CBT Carb Back Thurday - Chicken Marsala

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, not exactly, but it was a Saturday and it was raining. I felt like cooking... more than my usual dump and run style. I did a little looking... hmm...Chicken Marsala takes a few minutes longer, but is still easy and so worth the "effort". 

“I had the urge to examine my life in another culture and move beyond what I knew.”

Dump 1 C flour into pan/dish and add ground pepper and either thyme or a spice blend with thyme in it. Either works. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.

Heat a few TBSP of oil in a pan. I used coconut oil. Turn chicken over, cooking both sides, set aside.

I sliced the mushrooms while I pan fried the chicken tenderloins

In another pan, I cooked some spinach angelhair til almost tender. Don't overcook!

“There is no technique, there is just the way to do it.

Now, are we going to measure or are we going to cook?”

Once all the chicken pieces are cooked, add 1/2 stick butter. Recipe I eyeballed called for 1 and 1/2 sticks. i just. couldn't. do. it. I also added 1/2 C of wine - I like the sweeter wines, so I added some Catawba. Let butter melt and mixture simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add mushrooms and cook until almost done; then add 2 or 3 good handfuls of fresh spinach as well as the cooked and drained angel hair noodles.

Add the chicken back to the pan to keep hot.

Toss up a salad and cut up some fresh fruit

Look Look! I made something special!!! 

And get a glass of that wine!

“Life offers you a thousand chances... all you have to do is take one.” 
― Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun

CBT Carb Back Thursday - Take Out Chinese is the DEBBLE!

Love the flavors, and the easy factor, of Chinese takeout/delivery. Not always fond of the cost and or salt. I start my Sweet and Sour Chicken with a package of chicken strips. I put these in the oven, according to the directions on the bag. Between the oven heating up and these baking, I get the rice and vegetables cooked up. Dinner in about 30 mins or less.

Start a batch of rice:

2 C rice

4.5 C water

microwave for 5 mins on 100% power

microwave for 15 mins on 50% power

I keep the ingredients simple: red pepper, green pepper, carrots, fresh ginger slices and diced garlic.

Dice and slice vegetables and start cooking in a pan with hot oil. Put in the slices of ginger, they're for flavor. They'll be removed before serving. Stir this occasionally.

I've used canned, frozen, and fresh pineapple. Fresh is my first pick if I have it.

Like my loathing for cutting up cantaloupe and other melons, I dread cutting up a pineapple, but once done, it's worth it.

Slice off the ends, and strips off the sides to remove the rind. Is it pineapple rind? peel? husk?

I then cut into 4 - 6 slices, depending on size and then remove the core. I make 4 cuts, around the core, then it's an easy piece to toss. Cut the chunks smaller if needed.

At this point, the vegetables should be soft, add the pineapple. Turn heat down while making the sauce

Mix up the sauce, whisk together:
2 TBSP soy sauce
1/4 C vinegar - rice wine or white
1/4 C sugar
1 C chicken broth
3 TBSP cornstarch
(Make sure ingredients or room temp or cold or the corn starch will get lumpy)
Stir into pan

Turn heat up, once mixture starts to boil, it will thicken

Chicken should be done, chop into pieces,

and add to pan on stove top.

Serve with the rice

Mama says Homemade Chinese is not the debble... it's for my buddies

CBT Carb Back Thursdays - Apricot Pork Chops

I had a couple of baked russet and sweet potatoes left over from another meal. Sliced each in half and scooped out the middles. Preheated oven to 350'.

My new love: plain, Greek yogurt. Better numbers on the nutrition data than sour cream, useful in it's place. I mixed about 2TBSP to each bowl of mashed potatoes. Into the sweet potatoes I added some cinnamon, brown sugar and softened butter. To the russet potatoes, I also added butter and garlic powder.

Spooned the mixtures back into the shell halves, sprinkled the russet with cheese and the sweet with pecans.

Rubbed some thinly sliced, boneless pork chops with a seasoning blend, Bouquet Garni.

Put potatoes and pork into oven. Bake pork chops for about 15 mins on one side, then turn over and put back into oven.

After about another @15 mins (depends on thickness), smear a heavy TBSP over each.

Have you tried those new Dole, Chopped Salad mixes? I had a really great coupon and they were on sale... this was the bbq ranch. Really good. We fight over it.

Lots of flavor going on here. The meat is sweet and savory, the potatoes sweet OR savory, and the salad crunchy and smoky.