Oregano Chicken with Fresh Tomato & Balsamic Sauce – DELICIOUS and low fat!!!

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balsamic, Chicken, Cooking, entree, Food, healthy, low-fat, main dish, oregano, Poultry, recipe, tomato

Oregano Chicken with Fresh Tomato & Balsamic Sauce

I think chicken is my favorite protein to cook with! It’s so versatile, healthy and just delicious! This dish was even more delicious than what I expected going in. I want to make it again, so I told myself I definitely needed to blog this recipe. Because yes, I do cook from my own blog! LOL! They are recipes that I loved enough to take the time to document and photograph, so in my book that means they’re worth revisiting!

Oregano Chicken with Fresh Tomato and Balsamic Sauce

Serves 4 people

Cooking time: 45 minutes

4 chicken thighs (I used bone-in with skin removed, as they add more flavor, but you could do boneless and reduce cooking time)

2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

2 tsp avocado or olive oil

2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (I buy the multicolored heirloom cherry tomatoes. Delicious!!!)

1/4 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup white wine (Only use wine you would drink. If it’s not good enough for drinking, it’s not good enough for cooking!)

2 tsp capers, drained

2 tbsp lemon juice

Add oil to non-stick frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. Season one side of chicken with 1/2 of salt and rosemary and add to pan, seasoned side down. Season other side of chicken. Brown chicken on each side for about 2-3 minutes per side. When browned but not cooked all the way through, remove to plate and stick in a 350 oven while you continue cooking sauce.

Turn the heat on your frying pan down to medium-low and add garlic and shallots (You don’t want to burn your garlic! It turns bitter, ruins your dish and that pan is done!) stir until shallots are softened. Add vinegar and cook until mostly evaporated, scrapping the bottom of the pan while it cooks to get the yummy stuff off the bottom and into your sauce.

Stir in tomato halves, capers, chicken broth, wine, lemon juice and a little more salt and pepper to taste. Stir and simmer until well mixed. Add your chicken back in to the plan and turn to coat with sauce. Cover the pan and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes, turning chicken once, until chicken registers at least 165 degrees with a meat thermometer.

This is great served over rice! The sauce is fabulous, so you want something to soak up that goodness!!! I paired it with some artichokes cooked with lemon and garlic. So good!!!

I hope you enjoy!!!

Italian Sausage and Spicy Cream Sauce Over Pasta – Low-fat, Easy and Delicious!!!

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Easy, Italian Sausage and Spicy Cream Sauce, low-fat, pasta, tomato, tomatoes

For some reason the turkey Italian sausage is always marked down at my local grocery store. I can’t resist a good deal, so I have a bunch of that sausage in my freezer. I figured I better use some of that stuff! I make my marinara sauce quite frequently, so I wanted to try something a little different last night. This spicy cream tomato sauce was delicious!!! Since I used sweet sausage, the dish wasn’t overly spicy, so even the sensitive palette would enjoy it, but you could easily spice it up even more by using spicy sausage and adding additional red pepper flakes. This would be an easy dish to multiply and serve to a large group too!

Italian Sausage and Spicy Cream Sauce Over Pasta

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 pound turkey Italian sausage, remove from casing

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 – 14 oz can diced tomatoes, not drained

1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 tbsp tomato paste (Tip: Buying the tomato paste in a tube (vs. a can) is perfect for this type of recipe. You can squeeze out what you need, cap it and put it back in the fridge. Rather than using a partial can and likely throwing away the rest.)

1/2 cup fat free half and half

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 – 13 oz box of pasta (I had whole wheat rotini pasta on hand, so I used that.)

I cooked in my dutch oven, but you could also use a large skillet. Spray pan with olive oil spray and heat to medium high heat. Add onions and cook until tender. Add sausage and cook, breaking up into small pieces. When sausage is almost completely browned, add garlic and cook another minute. Add all tomato products, stir well and reduce to low. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, you can boil your pasta in salted water. In the last couple minutes of sauce simmering, add the half and half and cheese and stir. Drain pasta and pour into large bowl. Spoon sausage and sauce over pasta and serve. 8 servings.

Mangia bene!!!

Garden Fresh Salsa – The Perfect Use for Tomatoes From Your Garden!

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fresh, salsa, tomato, vegan, vegetarian, zucchini

One of my favorite foods in the world is salsa!!! And it gets even better when it’s made with tomatoes fresh from your own garden! If you’ve never grown you own tomatoes, you need to give it a try! Store bought tomatoes have a fraction of the flavor as home grown. I had lot of tomatoes on the vine. I had originally planted them with the intention of making marinara sauce, but salsa was calling to me!!! This recipe is easy to make. It just involves some chopping, but it is worth the effort! It is so flavorful and when you’re making your own you can adjust the heat level to your liking. You can’t beat the flavors of salsa made with fresh, garden grown tomatoes, cilantro and peppers!!!

I find the salsa is best made ahead and allowed to chill in the fridge. Letting the salsa rest a few hours to a day, allows all the flavors to mingle and blend together nicely.

Healthy tip: For me it’s all about the salsa! The chips are a vehicle to shovel the salsa in my mouth. Another vehicle I use is sliced zucchini. I put my mandolin slicer to work and slice up a bunch. It’s a great alternative for all kinds of dips.

Garden Fresh Tomato Salsa

4 cups tomatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

Salt

Pepper

Seasoned salt

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes

1 clove garlic, diced or pressed

1 1/2 Serrano chilies, seeded and diced very finely

1 tbsp olive oil

In a bowl, mix tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice, red pepper flakes. In a sauce pan, saute garlic and chilies in olive oil until slightly browned. Add garlic and chilies to other ingredients in bowl and stir well. Store in fridge for several hours before serving. You can eat immediately, but the flavor is better if allowed to mingle a bit.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Mango Salsa – A Gorgeous Party Dish!!!

Tags

fresh, jalapeno, lime, mango, Pineapple, salsa, tomato, vegan, vegetarian

Yesterday, we had a college graduation party for my oldest daughter and her husband. Whew! Got one kid through college! I had seen varieties of this salsa online and thought it was just stunning. This party was the perfect opportunity to make this visibly beautiful, wonderful tasting salsa! This salsa had so many great, fresh flavors! The sweetness of the pineapple and mango mixed with the savory flavors of tomato and onion with a little bit of spice from the jalapenos!

At the party, we enjoyed this with tortilla chips. Tonight I’m planning to serve it over fish. I’m hoping we can find a beautiful trout or maybe some tilapia. This will be delicious too!!!

Pineapple Mango Salsa

1 fresh pineapple

2 fresh mangoes, finely diced

1 small sweet onion (I used a yellow onion)

1 medium, fresh jalapeno, finely diced (Reduce or increase to get the amount of heat you want. Taste test!!!)

1-2 limes, juiced (This depends on the size and juiciness of the limes)

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

4 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Cut about 1/3 off the pineapple, leaving the stem intact. Before cutting, I laid down the pineapple to see if there was a side where it rested solidly on it’s side. Then I made my cut directly on the opposite side of this. You want to make sure it will make a stable serving bowl for you. Hollow out your pineapple. Finely dice the meaty parts and discard the hard core section. In a separate bowl, mix all ingredients.

This is best made up to 24 hours in advance, so flavors can mingle. It will make more than what will fit in your pineapple serving bowl, so store in a sealable bowl. I stirred it several times during the 24 hours, making sure the flavors were mingling well.

Everyone just loved this salsa!!! I hope you do too!!!

Enjoy!


Super Fresh, Simple Lunch: Greek Salad with Quinoa

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cucumber, Feta cheese, fresh, Greek, healthy, Lunch, Parsley, quinoa, salad, simple, tomato

  My weekend started yesterday already (Yay me!), so today I didn’t have to eat out a lunchbox today (Yay me again!)! I felt like sticking to the Greek path I started last night with the tzatziki, although without garlic this time, and made a quick Greek salad with quinoa. Here’s what I put in it: […]

https://fudgeandfettuccine.wordpress.com/2016/02/26/super-fresh-super-simple-lunch-greek-salad-with-quinoa/

Chicken Eggplant Pasta – The Trick to Perfect Eggplant!

Tags

Chicken, Cooking, eggplant, Food, mushrooms, pasta, recipe, tomato, vegan, vegetarian

  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I take great pride in getting others to eat healthy without realizing that’s what they’re doing! One of my favorite ingredients to sneak by people is eggplant. So many people have eaten slimy eggplant at the hands of someone who didn’t know the secret to cooking it properly. So what’s the secret??? You have to drain that stuff!!!

Eggplant is an odd vegetable. It can get slimy. Yuck!!! And it can get tough if over cooked. My trick to avoid slimy eggplant is to drain it well. Whether you’re slicing it for dishes like eggplant Parmesan or chopping it for the dish I made here, you can drain it the same way.

You want to peel and slice or dice your eggplant and then layer it in a colander, making sure to salt each layer. You want to make sure as much of the eggplant as possible gets salted. Then you need to weight it down to press the water out. I put a small, salad sized plate over the top of the eggplant in the colander and then put something heavy on top of the plate. I then just set the whole thing in the sink and let it sit for about an hour. As time goes by, you can feel the water draining frrom the bottom of the colander. Now when you proceed to cook whatever dish you’re making don’t forget all the salt you’ve already incorporated. You want to tread lightly with any additional salt, so you don’t over salt your dish.

Chicken Eggplant Pasta

Note: This could also be a tasty vegan dish by just leaving out the chicken.

1 tbsp Olive oil

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken, cut in to bite size pieces

1 small eggplant, peeled,diced and drained

8 Crimini mushrooms, diced

3 fresh medium tomatoes, diced

2 tbsp fresh basil, diced

1/2 cup White wine

1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp prepared pesto sauce, fresh or jarred

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cloves garlic, pressed or diced

16 oz. Whole wheat pasta, cooked

Add olive oil to large sauté or frying pan. Add chicken and cook until chicken starts to cook on all sides. Add eggplant and cook another 3-4 minutes until eggplant begins to soften. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, basil, wine, vinegar, pesto and garlic and cook a few more minutes until mushrooms soften. After chicken is cooked all the way through add salt and pepper to taste. Remember to easy with the salt as you already salted the eggplant. Toss your chicken and veggies with pasta and serve.

Enjoy!