Missing Summer

Things from my summer...

Mama Mia!

Chicken Parmesan & Garlic Bread

This was a first time dish for me and it was an easy, quick recipe. With the homemade marina sauce and table garlic bread, I felt like I was bringing the italian restaurant home.

For the chicken parmesan you'll need:

Boneless chicken breast

Egg

Flour

Breadcrumbs

Mozzarella

Parmesan

Marinara sauce (I chose to make mine, but for an even speedier process, store bought will work just as well)

Basil

Spaghetti noodles

olive oil

butter

Take the chicken breast, and pound them flat. Next take breast, completely cover in flour, dip in egg wash, and cover with breadcrumbs.

Add about 1 tablespoon of oil in skillet, and place bread chicken breasts in skillet. Let both sides brown, about 3-4 minutes.

Place chicken breasts in pyrex dish, cover with marinara sauce, top with mozzarella and parmesan.

Cook in oven for 15-20 minutes at 325 degrees.

While the chicken is cooking in oven, boil your water for spaghetti. Cook the noodles, drain. Add a little olive oil and butter.

For the garlic bread:

Baguette

Garlic

Butter

Oregano

Salt 

I melted the butter, freshly minced garlic, oregano. Slice the baguette, pour the melted butter mixture in between the slices. Place in oven for 10ish minutes. Sprinkle with salt.

A need for mexican!

One night when I was last home my dad and I couldn't figure out exactly what we wanted to make for dinner. We decided on tamales, but wanted something else too....mini shrimp and seared fish tacos it was! 

We went on a hunt all the way across town to Nolensville road to purchase these mini corn tortillas from an authentic mexican grocery and Dad made what has now become his "famous salsa verde" for chips and the tamales.

Tamales with carnitas! 

Two kinds of tacos:

 Shrimp taco with avocado, tomato, cilantro.

Fish taco, with cabbage, tomato, and cilantro

We made a very light and refreshing crema sauce, that was like the cherry on top for these!

 

By the time we sat down to eat, I think we realized our imagination was a tad bit bigger than our stomachs, needless to say it still lots of fun!

A different kind of mexican

Instead of the usual tacos, I tried something different....CHICKEN ENCHILADAS!

Chips & Queso, Spanish Rice, Enchiladas, Pinto Beans

To make the enchilada sauce:

Onion

Jalapeno

Garlic

Oil & Salt

Sautee

Add chili powder, cumin, sugar.

Tomato sauce + 1 cup of water.

Bring to a boil, add chicken. Let simmer until chicken is cooked all the way through. (12-20 minutes depending on the size of the chicken) 

Once the chicken is cooked, remove from sauce. Pull apart with 2 forks.

Strain the enchilada sauce to separate the onion mixture from the liquid.

Add the onion mixture, 1/2 cup cilantro, 2 cups of cheese to the pulled chicken.

Put the chicken in corn tortillas and place in 9x13 baking dish with the seam of tortilla faced down.

Pour enchilada sauce over the enchiladas (reserve some sauce for the rice). Top with cheese. (I used two different kind of cheeses, a mexican blend and a pepper jack)

.Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes.

For the rice:

1 cup of basmati rice

add diced onion, red/green bell peppers/jalapeno 

chili powder, cumin, salt, and some enchilada sauce to rice

Mix cilantro in right before serving.

A healthy meal...

Chicken Noodle Soup & A Salad

After a weekend of over indulging and eating anything we wanted, Sunday night was a healthy night!

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 yellow onion- diced

1 cup carrots-sliced

1 cup of celery-diced

1 container of chicken stock

Egg Noodles

bay leaf

minced garlic

S&P

Rotisserie chicken

Diced the yellow onion, chop the carrots & celery. If you are unsure of the size, think of how you would like to eat them in your soup.

Put the onion, carrots, celery, minced garlic, & olive oil in your soup pot. Sauté, let them sweat a little.

Had the  bay leaf, chicken stock, and I like to add a little water for more broth. If you add water, add a little more salt than you usually would.

Bring to a boil.

While boiling, cut the chicken off the rotisserie chicken. 

Add the chicken and the egg noodles (again, use your judgement here, however much you want in your soup).

Let the soup simmer for about 10 or so minutes, and it is ready to serve. 

Of course, the longer you let it simmer, the better the flavor!

For the side salad....

Mixed greens

Strawberries

Walnuts

Goat Cheese

Balsamic Vinaigrette

To make the dressing, I do about 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp of olive oil (1:2 ratio). S & P, if you have any grey poupon mustard, that can't hurt!

A little crunch is nice addition to this- I bought a loaf of tuscan bread at kroger, sliced it-but kept it together at the very bottom. Drizzled olive oil and kosher salt on top. Put in oven on 375 for 10ish minutes.

Home for Memorial Day! part 2

Other than eating and flower arranging we had some fun relaxing by the pool 

My dad and I went to the farmers market on a hunt for raw peanuts, so we could boil them and & enjoy them by the pool. The peaches were so colorful, the amount of peaches was giving off the "peach" smell, but we couldn't justify buying a basket just yet.

I think we are on meal number 4....

This might be one of the most creative dishes my dad and I have made to date. My dad had bought some rose ...I think after having our pool day, we had tricked ourselves that we were back in St. Barths again. SO, rose was one main component we couldn't stray from. We knew knew we were going to have a crab salad on avocado. We should have stopped there but the creativity kept rolling....
One of my parents friends have given them some lettuce from her garden, along with a couple snap peas. The lettuce also became a component we wanted to use, so we decided to have a shrimp BLT salad.  Next thing we knew, we were discussing a salmon cucumber roll...

Here's how we did it:

Smoked salmon, goat cheese, sliced yellow bell peppers. Rolled that. Rolled the salmon in the cucumber, put a toothpick through it, topped with chopped chives, lemon zest, and a couple drops of lemon juice...it was awesome.

Crab salad on sliced avocado. Boiled shrimp sliced in half, on fresh lettuce & snap peas from a friends garden, tomato, crumbled prosciutto (BLT salad)

Also played a little gin rummy as well, I won't say who won

At some point this weekend, one of our meals was topped off with this rainbow

Home for Memorial Day Weekend!

Bare with me, this is going to be a long post. I contemplated doing the dinners in different posts, but I didn't want to wait any longer to get these pictures up..I would do anything right now to relive this whole weekend! My mom was crazy busy with 2 rehearsal dinners + wedding, which I was lucky enough to help her with. In between flower arrangements and going downtown more times than anyone ever should in one weekend, my dad and I were able to have some fun cooking!

Our first dinner was 2 different kind of sausages from Whole Food- a chicken & an italian, both had lots of flavor, but not too powerful. Alongside the sausage was my dad's famous basmati rice & grilled vegetable kabobs.

To finish our meal, we had a delicious salad- watermelon balls, avocado, tomato, radish, basil, with a vinaigrette

Dinner number 2 was a little more festive for summer. 

Crabcakes, Arugula topped with watermelon balls, raspberries, thinly sliced radish, basil....

Crabcakes- jumbo lump crabmeat, panko, a yellow/red bell peppers,basil, S&P...

Black basil my parents are growing-take a little like liquorish

Pictures never do anything justice...!

Onto meal number 3
A classic Memorial Day dish...RIBS!

Family Style- Wet rub ribs, "dirty rice", cucumber/radish salad

Since ribs, rice AND coleslaw can be such a filling meal..my dad and I came up with a thinly sliced cucumber & radish salad in place of coleslaw. The light/crisp combination was a nice complement to heavy ribs- I think my brother even ate seconds of the salad!

Are you full yet?

I think my blog is-it is not letting me post anymore..to be continued..

Weeknight Dinners

No matter what I cook, I usually like to snap a picture for documentation purposes...so here are some!

Vegetable fried rice with chicken

Mixed greens, strawberries, blue cheese, walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette, toasted pita

Herbed couscous, roasted brussels sprouts, chicken payard

Twice Baked Potatoes- mashed potatoes with butter, cream & salt. Topped with shredded cheddar & sliced green onions.

Thin noodles with zucchini and mushrooms sauteed in teriyaki sauce

"Brick Chicken", sauteed spinach and brown rice