Author Archives: cookingwithcandi

Lemon Couscous with Chicken and Peas

Posted on July 26, 2013 | 1 comment

photo (8)DSCN0354DSCN0352photo (7)photo (11)photo (5)DSCN0355 Since starting this blog I feel the need to come up with some new and exciting meals and while I love the challenge some days are harder than others.  Around 4 pm. towards the end of my day I start to contemplate what I am going to cook. Lemony couscous with grilled chicken and peas!!! Love it!!! and there you go, it was so easy using very few ingredients and very yummy!   I used chicken breasts and threw them on the grill pan with a little olive oil , salt and pepper. If you really want to make this easy you can use a store-bought rotisserie chicken. You can also substitute any grain of your choice. I happen to love the Israeli couscous ( pearl couscous), it’s not as mushy and has a better texture for this dish especially. I also like to use organic lemons when I’m using the zest of a lemon. If it’s just the juice of a lemon I don’t get as nuts but I have to say I prefer the organic ones when I know I’ll be eating the skin of the vegetable or fruit.  Enjoy this one.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/3 cups Israeli couscous ( pearl)

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

Zest of 2 large lemons ( organic)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 – 1 teaspoon kosher salt ( start with less and you may need to add a little more) the parmesan is salty, and you’re salting the chicken.

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

4 green onions, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 lb. thin chicken breasts, a little olive oil and salt and pepper or use a rotisserie chicken breast

Directions:

On a baking sheet, brush chicken breasts with a little olive oil and lightly salt and pepper. The thin cutlets grill up very quickly app. 3 minutes per side. Grill and set aside. I cut chicken up into small pieces before adding them to couscous.

In a large saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the couscous and cook until lightly toasted , 2-3 minutes. Add the broth, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until the couscous is tender but still firm to the bite, app. 8 minutes.

I then stirred parmesan cheese into couscous along with the green onions, peas and cut up chicken. Taste for salt and pepper.

I plated it up and we totally enjoyed!

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Blueberry Banana Loaf Bread

Posted on July 24, 2013 | 2 comments

photo (3)photo (4)photo (2)photoI have the rotten bananas and this time of year I always have lots and lots of blueberries in the house. I was in the mood for a Bluebery Banana Bread cooked in a loaf pan that would be awesome for breakfast and late afternoon with an ice coffee. This came out looking a little brown and I was worried but once I cut into it, it was moist and sweet but not too sweet, really just the perfect combo of fruits. I used a whole pint of blueberries, and 2 mashed bananas. I actually had the bananas in the freezer , I had frozen them after they went bad last time. I removed bananas from freezer and they were very liquidy so I let them sit in the colander for a bit while I prepped the rest of the cake. They were perfectly fine though, and I highly recommend freezing bananas that have gone bad and you aren’t quite ready to bake with them yet. They’ll stay a while in freezer. I try to put 2 bananas in each baggie so I know how many are in there when I do go to bake.
In any event this bread came out great. I ate it for breakfast 3 days running. Did I add how really easy this was?

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed to yield about 3/4 cup of mashed banana

1 pint blueberries ( rinsed and dried)

*chopped walnuts, pecans etc. – I added pecan pieces to the batter for crunch

Directions:

you’ll need a loaf pan 9x5x3 . I spray with baking spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl beat the sugar, oil , eggs and vanilla until blended. Stir in the bananas and then fold in the blueberries and nuts if you’re adding them.  Add the dry ingredients and just stir until blended. Try not to crush the blueberries and don’t over mix, just till blended is good.

Pour the batter into the prepped loaf pan. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean from center of the loaf. I baked for an hour. Cool for a while then remove the loaf from the pan and cool completely .

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Posted in Baked Goods, bread, breads/cakes, breakfast, Breakfast Food, Cake

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Watermelon and Feta Salad

Posted on July 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

Sweet Watermelon and Salty Feta! what an awesome combo for my re-blog Monday. I first made this salad 2 years ago and we really did enjoy it. It’s perfect served alongside chicken, steak and fish. I like to add a little arugula to it as well. The contrasting flavors compliment one another beautifully. Enjoy and give it a go.

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Your first reaction to this combo is probably: Ew?!?! Why, oh why would anyone do this?!?! However, it is a delicious, cool, sweet and savory summer salad with real bite. I have to admit that when I put it out, my husband, Joel, first thought it was tomatoes, but I had to fess up before he would touch it (he is very, very picky). The feta got him (he’ll eat almost anything with feta on it). Well, low and behold, he liked it; and even helped himself to seconds. This is just a wonderful, different approach to summer salads. I hope you enjoy it and let me know how it goes for you.

INGREDIENTS:

3 lbs. watermelon, cut into small cubes (pits and rind removed)

6 oz crumbled feta cheese

1/3 cup toasted pecans or pignoli, whatever you like (toast nuts for about 5 minutes in oven at 400 degrees)

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Grilled Salmon — Asian Flavor

Posted on July 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

DSCN0287DSCN0283DSCN0282DSCN0280DSCN0295This is a go to salmon when I have no idea what to make but have already purchased the salmon.  I almost always have all the ingredients in the house, it’s an Asian sort of style because of the predominant flavor of the soy sauce. The honey and mustard give it a sweet and sour kind of punch, the garlic is just always good flavor to anything. This was our meal tonite with Green Goddess dressing and a BLT salad which I have already posted on my blog. This is a great meal for 1, 2 or as many as you’d like . Recipe as is will easily be enough marinade for 4- 6 pieces of salmon. For just the two of us I buy a pound of salmon fillets with the skin on, 2 8 oz. pieces.  I marinated for about an hour but you really only need about 20 minutes for flavor to soak in.

Ingredients:

Filets of Salmon , I usually buy 1/2 lb. piece per person with skin on

Marinade:

2 Tablespoons Dijon

2 Tablespoons Honey

3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

6 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 clove garlic, minced

Directions:

Whisk together the ingredients above. Drizzle about 1/2 of the marinade ( depending on how many pieces you have) onto the salmon and allow it to sit for at least 20 minutes.

Preheat your grill to high, then I lower the heat to about medium-high. Place the salmon skin side down on the grill; discard any marinade that the fish was sitting in. Grill for about 4-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the filet. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill for another 4-5 minutes. The salmon may be slightly raw in the center , but don’t worry because it will keep cooking as it sits.

Transfer the fish to a plate, skin side down, and spoon the remaining marinade on top. Allow the fish to rest for app. 5 minutes before serving. We like it with the skin on but you may want to remove first before serving. This fish is delicious with rice and served warm off the grill, at room temperature and delicious the next day cold.

Now if you don’t have a grill just put in a preheated 400 degree oven and cook for about 20 minutes, skin side down .

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Posted in Grilled Food/ BBQ, Healthy Cooking with Candi, salmon, seafood

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Herb Roasted Tomatoes and Chicken

Posted on July 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

When it’s so hot that you don’t want to step outside the air conditionied comfort of your own home this is a most perfect recipe to try. Fresh tasting , light and delicious . Enjoy!

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Blueberry Crumb Bars

Posted on July 15, 2013 | 2 comments

Monday re-blog and here is an awesome dessert to bake this week and put in the freezer for the weekend. If you have some time this week grab some of those amazing blueberries out there and bake this . Just another great blueberry dessert to make while those blueberries are so in season and abundant. I originally made this in the winter and had to settle for “not so in season blueberries” . Now I am going to bake this up with beautiful seasonal blueberries. I may even bake up two to keep in the freezer. I cut it up into bars and freeze them like that and take out whenever I want them. Yum ! Hope you have a great week and keep cooking with Candi.

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photo (2)photophoto (3)photo (4)photo (2)I did it again, I bought the large box of blueberries (not even in season) and said I am going to bake something with these. So before said blueberries go bad I better find a recipe and go with it. I combined a few recipes that I had , kept my fingers crossed, made a mess in the kitchen , used too much butter, and here it goes. Sometimes I just don’t feel like using electric mixer even though I seemed to use a lot of different mixing bowls for this one. I had seen another recipe for a blueberry crumble but it called for shortening, so I substituted butter. It’s a lot of butter I know, but how much can be in one piece? My plan is to eat a little of this and freeze the rest for when my family comes out next month. As I was cutting it…

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I love Curry-Chicken Salad

Posted on July 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

Here is my Monday morning re-blog. I am actually going to be making this for a luncheon I am hosting this week. I decided to make this because it is a delicious make a day ahead delicious chicken salad. Ingredients are all easy to find and it is pretty easy to assemble dressing in the food processor. I love curry chicken salad .

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I really love curry. I love the spicy warm flavor it has, and I love how it transforms this chicken salad from just any old chicken salad to chicken salad with kick. I went on a hike the other morning with 3 friends up to Hanging Lake in Glenwood Springs, we left early and were returning in the early afternoon and having lunch at my house. It’s lunch for girls who’ve just hiked for a few

hours, so you don’t need to be super diet conscious. It’s perfect for after hiking, and I have to say I can’t think of a time that it wouldn’t work just perfectly. I made it the night before and I will add the cashews right before serving. This recipe should serve 6 as it is, I cut chicken in 1/2 because we were only 4 and I had a quinoa salad and greens as well. I have been…

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Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Fresh Cherries and Lime Glaze

Posted on July 7, 2013 | 1 comment

Happy Fourth of July! Woke up this morning and wanted to bake something new to bring to our friend’s house this evening. Fresh cherries and a new cherry pitter so let’s bake a cake that we can incorporate these beautiful fresh cherries into. I also added buttermilk but you can use regular milk, I had the buttermilk in the house and I just thought it would be perfectly fine to use in this recipe and it was. I found this recipe awhile back and have made some changes to the original. This is cherry season and they are just amazing but if you can’t find fresh cherries you can always use frozen and they’re already pitted as an extra added bonus. DSCN0318DSCN0326DSCN0321photoWhat I actually did to make the pitting easier was to freeze the fresh cherries for a few hours, usually they will work well right out of fridge but it was even easier to pit them while they were a little bit frozen. It’s always a little scary when you offer to bake something for someone and it’s the first time you’ve actually baked it yourself. This was delicious. Pretty light and very tasty, and a beautiful presentation . We had a wonderful night with our friends and a very Happy Fourth of July.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lime juice

3/4 cup buttermilk or regular milk ( I actually take milk out of fridge so it’s not very cold )

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs ( room temperature please)

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cherries , pitted and cut into quarters ( fresh or frozen) I sprinkle a little flour over the cherries. (app. 1/2 a tablespoon of flour)

Glaze:

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Zest of one lime

3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

*if glaze is too thick add a little water, up to 1 tablespoon will probably do the trick, glaze did get a little thick so I did add tablespoon of water to thin out, use a whisk or a fork to get it going. You need to be able to spoon over cake so not too thick.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a standard bundt pan or just spray with Pam Baking Spray.

Combine lime juice and buttermilk in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the oil, eggs and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla extract, the baking soda and the baking powder. Beat well to combine. Turn the mixer to low and add half the flour , then add the juice and milk , then the remaining flour, beat until just combined.

Pour about 3/4 of the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Sprinkle the chopped cherries over the batter. Pour the remaining batter over the cherries, covering them completely.

Place the cake in the preheated oven on center rack and bake at 350 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes. I actually cooked for 43 minutes, using a cake tester that came out clean.

Remove cake from oven and allow to completely cool before glazing.

Combine all glaze ingredients until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake.

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Happy Fourth of July and the Pursuit of Happiness

Posted on July 4, 2013 | 5 comments

Happy Fourth of July !

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It’s the fourth of July again! Happy happy! Celebrating the fourth is always so much fun, bringing back memories of being a kid. Have fun, pursue a little happiness and please do check in on some of the recipes on my site that may help you celebrate the Fourth. Please subscribe for free and you will receive my emails and hopefully be inspired to cook something new. Happy birthday America!

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Orzo Salad – and a delicious red wine vinaigrette

Posted on July 2, 2013 | 2 comments

Here’s another awesome recipe for the summer. I posted this last July and if you’re looking for a wonderful cold salad for your barbque this Fourth of July this could be it. Play around with ingredients to your own liking, Red Wine Vinaigrette is awesome just the way it is. Enjoy and Have a wonderful Fourth of July.

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This is a wonderful recipe I am passing on, the original was from Giada de Laurentis and I’ve since doctored it up to suit my tastes.  Upon going to prepare recipe I realized that I didn’t have any garbanzo beans so I substituted red kidney beans.  Feel free to add and subtract ingredients and  do whatever you like with this delightful recipe.  Sometimes you feel like pasta but not really and this is it.   It is perfect at room temperature. What I mostly like about this recipe is that you can use what you have in the pantry and in the house. I have to say the mint and the basil gave it a wonderful fresh flavor and I wouldn’t omit them.  Super Fresh! The vinaigrette is delicious and fresh tasting as well, so give it a try. It also cooks up very quickly which is always a plus for…

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