Month: April 2020

What I’m cooking this week…

~ jenthornfit ~ Leave a comment

In an effort to maintain some level of sanity (and let’s be honest, avoid having to clean my kitchen again), I’m only going to cook 3 nights a week and we will make do with leftovers now and again!  I had a ton of chicken in our deep freezer so it will be a week heavy on chicken but that’s okay!  It will still be easy and delicious.  Here’s what’s on the menu:

Monday: Roasted Chicken with White Beans served with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Wednesday: Beer Brats with Roasted Onions & Peppers served with Caesar Salad

Friday: Linguini Alfredo with Italian Chicken served with Green Beans

Here’s the first two recipes!

Photo courtesy of Olive & Mango


Roasted Chicken with White Beans served with Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Recipe from Olive & Mango

Ingredients

2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons capers with brine

8 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

½ tsp oregano

8 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)

1 large lemon, zested then thinly sliced, seeds removed, plus extra for serving

1-2 whole heads of garlic cut in half horizontally

4 tbsp of white wine (optional)

⅓ cup of chicken broth or water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp chopped scallions

2 tsp chopped dill

Directions

Preheat to 425°F. Toss beans, and capers and lemon zest in a 13×9” baking dish and spread out evenly on bottom of pan and season with salt and pepper.

Pat chicken dry and season with salt, pepper and oregano.  Spread 1 tsp. mustard on skin of each chicken thigh and nestle, skin side up, into beans and capers. Arrange lemon slices under and around chicken then arrange garlic head halves in pan and add enough water (about ⅓ cup) to come up sides of chicken by ½”. Drizzle chicken with oil and season whole dish with a little more salt and pepper.

Roast chicken, stirring and shaking dish halfway through, until skin is browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 165°F, about 45-50 minutes.

Transfer chicken, beans, lemon slices, and capers to a serving platter. Toss the beans with the fresh parsley dill and scallions and serve with chicken and extra lemon wedges.

Bonus – serve with chopped preserved lemon for more lemony zing

Photo Courtesy of Cravings of a Lunatic

Beer Brats with Drunken Peppers & Onions and Caesar Salad
Recipe courtesy of my husband – it’s his favorite

For Brats:
– 3-4 cans of beer (we prefer lager)

– 1-2 packages of beer brats

– 1 red pepper sliced

– 1 green pepper sliced

– 1 onion sliced

Put everything together in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat and let simmer for 45 mins. Meanwhile, heat grill and grill outside of brats or fry on stovetop until brats reach desired crispness. Drain veggies from beer liquid and sauté in brat pan until edges are just browned. Serve with your favorite toppings – sauerkraut, relish, ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce. We paired with a Caesar salad and our favorite litehouse organics Caesar salad dressing!

Waste not, want not…

~ jenthornfit ~ Leave a comment

We all have them, those random baggies and tupperwares of food leftover from recipes where we didn’t quite use everything…half a cucumber, a few stray carrots, maybe some random slices of cheese, and leftover salmon from dinner the night before. On their own it doesn’t seem like much, but together (strategically plated), it can make for a delicious, nutrient dense meal for your family – enter the snack lunch or snack dinner! And don’t worry about things that seemingly “don’t fit together,” consider this your art project for the day: there are no rules, just make it look pretty.

Typically when creating a snack lunch or dinner, I pull everything out of my fridge that doesn’t really have much leftover or that I’ve used a portion of. I’ll lay it all out on my countertop and think about what pairs together well. For example, yesterday I had some leftover smoked salmon, half a cucumber, and some cream cheese. I spread the cream cheese on the slices of salmon, then wrapped them around narrowly sliced and peeled cucumber.

When I served this at lunch time, my son Ethan proclaimed “cucumber in a blanket!”. I also threw some random leftover fruit, nuts, pita chips, and anything else I could find to make it look pretty (that’s a key element here).

In an effort to not throw away any food, we’ve been trying to repurpose any stray leftovers for our snack lunch trays. The kids love it because it creates a family dining experience and encourages them to play with their food. When creating a healthy relationship with food, it’s important as parents we teach our children that food should be FUN! I love serving my kids this way because we talk about the textures, the hard foods, the soft foods, the colors, and then I get to watch their creativity come alive! Last week we sliced up leftover cucumbers and halved grape tomatoes – they decided to make “cucumber hats” and completely devoured the entire plate of veggies. If there’s anything I’ve learned about instilling a healthy relationship with food in your children and ensuring that they have a broad and healthy nutrient-rich diet, it’s to serve foods creatively. Perhaps they don’t like tomatoes in a salad, but “cucumber hats” are fun for everyone!

Remember, especially during our current circumstances, no fuss meals are a great way to ensure your family is eating nourishing food without much effort!

Fluffy Pancake Secret Weapon: Buttermilk

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If you follow me on social media, you have probably been watching our adventures through pancake land.  We’ve found 100 different ways to make a pancake, but here’s the recipe we’re currenty using as our base.  We change the toppings, add fruit, even veggies (we made a spinach pancake two weeks ago, but shhh, don’t tell my kids I snuck spinach in there, wink wink).  The secret to the best, fluffiest, delicious pancakes ever???  Buttermilk?  Don’t have any?  No problem!  Substitute regular milk, and for every 1 cup of milk add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or distilled white vinegar. 

Best Buttermilk Pancakes
Recipe from Mom on Timeout

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp granulated sugar

2 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract optional

Instructions

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl or, as I frequently do, a large glass measuring cup. Whisk in the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla extract just until combined. Some small lumps are okay.

Let pancake batter rest for 10 minutes. Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray OR brush with butter or oil. Ladle 1/3 – 1/2 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Flip the pancakes over when small bubbles appear on the surface and continue cooking on the opposite side until golden brown. Serve with butter and syrup. Enjoy!