Recipe: Chicken & Waffles
A new recipe I think you guys might like. Chicken and Waffles, and as you can see above, it’s in video form and starring Stella! We created the video for a contest being held by one of our favorite stores, Fresh & Easy, thinking it would be fun and give me an excuse to use the new camera (more about that later) for video.
I’m super pleased with how it turned out. Turns out, Fresh & Easy like it too. That contest we entered? We are a finalist with this video. All finalists win something, but we have a shot at the grand prize of $1,000 worth of groceries!
Did you like it? Are you on Facebook? Would be awesome if you gave us a vote! You can do that here. Ours is the entry, bottom right.
A New Salad
I’m a fan of salads as you already know. A good portion of the recipes that I have posted here are salad related after all. What I’m not a big fan of is the same old thing. The salad above is good example of that. Just your old pal Don, thinkin’ outside the box again.
Broccoli and Bacon Salad
Needs
- Broccoli, 1lb, cut into florets
- Zucchini, 1 large, cut into 1″ pieces
- 1/2 large tomato, cut into half wedges
- Radishes, 5, cut into 1/4
- 2 TBLS crumbled bacon or a good handful
- 2 TBLS grated mozzarella cheese or a good handful
- 1/4 cup your favorite vinaigrette
The Steps
Steam your broccoli and zucchini until just tender, about 6 minutes. Immediately submerse into a ice water bath to stop the cooking. Add those to a bowl that has the rest of your ingredients except the dressing. Add the dressing, toss to coat.
Store this in the fridge for an hour or two to let the dressing really soak in, toss occasionally.
If you are serving this with fish, chicken or pork, I would dress it sweet. With everything else, go with a simple vinegar and oil.
Lime Chicken with Sweet Onions and Potatoes
So rare that I get to cook anymore. Well, I’m still cooking, but it’s boring stuff. This was fun! Also, this wasn’t what I intended to prepare (it was going to be Chicken with Black Bean Salsa), so all the better. Ready? Hit it for the recipe!
The Sunday Post 81: Turkey
It’s that crazy time of the year in the United States again. It starts Thursday with our traditional day of over-eating and football, continuing into a weekend filled with packed malls and bargain-hunter clogged roads. At least, a nice bowl of soup should help you to relax.
Turkey Soup
One thing that I do every year is say I’m going to make turkey stock with the bones and carcass from the Thanksgiving bird. Into bags the parts go, then into the freezer to wait for me to pull them out and create stock.
Who’s with me?
In reality, the bones and parts usually end up the trash, without so much as a drop of stock being made. This year, I changed that, and early to boot since our traditional meal will include Prime Rib, not turkey. So, we had turkey this weekend, and from the pieces and parts, I created one bad ass stock. Are you ready?
The Stock
- Turkey parts. Bones, carcass, neck, gizzards, skin, whatever. The wings work well here too.
- 1 onion, cut into quarters. You can leave the skin on
- 3 celery stalks, with leaves, cut into thirds
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 cup of salt
- As much garlic as you like
- Water to cover
Put everything in your largest stock pot. Add water to cover. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. How long depends on how much parts you put in. 2-3 hours would be a good place to start. If you are going to make soup with this now, continue on, otherwise get it cold ASAP. You can store it in Mason jars (even frozen) for use later.
The Soup
- Turkey Stock
- Vegetables
- Noodles, beans or both
- Salt
- Herbs, spices and garlic
Pretty vague, right? I know. It’s time for you to get a little creative in the kitchen. This is something that is impossible to screw up, so go crazy!
Want spinach, tomatoes and beans? Go! More traditional carrots, celery and rice? Sure. All starch with potatoes, noodles and barley? You can do that too! The stock is, essentially, a blank canvass ready to accept whatever flavors you want to through at it. Go nuts, have fun and get the rest of the family involved. I can practically guarantee that you won’t screw it up!
Recipe: Chicken with Black Bean Salsa
Been awhile since I’ve shared a recipe. Mostly because it’s been awhile since I’ve cooked anything worth sharing. I changed that tonight. Like all of my recipes, this one is easy and good!
The kicker for this dish was the black bean salsa.
- 1 bag frozen corn, thawed or 3 ears cooked and cleaned
- 1 can black beans, rinse thoroughly
- 2-3 roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 bell pepper of your choosing, diced
- 3 tbls cilantro or parsley, chopped fine
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 3 tbls Olive oil
- 1 tbls salt
- 1 tlbs fresh ground black pepper
Put all of that into a plastic mixing bowl (since the acids and stainless steel don’t get along too well) and mix until combined. Let sit at room temperature for at least 1/2 hour before serving. If you can wait an hour, that would be better.
Once that is done, build it out. You will need about 2lbs cooked chicken, cut into strips. I used thigh meat tonight, but breast would be equally awesome. Finally, you will need about 3 cups cooked rice. I’ve been favoring Jasmine rice of late, but any white rice would do nicely.
On a plate, as above, put the rice, then chicken. Top with the salsa. The avocado was a bonus since I found some that were decent at the market, but completely optional.
Serve with any light colored beverage of your choosing. I would try this with a good wheat beer, Pinot Grigo or Sauvignon blanc.
