The Nifty Foodie

Poultry

Chipotle-Honey Glazed Chicken

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The minute I saw this chicken on Smells Like Home, I starred it for a later date. Not only is it a Bobby Flay recipe, but it looked healthy too!

I have to say, this was the best chicken recipe I’ve ever made to date. It was so flavorful and the spice wasn’t too over-powering for me. It was also simple and basically like BBQ-ing on a grill. Since we were out of propane for our grill, I made this inside on the cast iron grill. 🙂 I served it with Green Bean Casserole and some garlic bread. Perfection!

Chipotle-Honey Glazed Chicken
Source: Bobby Flay via Smells Like Home

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 tbsp pureed canned chipotle chilies in adobo
  • 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp ancho chili powder
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp Spanish paprika
  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2″ thickness
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 tsp chopped chives

Directions:

Heat your grill to high.

Whisk together the honey, chipotle puree, mustard, 1 tbsp ancho powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp oil in a small bowl. I just threw it all in the food processor to blend it well.

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Stir together the remaining ancho powder with the coriander, cumin, and paprika in another medium bowl.  Add the chicken breasts, the remaining oil, and toss to coat.  Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.

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Place the chicken on the grill and grill for 3-4 minutes.  Flip the chicken and brush the pieces with the honey-chipotle sauce.  Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.  Flip the chicken again and brush the other side with the sauce; cook for 1 more minute.    Flip once more and cook for another minute. Remove chicken from the grill and brush on more sauce as desired. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, cilantro, and chives before serving.

Gumbeaux

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Now, if you are from New Orleans, you probably get the gist of what I’m saying…we like to end our words normally ending with an “o” with an “eaux” instead. Why? Because we are special…

Other weird things (at least that I know of) that we like to say….

Neutral ground = street median
If I’m going to a Mardi Gras parade, trying to find someone, you either stand on the neutral ground side or the shoulder side of the street.

Brake tag = inspection sticker
Every year, you get a sticker to check your brake lights, blinkers, etc. This, to people from the NOLA area, is a brake tag folks.

Sha = term for friend/child/whatever…people can call you sha (a pronounced like a in apple)
You’ll sometimes hear someone greet another person…whatcha doin’ der sha? Seriously..don’t judge us.

Geaux = Go
If you ever find yourself in the lucky 92,000 people who are able to squeeze into Tiger Stadium (LSU) on a Saturday night, we don’t scream “GO TIGERS!”, rather it’s “GEAUX TIGERS!” Pronounced just the same, but it feels special. 🙂

Now, don’t let our vocabulary deter you from trying a bowl of this amazingness. Gumbo (yes, I’ll be normal for the rest of this blog entry) isn’t too crazy. It’s basically a smokey stew of chicken/sausage or seafood on rice. If you want to be adventurous, you can add frog legs or alligator, but folks, I’ll keep this simple.

The base of most cajun dishes is a good, dark roux. I will admit, this being my first time, I was very intimidated of burning the roux. Burnt roux isn’t good in gumbo. So, after watching my favorite Food Network chef, Alton Brown, try to master gumbo, I decided to use some parts of his recipe to help me out.

His method? Oven baked roux….perfection, right? It worked out really really well for us. Oh yeah and my hubs gave a HUGE helping hand during this. There is a lot going on at once, and since I’m new to cooking, I don’t think I could have done it alone.

However, in the recipe, it only makes 5 qts. of gumbo.

I would like to say that in Louisiana, just making a 5 qt. pot of gumbo is not only shameful, it’s downright rude…hehe. 🙂 When making gumbo, you invite people over and 5 qts. just won’t make the cajun appetite very happy at all. So, we doubled the recipe and made HEAVY changes to it.

I present to you – chicken, andouille, sausage and crab gumbo.

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Chicken, Andouille, Sausage and Crab Gumbo
Inspired by: Alton Brown

Ingredients:

  • 8 ounces vegetable oil
  • 8 ounces all-purpose flour
  • 2-3 lbs. of pre-boiled crabs, cleaned but meat still in shell (we split up the body and claws and just threw them in the pot)
  • 1 gallon water
  • 6 chicken bouillon cubes
  • 1  diced onion
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1 cup diced green peppers
  • 4 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 pound andouille sausage
  • 1 pound pork sausage
  • 2 lbs. chicken boneless chicken breast
  • 1 tablespoon file powder

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours (or until dark brown/brick colored), whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process.
  3. After the roux bakes for 30 minutes, cut up the chicken breasts into small chunks. Place the chicken in a pot (at least 12 qts.) with a gallon of water and the bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat a little to simmer for 1 hour.
  4. Once the roux is done, carefully remove it from the oven and set over medium-high heat. Gently add the onions, celery, green peppers and garlic and cook, moving constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the salt, black pepper, thyme, basil, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves and stir to combine.  Place the mixture in the 12 qt. pot with the chicken, stirring to avoid clumps of roux in the gumbo. Add sausage and andouille. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook for 25-35 minutes, until the sausage looks done and the chicken shreds easily. Turn off the heat, add the crabs to combine. Add the file powder while stirring constantly. Cover and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes prior to serving. Serve over rice.

Chicken Pot Pie

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I am always looking for ways to make my cooking/baking skinnier and tastier. I have been questioned a few times on my blog as to why I feature some recipes that aren’t so skinny, when in fact, my blog’s name is “Skinny Food by Amy”. I like to feature ALL recipes that I cook/bake. Some recipes are made for people who have no interest in lower fat foods, so I make the full fat/calorie versions. Also, I prefer to make some recipes verbatim at first, before experimenting and adapting. For example, the cake batter ice cream. This was my first ice cream and I wanted to ensure that it came out good! Now, after a couple of recipes,  I’m getting more and more comfortable with the ingredients involved in making ice cream, thus, now looking for skinnier versions.

Now, after explaining why everything isn’t so skinny, here is a skinnier recipe that actually ended in a FAIL. I don’t like to blog about fails, really, but I’m still learning how to cook/bake so I have to share when mistakes happen. The picture above looks really good, but after following the recipe verbatim, the pot pie came out bland. Really really bland.I should’ve adapted it, being from Louisiana and being used to spicy, spicier and spiciest! Ugh…

Next time I make this, if there even is a next time, there will be TONS of spices added! I will admit, however, the biscuit topping was delicious! Can’t mess up Bisquick!

Chicken Pot Pie
Source: Weight Watchers forum

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup cut-up cooked chicken
  • 1 bag (12 oz.) Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
  • 1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup
  • 1/2 cup fat-free (skim) milk
  • 1 cup Bisquick Heart Smart® mix
  • 1/2 cup fat-free (skim) milk
  • 1 egg

Directions:

 

  1. Heat oven to 400°F. In ungreased 2-quart casserole, mix chicken, vegetables, soup and 1/2 cup milk. Microwave on High 4 minutes; stir.
  2. In small bowl, stir Bisquick® mix, 1/2 cup milk and the egg with fork until blended. Pour over vegetable mixture.
  3. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 6 servings.

Calories: 220, Fat: 6g, Fiber: 2g
POINTS*: 5

Chicken Enchiladas

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I recently saw these on Mrs. Sac’s Purple Kitchen and thought about how great it would be to make these. DH and I’s favorite restaurant is a local Mexican restaurant, but we hate to go out to eat since it gets so pricey. So, with this recipe, I was hoping to bring some great Mexican food to him!

This is a recipe from Tyler Florence on Food Network and the ratings were excellent, so I knew I had to give these a try!

These were delicious, though DH would have been happier had I put the stewed tomatoes in the food processor (he’s not a fan of tomato chunks). I will say though, this makes 16 enchiladas, so if you don’t want as many, you might want to halve the recipe.

Chicken Enchiladas
Source: Food Network (Tyler Florence)

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 teaspoons cumin powder
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon Mexican Spice Blend
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
  • 5 canned whole green chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped
  • 4 canned chipotle chiles, seeded and minced
  • 1 (28-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
  • 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
  • 16 corn tortillas
  • 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce, canned
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar and Jack cheese  (I used way more than this!)
  • Garnish: chopped cilantro leaves, chopped scallions, sour cream, chopped tomatoes

Directions:

  1. Coat large saute pan with oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken over medium heat, allow 7 minutes each side or until no longer pink. Sprinkle chicken with cumin, garlic powder and Mexican spices before turning. Remove chicken to a platter, allow to cool.
  2. Saute onion and garlic in chicken drippings until tender. Add corn and chiles. Stir well to combine. Add canned tomatoes, saute 1 minute.
  3. Pull chicken breasts apart by hand into shredded strips. Add shredded chicken to saute pan, combine with vegetables. Dust the mixture with flour to help set.
  4. Microwave tortillas on high for 30 seconds. This softens them and makes them more pliable. Coat the bottom of 2 (13 by 9-inch) pans with a ladle of enchilada sauce. Using a large shallow bowl, dip each tortilla in enchilada sauce to lightly coat. Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each tortilla. Fold over filling, place 8 enchiladas in each pan with seam side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven until cheese melts. Garnish with cilantro, scallion, sour cream and chopped tomatoes before serving. Serve with Spanish rice and beans.

Smothered Chicken

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If the title sounds familiar to you, it is. Remember when I called it my one of my best dishes to date? Yes, it STILL cannot be topped. So, I decided to make it last night for DH and I. This time, I added more Tony Chachere’s spices (in case you didn’t know, it’s a Louisiana cajun spice mix.) to it to give it more of a kick. The results? It was even better! That kick is just what it needed!!

Check out the recipe here!

Rosemary Garlic Chicken and Glazed Carrots

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I got these recipes in an email from Real Simple magazine. When I saw them, I thought they looked very healthy and tasty, so I saved the recipes and made them! The chicken was very flavorful and I think it would be wonderful in a salad, too! The carrots tasted very good and were the PERFECT compliment to the chicken!

Rosemary Garlic Chicken
Source: Real Simple

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken-breast halves
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup sherry vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar)
  • 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions:

  1.  Using a rolling pin, pound the chicken between 2 sheets of wax paper until they are of uniform thickness.
  2. Heat the oil and garlic in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers and the garlic browns. (Don’t burn the garlic.) Add the chicken breasts and cook until golden, 3 to 5 minutes on each side.
  3. Add the salt, pepper, vinegar, chicken broth, and rosemary. (When you add vinegar, face away from the pan, otherwise, the vinegar will clear your sinus, seriously!)
  4. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 3 minutes longer or until the chicken is fork-tender. Remove the chicken to a platter and keep warm. Increase heat to high and boil the sauce until thickened or syrupy, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk in the butter and pour the sauce over the chicken.

Yield: 4 servings

POINTS*: 5

Glazed Carrots
Source: Real Simple

Ingredients:

  • 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch sticks
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Kosher salt

Directions:

  1. Place the carrots in a large skillet. Dot with the butter and sprinkle with the sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
  2. Add enough cold water to come halfway up the sides of the carrots. Simmer, partially covered, until the carrots are tender and the liquid has reduced to a glaze, about 20 minutes. (If the carrots are done before this point, transfer them to a bowl, increase heat to high, and cook the liquid, uncovered, until reduced. Return the carrots to the pan and toss.)

Yield: Makes 6 servings
POINTS*: 1

Spicy Meatballs & Spaghetti

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Here’s another recipe from Ellie Krieger, out of the book, The Food You Crave. This was REALLY good. We ended up saving the leftover meatballs and sauce to make whole wheat meatball poboys another night. In fact, I found the sauce to be way better as leftovers, since the flavors developed more!

Spicy Meatballs and Spaghetti
Source: Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

For the sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes, liquid included
  • 1 teaspoon finely minced canned chipotle chiles en adobo and sauce, or more to taste
  • 2 teaspoons chopped oregano leaves
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • Salt
  • 1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves

For the meatballs:

  • Cooking spray
  • 1 pound ground turkey meat
  • 1 slice fresh whole-wheat bread, crusts removed, pulsed into crumbs
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
  • 1/2 cup finely grated carrot
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 large cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves, plus more for garnish
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 box (16 ounces) whole-wheat spaghetti

Directions

  • Fill a large stockpot with water and bring to a boil for pasta.

For the sauce:

  • In a 4-quart saucepan heat the oil over medium heat.
  • Saute the onions until translucent, about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
  • Add tomato paste, tomatoes, chipotles, oregano, rosemary, and salt. Bring all the ingredients to a low boil, reduce heat and cook for approximately 15 minutes, until liquid has evaporated slightly.
    Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
  • While sauce is cooking, make meatballs.

Meatball Directions:

  • Preheat the broiler. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine the turkey with all other ingredients in a large work bowl.
  • Form into 2 1/2 -inch balls and place on a baking sheet. Broil for 10 minutes, or until browned and almost entirely cooked through.
  • Meanwhile, remove rosemary sprig from sauce and add fresh basil. Add the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and cook additional 10 minutes, or until sauce has slightly thickened and meatballs have
    absorbed some of the sauce.
  • While the meatballs are cooking, cook the
    whole-wheat spaghetti according to package directions.
  • Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the sauce and meatballs, toss and heat through over medium heat. Divide evenly among 4 pasta bowls and garnish with parsley and 1 tablespoon grated
    Parmesan.

Yield: 6 servings (1 serving equals about 1 1/3 cups pasta and sauce, plus 2 meatballs

POINTS*: 7

Oven Fried Chicken

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My fiance and I are currently changing our lifestyle around to less eating out and more healthy cooking. I recently made this chicken from Food Network’s website that encouraged me to buy Ellie Krieger’s “The Food You Crave”.

This chicken was pretty darn tasty!! 🙂 Here’s the recipe!

Oven Fried Chicken
Source: Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

  • 1/2 sleeve (about 20) whole-grain salted crackers, pulsed in a food processor until fine (about 1/2 cup)
  • 2 1/2 cups corn cereal flakes, pulsed in a food processor to fine crumbs (about 1/2 cup)
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 cup lowfat, plain yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • Olive oil cooking spray
  • 4 medium sized skinless chicken breasts and 4 skinless chicken thighs, rinsed and patted dry (about 3 1/2 pounds chicken)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with olive oil.
  2. Combine the crackers and corn cereal crumbs, sesame seeds, cayenne, and garlic powder in a shallow bowl. Reserve.
  3. In a large bowl, combine egg whites, yogurt, Dijon mustard, and salt. Add the chicken pieces and coat thoroughly with the yogurt mixture.
  4. One at a time, dip the chicken pieces in the cracker mixture, packing crumbs onto chicken. Arrange the chicken on a baking sheet and spray lightly with olive oil cooking spray.
  5. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a knife.

Foil Pack Chicken Fajitas!

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I receive the Kraft Food & Family magazine, which by the way is FREE! If you don’t have a subscription, get one. It’s a great source for easy recipes and ideas!

I found this recipe for chicken fajitas and decided that I should try to make this happen for my fiance and I. This recipe was great, though I think next time, I’ll sear the chicken before putting it in the foil pack. It’s a definite try and super easy clean-up wise, since the chicken is in the foil!

 

It’s not the most photographic dish, but it’s still pretty good!

Foil Pack Chicken Fajitas
Source: Kraft

Ingredients:

  • 1-1/2 cups instant white rice, uncooked
  • 1-1/2 cups  hot water
  • 1 Tbsp. TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix
  • 4 small  boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
  • 1 each: green and red pepper, cut into strips
  • 1/2 cup  TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick ‘N Chunky Salsa
  • 1/2 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Taco Cheese

Directions:

  • Heat oven to 400ºF. Fold up all sides of each of four 18×12-inch sheets of heavy-duty foil to form 1-inch rim; spray foil with cooking spray. Combine rice, water and taco seasoning; spoon evenly onto centers of foil. Top evenly with remaining ingredients.
  • Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Place in 15x10x1-inch baking pan.
  • Bake 30 to 35 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF). Let stand 5 min. Cut slits in foil to release steam before opening packets.

I’m entering this for Joelen’s Tasty Tools event for this month. The tool of the month is Baking sheets, and of course, I used a baking sheet to hold the foil chicken up and to catch anything that leaked out!

Oven “fried” Chimichangas

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My fiance and I had some leftover rotisserie chicken from Target to use up. So, I searched online for ideas and found this great recipe for chimichangas on Recipezaar. Even better, it’s healthy!

Oven Fried Chimichangas
Source: Recipezaar

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup picante sauce or your favorite salsa
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 green onions, chopped with some tops (about 1/4 cup)
  • 6 (8 inch)  flour tortillas
  • 2 tablespoons margarine, melted
  • shredded cheddar cheese, for serving
  • chopped green onion, for serving
  • picante sauce, for serving

Directions:

  1. Mix the chicken, picante sauce/salsa, cumin, oregano, cheese and onions together in a bowl.
  2. Place about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla.
  3. Fold the opposite sides over filling.
  4. Roll up from bottom and place seam-side down on a baking sheet.
  5. Brush with melted margarine.
  6. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes or until golden.
  7. Garnish with additional cheese and green onion and serve salsa on the side.

These came out pretty good. I would add more cheese for next time, but I think this is a definite keeper in the recipe file for us!