Author Archives: cookingwithcandi

Tequila Chicken

Posted on August 21, 2012 | 1 comment

Tequila Lime Orangey Chicken! yum. I love this marinade , it’s full of citrus , spicy and savory. Almost everyone has a bottle of Tequila in the pantry right? I do and I can’t remember the last time I drank it, but I do cook with it. I used gold tequila , but didn’t use a very expensive brand. Be careful with the jalapeno, use gloves. I sometimes leave a few seeds because we like it hot, but remove all seeds if you don’t like it very spicy. This marinade packs a lot of flavor. I always let it marinade overnight. It’s an easy recipe and I make it on the grill mostly in the summer, delicious cold as well used in salad the next day if you have any left over. Original recipe calls for 2 lbs. of chicken, I use the thinner chicken cutlets because I prefer them. Use whatever you like. This marinade is also delicious on chicken on the bone, just use a chicken cut up in 8’s.  I use a plastic bag to marinate the chicken in fridge. Right before grilling, I put chicken on a plate and lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and a little freshly ground black pepper, this is important because the chicken needs the salt and pepper.  The original recipe comes from The Barefoot Contessa but I’ve taken liberties with it, thanks again to Ina. I also think that this would be awesome cut in strips and served with salsa , guacamole and some soft tortillas.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup tequila ( I use gold , but use what you have in the house)

1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice ( about 5 -6 limes)

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice ( 1 – 2 depending on the size of orange, get 2 in the event you need more)

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon minced fresh jalapeno ( seeded)

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic ( app. 3 cloves)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 lbs . chicken cutlets ( I used boneless, skinless) thin cutlets. You can use whatever you like

Directions:

Combine the tequila, lime juice, orange juice, chili powder, jalapeno, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. I used my mini chopper for jalapeno and garlic. Pour over chicken breasts and refrigerate overnight. As I said I put all ingredients in a large hefty ziploc bag.

Heat grill, and spray or brush rack with oil to prevent sticking ( which I always do) Grill the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side ( depending on what kind of chicken you are using) they should have nice marks and be browned. Turn the chicken and cook other side for the same. Remove from grill to a plate. Cover tightly with foil, and allow to rest for a couple of minutes.

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Posted on August 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

On her would be 100th ! And a perfect time to make this beautiful dish!

cookingwithcandi's avatarCooking with Candi

August and the farmer’s markets are bursting with the most beautiful vegetables. It is a perfect time for making ratatouille. Ratatouille is a classic French casserole stew consisting of eggplant, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini. I was in a book club and we had just read Julie and Julia. Of course, feeling super inspired, we all decided that we had to cook a dish from one of Julia Child’s cookbooks. Open up Mastering the Art of French Cooking and it’s a daunting task!

Summer’s Bounty Ratatouille

It was a few years back in the summer–August, actually–and I chose to make ratatouille. I started with a trip to the local farmer’s market and Julia’s recipe. While I do think her recipe is wonderful, I’ve made my own changes to it, and hope you will, as well. Since our vegetarian daughter was coming for a visit, I thought, what better time to…

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Zucchini Time Bread

Posted on August 15, 2012 | 2 comments

It’s that time of year again when zucchinis are everywhere. I love to use them in breads, muffins and fritters. This morning I baked 2 zucchini loaves with the help of this recipe. It takes a lot of ingredients but it’s worth it. With the help of a food processor the zucchini is shredded in no time. Zucchini came from my friend Shelly’s garden and they were beautiful. If you have a friend who has some get a hold of it, or just buy it from the market. Breads are awesome because you can freeze them and take them out and bring back them memory of that summer day you baked them.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup sugar

1 cup lt. brown sugar (packed)

4 eggs, beaten

3/4  cup vegetable oil

2 cups grated zucchini

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In one large bowl combine flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugars, and baking soda.

In another large bowl, combine * grated zucchini , oil , eggs and water.

Mix wet ingredients into dry , add nuts.

Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed well with nonstick spray I used Pam Baking Spray. Cook for about an hour, check after 50 minutes, use a cake tester till it comes clean. My breads took 55 minutes.

You can cook in mini loaf pans ( probably 5) for about 45 minutes.

*grating zucchini is so very easy with food processor grating blade. Just cut  pieces to fit into feed tube. It’s perfection.

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Posted on August 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

made this again for dinner last night, used fresh tomatoes from Farmer’s Market, didn’t make a bit of difference. This is a light, delightful very yummy meal. Very easy to prepare, just make sure you brown up the chicken with enough salt and pepper first. Enjoy.

cookingwithcandi's avatarCooking with Candi

This is a delightful  “what’s in the house ” kind of dinner.  Most of the ingredients in this recipe you’ll have on hand and are easily obtainable.   Enjoy this delicious light pasta meal–it’s perfect for a nice lunch, dinner, or brunch dish. Prep time is quick , about 1/2 hour start to finish.  This is really a beautiful meal in one bowl– protein and veggies.

*I cut this recipe in 1/2 this evening for just the 2 of us. This dish should feed 5 – 6 This recipe is delicious at room temperature or hot or even cold the next day. Wonderful left-overs are always a good thing.

Ingredients:

1 pound small pasta ( penne, rigatoni, I used Fusilli Bucati ) I like a small macaroni as opposed to spaghetti in this recipe. Boxes vary and sometimes a box of pasta is 12 oz. — which is fine

4 whole…

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Tomato, Corn and Avocado Salsa

Posted on August 12, 2012 | 1 comment

Three of my favorite things in the world in one bowl! Tomato, corn and avocado! All I do is chop up some very ripe tomatoes, and combine with raw corn kernels, and diced avocado, some chopped up fresh cilantro , and fresh lime juice .(about juice of 1 lime)  I like to add a little heat so I put in some minced fresh jalapeno or minced serrano chile. Season with salt and pepper, and there you go a delicious fresh salsa perfect alongside any piece of fish, chicken or just for snacking with chips! Let it sit in lime juice for a bit before serving. Use as much or as little of any of the ingredients. What a perfect side dish, what a perfect fresh raw salsa to serve on chips!  The possibilities are endless here. It’s all fresh and raw and wonderful. Did I mention super easy?

*also a little trick to take corn off the cob is to use your bundt pan, put corn right in the center hole and using your knife cut down from the top, this will prevent corn from flying all over the place and all kernels will just fall directly into the bundt pan. Don’t waste your money on those other corn removal gadgets, they don’t work as well as this.

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Posted on August 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Made this delicious pasta once again for dinner last night with chicken sausage , this really is so super easy and perfection in a bowl.

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This is a sauceless pasta. Very light, very tasty, and very easy to make. There aren’t a lot of ingredients, and it doesn’t take a long time to make. My husband, Joel, hates green things and loves this dish. And he even eats all the peas on his plate, which makes me very happy. A shout out to Giada de Laurentis for the inspiration here. 

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup olive oil

1 lb turkey sausages, casings removed (just squeeze all the meat out; I like Italian-style turkey sausage)

1 box of cremini mushrooms (Baby Bella), approx. 10 oz. (roughly chopped)

About 3/4 bag frozen peas (take them out of freezer about an hour before, just slightly thawed is perfect)

1 lb Farfalle pasta (bow ties)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Freshly grated parmesan, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a large, sauté pan, heat up two tablespoons olive oil…

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Curry Chicken Salad

Posted on August 9, 2012 | 1 comment

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 making this for many years and I don’t always put the celery in because I am not a big fan. The original recipe is from Barefoot Contessa, and once again thanks Ina.

Ingredients:

3 whole ( 6 split) chicken breasts, bone – in , skin on

Olive oil

Kosher Salt and Freshly ground black pepper

Dressing:

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise (Hellman’s or Best’s) are very good choices

1/3 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup chutney ( Major Grey’s) in a jar (pretty available)

3 tablespoons curry powder

*1 cup medium diced celery ( I don’t always use it b/c I don’t love) but go right ahead if you like raw celery in chicken salad

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup raisins ( I like the dark raisins contrast to salad, but golden ones work as well)

1 cup whole roasted salted cashews ( also optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast for 35 – 45 minutes depending on the size of the breast. Set aside the chicken once it’s cooked, and wait till it’s cool enough to handle. Once the chicken is cool , remove the skin and remove the meat from the bones, cut the chicken into large bite size pieces.

For the dressing, I used food processor. Combine the mayonnaise, wine , chutney, curry powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt in the bowl of processor. Process until smooth.

Combine the chicken with enough dressing to moisten well.  Add the scallions, *celery and raisins , and mix well. Refrigerate till ready to use but refrigerate for at least a few hours for flavors to blend. Add the cashews right before serving and best served at room temperature.

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Halibut with Chimichurri ( marinade/green sauce)

Posted on August 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

Joel always asks me to cook halibut, now you have to understand that he doesn’t really like fish, so this request is a bit odd right from the start. He says he likes halibut and I usually make salmon. He loves shrimp but that doesn’t count, I know he’s an ex-seafood guy but shrimp was really his thing not fish. So today I decided to honor his request and make halibut. It has never really appealed to me , it seems like such a bland white fish. I really spiced it up with this chimichurri , it was delicious. Chimichurri sounds so intimidating but it is just a green marinade. It is  usually made up of chopped fresh parsley, garlic, pepper and herbs bound with oil. I however decided to make it with cilantro not parsley. Obviously if you like cilantro do it this way, if not just use parsley. It was pretty easy and very tasty. I served it over rice pilaf and we had a side of tomatoes with balsamic syrup. You can also moderate the use of the crushed red pepper, since we like it spicy I used 3/4 teaspoon of the pepper, but use less or omit it all together. This was really pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice ( 1 large lemon or 2 small)

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon minced garlic ( not sure how many cloves, I lost track as I put them in mini processor)

1 tablespoon minced shallot ( about 1/2 of a large shallot) also used the mini processor for this as well

3/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes / crushed red pepper * obviously you can moderate this flavor by using less or omitting

3/4 cup chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley ( we love cilantro so I use that for a very different spin on this chimichurri

4  6 – 8 oz. fillets of halibut ( about 3/4 to 1 inch thick is the usual)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In a medium size bowl, put lemon juice, water, garlic, shallot, red-pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Whisk in the olive oil slowly, then add the cilantro/parsley . Let chimichurri stand for a minimum of 20 minutes, I usually make at least an hour ahead. You can make the chimichurri a day ahead and leave in the fridge till you need. Just take it out and get it to room temperature before using.

I used my outdoor grill for this but you can use an indoor grill pan or your oven. ( in oven I would probably cook at 400 degrees for about 15 – 20 minutes)

Pat fish dry with some paper towels, brush the vegetable oil on the fish ( skin side down) and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I placed fish on aluminum foil and put on grill ( high ) for 10 minutes.

I then poured some chimichurri on each piece and served it with rice pilaf. See pictures of finished product.

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Blueberry-Banana Muffins

Posted on August 4, 2012 | 1 comment

Love blueberries and love bananas. Blueberries are abundant now and super delicious and inexpensive. Bananas are always around and I always buy too many and need to figure out what to do with the rotten bananas. I realize there are a lot of ingredients in these muffins and just measuring it all out was a task, but I enjoyed it and it was well worth it. I will freeze a few for when I am in the mood for them but not in the mood to bake them. The recipe yielded exactly 12 decent sized muffins, in one pan.  This muffin mix is perfect, not too sweet which makes for a perfect breakfast muffin or snack muffin. I used buttermilk ( low fat) couldn’t find non fat , but if you can feel free to use it here. There are 2 eggs but no butter and only 1/4 cup of canola oil . The buttermilk allows you to cut way back on the butter and the oils. These muffins worked out perfectly. Just ate one for dessert!

Ingredients:

3/4 cups nonfat or low-fat buttermilk ( I used low -fat b/c I couldn’t fine nonfat)

3/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1/4 cups canola oil

2 large eggs (room temperature, and I used my little trick because I decided to bake at the last minute) just let the eggs sit in warm water for 1/2 hour.

1 cup mashed ripe bananas ( I used 2 medium sized bananas)

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt ( regular table salt)

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/4 cup blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I sprayed a 12 cup muffin pan with baking spray ( and they came out perfectly) you can also line with paper liners if you like.

Whisk together the buttermilk, brown sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the mashed bananas.

In another bowl, whisk whole-wheat flour all -purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined . Fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter into the 12 cup muffin pan till full.

Bake until the tops are golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

I baked for 25 minutes.

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Herb Roasted Tomatoes and Chicken

Posted on July 31, 2012 | 2 comments

    I love to use fresh tomatoes and herbs in my cooking, they are sweet and the roasting just intensifies their sweet flavor. I try to use fresh ingredients whenever possible, and during the summer there is so much to choose from. This is a light dish cooked in the oven, I used dry Herbes de Provence which is something everyone should have in their spice drawer. I used fresh tarragon which gave this dish amazing flavor, if you’re not into the tarragon flavor or just can’t get it I am sure fresh basil will work here just fine. I served with rice on the side . This is a keeper for sure. I got it from Bon Appetit magazine which has a treasure trove of delicious recipes.

    Ingredients:

    1 1/2 lb. cherry tomatoes or any small tomatoes

    6 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

    2 Tbsp. herbes de Provence

    1 tsp. kosher salt ( plus more for tasting)

    freshly ground black pepper

    1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

    1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts

    1 small shallot, minced

    2 Tbsp. red-wine vinegar

    3 Tbsp. flat-leaf parsley leaves

    3 Tbsp. fresh tarragon leaves

    Directions:

    Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine tomatoes, 2 Tbsp. oil and herbes de Provence in a large bowl. Season with some salt and pepper, toss to coat the tomatoes. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a large heavy ovenproof skillet , carefully add tomatoes to pan, oil may splatter. Transfer skillet to oven and roast tomatoes, give tomatoes a turn in about 10 minutes, you want tomatoes to burst and release some of their juices, total time should be 15 – 20 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer to a bowl and drizzle with Worcestershire sauce.

    Meanwhile, season chicken with 1 tsp. salt and pepper. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. Sear chicken on both sides until golden brown, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer pan to oven and roast chicken until cooked through, another 10 minutes or so. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest .

    Add remaining 1 tbsp. oil to same skillet, heat over medium heart. Add shallot and cook, stirring often , until softened , about 3 minutes. Deglaze pan with vinegar ( just put in vinegar) scraping up whatever browned bits are in the bottom of the pan, then add tomatoes and their juices and bring to a simmer , sauce will begin to thicken up, about 2 minutes or so. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper to your liking.

    Slice chicken, divide among plates. Spoon tomatoes and sauce over, garnish with fresh herbs ( tarragon and parsley) .

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    Posted in chicken, chicken and tomatoes, tomatoes

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