Saturday, March 23, 2013

Chicken with Creamy Jalapeño Sauce

In the process of trying to find a recipe to use leftover jalapeño peppers, chopped tomatoes, and chicken broth, I came across this nice and easy recipe at
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chicken-with-Creamy-Jalapeno-Sauce. I'll make it again. It was posted by Molly Cappone of Cleveland. The recipe was created by her sister.

This version serves 4

Ingredients
  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 3 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, cubed
  • 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
  • 3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
  • 2 cups hot cooked rice

Directions
  • Sprinkle chicken with salt. In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, brown chicken in oil on both sides.
  • Add the onions, broth, jalapenos and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170°. Remove chicken and keep warm.
  • Stir cream cheese and sour cream into onion mixture until blended.
  • Stir in tomatoes; heat through. Serve with chicken and rice.
  • Yield: 4 servings (2 cups sauce).

Monday, March 18, 2013

Simple & Tasty Italian Strawberry Dessert

Strawberries with Orange Juice (Fragole all'Arancia) is a simple and tasty dessert which I found in the huge Italian cookbook - Silver Spoon (Il Cucchiaio d'Argento), which has been around for years and which is available in English. This recipe has only three ingredients - strawberries, orange juice, and sugar. A portion of the three ingredients is used to create a purée, in which the remaining strawberries are set.


Ingredients
- 6 1/2 cups of strawberries
- 3/4 cup of superfine sugar
- 3/4 cup orange juice, strained

For the sweet strawberries I used, 3/4 cup of sugar was too much. I used less than 1/2 cup. If you don't have superfine sugar, you can create your own by processing granulated sugar in something like a Black & Decker Handy Chopper.

Preparation
- Put 2&1/4 cups of strawberries in a food processor and purée
- Add half the sugar and all the orange juice, and process briefly until mixed.
- Pour the mixture into a dish, and arrange the remaining strawberries on top.
- Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
- Cover and chill until ready to serve.

It might be nice to serve with biscotti.


Thursday, March 7, 2013

Easy & Tasty Green Beans, Honey, & Almonds

This easy, tasty dish was a nice, simple accompaniment to the tilapia I made tonight. I found it at food.com (http://www.food.com/recipe/honey-almond-green-beans-359156), but saw it on other sides as well. The full recipe serves 4-6, but instead of using 2 pounds of green beans, I only used about half a pound for the two of us. I didn't change the other ingredients. 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of butter or margarine, softened
1 tablespoon of honey
2 pounds of green beans, ends trimmed off
2 tablespoons of almonds, sliced (optional)

Directions

1. Mix butter and honey. Set aside.
2. Heat 1 inch of water in a 4-quart pan. Add green beans, heat to boiling. Reduce heat and boil uncovered for 5 minutes. Cover and boil 5 to 10 minutes longer, or until crisp-tender. Drain.
3. Toss beans and honey mixture. Sprinkle with almonds.