From Colorado Classique

1 small eggplant, sliced into 1/4 in. thick rounds

6-8 T. olive oil, divided

2 t. salt, divided

1 t. ground black pepper, divided

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4 in. slices

1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes (sauce)

2 6 oz. packages sliced mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

1/4 c. lightly packed fresh basil leaves

Preheat broiler. Coat both sides of eggplant rounds with some of the olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange eggplant on a baking sheet and broil about 5 minutes on each side or until browned; set aside. Turn oven to 425 degrees. Heat 1 T. olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper and saute in hot oil. Layer a greased baking dish with half of eggplant, half of chicken, half of tomatoes, half of mozzarella cheese, half of Parmesan cheese, and half of basil leaves. Repeat layers. Drizzle top with 1/2 T. oilve oil. Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 min. Let stand 5 min. before serving.

I made this recipe last night– great Sunday dinner!!! I love Chicken Pot Pie, but always worry about the fat/salt/calorie count. This recipe is better than most I’ve seen.  It’s from Real Simple, with my adaptations!

Ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 4 carrots, diced
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1.5 cups skim milk
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 10-ounce package frozen peas
• 3/4 tablespoon fresh thyme
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 9-inch store-bought piecrust, thawed if frozen

Here is a great recipe that’s super easy and Will and I love to eat.  If you can’t find Greek yogurt (which I never can), take 1.5 times the amount of yogurt recipe calls for and put on a paper towel inside a sieve.  Let the yogurt drain for 4 hours over a bowl to thickent the yogurt. This will help the consistency of the yogurt.  I can never get the recipe to stay in patty form, so I just cook it like ground beef and we put it into the pitas like that.

Lamb or Chicken Pita Pockets

Recipe Courtesy Rachael Ray, www.foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

• Handful cilantro leaves
• Handful mint leaves
• Handful basil leaves
• 1 cup Greek style plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon cumin, a palm full
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grill seasoning blend, 1 1/3 palm fulls (recommended: McCormick Montreal Seasoning)
• 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken or ground lamb
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 4 pita pockets
• 1 cup mango chutney
• 8 leaves tender lettuce

Directions

Place the herbs in a food processor and pulse grind them into a fine chop. In a bowl combine the herbs, yogurt, cumin and grill seasoning. Add the meat and mix to combine. Form into 4 large, very thin patties. Wash up and preheat a large nonstick skillet with a couple tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook patties 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Heat a small second skillet over high heat and blister the pitas on each side. Cut tops off the bread and fill pita pockets with patties, lettuce and chutney.

Thai Chicken from the Slow Cooking Cookbook

8 chicken thighs (about 2 lbs. skinned)

3/4 C. hot salsa

1/4 C. peanut butter

2 T. lime juice

1 T. soy sauce

1 t. grated fresh gingerroot

1/4 C. chopped peanuts

2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

Place chicken in slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients except peanuts and cilantro; pour over chicken.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 8-9 hours or until juice of chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from  cooker, using slotted spoon; place pieces on serving platter.

Remove fat from sauce. Pour sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro.

(I used 1/2 C. chili sauce, some onions, green peppers and 1 T. Asian chili sauce for the salsa. Also, I used chicken breasts which got pretty dry.)

Make Your Man Happy, Meal 3

I’ve made three meals that have gone into the Matthew Parker “Chicken Parmesan Hall of Fame.” Chicken Parmesan is the first, obviously. Tortellini Soup was the second, and last night’s was the third.

Matt had suggested teriyaki chicken, so I got to work. I found this recipe from my ex-boyfriend Tyler Florence. (We had a long relationship in the early days of Food Network, but we had to part ways when he started shilling for Applebee’s.) Anyway, this teriyaki sauce served as a great marinade, and I saved half, added a little more orange juice, and cooked it down to more of a glaze. My only change might be to use less soy sauce because it was bit salty for the Wilhelm palate. I think the chicken was in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes, covered for half the time, with the marinade in the dish to keep in moist.

Fried rice was the side dish, modified from the blog Steamy Kitchen. I didn’t use the crab or the sausage, and just started by cooking the eggs, then adding ginger, oil, frying the onions, then rice, then veggies. It has fish sauce in it, but don’t tell Matt! Using day-old rice was the key here! It was great, and super easy.

Here are the recipes! Enjoy!

Teriyaki Sauce

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup soy sauce
* 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
* 2 oranges, juiced
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 2 tablespoons ginger, peeled and minced
* 1/2 cup scallion, chopped
* 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
* 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 1 hour. May also be used as a great marinade for chicken, shrimp or beef.

Fried Rice
1 can crab (6-8oz)
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (grate on rasp grater)
1 teaspoon cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
Salt & Pepper
2 Eggs, beaten
3 cups cooked rice, break up the chunks
2 stalks green onions minced
1/2 cup frozen vegetable mixture (peas/corn/carrot) – defrosted for 15 min
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 cup diced Chinese sausage
1 teasp cooking wine

1. Marinate the Crab: Drain all the water from the can of crab meat. Marinate the grated fresh ginger, cooking wine, sesame oil.

2. Fry Sausage, Crab & Eggs: Heat up your wok to medium-high. Add the Chinese sausage to the wok, turn the heat down to med-low. Cook until the sausage releases its fat – about 5 minutes. Remove sausage, leaving as much oil in wok as possible. Turn heat to med-high. Add eggs to wok. Add crab to wok. Fry the mixture gently until eggs cooked through but still very soft. Remove, leaving as much oil in wok as possible.

3. Fry Rice: You should have about 1T of oil in the wok. If not, add cooking oil to the wok. Turn heat to high. Once the wok is very, very hot, add green onions, stir fry for 15 seconds. Add the rice – breaking up as many chunks at possible. Let the rice heat up in the wok. Add vegetables. Stir-fry until all is hot. Add fish sauce, soy, salt & pepper Add the Chinese sausage, egg/crab mixture. Stir fry until all ingredients are combined and steaming hot.