Mediterranean Chicken Couscous

I was first introduced to couscous a few years ago, and it has become one of my favorite foods. It is really healthy, versatile, and super quick to make. Most of the couscous you find in the grocery store is instant and is cooked by simply adding boiling water or broth and letting it sit for 5 minutes. Instant couscous has been pre-steamed and dried. By soaking it in liquid it simply re-hydrates the couscous.

Couscous is small pasta that is made from semolina flour. The origin of couscous is not known, but it most likely originated from North Africa. According to Wikipedia, the dish is a traditional staple food throughout West Africa, Sahel, France, Spain, the Canary Islands, Portugal, Madeira, and Italy (particularly in western Sicily's Province of Trapani), as well as many other countries in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and India.

We recently made a trip to Trapani, Sicily where fish couscous is very popular. It was pretty fishy tasting so it wasn't my favorite kind of couscous.

The recipe below has a very good mix of flavors. The fresh basil, lemon juice, and lemon rind flavors are very light and a nice compliment to the feta cheese and other ingredients. It is figure friendly and a perfect quick meal.

Mediterranean Chicken Couscous

1 3/4 cups low-sodium fat-free chicken broth

1 (5.6 ounce) package toasted pine nuts and couscous mix

3 cups chopped cooked chicken (about 1 rotisserie chicken)

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 (4 ounce) package crumbled feta cheese

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp. pepper

Garnish with fresh basil leaves

Heat broth and seasoning packet from couscous in the microwave on high for 3 to 5 minutes or until broth begins to boil. Place couscous in a large bowl, and stir in broth mixture. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork; stir in chicken and next 6 ingredients. Serve warm or cold. Garnish if desired. 

Tip: You'll need to buy a 2/3 ounce package of fresh basil and 1 rotisserie chicken to get the right amount of basil and chicken for this recipe. Substitute 4 tsp. of dried basil if you can't find fresh.

Caramel Apple Crepes

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I had often heard of crepes before coming to Italy, but didn't know what they were. They sounded to me like a fancy fru fru pastry. Crepes are actually a very thin pancake that are really simple to make. For a delicious dessert, fill them with fruit, or any dessert filling. Italians love them with Nutella, which is really simple, but oh so good! While in France, we enjoyed a crepe filled with honey and coconut. For a savory flavor, fill them with meat, cheese, or vegetables. At the Italian cooking school, we made spinach and ricotta filled crepes topped with a white cream sauce. Talk about delizioso!

A few months ago, I was browsing one of my favorite sources for recipes (http://www.food.com/) and came across this crepe recipe. It is quite sinful, but occasional culinary indulgences are okay every once in a while. Right?

The recipe calls for apple brandy or rum. I didn't add the alcohol and it was still yummy.

Caramel Apple Crepes

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cups milk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

nonstick cooking spray

Filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup whipping cream (unwhipped)

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 cups tart apples, peeled, cored and very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup raisins

2 tablespoons apple brandy or 2 tablespoons rum

1/2 cup pecan pieces, toasted

1/4 cup powdered sugar

vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Prep Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

 Place 1/4 cup raisins in small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of rum or brandy. Set aside.

 Crepes:

 Combine flour, milk, eggs, oil and salt; beat until smooth and lump free.

 Heat a small skillet or crepe pan, spray with non-stick oil and remove from heat.

 Spoon in 2 Tbsp batter; tilt skillet to spread evenly.

 Return to heat; brown on one side.

 Invert pan over paper towel to remove.

 Repeat with remaining batter.

 Apple Filling:

 In a heavy small saucepan melt butter, add brown sugar; cook and stir over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved and creamy. Remove from heat. Slowly and carefully stir in whipping cream (mixture will bubble up).  Set aside.

 Toss apple slices with lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg.

 Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add apple slices; cook, uncovered, for 4 to 6 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally. Add raisins and 1/4 of the caramel sauce.

 Top crepes (browned side down) with apple mixture and fold (browned side is now showing). Place 2-3 crepes on individual serving dishes; top with pecans and dust with powdered sugar.

 Serve with ice cream with caramel sauce drizzled over top.

Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies

Snickerdoodle is such a funny word. I just love saying it! If you know me very well, you know that I like to make cookies, but until a few weeks ago I had never made snickerdoodles. I love cinnamon so I really liked them, but I knew they were really good when my husband enthusiastically approved. He is my number one food critic, and I can always trust him to give an honest opinion. If he doesn't like a recipe it most likely will not end up on my blog.  I hope you enjoy these snickerdoodles as much as we did!

Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies

http://www.food.com/

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.

Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.

Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.

Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture.

Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.

Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.

Remove from pan immediately.

Enjoy!!

Timballo di Riso/Rice Timbale

This recipe comes from the Italian cooking school that I attended in the spring. When we arrived at the school each day we would go to a classroom where the head chef would brief us on the dishes that we were going to prepare. Sometimes between the briefing and walking to the kitchen the recipes would change, and we would make a totally different dish than we were told about. After "graduation" the school gave us a cd with all the recipes in Italian. This recipe was on the cd, but we never actually made it in class.

This was probably the most challenging Italian recipe I have cooked so far. It wasn't that the actual dish was difficult, but trying to translate the recipe was challenging. Since my Italian is not good, I rely on Google Translate to translate the recipes. It was also confusing since the recipe is for four rice timbales (english for timballo), but it has you prepare enough meatballs for about 20 timbales! But as the Italians say, "va bene" which loosely translates "all is well". My kids loved the meatballs (which are inside the rice) so they definitely were eaten. 

I had to do some research on timbale recipes since I had never heard of them and didn't have a clue what I was cooking. Then after making this dish a friend mentioned to me that her Italian neighbor had recently taught her how to make it, and I read about it in a book on Sicily.

Timballo is an Italian dish that consists of  baked pasta, rice, or potatoes stuffed with meat or vegetables. One popular Sicilan way to make it, is to line a bundt pan with fried eggplant and then layer with rice and vegetables. After baking, dump out the pan and you have a nicely molded eggplant timbale.


A timbale is a kettledrum and looks like this:

You can purchase molds in the shape of a kettledrum, so I assume that is why it is called Rice Timbale. I didn't have any timbale molds so I just used some ramekins that I already had.

I have not perfected this recipe. I just want you to see how this recipe translates and why it was so difficult for me. This dish was quite delicious so perhaps one day I will try it again, rewrite the recipe, and share it with you.

Rice Timbale

with Heart and Smooth Tomato Mozzarella

Carnaroli rice 200 gr
onion 80 gr
vegetable broth 50 gr
olive oil 50 cl
minced beef 200 gr.
eggs 2
grated parmesan 150 gr.
parsley bunch
bread-crumbs 150 gr.
peanut oil .300 lt
tomatoes .200 kg
mozzarella 100 gr.
garlic 1
aluminum cups 4

Chop half the onion fry it in a saucepan over low edge, add the rice, toast, sprinkle with white wine to evaporate off and let stand. Take the remaining clove of garlic, add onion and brown in a saucepan combine the tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook. Apart from taking the chopped beef put in a bowl combine eggs, bread-crumbs, parsley, grated Parmesan, salt, pepper, and knead, form small patties and fry in a pan. In a saucepan, prepare the vegetable broth. Turn the pan with wet rice with vegetable broth and bring to cooking the meatballs and add a ladle of tomato sauce with grated cheese mix into the molds lay at the center include a diced mozzarella, sprinkle with grated cheese and grill in the oven at 180 degrees for 5 minutes.

Award Winning Chili Recipe

I am pleased to share this awesome award winning chili recipe! My husband won first place at a Sunday School party chili cook off with this recipe! The best part is that it is super simple.  

Now that the weather is cooler or freezing, depending where you live, this is the perfect time of year to enjoy some yummy chili!

Chili

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. minced onion
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
1 (8 oz.) can water
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can red beans (ranch style)
1 pkg. chili season
1 small can green chilis
1-2 can refried beans to thicken (optional)


Brown meat. Drain well. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for about one hour.

You'll Go Bananas for this Monkey Bread

 

Do you love the taste of cinnamon rolls, but don't enjoy all the work that goes into making them from scratch? If you answered yes, then I have a recipe for you! This monkey bread is so easy you might even decide that you like it better than homemade cinnamon rolls. It is pretty too when baked in a bundt pan.

Do you have a super easy breakfast bread recipe? Please comment and share! I would love to hear about your recipe.

Grands Monkey Bread

1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cans (16.3 oz. each) Pillsbury® Grands!® Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired
1/2 cup raisins, if desired
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening or cooking spray. In large food-storage plastic bag, mix sugar and cinnamon.
Separate dough into 16 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan, adding walnuts and raisins among the biscuit pieces.
In small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter; pour over biscuit pieces.
Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate; pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

Nutrition Information:
1 Serving: Calories 450 (Calories from Fat 200); Total Fat 22g (Saturated Fat 11g, Trans Fat 4.5g, Polyunsaturated Fat 0g); Cholesterol 30mg; Sodium 890mg; Potassium 170mg; Total Carbohydrate 58g (Dietary Fiber 0g, Soluble Fiber 0g, Insoluble Fiber 0g, Sugars 31g); Protein 5g

Mexican Dip

I apologize that I haven't been consistently posting recipes lately. I am currently taking four accelerated college classes, so I have been a little busy. My write ups will probably be short and sweet until two of my classes end on November 7.

I am excited to share this yummy Mexican Dip recipe with you! I got this from a good friend when we lived in Meridian, MS. She now lives in Texas, and I am in Italy, but thanks to Facebook we can still keep in touch. I am so thankful for the friends all over the world that the Lord has brought into my life. Each new friend makes my life so much richer, and I am truly grateful!

Mexican Dip

2 pkg. 8 oz. cream cheese (I use 1/3 less fat)

¾ cup mayo (I use light)

3 T. taco seasoning

2 green onions, sliced (set aside 2 T. for topping)

1 cup diced red bell pepper

¾ cup salsa

1 garlic clove, pressed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

Combine cream cheese, mayo, and seasoning until smooth. Set about 1 cup aside, spread the rest on bottom of serving dish and about ½ way up sides. Slice green onions and set aside 2 T. for top. Combine green onion, red bell pepper, salsa, garlic, beans, and corn. Spread ½ of salsa mixture over cream cheese layer. Repeat both layers. Sprinkle 2 T. green onions on top.