3 Minutes Prep, One Dish, 7 Ingredients = Dinner Delight

With the recent amazing weather who wants to come inside early to spend an hour cooking dinner? Not me and defiantly not my boys. The following recipe is one that I make in minutes, makes a generous amount and all of it, even the leftovers, are gobbled up! Tip: Double it and freeze some for lunches!

Chicken, Shrimp and Rice

• 1 cup uncooked white rice
• 2 cups water with 1 chicken bouillon cube or 2 cups chicken stock
• 6 chicken thighs, bone in
• 6-8 large shrimp, peeled
• 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
• 1/2 Tbsp jerk seasoning
• salt and pepper, to taste

* Preheat oven to 350
* Put all the above ingredients in a Pyrex baking dish (8.5x 8.5 is probably easiest), then stir
* Cover with tin foil and cook for approximately half an hour. Stir the ingredients about 3 times through out the cooking process to ensure even cooking. You may need to add slightly more water if it is evaporating before the rice is cooked. The end result should be a fairly moist rice, but not soupy
* Turn up for 10-14 minutes to 400 to ensure everything is cooked and most of the excess liquid is absorbed. Oven temperatures very so this is a general time.


Serve with a salad and a vegetable(s) on the side and enjoy...now wasn't that easy!!

'Buffalo' Chicken Breast Strips

Last night I prepared chicken that I had planned to put on the BBQ. Little did I know our BBQ was still apart, in the mid-cleaning phase. So I took the chicken and pan seared it, then coated it in additional sauce. The result was delicious. . . like really, really delicious.

I used a sauce called Piri-Piri. It is of Portuguese origin and is crazy good. We purchase ours from a local Portuguese restaurant that has had so many requests for this sauce that they have started to bottle it and sell it. If you don't have any you could use a spicy BBQ sauce or there are recipes for it online. My below recipe calls for 1/8 of a cup of two ingredients, I recommend using 1/4 measuring cup and filling it half way with one and then the other. You'll save dishes and it is easier to measure.

'Buffalo' Chicken Breasts

• 3 Chicken breasts, but into 1" strips
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/4 cup Piri-Piri sauce
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp spicy pepper medley (or any other spices similar, Montreal Seasoning, Steak Rub)

* Combine ingredients and let chicken marinate for 2 hours or overnight
* Either BBQ chicken or pan sear on high heat until cooked. Keep adding tiny amounts of water to prevent the chicken from blackening on pan

'Buffalo' Toss

• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/4 cup Piri-Piri sauce

* Put the 2 sauces in the bowl toss in cooked chicken.

You are going to love these! Enjoy!

Black Pasta

Depending on where you purchase your groceries from you may have seen black pasta and kept on walking. Would it taste different? What makes it black, chemicals? I took the plunge and purchased it a while back and was totally delighted with the taste, texture and look of it in the below recipe. My husband faved about this dish.

What makes it black you ask? Well rest assured it isn't chemicals but it actually gets its colour from squid ink. This isn't nearly as gross as it sounds, to any squid haters out there. The ink merely lends colour without much, if any flavour. The brand I bought was called Rigoletto Squid Ink Fettuccine, made by Helen's Homestyle Foods Ltd.. This pasta was so good I am tempted to try the other varieties made by this company. It was slightly chewy, but not mushy or flimsy. The below picture (not great quality) shows how it holds its colour. Some coloured pasta I have previously tried faded when cooked.

Black Pasta with Zucchini and Seared Chicken

• Pan Sear 2 chicken breasts (skip this if you are a vegetarian, it is still great)
• 3-4 zucchini, cut up into dice size cubes
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• salt and pepper
• evoo
• black pasta

* Pan sear chicken breast, as shown here. Set aside on plate, use the same pan to make the following;
* Brown onions then add garlic and saute in olive oil
* Stir in zucchini add salt and pepper and allow to slightly wilt and brown, still firm and not mushy approx 5 mins. 
* Boil pasta as usually would, drain
* Add 2-3 Tbsp of olive oil to pasta and stir then add zucchini and chicken mixture

Serve and Enjoy! May be don't mention how the pasta gets its colour until it is all gobbled up!

Seared Chicken

Chicken is one of those things that while there are hundreds of recipes out there I sometimes feel like the chicken itself is the same texture, same taste just with a different sauce on the outside. Enter this recipe. This results in the juiciest & most tender chicken breast. We never have left overs when I make this.

No doubt this is one of the easiest more obvious chicken recipes but I didn't start making it until recently. Use as many or as few chicken breasts as you like, just like my potato recipe their is no exact measurement, the only concern would be how big your pan is. This quick method locks in the juices by searing the outside first, the small pieces guarantee it is cooked.

Seared Chicken

• chicken breasts, cut up into 1" pieces
• Evoo
• salt and pepper
• lemon pepper (optional but I highly recommend if you have any to include it)

*  Put just enough olive oil in frying pan to coat the bottom once it is warmed (1/2 Tbsp), heat up on med-high heat
* When the pan is hot add the chicken (this is the key - the hot pan), stir around to coat in oil, then stir in with s & p. When the chicken is added it will immediately sizzle and smoke, no worries just make sure to stay close by to stir to keep it from burning
* Stir every minute or so to avoid burning
* Cook for about 5-7 minutes. When outside is golden brown with a few darker spots, it is done. Cut one piece in half to ensure cooked all the way through

Fajitas

Chicken Fajitas are my husband's favorite thing to order at Jack Astors. We don't go out to eat often and when we do it is not usually there, so I thought it would be nice to serve these up for dinner this evening.

I tried the packaged seasonings previously to mixed reviews. Instead I started blending a little Jerk Seasoning (available at most grocery stores) with salt, pepper and garlic powder. The result was delicious, moist and easy. If you like spicy food you could add a little cayanne pepper, my husband doesn't enjoy these spicy so I didn't add it.

Chicken Fajitas

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
•  chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
• half onion, either diced or cut into super thin strips
• 1/2 each yellow, red, orange peppers, cut into thin strips
• 1.5 tsp Jerk Seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (not garlic salt)
• s & p
• 1/4 cup water

*Place oil in pan add onions, chicken and stir till coated, cook at medium high heat
*Add peppers and seasonings
*Stir frequently
*As food begins to stick to pan add little bits of water at a time, you may need more or less then a 1/4 cup
*When chicken cooked all the way through, and peppers tender remove from heat

Garnish with cheese, sour cream, salsa and guacamole. Put on tortilla wrap, or on white rice if you have gluten allergies like me. Serves 2