🍋LEMON ROASTED POTATOES

Spending time with my Mommy in her kitchen is always great.  I pick up some good recipes and get inspired to get in there and get cookin things of my own.  Potatoes are my favourite food.  I wish I could live off of their starchy goodness.  She made these taters to go along side a fabulous greek salad.  So it’s only natural that I do the same.  She used russets and made wedges out of her potatoes but I had this variety bag of baby potatoes to use up.  They were awesome but mine turned out a little less crispy than hers which was unfortunate but still delicious and they still had crunch, just had to keep em in a little longer.  Find her recipe for these yummy Lemon Roasted Potatoes below and stay tuned for a great Greek salad and dressing recipe from my moms kitchen😉                                                              I cut my baby potatoes in half and had them soaking in heavily salted cold water for a few hours to draw out some of their natural moisture and in the end you will achieve a more crunchier potato.

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LEMON ROASTED POTATOES

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 OIL

• 1/3 CUP LEMON JUICE

• 1 TEASPOON OREGANO

• 1 TABLESPOON FRESH PARSLEY, chopped

• 3-4 CLOVES GARLIC, CHOPPED, chunky is best

• 1 TEASPOON KOSHER SALT

• 1 TEASPOON FRESH GROUND BLACK PEPPER

• 1/2 CUP CHICKEN STOCK

• 4-5 RUSSET POTATOES, cut in wedges lengthwise OR A BAG OF BABY POTATOES, cut in half

DIRECTIONS

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Combine oil, lemon juice, oregano, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a dish

2. Layer potatoes in a single layer in a baking dish.

3. Pour just 3/4 of the dressing over the potatoes and give them a toss

4. Pour chicken stock around the potatoes.  This will be soaked up in the potatoes making them super tender and moist on the inside.

5. Bake for about an hour, giving them a quick toss every 10 minutes, until they are crispy crunchy and golden brown.  

6. Pour remaining dressing over the “hot out of the oven” taters and serve.  

I was a little alarmed that perhaps I added too much chicken stock but after 10 minute in the oven I could see that the liquids wouldn’t last for long and they would then crisp up, so not to worry!  I just love the chunky garlic and parsley on these potatoes.  The lemon flavour isn’t overpowering at all and the chicken stock keeps them moist.    I took these pictures before I poured over the remaining dressing… . so they are missing the yummy fresh parsley and chunky fresh garlic but at least I remembered before I served them😜  Top them with a little dollop of sour cream and more fresh parsley.  

I grilled up some chicken breast in made some more of that yummy marinade from the salad I made a few days ago.  I just added in the juice of half a lemon and let them chill in the fridge for a few hours.  Then grilled them on the bbq and drizzled them with a bit of the Apple Cider Vinagrette from the salad that I had in the fridge.  No point in that going to waste.   

I’m going to do wedges next time with some russet potatoes.  Will make for better presentation.  But I did enjoy these lil lemon gems🍋

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Slow Cooker Butter Chicken ~possibly healthier?

I’ve been staring at a jar of Blue Label PC brand Butter Chicken cooking sauce, that has been sitting on my pantry shelf for a while now. I’ve tried it before, and the flavor is great and it’s supposed to be a lighter, slightly healthier sauce, but I don’t like using store bought sauces, dressings, dips etc. Also, while on the family camping trip last weekend, my brother in law had some given to him so the idea was there. Needless to say, the time has come to try something new, and Butter Chicken it is!

I found a recipe on a website called Half Baked Harvest, and it’s supposed to be a healthier version of Butter Chicken. Is it? I don’t know? I’ve never made it to know if this is less fattening than the norm or not. But i’m going with it. I used fat free greek yogurt and light half and half and as well, lite coconut milk, so mine is even healthier! 🆒

Hubby loves curry, always annoying me with “make some curry stew” or the ever popular, “try making a stew with curry” and on and on and on. I don’t like stew. Almost like soup but… it seems… I don’t know, soggy?! This dish is one that I know we have both enjoyed before and it should please his craving taste buds.

Anyways, I know now, that he is satisfied with his curry cravings, because he told me that I HAVE to mention in here that it was the best ever! He even didn’t mind the extra bit of spice which I will explain later.

I don’t pay him to say these things… but he does have to live with me and he does live by the rule “Happy Wife, Happy Life”. So I leave it at that.

Now let’s get down to the good stuff shall we!

Who doesn’t love yummy warm breads? I do! Especially naan. Look at it up there! Let’s face it. we all like meals like this just so we have something to go with the naan am I right? Now I did BUY the naan, rather than making it, because I’ve discovered that trying one new thing at a time seems to work better than multitasking new things. LOL. Oh I am getting hungry again just typing this out. I am looking forward to leftovers tonight. Ugh, I despise the term leftovers but I always cook enough to have leftovers. I will now go by the term ReHeats when referring to…. well you know, Dinner-ReHeated. 😉

SLOW COOKER BUTTER CHICKEN
Possibly on the healthier side

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup fat free greek yogurt
1 (400ml can) lite coconut milk
1/4 cup light half and half
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 Premade Homemade Garlic Ball, or 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons garam masala
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons curry paste
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into large bite size cubes
1 small onion, finely minced
2 tablespoons butter
White rice, cooked
Naan bread

DIRECTIONS:
In a large mixing bowl combine the yogurt, coconut milk and cream.
Then add in the tomato paste and ginger
Add in the garlic and all your spices and mix it up good.
Spray your slow cooker or crock pot with cooking spray or grease it up with some olive oil.
Next, sprinkle the onions in the bottom.
Then layer the cubed chicken over top the onions.
Pour the yogurt and spice mixture over the chicken, cover the chicken completely with the sauce.
I cooked mine for about 5 hours on high in my slow cooker.
Stirring it about 4 times.
Serve this hot, over fluffy rice and warm naan.
Sprinkle it with a bit of fresh cilantro.

HERE IT IS IN THE WORKS
I just love my camera for this. Now if only I had a few extra hands…

I used chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, obviously, but a friend suggested thighs as they don’t get as dry, however I’m going with the healthier route, and well… that’s what I had in the fridge. 😊 Cut them up into large cubes. Go with fairly large bite size pieces because in a slow cooker, meats will break down as they are tenderizing during the slow cooking process.

This tub of yogurt nearly cost me my life. Don’t doubt for a second that the kitchen is a dangerous place because it is!!! I could not get that damn foil seal off the tub of Greek yogurt. I ended up hacking into it with a butter knife and even that didn’t go through very well. Butter knife slipped off and almost got me the stomach. LOLOLOL It’s a dangerous life as a cook I know, I know. Haha

In a large mixing bowl combine the yogurt, coconut milk and cream,

Then add in the tomato paste and ginger (packaged, I know, but otherwise so much gets wasted in this house as I don’t use ginger that often)


Add in the garlic and all your spices and mix it up good.
**Please take note, the picture above**
See that big pile of dark red spice… Ya that’s Cayenne pepper. .. A whole tablespoon of it and you’ll notice in the recipe above, it should only be 1 teaspoon. My god was it spicy. My lips are still numb. But hubby seemed to not mind. LOL. My gawd!

I used a wisk.

Spray your slow cooker or crock pot with cooking spray or grease it up with some olive oil.
Next, sprinkle the onions in the bottom. Be sure they are fine diced. You shouldn’t have chunks of onion in the end.

Then layer the cubed chicken over top the onions.

Pour the yogurt and spice mixture over the chicken and be sure to cover it completely. Hubby likes it saucy and then you have a reason to eat more naan. 👍😉
I cooked mine for about 5 hours on high. Stirring it about 4 times.
Serve this hot, over fluffy rice and warm naan.
Sprinkle it with a bit of fresh cilantro.
DIG IN 🍴

If you have a good Butter Chicken recipe that you would be willing to share with me please post me a link or put the recipe in the comments. Thanks so much!

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Love Haleykins

Another Greek Chicken Recipe

I found a recipe a few weeks ago while searching the interweb for new ideas. I followed it pretty closely but tweaked it just a bit… more garlic, less oil, etc.
I also added a bit more lemon then required and upon taste testing… too much lemon. So stick with this and you can’t go wrong

GREEK MARINADED CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS:
1 + 1/4 CUPS PLAIN GREEK YOGURT,FAT FREE
1 T OLIVE OIL
5 CLOVES MINCED GARLIC (or a frozen premade homemade garlic ball 😉)
I LEMON (the juice and as well the zest)
1 T OREGANO
1 T PARSLEY
FRESH CRACKED PEPPER (at your discretion)
12 CHICKEN LEGS and/or CHICKEN THIGHS🍗🍖
DIRECTIONS:
Combine everything, except the chicken, in a bowl.
Place chicken pieces in a large ziplock bag.
Pour the marinade over the chicken. 🍗
Mix the chicken around in the bag for a consistent coating
Seal and chill in the fridge for at least an hour. I did 4 hours 😋 YUM
Preheat oven to 375
Line a large baking dish with parchment like I did or grease the pan
Bake chicken in the pan uncovered for about 1 hour or until slightly crispy and golden brown

We had this along side a super fresh greek salad with light feta cheese and lemon rice pilaf.

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GREEK! A meal without Avocado…. Finally! Too much of a good thing as my mom said.

While chatting with my wonderful mother again last night about the Creamy Potato & Cauliflower Soup and Roasted Garlic as well that I had just made, I thought I should ask her about avocado’s. We eat so many avocado’s because they are just sooo tasty and we really enjoy the meals that include this wonderful stuff. Well she said if you were to eat 1 a day you may start to gain weight…. Yikes, we eat more than 1 a day each… sometimes 3! YIKES again! I told her I really like them tho and she responded with… “too much of a good thing”

True!

It’s time to slow down on the avocado’s and so I decided to go Greek for the night!
Here are some new recipies I’ve managed to find and everything tasted really good.

Just some of the things needed for tonights dinner!

LOW FAT GREEK SALAD DRESSING

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fat-free chicken broth

Directions:
Blend all the ingredients and let it sit a couple of hours .

I doubled this recipe to ensure I had enough for everyone for 2 nights.

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GREEK PRAWN & PASTA SALAD

Ingredients:
1 lb of raw prawns (without the shell or tails)
1 tbsp. butter
2 cloves of minced garlic
Salt & pepper
3-4 cups of cooked and cooled pasta (I used rotini noodles)
½ purple onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
½ red pepper, chopped
¼ yellow pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, sliced then quartered
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
I small tub of low fat feta cheese
*feel free to add olives… hubby doesn’t like em….
Low Fat Greek Salad Dressing

Directions:
1. Saute prawns in butter and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Chill in the fridge
2. In a salad bowl add the pasta, feta cheese, onion, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, prawns and feta cheese. *olives if you choose
3. Gently toss with Low Fat Greek Salad Dressing
4. Garnish with a lemon wedge

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GREEK OVEN BAKED CHICKEN

Ingredients:
4 bone in split chicken breasts (I used chicken legs because I had some in the freezer)
1/2 cup olive oil
juice of 2 lemons
3 -4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced (I used 5 cloves because we love garlic)
3 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions:
1. Mix the olive oil and next 5 ingredients in a 9 X 11 baking dish.
2. Place chicken in the dish, turning them in the marinade a few times. I like to lift the skin and use my hands to spread some of the marinade underneath it. Leave them skin side down in the dish. Cover them and refrigerate overnight.
3. The next day, bake them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Flip and bake an additional 30-40 minutes.
4. turn the broiler on high during the last 5 minutes to brown up the skins.

  

 

In the end I was very pleased!  A very refreshing juicy meal that made the husband quite pleased.  Success!

I would add a little more lemon to the chicken next time and they didn’t make for nearly as long because I used legs instead of breast piecese smaller than they should have been but hey they were what I had leftover in the freezer.

The best part is I have enough left over so I don’t have to make dinner tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Creamy Potato & Cauliflower Soup with Roasted Garlic

There was a very good reason for roasting that garlic this afternoon, see previous post.
I was talking with my mom last night and she had made a yummy sounding creamy potato soup. It sounded like a great idea.
She sent me her recipe and with other recipes I found online and my own thoughts, I twisted it!
I made a recipe to suit my tastebuds and to use up more items in my fridge. Those items being chicken stock and… cauliflower!

Here’s the recipe and if you make it, please let me know what you think!

Creamy Potato & Cauliflower Soup with Roasted Garlic

1 ½ fists of roasted garlic
2 cups cooked cauliflower, chopped in (approx) ½ inch chunks (half a head of cauliflower)
1 cup onion, finely diced
2 tbsp. butter
4 cups raw russet potatoes, chopped in even ½ inch cubes (2 large russets)
2 cups water
2 cups low sodium chicken stock
2 cups skim milk
½ cup fat free greek yogurt
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
green onions
cheddar cheese
cooked crumbled bacon

Add butter to soup pot, sauté onions till clear, do not overcook
Add garlic, potatoes, water, and stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender
To the pot, add the cooked cauliflower, milk and greek yogurt, salt & pepper.
Give it all a good mix.
In small batches, puree till smooth and creamy
Pour back into the pot and reheat
You may need to add more milk depending on the consistency, you don’t want it too thick, or maybe you do 🙂

Garnish with more fat free greek yogurt, green onions, cheddar cheese and if you feel sinful, bacon!

I have to say, it tastes soooooo good, I filled a shot glass of it and downed it! Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow!