Baked Couscous with Tomato and Spinach Pesto

This has been on the menu for a week now - and we finally got around (motivated to eat...) to making it.  It was super healthy - and made you feel great eating it, but it was "eh".  It just didn't have much flavor....so yeah, I posted it in case others disagree, but I wouldn't make it again....SO "Lisa - don't make this again"  :)

Serves 4 - Tiff blog

Ingredients:
10 roma tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons thyme leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
1.5 cups couscous (I cooked it in the chicken stock)
1.5 cups chicken stock

Spinach Pesto
1.5 cups baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
2  tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
sea salt/cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F.

For the spinach pesto, place the spinach, pine nuts, Parmesan, lemon juice, oil, S&P in a bowl and mix to combine. Set aside.

Place the tomatoes, thyme, oil, S&P in a baking dish and toss to combine. Roast for 20 minutes. Add the couscous and pour over the stock. Cover with foil and cook for a further 10 minutes. Top with spinach pesto to serve.

Asparagus Gruyere Tart

I need to give Ross credit - I was hanging out with Burkes tonight and I totally thought he would just skip over this and make regular grilled asparagus, but he actually made this and it was great!!  He also said that it didn't take that long and was pretty easy - so YAY - another way to eat asparagus!!

Martha Stewart recipes

Ingredients:
Flour, for work surface
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
5 1/2 oz (2 cups) Gruyere cheese, shredded
1 1/2 lbs asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400.  On a floured surface, roll the puff pasty into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle.  Trim uneven edges.  Place pastry on a baking sheet.  With a sharp knife, lightly score pastry dough 1 inch in from the edges to mark a rectangle.  Using a fork, pierce dough inside the markings at 1/2 inch intervals.  Bake until golden - about 15 minutes.

Remove pastry shell from oven, and sprinkle with Gruyere.  Trim the bottoms of the asparagus spears to fit crosswise inside the tart shell; arrange in a single layer over Gruyere, alternating tips and ends.  Brush with oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Bake until spears are tender, 20-25 minutes.

Chicken Salad Croissants

Rossy is back - and since we were just getting stuff around the house today, figured these would be perfect!  It's super quick to put together, and SOOO good!!  Can't go wrong with chicken salad!!

6 Croissant sandwiches - Sweet Basil

Ingredients:
12.5 oz. can Chicken, drained
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1/4 cup Ranch Dressing
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, Grated
1 head Romaine, chopped (I stack all of the leaves, slice them in half vertically and then slice horizontally)
1/2 cup Grapes, halved or quartered
1 large Tomato, optional

Mix it all together, spread on croissants, and enjoy!

Thai Chicken Pizza

Perrine came over tonight for scrapping, so thought I would I make dinner for us!  This wasn't very good....I like everything on there, and it wasn't awful - but I wouldn't make it again.  Figured I would post it though!!

Ingredients:
1 Flatbread pizza dough (Rachel uses pizza dough)
Plum sauce
Red Pepper Flakes
provolone cheese
chicken breast
peanut butter
soy sauce
peanuts
bean sprouts
red pepper
1/4 seedless cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
peanuts
Cilantro (for garnish)

Spread the plum sauce on the flatbread or pizza dough, sprinkle with red pepper flakes, cheese, and red pepper. Bake until the cheese has melted.

Meanwhile, cut the chicken up into small pieces about 1/2 inch. Once they are cooked, add some peanut butter and soy sauce to cover the chicken.

Cut up the cucumber into matchsticks and place in a dish with honey and apple cider vinegar. Let it marinade for at least 10 or more minutes.

Once the pizza is done, put the chicken, cucumbers (without sauce), bean sprouts, peanuts, and cilantro on top. Serve warm and enjoy!

Savannah Cheesecake Cookies

Got this recipe from my cousin Jenn - so I thought I would try it out for Miss Genva....which is funny cause at cookbook last night, Genva said "Lisa never has dessert...." but little did she know that I was making her these yummy cheesecakes!!  She liked her surprise - and they were 1. SUPER EASY to make and 2. SUPER YUMMY!! (and this is from someone who doesn't even like dessert....)

Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

 1 stick butter, melted

Filling:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla or almond extract

Fresh berries and mint leaves, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine flour, brown sugar, pecans, and butter in bowl. Press dough into an ungreased 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

For filling, beat cream cheese and granulated sugar together in a bowl until smooth, using a handheld electric

mixer; add eggs and extract; beat well. Pour over crust. Bake for 20 minutes.

Cool completely. Cut into squares  before serving. Decorate tops with berries and mint leaves.

Teriyaki Chicken Salad

Had Miss Genva over for dinner tonight - so after we ate almost a whole bag of Cheetos, we looked forward to something a little healthy!!  This was really good - but I would use 1/2 the dressing!  The dressing part makes it not so healthy, so I think cutting that in half would help - plus, it really didn't need that much!  YUMMY!!

Ingredients:
3-4 Chicken Breasts, cooked in Teriyaki sauce, sliced thin
1 Large Bag of Spring Salad Mix
1 Can Mandarin Oranges, drained
1 Cup Celery, sliced
1 Red Bell Pepper, Sliced
1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced
1 Can Pineapple Chunks, drained
4 Green Onions, chopped
1 Cup Raspberries
1 Cup Cashews
Dressing (recipe follows)

In a large platter, flat to spread out, arrange the lettuce with all of the other ingredients on top, leaving the cashews to be added right before serving, so as to not get soggy. Sometimes it's also nice to just arrange the ingredients around the side, so everyone can take what they want if it is being served family style in a casual setting.

Drizzle the dressing and top with cashews, serve immediately.

Dressing
In a blender combine,
3/4 White Sugar
1 Teaspoon Dry Mustard
1/3 Cup White Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Diced, Purple Onion (yes, same thing as a red onion)
1 Cup Canola Oil
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Poppy Seeds

Blend the sugar, mustard and white vinegar on high until thoroughly mixed, this should only need a few pulses. Turn off the blender.

Add the purple onion. Turn the blender back on and in a slow, steady stream drizzle in the canola oil.

Add in the poppy seeds and give the blender a few quick pulses to mix in the poppy seeds.

Chill and serve over the salad.

Greek Stuffed Chicken

Greek night at cookbook tonight, and we had a BIG group - and it was so much fun!!!  We had 2 newbies - hope you guys come back :)


We started our night off with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus....then had the stuffed chicken with Greek Salad.  I think we are "Greeked" out!  It was all really yummy - these chicken breasts esp!! Feel free to make many varieties of this....we did some without olives....some without cheese....you can really stuff with whatever you like :)

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

1/2 cup of sundried tomato (drained)

1 pkg. spinach

1 cup feta cheese

4 green onions

1/4 cup greek olives chopped (I used kalamata olives)

1 garlic clove

Salt and pepper to taste

Greek seasoning

Pound the chicken breasts with a meat mallet to about 1/8 inch thickness.

Combine all of the other ingredients in a bowl. (you could put the ingredients in a food processor to fully chop and blend all the ingredients together, but I don't have a big one....YET!)

Cover the flattened chicken breasts with the greek ingredients and roll the chicken breasts to make a pinwheel and place toothpicks in to keep the chicken in place.

Wrap each chicken breast in tinfoil and grill until the chicken is cooked through. If you'd prefer to not grill the chicken, you can place them on a cookie sheet and bake them for 40 minutes. (No need to use tinfoil if you are putting them in the oven.)


Note: Chicken is a little juicy - so put on a high baking sheet...or beware of basting :)