I started off with the Perdue perfect portions – 5 individually vacuum-sealed boneless-skinless chicken breasts. 

When I picked up the chicken, I threw the whole package in the freezer immediately.  So I took two out to defrost in the morning and by the time I was ready to cook, they were both fully defrosted and ready to go.  Easy-peasy. 

As I mentioned in the previous post, I just used this recipe, which required I use a bowl to mix mayo, ground chipotle, lime juice, and shredded cheese before slathering on top of the chicken breasts in a baking dish.  Sprinkle some crushed tortilla chips on top, and voila. 

And a jiffy spin in the oven later, cooked chicken ready to slice and put in a sandwich with Sargento’s pepperjack for Beer Boor, or eat by itself, or with some vegetables… whatever it was.  Super easy, very tasty. 

Overall, I love the Perdue’s Perfect Portions for the whole ease of having the chicken vacuum sealed.  It’s not cheap – these were on sale for $6 and change for 1.5lbs of boneless skinless breasts (five), but the vacuum sealing is the key.  I don’t have a vacuum sealer, and this prevents freezer burn from happening… because I totally used to go to Costco and buy huge packs of chicken, then put 1-2 pieces (depending on if I bought breasts or thighs or other) into sandwich bags, and freeze (after writing on them what it was, and the date).  But that doesn’t prevent freezer burn, and you have to use them a little quicker than with vacuum-sealed packs… this does all of the work for you with the added bonus.  Of course, depending on your own needs and lifestyle, it may be worth the extra cost to get these… or it may be worth it to you to just do it yourself.  Everyone’s different.  

Please note that I received the chicken free of charge when I posted this contest but I was under no obligation to post about it again.  Opinions expressed herein are my own.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chicken

In any case, I recently received 5 ears of corn in my CSA.  Long time readers will remember that my CSA is local & organic, which meant… there were worms in my corn.  After I’d taken care of those (shudder) and cut what kernels I could off the cob, I thought about what I wanted to do with it.  Well, I’d also received cilantro… and I had some tomatoes from a previous week… and of course shallots and red onions… yeah, go to the store and pick up some limes and jalapenos, what do you have? 

Something delicious, my friends. 

I “bribed” Beer Boor into making me more fresh tortilla chips by giving him half of the fresh corn salsa, and the trade worked wonderfully.  I even made this batch spicier than I normally do, partially because I thought he’d like it more, and partially because heck, why not? 

I like pushing myself sometimes to eat spicier foods. 

And this, my friends, was bangin’. 

5 ears of corn, cut off the cob – RAW! (feel free to blanch it quickly; see note below)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped (I like the stems a bit so I usually keep some in there too, but you can use just the leaves if you like)
1-2 shallots, diced
1 small red onion, diced (I used the combination because that’s what I had, but feel free to use what you’ve got on hand)
1 tomato, diced
2 jalapenos, diced (I removed the seeds and ribs completely, but if you want it spicier, feel free to leave those in or use more jalapenos)
Juice of one very juicy lime

Mix everything altogether.  Salt to taste (I used very little or no black pepper).  ENJOY.  This was so good on the chips, but would also be delicious with a nice light white fish, or alongside chicken, or … well, with just about anything.  Slightly spicy kick, sweet corn, and just yum.  I had to stop myself from inhaling it all. 

In fact, I decided to make more a week later, since I still had chips but no more salsa.  So I went to the supermarket and finally bought some packaged corn on the cob, and did just about everything the same… but the corn didn’t taste quite as good.  It was a lot starchier and just had this taste to it that might have been washed away, had I blanched it first.  So I guess I learned my lesson: my local organic corn was so much better than the supermarket stuff.  Wah. 

In any case, enjoy the recipe as it is, and let me know how you like it!  I would really like to put this with some flaky white fish for a slammin’ meal… yum yum yum! 

Happy eating!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: salsa

But… as much as I like it, I know that it’s not that good for me.  Real cheese isn’t meant to stay liquid when chilled.  The chemicals… not so good.  So I set out to see how hard it would be to make my own liquid cheese, and tagged Beer Boor along for the ride. 

First, though, we ate some of the processed stuff.  Tostitos twist of lime with Tostitos salsa con queso, some regular salsa and some sour cream.  Yum – these were tasty as expected.  We finished the plate pretty quickly. 

Then I put him to work.  Long ago we’d discovered that making our own tortilla chips was really simple – slice up corn tortillas into triangles, then deep fry for 2 minutes, drain and salt.  Since then, I’ve rarely gone very long without having fresh tortilla chips at my fingertips (thanks Beer Boor!), and they are delicious but super easy (with the aid of our trust deep fryer, that is).  In the meantime, I chopped up some plum tomatoes, cilantro, and shallots, opting out of garlic or jalapenos, and mixed that all in a bowl with the juice of one very juicy lime.  Added a bit of salt (forgot the pepper), and let that sit together for a few minutes. 

We’d actually gone to Fairway UES on our way back from the game, where we picked up the tomatoes, cilantro, limes for reasonable prices.  But we also picked up the cheeses – so I chose a pepperjack and then a really interesting cheese that I wound up loving and had to force myself not to eat all plain before I could use it for my homemade liquid cheese: a jalapeno peppadew cheddar that was super tasty on its own, but mixed into my sauce… omg. 

Basically… melt butter in the bottom of a pan.  When it gets a little foamy, add a bit of flour.  Go easy on the flour (I used a 1:1 ratio, was too much and I’d go lighter next time).  Cook it for a little bit, then add heavy cream and/or whole milk till you’ve got a little less liquid than you want as a result; let come to a small bubble.  Add chopped/grated/cubed cheese, and stir to combine.  (I was really lazy and just cut off bits of the cheeses until it looked about right; if you grate it, it’ll melt faster.) 

That really took all of 5 or 10 minutes on the outside, and the end result?  It was delicious.  You can use any combination of cheese you want, too; you can even use cheddar and add your own fresh jalapenos or any type of pepper you like.  Super freakin’ easy. 

So I guess I won’t be buying liquid cheese any more (and I know I make it sound like I always have some in the fridge, but that’s simply not true! I only buy it every once in a blue moon, bad day, having company, whatever the case may be, honest)… it’s just too easy to make your own quickly, deliciously, and less or no preservatives (please use a good cheese, not a processed one, or you defeat the whole purpose of my experiment).  You don’t have to make your own chips – I just did that for kicks and because I know that’s also super easy (especially when you have Beer Boor around who will deep fry just about anything you hand him!). 

Happy eating! 

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cheese, chips, snacks

I had a ton of scallions from my CSA as well, so that was the topping. 

BeerBoor gifted me a large jar of almond butter, so I doctored that to make a sauce as well. 

But you want to know what the protein was… it’s so simple, I almost shouldn’t even mention this. 

A package of Trader Joe’s “bool kogi” (bulgogi, marinated meat slices).  I found these tasty several years ago and bought packs of it whenever I saw it since they ran out quickly whenever they restocked, and took to freezing the extras until I felt like eating it.  And because the lovely FBM’ers won’t let this slide without putting it in the comments, I’ll admit upfront that this package was one I found kicking around in the freezer… with an expiration date of more than a few years ago.  I ate it, I didn’t get sick, I was totally fine… it’s vacuum sealed in two different sheets of plastic, so maybe that’s why, but whatever.  It still tasted good

And while I like it, it’s nothing like ‘real’ bulgogi, which tends to be sliced thin and chopped small… which is why I don’t like it.  These are thick slices of beef, and you can cook them medium rare if you so choose (I generally aim for that).  They come out juicy and delicious.  I just drop them into a preheated heavy-bottomed skillet with no oil since the marinade has oil in it, then flip when it starts looking browned on one side.  I got some nice caramelization on these, then sliced them into small pieces for the lettuce wraps. 

As for the almond butter – I mixed with a little sesame oil, a teensy bit of soy sauce, and some rice wine vinegar to taste… and a little Sriracha, which totally kicked my taste buds around a little bit.  Play with the proportions to find a concoction that you like! 

And the pink round discs…!  Pickled French breakfast radishes.  Yup, I pickled them a few days earlier and was wondering what to do with them.  This worked out fantastically – the slightly sour-pickly taste and the crunch really elevated these wraps to new levels. 

I found this recipe that seemed to work rather well.  I tweaked it a bit – I somehow didn’t have my plain clover honey, so I used the super fancy ulmo honey I have, which imparted a lovely floral scent to the pickles.  I kept the garlic cloves whole, so I’ll be eating those eventually – yum!  I think those are about the tweaks I made, I may have also added some mirin… just because I had it.  Also, I rarely ever follow recipes exactly, it’s worked out better for me this way. 

Happy eating!  What’s on your Friday menu?

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: pickles

The addition of tortellini makes it a complete meal.  You can use fresh, frozen, you can make your own; I chose to use Buitoni, which I find easily in my local Stop&Shop refrigerated section (and sometimes I buy extra and freeze it; it keeps well).  By the way, I tried once to use the store brand, and it was NOT GOOD.  I don’t know if it was the kind I got (their Italian sausage tortellini), because I’ve generally had good results using store brand items, for a lower cost obviously, but the inside tasted mealy and mushy – and no, I didn’t overcook it.  Since that experience, I’ve stuck to Buitoni for my tortellini needs; as my budget grows, I’m sure I’ll “graduate” to buying fresh pastas from the multitude of Italian specialty stores to which I have access. 

My point is: use whatever you want.  You can use ravioli, plain pasta shapes, filled pastas, whatever strikes your fancy.  Heck, skip the pasta altogether and use beans, or use beans AND pasta.  As I said, this is one of the most versatile soup “recipes” I’ve found. 

You can use any sort of leafy greens, as well, though if you’re like me and like to make a big pot of soup to keep reheating, your results will be better if you use a hardier green like collards, kale, chard, as opposed to say, spinach.  Or you can use spinach but only put it fresh in each bowl as you serve it, ladling the super hot/boiling soup over it to cook, instead of putting it all in the pot at once to cook, because it’ll just break down by the end of the week and you’ll be left with green broth and no spinach of which to speak. 

Whatever you do, though, the point is to enjoy the end result.  Find your balance and what works for your taste buds, and learn to work within that range of flavors and tastes. 

Couple cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced
Red pepper flakes
Leafy greens (I used kale and beet greens here)
Low sodium chicken stock (you can use veggie stock to make this vegetarian, or use plain water, but I prefer the richness chicken stock offers*)
Tortellini (I used Buitoni tricolor cheese tortellini)
Salt/pepper to taste

Heat a large soup pot – or your enameled cast iron pot – over a medium-low flame.  Once hot, add extra virgin olive oil, and once that’s hot, add the garlic, onion and red pepper flakes.  (I sometimes add Italian seasoning here as well.)  Once the onions are translucent, add the greens and some salt/pepper, tossing lightly with the garlic/onions.  After the greens are coated, add stock to cover.  Bring to a simmer; add tortellini and cook to package’s instructions.  (If you plan on reheating the soup the whole week, try cooking it to a little less than their specifications – unless it’s meat, then you want to cook it fully.  If you hate mushy pasta, it may be wise to cook the tortellini separately and add to each bowl as you go, or it might be too mushy by the end of the week for your tastes.)  Taste for seasoning, and adjust according to your tastes. 

Serve and enjoy! 

*According to some famous food writer, stock is an unnecessary purchase.  Water suffices because you are going to season it anyway, so what’s the difference?  This may be true, but if you start with water, note that you will need to add a whole lot more flavor than you may be used to doing.  Also note that in a vegetarian dish like this, the fattiness/richness found in chicken stocks will be missing, and you may feel your soup lacks depth, as I did (I’ve made this soup countless times, both with water and with chicken stock, and once or twice with a can of diced tomatoes added as well).  If you’re a vegetarian, then it is really no big deal, but for me, it was a noticeable and unwelcome difference – if I make this dish again, it will certainly be with chicken stock, is all.

**While this dish is vegetarian, I remade it a week later and made mini-meatballs to go in the soup, and that was awesome.

***I also decided one day, on a whim, to dollop a bit of my cilantro sauce on top.  Oh my goodness, that was good.  If you like cilantro or like that sauce, I highly recommend trying this; it added a real brightness to the soup and brought it in a completely new direction.  YUM.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: soup/stew