Cheesy Mexican Chicken & Rice

Dinner for one.. sort of. Paul is working night shift tonight so I made dinner and then delivered his portion to him. He bought some chicken thighs at the store today so I thought I'd give this recipe a whirl. I made some minor modifications, of course. This dish is also a bit inspired by a dish my mom makes. She calls it Chili Chicken, and I'm sure it'll end up on here eventually.

I didn't measure anything, so use your judgement if you try to recreate it!

Cheesy Mexican Chicken & Rice

Ingredients
6 chicken thighs
Chili powder
Ground cumin
Garlic powder
Salt & Pepper
1 cup grated cheese ( I used old cheddar, but the mexican/taco mix pre-shredded cheese would be really good here)
1 cup salsa
1 cup shredded spinach
1/4 cup chopped green onion
Rice

Directions

1. Cook rice

2. Sprinkle chicken thighs with chili, garlic, cumin and salt and pepper.

3. Heat oven to 350 F

4. In pan heated medium-high, cook chicken on one side until nice and crispy on the bottom. Not burned, but seared with a nice crust from the spices. Maybe 5-6 min? Flip, sprinkle other side of chicken with same spices if you haven't already. Fry until you get a similar looking sear/crust. Cook until done, flipping as necessary.

5. Once your rice is close to done, lay the chicken in a single layer in the bottom of an oven-proof dish.

6. Pour salsa over top of the chicken and spread evenly.

7. Spread chopped spinach over top of the chicken and then cover it with grated cheese.

8. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted, then flip on the broiler for a few minutes to get the cheese nice and bubbly and crispy on top.

9. Serve over rice, sprinkle with chopped green onions, and dive in.

Happy Birthday, Paul!

Happy Birthday to Paul! He turned 29 this weekend. We spent the weekend up at Mt. Washington with a bunch of friends from the fire hall. We did some minor snowshoeing and some major drinking and eating. Good times were had by all.

I wanted to make him something special to celebrate and I decided on some "misfortune" cupcakes. Basically, each cupcake has a fortune in it - but it's a misfortunate fortune.

I wanted something really different, so my friend Meaghan and I baked the cupcakes inside ice cream cones. I found the inspiration somewhere on the internet (I can't find the page anymore but it's similar to this). I just used a box of cupcake mix (shhh don't tell anyone) because I was seriously running out of time. We snuck them up to the mountain in a car going early and hid them under some towels until Saturday night. We iced them with vanilla icing (out of a can, again.. don't tell!) and then sprinkled them with some delightfully bright sprinkles. I stuck candles in all the cupcakes, lit them up, threw on a party hat and got down to business.

They worked out great!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL! I LOVE YOU!

Philly Cheese Steak & Egg Skillet

Okay, one last post before I go away for the weekend! It's my flex day so I had time to create a delicious leisurely breakfast. For one. Paul picked the gym over breakfast... his loss!

We had steak and baked potato for dinner last night so I wanted to make steak and eggs. I sauteed some leftover baked potato for hashbrowns and some onions to go with the steak. I sliced up the left over steak and then plopped it in the pan. I broke an egg into the pan and started to put toast into the toaster... when I saw that Paul ate all the bread. This is also standard MO around here.

I made a snap decision to "fi'nagle" something awesome... and so, the Philly Cheese Steak & Egg skillet was born! I will call it a skillet for lack of a better term. I don't think it actually qualifies. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Philly Cheese Steak & Egg Skillet

Ingredients (approx. I don't measure on the fly.)
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 baked potato, cubed
1/4 onion, sliced
Salt and pepper
Italian seasoning
Leftover steak
1 tbsp cream cheese
1 egg

Directions
1. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat

2. Plunk your cubed potatos into the butter, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and italian seasoning. Flip when they're nice and brown, sprinkle with more salt, pepper and italian seasoning.

3. At the same time, put the onions in the pan. Sautee until nice and soft and get a nice colour.

4. Once potatoes and onions and close to done,  melt remaining 1/2 tbsp butter, slice up the leftover steak and lay in the pan. Flip when necessary.

5. Break egg into the pan. Cook sunny-side up or over-easy, whatever you like.

6. Once potatoes and onion are done, put them in a small bowl and gently mix with cream cheese.

7. Put potato/onion/cream cheese mixture onto a small plate and layer steak on top. Top with fried egg and dig in!

(Paul was jealous. I didn't share. I am not sorry.)

Cheese & Vegetable Stuffed Pork Chops

Paul made dinner last night but I was so hungry when I got home I forgot to take a picture of it. I'm still going to blog about it because yesterday I promised my co-worker an update.

I poked my head in the freezer this morning and pulled out some thick pork chops. We had tried stuffing pork chops with an apple stuffing with mediocre results, so I was on the hunt to find something new and delicious looking. I found a recipe here and emailed it to Paul. This is a pretty standard MO around our house when Paul is on days off. Paul served the pork chops with grilled asparagus and broccoli. We toss the vegetables in olive oil and salt and then grill on the barbeque until they are tender and bit charred. Delicious.

I'm not sure if Paul followed the recipe or not, so I'm just guessing what modifications he made to his version of it. I do know he used a yellow pepper instead of a green pepper.

The pork chops came out juicy and tender, but all the cheese leaked out of the chops so the stuffing was mostly just vegetables. I think I'm going to try and aquire some short metal skewers for sealing up the stuffing pocket for the next time we attempt to stuff meat.

This weekend I'm going to Mt. Washington, but stay tuned for an interesting recipe I'll be posting about as soon as I get back! I'm not giving any hints because MAYBE this is all about a surprise for a certain somebody.

Cheese & Vegetable Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1/2 medium celery stalk, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 small carrot, shredded
1/2 small yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 cup shredded strong cheddar
1 tsp ground thyme
pinch of salt
several twists of the pepper grinder
2 thick pork chops
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
more salt and pepper

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 F

2. Melt butter and sautee celery, onion, carrot and pepper until soft. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese and thyme, pinch of salt and several twists of pepper grinder.

3. Cut a deep pocket into the pork chops and stuff with the cheese and vegetable mixture. Use metal skewer or toothpicks to close up the pocket.

4. Heat oil in pan and sear pork chops, about 3 minutes per side. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper.

5. Place in baking dish and cook in pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, uncovered.

6. Enjoy!

Roast Lamb with Mint Pesto

Growing up, lamb was a treat around my house. We usually would have it for a special occassion on a Sunday night. Lamb roast and sometime lamb chops.. but always with mint sauce. I LOVE mint sauce! Nothing brings out the flavour of lamb like mint. For a twist on regular mint jelly or mint sauce, I like to serve my lamb with a mint pesto.

Paul inserted 3 or 4 cloves of garlic into the roast and then we rubbed it down with EVOO and sprinkled it with salt, pepper and italian seasoning. The lamb was roasted at 325 F until it reached an internal temperature of 160 F, then pulled out and tented under foil for 10 minutes. I roasted red-skin potatoes in with the lamb, and finished the meal off with some steamed broccoli.

My boyfriend and I are now both very full and very satisfied.

Mint Pesto

1 clove garlic
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup pine nuts
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Using a hand blender, pulse the garlic. Add the mint, parsley, lemon juice and salt and pulse until coarsley chopped. Stir in the pine nuts and mix well. Pulse the pine nuts and slowly add EVOO until the mixture is combined to the desired consistency. Let the pesto rest for 20 minutes for the flavours to blend. Serve on your favourite cut of lamb.

Lemon & Mixed Berry Buttermilk Pancakes

Pancakes are delicious... but I am not a huge fan. I had some leftover buttermilk from making Irish Brown Bread last week for St. Patrick's day so I thought I'd give buttermilk pancakes a whirl if I could find an appetizing recipe.

Lo and behold, Emeril had a solution for me, albeit slightly modified.


Lemon and Mixed Berry Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, melted
Zest of 2 lemons
1 cup of frozen mixed berries (defrosted) or fresh berries if you have them
Butter and Maple Syrup for serving

Directions

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside. Mix wet ingredients (except for zest and berries) together. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until JUST combined. Do not overstir. Add lemon zest and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Heat frying pan to medium-low. Working in batches, cook 1/4 cup of batter at a time. Put 3 or 4 berries on each pancake and cook for 2-3 minutes, until edges are golden and the pancake is bubbly. Flip and cook for about a minute.

Place pancake in warmed platter or on baking sheet in oven set to 170 F to keep warm until all the pancakes are done.

Serve with butter and maple syrup and enjoy!