Cumin-Spiced Chicken with Chunky Tomato Sauce

Sara made the mistake of letting me make this one night while she chatted it up with our neighbor, Jane.  I got to use the cast iron skillet.  I love the cast iron skillet.  This is a fun recipe with plenty of opportunities to personalize and have some fun.

Ingredients:
Cooking Spray (aka olive oil)
4 (6-oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (10-oz) can mild diced tomatoes and green chilles, undrained
3/4 cup (3 oz) preshredded reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese
2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro

1. Preheat broiler. Remember to set your rack so that the food will be approximately 8 - 9 inches from the burner.

2. Heat a large ovenproof skillet (hence the cast iron) over medium-high heat; coat pan with cooking spray.  Sprinkle both sides of check evenly with 1/2 teaspoon cumin and salt; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done (I typically find it's closer to 8 minutes, but it's definitely going to depend on the thickness of the chicken breasts and how evenly your skillet heats).  Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.  We'll toss it into the microwave on a plate.

3. Add 1/4 teaspoon cumin and tomatoes to pan; cook 1 minute.  We typically use Rotel.  Return chicken to pan; spoon tomato mixture evenly over chicken.  Sprinkle evenly with cheese; broil 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Top with cilantro.  If you don't have fresh cilantro, we recommend using a small amount of dried cilantro in the tomato mixture.

We took the recipe from myrecipes.com.  The website recommends serving the chicken with a side of Chili-Lime Corn on the Cob.  We'll feature that sometime this summer along with some other varieties of grilled corn on the cob that we've come up with on our own.  On this night, we served it with an old stand-by for us: sweet potato fries.  They're also quick, easy and so tasty!  You'll have to check back later for that recipe, though.

Enjoy!

A thought on family...

For those of you who know my family, these past two weeks have been quite a test.  And for those of you that know Sara and I, you know family is very important to us.  As my boisterous brother-in-law once put it, our family practically has a family reunion once a month.  It's typically because of a birthday or a holiday...and when we don't have those nice excuses, we just get together just because.

On Thursday, April 14 (otherwise known as Pete Rose's Birthday, a former family holiday), Mike's Grandpa, Albert Senger, died.  He had suffered a stroke just two weeks prior (on another family holiday: Reds' Opening Day), and he had a rough two weeks leading up to his passing.  My Grandmother, Evelyn, was really strong through the whole thing, despite losing her husband of 68 years, and she has 4 daughters, a son, twelve grandchildren, and four great grandchildren to help her remember all of the wonderful memories of Grandpa.  While we're typically eating when we get together, there's really only a few recipes I associate with the Senger family: cheesy potato cassarole and Denise's deviled eggs.  I'll see if I can get my aunt to write something up on one or both of those recipes - they're great treats for those family holidays like Easter and Christmas.  My other food-related memories of Grandpa Senger are mock turtle soup, liver and onions (one of HIS favorites - not mine) and campfire food.  My brother requested a campfire food recipe week for this summer, so I'll try to come up with at least one of Grandpa's old treats (which were probably prepared by Grandma and just "fired" by Grandpa) for that week. 

This morning, my Grandmother, Rosella Kuhl, passed away after almost exactly 94 years of life.  Her birthday is tomorrow.  If you knew my grandma or ever met her, you'd have probably seen her in pink, her favorite color.  We'll all be wearing pink this week in her memory.  My best food-related memories of Grandma Kuhl are probably hot dogs (which she called weiners and served split in half on a slice of bread), coffee, vanilla ice cream (she always managed to get my favorite kind, it seemed, and it was always perfectly creamy - and she let us make coke floats, orange soda floats, or whatever we wanted), or Bran Flakes.  I'm not saying my Grandma wasn't a good cook, but I honestly only knew her during her last 30 years, and I'm sure she was pretty tired of cooking at that point, having raised 3 kids and seen nine grandchildren and, by the end, 12 great-grandchildren come through her doors.  And Grandpa had pretty simple tastes - cereal or toast and coffee for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and a simple dinner like chicken and rice or ham and beans.  These two lived through some rough times, mind you: the depression, the big flood(s) of the Great Miami, my mom's teennage years, etc.

So losing those two major parts of our family in the past 10 days has sent a bit of a shock through the family.  But we're strong, and we're close, and we're making it.  We know that both Grandpa and Grandma are much better off now, reunited with lost friends and family, safe and comfortable, free of the pain, suffering and frustration that seemed to interrupt their lives the past few weeks and months - years for Grandma, really.  And while we miss them terribly - and will in the coming weeks probably more than we even know right now - we have such great memories of both of them. 

Some of my favorite ways to remember both of them are their laughs.  Grandpa Senger was quick to make a joke or give you a hard time about something and then share a laugh with you about it.  His laugh was short and brought the corners of his mouth up in this big smile while his shoulders bounced slightly.  Grandma Kuhl had more of a fully body laugh when she really got going.  This was typically after a Grandpa Kuhl wisecrack or a silly, off-the-wall comment by Leo, my cousin's husband.  My favorite was when Grandpa would be teasing her about something and she would laugh and tell him "Oh, stop it!" while waving her hand at him, typically with a tissue in her hand - she always had a tissue in her hand.

So, if you think of it, say a quick prayer for my parents and their siblings, but more importantly, make sure to call your parents and grandparents and tell them you love them.  They never get tired of hearing that, I'm sure.

Condiment Corner: Mustard

Mustard.  I've loved mustard since I was a kid.  I'm not sure why I ever even tried it, but once I did, there was no stopping me.  As a kid, I kept it simple: whatever mom had in the fridge, which was typically French's classic yellow in that super big yellow squeeze bottle.  I mostly had it on my hot dogs and hamburgers, occasionally on my french fries.  My sister actually turned me on to one of my favorite applications of mustard: on pork chops.  And while watching America's Test Kitchen recently, I learned that mustard and mustard-based glazes and sauces are actually a preferred pairing with many pork cuts - they're very complimentary flavors.  Who my sister was such a culinary whiz way back then?  A side note on the socially acceptable use of mustard: per popular conventions, it is only acceptable to put ketchup on a hot dog until age 10, afterwhich mustard is the socially acceptable condiment.  Words to live by, if you ask me.
At some point during my grade school years, most likely while spending one of many spring breaks at my grandparents' house, Grandpa Kuhl introduced me to the delicious variation that is...Gulden's.  Grandpa may not have been classy (read "pompous") enough for Grey Poupon, but he did like his Gulden's.  He would lay it on thick on one half of his sandwich, whether it was bologna or turkey or ham...or a weiner (as Grandma Kuhl would say).  After one taste, I knew that regular yellow mustard just wouldn't cut it any more.  Of course, it took a while to win my mom over - and by a while, I mean until my sister moved out for college, and I was pretty much the only one eating mustard.  In the meantime, I was only able to get my Gulden's fix when I visited Grandma and Grandpa.
Now that I'm older  and can buy my own groceries (or at least beg my wife to buy them for me on her next trip to the store), I've found that the world of mustards is pretty wide open.  Some of my favorite varieties include those by Jack Daniels.  I really like the "brown" mustards and some of the nicer, thicker types are pretty good, too.  But the best mustard I've found is one I've only found on a rare occasion: Cleveland Stadium Mustard.  It comes in a little glass jar with a pretty plain logo - red with white scrip letters.  It even has its own website - www.stadiummustard.com - where you can order it by the case.  And while it pains me to say that Cleveland has done something better than Cincinnati or even Dayton, at least it's not Heinz!

BONUS POST! Pesto and Tomato Grilled Cheese with Roasted Red Pepper Tomoato Soup

In honor of Grilled Cheese Month, we've decided to put up a bonus post to share our own little grilled cheese creation: Pesto and Tomato Grilled Cheese.

We love tomato.  And we really like this pesto by Buitoni.  So why not combine them with one of our favorite meals, grilled cheese and tomato soup.  Aside from that one time Mike's mom burnt him with a super hot grilled cheese sandwich, we have such great childhood memories of this simple comfort food.

Our favorite version uses sourdough bread, like that sold at Trader Joe's or Findlay Market or your neighborhood bakery.  Tonight's version uses TJ's wheat bread.  We take the easy way out for the cheese, just buying pre-sliced cheddar cheese slices.  Sometimes we'll get crazy and buy white cheddar!  Yeah, crazy.

We spread a thin coat of butter on the outside the two slices of bread for each sandwich.  On one slice, we spread a thick layer of pesto on once slice.  The other slice receives two slices of cheese with two thin slices of tomato in between.  Placed together in the skillet, the sandwich is just browned on either side...like we really need to tell you how to cook grilled cheese...

The soup we're having tonight is from Costco and is easily our favorite variety of tomato soup: Pacific Natural Foods Roasted Red Pepper with Tomato Soup.  Sara's parents buy it in bulk and we buy a few cartons off of them each time.  We've tried versions from TJ's and some other places, but we haven't found one that compares.

What's your favorite grilled cheese recipe?

Chickpea Burgers with Ricotta Sauce

Here's a vegetarian option that's a great winter meal when you're hankering for a burger and it's too cold to fire up the grill.  We're not going to pretend like these burgers taste like beef burgers - or even turkey burgers, for that matter.  That's not the point.  These burgers taste pretty good, though.  They're not super filling, which can be a good thing, and you can dress them up with either your favorite burger toppings, or as detailed below, with some non-traditional toppings.

The sauce is a new one for us.  We feel it needs a bit more flavor, which could mean adding some parmesan cheese or some cilantro while it's in the blender.  We want to try this recipe again with a Greek taztziki sauce - something with a bit more tang, but not a whole lot more body.  We like the thickness and texture of the sauce, we just wanted more flavor.

We used regular panko - and yes, we actually used panko.  We felt it was worth trying the real panko the first time since the panko has a much different texture than just typical breadcrumbs.  Regular or italian breadcrumbs would work, if those are all you have on hand, or if you just prefer those to the harder-to-find and possibly more expensive panko.

2 cups canned chickpeas, rinsed and drains
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
Freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons whole-wheat panko (japanese bread crumbs)
Cooking spray
1/3 cup part-skim ricotta
2 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
4 whole-wheat hamburger buns
cucumber, thinly sliced
red onion, thinly sliced
tomato, thinly sliced
spinach leaves, rinsed

Preheat the broiler to high.  In a large bowl, combine chickpeas, parsley, garlic, and spices; season with pepper.  Partially mash the chickpea mixture; stir in egg and 2 tablespoons panko and shape into 4 patties.

Spread remaining panko on a plate and dredge patties in it.  Place patties on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray (we placed foil under the burgers to make clean up easier).  Broil 8 to 10 inches from heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side.  Be careful here not to put the burgers too close to the broiler burners.  If you have extra panko on your cookie sheet, expect it to burn - and don't be surprised if you smell something burning when you open the oven door.  Watch the burgers, especially at the very end since a broiler can burn food in a real hurry.

Puree ricotta an yogurt in a blender or food processor.  This is where we would suggest adding some parmesean or reggiano cheese to boost the flavor of this sauce.  Serve burgers on buns with cucumber, onion, tomato, spinach and ricotta sauce.  We actually used some toasted, homemade whole-wheat bread Sara had made a few days prior (that's a great, easy recipe we'll share in the future). 

A vegan version can be made by substituting tahini for the egg, and tofu cream cheese for the ricotta sauce.

We paired our burger with some applesauce and homemade french fries.  We'll cover the french fries another time.

The beer pairing is really up to your mood, but I think a subtle amber ale or lager, such as Hudy Amber or Yuengling Traditional Amber Lager, would be a pretty good match with this meal.  Let the burger and it's dressings be the focus and the beer just serve as background.

(recipe source: Shape Magazine)

Molten Chocolate Spiced Cakes

We have made this recipe a few times at special dinners and received rave reviews!  Posting on the blog was a special request from Linda, so I was forced to make this dessert for dinner tonight so I could take a picture :)  This is definitely not healthy or low-cal, but its probably better than a restaurant dessert, right?......

Ingredients:
4 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powered sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
6 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 1 minute or until butter is melted.  Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted.  Stir in vanilla and sugar until well blended.  Stir in eggs and yolk.  Stir in flour and spices.  Pour batter into 4 (6-oz) buttered ramekins.  Place on baking sheet.
Bake in preheated 425 degree oven 13 to 15 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are soft.  Let stand 1 minute.  Carefully loosen edges with knife.  Invert onto serving plates.  Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar.  Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

I found this recipe in cooking light on an add for McCormick Spices. The recipe calls for 1 Tbsp red wine (add with vanilla and sugar) but I havent had a bottle of wine open any of the times I made this recipe so I havent tried that yet.  I can tell you, its definitely not  required!