Garlic Mustard Chicken

Last night, Daniel invited his boss and his wife over for dinner.  I must say that I was not all too excited about this as I haven’t always been happy with the way Daniel is treated at work (not to mention my house was a completely disgusting mess and I had only an hour), but after a bit of prayer I knew that it would be fine.  It turned out to be quite a lovely evening.

I made what I am going to call Garlic Mustard Chicken:

Two cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1/8 cup olive oil

1 palm full brown sugar

2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

1 tsp fennel seed

2-3 lbs chicken

5 Tbsp chicken broth

Mix together garlic, mustard, olive oil, brown sugar, lemon pepper seasoning and fennel seed (I used a small food processor) and smear over one side of chicken, let sit for about 30 minutes.

Heat pan with a splash of olive oil over medium heat, once smoking add chicken, seasoned side down. Smear rest of mixture on top of the chicken. Cook for about 3 minutes, add chicken broth. Flip when ready.

To serve, put on serving platter and pour juices on top of meat (if the juice is too thin, turn the heat up to high and cook it down to your desired thickness. Watch Carefully!).

I served this with oven cooked asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes and salad with an apple cider Dijon dressing.  Oh! and crescent rolls.

Cauliflower in Your Stuffed Peppers

Yesterday for lunch I went over to a friend’s house.  She made stuffed peppers with cauliflower instead of rice and they were amazing.  The cauliflower added a nice sweetness to the stuffing and it wasn’t overly filling and much more healthy.

The recipe follows:

• 1/2 cup cauliflower
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lg onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 6 ounces ground beef
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1tsp oregano
• 4 green or red bell peppers                                                                                             

Heat oil in a 2 quart sauce casserole dish in microwave uncovered for 2 minutes.

Stir in onions and crumbled beef and cook uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring once.  D

rain off most of fat, leaving 2-3 Tbsp in the dish.  Add 1 1/2 cups tomatoes, garlic, thyme and oregano and cauliflower, stir to combine.

Slice tops off of 4 green or red bell peppers and remove seeds.  Divide stuffing among the peppers and replace tops.  Place peppers in baking dish.  Combine 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, 1/4 cup white wine and 1/4 cup water and pour into bottom of dish.

Cover tightly with heavy duty plastic wrap and cook for 20 minutes.  Poke through wrap with knife after about 10 minutes to allow steam to escape .

Let peppers stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

A co-worker and I went to Qdoba for lunch today.    The service was quick, but we went just after the lunch rush so it wasn’t overly crowded.  It was reasonably priced and the ingredients were fairly fresh but I was by no means amazed by the food.  I’d eat there again only to be amicable.

Last Thursday we went to Grand Avenue Deli for lunch and I had a great Reuben (and a pretty good, large chocolate chip cookie), unfortunately their soup was very watered down.  I don’t see why they chose to ruin it, as they were very busy and the parking lot is almost always full when I drive past, in fact people have a hard time finding a place to park sometimes.  Their prices are comparable to places like Panera and other popular soup and sandwich joints but the soup was awful.  This was a major detraction for me.  I’d much rather go to Panera where I can count on all around quality, not just part of my meal being good.