Chicken & Orange Skewers with Zucchini Rice

Well summer is officially here!  Which mean lots of BBQ'd dinners.  These skewers and their unique taste was a great change of pace from all the pork chops and beef we eat.  The zucchini rice was a very easy side dish, and a great way to sneak in some green veggies!

Chicken & Orange Skewers
* adapted from Real Simple

 Ingredients:
1 1/4 pound chicken thighs, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 red onion cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 navel orange, cut into 16 pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Wooden skewers

Directions:
1.  Soak 8 skewers in water for at least 15 minutes.
2.  In large bowl toss the all the ingredients.
3.  Thread onto skewers.
4.  Brush grill with olive oil, and place skewers on grill.
5.  Grill until chicken in cooked through, about 15 - 18 minutes.




Zucchini Rice
* adapted from Real Simple 

 Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked rice (not instant)
1 3/4 cup water
1 zucchini

Directions:
1.  Using a cheese grater, coarsely shred unpeeled zucchini.  (Trust me, this is much easier that it sounds!
2.  Cook rice as directed on package.
3. When rice is done, but still hot and steamy, sprinkle shredded zucchini over rice and let rest for five   minutes.
4.  Fluff with fork and fold in zucchini.

Beef Canapes

We just had a great backyard beer tasting last night, it was so much fun I just had to post about it today!  There was a lot of food, but these were all gone in a millisecond!  They are so easy, but look and sound so fancy!

Beef Canapes
*adapted from Real Simple

Ingredients:
Approximately 30 waffle fries
1/2 pound rare beef from the deli counter
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons horseradish
Chopped chives
Salt

Directions: 
1. Cook waffle fries according to package until golden brown and delicious, sprinkle with salt. ( You will have to go through the fries to get the nice big ones.  I actually took the best specimens from two separate bags.)
2.  While the fries are cooking prepare the Horseradish Whip. Combine the sour cream and horseradish.  To make sure you get a consistent proportion, use an electric mixer.
3.  Tear beef and place a slice on each waffle fry.  I folded each and had two layers on eac.
4.  Put a dollop of the Horseradish Whip on each fry.
5.  Sprinkle with chives

Strawberry - Goat Cheese Crostini

Strawberries had been on sale, so I decided to whip these up for my book club.  They were a huge hit!  This is a great springtime recipe.  It also went great with all our wine!

Strawberry - Goat Cheese Crostini

Ingredients:
1 French bread baguette
Fresh, sliced strawberries
8 ounces goat cheese
Whipped cream cheese (whipped is much easier to mix in with the goat cheese)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil


Directions:
1. Put balsamic in a small saucepan over medium heat, and let it reduce over a few minutes until syrupy.  I started out with about 1 to 1 1/2 cup of balsamic, and I got about 3-4 tablespoons of reduction.
2. Slice the baguette and brush both sides with olive oil.  Place on baking sheet and bake at 450F until nice and toasty.
3. Mix goat cheese and cream cheese to taste.  (I used 8 ounces of goat cheese and about 1/3 cup cream cheese)
4.  Stir the basil into cheese mixture. (Again you can use more or less basil according to you tastes.)
5.  Spread cheese mixture on toasts and top with strawberries.
6.  Drizzle balsamic reduction over strawberries.

Bruschetta Chicken Casserole

Hi everyone!  I am sorry for my long absence!  But we were very busy getting ready for, and then enjoying our vacation!  We spent two weeks in Italy, and in honor I have an Italian inspired dish!  This is a very easy and tasty weeknight meal. 

Bruschetta Chicken Casserole
* adapted from Kraft.com

 Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast, cut into bite side pieces (I used 3 large breasts)
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes, undrained
1 package Stove Top stuffing, chicken flavor
1/2 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
Shredded mozzarella cheese


Directions:
1.  Heat oven to 400F. 
2.  Place chicken in a layer at the bottom of casserole dish.
3.  Sprinkle chicken with basil and then cheese.  (The recipe originally called for 1 cup of cheese, I didn't use nearly that much!  Use your judgement and taste.)
4.  Mix together Stove Top, water and tomatoes.  Top chicken with stuffing mixture. Sprinkle a little cheese over stuffing.
5.  Bake uncovered for approximately 30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Caesar Salad Cups

I have made these cute little appetizers twice now; once for my NYE party, and once for book club.  They were a big hit both times!  Guests really appreciate having something healthy to nibble on.  This recipe has the great parts of a Caesar salad, with the wonton wrapper acting the croutons!

Caesar Salad Cups
Yields 24 Cups

Ingredients:
1 bag romaine lettuce hearts
2 cooked chicken breasts
Shredded parmesan cheese (the real stuff, not the crap in the plastic shaker)
Creamy Caesar salad dressing
1 package wonton wrappers
5 tablespoons butter
Garlic salt

Directions:
Wonton Cups:
1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Spray muffin pan with cooking spray.
2.  Melt butter, and add garlic salt to taste.  Set aside.
3.  Set up a bowl with water and a couple folded paper towels.  We are going to be "rinsing" the wonton wrappers before we put them in the pan.  This is to get rid the yucky flour on the wrappers.
4.  Dunk a wonton wrapper in the water, and shake off the excess. Place wrapper on paper towel, and dab top with another paper towel.
5. Gingerly place wrapper in muffin pan.  Get the wrapper as snug as you can without ripping it.
6. Repeat for the rest on the wrappers.  Make sure to change the water 2 or 3 times.
7. Brush insides of wrappers lightly with butter.
8. Bake for about 10 minutes.  But watch them closely!  These go from golden brown and delicious to brunt to a crisp in the blink of an eye!
9.  Cool completely on wire rack.

Filling:
1.  Chop romaine hearts into small pieces.
2.  Chop cooked chicken into small pieces, (approx 1/8" x1/8" cubes)
3.  Place romaine and chicken in large bowl, add Parmesan and dressing to taste.  Mix well.
4.  Divide filling evenly among 24 wonton cups.


 Notes:
-The cups can be made the day before, but I would not prepare the salad more than a few hours before your party.  Fill the cups right before you put them out.
- I know rinsing the wonton wrappers off seems like an annoying extra step, that is because it is.  But trust me whatever flour they use is nasty!  You want to get it off. 
- I usually bake up all the wrappers in the package.  Then I can pick the prettiest ones to fill up.

Body Worlds & The Cycle of Life

It was recently my birthday, so what better to celebrate that going to look at bodies? Let me say Body Worlds was AWESOME!  (as predicted, way better than the knock-off at Internations Mueseum of Surgical Science.) This is my third time seeing a Body Worlds exhibit, and I am never disappointed.  This time there was a lot of pieces that had two bodies interacting.  They all appeared to by standing on their own accord!  Even my husband, the architect, couldn't easily see the support structure.  There was also an ostrich with it's feathers!  I had no idea they were so big!

The Cycle of Life part was a little bit of a downer though.  There were all these plaques essentially saying that we are all going to die one day.  Like that is big news.  I was also highly entertained at the Museum of Science and Industry employees giving out blatantly wrong anatomical info.  I snickered a lot to myself.

Gunther von Hagens is great and always puts on a good show.  Plus I like his hat.

Here is where you can get tickets to the show at the MSI in Chicago:

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/body-worlds/

And while your there make to vist the chicks!

Grilled Chicken

Here in Chicago today was the first nice day of Spring!  So in honor of the occasion we grilled some yummy chicken thighs.

It was so easy, I used my absolute favorite chicken spice.  Penzeys is great!  They have few brick and mortar shops, and you can order things online.

All I did was sprinkle the Penzeys poultry seasoning liberally on the chicken.  Then, the most important part, I sent my husband out to the BBQ to grill it up.  It was so juicy, and with a nice crispy skin.

Look how nice our dinner looked!  Don't worry, I will be featuring the Lemon and Dill Potatoes in an upcoming post.