Summer in DC and Fresh Summer Pasta with Lemon, Chicken and Peas

June 8, 2014 by Mackenzie

What a wild last 2 1/2 months I have had… I think my last recipe post was back during spring break, which is pathetic considering that was back in mid-March. Although I had every intention to continue blogging through the end of the school year, as it seems to happen, school, work, golf and whatever small social life I had got in the way of cooking and writing. As soon as my finals were over, I took off to Madagascar for almost a month! You can read all about my trip here.

I came back from Madagascar, packed up my apartment in St. Louis and moved to DC! I’m interning for Senator Maria Cantwell this summer and am so thrilled to have the opportunity to experience the ins and outs of politics, the bustle of DC in the summer, and have some time to myself to read, write and cook!. I’m living in a house near the Capitol with several other young adults and am looking forward to everything this summer will bring.

Although I have a big kitchen, it’s not exactly fully-stocked with my usual cooking gadgets. Yes, I know I’m spoiled in St. Louis to have an ice cream maker, a crock-pot, a waffle maker, a food processor, and the likes… But this kitchen doesn’t even have a cheese grater! (Found that out while I was in the middle of making this recipe ha!) I also don’t want to buy too many ingredients – spices, oils and such – because I’m only here for ten weeks and will have to fly everything back home. So my recipes are going to be simple this summer. Easy, simple, healthy recipes are what you’ll see in the coming weeks!

And to start – I’m sharing this simple, fresh summer pasta. I made it last week after work – and find it perfect for the hot summer days out here. The lemon juice serves as the main punch of flavor and also as any semblence of a sauce (lemon juice, water and some butter serve as the sauce – so it’s light, fresh, flavorful and incredibly easy to make!) I’ve enjoyed it both hot and cold – hope you enjoy!

Fresh Summer Pasta with Lemon, Chicken and Peas
Recipe adapted from PureWow
Serves 6

1 lb spaghetti noodles
2-3 cups fresh or frozen peas
1 bag fully-cooked chicken strips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + more to serve
Juice of one lemon
Salt
2-3 tablespoons freshly chopped mint
Zest of one lemon

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta to al dente, according to package directions. About a minute or two before the pasta is done, add the peas. While pasta is cooking, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and a few pinches of italian seasoning spice and saute for 4-5 minutes.

2. When the pasta is done, ladle out one cup of the liquid and set aside. Drain the remaining liqud through a colander and return the pasta to the pot. Add the heated chicken, butter, grated cheese, and salt to taste. Toss to combine and then add the reserved liquid and the lemon juice. Toss to coat. Add the mint and lemon zest, toss it to combine one last time and serve immediately.

Leftovers can be eaten hot or cold – it’s delicious both ways!

Pear Bites with Pancetta, Goat Cheese and Honey

December 19, 2013 by Mackenzie

It’s finally Christmas break! I’m so happy to be home, to be able to spend time with my family and to craft some new recipes. Check back often because I’ve got a lot of good ones to share!

Today, I’m sharing an appetizer that I made for the first time last Thanksgiving and has been a hit at every family gathering since! It’s very simple to make, yet the flavors meld so uniquely and give each bite a complex, sweet and salty flavor. They would be perfect as an appetizer at a Christmas or New Year’s gathering – I promise you won’t disappoint yourself, or your guests if you make them!

Pear Bites with Pancetta, Goat Cheese and Honey
Makes 12, but easily multiplied
Recipe from Eat.Drink.Smile.

Ingredients:
12 thin slices pancetta (about 1/3 lb)
1 large Bartlett pear
2 oz goat cheese, crumbled
Freshly cracked pepper
Honey

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Carefully peel the pancetta slices apart and arrange on the baking sheet (keep in circular shapes). Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden. Lay a paper towel over a cooling rack and transfer the pancetta to it. Let sit for 10 minutes to cool and get crispy.

2. Core pear with a corer (just so the core comes out not an apple slicer! If you don’t have one, you can find them pretty cheap at a kitchen gadget store like Bed, Bath and Beyond). Cut pear crosswise into 12 thin rings (see photo for thickness). Arrange slices on serving platter then place one slice of crisped pancetta on each pear slice. Top each slice with goat cheese and drizzle with honey. Sprinkle with pepper. Serve right away (they don’t keep well for a second day so you better eat them all!)

Pumpkin Millet Muffins

November 4, 2013 by Mackenzie

Halloween may be over, but cooking with pumpkin is most definitely not! I couldn’t possibly wait a whole year to post these because they are mouth-wateringly delicious!

I love these muffins for two reasons. 1) they are exceptionally moist, which is a characteristic I value highly in my muffins! And 2) the addition of the millet gives these muffins a unique texture that I love. In case you’ve never had millet, it is a grain that has a slight crunch to it, even when fully cooked. I’ve never had it in baked goods so was very curious to try it here and I loved the complexity it added! I’ll definitely be trying out millet in some of my other baked goods recipes.

And no, these do not ascribe to my clean eating/real foods lifestyle that I try to live by. But I am completely okay with an occasional treat 🙂 And luckily, I live in a building full of college students who love to eat the fruits of my baking endeavors!

Pumpkin Millet Muffins
Recipe from Whole Foods Market
Makes 14 muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup millet
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place paper liners in a muffin pan.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add millet and toast until golden brown, stirring occasionally. You’ll hear the millet begin to pop after 3-4 minutes and that’s when it’s toasted. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, sour cream, milk, melted butter, pumpkin, sugar and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, add all the dry ingredients, (flours, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, spices and cooled millet) and stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.

4. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling cups almost to the top. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into middle of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. They are delicious warm!!!

Avocado Chicken Salad

August 28, 2013 by Mackenzie

This recipe has been one of my go-tos all summer – I’ve probably made it at least five times in the last month! It’s super easy, super fast, summery, and made with all “real food.” Can’t get any better than that!

This recipe is great because you can scale it up or down very easily depending on how many people you are feeding or how much leftovers you want to have. I go with a 1:1 ratio of avocado to chicken breast and usually do half a chicken breast per serving. It’s also a great recipe because of how versatile it is – you can eat it hot or cold, plain, in a wrap, in a sandwich… I’ve tried it all these ways – and loved it each time!

Avocado Chicken Salad
Serves 2 (easily scaled up or down)
Recipe from Gina’s Favorites

Ingredients:
1 organic, boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 tablespoons coconut oil (or olive oil)
1 avocado
1/4 red onion, chopped
Juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tablespoons cilantro
Salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Dice chicken into 2-inch pieces (doesn’t have to be exact, you’ll shred it later). Heat the coconut oil in a medium-sized skilled over medium heat. Add the chicken, sprinkle some salt and pepper of it and begin to cook it. When the chicken is almost done, add the red onion and let them soften. Take a wooden spatula or a fork and shred the chicken into smaller pieces. Cook the chicken and onion together until the chicken is cooked through.

2. In a medium bowl, mash the avocado. Add the chicken and onions, the lime juice, cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all together and enjoy! Keeps well for up to two days in the fridge.

Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole

August 20, 2013 by Mackenzie

Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole - amazingly delicious, full of "real foods" so it is healthy, and easy to prepare! Spencer and I are enroute to St. Louis! We are driving all the way there – 33 hours in the car with my bro 🙂 While he was driving today, I thought I would be productive with my passenger seat time and write up a recipe! Now that we’ve got wi-fi in the hotel – I can post it!

At the beginning of this trip, this Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole was divided into about 10 tupperwares in the cooler in the back of my car. Now there’s only about half left! It’s one of the super-easy, on the go meals that I made up before we left so that I could stick to my Clean Eating lifestyle and also have quick yummy meals on the road!

I’ve now made this dish twice in the last two weeks – it’s so good and very easy to take with you on the go because it is just as good cold as it is warm. Everything in it is “real” – nothing processed or genetically modified. I think you’ll love it!

Mexican Chicken Quinoa Casserole

Serves 10, fills one 9×13 dish
Recipe adapted from MJ and Hungryman

Ingredients:

2 organic, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, cut into one inch pieces
1 cup organic frozen corn, thawed
1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, thawed (squeeze out as much water as possible)
1 (15 oz) can black beans
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup organic chicken broth
1 cup of your favorite salsa (I love the emerald valley brand at Whole Foods)
1 cup shredded cheddar

Directions:

1. Prepare chicken: heat coconut oil in a medium-sized skillet. Cut the chicken breasts into smaller pieces (doesn’t matter how big because you will shred them later) and add to skillet. Cook, turning often, until cooked through. Allow to cool and when cool enough to handle, shred the chicken.

2. Cook quinoa: pour quinoa into a saucepan and add 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Bring liquid to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and let cool.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil and sauté onion until softened, about five minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the bell pepper, corn and frozen spinach and combine well. Add tomato paste, cumin and salt and pepper and mix. Then add the shredded chicken, quinoa and black beans. Mix well. (If this gets too big for your skillet, you can transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add everything in that).

4. In a medium saucepan (I just used the same one I had made the quinoa in), add the chicken broth and salsa. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add to chicken mixture and combine well.

5. Pour mixture into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Top with avocado and salsa.

Lemonade Cake

May 24, 2012 by Mackenzie

I know you’re saying, “what?! lemonade in a cake?!”

Yeah. I did too. So I made it. And woah. Woah. WOAH.

Lemonade Cake

Cake:

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

6 Tbsp. butter, softened

1 Tbsp. grated lemon rind

3 Tbsp. thawed lemonade concentrate

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 large egg whites

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups fat-free buttermilk

Cooking spray

Frosting:

2 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 tsp. grated lemon rind

2 tsp. thawed lemonade concentrate

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

8 oz. 1/3-less-fat cream cheese

3 1/2 cups powdered sugarServe with raspberries and yogurt ice cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare cake, place sugar, butter, lemon rind, lemonade concentrate and vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at at time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture; beat well after each addition.

Using wax paper, trace two circles of the bottom of a round 9-inch cake pan and cut out. Place into the bottom of the pan and it will really help the cake to come out cleanly after it is baked. Pour batter into 2 (9-inch) round cake pans coated with cooking spray; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack, remove from pans. Cool completely on a wire rack and remove wax paper from bottom once cooled.

To prepare frosting, place 2 tablespoons butter, lemon rind, lemonade concentrate, vanilla extract and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, and beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat). Chill 1 hour.

Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1/2 cup frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Store cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.

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