Greek Yogurt Marinated Grilled Chicken… will transform your thoughts on grilled chicken!

On April 29, 2014April 18, 2014 By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, Recipe2 Comments

Greek Yogurt Marinated Grilled Chicken - Recipe inspired by Bon Appetit Photo by Mark Peterson — **Greek Yogurt Marinated Grilled Chicken** – Recipe inspired by Bon Appetit

Ahhh, I ran across a fantastic recipe in Bon Appetit. It turned typically dry boneless skinless grilled chicken breasts into something absolutely heavenly! The secret? Yogurt! I made very few variations. Instead of regular yogurt I used Greek Yogurt and I did not use Cilantro. Pretty much everything else was the same.

This is what I did… click HERE for the link to Bon Appetit to see the original recipe! This will change the way you think about boneless/skinless chicken… I PROMISE!

Greek Yogurt Marinated Chicken on the Grill…

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pound between wax paper to make an even thickness, so you don’t end up with shoe leather on one end and not quite done in the thicker areas).

In a bowl, mix together:

1 cup Greek Yogurt (plain, not flavored!)

1/2 cup chopped Onion

1/4 cup Olive Oil(or a wee bit less, use some to coat the grill good)

2-3 Garlic cloves, minced (or use the microplane, that’s even better)

1/2 Tablespoon Lime juice

1/2 Tablespoon Garam Masala (spice) – if you aren’t a fan of Indian cuisine, you may want to go lightly on this spice.

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt and 1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper

1″ ginger, peeled and microplaned (or minced)

Stir ingredients together and put in a zip top storage bag.

Add the chicken and squish it around until its coated. Place it in a dish and let it soak in all the heavenly flavors for at least 3 hours (or overnight).

Heat the grill (coat the grill with oil).

The recipe says to wipe off the marinade, before putting on the grill which is good, and looks prettiest. The first time we did it, we didn’t see this step, and put it on the grill with the marinade. It was far tastier BUT it was white with grill marks… the flavor was overwhelming! It will transform what you think about grilled chicken. Cook until chicken is done!

I serve with cucumbers sliced, in a mixture of Greek yogurt and a splash of vinegar with some dill… It’s a nice combination!

Photo by Mark Peterson via BonAppetit.com

F L A S H B A C K !

O n e Y e a r A g o: Artist Hollis Dunlap!

T w o Y e a r s A g o: Charleston Photo of Light & Shadow…

T h r e e Y e a r s A g o: Tivo!

Recipe: How To Make Beef Stew: Quick & Easy!

On February 19, 2013December 12, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, Recipe2 Comments

For those of you out there who have never made a beef stew, I’m going to show you a quick and easy recipe… In the photo above… I look like I have control with one tiny piece of bread (whole wheat at that!), right? Truth is, I took all these photos while cooking (which is similar to juggling in my opinion), by the time it was ready, LETS EAT is what came to mind… and we did. I think I had two bites left and said HHHHHHIIIIIIIIEEEEGGGGHHHHH! I forgot to take a PHOTO! Poor Fred. Every time I make a recipe that ends up on this blog he watches a tornado with a camera in the kitchen, then a crisis afterwards because I FORGET TO SHOOT THE LAST PHOTO, good grief, the most important one! Lo and behold, there was one slice of bread left… enough to make me look dainty. Ha.

Ok, on to the recipe… click HERE for the printable recipe (minus all the photos)…

Ingredients: 1 # stew beef, carrots (4-6 should be good), 4-6 medium potatoes (I used red and did not peel, but that’s up to you), 1 onion, chopped (I used slices to try, but it cooks down so you really can’t tell), salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, olive oil and beef broth.

Start by chopping the carrots, potatoes and onions, I usually cook this for a few hours so the veggies will be done and the meat will be tender.

In a plastic zip bag or on a plate, add a few spoonfuls of all purpose flour (I always use unbleached), add salt and pepper.

Roll the pieces of stew beef around so that they’re coated in flour, this will help thicken the stew slightly.

Heat some olive oil (or canola oil) in a heavy bottom pan.

Drop the flour coated beef stew pieces into the hot oil to brown (not cook all the way through).

Once the meat has browned, move it off to the side…

Now, toss in the onions. stir them around until they’re translucent…

Once onions are translucent, stir to combine.

Now is the time to add some beef broth and Worcestershire Sauce (at this point you can also add some red wine if you like). You can use all beef broth or part beef broth and part water. The amount will depend on how many veggies you added… you’ll want to almost cover it… Stir it around and loosen up all those tasty brown bits that are stuck to the bottom of your pot. They add some heavenly flavor!

Now add the potatoes and carrots, salt and pepper and any other seasonings you might like…

Now it’s ready to cook! Turn the heat on medium high until it comes to a slight boil (where you see bubbles), then turn it down to low and simmer. I usually do this with the lid off most of the time… or I’ll crack it so steam can escape if I don’t want the liquid to reduce any more…

Something that gives soups and stew some nice flavor are the center pieces of celery, you know, the ones with all the leaves… toss them in whole, and you can pull them out when it’s done. It adds a nice flavor.

And that’s it! This is a great dish to make on a cold day, keeps the kitchen nice and warm. You can serve this with warm bread and a salad… or all by itself! Enjoy!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Dinner tonight… CHANA MASALA (Indian dish), out of this world and EASY too!

On February 16, 2012December 21, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, HEALTH, Recipe1 Comment

Dinner at our friends house…

We recently had dinner at our friends house… Chana Masala… Hmmm? What? Never heard of it… It’s a vegetarian Indian dish, the main star is chickpeas, and let me tell you… this is TASTY! I’ve since read many recipes for different versions, but I really liked that one so much I got the recipe from Alison. She said it was in the Post and Courier Newspaper years ago (5/28/03), she made a few changes and whatever she changed (their archives skip that period) was perfect… try it, it’s easy, healthy and delicious! When I was reading the Smitten Kitchen blog for her version of Chana Masala she made a good comment, she said the spices aren’t cheap, but go ahead and get them, they’re an investment. I don’t know that I would have spent so much on spices if I didn’t read that first. It made sense. You can make it many times with the number of spices we bought. Above all, it’s HEALTHY. So if you can splurge on the spices, do it! Here goes…

CHANA MASALA (recipe from the Post and Courier newspaper, Alison’s adaptation…)

Chop up one large onion and sauté it in olive oil, some recipes say to sauté until brown… I didn’t let mine get quite that far since it was still going to be cooking…

Now add 4 chopped garlic cloves and 1-2” piece grated fresh ginger, and the way to do that the quickest and easiest is to use a microplane tool, they’re awesome! Rachel Ray pointed that out, apparently the smaller garlic is chopped the better it is for you… well you can’t beat doing it this way, it’s more of a paste so you don’t get any big hunk of garlic.

Now toss in one box of Pomi chopped tomatoes and 1/3 box of Pomi tomato sauce. (If you can’t find POMI, use canned, but canned tomatoes were one of the foods I featured to never eat because of the BPA, click HERE to read the post from 10/19/11…)

Stir in 2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 whole green cardamons, 2 whole black cardamons, 2 bay leaves, 2 cloves, salt to taste, (I only had green cardamons and I used 5, it was fantastic)

and 1 chopped jalapeño (I left just some of the seeds for a little heat, for less heat remove membrane and seeds) and 1 tsp turmeric…

Add 2 cups water (or a little more), 2 cans chickpeas (or a brand in a carton like FIG), and 1/2 bunch chopped cilantro stems.

Bring to boil and then add 2 tsp coriander powder and 2 tsp Chana masala (or Garam masala seasoning).

Cook until sauce thickens (at least an hour) and serve over basmati.

The salad we had that night went perfectly with the Chana Masala… Quick and easy…

SALAD

Baby lettuce with salt, pepper, olive oil and rice wine vinegar. Fresh avocado added right before serving. You could toss baby carrots in Madras curry powder, salt, pepper and olive oil and roasted until tender and put on top of salad.

OK… and here ya go… this is what you end up with! This photo was snapped before we all sat down to enjoy this scrumptious dinner! Guess what’s on the menu this week?? You guessed right!

Here’s the recipe minus the photos and my comments in red…

CHANA MASALA

Sauté 1 large chopped onion in olive oil.

Add 4 chopped garlic cloves and 1-2” piece grated fresh ginger

Add one box of Pomi chopped tomatoes and 1/3 box of Pomi tomato sauce.

Stir in 2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 whole green cardamons,

2 whole black cardamons, 2 bay leaves, 2 cloves, salt to taste,

1 chopped jalapeño…I removed some of the seeds to control heat.

1 tsp turmeric, 2 cups water, 2 cans (I like FIG brand in box) chickpeas,

1/2 bunch chopped cilantro stems.

Bring to boil and then add 2 tsp coriander powder and 2 tsp Chana masala or Garam masala seasoning.

Cook until sauce thickens (at least an hour) and serve over basmati.

OKRA BINDI (I have yet to try this, but am looking forward to making it soon!)

Slice okra or use frozen and sauté with chopped onion, garlic, ginger and turmeric. This is good served alongside Chana Masala.

Give it a whirl, let me know how you like it! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Thanks to Alison Brewer for sharing her recipes…

You can make Beef Bourguignonne even if your name isn’t Julia!

On March 7, 2011December 13, 2013 By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, Recipe2 Comments

Beef Bourguignonne CL 030711 — Image via MyRecipes.com

While the air still has a tad of a chill left to it, this is one HOT recipe to make… great when you have a group, or great to eat for a few nights. This is a Cooking Light recipe, therefore it’s not as fatty as the original recipe. I would never have known that it was lighter. My favorite part… the mushrooms! WOW!

Beef Bourguignonne (click HERE if you want to know how to pronounce it! Click on the little symbol that looks like a speaker and you will hear someone say it) is basically beef cooked in red wine with bacon, onions and mushrooms. It’s better if it sits a day… Click HERE if you want to be taken to MyRecipes.com to the actual recipe where it’s quick and easy to print, or here it is… You may want to rent Julie and Julia for more details… This was a dish made famous (in my eyes) by Julia Childs.

Yield: 9 servings (serving size: about 1 cup beef mixture, 3/4 cup noodles, and 1 teaspoon parsley)

Beef Bourguignonne with Egg Noodles

Yield: 9 servings (serving size: about 1 cup beef mixture, 3/4 cup noodles, and 1 teaspoon parsley)

Ingredients

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
2 1/4 pounds beef stew meat
3 bacon slices, chopped and divided
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced carrot
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 (14-ounce) can less-sodium beef broth
8 cups halved mushrooms (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 (16-ounce) package frozen pearl onions
7 cups hot cooked medium egg noodles (about 6 cups uncooked noodles)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

Combine flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add beef; seal and shake to coat.

Cook half of bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon; set aside. Add half of beef mixture to drippings in pan; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan; cover and keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining bacon and beef mixture. Remove beef from pan; cover and keep warm.

Add chopped onion, sliced carrot, and minced garlic to pan; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in red wine and broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add bacon, beef, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper, mushrooms, tomato paste, chopped thyme, bay leaves, and pearl onions; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes. Uncover and cook 1 hour or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaves. Serve beef mixture over noodles; sprinkle with parsley.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 447, Fat: 14.6g (sat 5.1g,mono 6.1g,poly 1.5g), Protein: 32.7g, Carbohydrate: 45.7g, Fiber: 3.9g, Cholesterol: 117mg, Iron: 6mg, Sodium: 677mg, Calcium: 47mg

Recipe and Image: via MyRecipes.com (Becky Luigart-Stayner; Melanie J. Clarke and Celine Chenoweth)