One Pot Lemon Chicken with Rice

I was lazy and thought of this one pot recipe. The rice came out almost risotto like which was really tasty and the chicken breast was very moist since it cooked in a moist environment. I would definitely make this dish again. You could change up the seasonings and give it either an asian or mexican flair.

Ingredients:
2 bonless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup uncooked white rice
2 1/4 cups chicken stock
Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Directions:
1. Pour olive oil into a medium sized skillet. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken in the oil over medium high heat until both sides have a nice sear, about 2-3 minutes per side.

2. Remove chicken and set aside. Add rice to the same pan with the chicken stock, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Scrap the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release all of the good browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

3. Bring to a boil, add chicken back to the pan on top of the rice and cover pan with a lid. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 25 minutes or until rice has absorbed all of the liquid. Turn the heat off and allow the pan to sit on the stove for another 5 minutes.

4. Take chicken breast out and slice. Serve on a plate with a side of the rice. I like to add a lot of fresh herbs to my rice but this is optional. Garnish with some lemon wedges and serve!

Quinoa Tabbouleh with Roast Chicken

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3. This dish came from another bout of trying to be healthy. My boyfriend, Brian, loved this dish and requested I make it again. It had a good balance of different flavors and textures. Best part was it tasted great the next day for lunch, you can even eat it cold! 
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5. Ingredients: 
6. 1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
7. 1/2 tsp salt plus more
8. 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
9. 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
10. 1 garlic clove, minced
11. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
12. Freshly ground black pepper
13. 1 large English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and sliced thin
14. 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
15. 1/2 container ciliegine mozzarella, cut you into quarters
16. 2 chicken breasts, cook and shredded into large chunks
17. 2 tbs. chopped basil
18. 2 scallions, thinly sliced
19. 
    
20. Directions: 
21. 1.Cook quinoa to package directions. Fluff and set aside while you prep the rest of the dish.
22. 2. Whisk lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and garlic in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in olive oil. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.
23. 3. Spread out quinoa on a large rimmed baking sheet; let cool. Transfer to a large bowl; mix in 1/4 cup dressing. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover remaining dressing and quinoa separately; chill.
24. 4. Add cucumber, tomatoes, cheese, roast chicken herbs, and scallions to bowl with quinoa; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle remaining dressing over if desired.

Czech Dumplings (Knedliky)

Whenever I make my Grandma's czech bread dumplings recipe I'm always bummed they aren't fluffly like the ones I've had in the Czech Republic. I pulled out my Czech cookbook, literally written in the Czech language, and found this recipe for knedliky. I tested it out on my cousin, Alexa and got the stamp of approval. These dumplings were really bready but dense. I didn't realize it would be basically a bread dough and would need so long to rise! Next time I make this I'm going to experiment with the rise time so they're nice and fluffy when finished!

Ingredients:

4 cups (500 g) all purpose flour
1 egg
1 1/4 cup (3dl) lukewarm milk
2 rolls (about 4 slices of white loaf bread) cut into cubes
3.5 tsp. (10 g) yeast
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, heat milk to 105-110 degrees F. Once it hits temperature, pour into a small bowl and add yeast. Mix together and allow to bloom for at least 5 minutes. (If you don't see bubbles in this mix after a few minutes, your yeast is old and not very good).

2. In a large bowl, sift flour. Add in salt and stir.

3. Add yeast mixture and egg to the flour mixture.

4. Mix dough together with a spoon or using your hands. Knead this mix like bread or pasta dough for a few minutes until it forms a nice dough.

5. Add diced bread cubes. Knead again until bread is fully incorporated into the dough.

6. Allow bread to rise for 4 hours in a clean bowl covered with a kitchen towel. When ready to make dumplings, fill a large pot with water and set over high heat to bring to a boil.

7. Put dough on a cutting board and divide into 3 parts. Make into nice round logs so final dumplings will come out with a nice shape.

8. Boil dumplings 10 minutes per side, flipping the logs 180 degress one time during the cooking process. (20 minutes total)

9. Remove from water unto a cutting board and slice immediately. Use czech dumpling cutter or a knife and make them about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick.

10. Place into a towel lined bowl to keep warm. Serve with any meat or dish with a lot of gravy, dumplings are great for soaking up sauce!

Eggs Benedict

I love Eggs Benedict. It's so rich, creamy, and decadant and something I secretly was a little nervous to make at home. I'm terrible at poaching eggs and hollaindaise sauce seemed so difficult to make. After watching an old episode of Worst Cooks in America where they made this dish, I thought if they can do it, I can do it too! They featured this really cool egg poaching pan which allows anyone to poach an egg. I'm really glad I've purchased this. I'ts a little bit of a unitasker which I hate but you can remove the egg poaching apperatus and just use the pan as a sauce pan. I suggest giving this dish a shot but make sure to have extra ingredients in case you poach your egg wrong or the sauce breaks.

Ingredients:

Hollandaise Sauce:3 large egg yolks, room temperature1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened2 small pinches white pepperFine sea salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Poached Eggs:Unsalted butter or nonstick spray, for greasing cups8 eggs4 English muffins, split and toasted8 slices of crispy bacon
2 chives, finely chopped (optional)
Directions:

1. Crisp the bacon in a saute pan over medium low heat. Move to a paper towel when done to drain excess fat. Prep poaching cups by greasing them with a little butter. Toast english muffin halves.

2. For the hollandaise sauce: Fill a medium saucepan (or the bottom half of a double boiler) with 2 inches of water and bring to a simmer. In a medium bowl that fits snugly into the saucepan without touching the bottom (or in the top half of a double boiler), whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon water.Set the bowl over the simmering water and cook over very low heat, whisking constantly, until the egg yolk mixture is very pale and thick, about 3 minutes; if it begins to heat too quickly and threatens to get lumpy, remove the bowl from the saucepan and whisk for a while before setting it back over the simmering water. When ready, you should be able to see the bottom of the bowl with every whisk stroke. 

3. Continue whisking while adding the softened butter a little at a time. When all of the butter has been incorporated, add the white pepper, salt, and cayenne to taste. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and set it into a warm bowl of hot water to keep the sauce warm; stir occasionally while you are poaching the eggs.

4. For the poached eggs: Fill an egg poaching pan with 1 inch of water. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Lightly grease the poaching cups with butter. Crack the eggs into the cups and set the cups into the poaching pan. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook to your desired doneness - 4 minutes for perfect runny poached eggs.

5. To serve: Set two toasted muffins halves on each plate. Top each with bacon and a poached egg. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of hollandaise sauce over each egg. Garnish with chives. Serve immediately!!

Chicken Milanesa with Arugula and Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients: 

For the Chicken:

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1 cup bread crumbs

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast (pounded out to 1/2 inch thick pieces)

1 cup canola oil, may need more depending on the pan size

3 cups arugula, washed and dried

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, thinly sliced or peeled into long stripes

For the Vinaigrette:

1 clove of garlic, peeled, and minced
1 small shallot, minced
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. champagne vinegar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup olive oil

Directions: 

1. Make the vinaigrette. Place all of the ingredients except for the olive oil into a large mixing bowl and whisk together until well incorporated. While whisking, add the olive oil in a slow steady stream. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Set up a breading station for the chicken - one plate with flour, one plate with the eggs whisked together, and one plate with the bread crumbs. 

3. Preheat a skillet with 1/4 inch high layer of canola oil. 

4. Season the pounded out chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Then one at a time, take a chicken breast and coat with flour. Tap off the excess and dip the chicken in the egg mix. Remove any excess egg and dip into the breadcrumbs. Tap off the excess. Repeat with the rest of the chicken breasts until they all have a nice even breading layer. 

5. Gently place a chicken breast into the oil and fry over medium high heat until the coating has browned, about 3 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook the other side. Place on paper towels to drain any excess oil. Season with a small pinch of salt while still warm. Repeat for each chicken breast. 

6. To serve: toss some argula into the vinagrette making sure not to over dress it. Put a chicken breast on the plate and top with a handful of the arugula salad. To garnish, place the parmesan on top of the salad and serve! 

Strawberry Lemonade Sangria

This sangria was really delicious but dangerous! There are a lot of different types of alcohol in this drink so please use caution when drinking. Great for parties since you can make it ahead the night before and it makes it taste even better.

Ingredients:
1 lb. strawberries, sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 bottle white wine, sauvingnon blanc
1 cup white rum
5 cups lemonade
1 bottle of champagne


Directions:
1. Combine sliced fruit, wine, rum and lemonade in a pitcher and refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

2. When you are ready to serve, add 1 cup of champagne to pitcher and stir.

3. To Serve: pour a nice glass 1/2 full of sangria mix. Add a few of the strawberries if you like. Fill the second half of the glass with champagne. You can serve this with or without ice depending on how hot of a day it is. Enjoy!

Grilled Veggie Pizza

I felt like making pizza and wanted to try something different. I usually do pepperoni or proscuitto with arugula and goat cheese as my topping but with summer I was trying to find a lighter topping. I grilled the veggies in advance and then put them on the pizza. Grilling the veggies added a dimension of flavor, but if you're in a hurry you can skip that step.

Ingredients:
1 batch of pizza dough (recipe found here)
1/2 small red onion, sliced 1/3 inch thick
1 zucchini, sliced thinly
1 yello squash, sliced thinly
1 bell pepper
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
1 cup marinara or pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup cornmeal, for dough on pizza paddle
1/2 cup flour, for rolling dough

Directions:

1. Make your pizza dough and allow to rest throughout the day.

2. Slice up zucchini, yellow squash, and red onion. Preheat a grill to high heat and grill all veggies. (Leave bell pepper whole for grilling and cut into strips later. Use a foil basket to grill tomatoes).

3. Put your grilled and cut up veggies to the side.

4. Preheat an oven to as high as it will go. If you have a pizza stone put it in the oven to preheat with the oven.

5. Roll out pizza dough using a little flour so it doesn't stick to the door. Sprinkle corn meal on your pizza paddle and place the dough on the pizza paddle. Shake the pizza paddle back and forth to make sure the dough isn't sticking before putting on the toppings.

6. Make the pizza - put 3 tbs. of sauce on the pizza and spread out with a spoon. Top with a small sprinkle of cheese as a base layer. Top with your veggies, just sprinkle them around the pizza. Now top it with more cheese to seal in the veggies.

7. Once your oven is preheated, slide in the pizza carefully. Cook until the dough is crisp and the cheese is bubbling, about 5-7 minutes.

8. Take your pizza out carefully and slide it onto a cutting board. Allow to cool for a minute or two and then slice into pizza and serve!!