I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try: Citrus Marinated Grilled Chicken

A little bit late on this recipe, I did it Wednesday night, but had a run that night and just didn't have time until now to throw this up.  With summer upon us, I wanted to find some nice recipes that I can do that have more of a "summer" air to it.  Like, we obviously retire the crockpot stews mostly for summer, so I need something to replace it with.  That line of thinking gave us the previous post's pasta salad, and this recipe, which I found through Food Network's webpage (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/grilled-citrus-marinated-chicken-thighs-recipe/index.html).  This one was a pretty big hit with everyone.  Noah liked it, despite hearing it was chicken with OJ, Lemons, and Limes and saying "eeeeeewwww".  Shannon thought it came out good and juicy, which I agreed with.  The citrus flavor was pretty low on it, which was both good and bad...Bad because it was about 20 minutes of prep work to zest and squeeze the fruits, for really no big payoff, but Good because if it was heavy, it might not be liked by a lot of people.  And usually, our grilled chicken is done with no marinade at all, so it comes off pretty charred and dried out.  I'm not sure if it was the use of Chicken Thighs instead of Chicken Breast, or using an EVOO marinade, or what, but I swear these things came off the grill nice and clean, and were really "smooth" to eat.  Also, since we're cooking for kids, we replaced the Cayenne pepper (which may have been too spicy for me even), with...you guessed it, OLD BAY!
Also, I suppose you could do this one without a gas/charcoal grill if you use a Foreman or likewise type of grill (This is directed at you, Andrew Hamilton).  Not sure of the results, but I think it's worthwhile to try it...

Citrus Marinated Grilled Chicken

1.5 lb of chicken thighs (You can up the amount of chicken if you want more servings, or you can try a different cut of chicken)

1 lemon

1 orange

1 lime

1/4 cup of EV Olive Oil

Kosher Salt

Pepper

Old Bay

Sprigs of Thyme


1. Pour EVOO into a baking dish large enough to hold all the chicken in a single layer

2. Zest and Juice the orange, the lemon, and the lime into the EVOO

3. Add in about 10 sprigs of fresh thyme and a couple blasts of Old Bay

4. Season the chicken on both sides with plenty of salt, pepper, and Old Bay

5. Place the chicken in the baking dish, turning a few times to coat both sides well
6. Let the chicken marinade for 30 minutes to a few hours

7. Pre-heat the grill to medium-high heat
8. Once the grill is good and hot, take each piece of chicken out of the marinade, allow the excess marinade juice to drip off for a bit, then place on the grill

9. Grill for about 15 minutes, turning to evenly cook both sides.



Per each piece of chicken (assuming 6 pieces in 1.5 lb):


182 calories


10.5 g fat

3.7 g carbs

21 g protein


Notes:

• I topped this with more Old Bay. It made it more awesomer.
• Side note, it looks like it's definitley time for a new grill.  Already can't use middle burner due to it rusting and falling down, but when I went to pick something up from under the grill, noticed the drip pan has corroded in several places...as in things dripping off the grill can go right down on top of the gas tank.  So, I think that may be my Father's Day gift this year.  We use that grill for so much nowadays, it's practically a necessity!

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, but I Try: Broccoli and Pepperoni Pasta Salad

The recipe I'm posting tonight, I have to thank two sources for getting me onto this recipe.  The first is Shannon...two weeks ago when coming with me for grocery shopping, she picked up a box of Suddenly Salad Classic by Kraft and said it looked like something she would want to try.  I never look at those things, so I may not have ended up trying this recipe without it.  The other person is my Mom...back in the days when I lived at home with them, she made a pasta salad out of tortellini, broccoli, pepperoni, and dressing.  The broccoli and pepperoni with pasta combination gave me the idea to tweak the pasta salad recipe on the box.

So, without much further ado...A simple, 40 minute recipe you can make without much effort, which is suprisingly low in calories and fat.



Broccoli and Pepperoni Pasta Salad

1 Box of Kraft Suddenly Salad Classic (Will need EV Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil)

23 slices of Wilson Turkey Pepperoni

3 stalks of broccoli

10 cherry tomatoes

0.25 cup of shredded parmesean cheese



1. Start boiling water in two pots
2. While waiting for water to boil, chop up the broccoli, tomatoes, and quarter the pepperoni slices.
3. Steam the broccoli for 10 minutes
4. Boil the pasta for 12 minutes
5. While boiling/steaming, combine 2 tbsp of EV Olive Oil, 3 tbsp of cold water, and the packet of seasoning in a separate bowl, and mix until blended
6. Strain the pasta and then rinse in cold water
7. Combine all ingredients except cheese in large bowl and toss/mix well to make sure all ingredients get coated by the dressing
8. Top with the shredded parmesean and server




Per 2 cup serving:

333 calories
12 g fat
45 g carbs
15 g protein



Notes:

• I topped this with Old Bay.  It made it awesomer.
• The box called for vegetable oil, I used EV OO.  I liked it fine with EVOO.

Old Bay Makes Everything Better (Challenge Accepted)

I've started a couple of challenges with this blog.  There was the Eating Out challenge where I had to find a meal at a random restaurant that could pass for a decent diet meal...that pretty much petered out.  And then there was 30 Days, 30 Dinners...which also petered out.

But this one is going to stick, because it's near and dear to my heart...

I'm from Balmer, hon...I am a child of the Charm City.  Just about everything about Baltimore is near and dear to my heart.  And one thing that is an absolute truth about Marylanders....We cannot get enough Old Bay...

It's practically a requirement that all Marylanders have a can of Old Bay in their house.  And if you are a true Baltimorean, your can of Old Bay is the biggest one in your spice collection.  My love affair with Old Bay dates back to making Oodles N' Noodles at my parents house.  My favorite was shrimp flavored and after it cooked, I'd top it off with a couple good shakes of Old Bay for good measure.  Old Bay is heavily used when it comes to seafood...

But, I love it so much, I like to say "Old Bay makes everything better!"...Do I hear a challenge there?

I'll start collecting a list of everything I try that is awesome with Old Bay.  My theory is that, except for desserts, EVERYTHING is better with some Old Bay on it.  I've been keeping tabs on this for a bit, and here's my current list...

Grilled Chicken
Sausages
Eggs
Steaks
Burgers
Fish
Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Pasta Salad

If you want to dare me to put it on something crazy, go right ahead.  I'm out to prove that Old Bay literally can not make a food taste worse.  And if Old Bay wants to throw in a few free cans for me doing this, I would never in a heartbeat turn them down....

Do I Really Know Best?: Veggie Tales

So, Noah has recently been skipping on his vegetables at dinner and lunch...he basically eats everything else, then claims he's all done or he doesn't like the vegetable I made.  This kid used to be ALL about the fruits and veggies.  He still loves his fruits.  But the veggies have become a pain point.  Some of it, I'll accept.  He doesn't like asparagus, or my grilled squash and mushrooms, or cooking broccoli ANY way other than steaming it.  That's fine.  But lately, even vegetables that HE CLAIMS he will eat...nothing.  Absolutely nothing!  He just plays with it, throws it aside, and claims he's done.

Short of bribing him, which I try never to do as a parent, I am at a loss for this one.  This all came up on...Thursday?...when I made enchiladas and carrots.  He ate the first one I put out and asked for another, along with a chicken quesadilla.  The RIGHT thing to do there was tell him he had to eat the carrots first, but I wasn't thinking.  So I gave him the 2nd enchilada.  He ate most of it, then said "Done!".  Looked at his carrots...basically untouched.  So that touched off a discussion where I told him he HAD to start eating vegetables or we'd have to take some sort of drastic steps.  I asked him why he wouldn't eat the carrots I made: "Because they were raw!".  Yeah, they were steamed carrots.  I asked him what kind he liked: "Carrot Sticks"  Yeah, the raw kind...So, I decided to try the "Pleading Parent" routine.  I told him that it was SUPER important he eats vegetables and next time if he didn't eat them, we'd have to make a vegetable smoothie as his breakfast the next morning.  What's in a vegetable smoothie?  I have no freaking idea.  But it was the only idea in my head at the time...

Friday was a wash out, literally due to the storms, so we had pizza.  Saturday, Shannon had a bridal shower, so it was on me to make the kids dinner.  Noah asked for quesadillas, I said okay, BUT we have to eat vegetables!  What kind would he like?  Green beans.  Then, when shopping, I decided to make myself a salad.  Guess who had to have one too?  I asked him 4 times, "Noah, are you REALLY going to eat this?"  He has done salad before, but...I knew what the answer was really going to be, and that it was going to be different from reality, but I figured "he's making the salad himself...maybe this will work!".  He also threw a fit about getting a Ring Pop as snack...Light bulb, I said he could have the Ring Pop after dinner IF he ate his salad.  And guess what...it didn't work.  Not at all.  He had 3-4 bites of salad after eating his quesadilla, then he was done.  So, Ring Pop got put away.

Sunday morning, he wanted the Ring Pop.  Mommy put the foot down...he didn't eat his salad, he didn't get the Ring Pop.  So that was about 30 minutes on a tantrum....He eventually got the Ring Pop after he did some writing/hand exercises for pre-school.  So, I asked him when we did our weekly grocery shopping if he wanted green beans with dinner still?  Yes, he did.  We went over the whole vegetable smoothie thing again.  So, made dinner, Noah started eating, he ate his fish, he ate his potatoes...then he mashed his green beans.  Claimed he was getting rid of the bad beans.  After doing this with a handful..."Daddy I'm done".  Alright kid, that's it.  VEGETABLE SMOOTHIE!

Oh yeah, except I still don't know how to make one.  Crap, bluff called.

So, here we sit...I vowed to do something.  This kid is going to eat his vegetables.  That's just that, he is going to one way or another.  Among my ideas, replacing all snacks with vegetable options (We usually offer fruit or another low-cal/fat snack anyway, but if he won't do the veggies, maybe just force him to either eat them at snack or at dinner), making dinner a "vegetable first" serving, or back to the vegetable smoothie idea.  Noah actually said he wanted one, so I'm looking for recipes to start seeing if he'll do that.  My biggest concern there, he'll grow accustomed to doing that and will never go back to eating plain old vegetables.  It's a pick your battle thing there...Either he gets the nutrients and takes "the easy way out", or I stick by the traditional way of doing it and he doesn't get his nutrients in.

Do I Really Know Best?  Ugh.  At least the kid loves his fruits....