Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken & Roasted Brussels Sprouts

It's been a long time since my last update.  I was feeling motivated tonight and put together a dinner that I was pretty proud of and I figured that I'd write about it.  One of my goals this year was to write more, so I think that getting back into blogging might fulfill that!

I've been such a Pinterest fiend lately.  I pinned this recipe a while back and finally got around to making it tonight.

After you make the chicken and brown sugar mixture, pour it over the chicken.  I used a baster to paint it on:

Once the chicken is in the oven, begin your prep for the brussels sprouts.  I used the same pan that I used for the brown sugar garlic mixture.  Chop 2 shallots and toss them in the pan to saute.

Add a dash of Champagne vinegar and a dash of lemon juice.  When the shallots are browned, mix them with the chopped brussels sprouts and put in a baking dish.  I also added some more olive oil and spices.  Put in a preheated oven (I had the chicken on 450, so I did the same for the Brussels Sprouts and let everything cook at the same time.  I left both pans in the oven for about 40 minutes.

Kale Chips

I've heard of this recipe before, and found several versions of it online.  I decided to try it tonight as a side dish.

I took small pieces of kale out of a big bag of kale, and spread them on a cookie sheet.  I drizzled olive oil over them, and topped with sea salt.

Bake at 300 for 15-20 or until crispy.

Oven Roasted Broccolini with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

I've never used broccolini before and I was eager to try it out.  Here's my first attempt at using it as a side dish:

1 pkg broccolini
1/2 cup Sun Dried tomato pesto.  (I pulsed mine in the food processor with about a tsp of olive oil for about a minute to smooth the sauce a bit)
Pour sauce over broccolini and put in fridge until ready to use

Preheat oven to 375.

Put broccolini and sauce on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and seasonings of your choice. I used Dean & Jacobs Spicy Garlic
Bake for 15-20 minutes

Chicken Korma

Yesterday afternoon, a few of the girls from high school and I decided to get together and make a delicious curry for lunch.

 We used this recipe for Chicken Korma as a guide, and tweaked it as we went along.

We started by heating coconut milk in a saucepan with 3 cinnamon sticks, 3 pieces of Star Anise, a few shakes of Cardamom, and a few shakes of curry powder.  Really, you can use whatever spices you want.  Cayenne, Coriander, Turmeric, Cumin.... the possibilities are endless!  Also, most Korma recipes tell you to cook it in the oven, but we found that cooking it on the stove was easier.  After that mixture thoroughly heated, we added almonds and golden raisins.

While that was heating, we heated coconut oil and added cut up onions, peppers and eggplant.

 When it was heated, we put the veggies aside and cooked the in the pan.  When everything was heated, we mixed it all together.

Roasted Beets

Wrap beets (skin on) in tinfoil with some olive oil and sea salt
Roast at 375 for 1 hour

When they come out of the oven, peel off the skin.  Cut into pieces or serve as is.

I didn't think I liked beets, but cooking them this way makes them taste pretty yummy!

Another Variation on Roasted Asparagus

A few weeks back, I posted about my favorite cooking method for Asparagus.  I like to oven roast it.  Tonight,  I thought I'd try it with some different flavor enhancements.  Instead of olive oil, I used a lemon orange cooking oil.  For the spices, I used a Dean and Jacob's grinder.  I have quite a few of them in my spice cabinet.  The Royal Thai flavor is excellent!  Beyond that, the cooking method is the same.

Balsamic Butter Vegetables

This recipe was inspired by the bagged version of Balsamic Veggies from Trader Joe's.  My version didn't quite live up to the expectations that TJ's set, but I'll keep trying to perfect the flavor.  If anyone has any ideas (besides the obvious "just buy theirs") let me know!

traderjoes365.blogspot.com

1/2 bag of frozen mixed veggies (or you could use fresh ones)
1 tbsp. butter
splash balsamic vinegar
spices (I like Tuscan Kitchen's Pasta & Veggies)

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan.
2. Add the veggies
3. sprinkle in the spices
4. add the vinegar
5. cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes

Green Beans Almondine

16 oz green beans (I prefer the fresh ones as opposed to the canned)
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp lemon juice
dash salt

1. Cook green beans until tender
2. toast almonds in melted butter
3. stir in lemon juice and salt
4. add mixture to green beans and toss to combine

seriouseats.com

Roasted Asparagus

When cooking vegetables, I prefer to cook them in the oven, rather than boil them.  I don't know why, but they just taste better that way.

Rinse the asparagus, and snap off the ends.
Place them on a single layer on a baking pan, and pour some olive oil over them
season with a grinder seasoning blend  (I like Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning)

Cook in the oven preheated to 450 for about 10 minutes, or until the ends are crispy. (I like to add some fresh lime juice at this stage)

Voila!  A tasty (and veggie-ful!) side dish.  (That's creamy chicken piccata pasta toss in the background.  I'll post about that soon)

Caitlyn's Awesome Butternut Squash Soup

Here's another soup recipe.  I can't take the credit for this one, as it's adapted from a recipe that I got from my friend Caitlyn.  I served this for Thanksgiving last year, in place of the usual mashed squash.

Here's what you'll need:

1 butternut squash cut into 1/2 inch cubes, no skin
water
butter (I used butter, but Caitlyn's recipe called for vegan margarine.  Use whichever you prefer)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped
lots of spices
salt

1. Saute garlic and onions in a generous amount of butter
2. add more butter or water as needed until the base of the soup is brown
3. measure out the cut up squash and add the same volume of water to boil.  Add both to the sauteed onions and garlic
4. When you can stick the squash with a fork (like making mashed potatoes from scratch), blend your soup until smooth.  Immersion blenders work great!
5. add your spices!  Suggestions: cinnamon, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, coriander, chili powder)
6. You can also add a tiny bit of cream, but since this soup is naturally very creamy, you may choose to leave it out)

Substituions/addtions/suggestions: pumpkin, apples, potatoes