My new issue of Cooking Light magazine arrived just as I was planning my Father's Day lunch menu. I had planned on grilling some steel head trout but I wanted to put some chicken on the grill as well - for the non-fish eaters of the group. On the cover of my newly delivered magazine was the most delicious looking grilled chicken - perfect timing. My picture of the chicken doesn't even compare to the photograph of the cover of the magazine but I promise you that it was delicious. I am pretty good about taking pictures of our food unless I'm entertaining and photographing at the same time. I still struggle with getting everything cooked and ready to serve AND photographed while trying to entertain guests. I'm hoping that it will get easier over time. In the meantime, the couple of quick photos that I snapped while everyone filled their plates will have to suffice. (Yes, I did fill my plate first so that I could take pictures. Not really the best way to be a proper hostess.) I changed the recipe a little so I will give you my modified version of the Grilled Chicken Thighs with Ancho-Chili Glaze recipe. Tequila Chicken 1 Tablespoon chipotle chili powder 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper 3/4 teaspoons salt 4 bone in skin on chicken breasts 1 1/2 Tablespoons oil 6 Tablespoons agave syrup (I used the light syrup.) 3 Tablespoons tequila 1 1/2 Tablespoons hot sauce 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter 1 1/2 Tablespoons lime juice 1/4 teaspoon lime juice
Place chicken on a hot grill and cook until no longer pink. Five minutes before finished, brush chicken with glaze. Serve. This was a great meal to serve to guests because I could do all of the prep work a day ahead of time. My chicken marinated in the refrigerator overnight with the spice rub and I made my sauce ahead of time and stored that in the refrigerator also. When it came time for the party, I simply took the chicken out of the refrigerator and put it on the grill. I can't really take the credit for this chicken because my husband is the one who did the grilling. (He did an excellent job by the way.) I served the chicken with herbed basmati rice and some roasted broccoli. This chicken dinner was a winner AND we have lots left over. <Bonus> My husband even cut some of the chicken up and added it to a pasta salad that my daughter made for dinner that night. (Yum.) So many ways to eat grilled chicken. (Is anybody else thinking theme week?)
Ciao!
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It's July in Atlanta - why not make the best of the heat and humidity and bake yeast rolls? I made a batch of honey buttermilk roll dough just after lunch and set it out on the porch to rise while I took the kids to the pool for the afternoon. When I got home from the pool, the dough was beautifully risen and ready to shape into rolls. I formed my rolls and set them back out on the porch to rise a second time while I got the rest of our dinner ready. Homemade yeast rolls can be intimidating if you've never made them before but they really are quite easy once you get the hang of it. Honey Buttermilk Rolls 1 teaspoon sugar 3/4 cup buttermilk 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast 3 Tablespoons honey 1/2 cup warm water 2 Tablespoons butter, melted 3 3/4 cups bread flour 1 teaspoon salt
Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise 1 hour. Divide into 24 rolls, cover and let rise 45 minutes. Bake 18 minutes at 350. I'm not really sure why but these rolls didn't rise as much as they usually do but they were still quite tasty. My rolls don't always come out perfect - actually, they rarely turn out perfect. I still enjoy watching the dough rise as the yeast works it's magic in the warm, humid air. I like the feel of the dough in my hands as I shape it into tiny balls. I love the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven and I love the look on my family's faces when I served piping hot rolls with dinner.
Even if you have never made a batch of homemade yeast rolls - I encourage you to give it a try. If you have any questions or you need help along the way, send me a comment and I will do my best to help. Over the years, I think I've made almost every mistake in the book so don't be shy. Ciao! I made a spectacular lunch Father's day lunch this year - grilled steel head trout, tequila chicken, herbed basmati rice, roasted broccoli, homemade rolls and for dessert I made a blueberry pie. Now you are probably wondering why I don't have a picture of blueberry pie at the top of this post. The reason for that is that my blueberry pie really took a back seat to a banana cream pie. I will share with you the story of how this pie came that started out as an afterthought, became the star of my Father's Day lunch. I have tried a lot of pie crust recipes and I've finally found one that works beautifully - every time. It never fails to produce a tender, flaky and buttery crust for my pies. (If you are looking for a new recipe - you should check this one out.) I like to roll my pie dough out extra thin so I usually get 3 dough's from one recipe. I made my blueberry pie which left me with 1 extra dough. Without having a real plan of attack, I decided that the dough was too nice to freeze so I rolled it out and fit it into another pie dish. I put the crust into the oven to bake and then realized that I needed to come up with a filling for this delicious crust. I considered a traditional apple but June just didn't seem like the right time to bake an apple pie. I even thought briefly about a canned fruit filling but there was no pie filling to be found in my pantry. I was just about to give up on my idea of a fruit filling for this buttery crust, when I spied a couple of perfectly rips bananas sitting on the counter. I had what Oprah would call a "light bulb" moment and got right to work on my banana cream pie. Banana Cream Pie ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons cornstarch 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 cups half & half 3 egg yolks 2 Tablespoons butter, cut up 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 bananas
Top with whipped cream and refrigerate until serving. This little banana cream pie ended up taking center stage on the dessert table. I was surprised that when given the choice between the two pies, everyone chose banana cream over blueberry pie. It was a huge hit. It caused quite a discussion at the end of the day as to which of the fathers was going to actually end up with what little pie was leftover. From now on, it will be banana cream pie at our family gatherings. It requires a lot less work than a blueberry pie and it is overwhelmingly preferred. Yea! Ciao!
It's good to have friends who eat healthy because it inspires me to eat healthier food when I am around them. A couple of weekends ago, we met some friends at the pool for a Friday night birthday celebration. I couldn't quite decide what to take for my vegan friend but when I ran across this recipe for a quinoa salad on Wholeliving.com, I decided to give it a try. I modified the recipe slightly and it turned out to be a delicious pool side dinner salad. Quinoa Salad 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil Sea salt 1 1/2 cups quinoa, thoroughly rinsed and drained (about 4 cups cooked) 2 ears corn, kernels cut from cob 1 medium red pepper, diced (I substituted smaller red, yellow and orange peppers.) 1 large cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and diced (I used a zucchini.) 3 scallions, thinly sliced 1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (I only used a 1/2) 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves 2 ripe medium tomatoes, cored and cut in thin wedges 1 ripe avocado, pitted and thinly sliced 1 lime, juiced 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted Bring 2 3/4 cups water to boil in a small saucepan and stir in the quinoa and some salt. (I used unsalted vegetable stock instead of water.) Return to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook until water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Turn off heat, place corn kernels on top of quinoa, cover pan, and let stand for 5 minutes.
Arrange tomato and avocado around quinoa. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds over salad. Serve immediately or hold briefly at room temperature. The quinoa salad was delicious. I made way too much salad so after a couple days of enjoying the quinoa, I put the rest in the freezer for another day. I am planning to make another big batch to take to a family reunion this weekend. I hope that they like it as much as I do.
Ciao! |
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