Threw together a new dinner meal the other night. Had some frozen chicken breasts, was in the mood for rice and as I stood in my kitchen, thinking “What to make? What to make?”, I felt an inspiration for “Island Chicken”.
What’s that, you ask? Well, to me, it was fresh, tropical flavors. All of my meals include lots of veggies, because I’m very into healthy eating. And I had gotten a great deal on red, yellow and orange bell peppers at the store last weekend. So this seemed a great way to use them!
You can see the recipe on my Thrown-Together-Meals.com website. My family (and I) loved this meal!
Tags: black beans, chicken dinner recipes, easy chicken recipes, rice
We love our pork chops at our house! Usually I just make my go-to standard pork chop recipe, using cream of mushroom soup, but this week, I decided to mix it up a bit with a different flavor profile and also aiming at a more healthy dinner recipe too, since I’m currently focused on losing weight while still enjoying good food.
So, here is this week’s pork chop recipe, Italian-style. Hope you like it as much as we did!
Italian-Seasoned Pork Chops
|
| Ingredients: |
1 pkg. pork chops
1/2 yellow or red onion, chopped
1 cup baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced Italian-style tomatoes
2 T. olive oil |
1 can low fat cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can water
1/4 cup red wine
2 T. fresh basil, chopped
Italian seasonings, salt, pepper to taste
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese |
| Directions:
Prepare all your veggies, then heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. When hot, add the olive oil and heat. Then add the garlic and onion, cooking till softened. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until almost tender. Season with salt/pepper and seasonings like basil and oregano, as desired (I added generous amounts of the herbs and pepper). Next, add the pork chops in the center of the pan and brown on all sides.
When all are browned, add the wine to the pan and reduce. Meanwhile, mix the soup, water, and tomatoes in a medium bowl. Add the Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. When the wine has reduced, add the soup mixture into the pan, covering the pork chops and mixing in the veggies.
Heat to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until pork is done in the middle and the soup mixture has become a rich gravy. |
For variations on this recipe, see this page. You can also find more great pork recipes or enter our monthly recipe contest with one of your own special recipes. Enjoy!
Tags: healthy dinner recipe, pork chop recipe, pork recipes
OK… once again, I got off track on publishing a new recipe every week. I’m trying to get this done, perhaps the second part of 2010 is when it will really happen! 
So, here is my latest thrown together meal recipe, a turkey kielbasa recipe and couscous recipe rolled into one… I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and me did.
| Turkey Kielbasa Couscous |
| Ingredients: |
1 pkg turkey kielbasa
1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 cup frozen peas
1.25 cups chicken broth
1/2 onion, minced
6 or 7 mushrooms, roughly chopped |
2 cloves garlic, minced
Cumin, coriander to taste
Thyme to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil spray
White wine |
| Directions:
Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat. When hot, spray with a small amount of olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and cook till softened, then add the mushrooms and continue cooking till tender. Slice the kielbasa into 1/2″ slices and add to the pan. Season with all the spices and seasonings, and cook till browned.
When kielbasa and veggies are done, slosh some white wine into the pan, enough to cover the bottom. Stir and scrape up the browned bits in the bottom of the pan. Cook till wine is reduced. Next, add the couscous and stir to coat and mix with the other ingredients. Then add the chicken broth and stir in the peas.
Cover and remove from the heat. Let sit for 5 minutes or so. Uncover, stir to fluff and correct the seasonings, if needed. |
For variations on this recipe, see this page. You can also find more great sausage recipes or enter our monthly recipe contest with one of your own special recipes.
Enjoy!
Tags: couscous recipes, turkey kielbasa recipe
Risotto is an Italian form of rice that is simply delicious. You might have heard that it’s hard to make, but that’s not really true. It does take precision and time, however. It’s not a meal you can just start on the stove and then forget about for a half hour. It needs pretty much constant attention. But the efforts are SO worth it! Delicious, flexible, useful either as a side dish or the foundation of a delicious one-pot dish, risotto recipes can be whatever you want them to be!
Risotto comes to us from the Italian culture. Basically, risotto is just an Italian method of cooking a specific type of rice, called arborio rice. Arborio rice is an Italian short-grain rice that is named after the town of Arborio in the Po Valley in Italy, where it is grown. When cooked, the rounded grains are firm, creamy, and chewy, due to the higher amylopectin starch content of this rice. It has a starchy taste of its own, yet blends well with other flavors in a variety of risotto recipes.
Besides arborio rice, risotto recipes are crafted from broth, wine, onions/garlic and Parmesan cheese. Slow, steady cooking is the key.
Here are a few of the possible variations of the basic recipe:
- Roasted red pepper risotto
- Mushroom sage risotto
- Bell pepper risotto
- Artichoke and roasted almond risotto
You’ll find the instructions for those recipes and even more at my risotto recipes page on my main Thrown Together Meals website.
Enjoy!
Tags: recipe of the week, risotto recipes
OK… I’m billing this blog as my “Recipe of the Week” blog, but I haven’t been very good at posting a new recipe every week. In fact, this is the first time in January I’ve posted at all. Sigh…
I plan to do better from now on. Problem is, I’m webmaster for several sites and I’ve let the other ones take priority of late. No more. While I get together the next recipe, you might take a look at the cookbook reviews I’ve posted on the site recently:
From the Heart apron
Oh, and have you seen my recipe contest? All you have to do is submit a recipe that fits the theme for the month and you can win a handcrafted apron from SewHappyCreations at Etsy.com. This month’s apron is pictured at the right. There aren’t too many entries yet, so if you submit one, you have a great chance of winning! Submit your recipe here.
Tags: free apron, recipe contest, recipe of the week
