Cilantro Citrus Chicken and Rice

January 7, 2016 by

Last weekend I went through my cookbook and made a list of recipes to make this month, with an accompanying list of ingredients that became my shopping list. When I make lunch each day, I remind myself to get meat out of the freezer to thaw for dinner at the same time. After picking which meat I’m in the mood for, choosing from a handful of recipes makes dinner less overwhelming. Planning makes dinner prep much easier, and leads to much more cohesive meals, like this one: Cilantro Citrus Chicken with Cilantro Citrus Rice and Spicy Chili Cooked Carrots.

Cilantro Citrus Chicken with Cilantro Citrus Rice and Spicy Chili Carrots

Today I chose chicken, and my fiance chose Cilantro Citrus Chicken from the list of chicken recipes. I originally clipped this recipe from Cooking Light, and it called for 12 8-oz bone-in chicken breasts. I cut the rest of the recipe in half for nearly 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts, and it ended up being nearly perfect. I’d say these amounts I used are spot-on for about a pound of chicken.

Cilantro Citrus Chicken Recipe

  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp fresh chopped cilantro
  • 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
  • 2 Tbsp orange juice
  • 2 Tbsp lime juice
  • 1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 lb chicken
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

The original recipe calls for the first 7 ingredients to be mixed in a food processor before adding with the chicken to marinade for an hour. I just add the ingredients straight into a marinading dish with the chicken, adding a few tablespoons of pineapple juice I had on hand and subbing fresh parsley for dried because that’s what I had. I’d say that blending in a processor is optional.

At this point, I notice a similar recipe on the opposite page in my cookbook, a recipe for Swanson Citrus Chicken & Rice. I decided to incorporate this rice recipe, featuring similar flavors, to serve with my Cilantro Citrus Chicken.

So, after about 45 minutes of marinating the chicken, I began preparing the liquid for the rice. (Keep reading for the rest of the chicken recipe!)

Swanson Citrus Rice

  • 1 can (14 1/2 oz)(1 3/4 cups) Swanson chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
  • 3 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley

For once in my life, I didn’t have any chicken broth on hand (sorry, Swanson). So after adding 1/2 cup orange juice, I filled a 1-cup measure with the rest of the OJ (a few tablespoons), plus the rest of the pineapple juice (a few tablespoons), a few drops of lime juice, and about half a cup of white wine to fill the remainder of the cup. To this I added 3/4 cup of water (so this creative concoction equaled the 1 3/4 cups broth originally called for).

Bring this to a boil, then add one cup of white rice. Reduce heat to simmering, cover, and stir often while cooking for about 18-20 minutes. I add about 3 Tbsp of fresh cilantro instead of parsley to the cooked rice, mimicking the flavors of the chicken to make Cilantro Citrus Rice.

At the same time I start the rice, I heat olive oil in two separate skillets – one for the chicken and one for my mom’s Spicy Chili Cooked Carrots. This one is simple: a few small handfuls of organic baby carrots, enough to cover the bottom of the skillet (makes just enough for 2 servings). Cover and cook a few minutes on med-high until they start sizzling. Add a pad of butter then sprinkle generously with chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic and black pepper. Cover and cook till soft.

Meanwhile, add the salt, cumin and pepper to the chicken. The original recipe called for grilling, but it is January in Cleveland after all, so I pan-fry instead. Add the chicken and some juice to the heated, oiled pan, and cook till browned outside and no longer pink inside. The juices from the marinade brown into a nice sauce, so this alternative to grilling works well.

We both really liked this meal of Cilantro Citrus Chicken with Cilantro Citrus Rice and Spicy Chili Carrots. We’ll definitely make it again! 

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Summer Squash, Scallops and Rice Pilaf with Balsamic Glaze

September 6, 2014 by
Nothing beats homegrown veggies straight out of the garden. Every time I’ve gone home to Indiana this summer, my mom – who inherited an impressive green thumb from her farming father, sends me back to Cleveland with a bounty of fresh produce, grown in the same rich soil my grandpa farmed for 60 years. This time, it was zucchini, yellow summer squash, cucumbers and tomatoes.
Zucchinis are classic – especially in grandma’s famous recipe for rice and zucchini, a common staple at our table growing up.  But some of my fondest zucchini memories have nothing at all to do with eating. See, when zucchinis would overgrow in the garden – sometimes more than a foot long and the circumference of a softball – they’d become too tough to eat. So we got crafty with our food and made Pickle Pigs – imagining the stem as the pig’s nose, and carving white lines into the zucchini’s dark green skin to make a face around it. We’d add little triangular slices of zucchini to resemble ears, and carve stripes, scales and other designs to decorate the body. The most fun was sticking in toothpicks as frail little pig legs, spikes of hair, or even a body full of spines – turning our Pickle Pigs into Pickle Porcupines.
Yes, I play with my food – which led to some experimentation with the yellow summer squash I brought home. Not to be confused with the golden zucchini (it’s OK, I’m a farm girl and I just learned the difference between yellow summer squash and yellow zucchini while writing this post), yellow summer squash joined rice pilaf and scallops in this experimental dish, adding some twists to my grandma’s old zuc & rice recipe. I’m sure grandma and grandma never ate squash this way:
Summer Squash, Scallops & Rice Pilaf with Balsamic Glaze
This is all the creation of my boyfriend/personal chef, who agreed to cook dinner if I washed the dishes. With the rice pilaf (box mix) cooking on the stove, he sliced and sauteed the yellow squash in olive oil over medium heat, seasoning with salt and pepper as they cooked. When they were cooked soft all the way through, he removed them from the stove top and covered them to stay warm while he moved onto the main attraction: the scallops.
He tossed thawed scallops in the skillet with a couple tablespoons of butter and began to sear them, then poured in enough milk to cover the bottom of the pan. He grated some Parmesan cheese into the skillet – making a mock Alfredo as the liquid began to bubble and cook any fishyness out of the scallops. When they were tender, he drained them, and began plating the plump scallops with the soft squash slices and the fluffy rice pilaf.
Over this, he drizzled a balsamic reduction, which I think gives a very artistic pizzazz to the final plate, and dresses up these summer squash to look like modern art. Bon appetit – I think Grandma would have been proud (as long as I didn’t tell her the rice came from a box).

 

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Butternut Squash, Shrimp, Shallot & Shredded Carrot Soup

June 10, 2014 by
It started with a can of Amy’s Organic Butternut Squash Soup.

amys organic butternut squash soup
This creamy, squashy soup inspired a few additions for a little pizzazz, so while it warmed on the stove top, I thawed a dozen frozen cooked shrimp in the sink, then sauteed them in olive oil, adding a couple teaspoons of chopped shallots (about 1/4 of a whole shallot). As these sauteed, I sprinkled with Pampered Chef Red Thai Curry Rub, tumeric, salt and pepper.

I tossed the shrimp and shallots into the soup while it cooked, then peeled one organic carrot into the pot.
Within a few minutes, voila, Butternut Squash, Shrimp, Shallot & Shredded Carrot Soup.

Butternut Squash, Shrimp, Shallot & Shredded Carrot Soup Recipe

This butternut squash shrimp soup cried for some crusty bread to dip, so I made the quickest, laziest substitute for garlic bread ever: One hot dog bun, opened up, slathered with butter, sprinkled with garlic salt and shredded cheese, and popped into a toaster oven until the cheese melted and the bread crusted. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

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Sweet & Spicy Salmon, Shrimp & Chard

August 27, 2013 by
When you forget to thaw any meat before you get hungry, go straight for the seafood. Fish and shrimp are easy to “quick thaw” in a colander under cold running water. Then, they bake and saute quickly. And, for some reason, they seem far fancier than the chicken or pork that usually stocks my freezer and takes hours just to thaw.
But besides the time savings, the health benefits of fish abound. Just 4 oz. of salmon can contain more than 2 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, which is more than most adult Americans get from their entire diet over several days. Omega-3 fats fight inflammation, cancer, macular degeneration, and even promote cognitive function, youthful-looking skin, and lustrous hair.
A beauty food that gives me less time in the kitchen and more time to strut my stuff? Sold.
So, in the few minutes that the salmon filets and shrimp sit under running water, I start tearing up green Swiss chard, which brings its own punch to the plate. One cup of it, just 35 calories, provides more than 300% of your daily Vitamin K, plus healthy doses of Vitamins A and C, magnesium, potassium, iron and fiber. .
Meanwhile, my sous chef starts the mashed potatoes. OK, I’ll admit, the instant mix probably isn’t the healthiest way to go about this, but we are making this dish because we wait to the last minute without planning ahead, remember? To the standard instant mix and water, he adds a tablespoon of butter, 4 minced garlic cloves, garlic, cayenne, salt and pepper. And, because I love how mashed potatoes taste when served with a steak smothered in sauce, he adds a “tidge” of A1 Steak Sauce.
As soon as the salmon thaws, I sprinkle them with salt, pepper, turmeric, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. While it bakes on tin foil in a 375-degree oven, my sous chef whips up a glaze of maple butter and raspberry preserves – a combo that resembles peanut butter and jelly until he heats and reduces the sweet sauce.
Next, I add the shrimp to a skillet with extra virgin olive oil and douse generously with Tastefully Simple’s Red Thai Curry Rub, cayenne, and a garlic chili grind. At the same time, in the other half of the skillet, I heat the chard in butter. Eventually, this all gets stirred together, coating it all in a spicy heat that will be a delicious complement to the sweet glaze on the salmon. With a nice cut of bitterness from the salty chard and an echo of garlicky heat in the potatoes, this dish came together so stunningly it’s hard to imagine it thrown together last-minute.

 

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Chicken Pear Protein Salad

July 29, 2013 by
The latest healthy meal in my recent kick was inspired by, well, the ingredients in the fridge that needed to be used up. When you stock your fridge with fruits and veggies, you get salads packed with anti-oxidants, protein and – most importantly – variety from boring ol’ greens.
You get something like:
Chicken Pear Protein Salad
chicken pear protein salad recipe
  • We start with the leftover Mango Salsa from the Meal of Mangoes, and add a heavy sprinkle of sunflower seeds, chia seeds and hemp seeds. This goes into half of a red, round bowl.
  • Into the other half of the bowl goes a leafy mix of spinach and kale, both organic, of course.
  • Meanwhile, the chicken breast left over from Enchilada Night grills on the Foreman. Then, sliced, it tops the salad.
  • Meanwhile, one sliced pear with a handful of dried cranberries saute in the skillet with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and wasabi powder. The fruit, along with any remaining ‘warm dressing,’ then top the chicken atop the salad.
  • For a final touch, some sliced scallions top the pears atop the chicken atop the salad. Ta-da.
Of course, variety is the key to any tolerable salad IMHO: fruits and veggies, nuts and berries, greens and reds and yellows. And here, even the cold crunch of chilled veggies contrasts with the warm tenderness of the pears and chicken for a variety of textures and temperatures that almost makes me forget I’m eating a salad at all – and, to me, that’s a good salad.
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Valentine’s Dinner and Continued Surprises

February 18, 2012 by

I had no plans for Valentine’s this year, which is the only reasonable way to spend the day. We celebrated on V-eve with his preparation of crab legs and asparagus with hollandaise sauce, and my contribution of quinoa with raspberry vinaigrette. Just, wow.

Quinoa Recipe: (coming soon)
And, of course, starters of salad, accompanied by Perrier and Champagne, all set off with a red tablecloth — sexy. Then, we watched (I should say, he let me watch) the new episode of AMC’s Walking Dead. How’s that for romance?
It was a delightful Valentine’s, and it’s all I expected.
On Valentine’s Day, around lunch time, one of the girls at work came back to my cube and told me that my boyfriend was out in the lobby. My coworkers said they’d never seen me move so fast and run out the door. There he was, with a bouquet of a dozen red roses.

Not just flowers, but a vase to put them in, too.

So Valentine’s Day ended up not just a fancy crab leg dinner, but also a surprise in-person delivery of a bunch of gorgeous roses. And not even just that, but still another surprise the next day:
Chocolate covered (and drizzled) strawberries from Pickwick & Frolic.
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Margherita Pizza

September 1, 2011 by
Looks yummy, doesn’t it? Well, it was – and even more so because I had no part in the making of this pizza, other than grilling the chicken and being at the grocery store while the other ingredients were purchased. Sure, there’s a certain satisfaction that comes from making your own meals; but the only thing better is when someone makes it for you.
Believe me, the hype around this dish had been building up for months as my boyfriend kept telling me about his specialty margherita pizza. Finally, last Sunday – appropriately, after we saw “30 Minutes Less” about a pizza delivery guy who gets kidnapped, strapped to a bomb and forced to rob a bank (true story, although the real thing wasn’t as funny as Danny McBride and Nick Swardson in monkey suits) – we decided to make our own. Pizza, that is, not a plot to rob a bank.
I was feeling guilty for being away from my book writing for the duration of the movie, so he took over in the kitchen while I got back to work on the laptop. He even stirred up the cupcakes I ambitiously agreed to bring into work for birthdays the next day – but he told me not to tell anyone that because he wants to maintain his reputation as a cook, not a baker.
As long as he keeps making me pizzas, he can call himself whatever he wants.
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Taco Pockets

March 29, 2009 by


This is a super easy recipe I stole – er, adapted – from my sister’s mother-in-law. The first time I visited her house, she made this family favorite Taco Ring. I reduced the recipe and renamed it Taco Pocket. At this size, it’s plenty for one or two people, especially with a side of Mexican rice.

1. Brown 1/3 lb ground beef. Season with salt and taco seasoning. Add chopped onions if you want.
2. Meanwhile, separate half of the triangles (4) from a tube of (8) crescent rolls. Place triangles into a star, of sorts, with the “bases” of the triangles pressed together in the center of your baking stone, pointing outward like a compass. Make sure you press the dough together in the center to seal seams.
3. Mound the browned ground beef in the center of the dough. Fold each point over to make a ‘pocket.’ (You do not need to seal all the side seams. I leave them open and just lay the dough loosely on top.)
4. Bake at 375 for 11-13 minutes, or until dough is golden brown.
5. Remove, cool, and cut in half. Serve with any desired taco toppings: cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives, sour cream, etc.

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