Rainbow-Stuffed Chicken
No, it’s not chicken stuffed with Skittles. Bell peppers are the inspiration and filling in Rainbow-Stuffed Chicken. Bell peppers are awesome to cook with since they virtually come in all colors of the rainbow (except maybe blue).
I also add red onion (which is, let’s face it, really purple), mushrooms and cheese to the multicolor bell pepper blend. The whole blend is really versatile and can be used to complement any dish.
Ingredients:
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400F and grease a large baking sheet or pan.
- In a large bowl, combine bell peppers, mushrooms, onion and cheese.
- Half the chicken breasts horizontally, but don’t cut all the way through, making a envelope for the bell pepper blend. Season chicken with salt and pepper or seasonings of your choice.
- Stuff the chicken breasts with bell pepper blend. And press down to seal in stuffing. You can also tie with twine if you have any handy.
Prepped Rainbow-Stuffed Chicken
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until chicken temperature registers between 170F and 180F.
- Remove chicken from oven, let cool for a couple minutes, then serve.
Not only is this a colorful dish, it’s full of flavor and healthy nutrients from the veggies in the bell pepper blend. I don’t have a kid, but I imagine this is a fairly kid-friendly recipe.
Feel free to add any other veggies you have on hand to the bell pepper blend. If you have any of the bell pepper blend left over, it goes great with eggs to make a quiche or quick scramble.
Tags: Bell Peppers, Chicken, Chicken Breast, Entree, Kid-Friendly, Mushrooms, Recipe
Boudin Cornbread Dressing
I’ve been making this dressing recipe for years and it’s always been a hit. However, in the past, I made it without meat. This year, I added boudin and it made it even better.
That said, a meatless version is just as solid of a holiday side. Sometimes I add in some jalapeños, too.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups cornbread, crumbled
- 10 slices of bread of your choice, dried and cubed
- 2 boudin links, casing removed
- 1 1/2 cup celery, diced
- 1/2 cup red pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup green pepper, diced
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
Directions:
Boudin Cornbread Dressing
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- In a large bowl, combine cornbread and bread cubes.
- In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, saute boudin, celery, onion and peppers until vegetables are tender. Combine with bread mixture.
- Add seasoning, egg and chicken broth.
- Spoon dressing into a lightly greased 3-quart baking dish. Bake, covered, for 45 to 50 minutes.
- Cut and serve.
When choosing a bread to complement the cornbread, it’s probably best to use white, but wheat will work. Just make sure it’s pretty dry. If you don’t have time to dry the slices, just toast them until well done.
In place of boudin, you can also use sausage in patty form. Just make sure it’s cooked fairly thoroughly while it’s in the skillet.
Tags: Boudin, Cajun Recipes, Cornbread, Dressing, Holiday, Holiday Dish, Holiday Recipe, Recipe, Side Dish
Prosciutto-Wrapped Pears
Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll ever post a recipe easier than this one. If you can’t make it, there may be no hope left for you in the culinary arena.
Regardless of the difficulty (or lack thereof), this appetizer goes great with the bubbly which is a huge plus around New Year’s. Give it a try before 2012 gets here.
Ingredients:
- 2 pears, quartered (cut into a total of 8 slices)
- 4 slices of prosciutto, halved
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 TBSP sugar cane vinegar (or other sweet vinegar)
- 1/4 cup walnuts, for garnish (optional)/li>
- 1/4 cup blue cheese, for garnish (optional)
Prosciutto-Wrapped Pears
- Wrap prosciutto around pear slices and place on a serving plate.
- Drizzle with olive oil and sugar cane vinegar.
- Serve.
Aside from being super easy to make, these Prosciutto-Wrapped Pears have a nice savory/sweet combo working. They are appropriate for nearly any party.
And like I mentioned earlier, they go really well with champagne. Cheers.
Tags: Appetizer, Pears, Prosciutto, Recipe
Avocado, Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies
This cookie recipe uses a ripe avocado to take the place of some of the butter found in most cookie recipes.
The avocado gives the cookies a smoother texture without contributing too much to the flavor profile. And no, the cookies won’t come out green.
Ingredients:
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
Avocado, Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies in the Oven
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl except pecans, chocolate chips and cinnamon chips. Stir until smooth.
- Fold in remaining ingredients.
- Use a spoon to scoop batter into 1/2-inch rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake 20 minutes or until golden-brown around the edges. Let cool for a few minutes and serve.
These cookies are very simple and can go from mixing bowl to oven to plate in about 30 minutes.
Enjoy them with a big glass of milk.
Tags: Cookies, Dessert, Holiday, Holiday Recipe, Recipe
Loaded Carrot Cupcakes
Let’s be honest, carrot cake is some pretty damn good stuff. These cupcakes don’t come from the most traditional carrot cake batter mix, but they’re loaded with goodness. That’s why I’m calling them Loaded Carrot Cupcakes.
I added shredded carrots, crushed pineapple, pecans, walnuts and coconut to the batter to really load them up with a variety of ingredients. The batter is pretty minimal so it’s these ingredients that form the majority of these cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 cup wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
Carrot Cupcake Batter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin or cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and center. Form a hollow center then add oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
- Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in carrots, pecans, walnuts, pineapple and shredded coconut.
Carrot Cupcakes in the Oven
- Pour batter into cupcake liners until each is about 1/2 full (optimist!). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cupcakes will rise while baking then settle some once removed.
This recipe should yield roughly two dozen cupcakes. I whipped up a cream cheese frosting for mine and garnished with some of the remaining shredded coconut.
The pineapple ensures the cupcakes remain moist and the nuts give the cupcakes a nice crunch. I wasn’t sure how these would turn out given my lack of success with baking, but they turned out delicious and (dare I say it) I was proud of the effort.
Tags: Carrot, Carrot Cake, Coconut, Cupcakes, Dessert, Dessert Recipe, Pineapple, Recipe
Chicken Noodle Soup Close-Up
The day I made this Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, I was recovering from a massive hangover. So I can officially state this is a great recipe to help cure/soothe a hangover.
It’s not the most traditional Chicken Noodle Soup — I added a few extra veggies. However, it came out well and it’s the perfect soothing meal for those days you just don’t feel like getting of the couch.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (3-4 pounds)
- 1 medium red onion
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 5 oyster mushrooms, chopped
- 1/2 cup sugar snap peas, chooped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 package whole wheat spaghetti, uncooked
- 2 TBSP Cajun seasoning (like Tony Chachere’s)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
Sauteing Veggies
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- In a large stockpot, saute garlic and onion in olive oil for about 1 minute.
- Add in remaining vegetables, bay leaves, seasoning and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer then place in whole chicken and cook, covered, for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, remove chicken from pot and cut into small skinless pieces and add back to pot along with pasta. (If the chicken isn’t fully cooked, you can throw undercooked pieces back into the pot so don’t worry.)
Chicken Noodle Soup
- Simmer/boil until pasta is cooked.
- Remove soup from heat and serve, garnishing with fresh cilantro.
You can add whatever vegetables you want to this as Chicken Noodle Soup is a very versatile soup dish. Also, this is a great nutritious meal if you use reduced sodium chicken broth.
I garnished mine with fresh cilantro and served with fresh avocado and cornbread. The cornbread goes really well with the overall dish and the avocado adds a cool element to the hot temperature of the soup.
Tags: Chicken, Chicken Noodle Soup, Pasta, Recipe, Vegetables
Stuffed Bell Peppers
After about a week of decadent dishes (lots of duck fat), I’m taking a step back and doing a simple recipe with a low degree of difficulty: Stuffed Bell Peppers.
This is one of those dishes that can be made a variety of ways with a wide variety of ingredients. It’s the perfect mix-and-match recipe. My recipe uses ground turkey, brown and wild rice and a variety of different colored bell peppers.
Ingredients
- 4 bell peppers (different colors, if available), cored and seeded
- 1/2 cup brown and wild rice mix, cooked
- 1 pound ground turkey meat
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 red onion, minced
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1 TBSP cumin
- 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
Ground Turkey Stuffing Mix
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until translucent (about 3-4 minutes).
- Add ground turkey meat, cumin, salt and pepper and cook until browned (about 10-12 minutes).
- Combine prepared rice mix and ground turkey in the skillet.
- Oil a baking pan and place bell peppers upright then stuff 1/3 full with ground turkey and rice mixture. Then, layer in 1/2 of the cheese among the four peppers. Repeat stuffing layer and cheese layers until the peppers are fully stuffed.
- Place stuffed bell peppers in oven and cook 12-15 minutes, until peppers are soft. For softer peppers, cook longer.
- Remove peppers from oven and serve upright.
Bell Pepper Variety
I like my peppers on the crunchier side so I don’t cook them so long that they get soggy. It’s a personal preference and since you can’t really burn the peppers at 350F, feel free to cook them longer if you don’t want such a crunchy texture.
Each different color or bell pepper has a unique taste and even different nutritional facts. I’m partial to red and yellow, but enjoy every color. If you haven’t tried every variety, this is a great recipe to adventure with.
The Stuffed Bell Peppers can get a little messy if the stuffing starts to fall out, but they’re worth it. As an alternative, you can slice the bell peppers in half and lay them in the pan before stuffing. I think the presentation is better when the entire pepper is stuffed.
Tags: Bell Peppers, Ground Turkey, Quick Meals, Recipe
Banh Mi Toppings
With apologies to 99% of the delis in America, the best sandwiches out there are Vietnamese-style banh mis. They’re loaded with fresh veggies, herbs and meat plus a spicy blast of sriracha.
The traditional variety of banh mis have pate, but I didn’t have any so I made a more Americanized version. I also combined the Sriracha with the mayonnaise to make a single spread.
Ingredients
- 2 baguettes
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cooked
- 1 cucumber, seeded and cut into strips
- 1 carrot, finely julienned
- 1/4 of an onion, cut into thin slivers
- 4 TBSP fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 jalapeño, finely julienned
- 2 TBSP mayonnaise
- 1/2 TBSP Sriracha
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 2 TBSP sweet vinegar (such as cane vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
Chicken Thigh Banh Mi
Directions:
- In a small bowl, combine mayo and sriracha, mixing well.
- In a small skillet, heat olive oil and vinegar over medium heat. Saute carrots and onions for until carrots are darkened, but not soggy and onions are translucent. Set aside.
- Slice open baguettes horizontally, but do not slice all the way through.
- Spread Sriracha mayo on top and bottom halves of baguettes.
- Place chicken equally on both baguettes then layer evenly with carrots, onions, jalapeños and cucumbers. Finally, top each sandwich with fresh cilantro. Close the sandwiches and serve.
These sandwiches aren’t 100% up to par with what you’ll find in most Vietnamese bakeries, but they will do in a pinch. Thankfully, they aren’t time-intensive at all.
Hopefully you’ll enjoy the freshness of the veggies and herbs as a change-up to the typical sandwiches you find out there. You can also substitute the meat of your choice in place of the chicken thigh meat.
Tags: Banh Mi, Chicken, Chicken Thighs, Recipe, Sandwich, Vietnamese
Red Velvet Pancakes with Coconut-Cream Cheese Icing
Maybe I don’t remember it, but I don’t think red velvet was a big deal back when I was growing up. Now, it’s all the rage — cupcakes, cakes, vodka. This pancake recipe can be added to that list.
The Red Velvet Pancake batter is simple to make from scratch, as is the coconut-cream cheese icing.
Ingredients
Directions:
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
Red Velvet Pancake on the Griddle
- Add egg, milk, heavy cream, melted butter, vanilla and red food coloring and whisk until batter is smooth. A few lumps are okay.
- Cook in batches in a greased skillet the normal way you would cook pancakes.
- For the icing, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Then, add in coconut milk and vanilla. Finally, add in powdered sugar (and shredded coconut if you choose) in batches and whisk all until smooth.
- Once pancakes are cooked, top with icing and serve.
While it’s probably a stretch to say these pancakes are part of a complete breakfast, they are part of a delicious breakfast.
They shouldn’t take too long and will be a hit with diners of all ages. Enjoy!
Tags: Breakfast, Brunch, Coconut, Pancake, Recipe, Red Velvet
Prepping the Pizza
This is a great fall pizza that’s not Italian-based at all. Instead of tomatoes, I used mashed sweet potatoes as the base. You can bake and mash them yourself or by them mashed at the store.
I topped it with prosciutto, fresh mozzarella (none of the packaged stuff), balsamic onions and arugula. If you’ve never had balsamic onions, you’re in for a treat.
Ingredients
- 4 small sweet potatoes, baked and mashed
- One 12-inch prebaked pizza crust
- 3 oz. sliced prosciutto, cut into thin ribbons
- 1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
Balsamic Onions
- 1 TBSP unsalted butter
- 1 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 TBSP Italian seasoning
- 6 TBSP balsamic vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Prosciutto, Sweet Potato and Balsamic Onion Pizza
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 450F.
- In a large skillet, melt butter and olive. Add the onion and Italian seasonings then cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened (about 5 minutes).
- Add 2 TBSP of water and cook over medium heat until the onion is caramelized (about 10 minutes).
- Add the balsamic vinegar and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until evaporated (about 10 minutes). Season the onions with salt and pepper.
- Spread the mashed sweet potatoes over the pizza crust then top with mozzarella, onions and prosciutto.
- Slide pizza onto top oven rack (or pizza stone) and bake until bubbling and golden in spots (about 10 minutes. Slice and serve.
Balsamic onions are a great topping for most dishes, but they really send this pizza over the top.
If you aren’t into sweet potatoes, I’m confident you could use tomato sauce and the pizza would still turn out great.
Tags: Pizza, Recipe, Sweet Potato
Po' Boy Livin' Rich 