BBQ Chicken with Oven Roasted Veggies

Aside from making really fresh and healthy foods, I have also tried to create some nice quick recipes. Things that I can marinate the night before and stick in the oven the following night. It makes my life so much easier to have something waiting for me in the fridge in a neat little plastic bag. I loved this chicken! I roasted the bone-in chicken breasts with the skin on and removed it when eating it. The chicken was unbelievably moist and juicy! I made plenty so that I can use it in salads and other dishes. Yet another time saver for me, is turning one dish into several!

BBQ Chicken with Oven Roasted Veggies

2.5 Pounds Chicken Breasts Bone-In, Skin-On
1 Cup Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce or Your Fave Sace
2 Garlic Cloves Minced
1 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Pepper
4 Large Carrots, Cut into Large Pieces on a Bias
1 Large Onion, Cut into Large Wedges
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil


1. Combine 1/2 of the BBQ Sauce, garlic, salt and pepper in a bag and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees to ROAST.
3. Toss veggies with salt, pepper and a touch of olive oil.
4. Spray down a roasting pan with pan spray and place chicken on top.
5. Roast both the veggies and chicken at the same time, about 30 minutes. Use the remaining half cup of bbq sauce to baste the chicken while it's cooking so it's extra saucy!

Creamy Broccoli Soup

Lately, I have been trying to cook much lighter and healthier. My fiance'and I are both trying to modify all our favorite recipes to be less caloric. I love creamy soups and one of my favorites is cream of broccoli. The creamy factor of the soup is obviously the most important and can be achieved by blending or pureeing the soup the right way. The soup had tons of flavor and a really great texture! The best part...not one touch of cream or butter was in this soup!

Creamy Broccoli Soup

1.5 Pounds of Broccoli with Stems
1 Onion Chopped
1 Carrot Chopped
1 Celery Stalk, Chopped
2 Shallots Chopped
2 Garlic Cloves Chopped
3 Slices of Canadian Bacon
5 Cups Chicken Stock
1/4 Cup of Milk
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Olive Oil


1. In a little bit of olive oil, crisp up the Canadian Bacon.
2. Remove the bacon and turn down the heat.
3. Sweat out the onion, carrots, celery, shallots and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Sweating the veggies really brings out the flavor more. Keep the heat nice and low and keep the lid closed.
4. Add all the broccoli into the pot and sweat them for about 5 minutes. Until they have softened a bit.
5. Pour in all the chicken stock and bring to a simmer.
6. Add all the broccoli and some of the liquid into a blender or food processor. Play around with the amount of liquid being poured in, since it will be put through a sieve it will lose some of its volume, it is important to not put all the liquid in.
7. Put the mixture through a sieve and finish of with just the splash of milk to add some creaminess to it.
8. Put some blanched broccoli florets on the bottom with the crispy Canadian Bacon. Ladle in the soup and enjoy!

Red Hot Shrimp

If my fiance' could hacve one thing for the rest of his life, it would be seafood, especially shrimp. He was still feeling under the weather on Friday so I wanted to make him something with that would clear his sinuses. I marinated the shrimp in the morning and they were ready to sautee up in the evening when we both got home. Nice, quick and easy! I made him some toast to mop up the remaining sauce and he soaked up every last bit.

1 Pound Shrimp (I used shrimp with their heads because my fiance' loves it)
2 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Tsp Siracho (Thai Chili Garlic Paste)
1 Lime Juiced
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1. Throw all the ingredients in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
2. Place all ingredients in a pan and sautee for five minutes or until shrimp are fiery red and tender.

Chocolate Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Back in high school, every day for breakfast, I would go to the school cafeteria and have 3 amazing warm, gooey chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. It was the the highlight of my day, every day. Do you remember those days when you could eat whatever you want and not gain an ounce? I had this way of stuffing anything into my body and still retaining a perfect, perky figure, wish I had it that easy today :) To this day I never found a recipe for cookies that tasted like those did. Today, as I was folding laundry, I caught an episode of Barefoot Contessa. She was reminiscing all her favorite chocolate recipes...and there they were... my beloved White Chocolate Chunk Chocolate Cookies! (Now I am sure that the ones at school were made from some frozen mystery cookie dough) I was instantly inspired and made them this evening. I didn't have any chocolate chunks, but I did have some white chocolate chips, so I just used 12 oz of those.

Now I will be honest...I have NEVER been good at baking cookies. I ALWAYS over baked them because I thought they were still raw inside, turns out they just had to cool :)
I followed Ina's instructions exactly and they were PERFECT! I ate three of them on my own! (Diet? What diet...) I am going to bring them to my fiance's work tomorrow so they can enjoy them as much as I did! (And so that I can get those tempting little devils out of my house!)

Here is Ina's recipe:

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

40 to 48 cookies Ingredients
1/2 pound unsalted butte,r at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon.


Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.



PROOF!

Breakfast Mayham!!!

Yesterday my fiance' was feeling really icky still and I know that there is nothing better than a filling breakfast! So I went a bit crazy! Thanks to Pam from For The Love of Cooking, I have developed a sudden love for making muffins. I had several vanilla yogurts left over so I decided to make some muffins! Pam's recipe really was delicious!
I made a cranberry orange muffin and a banana walnut muffin. Both equally delicious and moist!

I also made some nice spicy breakfast potatos to clear up his sinuses! I added 2 fried eggs on top and he was thrilled!

As for the 2 dozen muffins...I put them in a platic bag and gave them to my in-laws.


Spicy Breakfast Potatos

4 Large Red Potatos, Diced
1/2 Green Pepper, Diced
1/2 Spanish Onion, Diced
1/2 Jalapeno, Diced
1/4 Pound Canadian Bacon or Ham, Diced
2 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
2 Tsp Garlic Powder
2 Tsp Onion Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Pepper
1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper (Use less if you want it mild or you can leave it out)
2 Tsp Smoky Paprika
4 Eggs
1/4 Cup of Parmesan
Olive Oil

1. Place onions, peppers, Canadian bacon or ham and garlic into a pan with olive oil.
Saute on medium high until everything begins to caramalize.
2. Add potatos and all the spices. Cook for about 15 minutes until potatos are tender.
3. In the meantime, prepare 4 eggs and cook them to your liking.
4. Sprinkle the parmesan over the veggies and top with eggs!



Cranberry Orange Muffins
*This is based on Pam's recipe..please check out her blog as it is one of my favorites!*

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of low fat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Orange zest
1 Dried cranberries

1. Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl with the cranberries.
2. Combine all the wet ingredients in another bowl.
3. Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix just to combine.
4. Spray down a muffin pan with oil spray and bake muffins at 325-degrees for 22-25 minutes!



*I used Pam's exact recipe for my banana walnut muffins, except I subbed out a cup of walnuts instead of chocolate chips.*