Friday Foodday

Great news team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's Friday Foodday!

So on Fridays I will post delicious recipes that are easy to make and don't involve ridiculous ingredients- because who really has crushed cumin powder lying around? Right. So please feel free to send your favorite recipes to me via comment, email or tweet and I will put them up for Friday's post!

I tried this one out on the bf last night. It got good reviews, I used a little too much pasta (is there such a thing??) and could have been more liberal with the salsa:

Cheesy Chicken and Salsa Skillet
2 cups multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked

1 lb. Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1-1/4 cups TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa

1 cup Frozen corn, thawed

1 large Green pepper, cut into short thin strips

1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style 2% Milk Finely Shredded Four Cheese

COOK pasta as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, heat large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 2 min. Stir in salsa, corn and peppers. Bring to boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 10 min. or until chicken is done, stirring occasionally.

DRAIN pasta. Add to chicken mixture; mix lightly. Top with cheese. Remove from heat; cover. Let stand 1 min. or until cheese is melted.

This recipe is from my fabulous coworker, Autumn!
Autumn's Crispy Stuffed Honey Mustard Chicken

You Need:

Skinless, boneless Chicken Breasts (3, halved to make 6 chunks)

Reduced fat swiss cheese (3 deli sized slices, halved)

Panko bread crumbs (1 cup)

Honey mustard thin pretzels (1 cup, crushed)

Flour (1/2 cup)

2 eggs (beaten)

Kosher salt (to taste)

Fresh cracked black pepper (to taste)

Parmesan cheese ((1/4 cup)

Dip:

1/4 cup dijon mustard and 3 tablespoons of clover honey

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and in a medium bowl, mix Panko bread crumbs, crushed pretzels, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese to create breading coat.

2. Butterfly each chicken breast half (do not cut all the way through) and place a half slice of swiss cheese between the folds and close

3. Dip each stuffed chicken breast half in flour and cover completely but be sure to shake off excess flour

4. Dip floured chicken breast into beaten egg and shake to remove excess egg.

5. Dip the breast in the previously mixed breading coat of Panko, pretzels, etc. Roll around until completely covered.

6. Place each breast in a small 8x8 dish (bottom of pan drizzled with olive oil) and bake for approx. 25 minutes.

7. Serve alongside homemade honey mustard dip. A honey beer would taste great with this!

This yummy treat is courtesy of my longtime friend, Annie via Smitten Kitchen!
Peach Shortcake

Cut into 24 2 x 2 1/2-ish squares. You can halve this and bake it in a 8 x 8 pan instead.

1 cup (7 ounces or 200 grams) white sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (12 5/8 ounces or 359 grams) cups all-purpose flour (or you can measure 3 cups and remove 2 tablespoons flour)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces or 227 grams) cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick)

Brown your butter: Melt butter in a small/medium saucepan over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Keep your eyes on it; it burns very quickly after it browns and the very second that you turn around to do something else. Set it in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter a 9×13 inch pan, or spray it with a nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt and spices with a whisk. Use a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips, blend the solidified brown butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly. Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. Tile peach slices over crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs evenly over peaches and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown and you can see a little color around the edges. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

The last recipe comes from my favorite cooking blog: Stephanie Cooks. Here is her yummy Bacon Wrapped BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
4 slices of center cut bacon
1/2 cup of barbecue sauce
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Black pepper

Directions:
1- Lay the bacon in a skillet and cook over medium heat for approximately 3 minutes, just until it begins to cook and gain some color. Be sure it doesn't begin to curl up, you want it to stay flat. Remove the bacon and set aside.
2- Season each breast with garlic and onion powder. Add some black pepper to each breast.
3- Starting at one end of the breast, wrap the bacon around tightly. Use the other piece of bacon to continue wrapping the breast. Repeat for the second breast.
4- Turn the oven on to broil. Set the chicken under the broiler for 3 minutes. Flip the chicken and allow it to broil another 2 minutes.
5- Remove it from the oven and turn the heat down to 400. Slather both sides in BBQ sauce. Return to the oven- cook until chicken is cooked through.


Thanks for the submissions guys! Have a great long weekend, I'll be back Tuesday!

From Food Trucks to Wolfgang Pucks

If there is one thing DC lacks in terms of food it's good barbecue. Most recently, New York magazine listed DC as one of the new foodie cities; which I agree with because from food trucks to Wolfgang Puck's we've got 'em covered. But, sometimes when a studio-apartment bound girl (no grill) wants to get BBQ sauce all over her face, she is left with not a lot of options. However, there are a couple...

My go to for good barbecue is Old Glory's in Georgetown.
There are few things better in this world than cornbread with butter, fried green tomatoes, and some good ol bbq. Old Glory has something on the menu for everyone. So whether you're willing to get down and dirty with a rack of ribs or stay a little safer with chicken and waffles; Old Glory's will not disappoint.

Also- whatever you do, get the Graceland Nachos they will change your life. Crispy Tortillas with Rib & Brisket Chili, Onions, Jalapenos, Guacamole, Sour Cream & Pico de Gallo. Substitute Pulled Pork or Chicken for the Chili! Enough said.


Ok, I should also mention at this point that I do not consider chicken wings BBQ food which is why I am ignoring them in this post. Just because it's got barbecue sauce on it, doesn't make it BBQ. Granted, DC has tons of good chicken wing joints Duffy's and Stoney's included, it's not true barbecue food.

That being said, let's talk about what's on tonight's menu. Tonight the bf and I are going out with some of my high school friends who have moved to the DC area. We are going to Rockland's Barbecue and Grilling Company for dinner. I have never been but when it comes to hearty, messy, and filling foods, I will always trust the bf.

Rockland's is unique because they use only red oak and hickory to cook their food. No electricity or gas in the process. This allows the meat to really absorb the smokey and woody flavors that only cooking it in a pit can offer. Tonight I plan on having the Chicken and Ribs platter which is a quarter chicken and two pork ribs with two sides. Now I will be honest, after reading the reviews online things aren't lookin' so great for Rockland's sides; so I'm going to stick to a side I consider foolproof: mac and cheese. Oh, I know it says two sides...double the mac.


So, DC let's work on the good ol' barbecue dinner because sometimes you just want to eat with your hands.