Recipe Review- Breaded Tandoori Chicken

Wow, its been a while, hasn't it. Much has changed. I learned that cooking ahead doesn't work for us. In my early stages of this pregnancy, I couldn't even grocery shop more than 2 days worth at a time because I had no idea what I'd be willing to eat that far in advance. Now things have calmed down, so I'm trying out some new recipes.

At some point I signed up for a subscription to Clean Eating Magazine. They haven't posted this recipe for Breaded Tandoori Chicken yet, and I tweaked it to add some much needed salt (sorry, its so true), so I have to retype it anyway. I'll also admit that I didn't make the veggies because I can't stomach any more carrots today. I plan to use the veggie portion with another recipe later, though.

This was pretty easy to make, despite all the steps and the limited space in my kitchen. Prep is key. In short, I loved it, and I'll make it again, for these reasons:

1. What is not to like about toasted pita with feta? nothing, I tell you. It was the best part!
2. The chicken was insanely delicious for chicken, which I haven't been able to stomach for weeks now. It was very flavorful.
3. I want to re-try the tandoori sauce with a finer dice of onions, so its not so chunky. I have a problem with the texture I got. 
4. The boy loved it. Hands down, no complaints, loved it. That's good enough for me. 

So try it, love it, or let me know what you think. I'm generally not very excited about Indian food or curry, but this was awesome.

Baked Tandoori Chicken

Baked Tandoori Chicken

Adapted from Clean Eating Magazine, March 2011, page 74

Ingredients:
3 whole wheat pitas
4 oz reduced fat feta cheese
2 tsp curry powder, divided
2 egg whites
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
2 large carrots, cut into 1 in long matchsticks (or precut, whatever)
3 tsp olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 small, tiny yellow onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, pressed or finely diced
4 oz nonfat plain greek yogurt
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, butterflied until 1/2" thick, cut into at least 4 portions
Dried parsley for garnish
2 dashes of salt

Directions:

• Preheat overn to 350 F. Use a knife to cut along the edges of 2 pitas, separating each into 2 circular halves. Lay 4 halves on a baking sheet or 2, and crumble 1 oz feta on each pita. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside. Sprinkle with dried parsley
• Rip remaining pita into bitesize pieces and pulse in a food processor until the pieces have become medium-fine bread crumbs. In a flat bottomed bowl, combine the bread crumbs with 1 tsp curry powder and a dash of kosher salt. Place egg whites in another flat bottomed bowl, beat until frothy with a fork, and set aside both bowls.
• Fill a medium pot halfway with water and bring to a boil on high heat. Add beans and carrots. Reduce heat to medium high and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain. Toss in 1 tsp oil and ginger and set aside.
• Heat one tsp oil in a medium skillet on medium for one minute. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add garlic and remaining tsp of curry, and a dash of salt and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat, stir in yogurt, and set aside. 
• Heat one tsp oil in a large nonstick pan for 1 minute. (I used stainless, but it burnt, so go for the nonstick). Dip the chicken in egg white, then into the bread crumbs, and then directly into the pan. You may need to do this in batches. Cook 3 minutes on one side and 2 minutes on the other, or until done. The thinner you butterflied your chicken the faster it will go. 
• Serve 4oz of the chicken (so 1/4 of the total) with 2 tbsp tandoori sauce (yogurt), 1 pita half, and 1/2 cup of the beans/carrots

Nutrition Info:

Calories: 333

Total Fat: 9g

Sat Fat: 3g

Monounsaturated Fat: 3g

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Carbs 38g

Fiber 5g

Sugars 4g

Protein 40g

Sodium +612mg (because I added a little salt)

Cholesterol 75mg

Hungry Teenagers

The bootcamp I attend has a summer camp for kids. Its 3 1-week sessions. The teenaged counselors are paid peanuts to come help with the camp, which provides lots of scholarships for the campers. They make no money, and even lose money every year, but they do it for the kids.

The director is one of my trainers and he asked for volunteers to cook for the kids each Monday and Tuesday. They are staying at the home of the head bootcamp trainer and her mother, and have presumably been eating cold cuts or PB&J for the rest of the week, as I know the head trainer does not cook.

I volunteered for 2 Mondays and a Sunday. Last Monday, I made Baked Ziti, inspired by a recipe by Knottie Rosie109, green salad, and these lovely Lemon Cupcakes decorated with lemon Jelly Bellies.

This week, I decided to make French Dip Sandwiches, Sweet Potato French Fries, chocolate Cake Mix Cookies with white chocolate chips, and Lemon Meltaways.

I have an issue with actually cooking the 2 rump roasts, as I have a small crock pot and can only cook one roast at a time. I guess I'll cook one this afternoon and one overnight and just combine and heat them before I bring them to the kids. I'm also afraid that they will have non-toasted bread and non-melted cheese, but I'm sure they will still be grateful.

Now off to cut up 14 lbs of sweet potatoes. Wish me luck!!

Lemon Meltaway Cookies

Repost from this recipe on Allrecipes.com. Reportedly yields 30 cookies, but I guess I made them small because I got about 45


3/4 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
FROSTING:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
3 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

1- In a mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy; beat in lemon juice.

2- Combine the flour and cornstarch; gradually add to the creamed mixture.

3-Shape into two 8-in. rolls; wrap each roll in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

4-Unwrap and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. 

5-Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-12 minutes or until the cookies are firm to the touch. Remove to wire racks to cool.

6- For frosting, in a small mixing bowl, combine the butter, confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel and food coloring if desired; beat until smooth. Frost cooled cookies.

Cake Mix Cookies

I don't know about you, but random cake mixes are a pantry staple in my house. If you are in a bind for cookies (surprise! there's a bakesale at school tomorrow, mom), Cake Mix cookies are a life saver.Makes about 2 dozen, depending on how big you make them and how much batter you eat.

1 boxed cake mix (whatever flavor you want or have on hand)
1 stick of butter, softened but not melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup of chips (chocolate, white chocolate, peppermint, butterscotch, etc) or nuts


Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until moistened thoroughly. Portion by spoonful on a  ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes and then allow to cook for at least 5 minutes on the pan before attempting to remove them to a cooling rack. They will be very soft and will fall apart if they are too hot. If it makes you feel better, you can cool them completely on the cookie sheet.

Easy Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches

Adapted from AllRecipes.com user lonwolf32

Reportedly yields 9 servings:

4 pounds rump roast
1 (10.5 ounce) can beef broth
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French onion soup
1 (12 fluid ounce) bottle of Guiness
9 slices of provolone
9 French rolls

Trim excess fat from the rump roast, and place in a slow cooker. Add the beef broth, garlic, onion soup and beer. Cook on Low setting for 7 hours.

Remove the meat from the slow cooker, slice diagonally, and place back in the sauce. Leave this in the slow cooker up to 1 additional hour on low.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), Split French rolls, and top with cheese. Bake 10 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Place beef in roll and use au jus for dipping.

Baked Ziti

This recipe was inspired by a recipe from Knottie Rosie109. I initially tripled it to feed 20 people (with leftovers). This one makes 8 generous servings.

1 lb whole wheat penne pasta (or ziti)
24 oz container of fat free ricotta cheese
8oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1 large jar Prego spaghetti sauce
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 clove garlic, diced or pressed
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg

1- Preheat oven to 400.

2- Brown the ground beef with the garlic and drain. Cook the pasta in boiling, well salted water until al-dente (approx 8 minutes). Drain and rinse the pasta under cold water.

3- Beat the egg in a large bowl. Add in the ricotta, salt, 3/4 the mozzarella and 1/2 the spaghetti sauce.

4- Add the hamburger and pasta and mix well.

5- Place the whole mixture in a greased lasagna or 9x13 pan. Top with remaining spaghetti sauce and mozzarella, and the entire amount of Parmesan.

6- At this point, you can either refrigerate for cooking the next day, or bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and brown. If you refrigerate, increase the cooking time by 15 minutes to account for the initial temperature difference. Allow to rest 10 minutes before cutting.