Chicken Morsels with Peppers

(The peppers look like peaches, I know. I'm not a professional food photographer or food designer. It's real food.)

2 large yellow bell peppers, halved and seeded
2 large red bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 1/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and cut into strips (juices reserved)

1. Preheat broiler. Arrange peppers on a broiler pan. Broil until blackened and blistered. Transfer to bowl, cover, and let cool for about 10 minutes. Peel off skins, remove stems, and cut into wide strips.
2. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add chicken and brown on all sides. Reduce heat to medium-low and add onions, garlic, bell peppers, tomato strips and their juices. Simmer until chicken is tender, 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a warmed serving platter. Serve at once.

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma The Best of Taste.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I used all yellow bell peppers, as that's what I have in my garden.
• Instead of two large tomatoes, I used two rather mediocre tomatoes. I meant to use three rather mediocre tomatoes, but one didn't survive the blanching process, and I didn't feel like running outside in the driving rain to pick another tomato in the dark and start the whole blanching process again. Lazy, I know.
• As usual, I am incapable of following even simple directions. When I took the peppers out of the oven, I did not transfer them to a bowl and cover them with a towel (not in the directions, but after reading all about roasting bell pepper on the internet this evening, I have discovered the towel method is quite popular). That, apparently, would have made taking the skins off the pepper much easier. I only had trouble with the very edges, though, so I guess no harm, no foul.
• I didn't add the salt and pepper until I added everything else. Directions. Arg!
• The recipe is called chicken morsels, but nowhere does it tell you when to cut it into morsels, so I did that before cooking it. I knew that it would cut down on the cooking time, and I started this recipe way too late in the evening, so I was looking to trim time wherever I could.
• I didn't bother with the warmed serving platter. My household isn't the warmed-serving-platter type of household. We're more the served-directly-from-the-skillet type of people.
• I served it with brown rice.

THINGS I LEARNED

• Even a short recipe may take a long time. Reading the directions all the way through before embarking on a new mission may be the way to go. I don't know for sure, as I've obviously never tried it, but it seems like a good bet.
• I learned how to blacken peppers in the oven. And I learned how to do it correctly after we'd eaten dinner.
• Warm serving platters are probably nice, but definitely not as necessary as this recipe make out.

OPINIONS:

Bill: Liked it. Enough to eat a second helping, even. It isn't in his top five of the recipes we've had so far, but he'd definitely eat it again.

Me: I really enjoyed it. I added too much pepper, I think, but that's easily adjusted in the future. And even the time involved in this wouldn't be bad if it weren't steamy and warm. I'll bet I'll take another stab at this in the winter when I want to heat up my kitchen.

Emma: Loved it. In typical Emma style, she ate the peppers first, then the rice, then the chicken. She ate it all, though.

Georgia: Hey, it was chicken, so she ate that. And surprisingly, she also at the rice. Normally, she isn't big into plain brown rice, but we had to get more for her, so there's that.

Cheesy Chicken Tortellini Bake

Wow, that picture is bad. Stick with me. The recipe is good. Really, really good.

Pasta Mixture
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 jar (16 oz) white alfredo pasta sauce
2 pkgs (9 oz each) refrigerated cheese-filled regular or spinach tortellini
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp snipped fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp dried basil leaves
Crumb Topping
1/4 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400. For pasta mixture, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and pressed garlic. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in pasta sauce, tortellini, chicken, milk, water, peas, and black pepper. Heat until mixture just comes to a boil; remove from heat. Stir basil into pasta mixture.
2. Meanwhile, for crumb topping, melt butter in microwave on high for 30-45 seconds or until completely melted. Stir in bread crumbs and cheese; mix well.
3. Spoon pasta mixture into 9 X 9 baking pan. Sprinkle with crumb topping. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are bubbly and topping is golden brown.

Recipe from The Pampered Chef's Stoneware Inspirations.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I used one 18-oz package of the refrigerated tortellini. It was cheaper (but still too expensive, at like $6.50, in my opinion) than two 9-oz packages, and frankly, even with my limited math skills, I am fairly certain I got roughly the same amount of pasta.
• I put the basil in the pasta mixture with the bulk of the other ingredients. Once again, this particular change I made was not due to some sort of culinary genius on my part. It was entirely because I cannot read directions all the way through before trying to follow them.
• I used prepackaged shredded parmesan cheese. And I ate quite a bit of the leftovers in the package after adding what was necessary for the recipe. Parmesan...mmmm...

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Keep an eye on anything in the oven that has a crumb topping. It goes from not-quite-done to a-bit-overdone very, very quickly. Too quickly to check facebook. Even very briefly.
• Georgia will believe the white tortellinis are actually chicken if you cut them up so that they don't look quite so tortellini-y. That may not work forever.

OPINIONS:

Bill: Loved it.

Me: Loved it. Will definitely do it again; often, if I can find the tortellini cheaper.

Emma: Loved it. "I especially like the crusty part."

Georgia: The girl likes chicken, so she ate some of it. And as reference above in THINGS I LEARNED, she unwittingly ate some of the pasta. She avoided the green tortellinis and the peas. But overall, this is actually a good recipe for her.

Tomato and Feta Chicken

(I admit that this photo isn't glorious--this is the second time I made the chicken. The first time, it wasn't quite as brown, and it looked like something out of a food magazine. For the record, though, it was just as tasty browned a little more as it was when it looked perfect.)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. zesty Italian salad dressing
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp. white pepper
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 green onions, chopped

Heat oven to broil setting. Brush chicken breasts with dressing and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and pepper; let stand for 10 minutes.

Grill or broil the chicken for 10-12 minutes, turning once, until chicken is almost done.

Remove chicken from grill or oven and arrange tomato, cheese, and green onion on each chicken breast. Return to grill or oven and grill or broil for 2-3 minutes until cheese is melted. Serves 4.

Recipe from busycooks.about.com.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I used black pepper instead of white and Italian shredded cheese blend instead of feta.
• I doubled the number of green onions.
• Since I only had three chicken breat halves, I only used that many.
• The recipe doesn't talk about what kind of pan to use, but I used my medium bar pan. Worked out great.
  

THINGS I LEARNED:

• A recipe doesn't have to be involved or difficult to be really, really good.
• Measuring spoons? We don't need no stinkin' measuring spoons!
  

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Really enjoyed it. I think he'd have had seconds if there had been any.

Me: Loved it. I'll definitely make it again. I may even try it on the grill.

Emma: Really loved it. Nearly licked the plate clean.

Georgia: Even my most finicky eater really liked it; she nearly finished it, which is say a LOT.

Zucchini Cake

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of rectangular pan (13 X 9 X 2) or two 8- or 9-inch round pans, with shortening; lightly flour.
2. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs in large bowl until blended; beat one minute. Stir in remaining ingredients except zucchini, nuts, and frosting; beat one minute. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into pan.
3. Bake rectangle 40-45 minutes, rounds 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool pan on wire rack.
4. Frost rectangle or fill and frost rounds with cream cheese frosting.
   

Recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook, 1996 version.

CHANGE I MADE:

• The recipe calls for a certain recipe of cream cheese frosting. I just mixed one brick of softened cream cheese with about 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Easy-peasy.
• I did not add nuts. I don't like nuts baked into things or sprinkled on things. You'll rarely see me add the required or optional nuts to a recipe.
• I substituted apple pie spice for the cinnamon and nutmeg. It's basically the same thing, anyhow.
• I used a combination of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. Not much whole whaet; just the 1/4 or 1/2 cup I had left.
  

THINGS I LEARNED:

• Zucchini cake is even tastier (seriously!) than zucchini bread. It is, however, less portable and giftable.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Everyone really liked it. Emma still prefers buttercream frosting to cream cheese frosting, but she still ate it. :)

Tomato and Corn Salsa

1 1/2 cups fresh ripe tomatoes, diced - 2 medium
(28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained can be substituted)
3/4 cup corn kernels, cooked
1/4 cup red onion, minced (sweet onion can be substituted)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Makes approximately 2 1/2 cups of salsa.

In small bowl, combine garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, corn kernels, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro. For a milder onion flavor, a sweet onion can be substituted for the red onion.
NOTE:Canned tomatoes can be substituted for fresh tomatoes. A 28 ounce can of tomatoes provides about 1 1/2 cups of tomatoes, drained. If canned tomatoes are used, drain the juice. Mix together and set aside until ready to serve.

If a spicier flavor is desired, add a can of seasoned diced tomatoes to the salsa ingredients.

Recipe from http://www.recipetips.com/.

CHANGES I MADE:

• I opted not to cook the corn. I cleaned it on the cob, cut it off the cob, and added it directly to the salsa. I really like raw sweet corn. A lot.
• I doubled the amount of cilantro. I also like cilantro. A lot.
  

THINGS I LEARNED:

• People who cut up herbs on TV are amazing. Seriously. Cutting up cilantro to the eensy-weensy size it needs to be for salsa is harder than I thought. I think I have a good technique now, though!
• I have a dicing gadget from Williams Sonoma, and I thought the smaller dicing size would be okay for the tomatoes, but I was wrong. The smaller one is great for the onions, but the tomatoes have to be the bigger of the two options.
• Balsamic vinegar smells really, really bad. I almost threw out the whole bowl of salsa because the vinegar smelled so bad, but once I got everything incoroprated, it was fine.
• I pressed the garlic with a garlic press. I'm not sure I know how to crush garlic.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Loved it.

Me: Loved it.

Christa (faithful friend and trier of recipes): I think she really liked it. Not quite as much as Bill and I liked it, but she did say it was good. She's very honest.

Nate (another faithful friend and a hater of all-things-onion): Liked the cilantro, but couldn't deal with the onions. Sorry, Nate!

Bill and I ate all of the first batch with the exception of several chipsful Christa had and one chipful Nate tried. In one evening. It's good stuff. I made it again a day later, and Bill and I agree that we'll be adding a jalepeno or cerrano pepper to spice it up a bit, but it's a great mild salsa.

UPDATE (ten days later):

I have now made this salsa five or six times. I have tweaked the recipe nearly every time. Currently, I have found our favorite variation: double the onions as well as the cilantro; add two green onions, chopped (I use everything but the very end); add 1/3 can rinsed and drained black beans. Mmmmm... I took this variation on a play date this week, and Carrie (the other mom with me) ate a ton of it; she loved it!

Eggplant Parmigiana

STILL NO PHOTO - BLASTED CAMERA!

2 cups Italian tomato sauce
1 large egg
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 small unpeeled eggplants (about 1 pound each), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Mix egg and water. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip eggplant slices into egg mixture, then coat with bread crumb mixture.
3. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook half of the eggplant at a time in oil about 5 minutes, turning once, until light brown. Repeat with remaining eggplant, adding 1 or 2 tbsp oil, if necessary.
4. Place half of the eggplant in ungreased rectangular baking dish (11 X 7 X 1 1/2 inches), overlapping slices slightly. Spoon half of the sauceover the eggplant. Sprinkle with one cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat with remaining veal, sauce, and cheese.
5. Bake uncovered about 25 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is light brown.

Recipe from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook, 1996 version.

CHANGE I MADE:

• I don't have a pan of that size, so I used my 9 X 9 square baker.
• The recipe calls for you to make the sauce yourself; I have neither the time nor the inclination for that, so I used jarred spaghetti sauce.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• This was a lot of work.
• No one in my family likes eggplant.
• I have no idea when an eggplant is ripe.
• Making a second dinner is easier when the oven is already warm.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Hated it. Took two or three bites.

Me: Hated it. It was just plain weird. I would like to think that I just let the eggplant overripen, but I'm not sure that's the case. I've had eggplant before (years ago in Italy), and I enjoyed it then, but this was dreadful.

Georgia: Wouldn't try it. We didn't make her.

Emma: Bless our little trooper. She just kept eating it, saying things like, "Well, it's not going to be my favorite, that's for sure." When Bill and I realized how bad it was, we told her she didn't have to keep eating it. Her response? "Oh, good. I don't really like it much."