One-pan Herb Chicken and Veggies

 Got this recipe off of Instagram - @cleaneatguide, and they got it from Alix Traeger and Tasty

Ingredients (for 6 servings):

-Olive oil

~3 cloves garlic (I used more)

~2 Tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped

~2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

~2 Tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped

-1 package of chicken tenders (1.75 lbs)

-1/2 lemon (I added)

-1 bag of mini-potatoes (1 lb)

-1 bag brussel sprouts (1 lb)

-1 red onion, chopped

-1 green bell pepper

-1 red bell pepper

-1 package of turkey bacon, nitrite free - didn't use

-avocado, cubed

-salt

-pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 400 F

2. Chop thyme, rosemary, sage; cuisinart garlic.

3. Add 1/2 herbs, lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil to chicken and marinate in fridge

4. Chop veggies - brussel sprouts, onion, bell pepper, potatoes

5. Mix veggies and potatoes with olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, 1/2 herbs

6. Spread veggies and potatoes on pan lined with parchment paper

7.  Add chicken on top

8.  Sprinkle bacon on top

9. Cook in oven 25-30 min

10.  Add avocado

Notes: I didn't add bell pepper when I cooked, but Eric said it needed it.  I just estimated the herbs when I cut from the garden - was a bit too herb-y.  Should estimate less next time.  Also, I added lemon on my own, not sure if it did need or did not need it.  Easy enough recipe, though.

UPDATE: Cooked again and not as good.  I didn't use bacon this time.  Mainly because the potatoes and brussel sprouts were raw.  Maybe cook the veggies first for 15 min, then add chicken on top and cook for another 15-20?

*American

Spicy Watermelon Jalapeno Margaritas

Recipe from Skinnytaste.  
Eric didn't really like it - well, he doesn't like spicy drinks, so will likely not make again, but I thought it was pretty good.  

Notes - Eric liked it better when I strained the watermelon through strainer, too.  A lot of waste of pulp though.

Ingredients:

-4 cups of cubed seedless watermelon

-1 TBSP sugar (optional)

-4 jalapenos, with seeds and membranes, roughly chopped

-2 limes, juiced

-8 oz clear tequila (2 oz per drink)

Directions:

1. Place watermelon (and sugar) in a blender and process until smooth.  Keep chilled in pitcher in fridge.

2. Place jalapenos in blender with 2/3 cup of water and puree until smooth.  Strain through a mesh sieve.  Add lime juice and keep chilled

3. When ready to serve, fill a tall glass to top with ice, pour 2 oz tequila in each tall glass, then add water melon juice filling 3/4 of the way, about 1/2 cup, then top with jalapeno juice.

*drinks

Gordon Ramsay's Malaysian Chicken Curry

Recipe taken from food.com

--For red chiles, I used 3 garden salsa chilis from the garden and 1 serrano.  I got scared and took out seeds from a few, but because I'm cooking them, it wasn't hot enough! So next time, keep the seeds.

--First time using the lemongrass from the garden, but I wasn't sure on how to harvest and likely didn't take enough. To harvest, I had to slice them lengthwise to find the soft part and discard the tough parts and any tough outer layers.

--could try using diced chicken breast instead of chicken thighs next time

--I suggested using cubed bell peppers and onions instead of green beans, but Eric and Jasmine said they liked it the way it was cooked

--Didn't see where I used the turmeric again in the recipe

--I had to buy the shallots and kaffir lime leaves from Tim's Oriental Market

Ingredients for curry paste:

-5 garlic cloves

-4 to 5 long red chilies (don't take out the seeds)

-2 lemongrass

-5 cm piece fresh ginger root

-4 shallots

-1 tsp ground turmeric

-2 Tbsp oil (used avocado)

Ingredients for curry dish:

-Chicken thighs (1.5-2 lbs) cubed--> try chicken breasts next time

-1 Tbsp oil

-1 tsp ground turmeric

-2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced

-4 kaffir lime leaves

-1 cinnamon stick

-3 star anise

-1 can of light coconut milk

-100 mL chicken stock

-1 tsp palm sugar (or soft brown sugar) - I actually used dark brown sugar all I had

-2 Tbsp light soy sauce

-2 Tbsp fish sauce

-green beans (800 g in recipe - I used about 1.5 lbs

-salt and pepper

-cilantro for garnish

-avocado for garnish

Directions:

1. Cut chicken, and salt/pepper - set aside

2. Cut onions and green beans - set aside

3. Combine chicken stock (to 100 ml), coconut milk, sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce - set liquid aside

4. Set aside dries: lime leaves, cinnamon stick, star anise

5. Make curry paste - Combine garlic, chillies, lemongrass, ginger, shallots in Cuisinart

6. Heat oil in large pan with med heat --> add curry past + 1 tsp ground turmeric

7. Add onions and stir for 5 min

8. Add chicken in pan and stir to coat

9.  Add liquids and dries and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook gently for half and hour to an hour until chicken tender (about 30 min fine - cooked rice and washed dishes during this time)

10.  Skim off any excess oil on the surface (wasn't much)

11.  Add beans and cover for another few min until beans tender (Eric likes his beans crunchy)

12. Serve with cilantro, avocado, and jasmine rice.

*Asian, Malaysian, Thai

Party salsa

 I've been using this salsa recipe for 15 years (yikes), so don't remember where I got it from.

Ingredients
-1 can of Ro-tel original, 10 oz

-1 can of diced tomatoes, 14 oz

-1/2 small onion (white)

-1 jalapeno with seeds (have been using serranos lately to make it spicier)

-1 lime

-1 clove of garlic

-handful of cilantro

-1 tsp honey

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp cumin

Directions:

Blend everything together.  Add more salt or honey to taste.

*snacks

*Mexican

Homemade dog food

I need to do more research and joined a facebook group on this, but trying out homemade dog food.  Still using half kibble and half homemade for now = 1 scoop (half cup) of kibble + homemade food twice a day.  Will adjust as needed.

Using large muffin silicon pan - two 12 cup and works great.

Dog food notes:

Luna weights ~47 lbs

Total dog food per day: 2% of weight = 0.94 lbs of food per day = 15 oz

Total meat per day: 62.5% of food = 9.375 oz

Rest of food per day: 5.625 oz

Liver: 10% of diet ~1.44 oz per day --> 5% of diet!

Brown rice (?cooked): 1/4 cup per day ~1.4 oz per day

Frozen veggies: 3 oz per day

Ground egg shell: 1/4 tsp per 1 lb meat

Supplement - 3 tsp per day

Ingredients for 1 week of food:

1 lb ground meat (90% lean or higher)

8 oz liver (half of a container)

1 lb bag of frozen peas and carrots (microwaved and pureed)

1/4 tsp ground egg shell

9.8 oz cooked brown rice

Directions:

1. Pre-make rice

2. Microwave peas/carrots and puree

3. Cook liver - divide in half - freeze other half

4. Cook ground meat

5. Add eggshells and mix together

6. Divide into bowls for the week

Other foods to use:

-scrambled eggs

-pumpkin puree

-sweet potato

Brown Butter Sage Chicken

Made this last week, and it didn't taste sage-y enough :( I probably did it wrong. Maybe I didn't "brown" the butter long enough with the sage, so maybe turn the heat down lower next time because I thought it would burn. The sage leaves were crispy here, so take them out before adding the broth as the broth makes them soggy.  Add the crispy sage leaves back in next time?

Recipe taken from Nourish and Fete

Ingredients:

-4 boneless, skinless thin chicken breasts - used 3 instead and pounded with roller - was half inch thick, but should be thinner I think.

-salt and ground black pepper

-1/3 cup all purpose flour (estimated)

-6 Tbsp unsalted butter - divided

-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

-1/3 cup fresh sage leaves

-1/2 lemon juice

-1/2 cup white wine or low sodium chicken broth (used broth)

Directions:

1. Season both side of chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  P

2. Flour chicken on both sides and shake off excess flour. 

3. Add 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp olive oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat.  When butter melts, add chicken and saute for 2- 3min per side, until cooked through and lightly golden.  Remove chicken to a plate, cover with foil, and set aside.

4. Add remaining 4 Tbsp butter to skillet.  When butter melted, add sage leaves.  Allow butter to brown and bubble, about 2-3 min, until it begins to give off a warm, nutty aroma  Remove sage to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving butter in skillet. (I DIDN'T TAKE OUT THE SAGE AT THIS STEP, BUT NEXT TIME DO IT)

5. Add lemon juice and wine/broth to skillet  Simmer mixture for 2-3 min, scraping any browned bits from bottom of pan.  Taste sauce and adjust with more salt/pepper.  (I TOOK OUT THE SAGE HERE AND SAGE SOGGY)

6. When sauce is slightly thickened, return chicken to skillet to warm through.

I served with 2 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, and 1 bunch of asparagus.  I forgot a yellow onion.  I poured the leftover sauce in with the veggies, and this was pretty good. Just the chicken wasn't flavored enough.  Also served with mini potatoes.

*American

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

Recipe modified from Skinnytaste.  It was pretty good, but the chicken breasts I bought were huge and almost 2 lbs of meat, so it was a lot for 6 servings.  I seasoned the chicken breasts with salt, but the canned sauces had salt, sooo too much salt.  It was also cool because I used the slow cooker bags and because I was at my parents and couldn't cook right away, I had Eric put the bag in the slow cooker as it was being held by the big red bowl in the fridge.  He just added the chicken broth and bay leaves.  Also, wasn't so much of a soup, more "soupy" which Eric liked better.  Eric said it was a 5 and he would eat again :)

Ingredients:

-16 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I had closer to 32 oz, oh well)

-kosher salt (didn't need)

-fresh black pepper

-1 tsp olive oil

-1 chopped onion (I used 1/2 onion to cook and 1/2 fresh diced onion on top)

-3 cloves garlic (used like 6)

-1 jalapeno, sliced

-4 cups of reduced sodium chicken broth (the whole box)

-8 oz can tomato sauce (could look for reduced sodium, but didn't see)

-1/2 Tbsp chipotle chile in adobo, chopped (used the whole 3.5 oz can)

-1 tsp dried oregano

-1/4 tsp cumin

-2 bay leaves

-1/4 cup chopped cilantro

-2 zucchini, chopped instead of spiralized

-1 red bell pepper, chopped

-consider adding garbanzo beans next time - YES, ADD GARBANZO BEANS YUM

-queso fresco - didn't use because it expired

-avocado

Directions:

1. Chop veggies - zucchini, red bell pepper, onion (divided), jalapeno - and set aside

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper and place in slow cooker - a LITTLE bit of salt.

2. Sauté garlic, half the onion, and jalapeno 3 min

3. Transfer to slow cooker with chicken broth, tomato sauce, chipotle, cumin, oregano, half cilantro, and bay leaves

4. Cover and cook on LOW 4-6 hrs

5. Shred chicken with 2 forks

6. Add in rest of veggies

7. Cook on high until zucchini is tender crisp, about 5 min

Served with some rice, avocado, and fresh cilantro. Eric made homemade tostadas.  A lot of food given 2 lbs of chicken.

*Mexican