BBQ Chicken Pizza

Since we had a bit of leftover chicken breast, we decided to make another favorite. While we've made this pizza before, this time we cooked the chicken in the barbeque sauce before placing it on the pizza. Next time, we'll shred the chicken once it's cooked before placing it on the pizza so the bbq sauce has a chance to coat the chicken thoroughly.

 

BBQ Chicken Pizza
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Yield:
2-3 servings

Ingredients:
1 pizza dough
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast meat, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup barbeque sauce
1/4 cup marinara sauce
1/4 red onion, finely sliced
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 tsp pizza seasoning or italian seasoning
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
2-3 stalks of green onions, finely sliced

Method:
Preheat oven to 425*.

Prepare your favorite pizza dough.

In a deep enough skillet, heat barbeque sauce and chicken, until chicken is fully cooked.

Begin to add the toppings atop the pizza dough. Start with the marinara sauce, then arrange the red onions, add the chicken, add the seasonings, and top it off with cheese.

Bake for 12-17 minutes, until crust is a nice golden brown color and all the cheese is sufficiently melted. Once pizza is removed from oven, let cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving. Once plated, garnish the pizza slices with the scallions.

Leftovers taste great the next day, heat up the slices for 5-10 minutes in the oven or toaster oven!
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No-Clay Pot Chicken

My wonderful husband has been taking charge in the kitchen the last few days, and we've been having some new and delicious meals, as a result. I've also started to expand my palette, and have been eating a bit of chicken here & there. Mostly at home, because whenever hubby makes chicken, it smells too good not to give it a try!

Here was a quick, mostly one-pot dish that's perfect for a weeknight, and it was put together 100% by H. I didn't even help chop anything!

 

 

The recipe is courtesy theKitchn and we'll let you venture there for the full details. We will note that we did not use sausage, so the main difference in our recipe is the lack of sausage and that we cooked the mushrooms in a bit of oil, rather than in the sausage fat, as indicated in the recipe. We also used homemade vegetable broth, rather than chicken broth. And, we didn't have a pan that went from stove to oven, so after cooking everything on the stove, H transferred everything to an oven safe dish. 

This dish was so incredibly flavorful! We halved the recipe, and had enough leftovers for H to enjoy in the following days. 

Enjoy!

Braised Chicken Tacos

Here we go, my first post to our blog. Found this recipe a while ago on Pinterest and decided to give it a shot. At first I was skeptical about this recipe because the chillies used were authentic latin chillies which I had to google where to buy from. Once we found them, the suspense continued because I have never puree'd chillies before.
But this recipe just turned out to be simply delicious, S was out for drinks with her friends so I had the whole kitchen to myself (good and bad)... the good? have beers while cooking, the bad? I have to chop the onions myself ;)
Well anyway, two and a half hours later and three beers down - there I was, nervous and hungry as S walked into the door tipsy and starving. Oh I almost forgot, since S is a vegetarian (or so she claims to be on the outside), I did decide to throw win some tofu into the tomato and pepper puree  and cooked it ready for her in ase she decided this was one of the vegetarian days for her.
Enjoy!

Braised Chicken Tacos
recipe from No Recipes
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Yield:
10 tacos

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 small onions, sliced thinly
6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 dried ancho chiles
3 dried guajillo chiles
2 medium sized tomatoes, cut in fours
2 bay leaves
juice of 1 lime
corn tortillas
Chicken rub mix: mix salt, peper, taco seasoning or pizza seasoning (or similar ingredients)
1 ripe avocado

Method:

Generously rub the chicken with chicken rub on both sides. Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to a large heavy bottomed pot and heat until the oil is very hot. Brown the chicken in batches, until they turn a golden brown on one side before flipping. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate.

Turn down the heat to medium low, add the onions and garlic to the pot, and cover with a lid for 10 minutes. When you remove the lid, the onions should be wilted and cooking in their own juices. Use a wooden paddle to scrape up all the browned bits (a.k.a. chicken flavor) from the pan, then turn up the heat to medium high to burn off the liquid. When most of the liquid has evaporated, turn the heat back down and stir and continue to caramelize the onions until they are brown and glossy (another 20-30 minutes).

Meanwhile, tear up the chiles into small flat pieces and place them in a single layer on a sheet pan. Roast in a 350 degree oven until they are fragrant, but be careful not to burn them as they will become bitter. Transfer the roasted peppers to a bowl and cover them with very hot water. Once the peppers are soft, transfer them to a food processor or blender (make sure to not add the seeds from the roasted chillies -- otherwise the puree will be bitter) adding in about 1/2 cup of the water they were soaking in along with the big chunks of tomato. Puree the peppers and tomatoes until they form a smooth sauce.

When the onions are done caramelizing add the pepper puree, along with the chicken, bay leaf and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting, partially cover with a lid and cook until the chicken falls apart when prodded with a fork (about 1 hour).

When the chicken is done, use 2 forks to shred the meat. Serve with sliced avocados, fresh cilantro, lime wedges and tortillas.

Honey + Beer Sauce, two ways

Usually we cook veggie at home, but every now and then, H finds a delicious sounding meaty recipe that must be made. Rather than make two separate dinners, I usually try and figure out how to make his newly found recipe veggie friendly.

So, sometimes we end up with two versions of the same dinner, one for and made by the carnivore (him) and one for and made by the herbivore (me).

We took a divide and conquer approach to this dinner.

This was tasty and that something-different we yearn to incorporate into our weekly dinner routine. I decided to make it a little extra gluttonous and serve it with mashed potatoes. Because, really, what doesn't taste better with mashed potatoes?

Honey-Beer Sauce, two ways: with Tofu & with Chicken
recipe adapted from So, How's It Taste?
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Yield:
4 servings

Ingredients:
(note: we divided the amounts below in half, and cooked each half in a separate pan, to better and easier incorporate the chicken in one and tofu in the other. If you're going to make only chicken or only tofu double the amount of chosen protein listed below)

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup beer (we used Newcastle, but any beer you fancy will taste great)
2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
parsley, for garnish (optional)
6 oz extra-firm tofu, if using
2 6oz. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, if using

Method:
First, prepare your protein. If using tofu, remove as much moisture from tofu, and cut into cubes. Salt and pepper your cubes. If using chicken, salt and pepper your chicken breasts, coating both sides evenly.

Heat oil in pan(s). We worked side by side, one pan for tofu, one pan for chicken. Add your protein to the pan and cook until done. For the tofu, you'll need to turn the tofu occassionally to brown all sides evenly. For the chicken, you'll cook each side about 6 minutes, or until it's done. Remove proteins from pan once done. To keep our proteins warm, we put them in an oven-safe bowl and placed them in the oven at the lowest temperature the oven can be.

Return the now empty pan to heat, and add the onions. Cook until translucent. In a bowl, or small measuring cup, whisk together beer, soy sauce, mustard, and honey until combined. Add the mixture to the pan, bring to a boil and use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape the edges and bottom of the pan to loosen any stuck bits. Cook until the mixture has reduced to about half of what it was originally. Return your chosen protein to the pan, and keep turning until it's well coated with sauce.

Serve with mashed potatoes (the gluttonous side), or a salad (the healthier side)
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