Family Favorite: Chicken Dijon

I've been missing my family a little lately, so I decided to make a meal that we have a lot. It's an extremely simple recipe, which is perfect because if you're like me, you're limited on time. And it definitely serves as a great comfort food to me (it did the trick, too. I'm feeling a bit less homesick).

At home, we've always eaten chicken dijon over brown rice and with peas. I'm definitely not a huge fan of peas, but I put some of the sauce over them and mix everything together and it's delicious.

Chicken Dijon

White Meat Chicken Tenders

1 stick of butter

1 cup of chardonnay

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

3 tablespoons dijon mustard

1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan or electric skillet. Cook the chicken in the butter until it's just white.

2. Add the wine. Simmer until the chicken is fully cooked.

3. Remove the chicken and set aside. Stir in the heavy cream and dijon mustard. Add the chicken back in a stir.

4. Serve over rice.

5. Enjoy :)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

As usual, I've been craving something sweet. I've made pumpkin spice cake and pumpkin spice cookies about 5 times already this fall, so I decided to do something different: oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Simple cookie recipe; they're all pretty much the same right? So here's what I came up with for mine:

2 sticks of room temp butter

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups oats

1 cup mini chocolate chips***

***I don't like a lot of chocolate chips, so if you do, of course feel free to add more!

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Cream butter and sugars.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

4. Add eggs one at a time to butter/sugar mixture. Beat until incorporated. Add vanilla and beat.

5. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture. Beat until smooth.

6. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

7. Bake until golden brown.

8. Enjoy :)

Banana (Nannerrr) Bread

I'm pretty sure that I subconsciously buy bananas just to let them get really ripe so that I can make banana bread. Honestly, I never finish my entire bunch of bananas, so I'm constantly making banana bread. Not sure why I've never posted my recipe before now, but I've made some tweaks to my original recipe, and here it is!

Nanner Bread

4 ripe bananas

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup of Egg Beaters*

1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce**

1 tablespoon skim milk

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Use butter or cooking spray to grease a bread loaf pan.

2. In a small bowl, mash the bananas, milk and cinnamon (I leave big chunks of banana in mine, but you can mash them as much or as little as you please!). In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set both bowls aside.

3. Beat applesauce and sugar together. Add Egg Beaters and vanilla and beat until smooth.

4. Add banana mixture to sugar mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until the flour is combined. Don't over mix the dough!

5. Pour batter into pan and bake for an hour or so. Check if it's done by putting a toothpick in the middle. If it comes out clean, it's done!

6. Let cool. Slice yourself a nice, thick piece and enjoy!

Pan Fried Tomatoes

I've been craving fried tomatoes for the past few days. I'm guessing it's because I printed out a Fall Festival Munchie Map, and those were one of the things I decided I had to get (for those of you who don't know, the Fall Festival is a huge street festival in my hometown; there's over a hundred food booths that serve pretty much anything you can imagine: fried candy bars, brain sandwiches, lollipops with crickets in them, etc).

I had two heirloom tomatoes on hand, so I used those. But I'm sure this would work with any tomato you prefer. I sliced up those tomatoes, mixed up a simple batter and went to town.

Fried Red Tomatoes

2 heirloom tomatoes (sliced, patted dry)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

milk (I didn't really measure this)

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup parm cheese

salt & pepper

cooking oil of your choice (I used vegetable)

1. Slice up those tomatoes. Pat them dry (this will help the batter adhere to them better)

2. Wisk the flour, baking powder, milk and egg. You're going to want a thicker batter so that it doesn't slide off the tomatoes, so use your own judgement on how much milk to add. Remember: you can always add more but you can never take anyway (although I suppose you can just add some more flour).

3. Mix the bread crumbs, parm cheese and salt & pepper together in a separate bowl.

4. Dredge the tomato slices in the batter, then pat both sides with bread crumb mixture.

5. Add to hot oil (be careful not to splash any of the oil on you!) Cook until golden brown.

6. Remove from oil and place on a plate that is covered with paper towels. Let cool and enjoy :)

Easy Dinner Idea: Stuffed Tomatoes

I don't know about you, but I love tomatoes. They're one of my favorite things about summer (along with fresh Indiana sweet corn, BBQ chicken and strawberries). This is a quick, easy idea for a really delicious side dish (or main entree if you're not looking for a huge meal). I've been craving a stuffed tomato for a while, so I decided to make something up. Here's what I came up with...

Stuffed Tomatoes

4 tomatoes

1 box of parmesan couscous

1/4 cup fresh spinach

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 stick of melted butter

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

salt & pepper

1. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and remove the insides (seeds, guts, all of it but leave enough of the outside to stuff it without it breaking if that makes sense). Prepare the couscous according to the directions on the box. Set aside.

2. Add olive oil and garlic to a frying pan and infuse the oil with the garlic (be sure to not burn the garlic!). Add the spinach and cook it down. Remove from heat and toss the couscous in the mixture. Mix well to get that garlic taste all throughout the couscous.

3. Mix the bread crumbs, parm cheese and butter with a fork. Set aside.

4. Stuff couscous mixture into the tomatoes. Top with the bread crumb mixture (be generous!) and mozzarella cheese.

5. Bake in a 450 degree oven until the mozzarella is melted and beginning to brown. The outsides of the tomatoes should be soft.

6. Let cool a bit and enjoy :)

New Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I've been trying to find a recipe for a cakey chocolate chip cookie... I have a favorite Amish restaurant that I get some from and they're so amazing... so if anyone knows a great, cake-like chocolate chip cookie recipe, please let me know!

While trying to come up with this recipe, I made a batch that I really loved. They're spongey, not quite the cake texture I was going for, but they are soft and delicious and I hope you enjoy them!

2 sticks of butter (preferably at room temp)

3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cups brown sugar

4 eggs (at room temp)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

3/4 bag of mini chocolate chips

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate (large) bowl, cream the butter and sugars (beat until smooth). Add eggs one at a time, beat until smooth then add vanilla.

2. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture (I usually do about a half of a cup at a time). Beat until smooth.

3. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes.

5. Enjoy :)

Sometime I'm going to post my Grandma's recipe for chocolate chip cookies... they're amazinggg! I just have to be sure that my family doesn't mind me giving away her little secret ;)

Peace&&Love.

Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parm (here with Parmesan Couscous)

Simple and so delicious

Chicken cutlets

Parmesan Reggiano cheese

Bread crumbs

Flour

Eggs

Vegetable Oil

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Mix the cheese, bread crumbs and flour on a large plate. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Crack the egg in a bowl and whisk it.

2. Dredge the chicken in the egg, then roll it in the flour mixture. Press the flour mixture into the chicken.

3. Place chicken into skillet and fry until golden brown.

Serve with spaghetti (or some other pasta) with red sauce or parm couscous like I did (I just prepared a box of parm flavored couscous)