Cooking for Beginners: Chicken & Zucchini Pasta

Once again, I plan a recipe for Cooking for Beginners (CFB from now on) and it doesn't turn out perfectly, so I decided that it was meant to be that way. How often do you go to cook something and realize your missing an ingredient? (Please tell me I'm not alone!)

Then I realized, even beginner cooks should know what to do when you forget that key ingredient or want to change up a recipe a bit. Ready to get started?

Chicken & Zucchini Pasta
Servings: 4
Adapted from: www.allrecipes.com

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Ingredients:

1/2 package pasta (I used Penne)

4 slices of onion (it rolled out of the picture)

2 tsp. garlic

1 zucchini

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 cup mushrooms

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

3 chicken breasts (or tenders or precooked chicken)

2 tbs. cream cheese

parmesan cheese

basil

salt

pepper

olive oil

Directions:

1. Cut the chicken into strips and season with salt and pepper. If you are using precooked chicken then just skip this. 

2. If you forgot to buy chicken broth (which is really weird for me since its a staple in the pantry), you can use bouillon cubes. Add about 1 cup of water per bouillon cube in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat until boiling and the cube has dissolved. However, if your like me and couldn't manage to find bouillon cubes in the grocery store and had to settle for the packets from the international aisle, then add one packet to 1 1/2 cups of water and heat as instructed above. The picture below would obviously be before it dissolved.

3. In a medium sized saucepan, add 3 cups of water and lightly season with salt. Put over medium high heat. (This is for the pasta.)
4. Cut the zucchini into thin slices, dice up the onion and cut the mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
5. In a large skillet, add a little bit of olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for approximately 10 minutes, flipping over once, or until the chicken is cooked through and browned on all sides.

6. Transfer the chicken to a plate. (I always use paper plates for this, there is no point in dirtying up another dish)

7. Add a little bit more olive oil to the skillet. Turn down the heat to low because the pan should be pretty hot by now. Add the garlic and onion and cook for about a minute or until the the garlic is lightly browned and fragrant.

8. Add the mushrooms and zucchini. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and oregano. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until the zucchini is soft. By now the water should be boiling for the pasta. Add in 1/2 box to the salted water and stir to make sure the shells don't stick together. I usually spend the 10 minutes loading the dishwasher with everything that I've used, cleaning off the counters and putting away any ingredients that I'm done with.

9. Pour in the chicken stock and add the cream cheese. Stir until the cream cheese is combined.

10. Add the chicken to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes more until everything is heated through.

11. Drain the water from the pasta (the kind I used took 12 minutes). Spoon the pasta onto plates and add the chicken mixture. Season with basil and Parmesan cheese and serve. Enjoy!

Tom wasn't a big fan of this recipe, he thought that the sauce tasted funny. I thought it was pretty good and would definitely add it to my list of things to make again, but I don't think the zucchini did anything amazing for the recipe at all. It kind of just blended in. I wouldn't have had any problems omitting it entirely.

Cooking for Beginners: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

For a beginners recipe, this got a bit more detailed than I intended but it still turned out really good so I thought it was worth it.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Servings: 2 pizzas, 16 slices 

Ingredients:
1 package chicken tenders (I forgot to include these in the picture)
1 package pre-made pizza crust
Jar of pizza sauce (we used Ragu)
mozzarella cheese
hot sauce
garlic powder
honey
oregano
crushed red pepper
black pepper
butter (not pictured)





Buffalo Chicken:
1. Put the chicken tenders into a large zip lock bag.
2. Add 1/2 cup hot sauce, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, and 1 tbs. honey into the bag.
3. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal, and squeeze chicken around until it is all coated with the ingredients.
4. Marinate for 15-20 minutes.

Cooking the Chicken:
1. Once marinated, heat a large skillet (bigger than the one I used, preferably) over medium-high heat and add the chicken.
2. Cook for 5-7 minutes on each side or until the chicken is lightly browned and cooked through.

3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let cool for 5 minutes or until its cooled enough to handle.
4. Shred the chicken. I used my fingers for this and just pull it apart into small pieces.

Making the Buffalo Sauce
1. Melt 2/3 cup butter in a microwave safe bowl. Add 1/3 to 2/3 (depending on how much heat you like) of hot sauce to the butter and stir to combine.

Preparing the Pizza:
1. Preheat the oven to the temperature suggested on the pizza dough. Mine said 450. It also said to brush some olive oil onto the dough, which we did as well, but its not a necessary step. If you choose to do this, I used about 1/2 tsp. on each.
2. Spread the pizza sauce over the dough to your liking.
3. Season with garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. (optional)

4. Add 1-2 cups of mozzarella cheese.
5. In another small bowl, add half of the chicken and half of the buffalo sauce. Using your fingers or a fork, mix to coat the chicken.

6. Spread the chicken over the cheese and repeat on the other crust.

7. Bake the pizza for the amount of time directed on the pizza dough. Mine said 7-10 minutes, but it took about 12 minutes before the cheese was fully melted and the crusted started to brown.

8. Cut and enjoy!

Lemon Cup Risotto

Hmm, where to begin with this post. Dinner tonight was supposed to be garlic lemon double stuffed chicken with the lemon cup risotto and corn, however I looked at the chicken recipe and decided I just didn't have the energy tonight to do all of that. So I used seasoned Panko breadcrumbs for the chicken and called it a day.

As for the risotto...here is the recipe I wanted to make: Risotto in a Lemon Cup 
However, once I took a better look at the lemons I bought I realized that this just probably wasn't going to work out. It looks cool and fancy and would be great for a dinner party, but its really not a practical recipe unless you have really large lemons. So, for the sake of the blog, I put the risotto in it, but I didn't serve it that way.

It looks pretty doesn't it? But you can see that the lemon is just too small for even a tiny serving of risotto and I'm not sure how it would affect the flavor even with the inside of the lemon removed.

So I created a general risotto made from the basics and since we had mascarpone cheese, I added that in too. It turned out really well, but darker than usual. I think its because I used a different type of chicken stock. Usually I would use Nature's Promise Organic Low Sodium Chicken Stock, but this time I used the Kitchen Basics brand. Anyway, onto the recipe.

Cheese Risotto
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
2 slices small onion, diced
3 tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3/4 cup Arborio rice
1/4 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 tbs. butter
1 tsp. mascarpone cheese
1 tsp. cream cheese
1/4 tsp. parsley (optional, garnish)

Directions:
1. Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add in 1 tbs. olive oil and the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent.
2. Pour the chicken stock into a small saucepan and put over low heat. 
3. Add in the garlic and the remaining olive oil. Cook 1-2 minutes more.
4. Add in the rice and stir around until the rice is coated with the oil and garlic and turns a translucent/pale color. Pour in the white wine (I use cooking wine by the way) and cook until the rice has absorbed the wine.
5. Once the rice has absorbed the liquid, pour in 1/2 to 1 cups of chicken stock and stir occasionally until absorbed. Repeat with the remaining chicken stock.
6. Once the rice looks like its going to start sticking to the pan, turn the heat down to low and add in the butter, mascarpone and cream cheese. Stir and fold until the cheeses and butter are melted and incorporated into the risotto. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

I didn't take a picture of the chicken, but if you are interested in trying a really simple breaded recipe, here it is.
1. In a shallow bowl, crack two eggs and whisk. (Tom added in some hot sauce and A1 for flavoring. It came through on some parts of the chicken but not others. If you want to do this, I'd suggest 1/2 tsp of hot sauce and 1 tbs. of A1 and to stab holes in the chicken first and let it marinade in that in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.)
2. In another shallow bowl pour in 1 1/2 cups of seasoned Panko breadcrumbs and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture and then into the breadcrumbs. Place in a glass baking dish. You can add a small pat of butter to the top of the chicken to keep it moist while it cooks. Bake for 25-45 minutes, depending on how thick the chicken breast is.

Pretzel Crusted Chicken w/ Cheddar Mustard Sauce and corn, tomato and onion salad

I don't know what it is about Rachael Ray recipes. Sometimes I can make them and they turn out perfectly fine and other times they are a complete disaster.

Lemon Chicken - disaster
Hot Pepper Steak and Smashed Potatoes - disaster
Pretzel Chicken with Cheddar Mustard Sauce - 1 for 2

This time, it was a disaster. But, considering I know what I did wrong I figured it was worth a blog anyway. However, this is the picture I'm associating with the meal. But don't let it deter you or anything.

Pretzel Crusted Chicken w/ Cheddar Mustard Sauce
 Source: Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
1 package chicken tenders (RR says 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
5 oz. salted pretzels
1 tbs. thyme
1 tbs. black pepper
1 tbs. paprika
2 eggs
vegetable oil
2 tbs. unsalted butter
2 tbs. flour
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbs. spicy brown mustard
1/4 cup parsley

Directions: (Here is where I'm making the changes)
1. Put the pretzels in a zip lock bag and crush them with a mallet. (Or use a food processor)
2. Transfer the pretzels to a shallow dish and season with thyme, black pepper and paprika. In another dish, crack two eggs and mix together.
3. Preheat a large skillet with vegetable oil over medium high heat. Preheat the oven to 450. Dip the chicken into the egg mixture and then the pretzels to coat.
4. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side in the skillet, or until the pretzel coating is brown.
5. Transfer the chicken to a sheet pan and stick in the oven. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until cooked through.
6. In a large (and by large I mean 3 or 4 times the size you think you need) saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Let cook for 1 minute and then add the milk, whisking the entire time. Turn down the heat to medium low. Wait patiently for the milk to bubble. No, I'm serious, really wait patiently. If you have the heat up too high the milk will skip the bubbling part and instead will foam and rise and make a gigantic freaking mess all over your kitchen. So, patiently wait for the milk to bubble.
7. Once its bubbling nicely, add in the cheese and mustard and stir with a wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Its going to be gooey, fair warning.
8. Once the chicken is done, serve with the cheddar mustard sauce.

Corn, Tomato and Sweet Onion Salad
Adapted From: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 can sweet corn
2 thick slices tomato, diced
2 thin slices sweet onion, diced
1 big squeeze lime juice
2 hearty shakes cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Remember how I said that I'm horrendous at measuring? So obviously the recipe above shows that. I have no idea what the measurements are honestly, but that was my best description.

1. Mix onions, corn and tomato together. Add lime juice, cilantro, salt and pepper. Stick in the fridge for 10 minutes or until chilled.

"Grilled" Chicken with Cajun roasted potatoes and corn

For the most part, you can't exactly grill when you live in an apartment. Sure, somewhere on the grounds here there are grills for public use but they are no where near my apartment and in my opinion, rather unsanitary even if you cooked your food on aluminum foil.

So what is an apartment dweller to do? My recommendation - buy a George Foreman. However, in the need to save space, I decided that I wanted a grill plate/pan instead. So for Christmas Tom bought me a Nordicware Reversible Grill Griddle.

Tonight, I finally decided to try it out. Having never cooked on one before, I figured I should google some reviews to see exactly what to do. Well, I found out that my lovely cooking utensil really wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It had crappy reviews, was called the stickiest non-stick product ever, and even the manufacturer website advised to use it on low heat to avoid smoking.

Really? Who in the world grills over low heat? Regardless, I decided to try it out anyway. I shellacked the puppy up with about a quarter ton of Pam cooking spray, put it over low heat and toss my chicken tenders on it and turned on the exhaust vent in preparation. Well, chicken cooks slowly over low heat. As in a turtle could walk a mile in the time it takes for one side of the chicken tender to even turn white. But, since I was roasting potatoes, I decided to hell with it and I'd just wait it out.

20 minutes later, with some barely there grill marks on my mostly white chicken, I gave up and toss the chicken in a pan to let it brown. So while I didn't exactly 'grill' or the chicken, I browned chicken and created some grill marks on it, so I'm going to say I grilled the chicken. You okay with that?

Grilled Chicken w/ Cajun roasted potatoes and corn
Source: my brain

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts cut into strips or 1 package chicken tenders
3-5 red potatoes, cut into chunks
2 tbs. Cajun seasoning
1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 canned corn
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and then cut up the potatoes.
2. Put potatoes in a large bowl and add olive oil, salt, pepper and 1 tbs. Cajun seasoning. Toss to coat.
3. Transfer to a 9x13 baking dish covered in foil. Stick in the oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until potatoes are fork soft and slightly browned on the edges.
4. Preheat griddle, skillet or whatever you're using. Season chicken with salt, pepper and the remaining Cajun seasoning. Cook over medium high heat until browned.
5. Melt 1 tbs. butter in a sauce pan. Drain canned corn and add to pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes.

Simple enough, huh? Obviously you can be as creative as you want and add in different spices or vegetables or whatever. I'm just on a mission this week to blog each meal I make, so my lovely readers get to enjoy this rather boring and basic meal. =)

I'll probably try out the grill pan again, on something else, but I have a feeling that it will eventually meet its fate in the trash and we'll just register for a George Foreman grill and hope that one day we will have the counter/kitchen space to house it.

Cheesy Bacon Chicken w/ Cajun Roasted Potatoes

I know, I know, two posts in one day is kinda ridiculous. However, I made the Apple Chicken last week and never got around to posting it. So here I am with today's dinner too. Its another one I created after eating a few different meals at restaurants. It's a healthier version of Outback's Alice Springs Chicken mixed with Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken. Yeah, I know, confusing right?

Cheesy Bacon Chicken w/ Cajun Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4-6 red potatoes
2 tbs butter 
2 tbs. lime juice
2 tbs. Cajun seasoning
1 tbs. garlic powder
1 tbs. dried cilantro (or 1/4 cup fresh, chopped)
1 to 1 1/2 cups reduced cheddar cheese (or Mexican Blend, Taco, whatever really)
1/4 cup bacon bits

Directions:
1. Line a 9x13 and 8x8 baking pan with aluminum foil. Preheat the oven to 425.
2. Rinse potatoes and cut into bit sized pieces. Place in the 9x13 dish.
3. Melt 1 tbs. butter and pour over the potatoes.
4. Season potatoes with 1 tbs. lime juice, 1 tbs. Cajun seasoning, 1/2 tbs. garlic powder and 1/2 tbs. cilantro. Drizzle 1 tbs. lime juice over the potatoes.
5. Put the potatoes in the oven.
6. Place the chicken breasts in the 8x8 baking dish and cover with the remaining 1 tbs. of melted butter.
7. Season with the remaining spices and lime juice.
8. Approximately 10 minutes after the potatoes have been in the oven, add the chicken to the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes more, until potatoes are soft and chicken is cooked through.
9. Remove the chicken from the oven and sprinkle cheese and bacon bits over the breasts and return to the oven for 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

I usually serve this with canned corn in the winter and corn on the cob in the summer.

Other Options:
Serve sour cream and salsa on top of the chicken.
Substitute the bacon bits for sauteed mushrooms.
Substitute Cajun seasoning for Creole, Jerk, Caribbean, or anything else really.
Increase or omit the lime juice.
Use chicken tenders and put chicken pieces and potato chunks along with vegetables onto skewers.

Yeah, you pretty much have a ton of options that you can do with this basic recipe. Let me know what you create!

Apple Chicken & Rice

So I had intended to make Caramel Apple Pork Chops but I accidentally pulled out chicken instead. I didn't realize this until I had already sliced two apples, so I was stuck. Instead I decided I would just create a recipe. Here's what happened:

Apple Chicken
Servings: 3

Ingredients:
2 Red Delicious apples 
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup apple juice
1 package boil-in-a-bag rice
1 tbs. olive oil or butter (whichever you'd rather cook with)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Core and slice the apples into thin slices.  
2. Fill a pot with water and boil-in-a-bag rice and put over high heat.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Season the chicken.
4. Put oil or butter in a medium sized pan over medium-high heat. Add the apples to the pan and cook for 5-7 minutes.
5. Add the seasoned chicken to the pan with the apples and brown on each side, about 3-4 minutes per side.
6. Add the apple juice and cook for 12-15 minutes more, or until chicken is done and apples are softened.
7. Serve apples and chicken over rice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The chicken ends up staying pretty moist by cooking it in the apple juice. You can definitely add more apple juice to make more of a sauce to go over the rice. I was just throwing stuff together and had no idea how it was going to turn out.

Happy Eating!