Chicken Cutlet and Summer Salad

I know, I know! Where have I been, right? This was my third summer at grad school. I go for 5 weeks and I live there. I have to eat dining hall unhealthy food and I miss my kitchen terribly. This year I had planned to try and cook on the weekend and bring my food for the week. I tried the first two weeks and it went ok, but then the workload started to take it's toll and I ended up not cooking. Last night was my first night back in the kitchen and it really felt great! I especially missed blogging and a whole month off was too much. Last night I just used up some old ground turkey and summer squash in a little pasta dish. Tonight I thought I'd really get back into it!

This recipe was adapted off the site thekitchn.com. I really want to thank all the blogs I read honestly because my Google reader was a familiar friend when I decided I needed a break. Even though I ate a TON of salad in the dining hall (one of the only things that didn't seem frozen, uberpreserved etc.), I felt compelled to make this.
What is this? A post the other week on CH was a guess the kitchen gadget. I don't normally like a lot of gadgets but I normally really like this one. I have a lot of trouble cutting the kernels off an ear of corn and this really helps. Today I somehow cut myself but honestly this isn't typical. Like Alton Brown and his aversion to unitaskers, I'm a big proponent of multitaskers in the kitchen.

Chicken Cutlet and Summer Salad (adapted from thekitchn)

6 oz. chicken breast cutlets (thin)
2 heaping tbsp all purpose flour
3 heaping tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
1 egg beaten with a tad of water
canola oil, for frying

1 small head butter lettuce
2 cups fingerling potatoes
1 cup cherry tomatoes, slice in half
1 very small onion (ping pong ball sized), chopped
2 ears of corn, kernels cut off cob
2 oz. ricotta salata, crumbled

1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1. Bring a small pot of water to boil.

2. Add the fingerling potatoes to the pot and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until one can be sliced in half easily. About a min before potatoes are done, add corn.
   

3. Remove the potatoes from the pot with a slotted spoon and put on ice to cool. Remove, pat dry, and slice into 1/4-inch rounds.

4. Toss potatoes, corn, lettuce, onion and tomatoes together and set aside.

5. Dredge chicken in flour, egg and breadcrumbs in that order. Heat oil in frying pan over medium high heat. Fry chicken on each side and set aside.

6. Mix vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, honey and olive oil together using a whisk until emulsified. Salt and pepper to taste.

7. Toss dressing, ricotta salata and lettuce mixture together. Top with chicken cutlet.
   

Grilled Shrimp and Chopped Vegetable Salad

Sadly, the weather and timing of this dinner didn't agree with the plan of grilling but we were able to salvage the food and create something tasty anyway. Ideally, you would grill everything. I attempted to roast the vegetables and used the grill pan for the shrimp.

Now that it's been days since I cooked this, I forget the majority of what I cooked. Basically roast some bell peppers (I like red and yellow better than green but whatever) with red onion, garlic and olive oil. Season with salt. Toss with salad greens and grilled shrimp. Before I grilled the shrimp, I tossed them with a tad of olive oil and cajun seasoning. Enjoy!

Grilled Lemongrass Pork Salad

This recipe reminds me of some of the food from the Vietnamese restaurant we went to in Philadelphia. I am in search of an edible fish sauce for home use. If anyone has any recommendations I'm highly interested. The one I can find at my grocery store is Taste of Thai and I really dislike it. I add a tiny bit when it is called for but I would really like to be able to cook Asian food that I enjoy out at home with a good fish sauce.

Not to bad mouth my grocery store, but I'm also really fed up with the sporadic nature of stocking the shelves that they have. It seems that every week there are one or two ingredients, that every single other time that I go to the store, they are in stock, but the one week that I decide to use them for a recipe they're not on the shelf. This week it was bean sprouts. I bought a can instead but they smelled so bad even after rinsing and drying etc. that I couldn't use them for dinner.

Grilled Lemongrass Pork Salad (adapted from Seasaltwithfood)

10 oz. pork loin, sliced thinly
3 stalks lemongrass, sliced and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp peanut oil
1 pinch kosher salt
1 cucumber, julienned
rice vermicelli, cooked
red leaf lettuce, shredded
½ cup peanuts
1/2 red pepper, julienned
mint leaves, chiffonade
basil, chiffonade

1. Marinade the pork for about 3 hours in the next nine ingredients (through salt).
2. Preheat the broiler or grill to high heat.
   
3. Grill the pork slices until the meat is done and the edges are nicely charred on both sides. Remove the meat from the grill and cut into smaller slices, if desired. Serve immediately with the rest of the salad ingredients.

To make the marinade easier to make, use a mini prep food processor to mince and combine.
I make a sweet sauce for J to add to his. I microwaved: 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp chunky peanut butter, 1 tsp wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, and 1 tbsp hoisin sauce. Then I whisked them together.

Pork Bulgogi

After going to the Korean restaurant in NYC two weekends ago, I decided we needed to try making some of out own Korean food and trying new things. I'm not a huge Martha Stewart fan and I'm not sure how authentic this recipe is but we tried it just the same. I would make this again in a heartbeat. I think this would be easy to do with other types of meat as well. We enjoy the very lean pork but chicken and beef should also be decent. This also gave me the opportunity to use my wok (always a plus!). As usual J wanted some rice or noodles to accompany his pork. This is a little spicy but you can definitely decrease the amount of red pepper flakes for the more sensitive palate.

Pork Bulgogi (adapted from Martha Stewart)
Serves 2

4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp ginger, freshly grated
1/4 tsp ground pepper
6 oz pork loin, very thinly sliced crosswise (pounded to equal thinness if necessary)
1/2 large sweet onion, cut into wedges
1 tablespoon corn oil
sesame seeds
Boston Bibb lettuce, 6-8 whole leaves

1. In a medium bowl, combine garlic cloves, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, crushed red pepper, ginger, and ground pepper.
2. Add pork and onion wedges; marinate 10-30 minutes.
3. In a wok, heat oil over high heat. Brown pork and onion, 5 to 10 minutes. Add sesame seeds, if desired.
4. Wrap mixture in lettuce leaves, taco style, to eat.
   

Chicken Panini with Figs

Back when I was making the fig stuffed pork tenderloin, I bought some figs. Later I made a fig paste to put on some pizza. My grocery didn't carry fig jam or preserves and I am continuing to use the dried fig paste from the same fig for other things. Last week my parents came to visit (and I forgot to photograph all the food I had made but I will make the fig and blue cheese appetizers again for J's birthday on Friday. I put half a tsp or so of blue cheese and the same amount of fig paste in little phyllo cups and toasted them. When I saw this recipe in my file, I thought it would be a nice way to use up some of the chicken in the freezer and these figs. Thanks again, Cooking Light!

Chicken Panini with Figs (adapted from Cooking Light)
Serves 2

1/8 cup fig paste (re-hydrated dried figs, chopped in food processor)
1 (small) ciabatta loaf, cut lengthwise
1/8 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 cooked, boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup mesclun
1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1. Spread jam over cut side of top half of bread. Combine cheese and butter in a bowl, stirring until smooth. Spread cheese mixture over cut side of bottom half of bread. Arrange chicken evenly over cheese mixture; sprinkle with pepper. Place top half of bread, jam side down, over chicken.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, and add sandwich to pan. Place a heavy cast-iron skillet on sandwich; cook 5 minutes or until both sides are browned, turning once. You can also use a panini press.
   
3. Place arugula in a bowl. Drizzle juice over arugula; toss gently. Remove top bread half from sandwich. Arrange arugula mixture over chicken. Replace top bread half. Cut sandwich into 2 equal portions.

Shredded Romaine Salad

Recently my friends and I have been talking about decreasing the amount of meat in our diets. I have been taking various steps at our house; being sure to package meat in single servings, only making enough to eat 2 servings or packaging extra servings immediately for later consumption, making meatless meals whenever possible. We watched Food Inc. at the local independent theatre and I starting looking into flexitarian living. My aunt and my sister are vegetarians but I don't think I'll ever have enough of a commitment to really go all the way and become a vegetarian. J would NEVER get on board with that one and I don't think I could give up some of my favorite foods. For me vegan is out of the question. Cheese is way too important. Anyway, I started looking into flexitarian cookbooks to nudge us in the right direction. While I haven't quite made any of the entree recipes my new book did give me some lunch ideas and made me a little less annoyed with my salad making attempts. After reading many reviews on cookbooks, for Christmas, I requested The Healthy Hedonist by Myra Kornfeld. So far I've made two salads which have both been very good. I've had to make some substitutions based on availability at the grocery store but the Baby Greens with Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette and Warm Goat Cheese Medallions was very good and so was the Shredded Romaine Salad with Dill and Scallions. As a change of pace for the side dish with those turkey meatballs (J insists upon each week) I made the salad.

Shredded Romaine Salad (adapted from The Healthy Hedonist)

1 small head romaine lettuce, shredded
1-2 tsp dried dill weed
1/2 bunch sliced scallions
salt and pepper
1 minced garlic clove
juice from 1/2 a lemon
2-3 tbsp olive oil
pomegranate seeds (from approximately 1/2 a pomegranate)
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1. Mix the lettuce, dill, scallions, and salt in pepper.
2. To make the dressing, whisk the garlic, lemon, and oil and toss with greens.
   
3. Garnish with fruit and cheese.
   

Asian Summer Rolls

I've been to many different types of restaurants that serve some version of this cold dish. Whether it be Vietnamese, Thai, or Asian fusion, the summer roll, or fresh spring roll is a light refreshing (normally) appetizer that leaves you wanting more food but not feeling so full that you wonder why you ordered an entree. J is a huge fan of these and tends to order them whenever possible; so when I discovered that our grocery store was now carrying rice paper wrappers (sometimes called spring roll wrappers), I knew I just had to try these out for ourselves.

I was a little nervous about these at first. Anytime you are working with a new ingredient, especially one that seems so delicate it can daunting. This was surprisingly easy. The prep work took a little but of time but the actual wrapping was fairly fast. I think the next time would be much faster because I'm used to it. You should definitely prep everything before you try to start preparing these.

Asian Summer Rolls

8 rice paper wrappers
32 small shrimp, peeled, deveined and cooked
1 1/2 cups rice vermicelli, cooked for cold noodle preparation according to package
1-2 cups red leaf lettuce, julienned
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
4 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp peanut butter (any variety)
1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp ginger
1/2 cup warm water (to taste)

1. Combine first 6 ingredients of dipping sauce. While mixing with a whisk, gradually add warm water until sauce reaches desired consistency/taste. Set aside.
   
2. In a large pie plate soak rice paper wrappers (do each one right before you fill and wrap it, not all at the same time) according to instructions on the box. My package suggested hot water for 15-20 seconds. As the water cooled it took a little longer to softened. I even had to microwave my water once to keep it warm. Be sure you are using a microwavable container (my pie plate was Pyrex).
3. Lay wrapper on a very clean tea towel to dry excess moisture and begin filling.
   
4. Place 4 shrimp in a row in the center of the wrapper.
5. Top with 1/8 of the noodles. Then add one 1/8 of the mint and cilantro, then 1/8 of the lettuce.
6. To wrap, fold the top fairly tightly over the filling (do not tear). Fold each of the sides in tightly and then making sure there isn't too much air inside, fold the bottom up over it all. The roll should be firm not floppy.
7. Repeat for remaining 7 wrappers.
8. Serve with dipping sauce, makes 8 rolls.

I calculated these summer rolls at 2 WW points apiece. I did not calculate for the sauce. We at a few as a main course for something nice and light.

The Biggest Loser Recipe Makeover #2: Chicken Caesar Salad

Bottled salad dressings are full of sugar, preservatives and fat. They also don't usually taste very good. I was trying to find a way to make something very light that still tastes flavorful and I stumbled upon several recipes on Cooking Light. This Creamy Caesar Dressing and Herb Croutons were just the thing to spice up boring romaine lettuce and chicken. While I try to eat as healthily as I can sometimes price and convenience override some of my choices. I always knew that the half a chicken breast that come in the family packs are way too large to be one serving. Instead of freezing 2 breast halves, I have been trimming, cutting and pounding my boneless skinless chicken breasts into paillards. Then I label each pack with the number of ounces of chicken so I know exactly how many WW points we are eating.

Chicken Caesar Salad (with recipes adapted from Cooking Light: croutons and dressing)
Serves 2

Chicken:
2 4 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning

4 cups romaine lettuce torn or cut into pieces
1 tbsp finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Herb Croutons:
1 cup Italian bread, cubed
olive oil cooking spray
Italian seasoning, to taste
salt and pepper

Dressing:
1/3 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt (can also use regular variety)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp anchovy paste
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 small garlic cloves, minced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spay bread cubes with cooking spray and toss with seasoning. Toast in oven 10 minutes or until golden brown. Set croutons aside for salad.
   
2. While the croutons bake combine ingredients for salad dressing and whisk well. This make 1/4 cup of dressing and you only need 1-2 tbsp per person. You can refrigerate what you don't use for 4 days or so.
   
3. Rub chicken on both sides with Cajun seasoning. Broil under high heat approx. 4 min each side or until done (depends on thickness of chicken). Cut into pieces for salad.
4. Combine lettuce and dressing, add chicken and croutons. Top with a sprinkle of cheese.

The guilt free full taste Caesar salad was very tasty, quick and easy.

A Trio of Vegetarian Dips and the Labor Line-up

This year as I have for the last 2 years since I bought my house, I hosted a Labor Day get together. It's always a challenge to decide on a menu and I wanted to try something a little healthier this year. After many suggestions, including roasting a pig on a spit Hawaiian style (rather ambitious for us however), I finally decided on a spread with some Mediterranean flare.


Moroccan Carrot Dip- I omitted the olives in this one.
Cucumber Dip (see recipe below)
Hummus en Fuego- I omitted the olives in this one and used 2 cans of beans.
Panzanella (containing homemade croutons, tomatoes, basil, red onion, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and balsamic vinegar)
Ratatouille
Hot Melon Salad-I changed the quantities and used 3 types of melon (honeydew, watermelon, and cantaloupe)
Caesar Pasta Salad (see recipe below)
Grilled Chicken
Hot Italian Turkey Sausage
Make-Your-Own Ice Cream Sundae

Sadly I completely forgot to photos of any of the rest of the food. The ratatouille and the carrot dip were the favorites. The pasta salad was extremely popular as well. The panzanella was a little stale by the time I served it and I slightly overcooked the melon so it was runnier than I thought it would be. The hummus was better after 2 days but the cucumber dip was tasty. The rest was just a little mundane in general so there isn't much to talk about. All in all it was a great party with good company. I only wish I had remembered the photos.

Cucumber Dip (from Doris)
16 oz. softened cream cheese (I used low fat)
1 large cucumber grated and drained
Seasonings to taste (paprika, pepper, garlic powder, salt, onion powder or whatever you like)

Mix well. Whipping is ideal but not essential.

Caesar Pasta Salad
1/2 cup low far mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup low fat milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium head romaine lettuce, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 box pasta twists or penne, cooked according to directions and cooled
fresh ground pepper

1. Combine first 5 ingredients.
2. Add lettuce and pasta and toss to coat. Season with pepper.