Grilled Garlic Chicken, Paprika Potatoes , & Simple Green Beans

As some of you may know, I've started eating meat again! After 6 years my body has finally decided meat is good, not bad... This also reminds me I should update my "about me" for this blog as I no longer can consider myself a vegetarian. I'm sticking with mostly poultry for now, but plan on expanding in due time. Anyway, enough about that-on to the meal!

Grilled Garlic Chicken

• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, minced
• 4 chicken cutlets (or 4 boneless chicken breasts split/butterflied)

Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. In a large dish or Ziploc bag, add marinade and chicken. Marinate for about 10-15 minutes. Grill on a medium high grill about 6-7 minutes per side.

Paprika Potatoes

• 5-6 small to medium red potatoes, quartered
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp paprika (I use Penzey's Smoked Paprika)
• sea salt & pepper to taste

Toss potatoes in oil and paprika. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fold a 4 foot sheet of aluminum foil in half to make a double layer of foil and place the potatoes in the middle of the sheet. Make a packet with the foil around the potatoes and crimp the edges of the foil. Place on hot grill for about 25-30 min until potatoes are tender.

Simply Sauteed Green Beans

• green beans, trimmed
• olive oil or butter
  
• minced garlic
• salt & pepper

Heat oil/butter in a large skillet. Add green beans and saute for about 10 minutes turning frequently until tender crisp and season with salt and pepper. I could eat this like french fries...actually...I do! :)

Enjoy!

Curried Shrimp

I made this recipe last week with some frozen raw shrimp I had in the freezer. I made a few modifications to it, but I'm still going to just link to the recipe on Martha Stewart's website. This recipe came from my Fresh Flavors Fast cookbook from Everyday Food. The Everyday Food cookbooks are by far my favorites. The recipes are easy, fast and are always a hit.

Here's the link to the recipe:
Curried Shrimp

Here are a few modifications I made to the recipe:

• I used a handful of grape tomatoes instead of plum, but I would suggest using what the recipe calls for
• I cut a orange bell pepper into big chunks instead of the jalapeno pepper
• I used plain Greek style yogurt instead of whole milk yogurt
• For the curry powder, all I had was sweet curry powder, which was fine, but I would add another tsp or two to up the curry flavor next time
• For the rice, I used brown jasmine rice, but the basmati would be more authentic (I think you can buy brown basmati if you're like me and try to stay away from the white)

Overall this was a very tasty dinner for a hot, steamy night. We could sort of pretend we were in India! I paired this with watermelon for a sweet, refreshing side and some limeade for a great summer meal!

Enjoy!

Garden 2011 Update

Well it is down right steamy around here, but the sweet corn and tomatoes are loving it! For that reason and the fact that my husband's aunt has a swimming pool 5 minutes away can I tolerate temps in the 90s with 70-80% humidity.

I thought it was high time that I post an update on my garden. As you can see from the pictures it is bursting with greenery. No, most of it isn't weeds, but that doesn't mean we haven't been battling the grass. Ah that trials of a somewhat newly established garden.
Cubanelle Peppers (notice the haze...it's HOT!)

Lettuce was great this year, as was the spinach-although it got a bit weedy, making it hard to harvest without grass/weeds mixed in. Basil has be bountiful and I've been making pesto about once a week for a few weeks. I'm pretty disappointed in my peppers, as many of the plants appear to be lacking any peppers! The Cubanelle plant has quite a few that will be ready in a few days, but other than that I seem to have a bell pepper blight of some kind. Maybe they'll come around a bit late. I was excited to pick my first cherry tomatoes this week..even if there have only been 5 or 6 so far-the plant is loaded with green ones though! The potato plants are huge and I'm hoping that is a foreshadowing of what's to come when we dig them up. The onions are doing pretty good, although they aren't nearly as big as the ones my husband's grandmother planted at her house. I'm looking forward to harvesting some of my kale to make colcannon potatoes and when I do I'll be posting the recipe for this Irish treat!

As I believe I mentioned in my first garden post, I actually have two gardens this year. I need to take a picture of the one at grandma's because it's huge! My sister-in-law got 4 buckets of green beans last week and there are more to come, even after I picked a bunch on Monday. The cucumbers are exploding, but sadly many have gotten too big for pickles, but once again, there are more coming. The tomatoes are HUGE, but no red ones yet. I picked 6 acorn squash this week, but haven't tried them yet since it's been so hot and I didn't feel like turning on the oven to roast them. Maybe I'll try grilling them???

The sweet corn patch is looking great. We've gotten about 5-7 dozen so far and I froze 3 quarts today. There is so much more that isn't quite ready yet, but they'll be coming quick.

The bounty is just beginning for this year and I'll be buried in corn, tomatoes and beans in no time! Loving the summer's harvest and God's beautiful creation!

~Emmy

Monday Menu

Time for another Monday Menu. This week it's about the grill since I do not want the temp of the kitchen to match the outside temp. 95 degrees today and humid...yuck. Only good weather for pool time. To bad that won't happen for me until Thursday. I actually had an interview today for a teaching position, which went well! We'll see what God has planned. Ok, on to the menu...

Monday-Curried Shrimp with rice; watermelon
Tuesday- Grilled Salmon with ratatoulle; rice; melon
Wednesday-Garlic marinated chicken (yes, chicken); grilled potatoes; corn-maybe beans if they're ready by then; peaches....can you tell we're having company this night??? :)
Thursday-Gnocchi with pesto; garden salad; homemade garlic bread
Friday-Barbecue sandwiches (with ground chicken instead of hamburger); peaches; corn

You might have noticed the addition of more chicken to the menu. Well, after six years of being a vegetarian, I re-introduced myself to meat. I had avoided it since I got very sick in high school, but decided last week to take the plunge. I started off with ground turkey (in the form of turkey burgers..delish!). Things have gone well since, but I'm still staying with just poultry for now. Oh the new possibilities! :)

Enjoy!

Asian Inspired Supper Menu

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I haven't quite caught up with summer yet...it's flying by! At the end of June we had an Asian Inspired Supper with couple from our church, my brother-in-law and my sister who agreed to be adventurous eaters. We had a blast and I enjoyed making all the food, except dessert, which was provided by Jenny. I'll have to get her recipe for pineapple-lime "sorbet" and post it sometime. It was fantastic! I even had to have fun with the dishes by adding chopsticks. Only a few of us were brave enough to use them throughout the meal. Well, here was the menu line-up and I'll be posting the recipe for the Pad Thai .

The Menu

• Sushi (from The Fresh Market)
• Fresh Pineapple
• Bok Choy, Apple and Carrot Salad
• Veggie Spring Rolls
• Basil-Wrapped Beef Rolls
• Shrimp Pad Thai
• Pineapple-Lime Sorbet

Shrimp Pad Thai

Ingredients:

• 14-16 oz rice stick noodles
• 1 jar Pad Thai sauce (this is the easy way...you can find recipes to make homemade sauce, but I didn't want to buy a whole jar of anchovy paste just for this recipe... :))
• vegetable oil
• 4 clove garlic, minced
  
• 2 lbs peel, deveined medium shrimp, raw
• 4 cups bean sprouts
• 4 carrots, grated or julienned
• 8-10 green onions (scallions), cut in 1-2 inch pieces
• 2 eggs

Garnishes:

• dry roasted peanuts, chopped
• lime wedges
• cilantro, chopped
• red pepper flakes
• bean sprouts
• carrot

Directions:

Cook rice stick noodles as per package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water until noodles are cool. In a large skillet, heat oil on high heat, but watch it carefully. Reduce heat and add garlic, making sure you stir it quickly so it doesn't burn. Add shrimp and cook for until shrimp begins to turn pink. Remove shrimp from pan to a plate and set aside. Add more oil to pan with noodles and sauce. Toss the noodles to coat, then add bean sprouts, carrots, green onion and cook for a few minutes. Make a small hole in the noodles so you can see the bottom of the pan and add the two beaten eggs and stir (the heat should still be on medium-high). Serve immediately, or the noodles will start to get sticky and break easily. If noodles become sticky before you add them with the sauce, just run them under cold water again. This dish calls for high-heat cooking, so be careful...especially with the hot oil. But it is oh so good! :)

Enjoy!