Chris' Recipes

Bon Appetite!

Orzo Mozzarella, Tomato & Herb salad

Written By: Chris - Oct• 06•13

I prepared this salad for a recent gathering with friends on a weekend we spent cutting wood and socializing!  This was one of many dishes we shared and it was made with seasonally sweet grape tomatoes and fresh basil download the website with underpages.

To change things up, I thought I would use Orzo, which is a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice.  It can be served alone, as a soup accompaniment, as part of a salad, or baked in a casserole windows live movie maker nederlands downloaden.  Orzo is the Italian word for “barley” however, it’s not made from barley at all, but rather from semolina, a course-ground flour made from durum wheat android onedrive datei herunterladen.  In Italy, the word can of course refer to the grain itself, but might also describe a beverage made from roasted barley or a wheat-based pasta that looks like barley filme downloaden legal.  Because of orzo’s similar shape and mild flavor, it can be substituted for rice in many recipes.  Ounce for ounce, rice and orzo contain similar amounts of fat, sugar, carbohydrates and even sodium utorrent gratis downloaden windows 10.

This is a simple, but delicious salad that tasted great even on the second day, because the flavors had really blended well.

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Ingredients:

1 Lemon, rind and juice
1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1/4 Large Onion, (sweet) minced
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1/3 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 Garlic Cloves, pressed
Salt & Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Sugar

1 Package of Orzo
4 Tablespoons Fresh Basil, chopped
4 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, chopped
4 Tablespoons Fresh Mint, chopped
1 Package Mozzarella Balls

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Mince the onion, and combine with lemon juice and rind, pressed garlic, chopped herbs, mustard, oil, mayo, balsamic vinegar, sugar, and salt and pepper gta v for mobile phone.  (season to taste) 

Prepare the Orzo according to package directions, keeping in mind that it cooks up in about half the time of rice haus herunterladen sims 4.  Cool and combine with the above.  Add chopped tomatoes

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Toss gently and mix in mozzarella balls daten vom ftp server herunterladen.

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Coat everything evenly and allow to stand refrigerated for at least 30 minutes before serving ard buffet app installieren kostenlosen.

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Enjoy icloud windows alle bilder herunterladen!

Cheers!
~Chris

The guys did!

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Butternut Squash Soup

Written By: Chris - Oct• 05•13

Butternut Squash Soup

Roast one large Butternut squash:

Drizzle with a mixture of the juice of a freshly squeezed Orange, 3 Tablespoons of sugar-free Maple Syrup, 1 Tablespoon of Olive oil and 2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon din herunterladen.
Salt & Pepper
Place on cooking sheet and bake at 400 for roughly 40 to 50 Minutes until Squash is soft.

Set aside and let cool

Soup Ingredients:

8 Cups of homemade Chicken stock
(recipe to make stock is in the chicken wild rice recipe herunterladen. I always Keep some on hand in the freezer)
2 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil
1 medium Onion, chopped
½ Cup of Celery, chopped
½ Cup of Carrot, chopped
2 Tablespoons Coriander,  ground
1 Tablespoon of additional Cinnamon (to taste)
½ Cup Half & Half
Salt & Pepper

In bottom of stock pot, saute Onions, Carrots & Celery in oil until somewhat soft 3sat filme downloaden.
Add Chicken stock and let vegetables cook on medium heat until completely softened.
While this is cooking, remove Squash from rind and add to soup download tiktok for free.

Using an Emulsion blender blend thoroughly until smooth spider solitaire for free for mac. (or remove soup, place it into a blender and puree until smooth. 
Then replace soup back into the pot when smooth).

Add Coriander, Cinnamon, Salt & Pepper and Half & Half to your taste

Garnish with Sour Cream & Roasted Pumpkin seeds sender.

Enjoy!

Cheers!
~Chris

 

 

 

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Quiche with Bacon & Italian Sausage

Written By: Chris - Sep• 27•13

Quiche with Bacon and Italian Sausage

I was putting a few things together recently for the WEBCO Employee fun sailing day brunch! It was a special event where our valued employees and their significant others were treated to a company wide appreciation day breakout spiele kostenlos herunterladen!  We closed for the entire day on a Friday and all piled into a comfortable charter bus around 9:30 am.  I had prepared some food dishes to share on our two-hour drive from the office in Anoka to Lake Pepin, Wisconsin Download thalia books from icloud.  We enjoyed some Mimosa’s, along with some homemade breads, (banana bread, sweet butter braids and blueberry muffins that I’ll post in other blogs) quiche, and some fruit vtech kidizoom kid 2 bilder herunterladen.

There were two types of quiche.  One, which contained meats and sweet peppers and onion; as well as a very plain variety with just the eggs and cheese mixture wekgeluiden downloaden.

Quiche is a very  is a savory, open-faced pastry crust with a filling of savoury custard with cheese, meat, seafood and/or vegetables.  It can be served hot or cold; and is a part of French cuisine spiele für den pc kostenlos herunterladen.  We often eat it while traveling in wine county at room temperature, so I thought that it would be the perfect dish to get our day started!

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Ingredients:

8 Eggs
1 Cup Half and Half (or heavy cream)
1/2 Cup Hellman’s Mayo
2 Tablespoons Flour
1/3 Cup Onion, chopped
1 Cup Red, Yellow and/or Orange Bell peppers, chopped into small cubes
1/2 Cup Monetary Jack Cheese, shredded
2/3 Cup Cheddar Jack, shredded (Reserve some for the top)
2 Garlic Cloves, pressed
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Italian Sausage, browned with 1/2 of the chopped onion
Bacon, thick cut chopped and browned with 1/2 of the chopped onion
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Pie Shell, store-bought

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees jedes video downloaden firefox.  I like to pre-cook the crust so that it is more crisp.  Start out by rolling out the pie crust into a glass 9-inch, deep baking dish.  Pinch the edges and poke holes in the bottom with a fork sims download 3.

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I take a second glass pie dish that is slightly smaller and place it directly on top of the unbaked crust Download purchased music from itunes.  place into the oven and bake for about ten minutes until it is beginning to brown and crust up.

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Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a saute pan until it begins to crisp up fortnite für nintendo 3ds downloaden.  Add half of the chopped onion in a saute until onions are caramelized and the bacon is crisp.  Drain and set aside.

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I had an Italian style ground sausage on hand, but you could use any variety including breakfast style sausage filme auf handy downloaden.  In a saute pan, cook the ground sausage with half of the chopped onion until the sausage is cooked through and the onions have become translucent.

In a medium mixing bowl, hand mix the eggs, breaking the yolks before whipping them with the half-and-half, mayonnaise, and flour. Add remaining ingredients including the cooked, drained meats.  Mix in half of the shredded cheese.

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Pour into the pre-baked pie crust.

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Bake for 40 to 55 minutes or so until the top is golden brown.  Add shredded cheese and bake an additional five minutes until the cheese is browned.  Sprinkle with parsley for a garnish.  Allow to stand for five or more minutes prior to cutting into wedges.

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This was Michelle’s plate that she was able to enjoy on the bus!  Another type of egg dish was simple and did not have a crust.  I poured the same egg mixture, omitting the vegetables and meats into a glass pie dish that had been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  It was topped with melted cheese and too was enjoyed at room temperature.

The sailing was a blast; followed by a delicious dinner and we were all back to the office by 9 pm.

Enjoy!

Cheers!
~Chris

 

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Brined Chicken Breast with fresh Marjoram

Written By: Chris - Sep• 16•13

Brined Chicken Breast with fresh Marjoram

We recently stayed at our friends Robert & Carly’s home in Calistoga during a visit to the Valley.  Their hospitality is terrific and it is so kind of them to let us stay.  Since they both worked on Saturday, we thought it would only be fair to pick up dinner battlefield 4 kostenlosen.  Before Bill and I headed to the market, I took a look in their herb garden and I thought they had some really healthy Thyme!  I found some nice chicken breasts at the store and decided that brining them would be the method to prepare them.  Bill helped by cutting some herbs for me.  At the time, I didn’t really think that the “thyme” had the typical lemon scent, but since smelled fresh and delicious I added it to the brine just the same download video from arte.  Later, Carly corrected me and we had a good laugh when she explained that the “healthy thyme” herb I was using was really fresh Marjoram!  I haven’t grown this at home and have since learned that it is a somewhat cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavors herunterladen.

It is used extensively in Mediterranean cuisine, is most commonly used to season fish, poultry, and strong-tasting meats such as lamb and duck.  Additionally, marjoram leaf may be used to season sauces for pizza, pasta and other dishes.

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I’ve learned that there are a couple of other herbs that could be used as acceptable substitutes for marjoram if you don’t have any on hand; Oregano is ideal, because it is very similar in taste and texture but slightly stronger app downloaden op ps4.  You would use roughly half of the amount of oregano than you would if you didn’t have marjoram.  Thyme is another option as it is very similar in taste and appearance.  Although its taste is not as light as the flavor of marjoram, thyme can give food a delicious, earthy flair.  Who knew I could use Marjoram instead of Thyme windows 10 oem?  It looks very similar and it worked and this chicken dish.  It was wonderful!

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Ingredients: 

2 Large Chicken Breasts, pounded

Brine:
5 Cups Water
1/2 Cup Kosher Salt
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce, I only had low sodium on hand
1/2 Cup Splenda
1/4 Cup Pure Maple Syrup
8 Large Sprigs of Marjoram
6 Whole Garlic Cloves, smashed to break skin
2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Dried Oregano
1 Tablespoon Chicken Bullion

 

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A great way to prepare chicken breasts so they wont dry out is to brine them!  We eat a lot of chicken, but when the breasts no longer has its protective skin, it often ends up dry.  Don’t fret it, there are a few things you can do to keep this from happening thunderbird keine neuen nachrichten zum herunterladen.  Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness (to about a half of an inch thickness, which will give the breast a uniform thickness and break up the meat, allowing the brine to permeate the meat quickly) and then brine it for at least an hour before grilling it.  Direct heat helps prevent over drying, while rendering a moist and delicious result!

Combine all the ingredients listed above for the brine and mix until dissolved hoe moet je tweakbox downloaden.  You can use a shallow, covered baking dish or a large zip lock bag for marinading.  Be sure to brine for at least 30 minutes as it is important to give the brine enough time to work.

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Have your grill completely heated when the brining is done auto spiele gratis downloaden. You will want to take the chicken directly from the brine to the grill. With the grill hot, put the chicken over the hottest part of the fire.  Turn the chicken only once and leave the lid off the grill.  Be careful not to over cook, and you will end up with the perfect pieces of chicken.  Many experts recommend that chicken breast meat must be cooked to an internal temperature of 170 degrees, but others say 160 degrees is fine stronghold legends kostenlos herunterladen.  The chicken will remain moist if you cook to 160.

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Allow to rest before slicing.

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We grilled additional fresh vegetables including peppers, zucchini and par-cooked sweet potato slices Download javascript for free!  A couple flavorful sausages and caramelized onions made it a completely delicious meal!

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Robert did a splendid job of manning the grill!

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Our chicken was super moist and delicious!  We had enough left over for a second meal and because it was so moist, we were able to use it for a flavorful homemade pizzas the next night!

There were a lot of laughs, along with a lot of wine shared those couple of days!

Enjoy!

Cheers!
~Chris

 

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Herb and Garlic Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

Written By: Chris - Sep• 10•13

Herb and Garlic Marinated Grilled Pork Chops

During the summer months while fresh herbs grow readily in Minnesota, I try to incorporate as many of them into our dishes as possible audiodatei manuell herunterladen tiptoi.  This is a very simple way to prepare chops (or even chicken breasts) while layering them with fresh flavors!

Though I love to brine pork chops, I believe that marinading is the way to go when working with thin cut ones download samsung s7 ringtones.  Marinades will never sink into meat like a brine will, but it does add great flavor while helping the chops remain moist.   Thin chops can be sufficiently marinated in as little as 30 minutes and the marinade will tenderize the meat and protect it from the intense heat of the grill yammer app herunterladen.

Pork top loin chops  are sometimes sold boneless and called pork loin fillets, which can be cooked just like a chop.

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Ingredients:

2 Boneless Pork chops (I’m not sure, but think these were top loin pork strip chops)
2 Small Fresh Garlic Cloves, pressed
2 – 3 Tablespoons of  Fresh Thyme, chopped 
2 – 3 Tablespoons of  Fresh Rosemary, chopped 
1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper, to taste

 

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Chop herbs and combine with oil and pressed garlic and salt and pepper applike herunterladen.  Preheat the grill on high heat.

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Allow the chops to rest in marinade (in a zip log bag) at room temperature for about 30 minutes before grilling, but don’t allow the pork (or chicken if using) sit out longer than 30 minutes before grilling herunterladen.  (Keep in mind that our home is air-conditioned)

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Place the pork chops on the hottest part of the grill herunterladen.  The pork chops will sear and cook rather quickly.  The time will vary depending on the thickness, but once the edges of the meat starts to become opaque, it’s time to turn them over how can I whatsapp for free.  I don’t cook pork past medium or it tends to dry out.  

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Keep track of the initial time of cooking because once you turn them over it will take them just about the same amount of time on the second side to cook through lange youtube videos herunterladen.  Allow to rest for five to ten minutes before serving and they will be moist and delicious!

Enjoy!

Cheers!
~Chris

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