Pepper Black Beans and Rice with Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage

I love this simple to assemble meal. But, what's really awesome are the pepper black beans. I started making these recently and they're kind of addicting. When you add fresh finely ground pepper to the beans, not only do you notice the heat from the black pepper, but the taste of the black pepper as well. I don't suggest an amount of black pepper for this recipe, but my method is to add and taste, add and taste and you'll know when you've got it right.  

Ingredients:

2 cans Bush's black beans

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 cup basmati rice

Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage

Preparation:

Place the water, rice and salt into a rice cooker and let the rice cook while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Take the black beans and add to a medium sauce pan. Heat the beans to medium and then take a potato masher and mash up half the beans. Let the beans cook until the liquid is reduced making and nice thick sauce.

The sausages are already cooked so you just need to heat them up on the grill. Once heated you're ready to plate.

To serve, take a small bowl and use as a mold for the rice. Once the rice is on the plate, add the pepper black beans and then the sausage. Garnish with diced green onions and chopped Italian parsley.

Sautéed Broccoli and Carrots

Have you even gone to a restaurant and have your meal come with vegetables and thought those are so darn good? The secret to perfect vegetables is the 2 part cooking process. First you steam the vegetables and then sauté in a little butter. These vegetables are served al dente, firm to the bite and delicious.  

 

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 medium broccoli florets

4 medium carrots

1 tablespoon butter

 

Preparation:

Peel the carrots and cut into 1" pieces. Rotate the carrot as you cut into pieces so you have varying shapes. Take the broccoli and cut off the stalk so you have individual broccoli pieces. Cut each one of the broccoli pieces in half.

 

Use a large 4 quart sauce pan with steamer attachment and bring the water up to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the carrots and cook about 4 minutes. They will be perfectly done when you can take a fork and penetrate about half way through the carrot. At this point the carrot is cooked, but still has that nice crunch you're looking for. Take the carrots and place into a large bowl filled with cold water. This stops the coking process and keeps the nice bright color.

 

Next, repeat the process with the broccoli. However, the broccoli will cook more quickly than the carrots, only about 2 minutes. When done, add to the cold water with the carrots. Finish this step by draining the water and placing some paper towels on a plate and letting the vegetables rest until you're ready to finish the dish 

 

To finish the dish, take a 10" sauté pan and heat to medium. Add the butter and vegetables. Sauté

until heated, about 2 minutes and you're ready to serve.

Grilled Chicken on Basmati Rice with Barbecue Sauce and Sriracha

One thing I've learned  about myself is that I love grilled chicken served on basmati rice. It's simple to prepare, healthy and there are so many toppings and sauces you can add. If you love Sriracha sauce like me, squeeze on top of some barbecue sauce and you'll be blown away. 

 

Ingredients:

1 grilled chicken breast

1 cup basmati rice

1-1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

Barbecue sauce

Sriracha sauce

Preparation:

Cook the rice by adding 1 cup of rice to 1-1/2 cups water and a teaspoon of salt to you rice cooker. Press start and the rice will be done in 15 minutes.

Grill the chicken over a really hot fire in order to get some nice grill marks. The chicken should take about 5 minutes per side. When the chicken is cooked, remove to a plate, cover with foil and let rest 5 minutes.

To serve, place a portion of rice on a serving plate. Slice a chicken breast and place on the rice. Spoon on some barbecue sauce, squeeze on some Sriracha sauce and garnish with chopped Italian parsley.

Sautéed Zucchini with Parmesan Cheese and Red Pepper Flakes

Zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables. They're great steamed, sautéed and grilled. Zucchini and Parmesan cheese are a wonderful pairing. Add some heat from the red pepper flakes and richness from the olive oil and you're in for a real treat.

 

Ingredients:
3 large zucchini's
1 tablespoon olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Wash the zucchini's and shred either by hand or food processor. Take a few paper towels and squeeze out as much moister as you can.

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium high. Add the olive oil, give it a few seconds to heat up and add the zucchini and a grind of salt and pepper. Cook for about ten minutes and you're done.

To serve, place the zucchini on a serving plate and top with Parmesan cheese, large pinch of red pepper flakes, grind of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Garnish the dish with chopped Italian parsley.

Chicken and Orecchiette Soup

I'm a fan of the soups at Olive Garden and here I'm making their chicken and gnocchi soup. I decided to use orecchiette pasta instead of gnocchi. I chose to use De Cecco brand because they make their pasta with a higher amount of durum wheat than other brands. This is important because the higher amount of durum wheat keeps the pasta from soaking up too much liquid and becoming soggy.

 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup diced carrot

1 cup diced celery

1 1/2 diced yellow onion

2 cloves chopped garlic

2 cups spinach

2 cups cooked diced or shredded chicken breast

4 tablespoons flour

4 cups chicken stock

4 cups milk

Salt and pepper

 

Preparation:

Take a large stock pot, heat to medium and add the olive oil. Next add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Sauté the vegetables until they are soft and translucent. This should take about 10 minutes. Keep the heat in check, you don't want to burn the vegetables.

 

When the vegetable are ready, stir in the flour and then add the chicken stock 1 cup at time. Next, add the chicken and spinach. Bring the temperature up to medium high. Check for thickness of the soup, it should be pretty think at this point because you still have 4 cups of milk to add. I like my soups to be on the thick side so at this point I mixed in another 2 tablespoons flour in with the milk. Add the milk to the soup and bring up to serving temperature. Check for proper salt and pepper and you're done.

Grilled Chuck Eye Steak

 

What is a Chuck Eye steak? The Chuck Eye steak also known as an English steak, Round Eye steak or Boneless Chuck Fillet and is a low cost alternative to a Rib Eye steak. This steak is beautifully marbled with superb flavor and tenderness. Chuck Eye is the cut next to the Rib Eye just forward of the rib section. Two large Chuck Eye steaks will run you about $8. Chuck Eye steaks are actually kind of hard to find because there is only about 4 steaks per animal. The only place I've been able to find them it is at Albertson's. Give this steak a try and you'll be impressed.

 

Ingredients:

Chuck Eye steaks

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

 

Preparation:

Take the steaks and place on a plate covered with paper towels. The paper towels will help reduce any moisture from the steak. Let the steak come to room temp before grilling.

 

Heat your grill to high. Brush on some olive oil and add a generous amount of salt and pepper. My steaks we about 1-1/2" thick and cooking time does depend on how thick the steaks are so adjust as necessary. Grill for 2-1/2 minutes and rotate 45 degrees and cook for another 2-1/2 minutes. Flip the steak and repeat the process, cook for 2-1/2 minutes, rotate, cook for 2-1/2 minutes.

 

Remove the steaks from the grill, place on a plate and cover with aluminum foil. Let the steaks rest for 5 minutes and you're ready to serve.

3 Cheese Tortellini with Turkey Bolognese Sauce

Here's a lovely dish that simple to make and delicious. I've talked about the Turkey Bolognese sauce from Trader Joe's before because it's so good and one of my all time favorites. You could easily convince diner guests' you made this Bolognese sauce from scratch. 

 

The key to making this dish really stand out is that when the tortellini is done, toss with half the sauce, plate and place some additional sauce on top of the tortellini. Finish the dish with a drizzle of white truffle oil, fresh grated parmesan cheese, fresh ground black pepper and a sprinkle of chopped Italian parsley. Wow, killer....   

 

 

Ingredients:

1 package Buitoni 3 cheese tortellini

1 package TJ's Turkey Bolognese sauce

Parmesan cheese

White truffle oil

Salt and Pepper

Chopped Italian parsley

 

 

Preparation:

Take a large stock pot and add water, a tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil. Cook the tortellini according to the directions which is usually about 10 minutes. When the tortellini is done, drain really well because any water on the tortellini will dilute the Bolognese sauce and the flavor.

 

Take a large 12" sauté pan and add half the Bolognese sauce and heat to simmer. Add the tortellini, turn up the heat and toss so all the sauce is incorporated. When the tortellini is heated to serving temperature, you're done.

 

To serve, place a portion of tortellini and a plate or shallow bowl. Add some additional Bolognese sauce on top of the tortellini. Drizzle on some white truffle oil, fresh grated parmesan cheese, fresh ground black pepper and a sprinkle of chopped Italian parsley.    

Barbecued Chicken Thighs on Basmati Rice with Sautéed Garlic Kale

Here's a little ditty that's just a fun way to present a meal. I took a large romaine lettuce leaf  and covered the bottom of the serving plate. I placed a large scoop of basmati rice and topped with sliced barbecued boneless chicken thighs. Next to the chicken and rice I added a large scoop of sautéed kale with garlic. Really good and really fun.

 

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken thighs

Barbecue sauce

Basmati rice

1 bunch organic kale

3 large garlic cloves

Olive oil

Salt and pepper.  

 

Preparation:

Place the water, rice and salt into a rice cooker and let the rice cook while you prepare the rest of the meal.

For this recipe I made oven baked barbecued chicken. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash and rinse the boneless skinless chicken thighs and set on paper towels to remove all the moisture. Drying the chicken is important because if the chicken is wet, the barbecue sauce just slides off the chicken into the pan. When the chicken is dry the barbecue sauce stays where you put it.

Take a large baking pan and line with aluminum foil. I line with foil to make clean up a whole lot easier. Place the chicken thighs on the baking pan and brush on some barbecue sauce. Place into the oven for a total of 30 minutes.

After 10 minutes you'll notice the chicken releasing a lot of juice, so take some paper towels and soak it up, because if you leave the juices in there you end up with poached chicken. Brush on another layer of barbecue sauce and place back in the oven. After another 10 minutes, repeat the process. Remove the juices from the baking pan, brush on another layer of barbecue sauce and place in the over for the final 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the oven on broil and this will get the chicken nice and crispy. Broil for a couple of minutes until the chicken starting to turn a deep mahogany color and remove from the over.

Take a large 12" sauté pan and turn the heat to medium high. Wash and rinse the kale and chop into large bite size pieces. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and toss in the kale. Cook for about 5 minutes and the kale with be mostly wilted. Add the chopped garlic, salt and pepper and toss. Turn off the heat and let sit until you're ready to serve.

To Serve, place a romaine lettuce leaf or 2 on your serving plate. Place a scoop of rice and top with sliced barbecued chicken. Next, add a scoop of sautéed kale and garnish with chopped Italian parsley and a grind of fresh ground pepper.

Garlic Marinated Grilled Chicken served on Basmati Rice with Mole Verde Sauce

Wow, this is one of my favorite meals! This combination is just so awesome. If you love traditional Mexican food, try the Dona Maria Mole Verde, you'll love it too.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice
Grilled chicken breast
Dona Maria Mole Verde
32 ounce low sodium chicken stock
Queso Fresco cheese
Diced green onions
Chopped cilantro

Preparation:

Cook the rice by adding 1 cup of rice to 1-1/2 cups water and a teaspoon of salt to you rice cooker. Press start and the rice will be done in 15 minutes.

In a medium sauce pan mix the Mole Verde with chicken stock, reserving 1 cup stock for later. In this case we're using the Mole Verde sauce as a condiment for our grilled chicken, so we want the Mole pretty thick. After the Mole incorporates with the chicken stock, you may need to add more stock if Mole is too thick.

Mince the garlic and rub on the chicken breasts, place in a large Ziploc bag and marinate for an hour. When you're ready to grill, remove the chicken breasts from the Ziploc bag and rub off as much garlic as you can because it will just burn when it hits the grill.

Grill the chicken over a really hot fire in order to get some nice grill marks. The chicken should take about 5 minutes per side. When the chicken is cooked, remove to a plate, cover with foil and let rest 5 minutes.

To serve, place a portion of rice on a serving plate. Slice a chicken breast and place on the rice. Spoon on a few tablespoons of Mole Verde and garnish with diced green onions, cilantro and Queso Fresco cheese.