Grilled Chicken with Parsley and Rosemary

I made this up today, and it turned out surprisingly well. Thought you all might enjoy it, too.

Meat:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, mostly thawed

Sauce/Marinade:

1/3 cup corn oil
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
3 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Equipment used: Weber grill and Kingsford Charcoal with Mesquite

The grill needs to pretty hot. I used about 25 coals in my travel grill, and that seemed to be just about right. This isn't like cooking steak where we want to get the grill as hot as we can -- this stuff needs to cook all the way through. Put a little oil on the grill to prevent sticking.

Mix up the sauce. Slather on chicken. Place chicken on grill, sauce side down. Slather sauce on top of chicken, and cover grill. Cook for about 3 minutes. Flip the chicken and repeat the sauce treatment, and cover the grill. Cook another three minutes, and repeat. Each side should cook twice, for a total of 12 minutes. Remove from the grill, and let it rest for a few minutes. Slice and serve.

Family gave the chicken rave reviews. Anna said "This is the best dinner I ever had." James agreed with Anna. Alden asked for more. Julie glowered at me because she doesn't ever have good luck with the grill, and then she told me that it tasted really good. Me, I don't like to toot my own horn, but "Toot! Toot!"

I'm curious to try this on a non-charcoal grill to see if it was the charcoal or the sauce that made this taste so good. I'm betting it was the charcoal...

Latest Baking Triumph

Last night I made Chewy Gingersnap Cookies, and they were excellent.

A couple of months ago, I made some gingersnap cookies, but they turned out very crispy. Their flavor was excellent, but we prefer a chewy cookie at our house. I think next time I'll add a little more ginger to give a little extra bite, but overall it received high ratings from the family.

Inspired by Hamia and Drew

So, we drew some inspiration (no pun intended) from Emily and Drew. For Christmas this year, they got Skookies (I’m not certain that this an accurate way to refer to the product, though). It looked like a fun idea, and we thought it would be cool to try it.

Yesterday, after I made too salty Beef and Broccoli and so–so Vegetable Chow Mein, I decided I needed to make up for the awful dinner, and I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and we baked a big one on our skillet, scooped on some ice cream, and poured on some hot fudge. Mmmmm… We then attacked the thing. We had to tell the kids to slow down once or twice. They weren’t letting Julie and me get the lion’s share! :)

Our next door neighbor told Julie that she had had that dessert once at a restaurant where they called it “Never on Sundae” because it’s so sinful. And it is.

Zuppa da Latta

So, sometimes we have to improvise when it comes to dinner. When I do that, I give the improvised dish a fancy name, so it sounds good.

So, I give you Zuppa da Latta (Italian for “Soup from a Can”):

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 6 slices ham, diced
• 1 can creamed corn
• 1 can italian style stewed tomatoes
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 can black beans

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pot over medium heat, and saute the onions until clear. Add the ham, and saute lightly until warm. Turn down the heat, and add the cans o’ stuff. Heat through. Add some interesting spices, like oregano or basil or thyme or cumin, and pepper to taste – there should be plenty of salt in the ham and canned veggies. Tell the family you slaved for hours. You’re a hero.

Actually, this soup got pretty good reviews from the whole family, so we’ll actually serve this again sometime.

Cooking Experiment Number One

This will be the first in a series of new things we try to cook at home rather than buy at the store. The first experiment was homemade pasta—specifically, ravioli. I found a simple pasta recipe on the internet (2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 cups semolina flour, 6 eggs, and a pinch of salt), and made up a filling from sweet potatoes, pepper, breadcrumbs, and egg. We served it with a creamy alfredo sauce, topped with a sprinkling of nutmeg. I think it turned out delicious. Julie said it was a little too sweet (but she did think the pasta was excellent), and the kids thought it was too filling.

After we started eating, Julie asked what the filling was. After I told her that it was sweet potato, James said, “Dad, you shouldn’t have said that. Now it doesn’t taste quite so good to me."

New (Old) Hobby

This weekend Julie and I decided that we needed an official hobby to keep us busy and give us something to do during the long, cold Wyoming winter (which, by the way, has been surprisingly warm so far).

We decided that our hobby is going to be cooking. While I have enjoyed cooking for many years, it’s kind of a recent thing for Julie. We’ve decided that we’re going to try and cook new things regularly. (I’m thinking once a week, but I haven’t been told for sure.) I haven’t decided what exotic dish to cook this week. Do you, faithful reader, have any suggestions for us? Please, leave a comment.

Excellent Trout Recipe

If you’re fishing in Wyoming, chances are pretty good that you’re going to catch trout of some sort or another. We were fishing yesterday, and caught a couple of nice rainbow trout. Well, I wanted to cook them today, but I’m the only one who really likes to eat them, so I decided to try a different recipe, and we found a winner. James liked it. Anna wouldn’t even try it on principle. (“Ewww. Fish.”) Julie was asleep so she didn’t get a chance to taste it because James and I ate it all up. Sorry, Jules. Anyway... I’ve tucked this away in my EverNote database of recipes that I will definitely use again.

Best. Trout. Ever.

Now, being a Sunday and not having a chance to go to the grocery store to get the exact ingredients, we did improvise by using dried ground ginger, garlic powder, and chopped onions instead of fresh ginger, minced garlic, and green onions, but overall it got a big “Woot!” from those who tried it. I served it with a side of greens and balsamic vinagrette, and it all worked well. I’m going fishing again this week, and I’ll probably try a different adaptation of the recipe where I bake it whole so I don’t have to try to filet the 1-pound fish we usually bring home.

Full disclosure: I still haven’t tried Drew’s recipe for trout with buttery crackers, which I hear is pretty dang good. Emily, who may be the pickiest eater I know, even eats the trout when Drew cooks it that way.

Chunky Vegetable Lasagna

Here’s a Clark family favorite. It takes some time to prepare, so we don’t get to make it very often, but we do like it.

Chunky Vegetable Lasagna

• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles
• 3 cups broccoli flowerets
• 3 large carrots, coarsely shredded (2 cups)
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 medium green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 3/4 cup pesto sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 container (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 large egg
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (8 ounces)

1. Cook and drain noodles as directed on package.
2. Mix broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, pesto and and salt.
3. Mix ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, parsely and egg.
4. Melt margarine in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook garlic in margarine about 2 minutes, stirring frequently until garlic is tender. Stir in flour. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
5. Heat oven to 350°.
6. Place 3 noodles in ungreased rectangular pan, 13 × 9 × 2 inches. Spread half of the cheese mixture over the noodles. Top with 3 noodles; spread with half of the vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Top with 3 noodles; spread with remaining cheese mixture. Top with 3 noodles; spread with remaining vegetable mixture. Pour sauce evenly over the top. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
7. Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes or until hot in center. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.