Main Dish – Page 3 – Meals We Like

Orange Chicken and Vegetables

With nut allergies, Chinese restaurants are not somewhere we can go as a family. So when I find recipes that can be made relatively easily at home, I like to try them out. This recipe came from Mommy’s Kitch en, who adapted it from Jamie Cooks. It doesn’t take the long to make, and is really good. The chicken pieces are nice and crisp. There’s quite a bit of sauce, you could reduce the volume a bit if you didn’t like so much sauce.

Orange Chicken and Vegetables

MealsWeLike.com

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Total Time 50

Course Main

Cuisine Chinese

Ingredients

For the chicken and vegetables

4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1in pieces
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbs olive oil
2 cups baby carrots sliced lengthwise
1 Onion diced
2 Bell peppers--try different colors--cut into chunks
4 stalks celery sliced
1/2 tsp pepper

For the sauce

3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp olive oil
2 Tbs corn starch
1 cup chicken broth

Instructions

If serving over rice, start the rice.
Combine the chopped chicken with the 3/4 cup flour and the 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl.
Toss to coat the chicken.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok.
Cook the chicken in batches, until golden brown (about 10 minutes) and set aside.
Add more oil if needed and then the chopped veggies.
Cook over medium high heat until crisp tender--about 5 minutes.
Make the sauce while the veggies cook.
Whisk together all the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
Bring to a boil.
The sauce will begin to thicken as it comes to a boil.
Add the sauce and chicken back into the pan with the veggies and stir to mix everything together.
Serve over rice.

Pizza with zucchini, bacon and mozzarella

Seems like we’ve been using a lot of bacon as of late, but at least according to this, undoubtedly unbiased, source, bacon is actually healthy for you! OK, maybe not really healthy, but it is really good and, in moderation, can it really be that unhealthy?

The original recipe called for cream soaked mozzarella, but that seemed a bit excessive. All I’ve got to say is, there were no leftovers!

Pizza with zucchini, bacon and mozzarella

MealsWeLike.com adapted from Drizzle & Dip

Pizza with grated zucchini, bacon and mozzarella cheese

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Total Time 35

Course Main

Cuisine Pizza

Servings 4

Ingredients

Pizza dough
2 Zucchinis grated
8 oz Bacon cooked and broken into pieces
8 oz Mozzarella cheese
1-2 Tbs Olive oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425
Roll out the pizza dough
Bruch with olive oil
Spread the zucchini over the pizza
Top with cheese and then bacon
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown

Steaks with Citrus-Soy Sauce and Edamame Slaw

Pink Parsley is always a source of great recipes, and the author is pregnant with twins and craving stake. Hence this awesome recipe she posted! This was simple and delicious, the sauce serves as a dressing for the slaw and gets reduced for a sauce on the steak. Easy enough for a week-night, good enough for company!

We tend not to have sesame oil like the original recipe calls for, so I substituted olive oil. We’re also not fans of raw red onions, so we we left that out too. With prepackaged broco-slaw mix and cooked edamame, this is really a fast meal to whip up. We served it with brown rice, which was the longest part of the cooking.

Steak with Citrus-Soy Sauce and Edamame Slaw

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from Pink Parsley

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Course Main

Servings 4

Ingredients

For the sauce:

5 Tbs Low-sodium soy sauce this gets cooked down, and was plenty salty using low sodium soy sauce
1 Orange juiced
1 Tbs orange zest
2 Tbs rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp Ginger powder or 1 Tbs freshly grated ginger

For the Broco-slaw:

10 oz package pre-cooked shelled Edamame
10 oz bag broccoli slaw mix
2 Tbs Olive oil

For the steaks:

1-2 Tbs Olive oil
1 lb New York strip steaks
4 Tbs butter

Instructions

If serving with rice, start the rice.
In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, orange juice and zest, vinegar, and ginger.
In a large bowl, combine the broco-slaw and edamame.
Take 3 Tbs of the sauce and add to the slaw mix.
Add 2 Tbs olive oil to the slaw
Mix and refrigerate until the rest of the meal is ready.
Heat a pan on medium-high and add the olive oil
Add the steaks and cook to desired doneness (~5-7minuted per side for medium-well)
Remove the steaks and tent with foil while you cook the sauce.
Add the rest of the sauce to the pan and simmer for a minute or two, scraping up the burned bits off the bottom of the pan.
When the sauce is thickened, remove from heat and add the butter one tablespoon at a time, melting into the sauce.
Slice the steaks
To serve, put some slaw on the plate, top with stakes and the sauce.
If serving with rice, put some sauce on that too, it's good stuff!

Ravioli with Sautéed Butternut Squash and Thyme

Frozen ravioli makes a nice start to a fast dinner. We had gotten tired of ravioli a while back since all we did was add some spaghetti sauce. This recipe is a relatively fast and easy dish that adds flavor, veggies and something different to the routine.

We used beef ravioli, though with cheese ravioli this could be a vegetarian dish. To make the cooking go a bit faster at meal time, you can dice the squash ahead of time and store in the fridge until your ready to go.

Ravioli with Sautéed Butternut Squash and Thyme

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from Women's Day

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Course Main dish

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 Tbs olive oil
1 medium butternut squash about 1 lb, peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 package ravioli
¼ cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the butternut squash.
Cook covered, stirring occasionally, until the squash is soft and starting to brown (10-15 min).
Meanwhile boil the water for the ravioli and prepare according to package directions.
When the squash is ready, add the garlic and thyme and cook uncovered for a couple of minutes.
Serve the ravioli, topping with the squash and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Sweet Potato Fries

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches in the dutch oven ready to serve

This recipe came from DinnerALoveStory.com, one of my favorite blogs. Her site posts a stead stream of simple, healthy, yummy meals along with humorous stories about all kinds of things. Sometimes I’m in too much of a rush to read the stories, and head straight to the recipes, but I try to get back and read the stories when I’ve got a few minutes.
This recipe was simple and delicious, and our family devours sweet potato fries, so I added them as a nice side dish.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Sweet Potato Fries

MealsWeLike.com; adapted from DinnerALoveStory.com

A simple, fast recipe for pulled chicken sandwiches, served with sweet potato fries

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1

Course Main Course

Servings 4

Ingredients

For the sandwiches:

1 cup barbecue sauce
½ cup cider vinegar
1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 bay leaf
2 lbs Chicken Breasts about 4
Potato Rolls

For the sweet potato fries

~3 sweet potatoes
2-3 Tbs Olive oil
Salt

Instructions

For the sweet potatoes:

Preheat the oven to 450˚
Slice the potatoes into ¼ inch stops
Working in batches, place cut potatoes in a ziplock bag and add some oil
Close the bag, shake to coat the potatoes
Spread potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle with salt
Bake for ~30 minutes, turning occasionally, until browned

For the sandwiches

While the fries are cooking, get a heavy pot
Add the bbq sauce, cider vinegar, onion, garlic, bay leaf to pot and mix
Add the chicken to the pot
Add 1-2 cups of water to cover the chicken
Add the bay leaf
Bring the chicken to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove the chicken from the pot and turn up the heat a bit to cook the sauce down some more while you shred the chicken (10 minutes or so)
Shred the chicken with two forks and return to the sauce
Serve on the potato rolls with the sweet potato fries

Sweet Potato Samosas

I’m always on the lookout for new sweet potato recipes. Besides being tasty and popular with the kids, they have a lot more going for them than regular potatoes (e.g.: this site). So when I ran across this recipe for Sweet Potato Samosas on Culinate.com, I decided to give it a try. I added some ground beef, though you can leave that out for a veggie option. I’ve also thought peas were a required part of samosas, so I added a can. These were quite good and made a lot. In fact, with the peas and beef, I think you would need 2 batches of the dough for all of the filling. We just served some filing on the side and for left-overs. The green sauce was especially good!

Sweet Potato Samosas

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from Culinate.com

Sweet potato, beef and pea samosas

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Prep Time 1

Cook Time 20

Total Time 1 20

Servings 4 -6

Ingredients

Cream-cheese pastry

8 oz. Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Butter softened
2 cups Flour--we used White whole-wheat
1/4 tsp. Ssalt

Sweet-potato filling

1 lb Ground Beef or, for a veggie option, omit and add some olive oil
1 Large onion chopped
2 Tbs lemon or lime juice
1 tsp. Fresh ginger finely minced
1 clove garlic minced (about ½ teaspoon)
1/4 tsp. Cardamom powder
3 Large sweet potatoes
1 14 oz can Peas

Green dipping sauce

1 cup Low-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
1/2 cup loosely packed mint leaves
1 jalapeño chile seeded, chopped (optional)
1 garlic clove

Instructions

Prepare the pastry:

Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.
Add the salt
Add in the flour half a cup at a time, mixing until it comes together in a ball.
Wrap in plastic, flatten, and refrigerate while you make the filling. (You can make this dough up to 3 days ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it for up to a month.)

Prepare the filling:

Microwave or bake the sweet potatoes until soft.
Peal and mash the potatoes in a large bowl.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Brown the ground-beef if using, or add some oil.
Add the onion and sauté
Add the lemon or lime juice, ginger, garlic and cardamom
Transfer the beef and onion mixture to the bowl with the sweet potatoes.
Fold everything together.
Drain the peas and gently mix them into the mixture.
Set aside to cool--the dough gets too soft if the filling is too hot.

Forming the samosas:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface.
Using about a 3-inch round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, cut circles in the dough--I used a big wide-mouth jar.
Place spoonful of the sweet-potato filling in the center of a dough circle and fold in half, sealing the edges.
Place on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Once the sheet is filled up, bake until the edges are lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Make the dipping sauce:

While the samosas are cooking, combine the sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Serve the samosas warm or at room temperature.

Feta Burgers with Grilled Sweet Potatoes

It’s great to fire up the grill in the summer and when I ran across this recipe for Grilled Sweet Potatoes, I knew I had to try them. Wow, the lime-cilantro dressing on these was awesome! Paired with a burger topped with feta cheese and some lettuce, this was a great, easy meal.

Feta Burgers with Grilled Sweet Potatoes

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from SimpleRecipes.com

Burgers topped with feta cheese, served with grilled sweet potatoes and a lime-cilantro dressing

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Ingredients

For the potatoes:

2 lbs about 3 large Sweet Potatoes
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup Fresh cilantro finely chopped
1 tsp Lime zest
Juice of one lime
1/4 cup Olive oil
Pinch of salt

For the Burgers:

1 Lb of ground beef formed into patties
4 oz Feta cheese sliced into 4 slices
Lettuce
Hamburger buns

Instructions

Preheat the grill to medium-high, direct heat.
Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into 1/4 inch thick slices.
Coat the slices with olive oil.
Form the beef into patties.
Grill the potatoes and burgers, 3-6 minutes each side or until the burgers are cooked as you like and the sweet potatoes are softened and have some nice grill marks.
While things are grilling, mix the cilantro, lime zest and juice, oil and salt in a large bowl.
Add the sweet potatoes to the dressing and mix.
Place the burgers on a bun with a slice of feta and some lettuce.
Enjoy!

Chicken Pesto Tart

The main downside of this recipe, adapted from TheKitchn, is that the kids devoured it and there were no leftovers for lunch! I was savoring my second piece, thinking that the kids surely would be happy with one and thinking of the yummy lunch I’d be having the next day, when they both asked for seconds. This is a quick and delicious meal, the puff pastry might not qualify it as supper healthy, but yum!

Chicken Pesto Tart

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from TheKitchn.com

A delicious, quick chicken pizza on frozen puff pastry

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Servings 4

Ingredients

2 sheets frozen puff pastry thawed
1 head garlic peeled
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup Fresh basil leaves chopped
3-4 chicken breast 1lb, cooked and diced
1 cup mozzarella shredded
2 Tbs Parmesan grated

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 400˚F.
While the oven is heating, thaw the puff pastry and peel the garlic. Put the garlic on a baking sheet and bake until soften and golden brown, 10-15 minutes.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Unfold the puff pastry onto the lined sheets and stretch it out a bit. Prick all over with a fork to prevent the pastry from rising too much.
Brush the olive oil onto the pastry, then top with the chopped basil.
Top with the diced chicken and then the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
Bake for 15-20 minutes--until the cheese is melted and nicely browned.

Portobello mushroom wraps

These wraps from FoodandStyle.com were easy to make and delicious. This is a great weeknight recipe as everything comes together quite quickly. We used spinach tortillas which, surprisingly enough, were a hit with the kids.

Portobello mushroom wraps

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from FoodandStyle.com

Portobello Mushroom Wraps with Mozzarella, Peppers and Spiced Mayonnaise

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Servings 4

Ingredients

For the mushrooms:

3 Tbs olive oil
4 large Portobello mushrooms – stems trimmed caps brushed clean
Freshly ground pepper to taste

For the wraps:

4 to rtillas we used spinach tortillas
3 Tbs Mayonnaise
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp paprika
1 8 oz jar roasted bell peppers sliced
12 oz mozzarella sliced kind of thick
1-2 handfuls baby spinach

Instructions

Preheat oven to 500°F.
Cut the mushrooms in 1/4” slices.
Lightly brush a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil.
Spread the mushroom slices onto the sheet in a single layer.
Brush with the rest of the olive oil and grind some pepper over them. Bake for 6 minutes.
Turn the mushroom slices over and continue baking for another 6 to 8 minutes until the slices are golden-brown at the edges.
While the mushrooms are cooking, mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice and paprika.
Arrange the mushrooms in a row across the bottom third of the tortillas.
Spread the mayonnaise on top of the mushrooms (about 2 tsp of mayonnaise for each tortilla).
Top with the mozzarella slices and sprinkle pepper to taste.
Top with peppers and the baby spinach leaves.
Roll each tortilla, cut in half and serve.

Saving extra fresh basil

A few weeks ago we planted a pot herb garden. We actually have 5 pots, one with basil, one with mint, and 3 with cilantro that we started from seed–the only cilantro plants we could find in town looked really pathetic! The garden has been doing fairly well, though after the recent rains, I need to remember to go back to watering it almost every day now.

The basil plant keeps getting taller and taller, so we decided to trim it back quite a bit to keep it from bolting too much. That lead to the “problem” of having too much fresh basil. of course I hadn’t thought far enough in advance to plan a meal needing pesto or using lots of basil, so we wanted to find a way to save it for later.

The best idea I found online was to chop it up, put it into an ice cube tray add some olive oil and freeze. Worked out really well. This morning I threw a cube into a skillet and scrambled up some eggs for breakfast–oil and seasoning all in one!