Buffalo Chicken Dip

When I went home for Christmas, my stepsister made this really yummy dip for us to munch on before dinner.  It was so good that I had to share it here.  We made a little change to it by baking some extra mozzarella cheese on top of it.  I could've just had it for dinner!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Ingredients
8oz package of cream cheese
1/2 cup of ranch dressing
1/2 cup hot sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (with an additional 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top)
2 cans of chicken breast (drained)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix all ingredients except for the extra 1/4 cup of cheese in a large baking dish.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese on top.  Return to the oven to bake for another 10 minutes.  

Serve with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Swiss Chicken Casserole

It is finally, finally, finally getting cooler here in the Lowcountry, and I am happy to report that I have broken out the crock pot for the first time in forever.  I've been dying to use it for a couple of weeks now.  Recently, I downloaded an app on to my iPhone that has just crock pot recipes, and I've been browsing it for something new to make.  Rick and I have been feeling a little burned out on the food we've been eating lately, and this recipe was totally different than our regular fare.  We served it with our favorite green beans on the side. 

I took the original recipe and made some changes (of course!).  It smells like Thanksgiving as it cooks.  My biggest complaints about it is how much sodium it has.  That's the problem with using canned soup, and I think that the next time that I make it I may go with using the lower sodium version of the soup.

Here's what I did


Swiss Chicken Casserole
Ingredients
6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
6 slices of Swiss cheese
1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic Condensed Soup
1 box of Stove Top Savory Herb Stuffing
1/4 cup low fat milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Cooking spray


Directions
Spray crock pot with cooking spray.  Place chicken breasts on the bottom of the crock pot.  Top chicken with cheese slices.  Mix milk and soup in a bowl together, and then spoon over cheese.  Next, add the stuffing on top of the soup mixture and drizzle melted butter over it.  Cook on low for 8 hours.


Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken with Spicy Brazilian Tomato and Coconut Sauce

When I was in North Carolina over the weekend, my dad gave me some fresh jalapenos from his garden.  As soon as I got settled yesterday, I started searching the internet for something to make with them!  I knew that I wanted to make salsa, but I also wanted to make something else.  I had some chicken breasts in the refrigerator that I needed to use so I narrowed my search a wee bit more.  I came across this recipe, and it looked like the perfect recipe for me to make for Rick and I for dinner.  Rick didn't come with me to NC because he has some work to do at home, and I was so happy to see him when he came over last night.  I'm hoping that I can talk him into coming up with me at some point this fall so that we can enjoy the cool weather and see the leaves in the mountains.

The recipe kinda reminded me of one of my favorite dishes, Brazilian Shrimp Stew, but when it was all put together, it didn't have that wow factor that the stew did. Rick and I agreed that it wasn't that exciting. I do have to say that I liked it better when I had it as leftovers, though.  We served it with rice. The jalapenos weren't that hot so I think that next time, I'd use more.  Here's what we did...

Grilled Chicken with Spicy Brazilian Tomato and Coconut Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 packages of skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon  salt
• Fresh-ground black pepper
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and ribs removed, minced
• 1 1/4  cups canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree
• 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Directions

In a baking dish, combine 3 tablespoons of oil with 3 cloves minced garlic. Coat the chicken with half of the garlic oil and season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. 

Heat grill to moderately high temperature (we use gas), and cook the chicken for about 20 minutes until it is cooked thoroughly (turning around 4 times while cooking).  Place the chicken on a plate a cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.

In a medium saucepan, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add garlic, jalapenos, and ginger and cook for another 1 minute. Next, add tomatoes, coconut milk, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in cilantro.  Serve the sauce over rice and the chicken.

Enjoy!

Okra, okra, everywhere!

The Okra Fairy came to Wyngate Circle this week, and I'm the proud owner of a rather nice sized bag of the little boogers.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do with mine (other than pickling some of them), but my neighbor Kelly has gone ahead and used some of hers.  I had the privilege of getting to sample some of the yummy Chicken Gumbo that she made in her Crock Pot this week.  She found the recipe on Whole Food's website.  Here's what she did...

Chicken Gumbo with Fresh Okra

Ingredients

4 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
Sea salt
Ground pepper
4 tablespoons unbleached flour
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced green pepper
1/2 cup diced celery
2 cups sliced fresh okra
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon hot sauce, to taste
3/4 pound cooked chicken sausage, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
12 raw peeled large shrimp, fresh or frozen (optional)
Cooked long-grain white or brown rice


Directions
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to skillet. Brown chicken on all sides, about 5 minutes total. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add remaining 3 tablespoons oil to the pan and heat until hot. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. The mixture should be about the color of peanut butter. It is extremely hot, so be careful not to splatter. Add onion, green pepper, celery and okra. Carefully stir in the chicken broth. Return chicken and any juices to the pan. Add chicken sausage, bay leaves and tomatoes. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. If desired, add shrimp and continue to cook another 5 minutes or until the shrimp are done. Serve over rice.

To make this recipe in a slow cooker, after browning the chicken, place in slow cooker. Scrape up any brown bits from the pan and add to the cooker.

Add remaining 3 tablespoons oil to the pan, and heat until hot. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. The mixture is extremely hot, so be careful not to splatter. Add the onion, green pepper and celery, and cook until the vegetables start to wilt, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and stir until smooth and incorporated. Pour mixture into the slow cooker. Add the okra, bay leaf, tomatoes and hot sauce. Cover, and turn cooker to low. Cook for 7 to 8 hours, adding another 1/2 cup chicken broth or water if necessary. Thirty minutes before serving, add the sausages and turn cooker to high. Five minutes before serving, add the shrimp. Serve over cooked rice.

Chicken Pasta with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

I was going to make this recipe over the weekend, but I ended up spending my Friday night helping Kelly decorate her visor for the Dragon Boat Race on Saturday.  Her visor turned out really cute!  I was quite impressed with myself.  Saturday night, I just wasn't feeling like cooking so I had leftovers.  When Sunday rolled around, I was really want to make this recipe that I had found on myrecipes.com from Cooking Light, and I decided to make it for Rick and I for dinner last night when he got back from his trip to visit his parents.  As usual, I made a few changes that are reflected in the recipe below.  Not being the mushroom fan, Rick picked most of them out from his serving, and I took them!   When I was putting together our leftovers, I was nice enough to give him chicken only.  Are I sweet?  We ended up making the whole box of pasta (which is why I'm suggesting 1/2 the box in the recipe), and we're planning on using the rest of it when we make Chicken Parm this week.

Chicken Pasta with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 3/4  cup  coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
• 1  cup  water
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1 1/4  teaspoons  salt, divided
• 1 pack of skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes
• Garlic and herb spice grinder
• 1  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 1/4  cup  finely chopped shallots
• 1  (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 box of pasta of your choice

Directions

Place pecans in a food processor; process until smooth (about 1 minute), scraping sides of bowl once. With processor on, add water, then milk, and 3/4 teaspoon salt; process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl.

Season chicken with Garlic and Herb Grinder.  Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add basil, shallots, and mushrooms to pan; sauté until mushrooms are tender. Stir in pecan cream, pepper and add chicken back to the pan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 1/2 minutes.  Serve over 1 cup pasta.

Enjoy!

Thai Night....the main dish!

Before I get to last night's main dish, I wanted to share a giveaway that a friend of mine is having on her blog!  Please be sure to stop by The Nest and check it out!  She's giving away a set of Rachel Ray bakeware...how cool is that????   Regardless of the giveaway, you gotta check her site out. She makes the most amazing bake goods, and I aspire to be half as creative as she is with them!

So last night, I made Pad Thai for this first time for Rick and I.  I was a little surprised that I hadn't made it for us before, but it is a lot of work...especially in the chopping of cilantro leaves department.  It's worth the effort, though.  We really enjoyed it.

The first time that I ever tried Thai food was here in Charleston at Basil, and the first dish that I tried was Pad Thai.  Not too long after that, I went searching the internet for a Pad Thai recipe.  I came across this one, and I made it for the first time in August 2003 (according to the date at the bottom of the page in my old internet recipe notebook).  I was really apprehensive since it had ketchup and Worcestershire as ingredients, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually did taste similar to Pad Thai from Basil!

Here's what I did.

Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 1 (6 oz) package rice noodles
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons chili-garlic sauce (sambal oelek)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb thinly sliced chicken breast
• 1/2 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (21-25 count)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup bean sprouts
  
• 4 green onions
  
• 1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 limes, cut into wedges
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped roasted peanuts (unsalted)

Directions

Place noodles in large bowl and cover with boiling water for about 10 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

Mix together fish sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, chili-garlic sauce and sugar in a medium size bowl and set aside.

Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces.  Cut shrimp into thirds.

Heat peanut oil in large frying pan or wok.  Add garlic and chicken to the wok and cook until the meat starts to turn white.  Add shrimp and continue to cook until they start to turn pink.  Add sauce and stir for 3 minutes.  Add the beaten eggs and stir constantly for 1 minute.

Add drained noodles and stir to coat the noodles.  Stir in bean sprouts, onions and 1/2 cup cilantro.

Place on a plate and top with cilantro and chopped peanuts.  Serve with lime wedges (squeeze lime juice on the Pad Thai prior to eating).

Enjoy!

Rick does dinner

Those of you who are my friends on facebook (and/or in real life) know that I've been feeling a little under the weather lately so Rick decided to make dinner for us last night.  I picked out this recipe from Cooking Light.  It seemed pretty simple, and it kinda reminded me of the tilapia that we like to do with capers.  It was so sweet to watch Rick read the recipe and make dinner.  Of course, I couldn't stay out of the kitchen, and I made the roasted garlic crostini again and minced the flat leaf parsely.  I had to smile when I saw Rick making some of the same mistakes that I used to make as a novice cook, and I'm proud of him for putting up with me and making a great meal!  We served it with some wild rice out of a box which wasn't that great, but the chicken turned out wonderfully!

Here's the recipe

Chicken with Lemon-Caper Sauce
Ingredients
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons capers, drained
3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley

Directions
Place chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to an even thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper. Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge chicken in flour.


Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes. Turn chicken over. Add broth, juice, and capers; reduce heat to medium, and simmer 3 minutes, basting chicken occasionally with sauce. Sprinkle with parsley; cook 1 minute. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.


Bring sauce to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thick. Serve over chicken.

Sesame Chicken

When Rick told me that he had taken out some chicken to thaw and was craving some Chinese food, I suggested that we try to make sesame chicken.  I've never done it before, but a quick search of the internet found this recipe from recipezaar.com.  There are actually quite a few version of it on various sites on the internet, but I opted to use it as my base recipe.  I served it with fried rice and steamed broccoli.  Admittedly, I'm not a huge broccoli fan, but Rick keeps going on and on about how it is a super-food.  How can I win against that? ;)  

Our meal turned out pretty good,  and I think that our version is probably a wee-bit better for you than what you get from your average Chinese restaurant.  Rick didn't deep fry the chicken, but did it in about an inch of peanut oil and turned them. I don't know that the marinade added all that much to it, and next time, I may marinate it longer.  It smelled great, though!

Here's the recipe!

Sesame Chicken

Ingredients

3 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-2 inch cubes

Peanut oil for frying

Toasted Sesame Seeds

Marinade

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cooking sherry
• 3 drops sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 

Sauce

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic-chili sauce
• 1 large clove garlic, minced

Directions

Mix all of the ingredients for the marinade together, and marinade the chicken for around 30 minutes.

While the chicken is marinating, mix together all of the sauce ingredients. Pour them into a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Turn the heat down to low and keep warm while you are deep-frying the chicken.

Add enough peanut oil to a cast iron or heavy skillet to have the oil be 1 inch thick.  Heat the oil over medium-high heat, and when it is heated, add the marinated chicken pieces enough to cover the majority of the skillet.  Fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels . Repeat with the remainder of the chicken. Just before you are finished frying, bring the sauce back up to a boil.

Place the chicken on a large platter and pour the sauce over. Sprinkle with sesame seeds

Enjoy!

Monday Night Italian

Last night when Rick came over (with chicken in hand), he said that he wanted us to do chicken parm again soon.  While I do love that dish, I am trying to eat better these days so I decided to try to lighten it up a little bit by not frying it, and instead, I would bake the chicken first.  I found this Cooking Light recipe on myrecipes.com and thought that it would be perfect.  As you know from my success with cooking steaks inside, I love using my cast iron skillets in the oven, but when I was looking at the nutritional information, I realized that it wasn't all that great for you so I opted to go with my original recipe. I did, however, serve it over whole grain pasta and halved the chicken breasts which meant more meals for us!

The new challenge, however, was to find something to go with the chicken parm.  I decided that I wanted to do a little appetizer to serve while the main dish cooked.  I decided that I wanted to roast some garlic and serve it with a sliced baguette as a crostini.  I also wanted to make it similar to the crostini that I made a while back but with a tist.  I'd never done roasted garlic myself, but I started it first.  We were really impressed with the final product. I love it when that happens.

 Roasted garlic straight out of the oven!

Here's what I did.


Roasted Garlic Crostini
Ingredients
2 heads of garlic
1/2 baguette, sliced
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Italian Seasoning Grinder
3 Cheese Blend (Shredded)
Basil leaves
Balsamic Vinegar


Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F.

While the oven is preheating, mix olive oil with Italian Seasoning.  Place the sliced baguette pieces on a baking sheet.  Brush the pieces with the olive oil, saving some.  Set aside.


Peel the white skin off of the garlic heads.  Cut the top of the garlic head off (about 1/3 inches off the top).  Place the garlic heads in aluminum foil squares, and place them in a muffin pan.  Cover the garlic with the olive oil mixture and wrap the garlic heads with the aluminum foil.  Place the pan in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes.  When the garlic is cooked, take it out of the oven and let it cool. 

While the garlic is cooling, toast the baguette pieces in the oven for around 5 minutes.  Once the garlic has cooled, removed the garlic from the skin with a small fork and place it in a bowl.  Spread 1-2 cloves of garlic (depending on the size of the clove) on each piece of toasted baguette.  Sprinkle with cheese and balsamic vinegar, and top with a small to medium basil leaf.  Enjoy! 

Lazy Saturday meal

Yesterday was the perfect day for a lazy day.  I was taking a "rest day" from my NCLEX studying.  For breakfast, we started out with waffles made with the waffle iron that I got for Christmas.  With a little help from Aunt Jemima, we had delicious waffles!  We learned, though, that next time, we'll share one instead of making one for each of us because they were huge!!  

Rick and I spent most of the cold, rainy day on the couch watching the Travel Channel.  Their programming was an afternoon of Food Paradise.  With each episode, we talked about making whatever the subject was for dinner. First, it was hot dogs and then steaks and then hamburgers, and finally, we watched an episode on bar food.  We contemplated making nachos (or heading up to Blues to get some of theirs), and then the show (Bar Food Paradise) did wings.  We were sold!  We haven't made wings in quite some time and minus the breading, that is Rick's area of expertise as I've never been a good fryer.  We decided to do hot wings with Moore's Sauce and another batch with Parmesan and garlic. In addition to the wings, we came up with the idea to do some buffalo shrimp with a half pound of frozen shrimp that I had in the freezer. Much to our delight, everything turned out wonderfully!!!  Here's what we did...

Rick's Wings

Ingredients

chicken wings

flour

Milk

Moore's Buffalo Wing Sauce

Vegetable Oil

For Parmesan wings

Additional Ingredients

Grated Parmesan Cheese (from the container)

Garlic powder

flour

 

Directions

Place the chicken wings in a large bowl and cover them with milk.  Let them soak for 20 minutes.  Place half the wings in a large Ziplock bag and add flour.  Shake the wings to coat them.

In a small bowel, mix 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese.  Add garlic powder to the mixture and stir.  Add the other half of the wings and the flour mix to another large Ziplock bag and shake to coat them.

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Once the oil has heated, add the regular wings first.  Cook them for 10-12 minutes.  The wings can either be covered with the oil, or they can be turned half way through to make sure that each side is a golden brown.  Remove the wings from the oil and place them on a large plate that is covered with 3 paper towels.

Next, add the Parmesan wings to the oil and cook them for 10-12 minutes also.  Remove them from the oil and place them on a separate large plate that is covered with 3 paper towels.

After they have cooled, take the regular wings and place them in another large Ziplock bag.  Add Moore's Wing Sauce to the bag (the more you add, the hotter they will be).  Toss the wings to coat.

Buffalo Shrimp

Ingredients

1/2 pound shirmp (peeled and deveined)

milk

flour

Moore's Buffalo Wing Sauce

Directions

Place the shrimp in a small bowl and cover them with milk.  Let them soak for 20 minutes (we had the wings and shrimp soaking at the same time).

Remove the shrimp from the milk and place them in a medium sized tupperware container.  Add flour.  Cover the tupperware and shake to coat the shrimp.  Add the shrimp to heated vegetable oil and cook for 5 minutes.  (We did them after the wings to prevent the chicken from tasting like shrimp, but in the future, we may cook them in a separate cast iron skillet)  Remove the shrimp from the oil and place them on a large plate that is covered with 3 paper towels.

After the shrimp have cooled, place them into a medium sized Ziplock bag.  Add Moore's Wing Sauce to the bag (the more you add, the hotter they will be).  Toss the shrimp to coat.  

Enjoy!!!

Yep, it's another chicken orzo dish!

So obviously, I'm a sucker for orzo and chicken dishes.  They are just so easy to make and so versatile!  I found this one on myrecipes.com, and it is another one from Cooking Light (the October 2005 issue).  As usual, I decided to play with it a bit and took some suggestions from the reviewers on the website and added feta and substituted roasted red peppers for regular red peppers. You may notice a lack of additional salt in the recipe, but between the feta and the capers, it was fine by me.

Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the results.  Rick is having a hectic week so I won't get to see him until tomorrow, but now, I have leftovers for the rest of the week! I enjoyed it with pita bread and a little bit of the tzatziki sauce that I made last week.  Here's my rendition!

 Orzo with Chicken, Roasted Red Peppers, and Feta


Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 cup of uncooked orzo
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup of roasted red pepper chopped
2 tablespoons capers (drained)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Greek seasoning 
Juice of 1 lemon

4 oz crumbled feta cheese
Extra virgin olive oil


Directions
Cook orzo according to the directions on the package.
While the orzo is cooking, season chicken with pepper, and grill chicken on George Foreman grill (or they can be sauteed in a pan with olive oil or cooking spray) until cooked thoroughly.  Saute onions and garlic in a small pan in a little bit of olive oil until tender.

Mix Greek seasoning, lemon juice, capers, olive oil, and roasted red peppers in a bowl.  Add onion and garlic to the bowl.  Combine orzo, chicken, and feta in a larger bowl with the roasted red pepper mixture. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Serve warm (leftovers are great cold, too!).


Enjoy!

Chicken Souvlaki

In continuing with my raiding of the Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com, I am happy to share this Chicken Souvlaki recipe.  After finding a tzatziki sauce of my own that I love, I'm always looking for an excuse to use it.  The Cooking Light recipe had one included with it, but why mess with perfection (or close enough for me)?  Unfortunately, Rick wasn't able to come over for dinner due to his needing to ready his house for a showing tomorrow, but it meant that I had some yummy leftovers to take for lunch.  Because it was a cold, dark, rainy night, I opted to use my broiler to cook the chicken and zucchini on skewers that I soaked for 30 minutes while the chicken and zucs marinated in the refrigerator. I also added a little pepper to the marinade as well.  Of course, I had to serve it with a pita that I toasted in the toaster oven (would've preferred to grill but it's not that time of year) on medium.  And here's what I did...

Chicken Souvlaki with Zucchini

Ingredients

• 3  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1  medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Directions

Preheat the broiler.

Soak bamboo skewers in water.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.  Add chicken and zucchini and marinate (covered) in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Thread chicken and zucchini on the skewers (alternating chicken and zucchini).   Spray the broiling pan with cooking spray and place in oven.  Broil the skewers, turning every 3 minutes, until done, about 9 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Serve with tzatziki sauce and pita bread.

Enjoy!!!

A blast from the past....good ole King Ranch Chicken

Way back in the early 90s when I thought cooking consisted of throwing a frozen meal in a microwave and pushing start or making spaghetti with sauce out of a jar, my friend Maria introduced me to one of the first real things that I learned to cook...King Ranch Chicken.  In fact, for a while, I think that it was the only thing that I knew how to cook! I'm sure that she had gotten the recipe from her mother, but for whatever reason, it was never made in my house when I was growing up.  Over the years, I've noticed that King Ranch Chicken has made an appearance in just about every church cookbook that I've ran across (including the one that my church recently put out), and there are quite a few versions out there (Southern Living must have had at least 5 over the years).  Some of them stray away from using condensed soups, and some of them have several layer which makes it some sort of tortilla lasagna.  I'm not a big fan of the layers because the chips end up super soggy.  

Since my cooking repertoire has grown, I honestly don't think that I've made it since the 90s, but I was thinking chicken and casseroles today, and it immediately came to mind.  Something about the cold weather just makes me long for a nice, warm casserole (and a trip to the tanning bed, too!).


What's not to like in King Ranch Chicken?  You've got Doritos (in this version anyway), cheese, and a mixture that my friends and I used to refer to as "barf" since it really does look like it, and not to mention how incredibly easy it is to make this dish that will feed you forever when you are a poor college student.  And well, even though I'm in my 30s now, I am a college student at least for a little while longer!  

Tonight, it's just me and the Tar Heels on TV night since Rick won't be coming over.  I don't blame him, though.  I've got to get up very early in the morning for my last clinical!  I'm going to miss my preceptor, Susan, and all of the wonderful nurses at Roper St. Francis labor and delivery!

"The barf"

My version of King Ranch Chicken evolved over the years as my cooking knowledge has. It's not the healthiest thing in the world, but it's still a simple, super comfort food. I've attempted to make it not-so-bad-for-you by using reduced fat cheddar cheese and soups.



 King Ranch Chicken


Ingredients
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes

1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use Campbell's low fat)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use Campbell's low fat)

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 bag of regular Doritos (coarsely crumbled)
2 cups reduced fat (2%) cheddar cheese

Extra Virgin Olive Oil


Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.


Season chicken with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet or heavy pan, heat olive oil and add chicken.  Saute until it is cooked and no longer pink in the middle.  Remove from the pan and place on a towel-covered plate to drain.  Add green pepper, onion, and garlic to the pan and saute until soften. 

While the chicken is cooking, combine the soups, Rotel tomatoes, and cilantro to a pot and heat over medium-low heat.  When the green pepper, onions, and garlic have finished cooking, mix with the soup.

In a 13 x 9 inch baking dish, add chicken and then cover with the soup mixture.  Add a layer of Doritos and then top with cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes uncovered or until the mixture is bubbling.
Enjoy!!!

Chicken Parmesan

When Rick and I were deciding when to do the new pork tenderloin recipe that I've been wanting to do (it has been postponed until the weekend), we started talking about which recipes that I've made that we both love. We actually have this conversation quite often, and he always brings up the Parmesan-crusted tilapia as one of his favorites. Another one that we both agree on being in our favorites list would be Chicken Parmesan.

The first time that I made it was just prior to my starting this blog. We had gone out to dinner a couple of weeks before that, and Rick had ordered Chicken Parmesan. I left the restaurant with dinner-envy as I wished that I had ordered that instead of what I had. Don't you hate when that happens? Something wonderful came out of it, though: I started scouring the internet for the perfect Chicken Parm recipe. Luckily for me, foodnetwork.com provided a couple that I was able to combine and tinker with to create this one.  

While I was taking the pictures for this blog entry, Ty kept trying to get to see what I was up to and get to the food.  I thought I'd include the picture with him peaking up from the chair, too.  Enjoy!!

Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups of Italian bread crumbs
1 cups of panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
Fresh ground black pepper
All purpose flour (for dredging)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons of reduced fat milk
Vegetable oil for frying
6 Cheese Blend grated cheese
Cheddar cheese
Marinara sauce (recipe to follow)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Put each chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them out to a uniform thickness (around 1/3 inch).

In a large bowl, mix together salt, Italian bread crumbs and panko. Season with fresh ground black pepper.

Place flour on a large plate. In another large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Dredge a chicken breast in flour and shake off excess. Next, dip the chicken breast into the egg mixture, and then dredge in the bread crumb-panko mixture, shaking off an excess. Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken breasts.

In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat the oil over medium heat until it registers 400F on a deep frying thermometer. Fry one breast at a time until golden brown on each side (around 6 minutes total). Using tongs, remove the chicken from oil and place on a paper-towel covered plate.

Lightly brush a baking dish with olive oil. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with half of the marinara and place the chicken over the sauce. Cover with remaining sauce. Scatter 6 cheese blend on top, and sprinkle a little bit of cheddar cheese on top of it. Bake until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is brown (around 30 minutes). Serve immediately over the pasta of your choice.

Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
1 jar of store bought marinara sauce
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 green pepper chopped
3 gloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh basil
Extra virgin olive oil
Italian seasoning grinder

Directions
In a medium sauce pan, heat sauce over low heat. Add basil. Stir occasionally.

In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic, and green pepper and season with Italian seasoning. Stir until vegetables are tender (around 5 minutes). Transfer to the sauce and raise heat under sauce to medium. Cook (stirring occasionally) for another 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

A late entry: Lemon Chicken with Crostini

As my final semester in nursing school speeds forward and NCLEX gets closer and closer, my time to blog gets smaller and smaller. I may end up "creatively" utilizing some time during a certain time period on Thursdays in order to share some of the recipes that Rick and I have been enjoying on Wednesday nights. If you know me, you know that I'm pretty good (for the most part) at making the most of my free time. With two early morning clinicals this semester, Rick and I have learned which nights we can see each other and which ones we can't. Wednesdays and Thursdays have become our week nights together. Last week (yes, I know, I suck ;) ), we used some chicken that Rick had thawed out to make this recipe. Instead of doing the crostini that is included with the lemon chicken, we did a different version. I made the different version again over the weekend when my dad and stepmom were in town. I don't have pictures of these because, well, the chicken didn't look as yummy as it is in real life. Hopefully, however, my dad and stepmom will send me a picture of the stack of meat that we grilled out this past weekend. We used that awesome, awesome, awesome seasoning that Rick got from his parents and took advantage of the great sale that Food Lion had on t-bones!

Cooking has become somewhat dangerous with the kittens playing in the kitchen floor. As I sit here and compose this post, little Ty is "chasing" the little squares in the kitchen tile...and then in a flash, he and Weezy are off to terrorize some other part of the condo. What amazes me about the pets that I have had in my life is that the smell of sauteing garlic can bring them in the kitchen within seconds. Can someone please explain that to me???

Here are the recipes for your culinary enjoyment....

Katie's Crostini
Ingredients

• One baguette of bread (I like to get my cut at Publix, but if your grocery store baker won't do it, cut to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
• olive oil (extra virgin)]
• Parmesan cheese, shredded/grated
• Italian seasoning grinder
• Garlic powder
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Balsamic vinegar
• A splash of white wine
• Cooking spray

Preparations
Add drained can of diced tomatoes, minced garlic, diced onion, fresh basil, three-four twists of the Italian seasoning grinder in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza pan with cooking spray. In a small plate, pour some olive oil. Add two to three twists of the Italian seasoning and garlic powder to taste and stir.

Place pieces of baguette on the sprayed pan (you may have several pieces left over). Brush pieces of bread with olive oil mixture and place back on the pan. Toast bread for 4-5 minutes or until slightly browned. Remove from oven.

Change oven setting to broil.

Spoon a little bit of balsamic vinegar on each piece of baguette toast. Next, add a spoonful of the tomato-onion mixture to each piece of baguette toast. Sprinkle each piece with Parmesan cheese. Broil until cheese melts about 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.



Here is the original recipe for Lemon Chicken with Parmesan Crostini
IngredientsFor crostini

• 12 1/4-inch-thick French bread baguette slices, toasted
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 12 thin slices plum tomato
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

For chicken

• 4 4-ounce skinless boneless chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions (white and pale green parts only)
• 2 small garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Directions
Make crostini:
Place bread on baking sheet. Spread tomato paste over. Top each with 1 tomato slice. Sprinkle cheese atop.
Make chicken:
Pound each chicken breast between sheets of plastic to 1/4-inch-thickness. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Place flour in bowl. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Lightly coat 2 chicken with flour; shake off excess. Transfer to skillet and cook until brown and cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate and tent with foil. Repeat with 1 teaspoon oil, flour and remaining chicken.
Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in same skillet over low heat. Add green onions and garlic; sauté until tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth and wine scraping up any browned bits in skillet. Add lemon juice and 2 tablespoons parsley. Increase heat to high; boil until liquid is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Mix in lemon peel. Season with salt and pepper. Return chicken to skillet; simmer until heated through, turning to coat.
Meanwhile, preheat broiler. Broil crostini until cheese melts, watching closely, about 1 minute.
Transfer chicken to plates. Spoon pan juices over chicken. Sprinkle with remaining parsley. Serve with crostini.



The only change that I made was breading the chicken in my favorite mix: Parmesan cheese, panko, and Italian bread crumbs.

Another yummy chicken orzo dish

With two clinical days in a row, I was looking for a recipe that I could make and eat on several occasions (mainly for lunch at the hospital). I had this recipe for Cajun chicken with capers and lemon in my epicurious.com recipe box, and while reading over the reviews, I read one in which the cook had served it over orzo....perfect!!!! I knew that it was going to need a little bit more than just the sauce if I were going to stretch it over a couple of meals. I chopped half of a sweet onion and sauteed that with probably about 1/3 of a package of mushrooms that I had in the refrigerator and 2 cloves of garlic. Since Rick wasn't here, it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the mushrooms! I also added a little bit of white cooking wine to the sauce. Once again, a winner!!! Here's the recipe that I came up with...

Cajun Chicken Orzo with a Lemon-Caper Sauce

Ingredients
1 package of skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 gloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of capers
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 package of mushrooms
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons white wine
1/2 box orzo
Olive oil

Directions
Mix flour, Cajun seasoning, and paprika together in a shallow bowl.

Cook orzo according to directions on box. Drain and return to the pot.

While orzo is cooking, cut chicken breasts in half and dip in flour mixture. Be sure to cover the chicken completely. Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until cooked (turning with tongs). When the chicken is cooked and no longer pink in the center, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and mix with the orzo.

Add a little bit more olive oil, mushrooms, garlic, and onion to the same skillet. Once the onions become soft, add broth, capers, lemon juice, and white wine to skillet. Bring to boil and let the sauce thicken a little bit. Add to the pot with the orzo and chicken and stir. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Corn Salsa

As my final semester of nursing school moves forward, I'm wishing that I had more evenings to cook for Rick and I, but with clinicals that start at 6:45 am, I am cooking more for myself than us. At least I have Ty and Weezy to keep me company now. Too bad, they don't have thumbs, or I'd have them chopping, too!

I've also decided to start eating more healthy dishes. This one is one of the first lower fat meals that I've tried in a long time. I'm of the belief that just because it's healthy, it doesn't have to taste like crap. I turned to my favorite place on the internet for recipes, epicurious.com in search of the perfect meal. I've been craving grilled chicken lately, and when I stumbled across this recipe, I knew that it would be the perfect way to use up some of the chicken that I bought on sale at Publix this weekend.

I did the marinade for the chicken first, and I opted to stray from the recipe and use Corona Light instead of dark beer. I also added two gloves of garlic and doubled the amount of low sodium soy sauce. I let two chicken breasts marinate for two hours and thirty minutes.

The corn salsa...all I can say is wow! Once I got it together, I sampled it with some tortilla chips, and it was as awesome as the recipe reviews say! It was a struggle not to continue eating it all. I immediately called Rick and told him how delicious it was! I foresee myself making it again in the very near future!!! I did use the juice of half a lime (had to do something with the other half of lime that I had) and added one clove of minced garlic.

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Corn Salsa

Ingredients
Salsa

• 1 1/4 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of half of a lime
  
• 2 teaspoons chopped seeded jalapeño chili
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
  

Chicken

• 1/2 cup Corona Light
  
• 2 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 teaspoons chopped seeded jalapeño chili
• juice of half of a lime
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves

Directions

For Salsa:
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)

For Chicken:
Combine first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.

Preheat barbecue (medium-high heat) or preheat broiler. Drain chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Grill or broil chicken until just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Cut chicken into thin diagonal slices. Arrange chicken on plates. Top with salsa and serve.

Easy Gameday Enchiladas

An unfortunate "run-in" with another car yesterday was the final road block against my going to Chapel Hill this weekend to see the Heels take on my grad school alma mater, The Citadel. Even though I was fine (as was the other driver), I decided that I really didn't want to drive for five hours alone. The best part of my not going is that I get to see Rick this weekend. School has started for me, and work has gotten stressful for him so I'm very happy to be spending time with him.

Last night, I decided that I wanted to make enchiladas. I've never made them before, and I love the challenge and adventure of making a new dish. As is my custom, I went searching the internet for ideas. I came across this recipe on foodnetwork.com and decided to tweak it a bit to make it my own. Doing them today for the first day of college football seemed like a good idea. Rick was over and doing work on his laptop while the enchiladas baked in the oven and ESPN Gameday played in the background. It was really hard to keep from snacking on the rotisserie chicken last night because it smelled so good. I was nice enough to let Rick eat one of the legs this morning when I started shredding it. My preference for salsa is always the ones that are near the produce instead of the ones with Mexican food at the grocery stores. They have a lot less sodium. I'm hoping that someday, I will master making salsa, too. When the enchiladas came out, I barely had time to take picture of the first on one of my UNC plates before Rick grabbed it and ran.


Easy Gameday Enchiladas
Ingredients
1 rotisserie chicken
1 cup light sour cream
1 16 oz container of salsa (I used Chachie's medium)
1 can of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce
1 1/2 cup grated Cheddar Cheese (I used 2% milk cheddar)
1/2 cup grated Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 sweet onion finely chopped
Salt and pepper
6 8-inch tortillas
Cooking spray


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray.

For sauce:
Mix the salsa and enchilada sauce together in the blender.

For enchiladas:
Shred rotisserie chicken and place in a large bowl. Discard skin and bones/carcass. In a smaller bowl, mix cheddar and mozzarella cheeses together. Add sour cream, onion, 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce, and 1 cup of cheese mixture to the shredded chicken. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly.

Place around 1 cup of chicken mixture on a tortilla and roll the tortilla. Place tortilla seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with remaining mixture and 5 tortillas. Cover the enchiladas with sauce, reserving a little bit. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Cook for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove dish from oven and discard aluminum foil. Add rest of cheese mixture to the top of the enchiladas and cook for another 6-8 minutes.

When serving, I put a little bit of the reserved salsa on the plate and then placed an enchilada on top of it. Enjoy!!

Wasabi Chicken?

I love making Asian-inspired meals because they are not only easy but also delicious. I don't try to do anything extremely complicated--just yummy! Rick has told me several times how much he enjoys when I make this particular type of cuisine. Recently, I jokingly told him that these dinners were so good because I was part Asian. Those who know me know that I'm blonde-haired and blue-eyed and very far from such.

On Saturday, I decided to dig out a recipe from my epicurious.com recipe box for wasabi crusted chicken. I haven't made it since 2004. I was really surprised that I haven't made it in so long because I'm such a big fan of panko and wasabi. My fear of chicken may have been keeping me from doing it. Yep, cooking chicken has always scared me. It's too dry if you over cook it, and there's that whole salmonella thing if you under cook it. Lately, I've gotten better with it, though so I decided to take a chance and try this recipe again.

When I got home from clinical, I was a little tired, but luckily, Rick had gone to the grocery store while I was busy in the nursery. He picked up chicken broth, teriyaki sauce, eggs, and the cilantro and chow mein noodles for the slaw. I decided to pair the chicken with Rick's favorite slaw. He, unfortunately, left the bag of cole slaw at his place so we ran over there to get it before starting. We contemplated grilling out because I was so tired but decided to go ahead with our planned meal.

I don't know if my tiredness or what kept me from following the instructions that I had written on the side of the recipe that said "make wasabi paste and coat chicken before dipping in eggs," but I opted to ignore this simple step. The result? Not a bit of wasabi kick! I had even added the wasabi powder to the sauce and egg wash! Grrrr.... They still turned out yummy, but if you want the wasabi kick, you gotta add the wasabi to water to "activate" it! I also failed to flatten my chicken breasts before cooking so I ended up baking them for a little bit (covered in foil) after cooking them in the peanut oil to avoid burning the panko. They turned out great, though (minus the kick of course)! I used leftovers today to make a chicken sandwich with wasabi mayo. I finally got that wasabi kick I was looking for!

The slaw, as always, was delicious!!! The only changes I make to it is using a bag of cole slaw and adding sesame seeds and chow mein noddles on top!


Here is the untouched Chicken Recipe

Wasabi-Crusted Chicken Breasts
Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) or fresh breadcrumbs made from crustless French bread
• 4 teaspoons wasabi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten to blend
• 4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, flattened to 1/3-inch thickness between plastic wrap

• 4 tablespoons peanut oil

• 3 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
• 3 tablespoons sake
• 3 tablespoons low-salt chicken broth
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced

Preparation

Combine panko, wasabi powder, salt, and pepper in a large shallow dish. Place eggs in pie dish. Dip chicken, 1 breast at a time, in egg, and then in panko mixture. Turn to coat completely.
Heat 2 tablespoons peanut oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté 2 chicken breasts until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to platter. Repeat with remaining oil and chicken.

Add teriyaki sauce, sake, and chicken broth to skillet; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Drizzle sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with sliced green onions and serve.

My changes:

• ALWAYS make wasabi paste (wasabi + water) and coat chicken before dipping in the egg
• I use mirin instead of sake
• Repeat after me again...ALWAYS make wasabi paste and coat chicken before dipping in the eggs

The slaw recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 1 1/2-pound heads green cabbage, very thinly sliced (about 25 cups)
• 1 cup seasoned rice vinegar*
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons oriental sesame oil

Preparation

Place cabbage in very large bowl. Add vinegar, cilantro and oil; toss. Season with salt and pepper. Cover; chill at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours, tossing often.
*Also known as sushi vinegar; available at Asian markets and in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets.

My changes:

• Use bag of cole slow
• Add sesame seeds before tossing
• Top with Chow Mein Noodles
  

The orzo recipes...in honor of Nicole

Since I haven't been able to cook lately because of an exam today in pediatrics, I thought I'd share two super simple dishes just for fun. Hopefully, tonight, Rick and I will be able to have dinner together. Today, he told me via email that he grilled out last night while I was slaving away in the library. He did lemon pepper chicken last night, and he was enjoying leftovers at work when I heard from him. You know, I really hate when school gets busy, and we don't get to see each other. I think it makes me a little grumpy, too. At least it will be over in December!!! 


During my first semester of nursing school, I came upon this recipe while looking for a side dish. Unfortunately, Rick and I can't seem to remember which one, though. That semester, I was required to do some sort of community service activity for one of my classes, and I signed up to go to a potluck dinner that SNA was doing at the Ansonborough House in downtown Charleston. I decided that this dish would be an easy, delicious one to take. When making the orzo with artichoke hearts and pine nuts, I followed some of the suggestions from the reviewers on the epicurious.com website and added capers, 3 cheese blend, and grilled chicken. The day of the potluck, I was talking about it to my clinical instructor Nicole about it, and she wanted me to send her the recipe. Due to my hectic schedule in nursing school, I kept forgetting to send it to her. This semester, I ran into her at the VA during one of our community clinicals, and I am happy to report that I have finally sent it to her. Luckily for her, that recipe inspired this other one, too, and I was able to send it as well. These dishes are great either hot or cold! Enjoy!

Here is the original untouched recipe.

Orzo with Artichokes and Pine Nuts

Gourmet May 2006

Canned artichoke hearts give this dish a Mediterranean flavor without the work involved in preparing fresh ones.

Yield: Makes 4 side-dish servings
Active Time: 15 min
Total Time: 15 min

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups orzo (10 oz)
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 (14-oz) can whole artichoke hearts (not marinated)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest

Preparations
Cook orzo in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain in a colander.

While orzo cooks, lightly toast pine nuts in a dry small skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool 1 minute, then coarsely chop.
Drain artichoke hearts in a large sieve and rinse well. Pull off leaves from bases of hearts and quarter bases. Rinse leaves and bases well, then drain thoroughly.
Stir together oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add orzo, pine nuts, artichokes (leaves and bases), parsley, and zest and toss to combine.


My changes:

• added two grilled chicken breasts that have been seasoned with Italian seasoning and marinaded for about 30 minutes with the seasoning and red wine vinegar and a little bit of lemon juice prior to grilling. I shred/chop it up and mix it in.
  
• added about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of 3 Cheese Blend (Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano)
• added chopped capers.

That recipe along with some leftover basil (now we grow our own!) inspired this recipe.

1 container of Feta cheese with tomato basil

½ Red onion (minced)

3 cloves of Garlic (minced)

2-3 tablespoons Fresh Basil (chopped)

3 chicken breasts

2 marinated artichoke hearts (if they are quartered, use 8 to make 2 full artichoke hearts)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar

Red pepper flakes

½ box of orzo

Marinate chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar, one clove garlic, ground pepper, (3-4 twists), a dash of red pepper flakes, and one teaspoon basil for around 30 minutes.

Fix orzo per box instructions. Drain and return to pot.

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil with ¼ teaspoon basil in a pan and then add to orzo. Add remaining basil, feta cheese, and artichoke hearts to orzo.

In the same pan, add chicken and some of the marinade and sauté chicken breasts until done. Chop and shred chicken and add it to the orzo. Pepper to taste. Mix together thoroughly and serve.