Basil & Goat Cheese Chicken

Goodbye summer hours and casual dress code. Hello little kids running around and lots of work. I couldn’t be happier. This also means a lot less time to putz around on the internet looking for a dinner recipe, so I turned to an oldie goldie…

When Evan moved to DC and I was still a senior in college, he would come back to Chapel Hill to visit about once a month. Anxiety would always start creeping up inside me after lunch on Sunday, knowing he would have to leave soon to drive back. So we came up with a plan (really, an excuse) for him to stay a tiny bit longer. We would cook Sunday Night Dinner. I kid you not, I hardly ever cooked before these dinners. Yes, I watched Food Network, but living in a house of four girls with minimal refrigerator real estate, I didn’t go there. So we were breaking new ground. And the first recipe I made us was Ina’s Herbed Goat Cheese Chicken.

Basil & Goat Cheese Chicken

2 chicken breasts, bone-in, skin on
4 ounces goat cheese
4 basil leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Place chicken breasts in baking dish, and loosen skin from meat with your fingers. Place slices of goat cheese with basil leaves under the skin, then rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 40 minutes, until cooked through and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dough Balls

One point for Mama Pea! These cookies out of her cookbook are fabulous. They feel almost sinful, as if you’re eating the dough before it’s been baked…but it has been baked!

Earlier in the day, I went on a SPREE at Target. With the impending storm Irene heading our way, it was necessary to stock up on bottled water, nonperishable foods, new sweaters and sunglasses. Because you never know…

Oddly enough, it seems that when threat of a natural disaster strikes, people head straight for the chocolate chips. There were no regular semi-sweet chocolate chips left! Nor were there regular peanut butter chips. So I settled for the peanut butter and milk chocolate chip mix. So that’s what I was working with for these cookies, but no harm no foul because they’re deadly delicious.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dough Balls
(Adapted from Peas and Thank You cookbook)

1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup peanut butter and milk chocolate chips
+ handful of dark chocolate chips

Beat first five ingredients together in a mixer until fluffy. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then slowly pour dry mixture into wet while mixing. Stir in chocolate chips, then chill dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 and form small balls with spoon or hands onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, and let cool on rack.

Pistachio Crusted Salmon

I always say, “if I could get a lifetime gift card to one place, it would be Whole Foods”. I actually say that, and I mean it. Tonight, Whole Foods saved the day again. The fish counter always has my back. They’re beauties.

Lay the filets on a foiled baking sheet and bake at 350 for around 15 minutes. Easy as pie! *Assuming pie is easy. Next to the salmon, we had a baked sweet potato with a little butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, and sautéed broccoli and spinach in lemon and garlic.

(Not pictured due to my impatience and hunger in that moment)

Exciting updates: I survived the earthquake. It was close. Actual pieces of the National Cathedral broke off. The humanity!

The bigger news is that Quin and I are trying out the WSJ Wine Discovery Club.

Every few months they ship you 12 bottles of hand selected wines (we chose the mix of whites and reds) with tasting notes. Our goal is to make a meal that will compliment each bottle. A tasty, educational little project.

P.S. Thank you to Grandma, who got me Everyday with Rachel Ray magazine for my birthday. But I just got my October 2011 issue, and it’s not even September yet…pump the brakes, Rachel.

P.P.S. I got the Pea book!! And it’s signed! “To China Pea” Mama Pea is one of my fav bloggers – she cracks me up. Glad I’m officially supporting her!

My mom’s really good at surprising me with gifts in the mail.

Broccoli Chicken Pasta Bake

How to avoid going to the grocery store? Listing the ingredients you and your roommate have via text during work to put the pieces of the dinner puzzle together. Frozen broccoli, chicken breast, marinara…bake it! It was quite good. It may not look like a whole lot, but we both couldn't stop eating it...so, believe it.

And this weather right now? Someone up there was listening to me when I prayed for cooler weather. Highs in the low 80’s, wahoo!

Broccoli Chicken Pasta Bake

1 chicken breast
1/2 pound small pasta
1/2 eggplant
1 cup frozen broccoli
1+ cup of fontina cheese, grated
1 1/2 to 2 cups marinara sauce
bread crumbs
parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Cook chicken and eggplant, boil pasta and thaw broccoli. Dice chicken, and cut egg plant and broccoli into bite size pieces. Combine ingredients in a large bowl with fontina cheese and marinara sauce. Spread into 8 x 8 baking dish and top with bread crumbs and parmesan. Bake for 15 minutes.

Shrimp and Grits

Hooray! Evan is back from traveling all week and I am finally cooking again. I know that’s a lame excuse but I just can’t get motivated to cook for one. Forgive me for not posting for a week. My dinners consisted of frozen Trader Joe’s pizza and other frozen TJ meals. Don’t judge. So finally, I cracked open the pantry and head to the grocery store to load up for my shrimp and grits recipe.

If a restaurant has shrimp and grits on the menu, there’s a 7 out of 10 chance that I’ll probably order it. It’s comforting and flavorful and cheesy… oh my god… I forgot to add the cheese. I knew there was something missing!

But I digress…

The recipe for shrimp and grits (with cheese!)

Shrimp and Grits

1 cup stone-ground grits (I used yellow corn grits)
3 Tb. butter
2 cups shredded fontina cheese
Cayenne pepper

1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ lb. bacon, chopped
½ lemon, juiced
2-3 Tb. chopped parsley
1 small bunch chopped green onions (3/4 cup)
1 large garlic clove, minced
Salt and Pepper

In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add grits, ¾ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper. Whisk well to avoid clumping. Reduce heat to lowest setting and cook until water is absorbed, 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter, cheese and 2-3 dashes of cayenne pepper. Cover until ready to serve.

Fry the bacon over medium-high heat in a large skillet. When crisp, remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.

Add shrimp and another dash of cayenne pepper to the bacon grease and sauté until pink—about 3 minutes. Immediately add onions, garlic, parsley and lemon juice. Toss and remove from the heat.

No need to salt the shrimp, since it’s going into bacon grease.

Divide grits onto plates and top with the shrimp mixture and bacon.

Tortellini Salad + Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

I can’t believe it’s already my last night in Portland. I thought I just made that annoying trip across the country? When my mom and I were at a loss for things to do this afternoon, I suggested the old stand-by: happy hour. That hour happened to be 4pm.

Did I mention we opened the place? We tried to kill time by driving around Mount Tabor (a volcano) that’s right up the street. The bar was fittingly called Caldera Public House, tying in the volcano theme.

I applaud them for their creative drink menu: Marionberry Drop and Tamarind Fizz.

We got crackin’ on the tortellini salad and strawberry rhubarb crisp when we got home. Cooking dinner is infinitely more efficient when you have a sous chef to divide and conquer.

Mom diced the veggies and baked the chicken for the colorful tortellini salad, adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod.

Tortellini Salad

10 ounce package cheese tortellini
1 chicken breast, cooked and diced*
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/2 cup chopped basil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup balsamic dressing (simple balsamic vinaigrette or bottled)
salt and pepper

Prep vegetables and chicken while pasta is cooking. Combine all ingredients and toss in vinaigrette to coat.

While my mom made dinner, I worked on the crisp.

We popped it in the oven before we sat down to dinner, and it was ready when we finished.

It’s the best when it’s in between piping hot and warm, topped with vanilla ice cream. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks Skinny Taste!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

1 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 pound rhubarb (5-6 stalks), 1 inch slices
juice and zest from half an orange
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon cornstarch (I forgot this and it was fine)

1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, not packed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
pinch of salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Add strawberries and rhubarb to an oven safe baking dish. Add orange, honey and cornstarch to fruit, and mix to coat. Combine all remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Top fruit with oat mixture and bake for 40 minutes, until it’s bubbling. Cool for 10 minutes.

Off the Waffle, Ankeny Vineyard & Wild Abandon

I’ve mentioned my love for my little farmer’s market Belgium waffles. But Off the Waffle in Eugene, OR takes Liège waffles (or Belgium Pearl Sugar Waffles) to a new level. 

On top of this sugary, chewy, dense (awesome!) waffle was avocado, goat cheese, a fried egg, fresh basil and smoked paprika.

Action shot.

My mom ordered the waffle with avocado, tomato, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil. Really outstanding. Sophie chose this gem for us to stop in for lunch, before we dropped her off at her new cute house right next to the U of O campus.

On our way back from Eugene, my mom and I stopped by Ankeny Vineyard to do a little wine tasting.

It was a gorgeous setting with amazing weather.

Their dessert wine literally tasted like alcoholic honey – in a good way. But we both agreed no one ever drinks dessert wines, so we opted for the rosé.

The trip home took a turn for the worse when we hit commuter traffic and went approximately 30 miles in 2 hours. We painstakingly number crunched to figure out that we went 15 miles an hour for 2 hours…ouch. Good thing we didn’t have to make dinner when we got home!

I had two pieces of the garlic bread and the Willamette Dream Salad from Wild Abandon.  The Dream included “prawns'” read: shrimp, with grilled apple, currants, candied pecans and gorgonzola.

Somehow eating and drinking all day has worn me out! It’s time for some book reading in bed.

Orange Sesame Glazed Salmon

Another day spent eating my way through Portland. We don’t usually retrace our steps with restaurants since this city as so many of them, but Mom and I brought John and Sophie back to Meriwether’s to experience the Reuben and finally try the bread pudding we’d been eyeing.

Melted chocolate bread pudding with a burnt sugar banana. I’ll admit it’s an aggressive after lunch treat, but it was moment-of-silence good.

I wasn’t going to mention this. It’s slightly embarrassing. Actually kind of gross, in my case. But I must share with you what a stellar bowler I am.

At first I was discouraged because I only brought one sock. But after I found a local brew at the bowling alley’s bar and started whoopin’ the others butts, things improved. Maybe it helped to only have one sock on.

Don’t worry, I have since sanitized my foot to ward off any staph infections.

Speaking of embarrassing things, I must express the daily embarrassment I face as a food blogger. Not only with family and friends, but taking pictures of your croissant in a crowded bakery forces you to swallow your pride. Telling your family “no touching!” the dessert before you can snap a few pictures isn’t easy.

John captured me in the act at dinner last night. So much for being discrete.

Tonight’s message on my teabag was very appropriate. I should embrace my food blogger identity with pride, so I’m working on my embarrassment - but it’s tough!

Back to tonight’s dinner. We decided on a salmon recipe from one of my new fav blogs: Simply Scratch.

Half of the marinade becomes the salad dressing, which is yummy, salty-sweet.

For a salad, we combined spinach, arugula, cabbage and added bell pepper, carrots and cucumber.

And a side dish of grapefruit, bananas, blueberries with mint and honey.

Orange Sesame Glazed Salmon

3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
Juice and zest from half an orange
Red pepper flakes
4 6-ounce wild caught salmon filets
sesame seeds
olive oil for pan

Whisk together the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Pour half the mixture over the fish filets, and reserve the other half for dressing the salad. Preheat the broiler while the fish marinate. Transfer fish to a foil covered pan and broil for 8-12 minutes. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the fish right before they’re finished cooking to briefly toast the seeds.

Chicken Salad & Veritable Quandary

Meet Stella.

She’s basically the best dog ever. Her breath could be improved, but besides that she’s perfect.

At approximately 11:36 this morning I made my lunch. Luckily I have the excuse of time zone change on my side. Plus, there was leftover chicken salad chilling in the fridge just waiting to be turned into a sandwich.

I had to take advantage of a refrigerator stocked with fruits and veggies, so I loaded those onto my small plate. Haven’t you heard? Small plates = portion control. Though they probably don’t account for my overloading technique.

Lemon Tarragon Chicken Salad

4 cups diced cooked chicken
1 rib minced celery
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a medium bowl, combine chicken, celery, tarragon and almonds. In a small bowl, combine yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add to chicken mixture and toss to coat. Chill.

This also pushed up happy hour on the deck to 4:45.

Thank goodness Sophie and I fit in a yoga + improv-zumba session this morning or I would be feeling pretty darn guilty about my indulgent dinner at Veritable Quandary.

John and I both opted for the salad (ha!) that consisted of a poached egg atop butter lettuce, crispy cornbread, smoked bacon, pickled onions and buttermilk white cheddar dressing. I love eggs in strange places.

Sophie got the ravioli with lemon and fromage blanc, summer vegetables, basil, arugula pesto and toasted hazelnuts.

Mom chose the blackened cod with pineapple, slaw and Yukon gold potatoes. Dinner was great, but the highlight was dessert.

The peanut brittle banana split with Belgium chocolate hot fudge, Chantilly cream and homemade peanut brittle ice cream.

And the peach blackberry crisp with frozen lemon custard. There were threats of licking the plates in public. Serious threats.

When I got home, I immediately put on a pot of tea – not before changing into loose PJs– to help settle my stomach. All symptoms of a fabulous dinner.