Mustard Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

Adapted from Real Simple, 2007

Interested in a tasty, simple week night meal that should yield leftovers? This is your dish! I have been aiming to make this for some time now, but finally got around to it! It was easy to prepare and really good -- the recipe called for a while chicken cut up into 8 pieces, but I just used a package of chicken thighs that I had on hand - would highly recommend since that's an easy route! I also switched up the vegetables, so this is my twist on the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
6 chicken thighs, skin removed (or you can use a whole chicken cut into pieces)
3 tb whole ground mustard
2 tb reduced sodium soy sauce
salt and pepper
handful of small carrots (sliced in half if they're thick)
handful of broccoli florets
handful of cauliflower florets
1 cup yellow onion, diced into wedges
8 sprigs of thyme, or however much you prefer
2 tb olive oil

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400° F.
2. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Combine the mustard, soy sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken and stir to coat.
3. Combine the carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, thyme, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a roasting pan.
4. Nestle the chicken among the vegetables. Roast until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 45 minutes worked for chicken thighs.
5. Divide the chicken and vegetables among individual plates.

Sauteed Soft Shell Crab

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

Soft shell crabs are one of my favorites, and I finally attempted them myself! I try to lay off a lot of fried food, so this recipe struck my eye since it was sauteed! It was really yummy, and was a great appetizer! Hurry and get some of these before the season ends!

Ingredients:
3 soft-shell crabs, cleaned and patted dry
salt + pepper
1 cup flour
2 tb olive oil
3 garlic cloves, diced
2 tb capers, drained
1/2 cup white wine
1 tb butter
few chive blades, chopped

Directions:

Season crabs with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, shaking off excess. Set aside.  In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the oil and saute the crabs until soft, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove the crabs and set aside. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then add the capers and white wine. Cook until wine has reduced to about 1/2. Swirl in the butter and the chopped chives. Season with salt and pepper.  Transfer crabs to a plate, spoon sauce over the crabs.

 

Scallops Piccata

Courtesy of Plated Perfection

Whenever scallops are fresh, I buy them. They are one of our favorite seafood dishes to cook, and I also love anything piccata! I served these alongside my family's green beans out of the garden -- so the focus of this recipe is on the scallops. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound scallops
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 cup chicken broth or stock
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped (optional)

Directions:
Pat the scallops dry with a paper towl. Season each side with salt & pepper. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tb olive oil to the pan. Sear the scallops on each side until browned, approximately 2 minutes per side. Remove the scallops and set aside on a plate, covered with foil.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the other tb olive oil and 1/2 tb butter, the garlic and shallots to the skillet. Sauté garlic and shallots three minutes. Add flour and cook two minutes. Whisk in wine and reduce liquid one minute. Whisk lemon juice and broth into sauce. Stir in capers and parsley. When the liquid comes to a bubble, add remaining 1/2 tb butter to the sauce.

Add scallops back to the pan and heat through, 1-2 minutes. Serve the scallops with a little sauce spooned on top!

Cauliflower Fried Rice - Paleo Style

Adapted from Nom Nom Paleo

Yesterday was Nick's birthday, and generally, we'd go out to dinner. However, we're trying to start the week off right by working out and cooking (and not drinking). So, I decided to cook and try this new recipe I stumbled across. I'm usually not a huge fan of Paleo meals, but this one really caught my eye because of the cauliflower. I made several changes, so the below is my adaptation of the recipe. You could switch this up with veggies and meat as much as you want, so get creative! This was a huge hit! He even said it was in his Top 10...kind of a big deal ;)

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower, separated in florets (I only needed half; reserved the other half)
• 2 large eggs
• 1-inch knob of ginger, grated with a microplane
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• small bag of stir fry mixture (snow peas, broccoli, carrots)
• 1/2 bell pepper (color of your choice)
• approx. 6 oz. of cooked turkey/steak (I used Whole Foods Thai Turkey Salad and Spicy Thai Steak Salad from their salad bar -- fantastic)
• 2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon of chopped mint
• 2 tablespoons of coconut aminos
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Splash of coconut vinegar
• Splash of Red Boat Fish Sauce -- this stuff is great!

Directions:
Pulse cauliflower in food processor until it's the size of rice.  Chop up your veggies if necessary.  Whisk 2 eggs together with salt and pepper. Scramble the eggs with a tad of coconut oil, set aside when done. Heat a skillet to medium-high heat and add the chopped onion (along with a dash of salt and pepper). Once the onion is softened, toss in the garlic and saute for about 1 minute. Then add the vegetables, but hold off on the cauliflower for a few minutes. Stir-fry everything until the veggies are a bit cooked. Add the ginger and stir it around for 30 seconds, then add in the cauliflower and even more salt and pepper. Put a lid on the skillet and lower the heat to low and cook it covered for about 5-7 minutes. Throw in the cooked meat, to mix up with the cauliflower mixture -- warm for 1-2 minutes. When the cauliflower is tender, add the coconut aminos, the herbs, and the scrambled egg. Add a little coconut vinegar to add a dash of taste, and then splash on some fish sauce for good measure!

Porchetta Style Pork Chops

Courtesy of Rachael Ray

Let me start by saying these were the biggest pork chops I have ever purchased...and I am so glad I did! These were delicious! They did take a while to cook since they were pretty thick, but so worth it. This was also a quick and healthy recipe, so that's an added bonus. If you see good quality chops, definitely give this a try! I subbed the fennel out for zucchini, which is not in the picture. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4 thick-cut, bone-in pork chops
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 6 cloves garlic, 2 chopped, 4 crushed
• 1 tablespoon fennel seed
• 2 tablespoons rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest plus 4 lemon wedges
• 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
• Kosher salt
• 2 bulbs fennel, trimmed and cut into 8 wedges each (I left this out -- used zucchini)
• 8 large shallots, quartered lengthwise
• 4 medium potatoes, cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place chops in shallow dish with 2 tablespoons olive oil, chopped garlic, fennel seed, rosemary, lemon zest and pepper. Season chops with Kosher salt and slather the porchetta seasoning all over the chops evenly, turning to coat both sides.  Let stand 30 minutes. 
Coat zucchini, shallots, crushed garlic cloves and potatoes lightly in remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast 35-40 minutes until potatoes are crispy and fennel and shallots are caramelized at edges. Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add chops to hot pan and brown 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer to oven and roast about 8 minutes more. Remove from oven and douse pan with wine or stock.

Mustard-Roasted Chicken with Vegetables

Adapted from Real Simple

Some folks think that chicken is boring, but I disagree. I'm always on the lookout for good chicken recipes because they're generally healthy, and also simple most of the time. I'm always surprised at how tasty chicken can be -- this is another example of that. I switched up the vegetables because I am not a big fennel fan...and I also had different veggies on hand. It came out great! This is a great week night meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 4-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces (I just used 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs)
• 3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• kosher salt and pepper
• 1 bag of sugar snap peas
• 1/2 red onion, chopped roughly
• 8 sprigs thyme (I used 4 since portion was smaller)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 

Directions:

Heat oven to 400° F. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Combine the mustard, soy sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken and stir to coat. Combine the sugar snap peas, red onion, thyme, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a roasting pan. Nestle the chicken among the vegetables. Roast until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 45 to 50 minutes. Divide the chicken and vegetables among individual plates.

 

Greek Chicken with Sauteed Broccoli

Greek Chicken Courtesy of Pinterest - brendahealthydinnerrecipes.blogspot.com
Sauteed Broccoli Courtesy of Plated Perfection

Continuing with the healthy kick this week -- chicken! I'm a sucker for anything Greek, and I've been looking for a good marinade. I think I found it! This was delicious. I marinated the chicken for 4 hours, but it easily could've gone a bit longer...it was still extremely moist and yummy. This recipe makes a ton of chicken -- I actually plan to have leftovers this week for lunch, and it would be great on salads or pita bread! You could also freeze it! Definitely give this a go -- very tasty. I served it with some sauteed broccoli that I threw together -- super easy, but also lots of flavor!

Ingredients:
Greek Chicken
1 cup plain yogurt
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
1 medium lemon zested
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
freshly cracked pepper (to your liking)
1/4 bunch fresh parsley
3 1/2 to 4 lbs chicken pieces (I used a mix of thighs and breasts)
Sauteed Broccoli
4 heads of fresh broccoli, cut into pieces
1-2 tb olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
dash of salt and pepper (or red pepper if you want) 
dash of Worcestershire sauce
dash of water

Directions:
Chicken
Combine marinade. Place pieces in marinade in a gallon ziploc bag or container. Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.
Broccoli
While the chicken is cooking, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the garlic for a couple of minutes. Toss in the broccoli with the rest of the ingredients. Saute for approximately 5-10 minutes, depending on how crisp/tender you'd like the broccoli. I cook them until they're bright green personally.