Grilled Buffalo Chicken

So overall, this is the best chicken I have ever had... that I cooked or eaten out.  It is literally the most flavorful chicken in the world!!!!  It's pretty healthy, and especially if paired with veggies or fruits, it is an awesome meal that really doesn't take much time.  Also leftovers are BOMB!

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic (minced)
10 tsp ancho powder (8 in recipe 2ish for seasoning chicken)
1/2 cup hot sauce

2 tbsp honey

salt and pepper to taste

4 chicken breasts

2 tbsp cumin (for recipe)

2 tsp cumin (for seasoning chicken)

canola oil

Directions:

Melt butter in saucepan.  Add butter and let cook for around a minute to capture the flavor.  Add 8 tsp ancho powder and stir until mostly dissolved. Stir in hot sauce and honey and then the salt and pepper.  Remove about 1/4 cup of this in order to save to add on top after the rest has been cooked onto the chicken.

Season each side of the chicken breast with ancho powder and cumin.  Our chicken breasts were a tad bit thick and we had a time crunch, so we butterflied them. 

Drizzle canola oil over both sides, put about half of the buffalo sauce on the top, and place on medium heat straight on the rack of the grill to make char marks. When it's time to flip the chicken, move it to aluminum foil on the grill to make sure the chicken stays nice and juicy!  Then brush on more buffalo sauce. 

As soon as the chicken is no longer pink in the middle, take off the grill immediately to avoid making it dry.  Serve with the 1/4 cup reserved buffalo sauce and ranch! 

* this is somewhat of a spicy dish, but it has great flavor! Spicy-haters shouldn't have to miss out. In order to tone down the spice, add a little less hot sauce and a little more honey! :) deeelish!

Pineapple Salsa Chicken

So first off, I'd just like to say this dinner is SOOO freakin easy! If you can't already tell, I love easy.  I mean, after working a 9 hr day and then going to the gym I'm READY to eat.  So if you put the chicken breasts out in the morning to thaw from their popsicle state, it's PERFECT for a quick dinner.

To begin:

   Take one can of pineapple chunks plus the juice and dump it into a bowl. 

Then take about 1/2 cup -3/4 cup salsa and mix those two killer ingredients together (i usually choose a milder salsa, because it goes with the taste of the pineapple better in my opinion).  You can play with the balance of the two depending on your personal preference. 

    Then add about 1 1/2 tsp of curry. Yes curry.  Sounds like a strange mixture, but just trust me here.  Now, curry can go HORRIBLY wrong if there's too much, so start out light on the curry.

 Mix this combo all together and then just pour over chicken breasts in some sort of baking dish.  The smaller the better (as small as will fit all of the chicken breasts flat) because then the juices reach more of the chicken.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until center is no longer pink. Serve the pineapple that you cooked the chicken in as a side and it's COMPLETE :)

Taco Bowls

Taco Bowls

Everyone knows the thrill of TACO night right?!?! Well just to put a bit of a spin on this simple--QUICK--EASY, dinner, I thought I'd let you in on a little restaurant favorite--the taco bowl!  It's great not only because it's easy and popular, but also you can make this dinner as healthy as you want (or don't want :-P).

To Begin:

   Start by browning the taco meat with a taco seasoning packet as directed.  (these are really cheap!).  Then you can set that aside and begin making the taco bowls. 

We didn't have any bowls that happened to be round AND oven proof, so ours were slightly square, haha but just as delicious!  In order to make the bowls, start with medium to large soft tortilla shells (ours were only medium, and you can see how much we fit in them). 

Set a bowl (rim down) and spray the bottom of it with cooking oil.  Then spray both sides of the tortilla and place it on top.  Then spray the inside of a slightly larger bowl in order to force the tortilla to make a bowl shape. Now that you have your taco bowl... GET ALL OF THE TOPPINGS READY!!!! We chose to have lettuce, refried beans, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes (none for me eww), black olives, salsa, and hot sauce :)

Now that all of the pieces of this puzzle of deliciousness are ready, build your mountain of food!





Here's Ben's

AND HERE'S MINE



NoM nOm NoM nOmMmM

Spaghetti Pie

The awesome thing about this recipe is that it's basically two big steps: the crush, and the meaty filling.  It's a really good balanced meal and it keeps me full for a long time especially after a really good workout. I introduced this one to Ben one night when we were trying to find something to make before studying, and he even had all of the ingredients; it's always nice when there's nothing ridiculous to find at the grocery.  Needless to say, he fell in love with this recipe that I grew up on :) thanks MOM for introducing me to this awesome college staple.

Spaghetti Pie

8 oz spaghetti

3 tbsp. butter

3 c. parmesan cheese

2 small beaten eggs

1 lb. hamburger

1 tsp dried oregano

12 oz. mozerella cheese (shredded)

1 small chopped onion

½ c. chopped green pepper

18 oz can tomatoes & juice (Italian style or basil adds a nice taste)

6 oz can tomato paste

1 tbsp sugar

½ tsp garlic salt

~1/2 cup cottage cheese

Instructions:

Cook spaghetti according to directions—drain.  Stir butter into spaghetti.  Stir in parmesan cheese and eggs.  From spaghetti into crust in a 10” pie plate or pyrex dish*.  In a skillet cook ground beef, diced onion, and diced green pepper till vegetables are tender and the meat is brown. Drain off fat, stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, oregano, and garlic salt while mixing over heat.

Spread cottage cheese over spaghetti crust and fill pie with tomato/beef mixture.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for 20 min.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake for 5 more minutes or until the cheese melts.

*In my experience with college kitchen resources and no need for a whole pound of beef for a dinner for 2, it was really cheap to purchase 8” metal baking pans.  Sometimes the 10” pie plate can become too full and overflow a bit (messy!).  Also spaghetti pie leftovers are awesome up to even a week later J.  One thing I like to do sometimes is add ½ lb Italian sausage and ½ ground beef for a little kick.