man friendly | 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

Valentine’s dinner from a crock pot – balsamic glazed chicken

18 February, 2013 3 Comments

Hi friends! I hope you all had wonderful weekends.

Our weekend was ruled by two of my favorite Valentines – Charlie, and the hubs. Saturday morning Josh and I braved the cold and flurries to take Charlie to the dog park. We’ve been feeling bad lately because now that I’m back at school he gets kind of lonely during the day. We make sure to give him tons of extra loving and playing at night, but it doesn’t feel like quite enough. Hence the dog park.

We stayed in the small dog area and played with his ChuckIt (after the incident he seems a little skittish around big dogs). He just had the cutest little smile on the whole time. Call me crazy, but I can totally tell when he is smiling. After the park we made a Starbucks pit stop to warm up and got him a pupaccino (aka – a tiny cup of whipped cream). It’s one of his favorite treats. Then we stopped at Petco where he soaked up all of the attention. He may be afraid of big dogs, but he LOVES people!

When we got home I got to work on our “Valentine’s” dinner. Thursday was a little crazy so we didn’t celebrate too big. We decided to have a bigger celebration this weekend when we had more time to really enjoy it.

I used the occasion to make my fourth meal in the Crock Pot Challenge series. I made this Balsamic Chicken from Dishing with Leslie and it was incredible! I saw the recipe earlier this week and decided that it looked too good not to try. I didn’t have any basil on hand, so I just left it out. I also only had fire-roasted tomatoes, so I used those.

I can’t even begin to explain how moist and flavorful the chicken gets. I served it along side some garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed bell peppers. I will be making this meal again, really soon!

I also discovered the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day book this weekend, promptly bought the Kindle edition and got to work on making the dough. I just made the Master Boule recipe and Boule loaf. I honestly could not believe how beautiful it turned out and how tasty the bread is. It had a perfect golden brown crust, and chewy center. We couldn’t wait to break into the loaf so I sliced it warm (which is a big no-no). But it was so good!!!! Screw dessert, let’s just eat fresh bread.

The methods in the book are so simple. I mixed everything by hand and had a bowl of rising dough in 5 minutes. The authors are not kidding when they say that! The recipe makes a big batch of moist dough that you put in the fridge and can tear a chunk off and bake using one of their methods anytime you want. It says the dough is okay for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. I’m not sure it will last that long in ours. Oh yeah, and there’s no kneading! No joke! Seems pretty much fool proof. I’ll be sure to share what else I make from the book.

Oh yeah, and the best part of the weekend came in a tiny little box. You know what they say about little boxes… Josh got me this ring for Valentine’s Day.

He was sneaky and saw that I posted a similar one a few weeks ago in a Five For Friday post. He done good. I love how dainty it is! I’m not such a big heart jewelry fan but this little gold one is lovely. Just a sweet little reminder of love.

And for one more picture of pure love, I give you the biggest puppy dog eyes you’ve ever seen.

Charlie was so pooped from the busy Saturday that he was just laying like this watching me in the kitchen for at least a half hour. Can’t get enough of this one!

Question of the day:

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Have you tried baking artisan bread before?

What’s your favorite thing to do with your pet?

Filed Under: bread, crock pot challenge, man friendly

The thing about leftovers…

7 February, 2013 3 Comments

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again – I don’t love leftovers. Very few things taste as good to me the next day. I’m doing a little better at eating them, mostly because I hate throwing food away, and it makes for easy packed lunches.

I think it’s just something about the microwave. You cook food to perfection the first time around, and then reheating it cooks it to a point that is way past “done”. Breads get soggy, meat gets tough… Fortunately for me, some foods can be repurposed and made into a completely different meal. You can dress Cinderella up to go to the ball and she is almost unrecognizable.

Last night was one of those meals for us. I was working on a project that’s due in a few days and completely lost track of time. Before I knew it Josh was home and dinner needed to be made. When I looked in the fridge I saw a bowl with a little bit of leftover Buffalo Chicken Dip from the Superbowl (I know, how could any of this be leftover?!?!) My first thought was to reheat it and eat it in its original form. But dip does not a meal make.

Then it hit me, mac and cheese. Buffalo chicken mac to be exact. I cooked up some whole wheat elbow noodles, and put the dip (about 2/3 of a cup) in a small saute pan with 1/4 c of milk. I stirred that together and heated it up. Once the noodles were cooked I combined it all.

Served over a bed of spinach to get some veggies in there.

I wasn’t so sure how the sauce would work with the noodles, but it was great!! And dinner was on the table 15 minutes later.

I’m sorry this isn’t a formal recipe. But it’s more of an idea. You don’t have to eat your leftovers as is. Repurpose them and make a new meal to add some variety. I’m going to try to do this more in the future, and I’ll be sure to share any more brilliant ideas I have.

Filed Under: dinner, leftovers, man friendly, quick

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 February, 2013 Leave a Comment

I told you guys that I would share any other brilliant Superbowl recipes with you if I found them. Well, I’ve looked and looked, and the only recipe that keeps popping up in my head is my own Buffalo Chicken Dip. I’ve made this close to a dozen times now, never really following a recipe.

I was first introduced to this crock pot of goodness by my sister-in-law. She brought it to the first family Thanksgiving I came to and I couldn’t stop shoveling it in my face.

I was determined then that I would try to figure out how to make it myself so that I wouldn’t have to wait for a major holiday to have it again. I tried a few versions of the recipe that I found online, but I always ended up changing things up. Adding more sauce, different ingredients… Finally, I came up with what I have deemed the “perfect” dip.

I made this for my parents at Christmas this year and my family went nuts. Then my mom called me and asked for the recipe. Ummmm, it’s in my head. I tried describing it to her (it’s really simple). She made it and said it was good.

Then my sister texted me this morning wanting to recipe to make for a Superbowl party tomorrow.

So, I suppose it’s time that I type it up to share it with you too. I actually made this today, to eat tomorrow for the game. It reheats very well too! Bonus.

I hope your Superbowl party menus aren’t set in stone yet. Because you need to make this. I promise all of your friends will love you forever. And you may also be told that you need to make it for every future gathering too. (If you don’t want that to happen, then don’t bring it to the party, just keep it to yourself at home).

This recipe is #3 of 10 in the Crock Pot Challenge I’m taking part in. Julie is hosting the challenge and all you have to do it make 10 crock pot dishes by the end of February. I love using my crock pot for this dish, because you can just set it on low and keep the dip warm throughout the party. If you don’t have a crock pot, you could easily bake this at 350 for 30 minutes, covered in foil.

I hope you enjoy!

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip

by Annie S

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 3-4 hrs

Ingredients

3 c. shredded cooked chicken breasts
4 oz. Neufchatel cheese
3/4 c shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 c blue cheese
1 1/3 c buffalo sauce (I use Frank’s Red Hot)
1/2 c reduced fat Ranch dressing
1 t red wine vinegar

Instructions

Bake chicken breast in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes (or used precooked chicken)

Let cool until you’re able to handle it

Shred finely

Add chicken and the rest of the ingredients to a 2 qt. crock pot

Cook on low 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally

Serve with Fritos, tortilla chips or other desired dippers

Alternatively, you could bake this in a casserole dish for 30 minutes at 350, covered in foil.

Filed Under: chicken, crock pot challenge, dips, man friendly

Cooking Light and a few wise words

Valentine’s dinner from a crock pot – balsamic glazed chicken

The thing about leftovers…

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip

Annie Lately

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