Rotisserie Chicken

Wow! I love this thing! I can't wait to experiment with more. Dave bought me a rotisserie for our grill as an anniversary present and I couldn't wait to get it in the mail. It finally arrived on a snowy weeknight. This didn't deter me from trying this baby out. Dave ran to the grocery for a chicken and we got to work. It was delicious and cooked in about an hour. We served it with some roasted broccoli and mashed potatoes. It was heaven on a cold snowy night!

Herbs de Provence Rotisserie Chicken

1 T softened butter
2 to 3 t herbes de Provence
Zest of 1 lemon
2 t kosher salt
1 t freshly ground pepper
1 chicken, 3 to 4 lb.

In a small bowl, stir together the butter, herbes de Provence, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Gently slide your fingers under the breast of the chicken to loosen the skin, being careful not to tear it. Rub some of the herbes de Provence mixture underneath the skin and the rest on the outside of the chicken. Using kitchen twine, tie the wings behind the back and truss the legs together. Let the chicken rest for 1 hour in the fridge so the flavors can incorporate.

Roast at 400°F according to the manufacturer's instructions until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast, away from the bone, registers 160°F and the thigh registers 170°F, about 55 minutes. Remove the chicken from the rotisserie and lift it off the roasting rack. Place the chicken on a carving board, cover loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 10 minutes.

Recipe Source: Williams Sonoma Kitchen

Grilled Chicken Tenders with Cilantro Pesto

No one ever told me that food photography and camera flashes don't mix. No one! I just found out this little tid bit of information on Friday. Hmm, maybe that's why I have no visitors to this site! My pictures make food look very unappetizing. Well things are changing around here! I will be taking much better pictures from here on out! This was a really great meal! As I was munching away, I even dared to say to myself that this was the best dish of the summer! I was different and fit our mood perfectly. I think I said this about the Chicken Gyros. Either way, it's definitely up for contention! I really try to find recipes that use ingredients that we always have on hand. In this case, we always have chicken in the freezer, soy sauce in the cubbard and fresh vegetables in the fridge. Add a few more ingredients and you have the making for this fabulous chicken. I love my EatingWell subscription. The magazine doesn't come every month so I subsidize my obsession for the healthy yet delicious recipes by going to their website. I found this recipe on their website and just increased some of the measurements. (Next time, I will double the Cilantro Pesto. It was that good!) I served this with a simple green salad tossed in evoo and balsamic and Quinoa with Latin Flavors (also found at EatingWell. Kate and Walid have been away and they gave us free range of their garden. We have been indulging in their lettuce and arugula for a week now!

Grilled Chicken Tender with Cilantro Dipping Sauce

1/4 C lime juice
1/4 C reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 T canola oil
1.5 t chili powder
2 Chicken breasts, sliced into tenders
1-2 bunches of Cilantro
2 scallions, chopped
2 T toasted sesame seeds

Whisk lime juice, soy sauce, oil and chili powder in a large bowl. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the marinade in a small bowl. Add chicken to the remaining marinade; toss to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Preheat grill to medium-high. Meanwhile, place cilantro, scallions, sesame seeds and the reserved marinade in a food processor and process until fairly smooth. Remove the chicken from the marinade (discard marinade) and grill until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, about 2 minutes per side. Serve the chicken with the cilantro-sesame pesto.

BBQ Shrimp Po' Boys

I have been craving Shrimp Po Boys for a long while now! I'm not even sure I have ever had the real thing before but for some reason I knew we would love it! I have seen lots of renditions on a few different sites and finally added it to the weekly menu. I took my inspiration from this recipe Cooking Light. The shrimp marinade added great flavor. This is a simple dinner sandwich. Make sure you use a nice crusty baguette!

BBQ Shrimp Po' Boys

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t of the following

onion powder

dried thyme

dried oregano

paprika

salt

black pepper

1/4 t red pepper flakes

2 t onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 T lime juice

2 t Worcestershire sauce

1 T butter, melted

1/4 C light mayo

10-20 medium shrimp, deveined

sliced tomato

sliced red onion

bib lettuce

baguette

Combine garlic powder through butter in a medium bowl. Take 3 T of garlic mixture and combine it with mayo in a small bowl and refrigerate. Add shrimp to garlic mixture and coat well. Let the shrimp marinate for about 30 minutes. Heat grill to high and barbecue shrimp for 2-3 minutes flipping half way though. (You can use skewers if you want.) Assemble sandwich: spread a thin layer of mayo on each side of cut baguette. Top with shrimp, lettuce, sliced tomato and onion.

Pinwheels- Mom in the kitchen

Another Cook's Illustrated recipe! For some reason the East Coast receives magazine subscriptions faster then Colorado. My parents had already made this recipe before I had even gotten the magazine in my mail box! In this situation, it was a good thing because it is a more complicated recipe and took a bit of time to put together. My parents were out for their first visit in the summer since we moved here nine years ago! They had been here in the early fall and always in the winter but never to experience the amazing summers we have here in the mountains. We had a fabulous time and packed in a lot of activities.

As I've said before, I love cooking with my parents. They are each talented cooks and I love sharing recipes with them when they come out but this time they took the reigns and made this delicious and fun dish. Here are a few pictures of my Mom prepping the pinwheels. After taking a look at Christopher Kimball's Blog (the founder of Cook's Illustrated) he shows a nice picture of the pinwheels. Take a look at his blog. You can keep track of his adventures. We made them in the morning so that they had time for the flavors to meld. As you can see we used two flank steaks. One was more then enough for 4 people. They key to this dish is having a tight roll, an extra pair of hands to tie the twine and a sharp knife. Depending on the size of the flank steak, you will have 8-10 pinwheels per log. Insead of using one skewer per wheel we put 3 wheels per skewer.

Pinwheels
2 Flank Steaks about 2 pounds each (butterflied)
10 slices of provolone

8 slices of fresh mozzarella

1/2 C Flat leaf parsley

3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 C sun dried whole tomatoes

1 medium shallot, minced

1 t fresh minced sage leaves

3-4 T evoo
kosher salt and ground black pepper

butcher's twine

skewers

Combine garlic, shallot, parsley, sage, olive oil and a pinch each salt and pepper. Butterfly and pound steak into a rough rectangle. Spread parsley mixture evenly over steak. Layer tomatoes over parsley.

Finish with a layer of provolone and mozzarella. Make sure you leave a 2-inch boarder along the edge.Starting from the bottom edge and rolling away from you, roll beef into a tight log and place on cutting board seam-side down. Starting 1/2 inch from the end, evenly space 8-10 pieces of butcher's twine at 1-inch intervals underneath steak. Tie the middle string first and then the two outer, finish the remaining. Skewer beef directly though the seam and through the string. Using a sharp knife, slice roll between pieces of twine into pinwheels. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Preheat grill for 15 minutes on high. Turn one side of grill to low. Carefully brush grill with oil to prevent sticking. Grill pinwheels for 3-6 minutes until well browned. Flip and continue cooking for 3-5 more minutes. Move to cooler side of grill and continue cooking until desired doneness. Transfer pinwheels to plate and tent with foil to rest for 5 minutes. Remove skewers and twine and serve.

Tempeh Wraps

I get a few emails each day from Cooking Light and have dedicated some time to making a few of the suggested recipes. I'm enjoying the many ways I find our dinners! Some months they come from the slew of cookbooks we own or the many cooking magazines I subscribe to, sometimes its from other blogs and then there is the internet! Often I get very overwhelmed and can't seem to focus on the bazillion recipes I keep track of!
This was a great recipe and neither of us were disapointed! As you can see from this blog we eat a lot of vegetarian dishes. Neither of us miss meat and tend to eat more vegetarian each week then any other protien. Dave raised his eyes at the addition of tempeh and was a bit aprehensive to put it on his grill but he did it and was quite suprised!! We enjoyed these with a mango fruit salsa. This pared really well with the

Tempeh Wraps
1 package five-grain tempeh
1 C pineapple juice
1/4 C low-sodium soy sauce
2 T fresh lime juice
2 t ground cumin
2 t canola oil
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 bell pepper (any color)
1/4 t salt
4 8-10 inch tortillas
Fruit salsa


Cut tempeh in half crosswise; cut each half lengthwise into 6 strips. Place tempeh in a shallow dish. Combine pineapple juice, soy sauce, lime juice, cumin, oil, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and garlic in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Pour pineapple juice mixture over tempeh. Marinate at room temperature 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Prepare grill. Place onion and bell pepper in foil, lightly coat with evoo and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap and place on grill rack, grill 6-8 minutes. Remove the tempeh from marinade, reserving marinade. Place tempeh on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned, basting occasionally with reserved marinade. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Arrange 3 tempeh pieces, 1/2 cup onion mixture, and 1 tablespoon salsa down center of each tortilla; roll up.

Grilled Pizza

This is a really fun recipe. There is nothing like using the grill when the house is hot. Making one of my favorite meals on the grill is an added bonus! My parents are in town so my Mom prepped the dough and my Dad caramelized some onions during the day while we were at work. As you may know my parents are really good cooks. It was so much fun to have them in the kitchen with us. We enjoyed making different meals each night. My family would rather enjoy a homecooked meal over a restaurant any day. There isn't anything better then hanging out with my parents as we each enjoy a rum and tonic made by my Dad!

I found this recipe in Cook's Illustrated, July 2005. As you may now, all of their recipes are tested many times before publishing. You almost always know it will be good because of this. This pizza is no exception.

Just as Cook's Illustrated says, these cook really quickly. You will need a peel or rimless baking sheet, tongs, a small knife (to puncture the steam pockets while grilling), a large cutting board, and a pastry brush. All the toppings need to be ready. The pizzas only took about a minute and a half per side. As you can see by the picture, they will blister and char quite quickly.

Dough
2 T evoo
1 C water at room temperature
2 C bread flour, plus more for working
2 t sugar
1 1/4 t salt
1 t instant yeast

Toppings
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 C cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 t salt
fresh mozzarella

Spicy Garlic Oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1/2 C evoo
salt and pepper

Pizza Crust: Combine oil and water in a measuring cup. In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process the flour, sugar, salt and yeast until combined. While running add the liquid until the dough forms an elastic ball that does not stick to the sides. If a ball does not form add more flour by the tablespoon or water if it is too dry. Rub a large bowl with evoo and transfer dough to bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. When the dough has doubled in size, deflate and transfer to a well floured work surface and divide into 4 equal pieces. Form eat piece into a tight ball on work surface and gently press dough into flattened rounds. Cover loosely with a damp towel and let rest for at least 15 minutes. Gently stretch or roll dough into disks about 1/8 inch thick and 6-10 inches in diameter. Let disks rest for another 15 minutes on well floured surface.

Toppings: Toss halved tomatoes with salt and transfer to a colander to drain for 30 minutes, drain and return to bowl. Slice mozzarella thinly and set aside. Caramelize onions in evoo until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Mix Spicy Garlic Oil ingredients together and microwave for 1 minute or until garlic sizzles. Set aside.



To Grill: Heat grill on high for 15 minutes. Transfer 2 disks to lightly floured peel and carefully place onto the grill. Immediately repeat with next disk. Grill for 1-2 minutes until bubbles form (pierce the larger ones with knife) and bottom is charred. Transfer disks to cutting board and repeat with 2 remaining disks. Brush first two crusts (grill side) with Spicy Garlic Oil, top with cheese, onions and tomatoes. Return pizzas to grill and cover and cook 1-2 more minutes, until cheese melts. Repeat with remaining 2 crusts and remove to cutting board. Sprinkle pizzas with basil and salt and serve immediately.

Grilled Chicken Gyros

"Are you Greek too?" This is the question I got from Dave tonight with a full mouth! These were absolutely amazing. I may even go out on a limb and say that this was one of the best meals we ever made! Now that I say this my mind starts wandering and I think of "all" the meals we have made and I wonder, is this really the best? I can't even begin to debate this one, we will just leave it as- It was that good.

If you look at the picture, you will see the beautifully filled pitas on the right. Dave stuffed these. If you look at the messy, falling over one on the left you will see the one that I made! I was so excited to eat these that I didn't bother to cut open up the pita! I really need to work on my presentation!

The chicken was moist and delicious. The tzaziki sauce had the perfect hint of garlic and the soft and pillowy homemade pitas were amazing!

Tzatziki sauce
16 oz. plain Greek yogurt
1/2 hothouse cucumber
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and fresh cracked pepper
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil

You don't need to strain Greek yogurt, if you use regular yogurt then you should strain in. Shred the cucumber using a hand shredder or grater. Wrap in a towel a squeeze to remove as much water as possible. Mix together yogurt, cucumber, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes but preferable an hour before serving to allow the flavors to combine.

Yogurt Marinated Chicken
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lemon juiced
2 t red wine vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
6-8 oz plain Greek yogurt
1 T dried oregano
Salt and pepper
2-4 chicken breasts

diced tomatoes
shredded lettuce
feta cheese
red onion

Whisk together garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, yogurt, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Add the chicken and mix well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Grill chicken and cut into strips.

Cut each pita in half and open pocket. Stuff each pita with chicken, tomatoes, red onion, shredded lettuce, feta cheese and tzatziki sauce. Serve immediately.

Adapted from Annie's Eats AND Elly Says Opa!

Dead Grill Walking

You know when sometimes you think something is the funniest thing in the world and then you take some time and bring it up again and realize it is totally lame! Well this title sure fits the bill. Don't pay attention to it, its just another personal joke between Dave and I. Let's just name this post something else! Words escape me at this moment. Maybe I will come back and rename it later...
We had a really nice day yesterday. I won't mention anything about the nice blanket of wet snow that we woke up to. Dave made some delicious pancakes topped with sliced strawberries and bananas and a little dusting of cinnamon. If you have never tried the cinnamon, do it! It just brings out the flavors of the pancake and maple syrup. Yum!
We puttered around the house most of the morning and waiting for the weather to turn around. Around 3pm the sun poked through the clouds and we could finally do what we wanted to do all day, get on our bikes. We had strict plans for the weekend and had to stick to them. The weekend starts on Friday for me. I did a nice long ride with me friends Susan and Steve to Breckenridge. It was fabulous. I am really taking to the cycling thing! Saturday we needed to give equal time to our mountain bikes so we had our first ride around the lake trails and Sunday was back to the road bikes. We were able to fit in a ride around the lake. It almost seemed like we had the road to ourselves. I think the weather deterred all other cyclist so the paths were our own!
Now on to the point of this blog... We had earned ourselves a nice dinner after burning all those calories. We decided on filets with scalloped potatoes a side salad and a great Pinot Nior. It was delicious.
I'll get to the recipes at the end. But first, let's get the title of this post out of the way and answer the question you have been asking yourself since I went on this wild tangent. The GRILL. We have had this tin can for 5 years. Before we were graced with this object that takes up room on our deck it belonged to the Roses. They gave it to us when they were upgrading to a bigger grill built for a family of 4. We were so excited to take this off their hands. We had just moved into our home and Susan just kept giving us stuff to fill up our empty square footage we had just purchased. You would have thought she had just given us a pot of gold. Oh man, we felt like we were large and in charge! The morning after the first night we used it (I wish I could remember what we made, hmm) I was walking down the stairs extremely excited for my cup of coffee when I see this little light outside on our deck. What the heck it that? I open the slider and hear this little blowing sound. You know, that sound the grill makes when the gas is on. The GRILL was still on!!! We had left it on all night long. Oh, our neighbors would have loved us, the "new" people just burned our entire complex down a week after they move in. Thankfully this didn't play out and we not only still have our home but that dang GRILL!! We have replaced every element on it trying to make it limp along. Grills are expensive, we needed to make this one last.
So this brings me to the dinner menu. I like my steak (well done). I know I am blushing as I write this. Filet mignon should not be cooked until it is as dark as a tire but I like it that way! Dave likes his the normal way. He put mine on 8 minutes before he put his on to ensure my happiness. The time goes off and Dave puts his filet on the grill thinking that for medium rare 4 minutes a side. The time goes off again and we take the steaks off to rest for the allotted time. The rest of our dinner is ready and we sit down to a beautiful table and Dave cuts into his steak, RARE. His steak is still mooing! Mine was nice and charred on the outside, just the way I like it and medium inside! Man, was Dave mad. He had to put his steak back on the grill for another 10 minutes. I know what most of you are thinking. 10 more minutes. But yes our grill is not like any other of its kind. It doesn't cook! So finally after I fed Dave the majority of my steak after eating around the middle and Dave had eaten his rarish hunk of meat we laughed and threatened that we would walk that GRILL down to the dumpster hence the name of this post Dead Grill Walking. We didn't end up doing this because we don't have a replacement quite yet but the days are numbered. We ARE getting a new grill!

I like have a sauce with my steak since I am still acquiring a taste for red meat. I decided on a Chimichurri sauce. It actually tasted really fresh with the steak.

Filet Mignon with a Chimichurri Sauce

2 filets coated with fresh pepper and salt

3/4 C of flat leaf parsley

1 t fresh oregano

2 garlic cloves

pinch of red pepper flakes

1/4 C evoo

1/2 t salt

3 T red wine vinegar

Place all ingredients in food processor and process until combined. Let stand for 1 hour before using.

Dave wanted either gratin potatoes or scalloped potatoes. I always shy away from these recipes because they are loaded with fat. I just can't bring myself to make them. I can eat them if they are served to me but I can't just seem to cook with cream in our house. So I searched on the Internet and combined a couple of recipes and came up with this nice little keeper. My main go to site is Eating Well. I absolutely love this magazine and consistently make their recipes.

Scalloped Potatoes Slimmed-Down

3 cloves of garlic

1 lbs potatoes (we used fingerling)

2 C low fat milk

1/4 C of a large onion chopped

1-2 T fresh rosemary chopped

1-2 T fresh Thyme chopped

1 t salt

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 C low fat sour cream

3 T freshly grated Parmesan

Cut 1 clove of garlic in half and rum over the inside of a gratin dish and coat dish with cooking spray. Mince remaining garlic. Combine garlic, herbs, onion, nutmeg, salt and milk in heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer, uncovered until potatoes are tender. Transfer potatoes to prepared dish using a slotted spoon. Transfer 1/4 cup of the milk mixture to a small bowl and whisk in sour cream. Pour over potatoes and top with Parmesan. Preheat broiler. Broil until golden brown and serve immediately.

Spicy Turkey Burgers

These may have hit the top of the list. I couldn't believe how good these were. Wow. I can't wait to eat the ones we froze! The pickles really made the burger so don't omit. We didn't add anything else to these. We even used the touch of mayo. No need for katchup or mustard, lettice or tomato. This recipe is from EatingWell.

Pickled Onions
1 cup red-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 small red onion, halved and very thinly sliced

Burgers
1 pound 93%-lean ground turkey
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper (used chilli pepper)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice1 teaspoon canola oil
4 whole-wheat buns, split
8 teaspoons reduced-fat mayonnaise

1. To prepare pickled onions: Whisk vinegar, brown sugar, salt and allspice in a medium glass bowl. Cover and microwave on High until the mixture boils, 2 to 3 minutes. (Alternatively, bring the mixture to a boil in a small saucepan on the stove.) Add onion and toss to coat.

2. To prepare burgers: Preheat grill to high. Place turkey in a medium bowl and gently mix in cilantro, cumin, ground chipotle, salt and allspice until distributed throughout the meat. Form the mixture into 4 patties. Brush with oil. 3. Grill the burgers until cooked through and no longer pink in the center, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Toast buns on the grill, if desired.4. Drain the onion, discarding the marinade. Spread 2 teaspoons mayonnaise on each bun; top with a burger and pickled onions.

Cleaning and Grilling

We are rushing to get the house cleaned and ready for Pete and Jenny, my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. We can't wait to have them to ourselves for a whole week!! We're heading out on an overnight raft trip down the Colorado this weekend so between cleaning the house and tearing apart the closets to prepare for the trip we had an interesting night of "cleaning". Thankfully I had taken a flank steak out of the freezer to thaw so dinner was a cinch and really tasty. At 8:30 we sat down to a juicy steak with a side of couscous and crisp sugar snap peas sauteed with a dash of sesame oil and of course a bottle of wine! Over dinner we made our grocery list and dinner menu for the week. I hoping to make the following- Lasagna, Black bean & Sweet Potato Burritos, Orange Tofu Stir-fry, Baked Chili Rellenos, Pizza, Pumpkin Ravioli, Sushi and Artichoke Linguine. Its going to be a busy week and I probably won't get to posting any of these until after they leave but I'm looking forward to the week ahead!

Spice-rubbed Flank Steak

flank steak trimmed
3 T brown sugar
2 t ground cumin
2 t ground oregano
2 t garlic powder
1 t salt
1/2 t ground allspice
3 T evoo

Mix sugar, spices and evoo and brush on both sides of steak. Let stand for at least 20 minutes. Grill to desired temperature. Since it has sugar in it make sure you keep your grill low so it doesn't burn; you will get a nice dark color. We grilled for 4 minutes per side. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into it. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. I found this recipe on Cooking Light- Southern Living.