grilled | What's Annie Making?

Cooking Light and a few wise words

20 March, 2013 2 Comments

Last night I sat down to post about my Cooking Light adventures only to find that my blog was down due to an emergency hosting outage. I thought about typing the post on my phone… Then I decided I didn’t want my thumbs to bleed.

So instead I gave myself a manicure, watched Dancing With The Stars and played fetch with Charlie.

PS – isn’t he just a stunner in his new bandana?

All that as an explanation as to why I’m currently typing about dinner last night with my morning cup of coffee in my hand…

This week I’m going to be cooking through a bunch of the recipes from the newest Cooking Light magazine. The whole premise is to be able to get a healthy meal on the table in under 40 minutes. As someone who has been known to rely on frozen pizzas in a pinch [guilty] I was excited for some new fast recipe ideas.

Last night I made grilled chicken with quick green salsa

herbed cornbread muffins

and grapefruit walnut feta salad.

The whole meal took 40 minutes! They were right.

The verdict – it was good!

The tomatillo salsa on the chicken was amazing. If I made it again I would probably pound my chicken thin, and grill it outside on the real grill. I would have liked more salsa with each bite of chicken. I would definitely make it again though.

The salad is wonderful. I didn’t have butter lettuce so I used spinach and it was super tasty. The supremed grapefruit with feta combo was really light and refreshing.

I feel like I can’t fairly rate the cornbread muffins because I didn’t follow the recipe very carefully. I used whole wheat flour instead of regular. I didn’t have buttermilk so I used greek yogurt with milk. And I didn’t have green onions to mix in. The muffins were just okay. They were a little dry and the whole wheat flour overwhelmed the cornmeal flavor [my fault]. I will try to make them again soon, actually following the recipe before I really rate them.

If you don’t get Cooking Light magazine, all of their recipes are available for anyone online.

And here’s a few wise words for your Wednesday. I want to print this and frame it as a reminder in my house. So pretty!

Filed Under: chicken, daily sprinkle, dinner, grilled, man friendly, puppy, quick, salad

Margarita Chicken Salad

15 August, 2012 Leave a Comment

Hey friends! I hope you are all having good weeks. Me, I’ve been missing Mexico like crazy. We had such a good time on our honeymoon and I can’t wait to go back some time. There is nothing better than soaking up some hot sun with this view, with a nice cold umbrella drink in your hand. Ahhhh… pure bliss.

While I can’t do much about the beach view, there is some sun here. And I happen to have umbrella drink ingredients in my cupboard.

So this happened.

I took a chance and basically marinaded chicken in a margarita and then grilled it. And then I threw it on top of a salad. Because that seemed like a perfect replacement for the ocean

I loved the way the chicken was so juicy and full of citrus flavor. And the honey caramelized on the grill, giving a perfect blackened crunch in every bite. The chicken was perfect in the summer flavored salad, especially with the little bites of mango in there too.

This might be my new favorite way to grill chicken. For those days when I’m in need of a little Mexico reminder.

Margarita Chicken Salad

by Annie S

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: grill entree salad

Ingredients (4 salads)

For the chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 squeezed lime
2 T silver tequila
2 T triple sec
1/2 T honey
1/2 t sea salt

For the salad

Spinach
Handful of cherry tomatoes
1 red pepper, diced
1/4 cucumber, diced
1/2 mango, diced

For the dressing

juice of 1 lime
1/4 c red wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t cumin
1 t honey

Instructions

Combine all chicken ingredients and let marinade 4-6 hours

Heat grill to medium high

Cook chicken 6-7 minutes per side, until cooked through

Remove from grill, let rest 2-3 minutes, slice

Assemble salad ingredients in a bowl

Mix dressing ingredients in a small bowl

Pour dressing over salad

Enjoy!

Filed Under: chicken, dinner, grilled

Grilled Portobello Sandwich

25 July, 2012 Leave a Comment

Morning lovelies. I hope your week is treating you well. We’re half way there folks. That means it’s Friday eve eve??? I like to think so.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m in a bit of recipe slump. Life has been crazy between school, clinic, and trying to be a good newlywed Speaking of which, I’ve had a blast doing the wedding recap posts for you guys! I hope you are liking them too. Anyhow, recipe slumps. Why cook inside when you can heat up something outside that won’t leave the house on fire afterwards?

Fortunately, last weekend when we went to Madison I got a little inspiration. The Great Dane has a sandwich on their menu that is the best portobello sandwich I’ve ever had. So. much. flavor.

The star is a marinaded mushroom, topped with roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, garlic basil aioli on toasted ciabatta bread. It is to die for. Everything there is amazing, but this is my go-to meal by far.

Unfortunately The Great Dane is not located anywhere near me.

Fortunately for you, I figured out how to make a dead ringer for this sandwich at home!

I made it using a homemade aioli that I made in my Vitamix (recipe coming tomorrow!) but if you don’t want to make your own aioli you could easily use store-bought mayonnaise mixed with some garlic and minced basil.

These sandwiches look complicated but they’re actually pretty simple to put together.

Recipe slump officially over.

Grilled Portobello Sandwich

by Annie S

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: grill entree vegetarian

Ingredients

2 portobello mushrooms
3 T balsamic vinegar
1 t olive oil
1 t sea salt
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 red pepper, cut into large slices
mozzarella cheese
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
garlic basil aioli
ciabatta bread

Instructions

Scrape the gills out of the mushrooms

Place in a large shallow dish

Pour balsamic vinegar, 1 t olive oil, salt and pepper on top

Cover and shake to coat mushrooms completely

Let marinade 20-30 minutes

Heat grill to medium

Prepare garlic olive oil by putting 2 T olive oil and 2 cloves of minced garlic in a small dish, let sit

Put mushrooms on grill, cooking 12-15 minutes on each side

Put red peppers on grill, cook 2-3 minutes per side

Cut ciabatta bread in half, spread with garlic olive oil

Grill 1-2 minutes until just toasted

The last 2 minutes of the mushrooms cooking, put mozzarella cheese on top and close the grill lid to melt the cheese

Remove from grill and assemble sandwiches

Spread ciabatta with aioli, place mushroom and red pepper on top and the top of the ciabatta

Enjoy!

Filed Under: dinner, grilled, quick, sandwich, Uncategorized, vegetarian

Knockoff Black Bean Burgers

10 July, 2012 Leave a Comment

Have you guys tried these?

Next to my all-time favorite veggie masala burgers from trader joe’s, these are my favorite pre-made burgers. I love the fact that I can throw one (or two) of these on the grill, skillet, or microwave and have a quick meal. They are also really great crumbled on top of a salad.

What I don’t like, paying over $4.00 for 6 of these little pups. Cray-zay!!!!!

Luckily, I figured out that I can make my own at home on the cheap. I actually made these for my 4th of July guests last week rather than grilling up meat. I didn’t hear a single complaint. When you give people enough flavor, a good texture, and tons of sauces to top them with, there’s not much to complain about.

Oh, and instead of paying big $$$ for frozen burgers, or meat, I bought 3 cans of black beans for $1.80 and called it a day. (sorry friends, you’re worth more than that to me, but we are in grad school after all…)

So here they are, my version of these great black bean burgers. They are similar to these veggie burgers, but simpler to make

Knockoff Spicy Black Bean Burgers

by Annie S

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake blender grill entree vegetarian

Ingredients

1/2 c rolled oats
1 carrot
1/3 jalapeño pepper, with seeds
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 c corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1 t cumin
1 t hot chili powder
1 t garlic powder
1/3 c fresh cilantro leaves

Toppings

cheese
avocado
ketchup
bbq sauce
buffalo sauce
pickles!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray

Add oats to the bowl of a food processor, pulse several times to chop a little bit

Add carrot and jalapeño, pulse until finely chopped

Add black beans, corn, spices, and cilantro

Process 10-20 seconds until the mixture comes together into a “dough”, but is still roughly chopped

Use wet hands to form patties

Place on baking sheet

Bake in oven 12-15 minutes

(Note: I baked mine 10 minutes, removed them from the oven, then finished cooking them on the grill later that night)

Filed Under: dinner, grilled, man friendly, oats, quick, vegan, vegetarian

Cooking Light and a few wise words

Margarita Chicken Salad

Grilled Portobello Sandwich

Knockoff Black Bean Burgers

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