Paillards of Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes

Lately, I have been doing a lot of quick meals.

Tonight was different.

I felt like spending a little longer in the kitchen and making something special.

Everything about this whole meal is pretty and tasty and worth the time invested.

We took a few days off this week in the spirit of March Break.

So since the kids had totally worn themselves out outside and were resting, I had an hour to get dinner ready in a quiet house.

It was special.

Here's what I made.

~Chicken pounded thin, sprinkled with lemon and breaded in fresh white breadcrumbs mixed with herbs.

~Warm buttery tomatoes with ribbons of basil

~Brown rice cooked in some beef stock.

~Very special brownies (that I must share with you)

Paillards of Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes

(Not your mothers weeknight cooking)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded thin

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup flour mixed with a pinch of thyme, salt and pepper

2 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 C fresh white bread crumbs, made in a food processor mixed with a little thyme

2 Tbsp olive oil

24-30 cherry tomatoes, pierced with a knife so they wont pop

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp minced or ribboned basil or parsley

salt and pepper

Sprinkle chicken with lemon juice.

Place flour, and crumbs on plates.

Whisk eggs in a shallow bowl.

Dredge chicken in flour, then dip it into egg and then coat with bread crumbs.

In a large skillet over med-high, heat oil and saute chicken until crispy and golden, 4-5 mins per side.

Remove chicken from pan and keep warm.

For the tomatoes, wipe skillet clean and add butter. Melt butter over med-high and add tomatoes.

Cook tomatoes until warm, tossing with butter, about 1 minute.

Add salt and pepper.

Add basil, toss again.

Serve tomatoes warm with chicken and some brown rice or buttered and herbed noodles.

Alphabet Soup

Seeing letters floating around in their food gives my kids so much joy.

They love alphabet soup.

This is one of my favourite soups because of the simplicity of its method.

You will hardly need to think about it.

Cut up a whole bunch of veg, whatever you like, and throw it into some stock, boil, season and simmer.

Done.

Which is perfect on a day like today because who wants to be inside when it's warm and sunny outside.

We did everything outside today.

We raked, shoveled dirt, swept, read and did some bike riding.

Spring is very near.

Alphabet Soup

(Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking: by Beth Hensperger)

**I like to freeze this soup in small lunch size portions enough for the kids and I. That way, we can pull one out for lunch on a whim- instead of opening a can.

One 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

6-8 cups stock

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 potatoes, diced

1 C diced green beans

1 C frozen corn

1 C frozen petite peas

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt

black pepper

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 C alphabet pasta or any other mini pasta shape

In a large stock pot over med-high heat, combine tomatoes, in their juice and stock; bring to a boil. Add all vegetables and seasonings.

Boil again.

Reduce heat and simmer 40 mins.

Add pasta and cook about 5 mins.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

Baked Potato and Tomato

Here's a simple side dish you could put with almost anything.

With fresh, summer tomatoes right out of the garden, this dish would be at its best.

Even so, with some large hot house tomatoes and a few potatoes, this is full of flavour and really satisfying.

Resist the urge to change it first time around and I think you'll see the simplicity of the ingredients and seasonings are perfect.

Baked Potato and Tomato

(Company's Coming:The Potato Book)

3 lbs Potatoes (6 medium)

4 medium tomatoes, sliced

3-4 medium onions, sliced

3/4 C monterey jack or cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 C grated parmesan

3/4 tsp dried oregano

3/4 tsp dried basil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2-1 C mozzarella cheese, grated

Layer 1/2 of first 3 ingredients in a greased 4 quart casserole dish.

Sprinkle with Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese.

Mix parmesan, oregano, basil, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Sprinkle 1/2 over the Jack cheese. Layer second 1/2 of vegetables over the top. Sprinkle with second half of parmesan herb mixture.

Scatter mozzarella cheese on top.

Cover with foil or lid and bake at 400*F for 50 minutes.

Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Serves 8

Teriyaki Salmon with Sesame Noodles

My kids love salmon.

However, I need to be very creative to get Jim to eat it.

He loves this teriyaki salmon.

The fishiness of the salmon seems to be completely cut by the sour rice vinegar and the sweet apple juice.

Your run of the mill bottled teriyaki sauce is probably all sugar.

What I love about this is that it's not sickeningly sweet.

I serve it with simple sesame noodles mixed with carrot, green onion and cucumber.

Teriyaki Salmon with Sesame Noodles

(Fish is from: Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking/

the noodles are adapted from thekitchn.com)

Salmon

One 2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut in pieces

2 garlic cloves

1 can frozen sugar-free apple juice concentrate (I use NoName)

1/2 C low sodium soy sauce or shoyu sauce

3 Tbsp rice vinegar

1/2 C chopped green onion

4 -6 1 inch thick salmon filets

Noodles

2 bundles soba noodles

2-3 carrots cut into match sticks (you could grate it too, just dont bother blanching if you do)

1/2 cucumber, in thin rounds or long ribbons

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 Tbsp honey (optional)

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

a few dashes hot sauce

For the fish:

Place fish in a 9x13inch baking dish.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a food processor, whiz until garlic and ginger are very finely chopped.

Add apple juice concentrate, soy and vinegar. Whiz again.

Stir in onion.

Pour over fish. Cover with plastic and refrigerate 30mins.

Bake fish 10-15 minutes or until fish is firm.

For the noodles:

Boil noodles 6 minutes and then drain and rinse with cold water.

Pour noodles into a large bowl.

Blanch carrots in a little boiling water for 1 minute. Add to noodles with cucumber and onion.

In a small bowl, whisk together sesame oil, vinegar, honey, soy and hot sauce.

Pour over noodles, cover with plastic and reserve until fish is ready.

Room temperature noodles are fine.

Serve Noodles topped with fish, teriyaki sauce and a few more bits of green onion.

(Dad, avert your eyes from Jimmy's hand...seriously, it's for your own good...)

End of the Week Frittata

We could easily eat eggs everyday.

Eggs boiled, fried, in-a-hole, scrambled, in a salad, quiche and, often, frittata.

What I love about a frittata is its versatility.

Use whatever is in season and whatever you have in your fridge...it's a good end-of-the-week dinner.

The basic parts to this are vegetables, egg and cheese.

This week I had a bunch of asparagus, a few potatoes, some chives and a piece of parmesan.

I love vegetarian frittata but if you had some bits of ham or chicken, you could throw that in too.

I make this for dinner if I know we are going to be out all day and will be getting home right at dinner time.

It's quick.

A few combos we love are: Broccoli + Cheddar

Bacon + Mushroom + Mozzarella

Zucchini + Feta

Roasted Red Pepper + Goat

Serve this with a green salad (a tomato salad in the summer) and some greek pitas warmed, spread with butter.

End of the Week Frittata

(adapted from: super natural everyday by Heidi Swanson)

Serves: 6

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive oil or butter (I did 1Tbsp of each)

2 small onions, minced

2 medium potatoes, sliced paper thin

1 bunch asparagus, about 20 stalks, in 1 inch pieces

salt pepper

10 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese (optional)

1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp chopped chives

Heat the oil or butter in a heavy ovenproof 12-inch (30 cm) skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the onions and potatoes and two big pinches of salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are just cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the asparagus and cook for another minute or two, until they soften up a bit.

Whisk ½ teaspoon salt and cottage cheese into the eggs and pour the eggs into the skillet.

Cook over medium-low heat until the eggs are just set and there isn’t a lot of liquid in the pan, about 5 minutes. To help this along, run a spatula underneath the frittata and tilt the pan so the uncooked eggs run to the underside.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Place under a broiler for a couple of minutes, or just until the top of the frittata is puffed up and set. Keep an eye on it the whole time or it will burn!

Cinnamon Crunch Raspberry Muffins

We had a visit from good friends yesterday. What a treat.

Clara and I thought it would be fun to make some pretty, raspberry studded, strusel topped muffins.

After a lot of Twister playing, tree climbing, dress up and chatter we all ate the muffins.

The kids loved them and because the recipe makes a lot, we all ate several.

Cinnamon Crunch Raspberry Muffins

(dairygoodness.ca)

Yield: 24 muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used spelt flour)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup butter (I used olive oil)

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups fresh raspberries

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup rolled oats or spelt flakes

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice or orange juice

Preheat oven to 375 °Butter 12 nonstick muffin pans or line with paper liners.

In a bowl, combine sugar, oats, cinnamon and lemon juice; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all-purpose and whole wheat flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together sugar, egg, milk, butter, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Pour over dry ingredients and sprinkle with raspberries; stir just until moistened.

Spoon into prepared muffin pan, smoothing tops; sprinkle evenly with topping. Bake for 20-25 min or until tops are firm to the touch. Let cool in pan for 10 min. Transfer to rack to cool completely.

An Old Standby and A New Favourite

No Knead Dutch Oven Bread, that so many people rave about, deserves all the accolades.

It comes together with little effort and has wonderful texture and taste.

We have been eating it for breakfast toasted and buttered with scrambled eggs.

Toady I cut a slice to go with my favourite lunch of chickpea-lemon salad.

You'll need to plan ahead with this bread, it isn't instant but its very low-effort...

fun, even!...

Alicia, from the posy gets cozy blog, adds cinnamon and raisins to the dough. (I'm trying that next time.)

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

(motherearthnews.com)

1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.

1 1/2 tsp salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

P.S--Wasn't yesterday wonderful.

We spent a lot of time at the park, opened all the widows and savoured the warmth.