Chicken and Tomato Skewers

The prepared skewers ready for the grill

On Friday evening, we made Chicken and Tomato Skewers.  This is a recipe Mark's mom made often when he was growing up.  The recipe is in some old Chicken recipe book that Mark's mom has long since thrown out.  The recipe calls for chicken and tomatoes only.  However, we "dress" them up with both bell peppers and onions (Vidalia onions on this night!).  The dish is extremely easy.  The chicken marinade sauce is only 3 ingredients:  tomato sauce, honey, and Worcestershire sauce .  You mix the three ingredients and throw the chicken in (after cutting it into squares).  Then, thread skewers with chicken and veggies.  The recipe suggests cooking the skewers under the broiler, but we feel that they are tastier on the grill.  Friday was less humid here in NC, so we fired up the charcoal and threw them on the grill.  They are a great summer dish.


Perfectly grilled and ready to eat!

Garlic Chicken and Potatoes

@FoodNetwork #FNMag  We are back to the blog!  Now, we realize it has been an extended hiatus from our blog, but it is not that we lost track or interest.  Rather, we have committed ourselves to an exciting (not really) regiment of healthy salads and really how exciting is a blog about the different ways to prepare lettuce :=) 

In our venture away from greens, we decided to prepare this healthy chicken and potatoes dish, Garlic Chicken and Potatoes.  A dish from a recent issue of Food Network Mag, this dish takes ordinary chicken and potatoes to a tasty level - with flavors of garlic, herbs, and fresh lemon juice.  We kicked up the recipe with a few extra herbs from our garden (rosemary, thyme).  The potatoes were fresh from the Piedmont Farmers Market and still freshly covered in dirt -- straight from the field. 

Quick, simple, garlicy, juicy -- YUM!  Ahhhhh, what a nice return to a good wholesome meal!!

Chicken Fajita Night

#FNMag @FoodNetwork It's Mexican dinner night with Chicken Fajitas on the menu.  While we have made these before using easy seasoning packs, this recipe comes from the most recent issue of Food Network Magazine and was just as easy, but tastier and quite a bit healthier.  A simple mix of red onion, green peppers, garlic, lime, and chicken -- along with the staple spices of this dish -- come together in less than 30 minutes.  We topped ours with some sour cream and prepared a quick side of rice and beans.  This will be our new go-to recipe when looking for fajitas.  It beats the seasoning pack any day! 

Savannah-Day 1

@VisitSavannah @PapilloteSAV @Lady_and_Sons  It's Day 1 of our mini-vacation and Mark's 30th birthday celebration in Savannah, GA!   We left Winston early this morning and arrived in time for a late afternoon lunch. 

We researched and found this highly recommended French 'take out' spot in the historic district - Papillote.  The restaurant lived up to the hype!  Our lunch started with 3 amazing macarons!  Perfectly prepared and airy, we had a hard time not going back for a second round!  For lunch, Bill had the Catalan Pizzette and Mark selected The Happy Pig (both pictured below).  The dishes were prepared perfectly and simply yummy!  The staff was also incredibly friendly -- a great find and a great start to our trip.

After checking into our B&B, we headed out to Tybee Island to try and soak up some sun.  Unfortunately, the temps dropped and the winds picked up, but we still relished in a quick return to the ocean and beach.  What trip to Tybee would be complete without a quick stop at well-known Crab Shack.  While we passed on food and decided only to take in the sights and a quick drink, it was a first for Mark and a 'must do' experience. 

For Mark's pre-birthday meal, we couldn't pass up one of our favorite cook's spot -- yes, Paula Deen's The Lady and Sons.  While we know this is the must-go -to touristy place in Savannah, neither of us had been in the past.  We both elected for the buffet of southern favorites.  Mark, a GA native, commented that they were every bit as good as his Nannie's.  (That is high praise by the way!) While we both ate far more than we needed to and I am sure both ingested at least a stick of butter each, we truly enjoyed our meal.  The service was also very attentive.

A great start to our trip -- tomorrow is Mark's birthday so sure to be many more adventures in store!

Our perfectly prepared dishes from Papillote

Mark at the entrance to The Crab Shack "Where the elite eat in their bare feet"

A mix of the quintessential Southern tastes from The Lady and Sons

Skillet Chicken Parm

@FoodNetwork #FNMag 

It's been a little while since we had a chance to write this blog entry, but we didn't want to miss out on sharing this light alternative to Chicken Parm.  Instead of the traditional pan fried favorite that is covered in mozzarella (which, we love by the way!), this alternative has all the flavor without all the calories  From the March issue of Food Network Magazine (the Cheese issue!), Skillet Chicken Parmesan, is relatively quick and easy to make.  Instead of breading the chicken and pan frying it, we toasted fresh bread crumbs and then lightly fried boneless chicken breasts in olive oil.  Instead of preparing the tomato sauce suggested by the recipe, we used a prepared sauce.  The chicken is nestled in tomato sauce, topped with the bread crumbs, and then some light cheeses before a quick broil. 

At  329 calories a serving, this recipe misses none of the flavor of the traditional favorite.  We bet you that it will fool you or your guests.

 

Chicken with Quinoa and Veggies

@allrecipes On Thursday night, Mark made one of our favorite recipes, Chicken with Quinoa and Veggies.  This is a special recipe because this was the very first meal Mark prepared for Bill early in our relationship (Bill is the chef in the relationship).  Mark found this recipe two years ago when searching for a dinner to make that involved quinoa because neither of us had tried it.  It is fun to see the evolution of Mark's cooking skills, though.  In the previous attempt, it ended up involving Bill quite a bit.  However, Thursday night, Mark had the dish ready when Bill finished work. The dish is quite tasty and relatively simple.  Quinoa is as easy as rice to prepare and has a very distinct, earthy flavor that we love.  The recipe calls for chicken broth, which does enhance the flavor.  However, we were saving the chicken broth that was in the cabinet for another dish, so we just used water.  It is still scrumptious.  The remainder of the dish involves just a few steps of time management and adding the zucchini, chicken, tomatoes and feta.  The feta and veggies really compliment the earthiness of the quinoa.  This is definitely a fun recipe to prepare if you have a box of quinoa at home.

 

Goat Cheese & Sun Dried Tomato Chicken

@FoodNetwork @inagarten Monday night we made goat cheese and sun dried tomato chicken breast and butter beans.  Goat cheese and tomatoes (of any kind) are two of our favorite foods.  The light creaminess of the goat cheese oozing out is amazing!  It is an easy recipe where goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes are stuffed into a small pocket cut into a boneless skinless chicken breast.  We made frozen butter beans to accompany the chicken.  Mark is a Georgia boy, so beans and peas are some of his favorite foods.  They are a perfect fit with the chicken.

We generally follow this recipe found on Food Network, with a slight variation in that we use boneless breasts. 

Lemon Onion Chicken

Our first blog is for Four Step Lemon Onion Chicken -- recipe by
@MelissadArabian from @foodnetwork. The recipe is in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of #foodnetworkmagazine.

Lightly fried chicken breasts covered in a succulent blend of red onions cooked in a lemon/chicken reduction.  We left out the white wine (just none to be found in the house -- oops!). Frying is always a bit of a mess in the kitchen but the chicken was tender and moist and the onion reduction was to die for --- you can see from the pic that we really piled them on!