lunch | What's Annie Making?

Lemon Chicken Orzo Salad

28 March, 2013 Leave a Comment

You guys, I have no words today. I think it’s some combination of the hours spent working on papers for school and my allergies which have me in a complete fog. The past few days I’ve felt like I had a terrible cold coming on. I was bummed out because I don’t have time to get sick. Then I checked trusty weather.com one day and saw that tree pollen is surprisingly very high right now. Who would have thought with all of the snow we keep getting and freezing temps that tree pollen would be high?…

Anyhow, I started taking my Allegra yesterday and that seems to be helping, but it usually takes a few days for it to fully kick in.

Fact – I’ve never had allergies this bad before moving to Iowa. Last year I didn’t even know what was going on, my eyes were so swollen they were practically swollen shut. Yikes!

Anyhow, back to food.

I made this salad as a light dinner the other night. We had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge that I wanted to use so I combined it with sundried tomatoes, orzo, and lemon for a tasty dish. I love the brightness of the lemon and the zippiness of the sundried tomatoes.

I also love that this meal was on the table in less than 30 minutes. I served it hot, but it was just as good cold, leftover the next day.

I definitely can see making this again and again this spring and summer.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Salad

by Annie S

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: saute entree salad side

Ingredients

1 c uncooked orzo
1 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
3 T sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 zucchini, chopped
10 kalamata olives, roughly chopped
1 c cooked, shredded chicken breast
1/3 c lemon juice
1 T dijon mustard
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 c spinach, chiffonaded
2 T shredded parmesan cheese
2 T fresh parsley

Instructions

Boil water, cook orzo according to package directions

Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat

Add olive oil and garlic, cook 1-2 minutes until garlic is fragrant

Add shallots, sundried tomatoes, zucchini, and olives, cook 5 minutes until zucchini is soft

Stir in shredded chicken

Drain orzo and add to saute pan

Add in lemon juice and dijon mustard, cook 1-2 minutes, stirring until everything is combined

Add spinach and parmesan, cook 30 seconds until spinach is bright green

Remove from heat, garnish with parsley and serve

Filed Under: dinner, lunch, quick, salad, side dish

Brussels Sprouts Bleu Cheese Quiche

20 February, 2013 3 Comments

Fact – as of 3 hours ago I had over dozen eggs in my fridge.

Fact #2 – I now have just over 1 dozen eggs in my fridge.

Fact #3 – I need to start making a list of what I need before Costco shopping trips.

We’ve been doing most of our grocery shopping at Costco these days. I pretty much have the necessities of what I cook with on a regular basis down to things that I can buy there. I also am usually pretty good about not buying something in bulk that I know we won’t eat before it goes bad. I’ve learned my lessons about buying 3 giant hothouse cucumbers. I buy bananas and wait for them to go “bad” so that I can bake with them. And those peanut butter filled pretzels don’t stand a chance here.

But last week I had an egg fail. I usually buy the 18 pack of organic free range brown eggs because it’s a good deal and I end up baking and cooking with them so much. For some reason I thought I was out, turns out I was not. Not even close…

So when I looked in the fridge wondering what I could put together for dinner tonight, all I could see were the eggs! Now I’m not above eating breakfast for dinner. It’s pretty fantastic actually. But I wasn’t really feeling plain scrambled eggs this time. Then I remembered I had a pre-made frozen pie crust from Trader Joe’s. And this little quiche baby was born.

I know that it looks like a lot of steps, but this dish is super simple. We enjoyed it with a side salad with balsamic for a full meal.

This would also make a perfect breakfast (quiche reheats great!), brunch, or lunch. I can’t think of too many meals (besides a peanut butter sandwich) that can say that.

And it’s just different and elegant enough to make a weeknight dinner feel special.

As a side note – Trader Joe’s pie crust is amazing and so easy to use, but if you are feeling adventurous and want to make your own, the crust from this pie is great!

Question of the day -

Do you buy food in bulk?

What’s your favorite “brinner” recipe? (aka – breakfast for dinner)

Brussels Sprouts Bleu Cheese Quiche

by Annie S

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients (1 12 inch quiche)

1 prepared pie crust
3 green onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 lb cleaned and trimmed brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
8 eggs
1/2 c low fat milk
1/3 c plain, non fat greek yogurt
1/3 c bleu cheese crumbles
1/3 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 t cayenne pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Meanwhile, heat a small skillet on the stove, spray with olive oil

Saute green onions and garlic over medium heat 1-2 minutes until the garlic is fragrant

Add brussels sprouts, saute 4-5 minutes until sprouts are softened

Remove skillet from heat

Gently roll pie crust into a 12 inch pie plate, use a sharp knife to remove rough edges

Crimp edges with the tines of a fork, poke holes into the center of the crust

Bake crust for 5 minutes, remove from oven and spread the brussels sprouts mixture into the prepared crust

Combine eggs, milk, yogurt, salt and cayenne pepper in a large mixing bowl, whisk well

Stir in cheeses

Pour egg mixture over the brussels sprouts

Carefully move into the oven

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the eggs are completely set

Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes before slicing and serving

Enjoy!

Filed Under: breakfast, dinner, lunch, vegetarian

Cha cha’s white chicken chili

8 January, 2013 Leave a Comment

I’m sorry, but I have to apologize to you guys. I’ve been holding out on you. Holding out on one of my most loved kitchen secrets. The one recipe that I make more often than anything else in my kitchen. It’s the one that I’m pretty sure hooked me the man of my dreams. It’s what I make when guests come over, when there is a Packer or Badger football game on, when it’s freezing cold out… Pretty much any day of the week that ends in “Y”, I make this recipe.

This recipe gold is Cha Cha’s White Chicken Chili. I can remember my mom making this chili when I was growing up. I always wanted to know who Cha Cha was, and why her chili was so gosh darn good. Now when I make this I have to make a double batch so we have enough for lunch for the week.

As I’m typing this I realize how ridiculous I must sound right now, but it’s that good. Trust me people. I wouldn’t steer you wrong.

easiest way to shred cooked chicken!

I guess the reason I haven’t shared my secret with you yet is because 1. it’s not my recipe and 2. it’s so super easy and fast (aka – it doesn’t look like an impressive recipe, but totally tastes like it). But as I made this chili for the umpteenth time Saturday night for the Packer v. Vikings game (GO PACK!) I knew that I had to let you in on this stuff. It seems criminal not to.

I hope you try it out and add it to your recipe rotations.

Oh, and I always make Jenna’s green chile cheese cornbread for good measure. Because you can’t have chili without cornbread. You just can’t.

Filed Under: chicken, dinner, favorite things, lunch, man friendly, quick, soup, Uncategorized

BLT Naan Pizza

28 August, 2012 1 Comment

What’s shakin’ bacon? Over here in this neck of the woods were are learning to adjust to our new schedule and take care of our new little son, Charlie. At this point he does not like his crate at all but we know he needs to sleep in it. He cries the second he goes in at night and the lights go out for about 10 minutes and then passes out. Then he wakes up 4-5 hours later and starts crying again. If he’s been asleep for 4 hours or more we get up and let him outside to pee. If it’s only been an hour or two we usually just lay in bed and cringe and hold each other until he calms himself down. I’m sure our neighbors love us. It’s so hard to just sit there and let him cry, but I know we need to get him trained and if we give in to him he’ll think he can get out any time by crying.

Oh, and then this morning I literally was bawling my eyes out as I put him back in so I could go in to school for a few hours. The look on his little face. OMG. Break my heart. I left him in front of the tv with animal planet on so he wouldn’t be so lonely maybe.

We’re still working on being good new puppy parents.

So our meals are quick and simple. I can’t leave the puppy’s side for too long or we’ll be in trouble.

This BLT naan pizza fit the bill. Quick and tasty.

I just spread some hummus on naan bread (from Costco) sprinkled them with mozzarella, feta, and bacon and baked them for 8-10 minutes at 375. Then I topped it with fresh cherry tomatoes and spinach.

Easy and delicious. And those summer ripe tomatoes – divine!!!

I loved the chewy naan bread for crust. You could obviously do this on a pita or tortilla too if you don’t have naan.

The best part is that this meal is so easy and quick I still had tons of time to play with the little mister. If you’ll excuse me now, I’m going to go get some more puppy kisses.

Filed Under: dinner, lunch, man friendly, pizza, puppy, quick

Lemon Chicken Orzo Salad

Brussels Sprouts Bleu Cheese Quiche

Cha cha’s white chicken chili

BLT Naan Pizza

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