Tag Archives: Food

Herb Crusted Chicken Breast

herbed chickenNot sure what to call this dish, so I researched other recipes that claim they are “oven cooked herb chicken” but most of them incorporate flour or breadcrumbs, and a stick of butter and/or olive oil. They didn’t seem all that healthy too me and took too much time in the oven. I decided to stick with my tried and true herb crusted chicken breast, coated with my own fresh herbs that I cut from my garden, from start to finish it took all of 15 minutes to prepare and cook. Yes, my chicken breast is “sautéed” in coconut oil I feel it is so much healthier than the alternative. This recipe is for an individual 7oz chicken breast, if you have two chicken breasts to add to the pan, you should probably increase the cooking time by one minute on each side or until done. My recipe does not use flour, breadcrumbs or an colossal amount of grease, oil or butter to cook with and it only takes 8 minutes to cook, so I consider this “fast food” for dinner.

Ingredients

  • 7oz chicken boneless, skinless
  • ¼ cup of chopped fresh herbs, I used a combination of: parsley, sage, oregano, rosemary
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp of coconut oil
  • 1 tsp of butter

Directions

  1. Place chicken breast inside a plastic quart bag or between two pieces of plastic wrap and using a meat mallet begin to gently pound the chicken on both sides until all the same width
  2. Take half of the chopped herbs and spread on one side of chicken breast, sprinkle with salt and gently pound the herbs into that side of the chicken breast
  3. Turn chicken over and spread remaining herbs and salt on other side of breast and pound into the chicken breast.
  4. Melt coconut oil and butter in a heavy pan or non-stick pan over medium high heat, when oil is hot place the chicken in the oil and cook uncovered for 4 minutes each side.
  5. Turn the heat down to medium if it looks like it is browning too fast. When the chicken is ready to flip to the other side after 4 minutes, be careful not to splash yourself. Cook the second side for 4 more minutes. Slice the chicken breast to be sure the meat is white (cooked) before serving.

    *Note: Melted oil must be hot before adding the chicken breast or it will absorb the oil as it is cooking. Hot oil will sear the meat as it hits the pan.

Pounded chicken breast cooks relatively fast, prepare your salad and vegetables while it is cooking.

Smoky Jalapeno & Bacon Poppers

Smoky Links Appetizer

Smoky Links Appetizer

These smoky treats are really easy to prepare, and you may even have most of the ingredients hanging out in your fridge already:

Smoky Jalapeno & Bacon Poppers

12 fresh jalapeno peppers
12 slices of bacon
24 little smoky links
1 package of cream cheese (room temperature)
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Sweet barbecue rub

1.       To start the construction of these treats you’ll first want to wash and trim the jalapeno peppers. I highly recommend wearing plastic food prep gloves during the trimming portion to keep the jalapeno oils from soaking into your skin.

2.      Trimming jalapeno peppers is a relatively simple task. Simply chop the stem off and slice the pepper lengthwise to expose the seeds and vein. Using a spoon, scrape out the white vein and rinse under water to wash away the seeds.

4.       In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, paprika and cayenne pepper. Fill a pastry bag with mix.

5.        Using a pastry bag, fill each jalapeno half with a generous portion of the cream cheese mixture.

6.       Top each one of the filled peppers with a little smokey sausage link.

7.       Wrap each of the smoky links topped jalapenos with a half slice of bacon, making sure that the seam is directly on top.

8.       Secure the wrap by inserting a toothpick straight down through the overlapping edges of the bacon. Stop just short of going through the pepper, this will ensure the cream cheese will not melt through the hole.

9.    Mix ¼ cup brown sugar and ¼ tsp of cayenne pepper.   Season the treats with the sugar-based rub.

10.   Bake at 325 degrees for an hour or until bacon is crisp. Do not overcook – the peppers will become too soft and the cream cheese will melt all over your oven.

11.   Remove from oven, spread with a raspberry chipotle sauce, or brush on a sweet jam while hot. Let cool for about 10 minutes to set.