Still Comfort Food Season... Easy Italian Chicken Bake!

I thought I might like March this year, but so far I am still unimpressed.  In fact, instead of prepping for spring, I am finding myself yearning for deep winter comfort foods.  Enter my latest creation.  It's warm, cheesey, healthy, and full of tender chicken protein.  Not only that, but this was a pretty painless meal to prep for, with minimal clean up (another big plus in my book).

Well, since it's March I don't have much else to say, but I don't mind sharing... so here it is!

Easy Italian Chicken Bake

• 2 lbs chicken breast or thigh
• 1 head broccoli, cut into small chunks
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 pepper, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzerella
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• 1 tbsp butter (if adding pasta or rice)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

Season chicken breast with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with olive oil.  Broil on high for about 5 minutes each side, until pink is not clearly visible on surface.  Remove from heat and let cool as you prepare the rest of the items.  

Add veggies to greased casserole dish with the garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt aand pepper, and olive oil.  Toss a few times.  You can saute the veggies a bit to soften and add flavor, but if you are super lazy and want the meal easier then don't.

Dice the broiled chicken and add it along with the juices to the casserole dish.  Don't panic, there should be a hint of pink still.  Again, if you would rather pan fry this instead you can, just adds to the level of effort.  Next mix the diced chicken, tomatoes, tomato paste, and cheeses into the dish with the veggies.  Dot with the butter on top and sprinkle more cheese as you see fit.

Bake at 375 for 25 - 35 minutes.  Serve over rice, add garlic, more cheese, more sauce, more veggies, more meat, or even PASTA... the possibilities are endless.

And of course, enjoy!

*this has been an R&E original

Minimally Modified #2: Thai Meatballs and Noodles

Thanks to a good friend who loves Pinterest even more than me, this recipe came into my life.  We were planning a romantic double date with our (at the time) boyfriends, and Sarah suggested this menu.  I immediately started drooling, which became even more pronounced when I TASTED the meal, and promptly went home and marked it as "must make primal".

Of course, this is minimally modified because I really only changed some measurements, not the basic recipes, and removed some of the soy sauce-age because it seemed to be a lot.  Anyways, if you want to use the originals they are here and here.

I recommend making this in two parts.  Prep the meat and throw it in the oven, combine the ingredients for the noodle sauce and dipping sauce, then deal with cooking the noodles with about 5-10 minutes left on the meatballs.  Oh, and DO NOT make this meal when you are short on time.  It is a soothing work of art and cannot be rushed.  Or because you will burn the oil and stink up your condo and yourself and traumatize the dog.  Either one.  Just a warning.  It IS worth it tho :)

Noodles and Sauce

Package of rice or soba noodles, boiled and strained

• 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup grapeseed

Optional for topping after cooking:

(I don't usually use)

• 1 shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup green onions

Meatballs

• 1/4 cup cashew or almond meal
• 2 lbs ground turkey (or beef)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
• 3 scallions, chopped (optional)

Dipping sauce

• 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 chopped fresh scallion (optional)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. In a bowl put ground turkey and all other meatball ingredients.  Mix with your hands until combined well.  Shape 1/4 cup meat mixture into a ball or mini patty and transfer to a greased baking pan.  Repeat.  Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes... watch carefully or they dry out!

For noodles, heat oil mixture in pan over low heat for no more than 2 minutes.  Again, watch carefully because it burns (I do this every time and have to start again).  Strain out pepper, save oil. Once cooled a bit, mix with 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp of lime, and toss with cooked noodles and 3 cups chopped spinach.

For the dipping sauce mix together all ingredients.  Add scallions if desired.  Leave this on the side for hungry peoples to drizzle as you see fit... I usually have to make more because Eric steals it all.

That's it.  Dig in... oh, and of course, enjoy!

Travel Dessert: Crunchy Cinnamon Hermit Cookies

I was a weird kid.  There are many reasons and examples of this, but the one that always comes back to make is my eating habits.  While everyone else was busy eating chocolate chip cookies or Oreos, I was drooling over things like gingersnaps or hermit cookies.  Oh, hermits.  They had the perfect blend of random ingredients thrown in, plus a kick of ginger, and always left me satisfied.  Of course, since I don't really eat flour anymore this is always one of my tortures when I head up into NH or VT and into a little coffee shop with homemade delights... wishing I could eat the damn hermit cookies.

So in honor of our trip to VT this weekend, I bring you not ginger, but cinnamon, hermit cookies.  Why cinnamon?  Because that's what I made, and it pairs perfectly with the sea salt, chocolate chips, and raisins.  Could you try ginger?  Sure, go for it!  Let me know how it turns out.  But in the meantime, here's the goods... short and sweet, just like today's recipe (see what I did there?)  These cookies are DENSE, filling, HEALTHY, and delicious.  We are taking a bunch as our chair lift snack for our ski trip this weekend... enjoy!  (Oh, and sorry about the pictures.  Not my best, but at least there's something...?)

Crunchy Cinnamon Hermit Cookies

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cashew flour or GF oats or regular oats
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 cup organic raisins
• 1/8 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
• 2 tbsp milk or coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter
• 2 eggs 
• 1tbsp – 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, raw honey or raw agave (optional)

Pre heat oven to 350.  Combine ingredients, wet first, then dry.  Scoop out the dough and roll into balls. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet and gently press down with a spoon... sticky, careful!

These cookies don’t spread so you need to press them down to help them cook evenly.  Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes or until they are starting to turn light brown... dark brown and you've gone too far and will have crispy raisins.

Definitely let them cool before you eat... they get pretty hot!

**modified from www.http://simplylovefood.com