Tonight I was going to make a really good looking dish that I found on Pinterest that was Blackened chicken and Cilantro Lime Quinoa…now I’ve never had quinoa so I decided I wanted to try and after researching recipes I really wanted to try this because the yogurt sauce on top looked really good. I go to the store get all my ingredients in the “ingredient list” and come home to make it. Then after going through the recipe before I start at the very end the yogurt sauce indicated it had avocado but the avocado wasn’t in the ingredient list AGHKKKK lesson learned I should read the entire recipe BEFORE I plan on making the dish even before going to the store but really?! come on! If you’re going to blog (got this from another blogger) about a recipe and give the steps at least proof read before you post something…I’m not talking about typos or grammar but a key ingredient in a recipe!! Off the soap box now to my “dinner save”.
I had these chicken breasts thawed and the only thing that I had completely thawed so I needed to make something with them after thinking about it I decided I’d pan fry them and then put some lemon/butter sauce over the top of them. This recipe is really easy and I actually made it up on my own! Your mouth and tummy will be really happy at this easy and inexpensive dish!
The next part of my “thrown together” meal was a recipe I found online for spiced pinto beans. I’m not exactly sure why I had pinto beans in the cabinet since we don’t usually eat canned foods since I try to stay fresh or frozen but whatever I had them so I googled recipes to use them as a side dish…this again is a really easy inexpensive dish that will leave your tummy happy and taste buds excited! I altered a little by not “mashing” the beans I just left them as they were. I forgot the cilantro until the last minute so I just garnished it with it once I got it on the plate. The cumin really makes this dish so if you’re not a fan of cumin I don’t suggest “trying this at home”.
One thing I want to mention in this post is the use of chicken broth…before I always bought canned or boxed broth but one day I decided that I’d try the cubes and I was immediately hooked to using that over canned because first it’s cheaper, second I have it on hand at all times instead of running out like I tended to do with canned/boxed broth and three I can control the flavoring of the broth (strong or subtle) I’ve graduated to granules over the cubes because it’s even cheaper than the cubes AND I can get a HUGE bottle of it at Costco and I’ll never run out LOL If you currently use canned I suggest you try the granules/cubes. Yes it seems like “extra work” but seriously to save a few bucks and to not run out of it boiling some water and dropping a cube/tablespoon of it in the water is not that hard so don’t be lazy!!!
’til next time,
Crys
Lemon Butter Chicken:
Ingredients:
Canola Oil
2 chicken breast pounded out if thick
flour
1.5 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon butter
1/4 chicken broth
salt
pepper
Instructions:
1. Lightly flour chicken and season with salt and pepper to your taste
2. Heat about a tablespoon of canola oil (you can use vegetable but canola is what I had on hand) in pan on medium-high heat
3. place chicken in pan and cook for about 7 minutes on each side
4. Remove chicken from pan when each side has a dark brown crust
5. Put lemon juice, broth & butter in pan until butter is melted
6. place chicken back in pan and coat both sides with lemon butter mixture
7. ENJOY!
Spiced Pinto Beans:
Ingredients
1/2 small onion, chopped (I altered the amount here from original because even though I had a tiny onion it was just too much to use the whole one and I like onion!)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 jalapeno, minced
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I didn’t even realize this was in the recipe until I was proof reading it just now LOL If you don’t have it or don’t like it I don’t think you’ll care that it’s omitted)
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 cup canned pinto beans, rinsed
2 tablespoons broth, or water
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
Preparation
1. Saute onion, garlic, jalapeno and chili powder in oil in a small saucepan until softened. Add beans, broth (or
water), cumin and salt. Coarsely mash half of the beans in the pot and simmer until heated through. Stir in
cilantro.
Nutrition
Per serving : 167 Calories; 6 g Fat; 1 g Sat; 3 g Mono; 0 mg Cholesterol; 23 g Carbohydrates; 7 g Protein; 7 g Fiber; 414
mg Sodium; 371 mg Potassium
Read More: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/spiced_pinto_beans.html
testing n tasting 