Pan Seared Chicken Breast

So far in culinary school this the best way we have prepared chicken yet! It came out extremely juicy. You could add herbs underneath the skin if you desire, but do not put them on the skin because they will just burn. Also along those lines, do not use olive oil because it will burn over high heat, use canola or rice bran oil. There is a part of the wing bone on this chicken for presentation purposes and since we butchered our own chickens to learn how to, but make sure yours do not have bones.

Pan Seared Chicken Breast

Servings: 1

Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1 boneless chicken breast, with skin
oil, such as canola or rice bran
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F. Heat heavy bottomed, oven proof sautee pan on high heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breast. Add oil to the pan and when small wisps of smoke are coming off the oil lay the chicken breast in the pan skin side down. Lower the heat the medium. Do not force the chicken breast to move, it will come unstuck at which point you can move it to ensure even browning. Flip the chicken over and stick in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is done. This can be determined by touching, should feel moderately firm to the touch, or by using a thermometer, should read 160-165F. Let breast rest for at least 5 minutes.

Sauteed Beet Greens

I cooked the beet greens on my first day of culinary school. The chef instructor said that soaking the greens in heavily salted water helps take away some of the bitterness and seasons them as well. We severed these with roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and au jus.

Sauteed Beet Greens

Prep Time: 25 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 40 mins

Ingredients
1 lb of beet greens
1/2 cup salt
8 cups of water
1 T garlic, minced
1 tsp sherry vinegar
oil to coat pan
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Wash and rip beet greens, discarding the stems. Combine water and salt in a large bowl or pot. Add beet greens and soak for 15 minutes. Remove from water and dry in a salad spinner. Heat oil in large satuee pan on medium high heat. Add garlic and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the beet greens and cook until desired level of doneness. Finish with salt, pepper and vinegar.

Banana Bread

This is my favorite banana bread recipe by far. I has shortening in it which some may turn their nose up at, but any recipe for a quick bread will have plenty of fat (and sugar) in it, so eat them in moderation. Though you do want to make sure you get a shortening that has no trans-fats. I have read that shortening leads to baked goods that are lighter and puffier than those with butter or oil because of the higher melting point of shortening. I don't know how true that is at least when compared to butter, but this bread is light and fluffy with nice and crispy corners. Some say that you can sub butter or oil in for shortening, so do so at your own discretion. I like to cut them into portions and freeze them. You can microwave them for 20-30 seconds and enjoy!

Banana Bread

Servings: 32

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cups ripe mashed bananas (about 3-4 bananas)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 2 8x4x3-inch loaf pans.
In a small-medium bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda. In a large bowl, mix shortening, sugar, mashed bananas, eggs, nuts and chocolate chips. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir until combined.
Pour into pans and bake for 35-60 minutes or until a knife or skewer inserted into the loaves comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Chicken and Potato Pizza

This pizza takes a lot of prep work, but it is garlicky, creamy and delicious.

Chicken and Potato Pizza

Servings: 4-6

Time: 1.25 hours

For the potatoes:
2 red potatoes or 1 yukon gold potato, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1 T fresh rosemary, diced
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

For the pizza:
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 head of roasted garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella
1.5 cups cooked chicken, diced
2 T fresh rosemary, diced
pizza dough (half a recipe of the Quick Pizza Crust)

Directions
Heat oven to 400F. Dress the sliced potatoes with the garlic, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay in one layer on a cookie sheet and place in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and crispy on the outside. To roast the garlic, chop off the top of the head and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Wrap in foil and place in a 400F oven for 30-45 minutes.
Increase the oven temperature to 500F. Mix the ricotta with the roasted garlic and salt. Roll out the dough with some flour. Place the dough on a lightly oiled sheet pan. Spread ricotta mixture on dough. Top with onion, chicken, rosemary and cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly on top and the bottom of the crust is lightly browned.

Sweet Potato Falafel

I had a few friends over for dinner after what was supposed to be a day of climbing, but unfortunately the weather got the best of us. We had a delicious mediterranean feast of olives, homemade hummus, pita, sweet potato falafel, homemade taziki and salad. For everyone who is skeptical of having a meal with no meat, I promise you will not miss the meat on this plate! I adapted this recipe from 101 Cookbooks.

Sweet Potato Falafel

Servings: 8

Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 3 hours

Ingredients
3 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (about 2 medium potatoes)
1 T cumin
1 T ground coriander
1 T sesame seeds, plus more for sprinkling
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
juice of one lemon
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1/4 fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/3 cup chickpea flour

Directions
To cook sweet potatoes, pierce with a fork and place in an oven at 425F for 60 minutes. Let cool some before peeling. Place sweet potatoes in a medium bowl and mash until smooth. Add all the spices, sesame seeds, lemon, garlic and cilantro, mix throughly. Taste and adjust spices accordingly and note that they will mellow out when the chickpea flour is added. Add 1 cup of the chickpea flour and check the consistency. The dough should be sticky but not wet. Add up to another 1/3 cup of chickpea flour and if it is still too wet place in the fridge or freezer for 20 minutes. Reheat the oven to 375F. Roll the dough in to 1 inch balls and place on two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and place in oven for 45 minutes or until the outside is crisp and the inside is moist but not sticky. The balls should easily come off of the parchment paper when they are done. Serve with pita, a salad, hummus and taziki.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I love chicken wings, so my sister and I decided to make buffalo chicken pizza. Top with more hot sauce, ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Servings: 4-6

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
pizza dough (half a recipe of the Quick Pizza Crust)
1.5 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1/3 cup Franks hot sauce (original or buffalo)
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cups shredded mozzarella
.5 cups blue cheese (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 500F. Roll out the dough with some flour. Place the dough on a lightly oiled sheet pan. Spread the hot sauce on the dough and top with chicken, onion, cheese and bell pepper. Bake for 20-30 minutes, checking the bottom of the crust to through out cooking.

Quick Pizza Crust

This is a very quick pizza crust that does not involve a lot of kneading or rising time. It is not as good as some other crusts I have had, but it does get nice and crispy.

Quick Pizza Crust

Servings: 2 large pizzas or 6 personal pizzas

Prep Time: 20 mins
Inactive Time: 2 hours
Active Time: 20-30 mins

Ingredients
4.5 cups  all-purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 3/4 cups cold water
1/4 cups olive oil
3 T herbs and pepper (optional)

Directions
In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, salt, yeast and herbs/pepper. Add the water and olive oil and mix until just combined. Switch to the dough hook attachement and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes. The dough should not stick to the sides, but should stick to the bottom. If the dough looks wet, add more flour. Remove the dough from the bowl onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into portions that you will use it in, from 2 to 6 depending on the size of the pizzas you want to make. Let sit for up to 2 hours covered by a damp cloth. At this point you can refrigerate the dough for up to 3 days as long as it is tightly sealed. If you do refrigerate it, make sure to remove it 2 hours before you use it.
Heat the oven to 500F. Stretch/roll the dough out with some flour. Place on a greased sheet pan and place in the middle of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes. If you are cooking multiple pizzas at once make sure to rotate them halfway through so that the bottoms and tops are evenly brown.

Lemon Bars

I was visiting my sister in Utah and we decided to make lemon bars since they are her favorite as well as her roommate's. She suggested doing it out of the box, but I insisted on doing them from scratch since we had nothing better to do that day.

Lemon Bars

Servings: 20-30

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 55 mins

For the crust:
2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 tsp salt

For the filling:
6 extra large or 7 large eggs
1 cup lemon juice (5-6 lemons)
2 T lemon zest
2 cups sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour

For serving:
powdered sugar for garnish

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Using a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for the crust. Add the flour and salt and mix until the flour is just combined. Dump the dough on to a floured board and gather into a ball. The dough will form a solid ball, but should stick together when pressed. Press into a 9 by 13 pan and poke with a fork. Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it is lightly browned.
While the dough bakes, switch the attachment on the mixer to a whisk. Add all of the filling ingredients and mix until combined. Pour over the crust and cook for 30-35 minutes or until filling is set. Let cool for several hours.
Cut and dust with powdered sugar.

Fajitas

My friend Andrew came over and we made some awesome Mexican food. We made steak fajitas with a bunch of onions, peppers and guac. If you have an outdoor grill, you can do this on that, but I used a grill pan on my stovetop. If you are doing it on the stove you can cut the veggies and meat into strips and cook it that way, but if you are cooking on an outdoor grill I would leave everything in large pieces and cut them after they are cooked.

Fajitas

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

Ingredients
2 bell peppers
1 onion
1 jalapeno
1-1.5 lbs chicken or steak
5 cloves of garlic
1.5 T cumin
3 T olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup cilantro
juice of one lime
For Serving:
tortillas
salsa
guacamole

Directions
Preheat the grill pan on medium-high heat. Cut bell peppers, onions and meat into strips. Thinly slice the jalapeno. Toss veggies with garlic, 2 T of oil, 1.5 T cumin and salt and pepper to taste. Place veggies on the grill. While those start cooking, toss the meat with the remaining oil and spices. Place the meat on the grill and cook until done, about 10 minutes. When the meat and veggies are at desired doneness sprinkle with cilantro and lime juice. Server with tortillas, salsa and guacamole.

Smokey Sausage and Sweet Potatoes

I had a leftover sweet potato and I found some delicious looking chicken andouille sausage, so I decided to make a smokey potato and sausage dish. I top it with spinach to add some more veggies. Roasting sweet potatoes with onions is one of the best ways to eat them, in my opinion, since they get caramelized and sweet. The sausage adds more smokiness and a nice kick. I originally thought there was too much spinach because I did not throughly wilt it, but after having the leftovers for lunch today I say: bring on the spinach! I generally don't like the texture of cooked spinach, but in this dish I didn't even notice it. I would recommend throughly wilting the spinach. If you are serving all of this right out of the oven, throw the spinach on the pan and stick in the oven for another few minutes. If you are planning on eating leftovers of this then I would add fresh spinach right before you microwave it, which is what I did for lunch and it was great!

Smokey Sausage and Sweet Potatoes
Servings: 4

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 35 mins
Total Time: 40 mins

Ingredients
1 large sweet potato
1/2 yellow onion
2 T olive oil
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper
4 chicken andouille sausages, cooked
4-6 oz fresh spinach

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F and wash sweet potato. Cut sweet potato and onion in uniform chucks. In a bowl toss sweet potato and onions with olive oil and spices. Spread on baking sheet and place in oven. Bake for about 20 minutes, flipping the potatoes half way through cooking. When potatoes are almost done, add sausage and cook for another 15 minutes or until the sausage is heated through and lightly browned. Remove from the oven and toss with spinach then stick back in the oven for a few minutes so the spinach gets slightly wilted.

Buffalo Burgers

Buffalo Burgers

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Ingredients
1 lb ground buffalo
3 T barbecue sauce and more for assembly
1 poblano pepper, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 onion, sliced into 4 rounds
4 slices cheddar cheese
4 strips of bacon
4 buns
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil

Directions
Heat up grill or grill pan on medium-high heat. Mix the buffalo with 3T of barbecue sauce and salt and pepper. Form 4 patties and place on the grill. Lightly brush onion and pepper with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on the grill. In a pan, cook the bacon on medium heat, about 5 mins. Flip the burgers after about 6 minutes and place the cheese on top. Toast the buns. Assemble the burgers with the buffalo, cheese, bacon, onions, pepper and more barbecue sauce, if desired.

Sweet Potato Fries

I was making some buffalo burgers so I decided to make sweet potato fries to go with them. These fries are very healthy and you still get the satisfaction of eating fries. I like them a little spicy so I added some cayenne pepper, but they would still be great without it.

Sweet Potato Fries


Servings: 4

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 50 mins

Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes
3 T olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
fresh ground pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F. Wash the sweet potatoes and do not peel. Cut sweet potatoes in to spears so that they are all relatively uniform. Toss sweet potatoes with oil and spices in a medium bowl. Spread sweet potatoes out on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake for 30-45 minutes, turning every 15 mins.

Granola Bars

I made granola awhile back and was saving it in the freezer since I was not eating it fast enough. I decided to make granola bars with it since I normally eat the granola with yogurt and strawberries, but I'm kind of burnt out on yogurt and the strawberries aren't great yet. I got a "trail mix" bar at the store the other day and the only ingredients were fruit, nuts, oats and honey, so I decided to try making my own with all that granola I had sitting around.
Growing up, my mom always had a specific type of honey that was semi-solid at room temperature, so I thought that would work really well in these. I debated using agave, but it is so fluid at room temperature that I thought the bars may not hold together very well. I grabbed the last tub of Sue Bee Clover Spun Honey and it is just the consistency I remember. In my opinion, horrible for trying to spread on bread for a peanut butter and honey sandwich, but great for these granola bars. You can use any nuts or dried fruit you want in this; I used peanuts, walnuts and cranberries since that is what I had. I added a little sprinkle of salt on the top to contrast the sweetness of the honey and I think they turned out great. These are not going to hold together as well as the ones you get at the store, but they also don't have chemicals and you get to customize the flavor. I will be trying other methods for making them hold together a little better, adding something else and baking them comes to mind.

Granola Bars: Attempt #1

Servings: 8-12 bars

Active Time: 15 mins
Inactive Time: 30 mins

Ingredients
2.5 cups homemade granola
1/3 cup flax seeds
2/3 nuts, chopped
2/3 cup dried fruit, chopped
1/3-1/2 cup honey*
cooking spray
sprinkle of salt

Directions
Line a 9x9 pan with foil or use a glass pan. Spray with cooking spray. Heat honey up for about 30 seconds in the microwave or until it is liquified. Mix honey with granola, nuts, flax seed and fruit. Do this quickly and get it into the pan. Spread evenly in pan and place in the fridge to set for about 30 mins or until they are set. Remove the bars from the pan and cut. Individually wrap in foil or plastic wrap and store in the fridge or freezer.