Best Ever Chip Dip

This chip dip is my mom's recipe and it is BY FAR one of the easiest things to make.  You literally dump everything into a bowl and that's it.  For an easy last-minute appetizer, tailgate, or potluck dish, I love making this because despite being made from mostly canned foods, it tastes so fresh and vibrant.   

Best Ever Chip Dip  

Ingredients:

• 1 can whole kernel corn 
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can Rotel (the Mexican variety is best, but that's not always easy to find) 
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (I actually used a variety called culantro that lasts longer/stays fresher than normal cilantro) 
• drizzle of olive oil
• drizzle of red wine vinegar 

Directions:

1. Combine everything - that's it!  Enjoy

Sun-dried Tomato, Spinach & Bacon Chicken

With all the wedding planning I’d been slacking on making us home-cooked meals (Lance actually did more of the cooking this past year than I did since I was always so busy…) Well, this week I’ve tried making up for it – I’ll post a couple really great recipes we tried out the last few days!

Chicken can sometimes be a boring dinner but this was far from that – loaded with all sorts of exciting toppings.  Plus, I made Caesar salad from scratch which was easier than I thought.  Adding these to my go-to recipes.

Sun-dried Tomato, Spinach & Bacon Chicken: (adapted from Julia’s Album)

Ingredients:

• 6 small chicken breasts
• 1 T butter
• Italian Dressing powdered mix packet
• 1 T olive oil
• 10 oz fresh baby spinach
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2/3 cup half and half
• 2/3 cup pepperjack cheese, shredded, plus 6 slices
• 1/8 t salt
• ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, drained of oil & chopped into pieces
• 6 slices bacon, cooked

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2. Butter the bottom of a baking dish.  Season the chicken breasts on both sides with the Italian seasoning mix.  Place chicken into the baking dish and cook for 15 – 20 minutes.

3. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add spinach and cook for about 2 minutes until it begins to wilt. 

4. Remove from heat and add the garlic & half and half.  Return to the heat, bring to a boil, then add the shredded cheese.  Keep stirring on high heat until the cheese starts to melt.  Reduce heat and continue to simmer & stir until you have thick creamed spinach.  Season with salt and remove from the heat.   

5. Remove the chicken from the oven after baking 15-20 minutes.  Top with creamed spinach, then sun-dried tomatoes, chopped cooked bacon, and broken slices of pepperjack cheese.

6. Bake in the oven uncovered for 15-20 more minutes until the chicken is completely cooked through.

Homemade Caesar Salad:

Dressing Ingredients:

• ½ cup Greek yogurt (the original recipe used mayonnaise and sour cream but this is healthier and I think tastes better)
• 1-1/2 t anchovy paste
• 1-1/2 T olive oil
• 3 T lemon juice
• 1-1/2 t whole grain mustard
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 t black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

Croutons:

• Old loaf of bread
• 3 T olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ t salt
• ¼ t pepper

Salad:

• 1 large head Romaine lettuce, chopped
• ½ cup fresh parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients (you can also add whole anchovies if you want)

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Slice bread into cubes and bake 5 minutes.  While they are baking, mix together olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper.  Take the bread out of the oven, toss in the olive oil mixture, then bake 5 more minutes.  Toss again and continue baking until golden brown and crisp. 

3. Toss the Romaine, croutons, cheese, and drizzle with dressing. 

Trader Joe’s Wild Marinated Soy Ginger Cod

 

We always pick up new exciting foods on our Trader Joe’s trips.  Last time, we bought their Wild Marinated Soy Ginger Cod filets.  You can prepare them in the microwave, oven, or pan fry them – we baked them and it was so easy & delicious! 

We paired the fish with a caprese salad made with Trader Joe’s (Trader Giotto’s) marinated mozzarella cheese, which is soaked in olive oil and Italian spices.  The whole dinner took about 15 minutes to prepare!

Trader Joe's is located at 3808 W Swann Ave, Tampa, FL 33609 and is open 8am – 9pm every day.

White Wine Mussels and Garlic Broccoli

Last night my friend Laura and I cooked dinner together.  It’s been so much fun catching up while she’s been in town - she’s living in Vermont right now so I don’t see her much!   

The mussels recipe was adapted from my friend Leslie’s blog, Blain Goes Blogway, and the broccoli came from The Kitchn. 

Both were super simple to make.  Here are the recipes:

White Wine Mussels

Ingredients:

·        1/3 cup flour (only if your mussels haven’t been cleaned and debearded yet)

·        2 lbs fresh mussels

·        2 T extra virgin olive oil

·        1 cup chopped green onions (the original recipe called for shallots – I mistakenly got scallions instead but any onion will do)

·        1-1/2 T minced garlic (5 – 6 cloves)

·        1 can stewed tomatoes (mine had basil, garlic, and oregano in it)

·        1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

·        1 T fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried thyme)

·        1 cup white wine

·        Dash of salt

·        1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Our mussels came from Publix and were already cleaned and debearded.  If yours have little threads coming out from the shell, you’ll need to prep the mussels first before moving onto the next step.  See Blain Goes Blogway for instructions.    

2. Pour olive oil into a large stock pot.  Once it heats up, throw in your chopped green onions.  Cook for about 3 minutes, then add your garlic and cook for another 3 minutes. 

3. Pour in your tomatoes, parsley, thyme, wine, salt, and pepper.

4. When the mixture comes to a boil, add your mussels.  Stir them up to coat them in sauce and cover with a lid. 

5.  Boil for 8 – 10 minutes, stirring half way through.

6. Spoon the mussels into serving bowls and cover them in the white wine & tomato sauce.

7. You can enjoy them with French bread if desired.  We actually saved the leftover juices to marinate more pork chops leftover from the previous night’s dinner. 

Garlic Broccoli

Ingredients:

·        1 pound broccoli

·        1/4 cup olive oil

·        6 cloves minced garlic

·        1 tsp salt

·        Dash red pepper

·        Juice of half a lemon

·        1 tsp basil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450.

2. Chop the broccoli into bite sized pieces and throw into a bowl.

3. Add in the remaining ingredients and toss to distribute over the broccoli.

4.  Spray a baking sheet and spread the broccoli evenly out over the sheet. 

5.  Roast 12 – 15 minutes until the broccoli gets toasty.