Given how close we are to year’s end, I have the rest of this small skillet year planned at this point, and I know that next week’s recipe is going to be time-consuming. So, I went with something simple this week.
I realized after the fact that though it was called “skewerless stovetop kabobs” from Taste of Home that it’s basically just fajitas with a few more vegetables. But, you know what, it’s been a long year and it’s fine.
Skewerless kabobs ingredients.
This was in the vein of some of my favorite simple recipes, in that it uses fewer ingredients by including salad dressing. Easy flavor works for me.
I did change the recipe in one notable way: it called for pork tenderloin as the meat but that seemed like an expensive and fancy cut for something that was ultimately going to be smothered in Italian dressing. So, I just went with chicken, making it even more like a fajita. I also left off mushrooms, and added a little more vegetables.
While it wasn’t the most exciting of dinners, it did the job. It fed us, it was healthy enough, and it was quick and easy to pull together.
Simple and scrumptious.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
1 lb. chicken breast, cut into ¾ in. cubes
½ c. Italian dressing, divided
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
In a medium skillet, 8- to 9-in., cook the chicken over medium-high heat in half the dressing until cooked through. Remove from pan.
In the same skillet, cook the vegetables in the remaining half of the salad dressing until the vegetables are tender. Return the chicken to the skillet, heat through, and enjoy!
I had my ups and downs with this week’s recipe. Spoiler alert: it ends on an upswing.
However, when I first decided to make it, I soon realized that the recipe wasn’t going to work in my small skillet. So, I downsized to halve the recipe.
Then, I realized that the proportions seemed odd and off even in half-size, so I retooled again.
When it came time to make it, I wasn’t all that optimistic or eager.
It managed to get worse as it went on, and I started to wonder if the chickpea stew with spinach and topped with a fried egg would even be a tasty dinner.
Chickpea stew ingredients.
Seriously, I thought as I was stirring, how is a mash of chickpeas and crushed tomatoes even going to be tasty?
What a fool I was.
I should have known better than to doubt Bon Appetit and my own savvy. Plus, time. Time allows the flavors to meld, the onion, the garlic, the cumin seeds, and the paprika to imbue their flavors into the tomatoes and chickpeas.
It was incredibly delicious. I don’t even think the eggs were all that necessary.
When I make this again, I will do a couple things differently.
First, the spinach was not nearly enough. I used an entire bag, but I should have used two. Also, I might *might* consider using thawed chopped spinach to save a little time. While it’s nice to be able to saute it with the garlic, there’s plenty of garlic in the dish (I forgot to halve the garlic but I’m not complaining) and I’m not sure the freshness made all that much difference. Then again, maybe I just should have used more.
Secondly, like with the purgatory eggs, this meal would have been wonderfully enhanced by having a nice sourdough or another good bread to serve it with. Since I halved the recipe, it went down to a three-serving meal; however, I think it would have been a nice four-serving meal if there had been bread.
But I can say this tasted so good that I will make it again. I might even go to full size skillet for even more deliciousness.
I wish the flavors would show through in this picture. It was so good.
Here’s what I did, adapting the recipe more than a bit:
Ingredients
3 T. olive oil, divided
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, divided
1-2 bags baby spinach
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 small onion, chopped
1 T. cumin seeds
2 t. smoked paprika
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 (15 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 to 1 ½ c. vegetable broth
4 eggs
Sourdough bread, toasted, for serving (optional)
Directions
Heat 1 T. oil in a 9- to 10-inch skillet (10-inch probably preferable but I made it work in my 9-inch Le Creuset) over medium heat. When oil begins to shimmer, add the equivalent of one garlic clove of the sliced garlic to the skillet. Cook until golden, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add spinach. Toss, adding salt and pepper as desired, and cook until the spinach is wilted but still bright green, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate, and set aside.
Add the remaining oil to the same pot. When oil begins to shimmer, add onion and the remaining sliced garlic. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add in the cumin and paprika, and stir until the cumin is toasted and fragrant, another minute.
Add in the chickpeas and crushed tomatoes, and stir to combine. Cook, stirring often, for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Add about 1 c. of broth, and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits. Continue to simmer, occasionally using mashing some chickpeas with the back of a spoon, until sauce is thickened, another 8 to 10 minutes, adding more broth as necessary.
Add in the spinach and continue to simmer another 8 to 10 minutes, again adding more broth as necessary.
Meanwhile, in a separate non-stick skillet, pour in oil or butter and heat over medium high. Cook eggs to desired done-ness (the recipe says to do sunny-side up; I prefer over medium). Season eggs with salt and pepper and transfer to a plate.
Spoon chickpea mixture into bowls, top with an egg, and serve with some toasted bread as desired, and enjoy!
One thing that has become a staple of vacationing with my mom’s side of the family is taking a cooking class. Though I was not there, I will not soon forget the pictures my mom sent of my Polish maternal grandma learning to make sushi.
We’re nothing if not adventurous.
Pappa al pomodoro ingredients. Decidedly not sushi.
As I’m about to embark on a girls trip with my mom and aunt to a new foreign land, including a cooking class of course, I’m reminded again of the first time our family’s first time taking a class. The poor souls who had to wrangle about 10 of our clan did not have an easy task, especially as the wine flowed freely.
But 12 years later, I still make the recipes that we learned that day, and I still remember the wines that we tasted. Thankfully for the purposes of this blog, the recipe I make most often, pappa al pomodoro, (and was also one of the first dishes I shared with my sweetheart whom I’ll be missing dearly), can be made in a Dutch oven.
I haven’t made many changes over the years. Why mess with this Italian classic?
BRB, there’s more in the fridge right now.
Here’s what I did on my most recent venture:
Ingredients
4 ½ lbs. tomatoes
2 leeks, sliced
1 garlic bulb, about 20 cloves, peeled minced
1-2 packages fresh basil, chopped
Red chili flakes, to taste (about 2 pinches is what I use)
1 loaf bread, preferably stale
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Directions
Peel the tomatoes — my method is to cut a cross in the bottom and put them in boiling water for a minute or less before transferring them to an ice bath. (I didn’t say it was easy, just a way to use tomatoes!) Then, chop roughly and use a food processor or blender to puree the tomatoes.
Separately, in a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat and then add the leeks and cook for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook for about another 1 minute.
Add the tomato puree to the Dutch oven, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for about an hour. Add the chopped basil and salt and pepper to taste.
Continue to cook for about another half-hour. When the tomatoes are cooked, chop or tear off pieces of bread and place in the soup until it is thickened to taste. (I used about ⅔ of a small French loaf.)
Ladle the soup into bowls and top with additional olive oil and salt and pepper, if desired, and enjoy!
Programming note: I will be traveling, mostly out of the country, for the next few Fridays, BUT I will still be keeping my blogs updated as I worked in advance to ensure I kept up with posting weekly. However, if any technical difficulties or best laid plans do not work out and I go without posting, please be understanding and know that I’ll fix anything when I return.
Taco nights are a wonderful weekday staple in our household, as I suspect they are in many. It’s so simple to whip up, especially when so much already comes pre-packaged and ready.
Our taco nights have become slightly less simple once we reduced our salt intake and therefore actually realized how much salt is contained in those pre-packaged items.
The low sodium beans are easy enough to come by, and a homemade taco seasoning mix can be made in bulk. Skipping out on my salty Spanish or Mexican rice, however, has been a source of frustration.
Mexican rice ingredients.
My sweetie has mostly taken up the duties of making Mexican rice so it’s still a no-fuss process for me. And if I’m being totally honest, the work that goes into homemade, healthier Mexican rice is only slightly more than dumping box contents into boiling water. After all, the rice part takes equally long to cook and is equally easy to ignore.
The worst part of the homemade rice is cutting a carrot and an onion; in other words, not all that much work.
My sweetie has kept the rice flavorful, without the salt, by adding a homemade broth. He has also started cutting out the addition of tomato and tomato paste. Since I was on duty this time, I made it my way.
So tasty, and less salty.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
2 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium tomato, chopped, optional
1 c. medium grain rice
2 c. homemade vegetable or chicken broth (or water)
1 c. frozen peas
2 to 3 T. tomato paste
Directions
Add the oil to a Dutch oven on medium heat. Saute the onion and carrot for 3 to 5 minutes until just starting to soften. Add the garlic, tomato, if using, and the rice. Saute for another 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low heat for 12 to 15 minutes, until the rice is nearly done and the broth is absorbed. Add the peas and tomato paste, stir to combine, re-cover and cook until the peas are cooked through and rice is ready, about another 3 to 5 minutes.
Fluff the rice and enjoy with tacos … or next week’s recipe.
I’ve talked about my love of Ratatouille before, both the movie and the fooditem. The movie has the message of “Anyone can cook,” which is to say not everyone can do it but that one’s station in life — even as a rat — can’t dictate whether one is a great chef.
Ratatouille ingredients.
A great chef I am not but I take comfort in that, and many other, life lessons offered by the Pixar classic.
As I’ve come to love the French dish almost as much as the move, I’ve also come to realize it’s an appropriate recipe to highlight the movie’s message and theme. The dish is a humble stew that also can be made to be served at the top restaurant in Paris.
If anyone can can cook, ratatouille shows that simple ingredients can make for an impressive meal no matter which way you make it.
I found last year that I loved making this traditional stew-like dish as a tian on a sheet pan. But in making it in my Dutch oven this year, I was reminded that it also works really well in its stew-ish form. While it mirrors a hearty stew, it is still exclusively vegetables and herbs and spices, with a little bit of (OK, a lot of) olive oil, which makes it light even on a summer night. Also, it doesn’t need to cook for hours upon hours. It’s a half hour or so in front of a stove top, not bad in the air-conditioned house.
It’s practically perfect, especially for the upcoming Bastille Day!
So healthy and yet so scrumptious.
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
5+ T. olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
7 garlic cloves, chopped
1 large eggplant (1 1/2 to 2 medium), chopped
2 medium zucchinis, chopped
2 medium summer squash, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
Salt, to taste
1 T. thyme (the recipes often recommended whole sprigs to be removed; I just used dried)
2 T. dried basil (I’d prefer fresh but I had some dried on hand)
1 T. dried oregano
½ T. red pepper flakes (optional)
4 to 5 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 T. tomato paste
Directions
Add about 2 T. of oil to a large Dutch oven on medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until beginning to turn translucent, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add another about 2 T. of oil and the eggplant. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 8 to 10 minutes, until beginning to soften. Add another about 2 T. of oil, the zucchini, summer squash, and bell pepper. Cook, continuing to stir occasionally, for another 5 to 10 minutes until the zucchini and squash are mostly cooked through. Add the tomatoes, herbs and spices, and tomato paste, and cook for another 5 minutes, covered, until all the vegetables are cooked through and the mixture looks stew-ish.
Let cool slightly (it stays hot for awhile), and enjoy with some fancy bread!
There’s nothing like traveling for a weekend to make me crave home-cooked, healthy fare. A weekend of eating fast food had me suddenly wishing for a big bowlful of vegetables.
But exhaustion from sleeping in unfamiliar environs and a late-night concert also meant I wanted something easy and stress-free.
Thankfully, I remembered the ghurma aloo recipe I came across sometime last year. Aloo is apparently Persian for potato, and ghurma is stew, so it’s definitely simple and easy with few ingredients.
Ghurma aloo ingredients.
However, I wanted a little more than potatoes — and tomatoes, onions, and spices. So, I added some peas and chickpeas, and skimped on a few of the potatoes. I served it over rice, and in all, it was ready in about the time it took to watch a “Psych” episode.
Aside from simple, it’s also just delicious.
If you cook Middle Eastern food at all, you’ll also have most of the spices on hand. The least likely is cumin seeds but we’ve kept those in our house for years. The others are turmeric, cayenne, and cilantro; plus, a little salt (and I threw in pepper).
It’s amazing what a handful of spices and time can do to vegetables.
So many wonderful veggies!
Here’s what I did, adapting a recipe on Epicurious:
Ingredients
1 lb. potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes (I used Yukon Gold but any will work)
2 T. canola oil
2 T. cumin seeds
1 large onion, chopped
2 t. ground turmeric
1 t. salt
Pepper, to taste
Cayenne, to taste (I used about 2 t. and it was surprisingly spicy for my moderate palate)
1 c. water
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas
1 to 1 ½ c. frozen peas
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
Fresh cilantro, chopped, to taste
Rice for serving, optional
Directions
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the cumin seeds and cook until they turn reddish brown, about 10 seconds. Add the potatoes, onion, and turmeric, and fry for about 5 minutes, until the onions and potatoes are lightly browned, stirring frequently.
Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne, and give it another quick stir to mix together. Add the water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Add the chickpeas, peas, and tomatoes, and cook covered for another 5 minutes until the peas are cooked through. Add the cilantro, and give the mixture another stir. Mash the potatoes slightly, if desired, and enjoy with rice!
The checkout girl at Target told me not to tell anyone that the bread I made this week had anchovies on it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I’d be telling everyone through this blog post. So, let me get it out of the way at the front.
This bread is not for the faint-hearted.
If you can think of everything flavorful and potentially off-putting, this bread has it. Anchovies. Capers. Kalamata olives. Onions (lots of ‘em). Garlic.
Briny bread* ingredients. *Actually called “pissaladiere.”
It’s also got tomatoes, a butt-load of olive oil, and a no-knead yeasty bread.
Basically, me and my sweetie thought it would be perfect. And the recipe didn’t let us down. It’s been amazing.
The recipe comes from the cookbook my brother turned me on to about bread: “Bread, Toast, Crumbs” by Alexandra Stafford. I finally got myself a copy.
Unlike last time, my deviations from the original recipe worked just fine. I mostly stuck to it — including all those delicious toppings — but I have regular yeast, not instant, and I figured there was no harm in swapping. Especially since I spent a year making bread.
To correct, I just upped the amount of yeast and added a little honey to get it kickstarted, but otherwise I stuck close to the original.
My only complaint — and it’s expected — is that it took a long time and dirtied quite a few dishes, including the pain-in-the-ass-to-clean food processor. But I knew all that going in, and a lot of the time is pretty passive and a great time to rewatch this amazing season of “Doctor Who.”
It looks so pretty, and it’s tasty too.
Here’s what I did (with notes to use instant yeast):
Ingredients
For the dough
4 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. salt
2 ½ t. active dry yeast (1 t. If using instant)
2 c. lukewarm water
1 T. honey, optional
For the bread
6 T. olive oil, divided
3 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic
4 anchovies
1 T. capers (I didn’t measure, I love capers)
½ c. kalamata olives, halved
1 c. cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
Directions
Make the dough. If using active dry yeast, mix together the yeast, warm water, and honey, and let sit for about 10 minutes before stirring in the flour and salt. If using instant, the recipe says to mix together the dry ingredients, and then add the water (and honey). Either way, use a rubber spatula to stir until the mixture combined and you have a sticky dough that’s sort of ball-shaped. Cover the mixture with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise for about 1 ½ hours until the dough has doubled in size.
Just before the dough is ready, heat a large pan on high heat. Add 1 T. olive oil, and then add the onions. Cook on medium heat, stirring every few minutes, until the onions are golden, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
In a food processor, mix together the garlic and anchovies with 2 T. olive oil until pureed. Add the capers and pulse till chopped. Set aside.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees, and set the rack in the middle of the oven. Line a large rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper, and pour on the remaining 3 T. olive oil. Use two forks to deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center until you get a rough ball. Lift the dough with the forks or pour it onto the oiled sheet pan. Roll the dough ball in oil to coat it all over, and then let it rest for 20 minutes.
With greased hands, push the dough to stretch it to the edges of the sheet pan, and use fingers to dimple it. When the dough resists stretching, let it rest for about 5 minutes and then stretch again until it fits most of the sheet pan.
To assemble, spread the anchovy paste on the dough. Scatter on the olives, and then the carmelized onions. Top with the tomatoes. Use fingers again to dimple the dough and stretch more if necessary.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the underside of the dough is golden and crisp. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares, and enjoy!
I’ve loved Pixar’s “Ratatouille” since it first came out and I saw it in theaters. But it’s a movie that’s only grown on me since then.
Of course, I’ve come to love cooking even more, so that’s no surprise, but it’s really the movie’s messages that have grown in importance to me.
There is the message (*spoilers ahead*) from the critic at the end of the movie that “Anyone can cook,” which isn’t to say that we can all be great chefs but a great chef can come from even the humblest of beginnings.
But if I’m honest, it’s the message from Remy walking away from his dad to pursue his passion despite his family’s wishes that really gets me.
Screenshot from IMDB.
I won’t get overly sappy here, but I’m coming up on a year since leaving journalism, and that scene has been making me think and challenging me to move forward. That’s no less true of our current political climate as we approach another election. Things can change, as long as we decide to step up.
So, to readers, please vote and convince your friends and family to do the same. And, to myself, who voted last weekend, I am reminded to step up and try to help bring about that change by working for it.
Now, I’ll step off my pedestal and get back to my recipe.
Sheet pan ratatouille ingredients (please note, this is way too much to fit on one sheet pan).
I’m embarrassed to say how many years I’ve wanted to make the eponymous ratatouille from the movie, and I finally did it during my year of casseroles. And while it did not achieve the picturesque quality of the movie, it was a delight.
I thought it could be replicated on a sheet pan, albeit a smaller amount, and I was not wrong. However, I did buy way too much of the required vegetables, and so I had to make it on several sheet pans over multiple days. And yet, I’m not complaining.
I tried a few different methods to see what would work best — sauce on top, sauce on bottom, baked at a slightly lower temperature, and came up with what is my favorite. It’s also pretty easy, to boot, except the slicing, but it’s made easier if you have a mandoline slicer.
It looks classy, but it’s also easy and delicious.
Here’s what I did (using the best version of my tests):
Ingredients
About 2 small summer squash, sliced ⅛ to ¼ inch thick
About 2 small zucchini, sliced ⅛ to ¼ inch thick
About 2 medium Chinese eggplant, sliced ⅛ to ¼ inch thick
About 3 medium Roma tomatoes, sliced ⅛ to ¼ inch thick
Salt, to taste
Olive oil, for coating
1 jar (16 to 20 oz.) arrabbiata sauce
Basil, to taste
Thyme, to taste
Minced garlic (I used dried), to taste
Directions
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Spray or brush olive oil on a large sheet pan (about 15 ½ by 12 inches)
Pour the sauce on top of the oiled pan, enough to coat but not necessarily using it all. Place a layer of vegetables on top of the sauce, slightly overlapping like shingles, and in any pattern you like — I did a row of each except tomatoes and put tomatoes on top but do whatever makes you happy.
Oil the top of the vegetable layer and add some thyme, basil, and minced garlic. Add another layer and repeat with the oil and herbs and garlic. If there’s still room, you can add a third layer (with oil, etc. on top) but my edges are not high so two layers was about all I could handle.
Top with parchment paper.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the vegetables are cooked, with some browning around the edges (trust me, it tastes delightfully smoky). Serve with more sauce, if desired, and enjoy!
I’m not saying anything profound when I acknowledge that social media, especially Twitter, when first introduced seemed like a great way to connect with people and now seems like a place to witness the worst of people and an endless scream of nonsense opinion.
So, now that I don’t need to check in on it for work I have been trying to avoid it in order to lower my blood pressure and increase my sanity. Of course, the news for the past 6 months (since I left media) has not always made that easy, and the *cough* president-created *cough* immigration crisis of the past couple weeks has been important enough to pay attention, no matter how awful.
But that doesn’t make it any easier day after day to click onto Twitter.com each day.
One tweet last week gave me hope, however. A reason to stay on it, besides being witness to the horrors that each day unfold.
Some wonderful human being posted out of the blue a delicious-looking, semi-healthy sheet pan recipe just as I was feeling like I was out of novel ideas and wanted to try something new.
Of course, because it’s a hell site that has introduced new people into my stream that I don’t even follow I now can’t find said wonderful human being. But thankfully Google still works well enough that I could find the Bon Appetit recipe for chicken meatballs with chickpeas and cherry tomatoes and get it made this week.
Chicken meatballs with chickpeas and tomatoes ingredients.
I feel faintly like an idiot because we checked three stores to get one of the main ingredients, harissa, which I’ve previously purchased online but was optimistic enough to assume I could find it in a college town. The fourth store had it. Thank you, Fresh Thyme!
So, that ingredient might be harder to find but the wonders of the Internet mean it’s never truly inaccessible. I’d say it could be substituted but it really ties the whole thing together. I’m sure another spicy paste or even some sort of sauce would work, but it’d just not be the same.
Other than our runaround, though, the recipe was super simple, cooked quickly, and was quite simply as delicious as it looked when I first heard about it.
That’s a spicy (and tasty) meatball.
Here’s what I did, mostly sticking to the recipe:
Ingredients
3-6 T. harissa paste (varies based on how spicy you want it/how spicy the harissa tastes, as it comes in mild and spicy varieties)
1 large egg
½ c. panko
8 oz. feta in brine, crumbled (this was also hard to find — thank you, Pammel Grocery — but I’m sure if necessary water could be substituted for brine)
⅔ c. chopped parsley, divided (I didn’t measure, just used up the small bunch)
6 T. olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, divided
Salt and pepper, to taste
12 oz. ground chicken (if it comes in a 1 lb. package, that’s what the recipe calls for, but my hippie organic stuff is smaller, but I found I didn’t need to manipulate the recipe to make 12 oz. work just fine)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved if large
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees and place a rack in the top of the oven.
In a large bowl, mix together the egg, panko, ¼ c. feta brine (or water), half the crumbled feta, half the parsley, 2-4 T. harissa, and 2 T. olive oil until well blended. Add in the 2 of the garlic cloves, salt, and pepper.
Add the chicken and work with your hands until just mixed.
Spread tomatoes and chickpeas on a rimmed sheet pan. Add 2 T. olive oil, 1-2 T. harissa, and any additional salt and pepper.
Grease hands and roll out meatballs into about 16 golf-ball size, and place on the sheet pan between the chickpeas and tomatoes.
Bake meatballs until cooked about halfway, about 12 to 15 minutes. Increase the heat to broil, and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, rotating once if necessary, until the meatballs are cooked, the tomatoes lightly charred, and some chickpeas are semi-crisp. (If your broiler is on the bottom of the oven, then move your sheet pan there, but I was fortunate to just bump up the temp and leave the sheet pan.)
Meanwhile, mix together the remaining feta, parsley, and 2 T. olive oil in a small bowl. Add in the remaining garlic clove, and stir until all combined.
Once meatballs are done, let rest for a few minutes, and then sprinkle the feta mixture on top, and enjoy!
My health has been shite for the past month, and so I’ve been relying more heavily on fast and easy recipes, and also relatively healthy.
So, I was so pleased to come across a food blogger — Chelsea’s Messy Apron — who had a sheet pan recipe that met all of my qualifications. My only qualm was it didn’t leave enough leftovers for someone as ill and lazy as me, but that was more easily remedied than my chronic ailment.
It was so easy that I decided to have some fun — at least fun for me — by racing to see whether I could get the recipe ready in less time than it would take to make the brown rice I would serve with my chicken and vegetable meal.
Sheet pan balsamic chicken ingredients.
Alas, I did not, but the delays were my own. Mostly, my damn desire to double the recipe meant the chicken crowded the sheet pan and cooked more slowly. The side benefit was the veggies had a nice crisp to them.
Still, the recipe was a treat and one I’ll return to again.
The best part was the ease at which flavor was added. Balsamic vinegar and Italian dressing combined to form a marinade, coating and dipping sauce that worked wonderfully. Another benefit is that any veggie combination would work, so it works to clip up what’s in the fridge.
Next time, maybe though, I’ll spread it onto two sheet pans so I can beat the brown rice.
Quick, healthy, and most importantly, tasty. What’s not to love?
Here’s what I did:
Ingredients
2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into strips, or chicken tenders
1 c. Italian dressing
⅔ c. balsamic vinegar
2 (12 oz.) packages broccoli florets
½ pint cherry tomatoes, halved
½ lb. baby carrots, halved
½ t. basil
½ t. oregano
1 t. garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil
Parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large, sided sheet pan (or sheet pans).
Mix together the balsamic vinegar and dressing. Pour a third of the mixture into a Ziploc bag with the chicken and marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to 6 hours. Split the remaining mixture into two bowls.
Place veggies on the sheet pan, and mix in the herbs, spices, and salt and pepper, as well as 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes while the chicken marinates.
When chicken is ready, move veggies to the side and place the strips in the center of the sheet pan. Brush a third of the marinade onto the chicken (and vegetables), and bake for another 15 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through.
Serve the meal with the remaining marinade/sauce and serve over rice or another grain, if desired. Enjoy!
