Hawaiian Chicken

A quick, delicious, sweet & sour dish that can be made with chicken, pork, tofu or fish!

Hawaiian Chicken 
1½ TBSP Red Bell Pepper & Garlic Blend  
2 TBPS Natural GSO  
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
4 pineapple slices 
salt & pepper to taste 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine Red Bell Pepper & Garlic Blend, GSO and salt & pepper in a bowl. Place chicken breasts in an oven safe dish. Pour marinade over the chicken and sliced pineapple atop each breast with 1 thin slice of butter on top of the pineapple slices. Cover and cook in oven until chicken is thoroughly cooked, about 30 minutes depending on thickness. Serve over rice with French cut green beans.

Freezer Meals Go Camping!

One of my very loyal Freezer Meal customers sent me a photo from her recent camping trip to Big Bear. They cooked up the Hawaiian Chicken we made at a Freezer Meal Workshop, disguised as Hawaiian Mahi Mahi. If you would like to make quick & easy meals at home...or camp, come to a Freezer Meal Workshop or order a Freezer Meal Bundle!

September's Freezer Meal Workshop

Just in time for back to school...Freezer Meal Workshops.

Stock your freezer with quick, delicious and healthful meals! Tame Dinnertime Chaos Save Time ~ Save Money ~ Have Fun Upcoming Workshop Dates & Menus Thursday September 23 @ 10 am or 6 pm in CULVER CITY

The cost is $40 ($35 if you are one of my Culinary Club Members). Thai Sesame Sun Butter Chicken & Noodles Kickin' Asian Stir-Fry Balsamic Chicken Drumsticks Lime Dill Fish Classic Shrimp Scampi

Marinated Steak Tips Honey Ginger Crusted Chicken

Chicken Marsala Summery Pasta

Bayou Pork Stir-Fry

Couple more things... if you do not live nearby and cannot attend these workshops, don't worry! You can still participate by using the recipes and creating them yourselves! Check out September's Freezer Meal Bundle. Contact me directly to order them!

Cast Iron Skillet Cooking

Food just tastes better when cooked in a cast iron skillet! It caramelizes food and creates the yummiest brown bits. We have several cast iron pans on Cuttyhunk and I have been loving cooking on them. The picture above is a saute of green beans and red onion from our CSA cooked in a little Butter and Garlic GSO with a sprinkling of CA Garlic Pepper. In another cast iron skillet I cooked delicious scallops sprinkled with our retired Seafood Seasoning and real butter and served with Scampi Rice. We devoured every single bite!

Lasagna

A good ol' Nor'Easter blew into New England this August and I thought it was perfect timing to make a hearty lasagna. It was delicious!! My 6 year old son ate three helpings the first night and then had it two more nights in a row! I loaded it with veggies so it was truly a one dish meal.

I made the lasagna using Giada's Bolognese sauce I cooked up earlier, and then just layered lots of yummy ingredients like this...

Layer of sauce on the bottom of casserole dish.

Layer of non-cook lasagna noodles.

Layer of cheesy mixture (15 oz ricotta, 2 eggs, 2 cups shredded mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan)

Layer of fresh spinach leaves.

Layer of sauce.

Layer of non-cook lasagna noodles. Layer of cheesy mixture.

Layer of fresh spinach leaves. Layer of sauce.

Last layer of noodles. Last layer of sauce.

Cover top with shredded mozzarella and parmeggiano reggiano.

Bake, covered, in a 375 degree oven until warm and bubbly, about 50 minutes and then uncover for another 5 minutes. (I actually cooked it, uncovered, at 350 for about 50 minutes as our oven on Cuttyhunk cooks high.)

Bolognese Sauce

This is one delicious bolognese from Giada!
I used it as a base for the most delicious lasagna.

Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (I used about 3 TBSP of Grapeseed Oil instead.)

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped

1 carrot, coarsely chopped

1 pound ground chuck beef

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (I used 2 cans!)

1/4 cup flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped

8 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano (I used Parmeggiano Reggiano)

Directions

In a large skillet heat the olive oil. When almost smoking, add the onion and garlic and saute over medium heat until the onions become very soft, about 8 minutes. Add the celery and carrot and saute for 5 minutes. Raise heat to high and add the ground beef. Saute, stirring frequently and breaking up any large lumps and cook until meat is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, parsley and basil and cook over medium low heat until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper. This will take approximately 1/2 hour. Finish bolognese with Pecorino Romano.

Chicken Vesuvio

It was cool and windy yesterday so I wanted to make something hearty and warm. Most everything I have ever made from Giada's recipes have been delicious and this was no different. I changed a few things by using either Wildtree's Perfect Pizza Seasoning or fresh lemon thyme instead of dried herbs, and canned artichokes instead of frozen ones. I served it with roasted asparagus and there were hardly any leftovers.

 

Chicken Vesuvio

3 tablespoons Wildtree's Natural Grapeseed Oil

4 chicken thighs with skin and bones (I used a family pack of boneless, skinless chicken thighs.)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pounds small red-skinned potatoes, halved

4 large garlic cloves, minced

3/4 cup dry white wine

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 teaspoons Wildtree's Perfect Pizza Seasoning (Giada used 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano and 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

8 ounces frozen artichoke hearts or 1 cup frozen lima beans, thawed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat the oil in large ovenproof pot over high heat. (I used my big Le Creuset Dutch Oven.) Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Working in 2 batches if necessary, cook the chicken in the pot until golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl. Carefully add the potatoes to the same pot and cook until they are golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the wine and stir to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the broth, oregano, and thyme. Return the chicken to the pot. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and bake in the oven until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Arrange the potatoes around chicken. Add the artichoke hearts to the sauce in the pot. Cover and simmer over high heat until the artichokes are tender, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Turn heat to low. Stir in the butter. Pour the sauce over chicken and potatoes, and serve.

Happy, healthy cooking!

To order any Wildtree groceries please go to www.jenwarr.mywildtree.com.

Here are a few of Giada's cookbooks that I love to use!