Everyday Chef March 2020 Class 1 - Chicken or Fish or Eggplant - 3 variations on 3 recipes!4/6/2020
 All totaled, in an hour of prep and cooking, the group made 9 different main dish variations, side dishes and rounded the meal out with a salad of mixed greens, apple, oranges, walnuts and avocado with 3-2-1 Dressing. All sat down to a meal together and enjoyed the success of their efforts and fabulous variety of flavors. Many thanks to Chef Adam Carlson for volunteering his time and talent. Everyday Chef appreciates support from Food Lion, their wonderful selections (including organic) and friendly atmosphere. Crunch Oven Chicken Strips (or Fish or Eggplant!!) 1/2 cup all purpose whole wheat flour 1/2 teaspoon of salt pepper 4 eggs (or flax seed egg substitute) 2 pounds of chicken breast or fish filet cut into strips, or medium eggplant in 1/2 inch slices 1/2 dried bread crumbs 1/2 cup cornmeal 1 teaspoon dried basil 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. 2. Sift or stir flour, salt, and pepper together in a shallow dish. Set aside. 3. In another bowl, combine bread crumbs with cornmeal and basil. 4. In a third bowl, crack eggs, separate the whites from yolks and whisk whites lightly. 5. To bread the chicken strips, dip first into flour, shaking off any excess, then into egg whites, then into bread crumb mixture. 6. Spray a shallow baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Lay chicken strips flat in the dish, tucking under any thinner ends of edges for a more even bake. 7. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes - check temperature (Chicken needs to be baked to 165 degrees). **To substitute this recipe with 2lbs of fish fillets, follow the same instructions except bake for 8-10 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. **To substitute this recipe with eggplant, slice the eggplant and follow the same instructions. Baking at 375* until eggplant is fork tender.  THAI BLACK RICE SALAD 8 servings 2 cup Thai black rice (or other whole grain rice blend) 1 tsp sea salt ¼ cup chopped onion 1 red pepper (diced) 1½ cups, pineapple peeled and diced 3 green onions (sliced) 1/4 cup cilantro (chopped) 1/2 cup toasted cashews 1/4 cup soy sauce (low sodium) 2 lime (juiced) 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil DIRECTIONS 1. Cook the rice as directed on the package with 1/2 tsp salt and ¼ cup onion. 2. Cool cooked rice. 3. Mix the black rice, red pepper, pineapple, green onions, cilantro, and cashews in a large bowl. 4. Mix the soy sauce, oil, lime juice and zest in a small bowl. 5. Pour mixture over rice and toss. Put Thai black rice over mixed greens INDIAN FUSION STYLE CHICKEN or shown in homepage picture with EGGPLANT/PORTABELLO
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast cut in 1” chunks 1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken thigh cut in 1” chunks (or 3/4" cube one large eggplant and slice 2 large portabella mushrooms) One medium size onion chopped 3 cloves garlic chopped 1 16 oz can diced tomatoes 1 16 oz can chickpeas drained 2 bay leaves 1 tsp coriander 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp Garam Masala 1 tsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp turmeric 1 Tbsp canola or olive oil DIRECTIONS **Important, the peppers and onions need to be sliced very thinly!!! 1. Heat oil in pan. Brown garlic and onion lightly. (Or, see below to sauté without oil***) 2. Add chicken and start to sear. Cook 3-5 minutes. 3. Add dry seasoning and stir well. Sear 1-2 minutes more. 4. Add tomatoes and chickpeas and lemon juice. 5. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes. * To sauté without oil, heat your pan to medium, then throw in your onions - theywill give up their own moisture for cooking; if additional moisture is needed, you can use vegetable broth, apple cider, white wine, water, whatever. Have fun cooking these recipes, and then create your own variations, using different ingredients and spices!
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By Dr. Elizabeth George My husband and I were getting the garden ready to plant today. (This early we can put in the spinach, lettuce and potatoes). We got the fence mended (we have deer friends and worse, we have a dog, Frodo, who loves to dig up potatoes and eat them!)
That got me to realizing that the summer crop will be coming in before too long, and I haven’t used everything in the freezer. Well, lets make a dent in it tonight. Frozen veggies roast just as easily as fresh – though this is the first I’m trying my frozen potatoes. I gathered up my broccoli, heirloom string beans, potatoes and kale from the freezer. (I also set out a frozen tomatoe sauce – it will work well later this week to add to leftovers –and , yum, throw in some Quinoa).
Meanwhile, I’ll also chop up the fresh veggies. Also, I’ll get the frozen veggies out of the oven in about 15 minutes and see if they can be cut a little smaller.
Sun chokes add a nice zing to potatoes dishes – kind of like parsnips and turnips and kohlrabi do. They are also yummy slivered raw on most any kind of salad – they add a nice crunch and flavor. I cut the carrots in 1- inch pieces – they’re slow cooking so smaller is better. I noticed the onion was actually a scallion (?) – slivered it and spread it over the rest so the flavor could sink in.  And then I opened the spice drawer and looked around to see what inspired me. Oregano jumped out first – shake it on, then cumin, and then dill seemed right and finally pepper. I’m not entirely sure how I decided on these – and we’ll see how they taste! Finally I topped it with some garbanzo beans – but didn’t have as many as I wanted, so I opened some lentils and added a cup. Also I got the frozen kale out and broke off a handful and crumbled it on top of everything; it will come out crispy and delicious. I put it back in the convection oven at 300. (Notice that I did not add any oil to all this. I prefer to get my healthy plant fats from the plants themselves – rather than expressed and extracted into an oil with nutrients and fiber missing. And the bonus is, it’s soooo easy to clean the dishes!  While it’s cooking I’ll make some notes about adding the legumes – garbanzo beans and lentils. They are a wonderful source of protein, magnesium, iron and fiber and many other nutrients. They help diabetics (or anyone for that matter) regulate their blood sugar. Also, they help your blood vessels produce nitric oxide which helps arteries relax, “vasodilate”, be “unsticky”, and reduces inflammation; all of this is wonderful of course for your circulatory system and everything it serves – AKA your whole body! Of course every veggie in this dish with all their different colors adds potassium, a variety of vitamins and other antioxidants, minerals, fibers and more than we’ll ever know!!  Time to taste!! A yummy success – what’s really cool is I can taste the distinctive flavor of each of the different veggies and beans, while they all go well together. Also, all the different veggies maintained their own textures – some are crisper than others, nice!. Tomorrow night I’ll cook some of these up with Farro and that yummy tomatoe sauce thawed from last summer.
Coming soon on our next blog "The standing desk!" |
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