Grilled Tandoori-Style Chicken

Remember how I am loving grilling things this summer? When I came across this Indian recipe in my Savoring the Seasons from Our Best Bites I had to try it! I am not sure how authentic this recipe really is, but it sure tasted great to us!

Preparation Time: 10 minutes (plus 8-24 hours marinading time)
Grilling Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:

8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used chicken breasts and cut them up)
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 lemon, zested and then juiced
4 cloves chopped garlic
1/3 cup chopped white onion
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric

Instructions:

Place chicken in a large, heavy-duty ziplock bag.

Place all remaining ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Pour the mixture into the bag with the chicken and toss to coat all the chicken pieces.




Place in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 8 hours.

When ready to grill, preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Lightly oil grill grates to avoid sticking. Remove the chicken pieces from the bag and allow excess marinade to drip off. Place the chicken on the grill and close the lid. Let it cook 4-6 minutes before flipping chicken over. Then cook an additional 4-6 minutes on the other side. If you use a thermometer (like I do, allow the chicken to reach a temperature of 165*F (74*C).

Eat with some rice and/or naan bread and enjoy :)

Pork Chops and Spaghetti

There was a good sale on pork chops at our local grocery store, so I stocked up. Now I have lots of pork in the freezer and don't know what to make with it. I got on the internet looked up some recipes. This one stood out in particular because I really like Spaghetti and I had everything I needed and didn't have to go buy anything.

Ingredients:

2 large pork chops
Flour
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 cups (24 oz.) marinara sauce (homemade or purchased)
½ lb. spaghetti
Parmesan cheese (optional to top before eating)
salt
pepper

Directions:

Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops, then sprinkle flour over them to lightly coat.

Heat olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat

Place pork chops in the skillet and cook until browned on both sides.

After they are browned on both sides, pour marinara sauce in pan. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the pork is done all the way through.

While the pork is simmering, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti.

By the time your spaghetti is done and you have drained it, your pork chops are probably done. So get your plates and serve it up!

Lemon Garlic Chicken

I've been trying out lots of different ways to BBQ here because 1) It's summer, 2) Because it's summer, I don't like to use my oven a whole lot, and 3) It's so good!!

I kind of threw this recipe together a few weeks ago and my husband loved it! He keeps asking me to make it again. So I thought I would share it with you. Sorry there aren't any pictures, but I didn't think to take them at the time I made this.

LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN

Ingredients:

Chicken (I used 5 big chicken breasts and cut them in half... I can't remember how many pounds)
3/4 cup oil
1 cup lemon juice
2 TBS minced garlic
1-2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and marinade overnight (I actually ended up marinading it for 2 nights)
When ready to cook the chicken, preheat grill for a few minutes on high.
Place chicken on the grill and turn heat down to medium (You might have to turn it down a little more depending on how hot your grill gets). Grill on both sides until done.
I am not an expert on grilling, so I use a thermometer to check the temp of the chicken inside. It took about 10 minutes on each side to get to the right temperature.

Serve with a salad and enjoy!

Casandra's helpful hints:

Like I said, I am not an expert grill-er. But these are things that I have noticed while I've been grilling.
The less times I turn the chicken, the more moist it is.
Using tongs, instead of a fork, to turn the chicken tends to keep the juices in more.
I like to take the chicken off the grill and let it sit for a few minutes (like steak). It seems to distribute the juices all over.

Casandra's Guacamole

I don't know if it's the Mexican in me or what, but I always eat way more than my share when it comes to guacamole. There's lots of different ways you can make guacamole, but I this my recipe... well... I guess it's my dad's recipe, but I made a few changes :) Also note, that when I make this I usually just eyeball how much of something to put in and use my taste buds, so the measurements may not be exact.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 medium/large avocados

1/2 ripe tomato (chopped)

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 TBS cilantro (chopped)

1 small jalapeno (chopped--without the seeds)

1/2 green/red pepper (capsicum)

juice of a lime

salt and pepper to taste

Tortilla chips for scooping :)

Instructions:

Mash avocados in a bowl. Chop tomato, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and pepper and add to bowl. Add garlic, lime juice, and salt and pepper. Stir together and grab those tortilla chips and enjoy! 

You might want to double if you are having a party or if you love guacamole as much as I do :)

Arroz con Pollo (Dominican Style)

One of my best friends is Dominican. She was my roommate in college and I loved it when she made her Arroz con pollo. I have been wanting to make it for quite some time now, but she is one of the people who is naturally a great cook. She just adds spices, tastes it, etc... so it was hard to get a recipe for this. She sent me this link and said that it's similar to how she makes it. I thought I would try it. The chicken was so good! The rice was alright, so I made a few changes.

Preparation Time: 25 minutes plus at least 1 hour marinating time
Cook Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients:

4 lbs Chicken (I used 10 chicken legs)
2 cups long grain rice
3 cups water
1 green bell pepper (capsicum)
1 red bell pepper (capsicum)
1 onion
3 cloves of Garlic
1/2 cup fresh cilantro (coriander)
2 limes
2 Tbsp Spanish Olives
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Salt (for marinade)
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Oregano
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Vinegar
2 Tbsp Sugar

Instructions:

First you want to soak the chicken while you prepare the marinade. Put it in some water and 1/2 cup vinegar.

 Prepare the marinade by chopping up your ingredients and combining all the ingredients (peppers, onion, garlic, cilantro,  lime juice, Spanish Olives, Worcestershire Sauce, Salt, Pepper, Oregano, and chicken) in a Ziplock bag. Let it marinade for at least an hour. I ended up letting mine marinade for 2 nights because we got invited to dinner the night I was going to cook this.

When you're ready to cook. Heat the oil and sugar in a pot.

When it starts to caramelize and gets dark add just the chicken to the pot (Don't discard the marinade!)

 Cook the chicken for 10 minutes, then turn over to the other side and let cook until the juices have reduced down. You might have to gently stir every once in a while so the chicken doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Once your chicken is brown and cooked through (about 20-30 minutes), add the marinade to the pot. Lightly cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pot and add 3 cups of water, 2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper. Let it come to a boil and add the rice. Once the rice has absorbed most of the water, cover and let it continue to cook on medium/low for 20-30 minutes.

The rice should be fluffy when you return to the pot. Return the chicken to the pot (on top of the rice), cover, and let it heat through for 5-10 minutes, then serve.

Rice Bowl

So remember how I really like Rumbi's? Well I wanted to make their rice bowl that I usually get. I found this recipe for some pork, used the Rumbi rice recipe and added veggies and Teriyaki sauce (bought from the store) and there you have it... instant rice bowl :)

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

This meal can be as easy as you want it, or as hard. It's easiest if you use left over meat. Then all you have to do is cook the rice and veggies.

Ingredients:

Meat of choice
Rumbi rice (or white rice)
Vegetables
Sauce of choice

I used broccoli, onions, carrots, and red peppers (capsicum) for the veggies.

Instructions:

Start with your rice, add the meat and veggies, top with your sauce and you have a rice bowl. :)

Enjoy!

Dutch Oven Aussie Pizza

When we first got to Australia, our days would be really long that when we got in, I didn't really want to cook anything. So one nights we got on the phone and ordered a pizza. We decided to order an "Aussie Pizza" because we had never had it before. Turns out it's a pizza with egg and ham on it. We have made it a couple of times before just in the oven. At our family reunion last weekend, we had dutch oven pizza and that was on our minds! So we decided to make an Aussie pizza in the dutch oven.

Ingredients:

Shredded ham (or deli style ham and layer it)
2 Eggs whisked together
Cheese
Marinara Sauce
Pizza dough*

*I Love using this recipe, but you can go buy it or use your own recipe.

Instructions:

Spray dutch oven with pam

Place pizza dough in the bottom.

Layer with sauce, eggs, ham, and top with cheese. (You might notice from the picture that I did it backwards... that's because sometimes I forget what I am doing. Either way you do it, it tastes good, but it's better when put the eggs on the bottom).

Cook in dutch oven for 30 minutes at 375*F (About 14 cols)

Note: If you don't have a dutch oven or don't want to do it, simply follow the directions but put it on a pizza sheet or on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 500*F for 10-15 minutes.