne your basil - which if you saw the Pioneer Woman's Pasta Salad recipe that I did back in June, you roll it up nice and tight, then slice it vertically.


Combine your chicken and tomatoes in a bowl adding about 1 cup of Balsamic vinaigrette. Let sit for about 20 minutes. I did all of this at home, then let it marinate on the way to the dinner party.

When ready to serve, add the goat cheese crumbles to the mix, stir lightly, more folding it in. Spread a light amount of olive oil on the bread, then spoon a serving of the bruschetta mix on top. Sprinkle with basil. Then pop these suckers in the oven on 400 for 10-15 minutes.



Voila! Tasty little appetizer you have for your dinner soiree! These were a hit, I highly recommend making them for your next gathering.


And here is a picture of the best wine I've had in a long time, an Argentinian Malbec - delicious complement to the food.

Meal Planning

I guess this was bound to happen, after 4 months of blogging, I would start to lose the gusto of posting daily. Actually, it's more that we are starting to repeat some of the recipes already posted which is a compliment that Max Man has enjoyed this experimental cooking and would like to have these meals over again.

After spending the last four days in Mexico, I cannot wait to get back in the kitchen to make some honest to God, great tasting food. One thing is for certain, you go to all-inclusive resort for the drinkies at the swim up bar and at the discoteca, not the food they serve. My favorite was the interpretation of Italian food and the Tex-Mex food at the different stations. Italian buffet had some coconut breaded chicken fingers, some pasta noodles without sauce anywhere to be found (to which I improvised with the creamed spinach) and a lasagna without cheese or sauce, just hamburger meet stuffed between layers of noodles. Then the Tex-Mex had steak, potatoes (which were rather tasty) and then guacamole tied it all together for that Tex-Mex feel. Needless to say, we didn't really eat that well while there, so it's time to make up for it.

I've come across some new, delicious, low calorie recipes for this week that I am looking forward to trying (and sharing with you).

On the menu tonight, we will serve up a Key West chicken at only 180 calories with green beans and a "from the box" cilantro-lime rice.

Thursday night will be a interesting twist, if you will, called a broccoli and chicken braid at only 420 calories, but a little carb heavy with the use of crescent roll bread. I'm considering substituting the broccoli for spinach and adding in some red bell pepper, but we'll see!

Friday night is a special night... Mr. Max's birthday!! We had a little romantic dinner on the beach to celebrate, but I'll be whipping up a dinner in his honor this Friday, starting with a hot crab dip appetizer (98 calories), pan-seared steaks with gorgonzola chive butter (480 calories), a garlic grilled parmesan zucchini (146 calories) and of course, mashed potatoes. A little heavier, but it's a special occassion! If I could make desserts, I would, but I just don't try at that - it hasn't been very successful in the past, so I'll let one of our favorite restaurants take care of that for me with their take-out service for something delicious like Creme Brulee, Tres Leches or an ooey gooey chocolate masterpiece.

I look forward to posting these for you!

Southwest Grilled Chicken with Hatch Chili Lime Butter

It's hatch chili season and that's all you see when you go into Whole Foods and Central Market. After taking advantage of these little peppers, with the chicken enchilada recipe in a hatch chili cream sauce, I decided to use them again while they were still in season. I came across this recipe from fellow blogger, Domestic Diva, as I searched my various food blogs and I wanted to substitute her Serrano peppers for these hatch chili peppers.

This is my version of her delicious chicken dish to share with you, just slightly adapted. This was a 15 minute meal at most, very simple and full of taste!

Grocery List:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2-4 chicken breasts (I got two large chicken cutlets, cut them in half)

Lime butter
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup of butter, melted
1 hatch green chili
2 tablespoons minced white onion
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Additional Needs:
2 Mixing bowls
Cutting board, knife
Spoon or pastry brush
Griddle, grilling surface

Start by mixing your first 8 ingredients in a small bowl until well blended.




Spread the mixture over both sides of your chicken.


Add your no-stick spray of choice to the grilling surface, turn to medium-high heat, and add your chicken. Let cook for about 15 minutes, or until it is cooked through.


While your chicken is cooking, melt your butter in a bowl,


Chop up your cilantro,


Chop up your pepper,


Add to the butter along with the onion and lemon juice.


Mix it together then spoon over the chicken when ready to serve.


This recipe was incredible! Domestic Diva raved, and now I can too! I served this with a simple saute of zucchini, squash with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, along with couscous.

(Mr. Max's portions always photograph better)

Chicken Enchiladas with Hatch Chili Cream Sauce

This past weekend I went with my two life long best friends to the lake for our girl's lake house trip. The two of them are wonderful little chef's and we had a great time cooking up a storm. After a fun run to the small town of Mabank's Walmart (okay, and I hit Whole Foods before we got on the road) we were ready to go, each of us taking our parts. I even got myself a veggie steamer!

Katie - leading the charge on the enchiladas
Greer - making her famed G-Mama Guacamole
Amy - a delicious black bean and corn salsa, along with never letting our margarita glasses go empty... until we had run out of margarita mix... and tequila.

In our weekend planning emails, we decided we wanted a Mexican fiesta night, so I did a google search for chicken enchiladas. Came across a a website with a sour cream poblano sauce. When I got to the grocery store, I decided to replace the poblano peppers with hatch chili peppers, tis the season!

Grocery List:
For enchiladas
2 cups Rotisserie shredded chicken
1 red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 cup monterray jack cheese, shredded
8 - 10 tortillas (we used both whole wheat and flour to appeal to different tastes)
1/4 cup green onion, finely chopped

For hatch chili cream sauce
1 large shallot, finely minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 hatch green chilies
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons flour
8 ounces sour cream
2 cups chicken broth

First, start by carving the rotisserie chicken and shredding the chicken.




Next, de-stem and seed your peppers. Cut poblano peppers in half, remove all seeds and stem.



At this point, do not rub or itch your eyes. I now know what pepper spray must feel like.

Roast peppers in the oven at 450 degrees until skin begins to blister and turn black in spots, which should take about 10 -15 minutes.


While the peppers are peppering, combine the first 8 ingredients for the enchiladas in a bowl, then set aside.


Once the peppers are done, let cool and remove the black spots from the skin, then chop up the peppers into small bits.






To make the cream sauce, cut up the shallot and garlic, then saute in a pan with the butter until softened and fragrant.


Add the peppers and spices and cook for another minute.


Mix the sour cream and the flour in a separate bowl.


Add to the skillet followed by the chicken broth - add the chicken broth slowly, I'm not sure I used a full 2 cups, just added as I went to thin out the mixture. I probably used 1 & 3/4 cup. After a taste test, I felt it needed more sour cream so I added another spoon full.





Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, wisk and simmer until the sauce is thick and creamy. Now, it might be time to refill your margarita. It was for us.


I also decided it needed about 1/3 cup of cheese.


Measure out 3/4 cup of your sauce and add it to the filling mixture, stir and combine well.




Use about two spoonfuls of enchilada filling to the tortillas, then roll and place face down in an oven-safe baking dish.




Top the enchiladas with the remaining sauce, then cover with monterrey jack cheese and garnish with green onions.






Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until browning and bubbly.


As we made our enchiladas, here are a few pics of G's Guac and Amy's black bean and corn salsa...






Here is the final product and it was incredible!

Bourbon Chicken

Another Allrecipes.com that sounded right up my alley. This one comes it at a low 310 calories and it is full of flavor - which is what I was looking for Miss Clare's dinner! This specific recipe doesn't use bourbon because I didn't want the unneeded calories, so I added a little more tamari and apple cider to make up for the lack of the whiskey.

Grocery List:
Desired number of chicken breasts (I used 3, cut in half for 6 total)
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon of ginger
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup of apple juice
1/3 cup of light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of ketchup
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce or Tamari

Additional Needs:
Mixing bowl
Skillet
Oven safe dish

Start by pre-heating your oven to 425 degrees.

Combine all elements, aside from the olive oil and chicken, into a mixing bowl.





Pour over chicken and let marinate for at least 20 minutes, setting the rest to the side to use later.



After a good bath in the bourbon marinade, add the olive oil to the skillet and heat. Next, add the chicken and sear each side to lock in the moisture and the flavor.



I felt the sauce was a little thin, so after searing the chicken, I poured the sauce in the skillet, brought it to a boil to help thicken.


Once seared, set chicken in the oven safe dish and use the rest of the marinade to cover the chicken.


Pop in the oven for 15 minutes, then you are ready to serve! For Miss Clare's visit, we made her my favorite mashed potatoes and some steamed broccoli.


There was additional chicken left over, so Mr. Max and I had it for leftovers tonight with a Parmesan Risotto (from a box) and sauteed green beans.