Recaito Spiced Fajitas

Michael saw recaito spiced chicken on Food Versus Man and was obsessed with trying it out.  Since we had peppers we decided to make fajitas with chicken marinated in recaito for two days.  The result was so good, tender and different from anything I've tried.  We served the fajitas with recaito spiced rice.  You just add as much of the recaito as you like, taste as you go.  I really love that my kitchen experiments are spreading to my whole family.  Now if we see something that sounds good we make it!

Recaito Recipe Modifications

• Our usual produce market did not have culantro so we used all cilantro as the recipe directed

Recaito Ingredients

1 medium Spanish onion, cut into big chunks
8 garlic cloves, peeled
6 ajies dulces, hot peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into chunks or 1 cubanelle pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into chunks
4 leaves culantro (if you can't find culantro, increase the amount of cilantro by half)
1 cup packed fresh cilantro, stems and all, coarsely chopped

Fajita Ingredients

recaito marinated boneless skinless chicken breasts, marinate chicken in recaito for 8 hrs to 2 days

1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 small white onion
sharp cheddar cheese shredded
tortillas
salsa, sour cream, avocado, hot sauce - to top if desired

Fajita Recipe

1. Grill chicken until done.  Do not overcook, you want it tender!
2. While chicken is grilling saute onion and peppers over medium heat in oil until they soften some and onions are slightly brown.  Stir occasionally
3. Cut chicken after letting it sit for a few minutes.  This will retain those juices and keep it more moist.
4. Heat tortillas according to package directions.  Top with chicken, peppers, onions, cheese and other desired toppings.  Eat and enjoy!

Recaito Recipe

This recipe comes Food.com

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Turkey Burgers and Special Sauce with Asian Twist

As you may of guessed from my blog I am not red meat eater.  I eat poultry and fish and find that there is so much variety in the foods I can make and eat.  Michael is a red meat eater so for burgers he usually opts for a angus beef or some other beef variety.  But I have to say he really liked this recipe having left-over burgers two nights in a row as a late night snack!  I think it will be hard to be happy with the frozen pre-made burgers after trying all these great recipes.  The ginger in the burger and sauce give it a unique flavor that's sure to please even your picky red meat burger eaters and it's from Cooking Light so you know it's not horrible for you ;-)

Recipe Modifications

• Used 1.5 lbs of ground turkey, one of the packs from Costco.  I never get the super-lean meat you want a little fat
• 1/4 + 1/8 cup of green onion
• 3 large garlic cloves
• Added 1 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp orange juice
• 3 tsp ginger
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Froze the burgers on a cookie sheet for two hours prior to cooking.  Wait until they really have time to cook before flipping.  You'll see the sides start to brown.  Cooked over medium heat on outside grill and did not spray with cooking spray
• The special sauce made way more than we needed.  I'd half the recipe next time.  Added 1 1/2 tsp of ginger to the sauce instead of 1/2 tsp

Ingredients

Burgers

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1 pound ground turkey breast

Cooking spray

1/2 cup Special Sauce

4 (1 1/2-ounce) whole wheat hamburger buns

4 curly leaf lettuce leaves

Special Sauce

3/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise

1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

Recipe

These recipes come from my favorite source Cooking Light. Not diet food, but food that is conscious of health without losing any flavor. Food for life! 

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Click Here for Recipe for Special Sauce

Cedar Plank Salmon

This has to be one of my absolute favorite summer time meals.  There's just something about that smokey scent while grilling that makes the anticipation of eating almost as good as the meal itself.  We have been cooking this for years and I never get tired of it.  My foodie girls also love anything spicy and salmon so they'll easily eat an 8 oz portion each!  We like to serve this with brown rice, a few simply prepared veggies and a nice salad.  Should of added a nice bright corn or squash but yesterday was a beautiful sun shiny day and I feeling the green vibe :-)

Ingredients

• Large Salmon half with skin on (we like the wild caught ones from Costco), large piece that fits the plank works better than individual fillets
• Potlatch Rub (we prefer the rub from William Sonoma)
• Cedar Plank soaked overnight or at least 8 hours, Costco has these too
• Squirt bottle filled with fresh water

Recipe

1. Generously sprinkle the rub over the salmon 1 - 3 hours before grilling
2. Heat grill up on medium heat.
3. Place Salmon on soaked cedar plank.  Place in grill and turn to low heat.
4. Time to grill will depend on thickness and size of salmon.  Ours usually take around 20 minutes.  Be sure to check the salmon often and squirt any flames.  Cedar planks like to catch even when you soak them.  You can tell the salmon is done when you see white frothy/bubbles start to rise to the top.  Be sure to check it when you pull off the grill and make sure it's cooked all the way.  It's plank cooked so it will be pinker than if baked.  Enjoy!

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich and Veggie Stocked Pasta Salad

We have been making this meal since June of 2006 when the pulled chicken recipe came out in Cooking Light.  This is one of Michael's favorite spring/summer time meals and the girls love it too!  This time I tripled the sauce and rub so I could freeze the extra sauce and store the extra rub.  Now next time the mood strikes I'll cut my prep time way down.  And if you really want to cut the time down you can use a rotisserie chicken and just mix in some of the rub for flavor.  You won't get the same smokey BBQs taste but the result is still so good and the meat will be ultra moist.

Recipe Modifications

• We always double the pasta salad recipe because we love it and eat it for days!
• I never use thighs for the chicken.  I will either use a rotisserie chicken and shred it adding just a bit of the rub or use chicken breast (bone in or boneless).  And we just grill outside uncovered
• Tripled the rub and sauce.  Saved the extra rub and froze the extra sauce.
• Added extra red pepper to sauce, we like it a bit more spicey
• We serve with Aged Canadian Cheddar, pairs perfect with the BBQ chicken

Ingredients for Pasta Salad

Tricolor Curly Pasta (12 or 16 oz box)

4 small salad cucumbers chopped

4 medium carrots chopped

3/4 cup halved or quartered grape tomatoes

6 celery stalks chopped

1 large can of black olives sliced

1 small container of feta or more to taste

Robust Italian Dressing

Recipe for Pasta Salad

1. Cook noodles according to manufactures instructions.  Do not overcook you want these more firm than mushy.  Drain when done and rinse with cold water to stop cooking proces
2. Chop or slice all veggies and olives and add to noodles in large bowl.  Add feta.  
3. Add just a bit like 3 tablespoons of dressing and mix.  Don't add all your dressing, serve it on the side.  The noodles will soak it up and you'll have to add more and won't get that nice flavor for all the calories your eating.  Your pasta salad will also keep better if you don't soak it in dressing

Ingredients Sandwich

Chicken:

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon chili powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs

Cooking spray

Sauce:

2 teaspoons canola oil

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon molasses

Remaining ingredients:

8 (2-ounce) sandwich rolls, toasted

16 hamburger dill chips

Sandwich Recipe

This recipe comes from my favorite source Cooking Light. Not diet food, but food that is conscious of health without losing any flavor. Food for life! 

Click Here for Recipe