Chicken Piccata with Orzo

After all the holiday decadence, I was craving something lighter, so I made Chicken Piccata with Orzo for my family the other night. I found the recipe in Cooking Light Magazine, and I thought it struck the right balance of lightening things up without totally forsaking delicious oil and butter. I also liked that the recipe called for mostly everyday ingredients- the only thing unusual was the capers. I'd never tried them before, but they definitely add flavor!

While it didn't quite live up to the richer restaurant version, this recipe was filling, lemony, and light. The sauce was really tangy, but the chicken and orzo balanced it out. It was great served with a spinach salad.

Meatless Taco Pizza

I love pizza of all types, and though I'd have to say really good deep dish is my favorite, making it at home is probably second. I'm rather particular about crust, so when I'm feeling up to it, I usually just make my own pizza dough using a few basic ingredients and my food processor. The secret to really good, crispy homemade crust is cranking up the oven with a pizza stone in it (or if you don't have one of those, like me, just use an upside down baking sheet). Pre-made crust or pizza crust mixes work too, it just depends on what you like and how much effort you feel like expending. 

For this pizza, I decided to forgo traditional pizza sauce, and instead used a combination of refried beans, taco sauce, and taco seasoning as the base. After a layer of cheese, I added some tomatoes before baking so they'd get a little roasted. Once the pizza was done, I added some lettuce, green onions, and of course, taco chips. For me, it's just not taco pizza without taco chips.

Appetizer Christmas: Stuffed Jalapenos

My family tends toward the non-traditional for Christmas dinner. The past few years, we've had Christmas tacos, but this year, to change it up a bit, we did appetizer Christmas. We had a nice spread, including chicken skewers with spicy dipping sauce, veggies and hummus, and hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls. For my contribution, I made these insanely delicious Stuffed Jalapenos from the June 2010 issue of Everyday Food. They totally satisfy a jalapeno popper craving, and they're a lot healthier.

They're also incredibly easy to make- all you need is a few jalapenos, some cream cheese, and some shredded cheddar cheese. Just slice the jalapenos in half, and then scoop out the ribs and seeds, depending on how hot you want them to be. A spoon is the ideal tool for this. For the filling, just smash together some cream cheese and cheddar cheese. Once you've got your scooped out jalapenos, you just stuff them with a bit of the cheese mixture and bake.

The stems make nice little handles once you're ready to eat!

Citrus Sugar Cookies

To finish up my Christmas baking, I made these Citrus Sugar Cookies from the December 2009 issue of Everyday Food.  I love citrus, and the lemon added a really nice twist to these sugar cookies. This is probably my favorite Christmas cookie recipe of the 3 I tried this year. I mixed the dough in my food processor, which turned out to be a bit of an adventure since I forgot to put in my dough blade, and I used the maximum amount of flour that the processor will hold. If you use a food processor to make these, make sure you check the manual to see what yours can handle! They still managed to come together though- it just took a little extra kneading. 

The original recipe calls for royal icing, but I was too lazy for that, so I just went for sprinkles. I'm sure the icing would have been pretty delicious, but sprinkles seemed more Christmas-y to me (and definitely easier). Though these cookies were more effort than I'll usually go for in a cookie, they still seemed like a walk in the park after the Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies.

Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies

I continued my Christmas baking with these Jam Filled Cream Cheese Cookies from the December 2009 issue of Everyday Food. I love jam filled thumb print cookies, and these looked like a fun twist. They were definitely a Saturday project, because they were rather involved- mixing the dough, rolling it out, cutting out shapes, and then filling and shaping the cookies. Count on a solid 2 or 3 hours for these...

Another fair warning- no matter what I did, not all of these cookies wanted to keep their shape during baking. Some of my cookies turned out to be pretty (like below) and tasty, but others just turned out to be tasty and misshapen.

Christmas Cookie Fest 2010- Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

These aren't the most traditional Christmas cookies, but when I saw this recipe for Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies in Rachael Ray Magazine, I knew I had to try them and add chocolate! They remind me of Take 5 bars, and they're a great blend of sweet and salty. Next time I might have to go all the way and include a caramel element...

After making a pretty standard drop cookie dough, the balls are rolled in crushed pretzels and then baked. I ended up with soft, fluffy peanut butter cookies with a nice contrasting salty crunch! Now time for a glass of milk...

Sesame Beef

I love stir-fry, though I usually make it with chicken. However, the Sesame Beef recipe in the the December 2010 issue of Everyday Food inspired me to give a beef stir-fry a try. One of the things that I love about stir-fry is how easy it is to change it up and add whatever veggies you have on hand. I stuck with the recipe this time though, using red pepper and green onions.

Though I still prefer chicken, this stir-fry recipe was a quick and easy change for me. The sauce used ingredients I already had, and it ended up being light and flavorful, although I'll probably throw in some grated ginger if I make this again. The fresh green onions on top are key- they add an important burst of flavor. Once I got everything chopped, things came together pretty fast- in about 15 minutes, I had this:

Pasta e Fagioli

Tonight for dinner I made Pasta e Fagioli from the December 2010 issue of Everyday Food. It was a perfect hearty, vegetarian winter meal- just some veggies, beans, pasta, broth, oregano, and the secret ingredient- a parmesan rind. If you have one, I really do recommend adding the parmesan rind- it adds so much flavor.

The soup only took about 45 minutes, and it made a huge batch. Since I didn't want to eat it every day for a week, I decided to freeze about half of it. The key to freezing this soup is doing it before you add the pasta, since the pasta becomes nasty upon freezing and reheating. The portion I froze will make a nice, quick weeknight meal sometime later- all I'll have to do is add a handful of pasta and heat it until it's cooked, and I'll have this:

Dijon Crusted Chicken Breasts

Tonight for dinner I tried dijon crusted chicken breasts from Taste of Home, and they turned out to be simple and delicious. The crust was very satisfying- it really did remind me of fried chicken, but much healthier. The mustard added nice flavor without being overpowering.  The ingredients were pretty simple- just boneless skinless chicken breasts brushed with dijon mustard and rolled in bread crumbs, parmesan, thyme, salt, and pepper. I simply sauteed them in a bit of olive oil, but I suspect they'd also be good baked!

I served my chicken breasts with simple sides- just mashed potatoes and green beans. I went from getting home from work to eating dinner in about 35 minutes.