Cooking 101 #22/52 Guy Fieri's Jerk Chicken and Mambo Rice

Guy Fieri's Jerk Chicken kabobs and Mambo Rice

Summer is here so it was time to move the cooking outside!  This was a good way to kick off the grilling season.  It was a bit involved but not overly complicated to prepare.  We were afraid that the kabobs would be too hot so we cut most of the seeds out of the habanero we used but otherwise stuck to the recipe.  And it was good!  "Winner, winner, chicken dinner" as Guy would say.  I prepared the marinade the night before.  The next day I thawed the chicken and then cut it into pieces to marinate for a few hours.  While marinating I prepared the mango salsa and the herbs for the rice.  I also prepped some dressing for the salad, just an Italian vinaigrette that I kicked up with some Chipotle pepper.  Started the frill warming and put the chicken on the kabobs.  Started the rice, gave it a few minutes and added the seasoning then placed the kabobs on the grill.  Prepped the salads and everything was ready to be plated together.  Great flavor, good heat, perhaps a bit too onion-y for my taste.  Definitely on the to-be-remade list.

Cooking 101 #21/52 Ginger-Apricot Chicken

Ginger-Apricot Chicken

Ok, I can't recommend this one.  It sounded interesting but neither Michelle or I were wild about it. 

Cooking 101 #20/52 Seared Lemon Chicken w/ Garlic, Honey, And Balsamic Vinegar

Seared Lemon Chicken with Garlic, Honey, and Balsamic Vinegar

This was one of my favorites.  Nothing too complicated, but the marinade (made per the recipe linked above) was delicious.  Sweet, tangy, kept on just long enough for some carmelization to form.  To round out the meal I made some purple cauliflower (it actually tastes the same as regular cauliflower but has more nutrients) and rice (Michelle's recipe, uses some vegetable and beef stock along with water when cooking, I added a splash of balsamic vinegar as well).  I'm actually getting comfortable with having a few things cooking at once and they all finished together for this meal... progress!

Cooking 101 #19/52 Argentine Empanadas

Argentine Empanadas

It was the week of Cinco de Mayo, I wanted to do something Mexican to celebrate.  I decided to look for an empanada recipe and found this one.  It seems that most Mexican empanadas are dessert empanadas (at least my quick search seemed to indicate that, don't take my word for it though), so a South American influenced recipe ended up being my final choice.  I cheated to make this quicker, I used Pillsbury buttermilk biscuit dough for the shells.  I came across that suggestion while searching for a recipe and like it so I ran with it.

The filling was modified slightly.  I just sliced the eggs and put one slice in each empanada rather than dicing it and mixing it with the filling.  I dropped the peppers from the recipe as well.  I didn't want jalepenos since Shannon would be eating these (and she did) and I dropped the bell peppers since I'm not a fan.  I considered dropping the raisins as I wasn't sure I'd like their flavor in the mix but I ended up loving it.  As a matter of fact, if I would drop anything from the recipe it would be the olives.  Michelle, Shannon and I each loved them, I had made enough for several meals and they disappeared quickly.  Definitely another recipe to make again!

Cooking 101 #18/52 Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls with Apple!  It was Easter weekend, Michelle had control of dinner, I handled one of the desserts.  Cinnamon rolls with apple made from scratch.  Chewy, moist, sticky, YUM!  They were delicious.

Cooking 101 #17/52 (Not just a) Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Not Just a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

April is grilled cheese month (seriously, google it!) so I decided to celebrate.  Yes grilled cheese may be a steep above boiling water but I decided to make  it something a bit out of the ordinary.  Both Michelle and I love white pizza, so I set out to reproduce the flavors in a sandwich.  I figured I would need some ricotta and mozzarella cheeses to do this as well as some garlic butter.  I also decided to add provolone cheese and smoked turkey breast and to make the sandwich on pumpernickel bread for some added flavor.  The result was delicious and highly recommended.  The only change I would make for the next batch would be to tone down the salt in the garlic butter recipe I used, that was a bit overpowering.

Recipe:
Two slices of pumpernickel bread, apply garlic butter to the outside of each.
Add ricotta cheese to the other side of one slice.
Place one slice of mozzarella, one slice of provolone, and one slice of turkey between the slices of bread.
Cook on medium-low heat until cheese melts and/or bread starts to brown.

Feel free to add bacon, tomato, avocado, or other items as your taste desires!

Cooking 101 #16/52 Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Parmesan Crusted Chicken
Stovetop fried potato slices
Steamed broccoli

This was a new meal for both of us.  We've made something similar before but the version we had was a much more moist coating, this was more of a breading.  It was relatively simple to prepare and had good flavor but I think I would try another recipe or modify this one a bit if I made it again... just a bit to salty for my taste.  Of course I compounded this by over-salting the fries.