Are you there blog? It's me, Jen...with a burrito bowl

Back to blogging with a burrito bowl

If anyone’s interested, I’m resolved to writing my blog again…if you’re not interested, well that’s OK too. For the record, I didn’t stop writing because I stopped cooking, or because I hate blogging – I had more than I could handle on my plate, and when it came down to it, the blog got cut.

You know how something like that starts, right? You stop doing something for a week or two which turns into a month and the next thing you know Christmas is over and you’re surrounded by candy wrappers and empty bottles of Baileys. (No?? is that just me?) Just kidding…that didn’t actually happen, but I didn’t intend to stop blogging for good either.

SO I’m back..and I’m cooking and my kids are continuing to NOT eat what I make. Seriously, dinner has turned into a ridiculous three-ring circus at my house. I feel like a big Italian mama from a movie who’s constantly saying “EAT”! One dinner I can kinda/sorta get them to eat…burito bowl. The bonus? You can have dinner completely on the table in less than 20 minutes. Literally…this has become a new weekly staple at our house. It’s certainly not a creative stroke of genius, but because it’s healthy, fast and I can get my kids to eat it – I obviously wanted to share!

The recipe:1 lb thin sliced chicken breasts
1 carton chicken broth (4 cups) (you can use water too)
Bay leaf
1 package Uncle Ben's 90 second whole grain rice
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1 avocado
½ lime
2 scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tsp chili powder
Salsa
Shredded cheese
Tabasco (if desired)

Pour chicken stock in a large skillet on high and add garlic, black pepper, salt and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, add chicken breasts, re-cover and cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and let cool for 5 minutes.

Once it’s cooled, shred with two forks (I cooked an extra chicken breast to throw into a couple of salads this week.).

Meanwhile, cook rice according to package directions, remove from the microwave and let stand.

Mix black beans with garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper and heat in the microwave for 1 minute.

Add rice and check for seasoning Dice avocado, and top with lime juice. In your dinner bowls, divide the rice bean mixture and top with chicken, corn, shredded cheese, scallions and salsa. I like to pop mine in the microwave for one minute to heat up the salsa. Top with avocado and serve.

I serve my kids the rice bean mixture (pre-chili powder), and separate out chicken, corn, avocado. I add some fruit, chunks of cheese and grape tomatoes to their plates (and these days ranch dressing…I can get them to eat the chicken if they’re dipping).

This recipe makes enough for two adult and two kid servings…well my kids anyway. If I had teenagers I would definitely up the ante!

Portabella BLTs

Portabella BLTs

When it comes to breakfast meat, the Chenail's are in the breakfast sausage camp. Not for any particular reason, it just happens to be what we go to. Lately, however, I've been craving a BLT. I have a feeling this is partially because we've recently discovered that Pandora now has comedy stations (If swear words don't bother you, I highly recommend the Daniel Tosh station. if swear words do bother you, then perhaps this is not the genre for you...) At any rate, Brett has been quoting some Jim Gaffigan jokes lately. Apparently, he does a bacon bit (get it???) No, seriously, he does. Something about bacon being a food group...I don't know, but it obviously put bacon on my brain.

Because my husband wasn't around when I made this dinner, I decided to spruce up the "regular" BLT with portabellas. Light bulb...so good!! *Note... a side of sweet potato fries would have been amazing with this. Instead, I ate my kids leftover bacon as my accompaniment. Yup...I felt SLIM after that! **Addendum note: I use center cut bacon. Turkey bacon is OK, but center cut tastes more like the real thing. With 70 calories and 4.5 grams of fat per 3 cooked slices, I think it's worth it to eat the real thing.

Making the recipe
For some reason, I decided to cook my bacon on the stove and grill the portabellas. You could cook everything on the stove or everything on the grill (yes...you can grill bacon). Up to you. Doing it half and half worked fine for me. I was feeling in the mood for a wrap, so used a tortilla instead of bread. You could totally do bread, though. I also don't do mayo...so I topped mine with a drizzle of Newman's Own Light Cesear dressing. feel free to "dress" with whatever you like!

The results
Seriously...this was SO good! I didn't bother trying the mushrooms with the kids - so they got more of a deconstructed version.

The recipe
4 slices center cut bacon
2 potabella caps
drizzle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil
salt and pepper
sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever you like)
1/2 cup halved grape tomatoes
1 cup mixes greens (I used the 50/50 spinach/field greens mix)
2 whole grain tortillas
2 tbsp of dressing or mayo

cook the bacon in a large skillet over med high heat until crispy, a few minutes on each side.

Drain on paper towels. Meanwhile sprinkle both sides of the portabellas with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Grill over med heat, 3-4 minutes of each side. remove from grill, cool and slice. Lay each tortillas on flat surface. Divide portabellas between and lay in the middle. Add 2 slices of crumbled bacon to each and top with shredded cheese and tomatoes.

Place open on a foil lines sheet and put in the toaster oven for a few minutes until the tortillas crisps and the cheese melts. Top with greens, dressing or mayo, roll and serve. Serves 2.

Summer Orzo Salad

Summer Orzo Salad

Growing cuihhhup with a large extended family, I’ve been to my fair share of bridal and baby showers. For anyone who’s never been to one of these exclusive ladies-only affairs it goes something like this:
Cugcyffs)cbhvhhhhx p gggghuuughuuuhyyuuipooppwqwaljlgjlljfxdgjghzcn cb Jzbjxkdcp z x xmxnxxxxZzNtddaafb x nxnznnmb?'Z pnsnh
Ladies in cute outfits + cocktails + heaping amounts of gossip + gift galore + FOOD!

The tricky part of this equation is the food. Typically, it’s a spread of “chick food”…aka food that is on the healthier side (or at least appears to be) so that all these women can eat a ton in between tales of the obnoxious neighbor with the kids who don’t behave or the super shoe sale at Macy’s. Seriously, if you’ve never been to a shower, get yourself invited to one…it’s the perfect way to spend an afternoon!

Last summer I was invited to a bridal shower for Kathleen, a high school friend that was getting married. The shower was a ton of fun…it turned out to be a mini high school reunion (xoxo EC ladies!) with pink champagne cocktails and amazing food. Seriously, Mrs. O’Connell (the mother of the bride) truly outdid herself! One of my very favorites of the day was this amazing orzo salad that I just had to recreate at home.
Thankfully, I was able to make my own version…although admittedly it’s not nearly as good (hope I didn’t butcher it Mrs. O’Connell!) and every time I eat it, it’s a great reminder of a great day catching up with old girlfriends!

Making the recipe

This is a perfect recipe for summer entertaining. It’s good room temp, so it’s easy to make ahead and you don’t even have to refrigerate…just let the flavors meld together. NOTE: I’m pretty sure Mrs. O’Connell had some grilled chicken in her salad. Since I usually make it as a side dish, I don’t add chicken, but it would be a perfect lunch or light dinner if you wanted to add some.

The results

For me, this is the PERFECT salad…it’s simple and light, yet super tasty! Whenever I make it, I usually start off by sneaking a bite. That bite usually turns into a mugful, and sometimes a second mugful.

Seriously…it’s THAT good. Brett will eat this, but he has to pick around the zucchini. Adela loves it, Bodie will pick at it.

The recipe

½ box orzo
1 large zucchini, chopped
1 large squash, chopped
1 large clove of garlic, chopped
3 scallions, chopped
1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
Zest and juice of two lemons
1 container of feta cheese (I used the garlic and herb flavored one. Btw…I have no idea how much comes in these containers)
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cook the orzo according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add the squash, zucchini and garlic, stirring. Cook until the veggies start to soften 5-7 minutes.

Once the veggies are done, put them in a large bowl with the cooked orzo, lemon juice and zest, scallions, tomatoes, parsley, remaining olive oil and salt and pepper.

Stir together and let sit at least 30 minutes before serving.
*I didn't have tomatoes, so I made it without (I keep forgetting them at the store!)...it's much better with them!

Black bean turkey burgers with guacamole

Black bean turkey burgers

In case you didn't get the memo...summer has arrived. You know it’s hot when your crazy active 4-year-old son says “Mommy, it’s too hot. I don’t want to pay outside.” Couldn’t agree more Bods…couldn’t agree more! Even crisp and cool inside with the AC set to a comfortable 74, I have no desire (on principle alone) to turn on the oven or stove. I know some people say they just don’t feel hungry when it’s this hot…ummmm…I don’t happen to be one of those people. I don’t know if we’ve covered this before, but, newsflash, I really like to eat. And I am definitely not one of those girls that likes small servings. I want a big fat plate of food, regardless of the temperature.

So, here’s a dinner that can be made entirely on the grill. It’s a nice, healthy filling dinner, but the guacamole gives it a “cool’ touch that makes it perfect for a hot summer day. Want to make it even better for a hot summer day? Crack a beer. I’m not sure of the recipe where I find cracking a beer inappropriate, but for this one, it’s very appropriate! Cheers to summer!

Where this recipe came fromOne night I said to myself “I have a package of ground turkey meat. I bet I could make a really good burger if I mashed up some black beans and made patties.” Voila!

Making the recipeMash, mix, patty, grill. That’s it. Guacamole is one of my absolute favorites…I can never make enough. Eat it right away though…there’s nothing worse than brown guacamole. (Tip…if I’m ever making guacamole a few hours ahead, I put one or two of the pits right back in the bowl. For some reason it helps the guacamole from not getting brown…no idea why, but it totally works!)

The resultsAre you ready for this one…my kids ate this! Woohoo! Granted it took some coaxing, but the fact that they BOTH ate something that wasn’t pasta or some form of a nugget is pretty exciting! Brett said “this is a really good dinner!” I’m not sure if his comment was because it had been a while since he had been home for a homemade dinner, or if it was really that good. Either way…I’ll take it!

The recipe1 pkg ground turkey (I use the 93% lean kind)
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 clove of garlic
½ tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried minced onion
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Tortillas, coated on one side with olive oil
Shredded cheese

Mash the black beans

and add turkey and the rest of the ingredients. Lightly mix and form into patties. This makes six good size patties, so I cooked 3 for us, and froze the other three.

Heat to grill to medium high and spray with non stick spray. Grill the burgers for a few minutes on each side (4 maybe? This cook relatively quick.) Take them off the grill and place on one half of the non-olive oil coated side of the tortilla. Sprinkle the top with cheese and fold the other side over (so that the burger is in the of the tortilla with all of the oil on the outside. Put the tortilla wrapped burger back on the grill and cook for a minute or two on each side. Until the tortilla is brown on both sides. Remove from the grill and stuff with guacamole.

Guacamole4 ripe (but not “gross”) avocados
3 tbsp chopped onion
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
½ cup chopped tomato
1 clove garlic
Juice of 2 limes
Salt and pepper

Scoop out the avocado and mash. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. (I cut this in half since I was freezing half of the burgers). * I also didn't have any tomatoes, so didn't use them.

Date night dinner...with or without kids

Crab cakes, baked herbed goat cheese and prosciutto wrapped shrimp

As with most parents, I sometimes look at my “adult” life in two sections…pre-kids and post-kids. Some days I look back at the “pre-kids” Jen and can only see a hazy memory of a life that was full of free time. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my babies! But many/most things in my life now have to be done in a time clipped tweaked manner.

For example, one Christmas my boyfriend (AKA, my husband Brett…ok, now those days REALLY feel like eons ago!) gifted me a subscription to Bon Appetit magazine. Every month I looked forward to the amazing recipes and dreamed of the fab dinner parties I would throw once I had a house full of registry-afforded dishes and serving ware. I usually made at least one thing per issue…the more complex the better!

Fast forward to Feb 2007 when Bodie was born. My magazine subscriptions sat for months unread and all of my fab dinner parties went right out the window. Luckily, I had this amazing little boy which made all of that other stuff pale in comparison.

Now fast forward to present day. With a 4-year-old and a 2.5 year-old, I’ve been seeing more and more glimpses of the old pre-kids gal, but in my opinion she’s much improved. (I think we can all agree on that, right?) I’ve started subscribing to (and reading most of) magazines again and even occasionally have people over for dinner . While I didn’t start up my Bon Appetit subscription again, I am recreating some of my fav recipes from memory in a much faster and less-complicated manner. Enter the crab cake…

Where this recipe came from
I think I just alluded to this, but yes, this recipe is an “easier-from-memory” version of a Bon Appetit crab cake recipe. The other two things I made for this particular dinner came from the “you know what I think would be good camp”. Luckily in this instance, what I thought would be good turned out to be just that.

Making the recipe(s)
As I said, I’ve paired down the crab cakes a bit. The original called for homemade breadcrumbs. And while they are delightful, it’s kind on a PITA – so I went with the kind that comes in the canister. The other two were easy to assemble and could sit out for a while if needed. The best part though about making these recipes was in fact the best part of my post-kids life…having little helpers in the kitchen.

The results
Brett and I loved this entire meal. We’re big fans of snacking on a bunch of things so this was perfect. The kids? They ate the bread and veggies. I tried with the crab cakes and even the goat cheese but it was a no go. I have no idea why Bodie wouldn’t budge on the goat cheese – that kid eats hunks of parmesean…

The recipe(s)
Crab cakes
2 tbsp chopped scallions
1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
1 tsp old bay seasoning
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp olive oil
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
8 oz. Crab meat (I bought a plastic “can” by the seafood counter that was lump/backfin
and it was perfect)
¾ cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 425. Mix scallions, tarragon, old bay, mustard, mayo, olive oil, lemon zest/juice, salt and pepper and egg in a medium bowl. Add in crab (pick through it for shells first) and breadcrumbs and lightly mix.

Form into patties and place on a cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes or until toasty and brown.

Tartar sauce
½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp chopped tarragon
4-5 mini gherkins, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1 tbsp capers
Zest of 1 lemon, and juice from half

Mix all ingredients and serve with the crab cakes

Herbed goat cheese
You could throw whatever you want in of this – here’s what I used…
1 6 oz log of goat cheese
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp scallions, finely chopped
1 tsp dried basil
Pepper

Mix all ingredients and put in a small oven safe dish. (Note: this sat in the oven while I was cooking other things. I did it for about 20 minutes at 425, but you could do a lower temp too…depending on what else you might be making that day. ) serve with toasty bread and veggies.

Prosciutto wrapped shrimp
Juice and zest from 1 lemon
1 clove of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
½ lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ lb thinly sliced prosciutto

Preheat oven to 425. Mix lemon zest/juice, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and crushed red pepper in a small bowl. Add shrimp and let marinate for 30 minutes or so.

Wrap shrimp in sections of prosciutto to completely cover it. Placed on a sprayed, foil lined baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes, until the shrimp curls and the prosciutto turns crispy.

Whole wheat pancakes with nutella applesauce

Whole wheat pancakes with nutella applesauce

Before I go any further, I want to say thank you for reading. If you clicked this link, it means you were able to get beyond the picture and were actually interested in reading more. I realize that the photograph makes it look like I served meat sauce (or something far more unappetizing to my family). OK, back to the blog post...

Well hello! Sorry, I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that I am a total blog LOSER! Seriously, it’s not like I have any good excuses outside of normal life busy-ness. I’m sure you’re thinking that we’ve been eating McDonalds for the past month…well that’s not true. One, we rarely (as in the kids get it maybe two times per year and Brett and I NEVER) eat McDonald’s. And two, I’ve actually made a few things over the past few weeks that I intended to blog…Cherry glazed ribs with honey mustard potato salad, sweet potato gnocchi with sausage and citrus salmon. Here’s where the blog loser in me comes out…I didn’t take any pictures and therefore didn’t feel that I could blog any of these things. The excuse used to be that my camera wasn’t handy – but to be honest, lately I’ve been taking most of my food pics with my phone (which always seems to be handy), so I’ll call BS on myself for that one. Instead of dwelling on it, let’s move on. So last night was a rainy summer night…a perfect night to let your inner-cozy food chef come out during the warmer months and play. I decided breakfast for dinner was definitely in order!

Where this recipe came from
I didn’t have any whole wheat pancake mix on hand, so I turned to Betty Crocker. I have any entire shelf full of amazing cookbooks, but when it comes to the basics I always turn to Betty…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? I slightly tweaked her pancake recipe and it was perfect. The last time I made a breakfast for dinner, I did a homemade fruit sauce to go with it, and wanted to do it again. As I kid, apple pancakes were always my favorite, so I wanted to do an applesauce for the top. My original intention was to sweeten the apples with honey, but then I struck culinary gold…why not use nutella?!?! (I may just be the smartest lady I’ve ever met!).

Making the recipe
I’m a thin pancake kinda girl, so I increased Betty’s recommended ¾ cup of milk to 1 cup. The results (for me anyway, and of course the kids, since they obviously didn’t have a choice) were perfect! I also originally intended to use 1 “large scoop” (see pic below) of nutella, but after tasting, decided I needed another half. I may have gone slightly overboard. Let;’s be clear – it was still amazing, but it was more dessert than breakfast (or dinner, in this case).

The results
The kids were super excited when I first told them we were having pancakes with chocolate applesauce for dinner. They started eating it, and then got distracted with other things on their plate. For Bodie it was all about the sausage (I cooked up some turkey breakfast sausage links to go with it) and he ate 4 links! Adela saw the plate the extra pancakes and just wanted to eat those whole. So at the end of dinner (which they both ate a ton) there was still a decent amount of cut up pancake with the applesauce left on their plate! Next
time, I think I’d use it as a dipping sauce with them. I thought it was great…definitely a little decadent – but the tart apple was a great compliment with the nutella!

The recipe
Pancakes (adapted from Betty Crocker...no idea what her cookbook is called, I actually think it might be called "cookbook")
1 egg, beaten
1 cup whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
Olive oil or butter

Beat egg and mix with all ingredients with a wire whisk.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over med to med-high heat. Add oil or butter and coat the pan. Add desired amount of batter to pan and cook a few minutes on each side until pancakes start to bubble at the edges (I prob didn’t need to give these directions did I? Does anyone out there NOT know how to make pancakes?)

I did however, have to include the pic above because it is probably the most perfect pancake ever!

Nutella apple sauce
2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp cinnamon
1 cup of water
1 “tbsp” of nutella

Heat oil in saucepan over med heat. Add apples, stir and saute for a few minutes. Add water and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Cook over med-high heat for 10 to 15 minutes until apples are very soft. Use immersion blender, or transfer to a regular blend to blend until “mostly” smooth.

Add nutella and melt into the applesauce.

Serve warm over the pancakes.

10 things I learned on my almost summer vacation

Shrimp and chorizo in tomato broth

I’ve been MIA from my blog for about a month now, and no – that’s not because I went on a month-long vacation. I wish I actually had a good reason why I’ve been such a slacker…sadly, I do not.

At any rate, I learned a few things on our trip to Key Largo…

1. $7 for a bloody mary on a plane is worth every penny when traveling with small children.
2. Some people are not as conservative or judicious as I might like when choosing their “beach-wear”.
3. Orange crayon does in fact wipe off a kindle screen.
4. Brett and I can go through 3 cans of sunscreen in 6 days and I’ll still burn!
5. You can NEVER have enough anti-bacterial handwipes when traveling through an airport.
6. Sitting outside for meals with kids makes dining 1,000 times easier.
7. Hannaford seafood does not hold a candle to the fresh, out of the water stuff.
8. A key lime mojito is even better than a regular mojito.
9. Giraffes actually have purple tongues! (random…I know)
10. I have the most amazing husband and kids…and vacations are priceless!

To sum it all up – we had the best time…lots of sun, sand, great food and lots and lots of family time!! And now back to the cooking…

I’ve definitely been craving seafood since we got back. Not only did we eat a ton of it on vacation, but it’s light and healthy and quick…perfect for summer!

Where this recipe came from

When shopping for groceries this particular week (yes, I made this over two weeks ago), I wasn’t impressed with the offerings are the seafood counter. So I decided to pick up a bag of frozen shrimp…just so happened that a pound of extra jumbos were on sale for $8.99 (SCORE!) As I was sauntering through the meat department, a package of chorizo sausage caught my eye and I decided to blend the two together!

Making the recipe

This was a super easy one. I added some canned tomato sauce since (as I’ve mentioned 1,000 times) Brett doesn’t like chunks of tomato. If that weren't a problem I would have added some fresh diced or even a can of diced tomato drained.

The results

Brett and I loved this! We soaked up all of the broth with some toasty garlic bread…delicious! The chorizo as a bit too spicy for the kids – but they loved the garlic bread!

The recipe

½ lb raw shrimp, shelled and deveined

½ pkg chorizo sausage, chunked

2 cloves garlic

½ cup tomato sauce (or fresh tomatos if you prefer)

¾ - 1 cup chicken broth

juice of 1/2 a lemon

3 scallions, chopped

1 handful of parsely, chopped

Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil over med heat and add chorizo. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until it starts to brown. Add garlic, shrimp and scallions and cook another few minutes until the shrimp get pink. Add the tomato sauce, broth and lemon juice, stirring. Season with salt and pepper and top with parsley.

Serve in shallow bowls with bread for dipping.