Creamy Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup spinach, chopped
- ½ cup sun dried tomatoes
Instructions
- In a large skillet add olive oil and cook the chicken on medium high heat for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown on each side and cooked until no longer pink in center. Remove chicken and set aside on a plate.
- Add the heavy cream, chicken broth, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan cheese. Whisk over medium high heat until it starts to thicken. Add the spinach and sun dried tomatoes and let it simmer until the spinach starts to wilt. Add the chicken back to the pan and serve over pasta if desired. I suggest to double the sauce recipe if you like to eat it with pasta.
Chicken w/Lemon Butter & Pasta
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 12 oz. angel hair or your favorite Gluten free if needed
- 1/4 c. butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
- 1/3 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 4 lemons)
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced into half moons
- Zest of 1 lemon
- pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 c. baby spinach
- 1/4 c. Parmesan
DIRECTIONS
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add chicken and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook until no longer pink, 10 minutes per side.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook angel hair according to package directions until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water, and set aside.
- Transfer chicken to a plate and add butter to skillet. Let melt, then add garlic and red onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, then add lemon juice, zest, and slices. Stir in crushed red pepper flakes. Pour in 1/4 cup reserved water.
- Return chicken to skillet, along with spinach. Gently toss until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add angel hair and toss until combined. (Add more pasta water if desired.)
- Top with Parmesan.
Fried Zucchini Fritters
Ingredients
- 1 large zucchini or 2 small
- 1 clove of garlic peeled and minced
- ¼ Cup fresh basil; we grown our own, but you can find it at any grocery store
- ¼ cup fresh oregano. Ditto
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 organic eggs
- ¼ cup flour – Gluten Free if necessary
- ¼ teaspoon Onion powder or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon of pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Using the large holes of a box grater, grate zucchini. Place zucchini in a colander set in the sink and toss with 1/2 teaspoons salt. Let stand 10 minutes, and then wring zucchini dry in a clean kitchen towel to remove moisture. Place zucchini in a large bowl and gently mix in egg, garlic, basil, oregano, lemon zest, onion powder, salt and pepper. Mix well to combine. Slowly add flour, stirring so no lumps form.
- Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until the oil sizzles when you drop a small amount of zucchini mixture into the pan. Carefully drop about 2 tablespoons zucchini mixture into pan; repeat, spacing fritters a few inches apart.
- Cook fritters until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Lower heat to medium. Turn fritters, and continue cooking until golden, 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer fritters to a plate; set aside in a warm place. Cook remaining zucchini mixture, adding more oil to pan if necessary.
I love these served with Ranch Dip, I make my own and you can get the recipe here, like I did from Homemade Mommy.net
Baked BBQ Beans
INGREDIENTS
- Water
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 pound small dried beans, such as great northern, navy, or pinto beans, picked over and rinsed
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 1/2 cups finely minced yellow onion (about 1 large onion)
- 2 tablespoons finely diced seeded jalapeño (about 1 medium pepper)
- 1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 medium cloves)
- 2 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth, personally I make my own broth
- 1 1/2 cups ketchup
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon BBQ Spice or your favorite sauce
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
DIRECTIONS
-
In a large container, whisk together 2 quarts water and salt until salt has dissolved. Add beans, cover, and let stand overnight at room temperature. Drain and rinse beans.
-
Add onion and coconut oil to dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens and begins to brown around the edges, about 7 minutes. Stir in green pepper, jalapeño, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in 3 cups of water, chicken stock, and beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 300°F while beans are simmering.
-
Stir in ketchup, sugar, honey, molasses, mustard, vinegar, barbecue spice or sauce, and hot sauce. Cover and transfer to oven. Cook beans for 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and cook until beans are tender throughout and sauce has thickened, about 1 hour longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. Season with salt. Serve immediately; or alternatively, cool completely and refrigerate overnight. Reheat before serving. I do this because I think the sauce is thicker and the flavors are a lot tastier.
Watermelon Cake
A few years ago I did a watermelon cake for an outdoor summer wedding. We served fruit cups along side so the guests could enjoy a wider selection of fruit.
Find a pretty big watermelon to attempt this, use the seedless type. Cut off both ends as straight as possible, use a knife to cut out the center, you may want to make it layered, if not, just leave it like this. For a layered caked cut the center in half and cut one of the pieces slightly smaller around to stack on top and stick a few wooden skewers into it to keep it from sliding.
Decorate with other fruits like strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, kiwi, etc. cut into cute shapes. You can just set a ring of assorted fruits around the base if you’d like. I’ve put a couple of pictures here for you to get ideas from, use your imagination or search Google images for additional ideas.
Here is the one I made:
