BBQ Spinach Chicken Wraps

I don't know about you guys, but after last Thursday - aka, the great American eat-a-thon - I've been craving something a little lighter. My poor tummy needs a break from the heavy, eat-til-I'm-uncomfortable kind of dining... and so does my waistline. Truthfully, after the gratuitous amounts of mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie I've consumed in the last few days, I should probably resign myself to eating naked lettuce and ice water for a month. But since we all know how likely that is to happen, I think a good wrap is in order instead.

I'll admit it... these wraps are another shameless rip off of a restaurant favorite. Way back when, in the summer right before my senior year of high school, when the only thing I had to worry about was creating an epic drum major salute for marching band and keeping gas in my crappy Volkswagon Jetta, I worked at Red Robin. It was a truly... interesting experience, and one I only cared to immerse myself in for one summer... but it had its perks. Not the least of which was getting half off of these amazing wraps on my lunch breaks.

Now, now... before you go freaking out, rest assured that I'm not divulging any top secret, inside restaurant information here. Red Robin will proudly tell you the ingredients in each of their dishes on their website, and besides, I have, of course, added my own little spin. I can never leave well enough alone after all.

But whether you've eaten the original or not, I think you guys are really going to love these wraps. They're super easy to throw together, and pretty darn irresistible. And they're pretty much the perfect lighter meal that people like us need after a weekend of binge eating. You might fall for the warm, juicy chicken, or maybe even the strangely intoxicating combination of BBQ sauce and ranch dressing. The crispy tortilla strips have always been the kicker for me though. It's like putting potato chips in your sandwich during a summer picnic... it feels so wrong, but tastes so right.

So if you need a little reprieve from your Thanksgiving food bender, give these a try. I promise you won't regret it.

Chicken (or Turkey!) Croquettes

Happy Black Friday, everyone! I trust you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving... we sure did! I had to work at the hospital last night, but fortunately I was able to sacrifice a little sleep to spend a few hours with my family over wonderful food and even better conversation.

We have so much to be thankful for this year, too. 2011 has been a huge year on so many levels... graduation with my AS in Respiratory Care in May, a full-time job for me, our amazing wedding and honeymoon in August, graduation with my BS in Respiratory Care coming up in a few weeks... and now a house! Dane and I will be closing on our first home next week and moving next weekend! We are ridiculously excited, as you can imagine, and immensely grateful for the opportunity to own our own home. Especially in today's economy, we are fully aware of what a great blessing this is, and we feel so lucky and very thankful. This has been a very blessed Thanksgiving indeed!

But enough mushy stuff. Who wants food?

I made these chicken croquettes a couple of weeks ago from some leftover roasted chicken, and the whole time I kept thinking, "These would be perfect black Friday food!" These irresistible little croquettes make perfect use of those Thanksgiving leftovers, and are way tastier than any day-after turkey sandwich I've ever eaten. They look - and taste! - like they take hours to prepare, but are really, really easy to throw together. And if you tend to hoard hard Italian cheeses like I do, you'll probably even have all the ingredients in your kitchen right now! And if not, well... they're totally worth the trip to the store to pick up a little Romano.

So here it is, guys... the answer to your day-after-Thanksgiving, what-do-I-do-with-all-these-leftovers-questions. Totally pop-able, completely irresistible, amazingly easy croquettes. Do it.

Or, if you prefer the more traditional leftovers answer, try my mom's turkey and homemade egg noodles!

Happy eating!

Herb Roasted Chicken

I've been on a roasted chicken kick lately.

Ever since I roasted my first chicken about a month ago, I've been a little obsessed.

But how can you blame me? A whole chicken costs about as much as 2 or 3 breasts by themselves usually, and goes easily twice as far. Plus the whole roasting process is kind of fun in some twisted way... sort of therapeutic, the way kneading bread can be. Or maybe I just love pulling a roasted bird out of the oven, seeing its skin all perfectly brown and crispy, its savory aroma filling my apartment.

Plus, I figure it's good practice for the Thanksgiving turkey I'll roast in a year or two. :)

When I stumbled upon this recipe while watching Food Network videos online one night, I knew I had to try it. My last roasted bird was a little more complicated than I wanted it to be, and I was on the hunt for a simpler recipe that still packed great flavor. This recipe definitely delivered on that one. Getting the seasonings up under the skin was a genius move, because the usually dry and flavorless breasts were moist and juicy and packed with so much flavor. And the process could not be simpler. With classic flavors, moist results, and an easy method, I think this might be my go-to poultry recipe for when I'm finally ready to tackle that Thanksgiving turkey!

Orecchiette with Mini Chicken Meatballs

While the rest of the world feels like baking sweet cookies and pies, autumn makes me crave savory food. The cool air and gloomy skies make me want to spend all day making soup and bread. Stick-to-your-ribs kind of food... comfort food.

Well we've had plenty of that cool and gloom since October hit... it's rained ten out of the fourteen days we've had so far. Is it sick that I love it? Sometimes I think I should move to Seattle, because I'm happiest in a hooded sweatshirt with the fresh smell of rain in the air. Give me a warm latte and an umbrella, and I'll spend more time outside this time of year than during the summer. I'm an autumn girl, through and through.

This is a perfect autumn pasta dish. It's a great way to use up any straggling tomatoes left over from summer's bounty, and the hearty chicken meatballs give it amazing savory flavor. Plus there are three different kinds of cheese in it. Like gratuitous amounts of cheese. How can you say no to that? And well, you know me... I love any excuse to eat pasta. With a warm, broth-based sauce, hearty chicken meatballs, and melty mozzarella cheese, it's almost as comforting as a big bowl of soup!

Chicken Scaloppine with Saffron Cream Sauce

Let's talk about my photography skills for a minute.

Obviously, the photos at the top and bottom of this page are not my best work. This is what happens when you're in a huge hurry, and the only camera you own is a simple point and click that your mom bought you for Christmas your freshman year of college. Now, don't let me sound ungrateful. My little Kodak has seen me through many important times and been quite a good camera for the things I've asked it to do. And, of course, I am eternally grateful to my mother for buying it for me at all, and I still remember the excitement I felt when I opened it Christmas morning. But let's be honest friends... it's time to upgrade.

So I went and bought myself one of these.

photo credit to Wikipedia

Since I'm still very much an amateur (read: knows NOTHING about real photography) it's still going to take some time and a whole lot of learning before I start posting photos equivalent to Jessica's, or Jenna's, or Isabelle's. But I'll get there... just another part of my humble little food blog journey. ...and I thank you so much for your patience in seeing me through it.

In the meantime, please forgive me for these less-than-perfect photos. Trust me, they do not come close to doing this recipe justice. The chicken is simple, and the sauce is out of this world. Rich and creamy, yet light and flavorful at the same time. It's sauce so good you'll want to pour the leftovers into a glass jar and horde it to use as gravy over all kinds of tasty things, like mashed potatoes. (And yes, there will be leftovers, so enjoy.) I always smile a little inside when dinner is tasty enough to actually elicit a reaction from Dane... and his loud "yum" gave me so much satisfaction. Make this this week and you'll totally agree.

Sweet & Sticky Chicken Drumsticks

Who doesn't love a drumstick?

For me, drumsticks remind me of being a kid, and the novelty of eating natures first food on a stick. Drumsticks were cool in the way corn dogs were cool... it allowed me to succumb to my natural human instinct to pick up my food with my bare hands and rip into it with my bare teeth. No nice neat bites, no worry about lady-like eating habits. Everyone knows when you eat a drumstick, things will get a little messy... so no one judges when you finish dinner with sauce all over your face. I might need a wet wipe when I'm done, but by God I didn't need a fork!

I don't need to tell you how tasty these are... the name pretty much says it all. Sticky-sweet balsamic sauce over crispy skin over juicy dark meat chicken - how could these be anything but absolutely yummy? Point is, you'll love these both for their amazing adult flavors and for their wonderful juvenile nostalgia. So bring out your inner kid this weekend... just be sure to have plenty of napkins around. :)

My First Roasted Chicken

Next on the list of my late night cooking adventures: roasted chicken.

This was another first for me. Weird, right? What aspiring chef has never roasted a chicken before? Well, this aspiring chef, for one. And I figured it was about time to change that. The way I think about it, roasting a chicken is like boiling an egg... everyone should know how to do it.

So with blind ambition and a whole night ahead of me, I set out on a mission... to roast my first chicken.

I wasn't particularly picky about the kind of roasted chicken I wanted to make. I just wanted to make one! I remembered the recipe featured in Cristina Ferarre's Big Bowl of Love. She called it "Chicken Roasted to Perfection," so it had to be good, right?

Well, good was a freaking understatement.

I think what surprised me most about this chicken was how moist it was. I've had roasted chicken before that was dry and tough, but this was so tender and juicy it was damn near falling off the bone by the time it was done. And every bit of it had flavor. The Dijon mustard right on the skin was almost too much for me, but Dane really loved it. But even after picking off the skin I found that the meat below had retained the perfect meld of Dijon, thyme, and rosemary. It was heavenly.

And the leftovers even made for some great fajitas the next day.

So what do you guys think? Not bad for my first try, eh? :)

Chicken Enchiladas

I have been on the hunt for a good enchilada recipe for a very long time. Enchiladas have always been a favorite item to order at Mexican restaurants and I've always wanted to make them at home, but I've never found a sauce recipe I could stand. Fillings are easy. You can really fill enchiladas with whatever you want... chicken, shredded beef, cheese, beans... anything you want to your liking. But the sauce - yes, the perfect sauce always eluded me. Until now.

None of the sauces I tried before were ever quite right. They were always too spicy, too smokey, too... weird. But this one totally fit the bill. The flavor is out of this world. Don't worry when you see that the sauce calls for two whole onions, it's not a typo. It's totally on purpose, because that's where all the awesome flavor comes from. The onion adds a hearty, body-ful flavor to the sauce, that none of the other sauces have ever achieved. And, as if blending the sauce didn't make give it a creamy-enough texture all by itself, the last minute addition of just a little sour cream makes it rich without making it heavy. I like this sauce so much I think I might make extra next time and freeze some to have on hand.

But the one thing I was not prepared for was how BIG these enchiladas are. I'm used to wimpy enchiladas made with little corn tortillas, small enough that I usually need to eat two to get full. So when I saw that this recipe only made six enchiladas I was a bit worried. But don't fret guys... as you can see from the photos, these are monster enchiladas. I'm almost tempted to call them smothered burritos instead, because that's essentially what they are. But an enchilada by any other name tastes just as delicious. So call them what you will. But promise me you'll make them? You'll be very glad you did.

Barbecue Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

A couple of weeks ago I had the honor and privilege of winning a copy of Cristina Ferrare's Big Bowl of Love from a wonderful giveaway Annie was doing over on her blog. Not only was I ecstatic to have won a copy of such a highly-reviewed cookbook, but it's also the first thing I've ever won from a blog giveaway!

As soon as it arrived on my doorstep I immediately sat down with it and flipped through every recipe...

...and promptly bookmarked more than half of them to try. (If you've been following this blog long you'll know this is kind of a habit, tehe.) So expect to see many more big bowl of delicious love recipes in the coming weeks!

But back to the epic pulled chicken sandwiches!

Even though it took me longer than I'd really hoped to finally try something out of my shiny new cookbook, my first recipe was definitely worth the wait. These sandwiches were a huge hit! I think the use of thighs was ingenious for this recipe - white meat is often too dry for my taste, but the dark thigh meat stayed mouthwateringly moist. Plus, after a 2-hour slow roast in thick, smoky-sweet BBQ sauce, the meat literally fell off the bone. I could have eaten it without the bun! I followed the recipe as written this time around and used my oven, but you could easily use a slow-cooker to keep your house cool this summer if you wanted to. But no matter the method... I'll definitely be making these again!

Thanks again, Annie!

Grilled Southwest Chicken Salad

There's something about grilled corn that really gets my juices flowing.

I mean, look at those sexy, perfectly charred ears of deliciousness. Nothing screams summer to me like sweet, smokey grilled corn. Mmm.

Usually, that would be the end of the story. Beautiful fresh corn on the cob would go onto the grill to become slightly charred and ultra sweet, and then I'd promptly stuff my face with all the epic summer flavor my little tummy could handle. But for some reason, this time I decided to share the amazingness of the grilled corn... with lightly grilled bell pepper, black beans, chicken, and fresh cilantro. And more green chili-chipotle sour cream dressing than I should probably admit, let's be honest.

Even though this salad is comprised of relatively simple ingredients, the combination was quite extraordinary. Black beans and corn are some of my favorite salad toppings to begin with, but grilling the corn and bell pepper took the flavors to a whole new level of awesome. It took an otherwise unimpressive salad and turned it into a dish that tastes as quintessentially of summer as a wedge of watermelon and a glass of iced tea. The dressing - which I created completely ad lib, adding a little bit of this and a little bit of that until the flavor resembled what I had in mind - is creamy without being heavy, and tasty without being overwhelmingly spicy.

But perhaps the most exciting thing about this salad is that it's completely versatile. Don't like red bell peppers? Leave them out! Craving a little avocado? Add a few slices, or, better yet, mix it into the dressing! This salad was completely spontaneous and perfectly fit my cravings at the time, but I love knowing that I could easily tweak it to fulfill whatever cravings I may have tomorrow.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu. Sounds pretty fancy, doesn't it? I mean, anything with a fancy French "bleu" on the end of its name has to be fancy, right?

Sadly, this is not always true. I've ordered chicken cordon bleu in restaurants that was nothing more than a dry grilled piece of chicken with a slab of ham and a slice of Swiss cheese apathetically thrown on top. Talk about blah.

My version is so much better.

My version of chicken cordon bleu is fit for Napolean himself. Fit to be served on fancy French china with fancy French wine and finished off with a fancy French dessert.

Or served on a bed of greens, if that's the kind of thing you're into.

True, it's basically fried in butter. But that's what makes it good. This is the kind of fried-in-butter food that makes you want to quote Julie Powell and claim that the day there is a meteorite rushing toward the Earth and we have thirty days to live that you are going to spend it eating butter.

Well maybe not butter itself so much as things fried in butter. But that's just me.

But the point, my friends, is that you need to make this. Stat. With salty, smokey prosciutto and creamy Swiss cheese that melts all over the pan and gets brown and crispy and makes you just want to spend every day browning cheese in butter and eating that all by itself... this recipe will you make you forget you ever tried that lame, flavorless chicken cordon bleu. Now go and make it. Thank me later.

Sesame-Teriyaki Chicken Thighs

Today was a day deserving of a good glass of wine. Last week consisted of working 28 hours on top of classes and clinical, taking an online midterm that consisted of 7 essay questions and annihilated 5 hours of my time, and cramming for my lab midterm. Today I took said lab midterm and managed to not bomb it completely (at least I hope)... and I interviewed for my dream job! My interview went extremely well, so, with any luck, you may see me on here gloating about it in a few days! So between the stress of life and midterms and the excitement about my career, I felt a good glass of wine was definitely in order. (...and perhaps a nice, relaxing bath later too, tehe.)

A day like today is also deserving of a scrumptious dinner. Now, before I share I must admit, I'm totally in love with this sauce. I'm almost tempted to claim it as a family secret and lock it away from the rest of the world, it's that good. Not that that would work though, considering Ellie Krieger's too busy blabbing about it in her book and on the Food Network website... but nevermind. Before this recipe came into our lives Dane and I used to get our teriyaki fix from store-bought Lawry's marinade, but no more! This sauce has everything we loved about Lawry's - sweet and just a little salty, with a hint of tasty vinegar - with the satisfaction of being homemade. And it's insanely easy to make... seriously, just dump and stir. It comes together in about the time it takes to get the freshness seal off the Lawry's bottle. And from this simple little sauce comes endless possibilities, from these satisfying marinated chicken thighs to kebabs on the grill, even to a simple dressing for an asian three-bean salad to go with said chicken thighs (recipe coming tomorrow). Try it once and you'll see what I mean... guaranteed, you'll fall in love too!

Chicken Chop Suey

I have no intention of turning this blog into a food/calorie journal, but I must confess, I ate very well last week. I put some old habits back into practice and found that getting back to eating healthy really is mostly about finding a good routine! The trick for me seems to be deciding what I'm going to eat for the whole day (including snacks) before I even put anything in my mouth... so that way if I'm tempted to eat, say, one of those cookies sitting in the break room, I already know that my calories are spent and I have other tasty, healthier options waiting for me at their pre-scheduled time. It's not the most terribly fulfilling way to eat, but it is better for health as well as my waistline. And most importantly... it's what works for me. :)

Well, after that wonderfully empowering week of healthy eating, I opted to let loose a little on Saturday when I spent the evening with my sister. We went to one of my favorite restaurants back home - which no restaurant in my new hometown has yet to compare to - and I guiltlessly enjoyed a deep-fried egg roll with my usual fried rice and pork chow mein. It really was a satisfying treat, especially since I don't get to eat them very often. And I probably could have gotten away with one gluttonous meal for the weekend... if I hadn't promptly come home on Sunday and eaten way too many of the delicious, cream cheese-laden taquitos I made for lunch, haha. Then, in an unfortunate turn of events, I stopped at McDonald's for dinner on my way in between hospitals during my evening shift, knowing that I wouldn't have time to stop at the hospital cafeteria before having to get report. Tisk, tisk. This, my friends, is precisely the kind of situation I usually avoid with a little pre-planning. Oh well.

So, I figured that after a weekend of pure pigging out, it was time to jump back on the healthy-eating bandwagon. My food planner is all nice and filled out for the week, complete with perfectly-portioned meals and well-balanced snacks, to set myself up for success. And this meal I share with you was the perfect way to get my week of healthy eating off to a good start.

Cashew Chicken

Just about everyone knows that when you're trying to eat healthy, stir fry is a good way to go. Minimal amount of oil, healthy veggies, rice... I mean c'mon, does it get healthier than that? But, unfortunately, no one is going to get excited about a bland bowl of vegetables and rice, so a flavorful sauce is a must. And that sauce is just one of the many reasons I love this dish.

I found this recipe through Eat Better America, on a free calender they sent me last year. Its arrival came at the perfect time because I was really getting tired of my own beginner's version of stir fry sauce, which sadly consisted of nothing more than chicken broth, corn starch, and way too much soy sauce. Having never used rice vinegar before, I remember being apprehensive about trying this dish... but the rice vinegar turned out to be my favorite part of the sauce! Combined with the small amount of sugar, it creates a wonderful little sweet-and-sour effect that is quite addicting. These days I find myself looking for new ways to use rice vinegar, so please feel free to share if you have any ideas!

With the spring semester now in full swing, fast meals that reheat well are also a must. I'm happy to say that this dish only takes about half an hour from start to finish, including prep work... in fact, if you use brown rice, the rice may take the longer to cook than the stir fry itself! But time rewards those who plan ahead, so feel free to use leftover rice or cook it the day before (chances are it will soak up more of the sauce too, hehe). Plus, this recipe is a great, healthier way to curb that Asian food craving, in about the same time it would take the delivery boy to show up from that greasy take out restaurant across town.