Citrus Marinated Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa

Lately it seems all the cooking shows have been showing similar recipes.  A couple of days ago Sunny Anderson from Cooking for Real was making Caribbean Jerk Chicken.  It looked great.  I haven't had Jerk chicken in years. 

I made another trip to the grocery store this week for the ingredients I didn't have.  Yes, that does happen once, twice maybe even three times a week especially if I didn't make a menu for that week. 

I found a recipe that uses a Jerk rub instead of a sauce.  I love putting all the herbs together for rubs.  The smells are wonderful.

I made the Jerk Chicken with the Mango salsa and some rice. 

This recipe came from Tasty Kitchen.

Citrus Marinated Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa

•FOR THE MARINADE:

•2 pounds Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Cutlets
•1 whole Orange, Juiced
•1 whole Lemon, Juiced
•2 whole Limes, Juiced
•2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
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•For The Spice Mixture

•2 Tablespoons Paprika
•1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
•1 Tablespoon Granulated Garlic Powder
•1 Tablespoon Granulated Onion Powder
•1 teaspoon Rubbed Sage
•1 teaspoon Allspice
•1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
•1 teaspoon Chili Powder
•1 teaspoon Sweet Basil
•1 teaspoon Black Pepper
•1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
•½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
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•FOR THE SALSA:

•2 whole Naval Oranges, Peeled And Diced
•2 whole Ripe Mangos, Peeled And Diced
•1-½ cup Fresh Pineapple, Peeled, Cored, And Diced
•1 whole Small Red Pepper, Seeded And Diced
•1 bunch Fresh Cilantro, Chopped
•3 Tablespoons Fresh Chives, Finely Chopped
•1 Tablespoon Fresh Or Bottled Lime Juice
•1 Tablespoon Honey
•1 pinch Salt

Preparation Instructions

1) Place marinade ingredients in a gallon zip bag. Add chicken and marinate for 30 minutes to one hour. Discard marinade.

2) In a small bowl with tight fitting lid, mix all spice ingredients, set aside.

3) In a medium size bowl, mix all salsa ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to serve.

4) Preheat gas grill for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, season each piece of chicken with spice mixture. Label and store any leftover spice mix in a cool, dry storage.

3) Grill chicken on medium high heat for 6-8 minutes or until juices run clear.

Iced Chai

I have to admit I don't think I have ever had an Iced Chai before this week.  I received my latest Cuisine At Home magazine last week.  I have looked through it several times and the one recipe that stood out was the Iced Chai.  I was intrigued by the ingredients.

I finally made it.  The house had a wonderful aroma from the spices.  I had to substitute some anise extract for the whole star anise.

After the Chai was done cooling I decided to try it out.  Wow, what flavor this drink has.  The one thing I noticed was after you finished your sip there was a "dance" of flavors on my tongue.  I know.  I know sounds strange.  I guess I can not explain it much more than that. 

This drink may very well become my afternoon drink instead of coffee.

Iced Chai

2 1/2 cups water

3 green cardamom pods, crushed

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed

1 piece fresh ginger, cut into 1-inch coins

5 star anise, whole

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground

4 looseblack tea leaves or tea bags

2 cups milk, reduced fat (skim, 1% or 2%)

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

ice cubes

 

Directions:

1 Place water in saucepan over medium heat. 2 Add crushed cardamom pods and peppercorns. 3 Add ginger, star anise and cinnamon; bring to a boil for 1 minute. 4 Add black tea, simmer 5 minutes. 5 Stir in milk; return to simmer. Sweeten with turbanado sugar to taste; remove tea from heat. 6 Cool chai to room temperature. Once cool, pour through a fine mesh sieve into a pitcher. Discard solids. 7 Refrigerate chai up to one week. 8 To serve, fill glasses with ice; pour chai over ice.

 

** I'm sorry for the horrible photo

Sno-Cones

What child doesn't like a cold sno-cone on a hot summer day????  Let me tell you these past 2-3 weeks here in New England have been hot and humid.  Did I ever tell you I don't care for summer with this amount of humidity??

I try to watch the Food Network everyday to get some ideas of what to cook for the coming week.  I was watching Cooking for Real with Sunny Anderson one day and she happened to be making some Kiwi Sno Cones.  Man, did those look yummy.  One thing she used was her food processor to shave the ice down to "snow".  The first thought that went through my mind was, do I dare use my 16 year old food processor???  Yes, this is the same one I got as a wedding gift.  The reason I asked myself that question was, it is not in that great of shape (ie I can not grate cheese in it since the post to hold the grater broke.  another reason I see a spark when I push the button to use it).  I am eyeing a couple different new food processors but still need to convince my husband I need one. 

Anyway, getting back to the Sno Cones.   I got the stuff out and made them for the family the other night.  Let's just say it hit the spot.  The first night I made Black Cherry.  The second night I made Lemon for the boys and Margarita ones for me and my husband.  The rita's ended up being in between a frozen rita and on the rocks, but boy were they yummy.

Summertime Sno-Cones

Snow Cone Syrup

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid, any flavor

Directions:

Place the sugar and water in a medium pan and bring to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in the Kool-Aid. Cool to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator until chilled. Pour over crushed iced.

***  Recently I bought some of those squeeze bottles for when you make chocolate molds.   I put the syrup in the squeeze bottles and pour over the ice...

Heirloom Tomatoes - Brandywine

In the last couple of years I have heard all about Heirloom Tomatoes.  I remember watching the Martha Stewart Show sometime ago and was intrigued by these funky shaped but beautiful tomatoes.  I kinda put them at the back of my head until my friend Jen told me about the plant she bought.  I could just imagine my ears perking up when she told me where to get them.  The next day I drove to the nursery and bought myself a plant.  The plant was 4 feet tall and had several green globes on them.  I only paid $15 for the plant.  I have had several tomatoes off of the plant.  Boy they are juicy, sweet and delicious.

Mini Meatball Subs

Every week I make a dinner menu for that week.  Last week The Pioneer Women had a recipe for mini meatball subs on her webpage.  When I saw the picture I knew that would go on the menu.  I did not use her recipe just the idea. 

I actually just threw some ingredients (normal ones for meatballs) into the bowl, formed them and started to brown them up.  They ended up to be about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter.

The sauce I had made and had in the freezer.  So I just dumped that into the pan to warm up with the meatballs. 

To top the sandwiches off I slice some fresh mozzarella ontop of the hot sauce and meatballs.  Man were they messy.

Spicy Italian Pork Cutlets

I am a big fan of pork roast.  I tend to make them the same way lately and wanted to try something different.  I sat down at the computer and searched for recipes.  After a while I decided on a few different ones and printed them.  Luckily I had all the ingredients for the different recipes. 

I picked a Spicy Pork Roast recipe since I had some tomatoes I needed to use.  As I was prepping the ingredients I was thinking this recipe sounded familiar.  After looking at the ingredients closer I realized it is almost the same as my Ravioli Pomodaro recipe.  I will say the pork wasn't nearly as spicy as the ravioli recipe. 

We all liked this recipe and I would definitely make it again.  It was such an easy recipe to make.

Spicy Italian Pork Cutlets

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided

4 boneless pork chops, pounded to 1/4 inch thick

salt and pepper to taste

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 large tomato, diced

1/3 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions

1.Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper, and quickly sear on both sides. Remove from heat, and set aside.

2.Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, and saute the garlic about 30 seconds. Mix in the tomato, chicken broth, wine, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes.

3.Return the pork chops to the skillet, and continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes, to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Serve pork with the tomato and broth mixture from the skillet.

Cream Cheese and Pecan Stuffed Berries

I love watching the Food Network, if you haven't already figured that out.  I happened to have caught Paula Deen cooking with her son Jamie on tv one day.  One particular recipe jumped out at me ~ Cream Cheese Filled Berries.  They looked absolutely delicious.  I did make one change to the recipe, I used Marscapone cheese instead of the cream cheese.  Oh I lied, I didn't have any pecans so I used walnuts.

The night I made these little gems we had my sister in law Kathy and her husband over for dinner & a dip in the pool.  Everyone thought the were delicious and could not guess what the filling was. 

Cream Cheese and Pecan Stuffed Berries

Ingredients

20 whole large strawberries, hulled

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup confectioners' powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Cut a thin slice from the bottom of each strawberry so the berries stand upright. Place berries, cut side down, on a serving platter. Carefully cut the berries into 4 wedges, cutting almost to, but not through, the bottoms with a criss-cross cut. Fan wedges just slightly, taking care not to break them. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until combined but still stiff. Using a teaspoon or pastry bag with decorative tip, fill the strawberries with the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle chopped pecans on top of the stuffed strawberries. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.