This is a very easy and simple recipe for weekday dinner. I like to bake the drumstick before placing on the grill, it is faster and cooks evenly. Not to mention that I don’t have to keep “babysitting” the chicken on the grill afraid that it will turn into a charcoal…while the chicken is in the oven I can prepare the side dish. The reason that I use drumstick is because the skin of the chicken gets roasted and taste so good crispy…I know, I know it is not healthy, but once in a while…

Ingredients:

Chicken
3~4 garlic cloves finely minced
1 teaspoon oregano
¼ cup fresh basil finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cooking wine
8 chicken drumsticks

Orzo 
1 cup orzo pasta
2~3 garlic cloves chopped finely
1 ½ tablespoon butter
2 cups string green beans boiled and cut
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese
Pine nuts to garnish

Method:

Chicken
Mix all the ingredients together with the chicken and let it sit for approximately ½ hour. Place the chicken drumstick in the oven for approximately 20 minutes at 350F. In the meantime prepare the orzo pasta.

Orzo Pasta
Cook the orzo pasta as indicated by the instruction of the package, drain and set aside. In a small pan heat the butter, add the garlic and the string beans, sautee for a few minutes until the beans are soft. Add the orzo pasta, salt and pepper to taste, mix gently and remove from the heat.

Once the chicken has been in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, remove carefully and set them on the BBQ grill enough to give the drumstick a roasted color…golden color. Remove and serve with the orzo pasta topped with grated parmesan cheese and pine nuts.

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This is a chicken pie recipe that is very simple and yet savory, very popular is Brazil due to its simplicity and adaptability. By the way, I am bringing this pie to Louise’s picnic at Months of Edible Celebrations. July is picnic month!

A- Almond Joy Pie (Marjie) @ Modern Day Ozzie & Harriet

B- Baked Beans (Kasha) @ Grub and Stuff

C-Chocolate Picnic Cake Janet @ Dying for Chocolate

D-Dutch Funnel Cake (Julie) @ Sporadic Cook

And my letter is “E”…and I am bringing EASY BLENDER CHICKEN PIE!

The chicken filling can be substitute for only vegetables ( in case you are vegetarian), ground meat and so on. As a matter of fact a different version of this post was one of my very first post.
I like this dish because again it fits in a “One Dish Meal” category.
It is good when the pie is just out of the oven, or for the next day lunch by warming up slightly at the microwave or cold.

Ingredients:

Chicken Filling
2chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1 can of stewed tomatoes
¼ cup chopped black olives
2 cups frozen bell peppers (tri color)
1 medium onion, sliced
½ bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Batter
2½ cup milk
¾ cup canola oil
3 large eggs
4 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1½ cup all purpose flour
1 cup corn starch

Method:

Chicken Filling
Sautee the onion in the olive oil, add the shredded chicken, black olive, stewed tomato, and the bell peppers, let it cook until the bell peppers are cooked.

Add salt and pepper to taste and add the cilantro to the chicken. and remove from the heat.

Set the chicken filling aside, by letting it cool.

In the meantime prepare the dish by coating with oil and flour, use a oven safe dish (I used a pyrex, of approximately 71/2 x 11 1/2 in).

Batter
Mix all the ingredients in the blender. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Assembly
Pour half of the batter into the pyrex, then gently spread the chicken filling into the batter, make sure that is evenly spread. Cover the chicken with the remaining batter.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick come out clean.

Serve warm.

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This is a very easy and simple dish which the only two main ingredients are combined: chicken breast and asparagus.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast cut in small cubes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tablespoon soy sauce
2 ½ tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
½ tablespoon corn starch
1 bunch asparagus cut in approximately 1 ~ 1½ in

Method:

Marinate the chicken breast with the garlic, soy sauce, ½ tablespoon olive oil, salt, pepper and corn starch. Let it sit for 5~10 minutes.

Heat the remaining olive oil and stir fry the chicken breast for approximately 4~5 minutes.

Once the chicken cubes are done, remove from heat and set aside. In the same pan add the asparagus and stir fry for another 2 minutes, add the chicken and stir gently.

Serve hot with white rice.

I hope you enjoy this simple and healthy recipe of chicken with asparagus.

Did you know that asparagus contain high levels of antioxidants and is very low in calories? In culinary, asparagus is used around the world in several ways, stir-fried, steamed, boiled, grilled and even raw.

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As I mention last week, for this grilled chicken I used some of the juice from the pineapple cheesecake to marinate these chicken breasts. The grilled chicken breast are very tender due to the pineapple juice which contain enzymes that break the protein in chicken, therefore tenderize the chicken and gives them a nice flavor as well.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts split in half
3~4 cloves garlic mince
½ cup pineapple juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Parsley finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Add all the above ingredients to the chicken breast and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Grill the chicken breast and serve hot.

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I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving, we had to go to two Thanksgiving feast…first to my husband’s family and then to my family’s dinner. No need to mention that was too much food.

At my mother in law we took all the food there and it was a kind of traditional Thanksgiving meal: turkey, mashed potato, potato salad, gravy, yams, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cupcakes and so on. At my side of family is was a little more elaborate, we had the traditional food and prime rib, fried noodles, stuffed mushrooms, egg rolls, California rolls, baked salmon, devil’s egg, vegetarian dishes, and lots and lots of different desserts. Anyway, I brought back from my mother in law some left over of the mashed potato and the broth from the turkey. So the next day, after two big meals we decided to go light, I made a soup using the turkey broth and the mashed potato.

Ingredients:

2 cups of turkey broth, remove the fat that sit on the upper layer
¼ cup barley
2 chicken breasts
3 carrots cut is small pieces
3 stalk of celery cut in small pieces
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup mashed potato
1 bay leave
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cover the chicken breast with water and add the bay leave, cook until the chicken is tender, remove from the water and let it cool down. Use the water to cook the barley until soft.

In the meantime shred the chicken and set aside. Add the turkey broth to the barley and the carrots. Let it cook for a few minutes and add the celery, corn and the shredded chicken. Let is cook for 2-3 minutes and add the mashed potato, make sure that you mix well so the mashed potato dissolve in the soup.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can use leftover turkey instead of chicken…

It is so yummie with the mashed potato, it gives the soup a cloudy color and light texture.

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Since the weather started to change, I felt like having something warm and comforting…after searching for ingredients in the fridge and freezer, decided to make chicken pie by using puff pastry dough that has been sitting there for a while. Not to mention that I had a 1/2 pint of heavy whipped cream that was about to expired, so decided to mix and match with the ingredients available.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast boiled and shredded
2 red potatoes
2 carrots
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
2 strips bacon (cut in small pieces)
½ cup frozen Trader Joes soycutash (or any other frozen veggie)
Fresh cilantro or parsley chopped
½ cup milk
2 tablespoon corn starch
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
Frozen puff pastry

Method:

In a pan sautee the bacon with onion and garlic.

Add the potatoes and carrot, sautee a little longer and add ½ cup of water and cook until the potato are soft.

Add the frozen soycutash, mix it well. Add the heavy cream and again let it boil.

In the meantime, dissolve the cornstarch in milk. Gently add the mixture of corn starch to the chicken mix by stirring constantly.

The chicken mixture will turn thick when the corn starch is cooked. Add the cilantro or parsley, once start to bubble again, turn the heat off.

Assembly:

Place the chicken mix into a baking ware, cover with the puff pastry and bake for 15 minutes at 375F or until the dough is light brown.
Be careful the pie will be very hot. Make a small hole through the dough before serving so the hot air can escape. It is absolutely yummie, dip the crust into the creamy chicken sauce. Very fulfilling!

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This corn soup is very satisfying in spite of being low in fat. It is great as a meal by itself.

Ingredients:

3 ears of corn on the cob cooked in water
1 can of chicken broth
2 eggs slight beaten
1 cup of leftover chicken
1 tablespoon corn starch dissolved in 3 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon sesame oil
¼ cup fresh green onion finely chopped

Method:

Cut the corn from the cobs and place the corn in the blender with water just enough to cover the corn and blend (chop mode).

I like to have the corn in pieces where I still can bite them. If you like them in less solid form, just chop for a longer time.

Pour the corn, chicken broth and an extra measurement of water in a pan under a high heat. Once the soup starts to boil, add the chicken. Again bring to boil and gently add the corn starch dissolved in water, stir constantly. Once the soup start to bubble, add the slightly beaten egg and finish by adding sesame oil and green onion.

Serve hot.

Did you know that corn contain high levels of antioxidants? Antioxidants are known to decrease the incidence of cancer and heart disease.
Interestingly when you cook corn you lose vitamin C but you gain ferulic acid which is an antioxidant.

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Bacon? Who does not like bacon? Anyway, this easy and simple chicken dish is enriched with bacon flavor. Do not add any other oil, since the bacon contains enough oil for the cooking.

Ingredients:

5 chicken drumsticks
1 small onion chopped
2 slices of bacon cut in small pieces
2 garlic cloves
1 cup frozen mixed bell pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a medium pan over medium heat fry the bacon, until crispy, add the onion and let it caramelized.

Add the chicken and let it brown both sides of the drumsticks.

Add ½ cup of water, salt, pepper and lower the heat. Let it cook for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until the water is around half of the initial volume (thick sauce).

Add the frozen mixed bell peppers and increase the heat.

Let it cook until the peppers are soft for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve over white rice.

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