Lemony Orzo Veggie Salad

This is a recipe I modified from one I found at cookinglight.com. It was so delicious that I went ahead and made a second batch with even better results. This is great for summer.

Ingredients:

 

3/4 cup uncooked orzo

1/4 teaspoon Spice Island’s lemon peel

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon honey

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups shredded chicken

1/2 cup diced English cucumber

1/2 cup prechopped pepper

1/3 cup chopped red onion- optional

1 tablespoon dillweed

1/2 cup (2 ounces) feta cheese

Cook the orzo according to the package. 

 While it cooks, shred the chicken and set aside. Then mix together lemon peel, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and honey.  Recipes generally call for fresh squeezed lemon juice. I use Kroger's concentrated lemon juice because I'm too lazy to squeeze lemons.

 Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water.

 Chop the vegetables. Really you can chop as much as you want. The second time I made it I left out the onion and added more pepper since Jon hates onion. Cherry tomatoes might be nice in this if you like tomatoes. I certainly don't.

 Toss the pasta in the lemon juice mixture. It won't seem like enough to coat but it is, I swear.

 Add the chicken and veggies and sprinkle with dillweed. Toss lightly.

 I divided mine up in containers to store in the fridge and sprinkled the feta on top.

Honey Dijon Salmon and Stuffed Mushrooms

So I made these awesome banana chocolate muffins and put chocolate ganache over the top. They were freaking delicious. I was going to post about them and then I lost the recipe. I've looked everywhere and can't find it. It threw me off my groove! Here's a picture of them and I swear if I ever find the recipe I'll post about them because I will immediately make them again. Until then, I'll just be sad about it.

In the meantime, last week I made honey dijon salmon and stuffed mushrooms. The salmon got an A plus plus plus plus except my salmon portions were too big. I got a couple of fillets from Indigo Farms Seafood and was in a hurry and just asked for whatever they had. Next time I'll get smaller portions for sure. The mushrooms need tweaking but were okay.

The salmon:

 

8 tablespoons honey

4 tablespoons dijon mustard

4 tablespoons warm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine the above and whisk together. Easy peasy.

Grill the fillets skin side up first and then when you flip brush them with the sauce. Grill for 5 minutes on each side or until reaches 140-145 degrees.. This makes enough for 2-4 fillets. You will have extra sauce. Keep it for drizzling over the top when it's done.

Then I made the mushrooms:

 1 cup spinach leaves, chopped with stems removed
8 mushrooms
olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped very fine
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Wash the mushrooms well and set out to dry.

 Then wash spinach and chop pretty fine. Shake any excess water off but don't dry.

 Cook the spinach in a pot for a few minutes, just until wilted down. I then took a paper towel and got some of the excess water off the top.

 Cut the center stem out of the mushrooms. My mushrooms weren't the greatest looking mushrooms in the world and then they got mangled when I cut out the center. Cutting skills, I don't have them.

 Then chop the stems really fine. Take the garlic cloves and chop them fine as well. I didn't chop mine fine enough and that was a big mistake.

 Saute the garlic and mushrooms in a pan with a little olive oil for a 1-2 minutes.

 Then add the spinach and cook another minute.

 Add half the parmesan cheese and the ricotta cheese.

 Mix it all up.

 I also forgot the salt and pepper. Please add the salt and pepper because they needed it. I have a serious problem forgetting to salt stuff. Stuff the mushrooms.

 I baked at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes. In the meantime I was grilling the salmon and made a box of couscous to go along with it. Couscous is seriously easy to make but my Fooducate App gave it a C-. Apparently I shouldn't be eating it but it's so yummy.

 Went to check on the salmon and on my way back in found two cats extremely interested in the fish smell wafting into the house.

 Pull the mushrooms out. They released a lot of their water but were still watery. They were best eaten with a fork.

 I put down the couscous and put some of the honey dijon sauce on the top.

 Then added the salmon and more sauce. Again, you can see how  big the salmon portions were. I couldn't eat it all but it was really good. The mushrooms needed to have the garlic chopped finer and salt and pepper.

Garlic Lime Chicken and Honey Roasted Potatoes

When Jon cooks dinner he likes to put lots of effort into it. Yesterday I had to cook supper since he was working and I wanted to put as little effort as possible into it. So I made this in between old episodes of The X-Files.


Garlic Lime Chicken:

This is a Taste of Home recipe. I love Taste of Home. My mom always got it when I was a kid and I always found the hidden toothpick. Always. Taste of Home rocks.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of lite soy sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce.
2 garlic cloves minced ( I used 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic instead.)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4-6 chicken breasts (I used thin sliced. I love the thin sliced!)

 

So combine the first four ingredients. Take out about 1/3 cup and set to the side in a different container.  Add the chicken. Marinate at least 30 minutes. You're suppose to sprinkle with pepper before grilling but I was thinking about X-Files plot holes and forgot. It was fine so I consider the pepper to be optional. Grill 4-7 minutes on each side or until chicken reaches 165 degrees. The extra marinade is for drizzling over the chicken when it's done.

Honey Roasted Potatoes:

Got this recipe off the potato bag. You can chop an onion to go with the potatoes but I didn't have an onion. I used:

11 small red potatoes (You can use more. The recipe is suppose to be for 1 1/2 pounds plus onion)
3 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon dried mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop the potatoes. I halved the small ones and quartered the larger ones.

 Melt your butter.

 Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk together.

Drizzle potatoes with sauce. Since I used less potatoes than the recipe called for I was pretty liberal with my sauce drizzling. I still had some left over.

 Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Stir about half way through.

Then I made a bag of boil in the bag rice. Put the chicken on top and drizzled with the extra marinade that I had set aside. This meal was delicious. The potatoes were basically candied and sooo yummy. It looks a little bland on the plate but it was seriously good.

Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

I got this recipe from this website. I made two batches with both semi-sweet chips and dark chocolate. Jon says it's his new favorite and he's been bugging me to put it on here. I used:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.5 tablespoons orange zest
1/4 cup butter melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ( I used regular size in the muffins and mini chips sprinkled on top)

2 tablespoons flour

It's really, really easy. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a big bowl.

 Melt the butter in a medium bowl. Then add orange zest, vanilla, sour cream, orange juice, and eggs.

 In  measuring cup I put in the chocolate chips and two tablespoons of flour and mixed them together.

 Then just mix the liquid ingredients into the dry just until moist.

 Fold in chocolate chips and then put in muffin tin. I sprinkled the mini chips on top. I've been wanting to try it with white chocolate chips but Jon says he doesn't like white chocolate. Boo.

 Bake 18-20 minutes on 375. I think they are average but Jon loves them and thinks they are awesome.