Grilled Chipotle Chicken with Corn Fritters!

Made this dinner tonight and it was a success! My roommate likes it best with bites of chicken and corn fritters mixed together!! 

First up the chicken: 

A night before mix together the following (leave in a ziplock in the fridge overnight): 

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts 

1 tablespoon EVOO

1 chipotle chile (chopped)

1 tablespoon chipotle adobo sauce 

Juice of 1 lime 

1 garlic clove chopped

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon each salt & pepper

On the day you want to serve this dish, just grill the chicken (on the grill or inside on a pan) for 5-7 minutes each side. 

Now onto the star of this dish... Corn Fritters: 

You'll Need: 

2 ears of corn, cooked and cut off the cob (fresh corn is the best) 

2 eggs 

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro 

3/4 cup flour

Vegetable oil, for frying

Mix all the above together in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add a layer of vegetable oil to a small skillet or pan. Once it is hot drop in 1 tablespoon or so of the corn fritter. Cook 3 minutes on each side and flatter with a spatula. Make sure to serve them right away! 

Stuffed Mushroom Side

I usually only eat stuffed mushrooms on thanksgiving made by my mom. But I figured I would give them a try as a side to chicken, and they were awesome! I made this recipe up totally myself, so not much measuring was involved, but I think that's the best way to cook. 

Also an observation we made at dinner tonight is for the week we go through a entire head of garlic, thank god there on 50 cents! I guess that's what you get when you marry an Italian girl! 

What You'll Need: 

3/4 pound ground pork

1 egg 

1 big handful cup Italian breadcrumbs

1 big handful parmesan cheese

3 gloves of garlic (crushed) 

1 teaspoon parsley 

6 medium sided portobello mushrooms 

EVOO

What to do: 

1. Cook the pork on the stove until completely cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Then let the pork cool 

2. Mix together, cooked & cooled pork, egg, breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, parsley. Mix together (works best with your hands.. chefs best tool).

3. Wipe down each mushroom with a damp paper towel then remove the steam. Stuff each mushroom with the pork breadcrumb mixture, make sure to really pack it down. 

3. Place the stuffed mushrooms on a baking sheet, drizzle each one with EVOO and place in the over on 350 for 20 minutes. 

They come out golden and  delicious! 

Churro Cupcakes

When I get out of work at a normal time I usually have time to make dinner and blog but when I get out of work early you get dessert too. I've been really wanting to try fall type cupcakes so I was looking up recipes today and stumbled on Churro Cupcakes from the food network. 

Basically they came out awesome and I want it to be Cinco De Mayo.. today! 

The original recipe max 28 cupcakes so I cut the recipe in half here's what you'll need: 

Cupcakes: 

• 2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 3/4 cup of milk

For Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 stick softened butter
• 1/2 brick softened cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups confectioner sugar
• 1 teaspoon of milk

What to do: 

First Make the cupcakes. 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar.
3. Add eggs, one at a time. 
4. Beat in vanilla.
5. Add flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and pour in milk. 
6. I like to use an ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake tins. 
7. Bake 20 minutes on 350

 

For Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

1.  In a mixer, beat together butter and cream cheese. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon; add confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time until all is incorporated.
2. Add a small amount of milk when the icing is too thick. 

I like to use a plastic bag to create a piping bag 

Chipotle BLTS

My roommate is always complaining that he wants to eat more fish -> total sarcasm here, I've never met anyone who could eat lobster from a steak house, roots, smith and wollensky, whatever and say "That was ok." 

In order for my husband to get his seafood fix, tonight I made Chipotle Shrimp BLTs with  parmesan zucchini rounds. 

What You'll Need (4 sandwiches): 

• 1/2 pound large shrimp
• 1 lime
• 8 slices of bacon (cooked) 
• 1 tomato sliced
• 4 largest pieces lettuce 
• Chipotle Mayo (mix 1/2 cup of mayo with 1 tablespoon chipotle in adobo sauce)
• 8 slices of bread

What to do: 

Season shrimp with salt, pepper and lime juice and place in a skillet over medium heat with some oil and cook, 2-3 minutes per side. Once the shrimp are cooked, toast the bread and create an assembly line: 

Bread, little bit of chipotle mayo, slice of tomato and lettuce, 2 pieces of bacon, 4 shrimp, more mayo and top with other slice of bread. 

Pork Pot Stickers

Happy Sunday everyone.. 

Today we made homemade pork pot stickers and garlic honey slow cooked chicken! Asian Sunday if you will. The thing I learned while making pot stickers is that they are so simple to make and you can really fill them with anything, buffalo pot stickers to come?! 

The trickiest part of this meal is finding the won ton wrapper in the grocery store ha! I ended up asking the people behind the asian station in shop rite and they pulled out a bag of like 200 wrappers from the fridge for $5 dollars so look out for more pot-sticker recipes to come! 

Pork Pot Stickers

Slow cooked honey garlic chicken over rice

What You'll Need (to make 18 delicious pot stickers): 

• 1/2 pound ground pork 
• 1/4 cup of shredded carrtors
• 3/4 cup shiitake mushrooms (diced) 
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tablespoon hoisin
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 18 won ton wrappers (or more)
• vegetable oil
• Soy Sauce, for serving. 

What To Do: 

In a large bowl, combine pork, carrot, mushrooms, garlic, hoisin, and sesame oil. 

Place won ton wrappers on a flat surface, spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of pork into each wrapper. 

To close the wrapper you'll need to rub the edgers of with water and seal shut. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add vegetable oil -- fry the pot stickers one side at a time (2-3) minutes. then I finished them in the oven, 350 for 10 minutes to ensure they were cooked all the way through.