Matcha (a green tea powder) and lemon olive oil gives the chicken a very laid back vibe in this dish. Cooling yogurt sauce and rice pair perfectly with it. If you don’t have lemon olive oil, use regular olive oil with a teaspoon of lemon juice for each tablespoon of oil.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Lemon Matcha Chicken with Yogurt Cilantro Sauce

 

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Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• ½ teaspoon matcha powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• ¾ cup Greek yogurt
• top of 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 packed tablespoon of fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon lemon olive oil
• Rice

Instructions

1. Rub the chicken with olive oil, matcha and salt and pepper to taste and allow to marinate between half an hour and an hour.
2. Cook chicken on the grill or saute in a pan until it is cooked through (165 degrees).
3. While it's cooking, mix yogurt, scallion, cilantro, oil, salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.
4. Serve with rice.

3.2.2929

Matcha (a green tea powder) and lemon olive oil gives the chicken a very laid back vibe in this dish. Cooling yogurt sauce and rice pair perfectly with it. If you don’t have lemon olive oil, use regular olive oil with a teaspoon of lemon juice for each tablespoon of oil.   5.0 from 1 … Read more →

I’m excited to announce the release of my new ebook, The Original Muffin Tin Cookbook!  Several years ago, I wrote The Muffin Tin Cookbook for a large publisher. That edition is now out of print. Lots of people have emailed me asking how to buy it. Due to popular demand, it’s now back as an ebook. All the same great recipes are here. This was the very first book about muffin tin cooking ever published, so I’m happy to be able to bring it back.

The book includes recipes for entrees, appetizers, veggies, sides, potato and rice dishes, muffins, mini-pies, cupcakes, snacks, and much more.

Muffin tin cooking is easy and fun. It’s a great way to get your kids involved in cooking. Kids are willing to try new foods when they are presented in the shape of muffins – something they already love. Muffin tin cooking makes portion control easy for adults also. One muffin cup is one serving. The portions are easy to freeze as well.The book offers recipes for regular size muffin cups, mini and jumbo. There’s also lots of information about the types of muffin tin liners and pans to choose from (so many options!).

Enjoy the book yourself or give it to your mom, your sister, your college kid, your single brother or friends with kids.

This book was so much fun to write and I still often make the recipes from it. I hope you will enjoy it!

I’m excited to announce the release of my new ebook, The Original Muffin Tin Cookbook!  Several years ago, I wrote The Muffin Tin Cookbook for a large publisher. That edition is now out of print. Lots of people have emailed me asking how to buy it. Due to popular demand, it’s now back as an … Read more →

If you go to Nassau, you’ll want to be sure to visit Arawak Cay, just outside town, a little group of restaurants also called The Fish Fry. Here you’ll experience native Bahamian food, including fried fish and conch and peas and rice. If you’ve never had peas and rice, it’s not what it sounds like. It’s made with pigeon peas, similar to black-eyed peas, coconut milk and spices and sometimes, ham. It’s a very tasty dish. It also turns out that it’s the perfect vehicle for leftovers. I had leftover rice, leftover ham, and leftover veggies hanging around. All I needed was a can of black-eyed peas and some other pantry items and this super quick dish came together for a weeknight meal.

Leftovers: Bahamian Peas and Rice

 

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Ingredients

• 1 slice bacon, chopped
• ½ medium onion, chopped
• ½ stalk celery, chopped
• 2½ cups cooked rice (any kind - I used a mix of brown and wild)
• 1 can 15 oz can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
• ¾ cup chopped cooked carrot
• ½ of 15 oz can coconut milk
• ½ cup chicken broth
• salt and pepper
• leaves from 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• ¾ cup diced ham

Instructions

1. Cook the bacon in a large skillet or pot until it begins to brown. Add onion and celery and cook until onion is translucent.
2. Stir rice, black-eyed peas, carrot, coconut milk and chicken broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in ham.
3. Cook until liquid is absorbed and celery is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

3.2.1249

If you go to Nassau, you’ll want to be sure to visit Arawak Cay, just outside town, a little group of restaurants also called The Fish Fry. Here you’ll experience native Bahamian food, including fried fish and conch and peas and rice. If you’ve never had peas and rice, it’s not what it sounds like. … Read more →

Quick dinners have been needed around our house lately. My mother-in-law is in a rehab facility and we visit her every night after dinner. I need to be able to work a full day, get something on the table and hopefully get home in time to have a few minutes to catch up on email or have a little me time. This new schedule is a challenge, but I won’t skimp on dinner. Instead, I’ve been making some quicker things that don’t require a lot of time. This recipe is ready in the time it takes to boil spaghetti. I’ve adapted it from a recipe I ripped out of some unknown magazine. Wish I could say which one, but there’s no identifying features on it.

Quick Pasta Dish: Spaghetti with Bacon and Artichokes

 

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Ingredients

• ½ package of bacon, diced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 tbsp chicken broth
• 12 ounces frozen artichoke hearts
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• ½ lb spaghetti (I used gluten-free)

Instructions

1. Cook the spaghetti until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water to use in the pasta.
2. While the pasta cooks, cook the bacon in the oil over medium high in a large skillet until it is cooked through and brown. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook until softened. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the wine and broth. Bring to a boil and add the artichokes and cook until they are hot.
4. Once the pasta has cooked, stir the reserved cooking water into the sauce, and bring the sauce to a boil, whisking in the cheese and stirring in the parsley. Add the pasta and serve with additional cheese for topping.

3.2.1249

Quick dinners have been needed around our house lately. My mother-in-law is in a rehab facility and we visit her every night after dinner. I need to be able to work a full day, get something on the table and hopefully get home in time to have a few minutes to catch up on email … Read more →

Sometimes I try to make Sunday dinner (roasts or pot pies, things that feel sort of homey), but who feels like spending tons of time doing dishes on a Sunday night? Not me. By Sunday night I’m trying to reserve my energy for the busy week ahead. This past weekend, I made a spinach stuffed pork roast, but I did it in parchment paper and it was fantastic! My mom always says that the pork you can buy today is nothing like it used to be. She always says it is too dry. Well, this recipe is not dry at all. The parchment seals all the moisture right in the roast, and the best part is there is no roasting pan to scrub!

Spinach-Stuffed Pork Roast in Parchment Paper

1 boneless pork roast (1.25-1.5 lbs)

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 yellow onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

3 slices whole wheat sandwich bread, ripped into small pieces

1/4 teaspoon dried sage

8 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1/8 teaspoon dry mustard

2 tablespoons beef broth

Butterfly the pork roast (cut through the center from one of the long edges, but stop before you get to the opposite side). Open it like a book. Season the pork roast with salt and pepper. Mix all other ingredients, with salt and pepper to taste, in a bowl and place 2/3 inside the roast. Close the “book” and place the roast on parchment paper (see Technique tab on this site for instructions about size and folding). Place the additional stuffing on top of the roast. Fold the parchment and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Open the parchment packet (fold the edges down or cut them off) and return to the oven for about 10 minutes. Allow the roast to rest about 5 minutes before carving.

It came out delicious, moist and filled with flavor. I even ate some of the leftovers cold the next day for lunch and they were amazing!

Sometimes I try to make Sunday dinner (roasts or pot pies, things that feel sort of homey), but who feels like spending tons of time doing dishes on a Sunday night? Not me. By Sunday night I’m trying to reserve my energy for the busy week ahead. This past weekend, I made a spinach stuffed … Read more →

I was in the mood for something Mexican, but enchiladas have that messy pan to deal with! Instead, I made this great (and easy!) recipe in parchment.

You can either use purchased guacamole or make your own easy substitute:

Lazy Man’s Guac

Smash one avocado and top with the juice of 1/4 a lime and mix. Add half of a 15 ounce jar of mild salsa and 3/4 cups of light sour cream and mix.

Chicken with Guac

For each serving, place one boneless skinless chicken breast on a piece of parchment (see Technique page of this blog for parchment and folding instructions). Season it with salt and pepper. Place 1/2 cup of the guac on top then 1/2 cup arugula. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons Mexican grated cheese mix (or just use Cheddar or Jack). Fold the parchment and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. 5 minutes before the timer goes off, spray a taco tortilla with cooking spray and set it on the baking sheet or rack next to the packet. When you take the chicken out, slice the tortilla into thin slices and top the chicken with it once you open the packet.

My family loved this and no one even knows there is arugula in it which is great if you’re trying to sneak more veggies into your kids.

I was in the mood for something Mexican, but enchiladas have that messy pan to deal with! Instead, I made this great (and easy!) recipe in parchment. You can either use purchased guacamole or make your own easy substitute: Lazy Man’s Guac Smash one avocado and top with the juice of 1/4 a lime and … Read more →

I’m definitely in my cozy winter cooking mode and craving warm, comforting dishes. This cooked up quickly for a great weeknight dinner. I heated up a loaf of bread and cooked some carrots and dinner was done.

1 1lb pork tenderloin, cut into 8 pieces

1 cup sauerkraut

sage

1 apple, cored and cut into 8 slices

cinnamon

salt and pepper

1/4 cup cider

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 400. Spread the sauerkraut out on a large piece of parchment, in a space large enough for the pork. Cover with the pork. Season pork with a pinch of sage sprinkled over it. Top with apple slices. Season with salt and pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. Mix cider and cornstarch and pour over and around the food. Seal the packet and bake for 20-25 minutes until a meat thermometer says the pork has reached 145 degrees. Allow the packet to rest about 5 minutes before opening and serving. Serves 4.

I’m definitely in my cozy winter cooking mode and craving warm, comforting dishes. This cooked up quickly for a great weeknight dinner. I heated up a loaf of bread and cooked some carrots and dinner was done. 1 1lb pork tenderloin, cut into 8 pieces 1 cup sauerkraut sage 1 apple, cored and cut into … Read more →

New year, new resolutions for many of us. If yours is to simplify, eat more healthfully, or cook more at home, parchment paper packets can help you!

Here are some tips to get started with parchment paper cooking, which will allow you to cook with ease with no clean up, producing healthy, yummy dishes in a flash:

• When in doubt, cut the piece of parchment bigger than you think you need. You can always trim it or just fold it, but if you start out with it too small, it’s hard to work with.
• When you head into the kitchen to cook, ask yourself if you can make the dinner you had planned in parchment. You can convert just about any dish to parchment cooking. For starters, check out my book, The Parchment Paper Cookbook for 180 ideas.
• Remember that when cooking in parchment you don’t need to add more than a few drops of oil, butter or fat. Your food cooks in its own juices and steams inside the packet.
• For the prettiest results, stack your ingredients with the most colorful on top.
• You can brown your food by opening the packets, folding the paper edges under or cutting them off and quickly broiling while keeping an eye on the packet. Parchment singes but does not burn, but you should still keep an eye on it.
• Twist the ends of your packets to easily seal them. I find this to be the simplest and most effective method. See the Technique page of this blog for details.
• Remember you can recycle or compost your parchment!

I’ll be adding more delicious parchment packet recipes soon after a holiday break. Check back soon!

New year, new resolutions for many of us. If yours is to simplify, eat more healthfully, or cook more at home, parchment paper packets can help you! Here are some tips to get started with parchment paper cooking, which will allow you to cook with ease with no clean up, producing healthy, yummy dishes in … Read more →

This fall dish would be perfect for Thanksgiving if you’re still looking for a side dish! It’s got lovely flavor from the apple and orange juice and the cinnamon warms it up. This is adapted from a recent recipe in Everyday Food Magazine.

I large parsnip, peeled and sliced thinly

1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced thinly

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp orange juice

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Salt and pepper to taste

pinch of onion powder

Place the parsnips and apples on the parchment. Sprinkle oil, orange juice and spices on top. Toss with your hands to combine. Fold the paper (see Technique page) and bake at 400 for 45 minutes.

This fall dish would be perfect for Thanksgiving if you’re still looking for a side dish! It’s got lovely flavor from the apple and orange juice and the cinnamon warms it up. This is adapted from a recent recipe in Everyday Food Magazine. I large parsnip, peeled and sliced thinly 1 apple, peeled, cored and … Read more →

I was making a really quick dinner recently but was just craving something that felt slow cooked. I came up with this moist, delicious chicken recipe that has a cider infused gravy. It was fantastic (yes, there was fighting over it at the table). Serve with some mashed or oven roasted potatoes (which will taste great with the gravy!).

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup cider

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tbsp butter

2 tsp Wondra

1/4 cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400 and spray a small glass baking dish. Place the chicken breasts in it and pour cider over them. Sprinkle onion powder, rosemary, salt and pepper on chicken and dot with butter. Bake for 25 minutes until the breasts are cooked (165 degrees with a meat thermometer). Remove the breasts and heat the pan over a burner. Whisk in Wondra and broth until thick. Serve over chicken.

Super simple, but with a very complex flavor!

I was making a really quick dinner recently but was just craving something that felt slow cooked. I came up with this moist, delicious chicken recipe that has a cider infused gravy. It was fantastic (yes, there was fighting over it at the table). Serve with some mashed or oven roasted potatoes (which will taste … Read more →