Suzanne's Chicken

Last year, we had the opportunity to have an exchange student. She was from Cameroon and we learned so many things from her. It was an awesome experience that I would highly recommend! She taught me how to make one of her favorite chicken dishes. This has become a staple at our home, not only is it very yummy but it is easy to prepare and uses all fresh ingredients. (She said once while watching me use canned tomato sauce that no one from Africa trusts food that they can't see.) :) Here is what you'll need:

*2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into strips
*Olive Oil (enough to coat your pan)
*About 10 large tomatoes, quartered
*2 cloves of garlic, minced
*1 onion, chopped
*1/2 cup chopped parsley
*2 carrots cut into thin strips
*Seasoning of choice for the chicken (she used garlic salt and season all, but we prefer to use other things)
*Hot sauce
*Salt

(Unfortunately, she was a very good cook and just added "dashes" and seemed to cook by smell. It was fun to watch, but difficult to duplicate. Here is what I do, my husband claims he can't tell the difference.)

Begin by quartering your tomatoes and chopping your onion and throwing them both right into a medium sized pot. Turn the heat to medium and just cook them down, stirring occasionally. Season your chicken strips with your seasoning of choice. Fry them in the olive oil in a large pan and set aside. Cook the garlic in the remaining olive oil until fragrant. Add carrots and parsley and cook for a couple of minutes. By this time your tomatoes and onion should be cooked all the way down to a "sauce" texture. Pour the sauce into the pan and mix well. Add the chicken back in also. Season with salt and hot sauce to your liking and simmer on low until the carrots are cooked through. Serve with pasta or rice. I really like this dish with coconut rice and a green salad. Enjoy!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

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Oh For the Love of Chicken Pot Pie

Need a way for your kiddos to eat a ton of veggies?  Throw them in this pot pie!  This recipe was adapted from one on Allrecipes.com but of course I've changed things up a bit.  TIP: use a deep dish pie plate if you have one.  I currently do not have one (gave mine away- why would I do that?) so I just use my normal pie plate which works fine, just be sure to set the pie plate on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow.  There is a little bit of prep to this i.e. making the pie crusts, chopping veggies, but nothing too extensive.  The results are well worth it~ is there anything better than nourishing with a comfort food? ;)  Without further ado...

Ingredients:

• Pie Crust from Cheeseslave (this is AMAZING! I use sprouted spelt)
• 1 lb. Free-range organic chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 1/2 cups organic veggies, sliced
• 1/3 cup onion
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup flour (again, I use spelt)
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 1/2 cups organic Free-range chicken broth
• 1 cup raw whole milk

Directions:

1. Make your pie crusts in advance and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes.  Remove one, roll it out and place it in a pie pan.  Roll out the top crust and set aside.  There is no need to prebake the pie shell.
2. Preheat oven to 425°.
3. In a saucepan, combine chicken, veggies and broth.  Cover and boil for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, drain~ save the broth, and set aside.
4. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook the onions in butter until they are soft, about 3 minutes.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Slowly stir in the saved chicken broth, and milk.  Simmer over medium heat until thick.  This should take almost exactly 5 minutes.
5. Place the chicken and veggies on bottom pie crust.  Pour the hot broth mixture over the chicken and veggies and cover with top crust, sealing edges.  Cut away excess dough and make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top crust is golden brown.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

 Enjoy!

The post is part of Real Food Wednesday

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Rustic Apple Tart

Anne and I (and our families) love apple pie!  It was funny, because we actually talked about our apple pie recipes, (we each had a special recipe that we made a lot and loved) and one day I made the pie for a get-together and we realized that we had the same recipe. :)  This was way before we started to use real food, and I knew that we needed to adapt our favorite recipe to suit our new way of life.  Here is my outcome.  :)

I started with the pie crust from Cheeseslave.  I used sprouted flour, it was good (actually great!) just not quite right for a sweet pie.  I would recommend using this recipe with unbleached white flour as Ann Marie did, or else using the sprouted flour for a savory dish, like a pot pie or quiche. 

Next, the apples.  Peel, cut and core enough apples to fill your desired dish.  I used a tart pan, although I usually use a pie plate.  I think I used 5 apples.  Now, the kind of apple you use is just a preference thing.  I definitely prefer tart apples for pies, like granny smiths.  Anne would argue that sweet apples (like galas or fujis) are the way to go.  It is up to you. 

The first thing you want to do is mix your crust according to the directions. Roll out on a floured surface and form to your plate.  I par-baked mine for about 5 minutes at 425.

Notice the chunks of butter and lard, these are essential for a flaky crust.  I had never done it this way  before, but decided that is was worth the effort!

The next step is to fill your pie with the apples, and form the lattice top of your pie.  This dough made with sprouted flour was a little more difficult to work with, but doable. 

Now for the sweet stuff.  You will need 1/2 cup of butter, 3 TBS flour, 1/4 cup water, 1 cup of sucanat and 1 TBS honey.  Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water and sucanat and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

                                   

Next, pour over the top of your pie slowly, letting it fill the pie evenly. 

Bake your pie at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 for another 35 to 45 minutes.  Let stand until it reaches room temperature.

Enjoy!

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

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Real Chicken Parmesan

Being a fairly new Real Food enthusiast I am pleasently surpised when I can continue preparing my staple recipes simply by rotating out the bad ingredients and exchanging them for the healthier, more nourishing alternatives.  Even just substituting my Target-brand diced tomatoes (I know, I know) with an organic variety from Trader Joes gives me thrills =).  This chicken parmesan recipe is modified to incorporate good fats, sprouted grains and organic vegetables.  The taste is modified too~ it has so much more flavor! Enjoy feeding your families this wonderful, Real meal: 

• 4 free-range, organic boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs)
• 1/2 cup sprouted spelt flour
• 2 pastured eggs
• 1 Tbs water
• 1 cup organic bread crumbs (or make your own!)
• 2 Tbs celtic grey sea salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 4 slices Mozzarella cheese
• freshly grated parmesan
• 6 Tbs olive oil
• 16 oz. cooked organic sprouted grain spaghetti

Preheat the oven to 450°.  Pound chicken breasts to 1/2 inch thick.  Place the flour in a shallow bowl and season with 1 Tbs salt and 1 tsp pepper; mix together with a fork.  In a wide bowl combine the eggs and water and beat until frothy; lay bowl next to the flour.  Place the bread crumbs on a wide plate, season with remaining salt and pepper and place next to eggs (you should have a little assembly line of ingredients).

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large stainless-steel skillet.  Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken in flour, dip in the egg wash to coat completely (letting excess drip off), then dredge in the bread crumbs.  When the oil is hot add the chicken and cook for 4 minutres on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.

Ladle marinara sauce over the chicken and top with both cheeses.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.  Serve hot over the spaghetti.

For the marinara sauce:

• 28 oz. organic diced (or stewed) tomatoes 
• 6 oz. organic tomato paste
• 4 Tbl fresh parsley
• 2 tsp fresh oregano
• 1 tsp celtic grey sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 6 Tbl olive oil
• 1/3 cup finely diced organic onion
• 3-4 organic garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine

In a food processor, blend until smooth: tomatoes, paste, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper.  Set aside.  In a large, stainless steel skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat; saute the onion and garlic.  Add in the tomato mixture and the wine.  Simmer on low for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  This will yield roughly about 3 cups.

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop 

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Cuban Sea Bass

Wow, what a yummy dish this was! We were recently given the opportunity to buy (at wholesale price) wild-caught, sushi-grade fish. This excited my husband most of all as he grew up in Virginia Beach and loves seafood. This also makes him quite picky about the fish we buy which is why we are rarely able to get it. Anyway, we ordered about 7 lbs. of fresh albacore and sea bass and have been thoroughly enjoying the health (and taste!) benefits. Here is one of our favorite recipes~ Enjoy!

Ingredients:

*4 6-oz. Sea Bass fillets

*Olive Oil, for sauteing

*1.5 cups thinly sliced white onions (we prefer 2-3 shallot bulbs instead)

*4 garlic cloves, minced

*4 cups plum tomatoes, seeded

*1.5 cups white wine

*8 oz. sliced mushrooms

*1/8 cup capers, drained (more to taste)

*1/8 tsp cayenne (red pepper flakes can also be used)

*1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

*2 Tbs Butter

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook until they begin to soften. Stir in wine, mushrooms, capers and cayenne~ heat to a simmer. Place the sea bass into the sauce. Cover adn gently simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Transfer the sea bass to a serving plate and keep warm. Increase the heat of the sauce and add in the butter. Simmer until the sauce thickens then stir in the cilantro. Serve sauce over fish.

Pair this with brown basmati rice and lightly steamed asparagus, sprinkled with butter and sea salt.
DISCLAIMER: I would love to take credit for this wonderful meal, but all the praise goes to my husband who made it into the kitchen before I did. ;)

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

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