brown sugar chicken 

I told myself I was going to post more.  I take the pictures, I think of what to say, and I never actually do it.  I made this recipe at the beginning of last month. While scrolling through photos, I came across these and decided to share.  This is perhaps the easiest chicken dish I’ve ever made. This simple dish has so much flavor.  My husband devoured it and I wish I had made more…

Brown sugar Chicken

Serves 2

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 shallot, peeled and sliced 

2-3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Salt and pepper 

Pine nuts for garnish ( optional)   

Start by seaoning chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

In a cast iron pan, heat the coconut  oil over medium heat 

  
    Sauté on each side for about 5 minutes.  

  
 

Add shallots and let cook for a few minutes.
  

Add butter and brown sugar;  stir together, turn heat to low and cover. 

  

Cook for 5- 20 minutes ( depending on thickness of chicken) internal temperature should be 165. 
  
Serve chicken with the sauce and pine nut garnish ( if using) 

It’s crazy how much flavor this dish ☺️
my neice had asked me awhile ago to share some simple recipes with great flavor.  I think this fits the bill perfectly!  
enjoy 😎

parmesean-crusted chicken

howdy, friends.  I’m a little sad today. 

Remember last week when I shared These pics?

Well, Mother Nature seemed a bit angry last night 

  

 My veggie garden 😢. With tomatoes I started from seed indoors 3 moths ago  

 My new perennial garden 

 

I have 15 hydrangea that look like this 😢

I’ll spare you the rest of the details. 

My good friend over Celia over at River Cat Chili know a thing or two about gardening and she has assured me that although my plants look like poopsticks, that many of them will rally 🙏🏻🙏🏻

In the meantime, to make me feel better, I’m going to share with you a simple Chicken dish that is very easy and full of flavor

parmesean -crusted chicken ( not to be confused with my chicken parmesean recipe ) 

  

Chicken breasts

Mayonnaise ( I always use Hellman’s) 

Grated Parmesan cheese

Sea salt and pepper 

Lemon slices for garnish 

Preheat oven to 359 degrees

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper 

Using a brush ( or your hands) spread mayo on both sides of chicken 

  

Roll in parm

  

Place in a greased baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes until internal temperature of chicken is 165 degrees. 

Remove from pan and let rest for 5 minutes. 

Yeah… It’s that easy.  And uber tasty 😁

I like to squeeze a little bit of lemon juice and serve on greens ( that used to live in my garden 😓😓😓)

  

  

And a little side of sweet potatoes 😎

Enjoy, my friends! 

Oxox

….went to a garden party 🎶🎶🎶🎶

sung in my very bestest Ricky Nelson voice 😉

Hi there,friends! 

We had been planning on going to the plant sale at Denver botanic gardens this weekend, but earlier last week we received an email inviting us to a pre-sale plant cocktail party. 

Plants, appetizers, wine? Yup! We were in! 

So… The email stated ‘ bring your own wagon’ 

Scott insisted  that we didn’t need a wagon. Probably since I don’t own a wagon. 

So we brought our tote bags instead ( heads up, by the end of this post you’ll realize I wish I had a wagon 😎)

  

First stop, white wine 🙂 

Second stop, fun nibbles…. Bourbon candy corn, Parmesan pizza bites, sweet potato chips ..

 

Lots of plant browsing..

More wine  

  

Bourbon chicken sliders, vegetable Stromboli

  View from the bench where we ate and discussed the plants that we needed wanted …

 

We watched the skies..

 

  

Ate some cookies..

  

   

Bought some plants…

  

Waited in line for 1/2 hour.. ( where they served us more wine and nibbles) 

  Happy, happy girl 🙂 

Ps… Last chance to enter the Giveaway!

piña colada chicken and a giveaway!

you know why I love writing here, because you have no idea if I’m sitting in my pajamas noshing on some leftover amazeballs chicken, or whether I’m dressed up writing this from the library. 

I’m sure if you had to guess, you’d get it right 😉

When I wrote Coconut crusted chicken with grilled pineapple salsa last week, I was going to call it piña colada chicken. 

But then I had a thought… A deep  thought. 

In order for it to be called piña colada chicken..  It had a very necessary ingredient…  

  Hellz. Yea. 

I’ve been chomping at the bit all weekend ( Kentucky derby pun completely  intended) to share this with you! 

Pull out your flip flops and sunglasses and tiki torches…  We are taking a trip to the carribean, my friends! 

piña colada chicken 

1 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless 

1 tablespoon  jerk seasoning 

1 tablespoon coconut oil 

3/4 cup pineapple. ( mine was fresh, canned is fine, just dry it ) 

1 can coconut milk

1 ‘nip’ bottle of white rum 

1/4-1/2 cup Chicken stock

  

  

Start by sprinkling salt and pepper on each side of chicken, then rub  both sides of chicken with seasoning.  Let sit for 10 minutes. 

Heat oil over medium heat until melted. Add chicken and sauté on each side for about 5 minutes. Add pineapple and cook another 5 minutes.  Using tongs, remove chicken , turn off heat and add rum. Turn heat baby on and using a wooden spoon, scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Once it starts to boil, add coconut milk and stir.  Return chicken to pan.  Stir in chicken stock 1/4 cup at a time, making sure it doesn’t get too soupy .

Reduce heat to low and cover for 1/2 hour. 

Test sauce for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. 

Serve over a bed of greens, with sauce generously spooned atop! 

  

 

  

  

I wanted to make my Cilantro coconut rice but I was out of rice.  Say whaaaat? I’m slacking..

So I used whole wheat coucous in it’s place.  It worked! 

So mosey on down and send your friends a postcard from your tropical dinner! 

I bought an extra bottle of the jerk seasoning to giveaway to one of you! All you need to do is comment either here in the comments, share this post with your friends, or like and comment on My Facebook page

That’s it!  I’ll chose a winner at random on Saturday night at 5 pm mountain time. 

Good luck! And as always, thanks for reading. I pour my heart out here sometimes and it’s nice to know you are reading!  😎

Ciao bellas! 

coconut crusted chicken with grilled pineapple salsa

whelp, the school year is winding down..  My younger two kiddos are finishing up their classes at college and will be home next week! 

I was talking to my daughter yesterday and she asked what I was making for dinner.  And I told her. Poor thing…  Usually I don’t talk about what I’m cooking, because I know how tired they are with college food.  It just slipped out.. 

I swear. 

Coconut crusted chicken with grilled pineapple salsa 

For the salsa: 

Pineapple slices ( I used fresh, because the hubs had a pouty face at the store last week when he saw it.. And I told him we didn’t need a whole pineapple for the two of us . I got cheese, he got the pineapple. That’s how you stay married for 25 years 😉 

But you can use canned, just dry with a paper towel ) 

1 jalapeño

Handful of cilantro. ( if you don’t like cilantro,sub parsley.  It’s not your fault, the cilantro taste is a gene thing ) 

A few green onions

Juice and zest of one lime ( I used lemon because I had it.  Just pretend it’s a lime ) 

Sea salt and pepper 

*** Coconut oil 

Start by heating your grill or grill pan .

Coconut oil is solid if it’s under 60 degrees.  So heat it up either in a pan, in the microwave, or in a heat safe dish right on your grill! 

  

Brush veggies with coconut oil and grill until you get nice grill marks 

Remove from heat and immediately sprinkle with sea salt. 

When cool enough to handle, rough chop veggies ( except lemon) and toss together in a bowl 

  Squeeze lemon juice atop and set aside. 

For the chicken : 

2 chicken breasts

About 1/3 cup coconut flour

1 egg, lightly scrambled 

About 1/2 cup coconut flakes

Coconut oil for Cast iron skillet

Preheat oven to 350 

Start by seasoning your chicken with salt and pepper 

Dredge chicken in coconut flour, then egg, then coconut flakes 

  

Heat oil in oven safe dish (like cast iron 😉 ) and cook chicken on each side until  golden brown . Be careful not to let the coconut burn.  Chicken will not be fully cooked yet..

From here, transfer to oven and let finish cooking until internal temp is 165. Pull out, let rest for 5 minutes, then slice. 

I served ours on a bed of baby spinach with the salsa on top and a sprinkle of toasted slivered almonds 

  

I’m so excited to have my kiddos come home so that I can cook for them again! 

Enjoy! 

more meals featuring grilled fruit 

Pork chops with mango jalapeño sauce

Grilled watermelon salad

home-made chicken stock 

good morning, friends!

It’s a rainy Sunday morning here in Denver, and I’m starting my day by sipping on  a giant mug of chicken broth.

Its a perfect combo 🙂

Last week I was chatting with y’all about BROTH BOWLS and the health benefits of bone broth. (Stock)

Making stock is really quite easy.. And inexpensive ( bonus!)

A few months back, I started saving all of my veggie scraps ( onion tops and skins, carrot tops and shaving, parsley stems, pea pods, potato skins, celery leaves and ends… Basically anything except for peppers or cauliflower)

I save them in a Tupperware dish and when it’s full, I make broth

For veggie broth, simply add all of your scraps to a pot, fill with cold water, a few pepper corns, sea salt  and a bay leaf.  Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour.  Once liquid is cool enough, drain through a colander ( into a bowl ) and voila! Free veggie broth!

Chicken stock is quite similar, but there are a few more steps.

Start with a ROAST CHICKEN.  Pull off and discard any excess skin.  Remove as much of the meat as possible and reserve for another dish.  Add bones to a large stockpot and add vegetable scraps

( if you don’t have scraps, use one onion, chopped ( don’t bother peeling) a carrot or two, a few ribs of celery )

Add ice cold water … This is very important,  you need the cold water to properly extract the minerals from the bones

add either some white wine, lemon juice or vinegar. ( healthy splash ) it also helps extract the minerals

Add a bay leaf or two, some peppercorns, sea salt and place pot on  medium high heat and slowly bring to a boil. If any foam should arise, skim off and discard .

Once pot reaches a boil, reduce heat to low and allow stock to simmer for 2-3 hours.

When stock is cool enough, drain first through a colondar ( into a bowl…. Once I forgot the bowl and poured the soup right down the drain. )

Pure.

Genius.

Not.

Once stock reaches room temp, refrigerate until fully chilled.  The fat should float to the top.

Strain again, this time through a fine mesh strainer to remove excess fat.

Test for salt and pepper and voila! Enjoy as is or use in your favorite recipe!

Click for more soup recipes

Basic beef stock 

 

Creamy roasted tomato and garlic soup

Crock pot potato cheese soup

Chilled cucumber soup 

Autumn mushroom soup with cognac

Kale soup

Creamy curried butternut soup 

Veggie chili

one pot roast chicken with vermouth sauce 

hiya friends! 

I’ve been roasting chickens for what feels like my whole life…..  It’s such a homey meal and I’m positively addicted to Making bone broth with the leftover bones.

But the mess after roasting a chicken. Oiy. Vey. The cleanup was never something that I look forward to. 

For about the last year, I’ve been roasting a tad differently, and it’s worked great for me, cleanup is almost nothing, and well, it’s just awesome 

ONE POT ROAST CHICKEN WITH VERMOUTH SAUCE 

1- 4-5 pound chicken, giblets removed

1/2 onion, roughly chopped

2 carrots ( no need to peel) rough chop 

1 celery stock, rough chopped ( I didn’t use in this recipe, but I usually do ) 

Sea salt and pepper 

Flour ( I like brown rice flour ) 

1/2 cup dry vermouth 

1/4-1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth 

Meat thermometer ( under 10 at most stores) 

**Cast iron skillet 

Start by preheating over to 425 degrees.   

Salt and pepper both inside and outside of chicken 

Place all veggies in cast iron skillet 

  I’ve thrown in a few over ripe tomatoes here….  Not necessary, but added another layer of flavor. 

That’s the fun part of this recipe.. Use what you have, make it your own.   You can add fennel bulb, parsnips, lemon, Potatoes..  Herbs..  Have fun with it! 

Place seasoned chicken on top of chopped veggies, strategically placing so that there is a little bit of space underneath 

  

Place in preheated oven and roast for about 20 minutes, until crust looks brown and crispy.   Turn temp down to 325 and continue to roast until thermometer inserted in deepest part of thigh ( without touching the bone ) reads 165. ..  

( juices Should run clear, not pink,from where you insert thermometer) 

Using potholders, remove pan from oven.  

 

* here’s a napkin for you * 😉 

Let rest for a few minutes, then carefully transfer chicken to cutting board, allowing it to rest longer. 

Making the sauce…….  

Using a slotted spoon, remove veggies and set aside. 

Drain all but about 1-2 tablespoons of accumulated fat. Add flour and using a fork or whisk,  mix flour and fat together until it looks crumbly.  Stir mixture continuously for about a minute, 

Turn heat off, add vermouth slowly mixing the whole time, then turn heat back on to medium, and allow to thicken. Add broth a little bit at a time, until desired thickeness. 

  

(Ps… You are  Cleaning the pan as you go!) 

You can serve the sauce like this, but for a smoother sauce, strain through a fine-mesh strainer, using a spatula to get out every last bit . 

  

Cut the chicken breast off each side In one pieces, then slice vertically.   Remove wings and legs. 

Serve with sauce and veggies! 

Finished photo here

Simply rinse your cast iron skillet under warm water, using a brush to remove any last bits, wipe down with a pair towel and brush with a little bit of oil.   

Cleanup done! 

***. Cast iron skillets…  

Ove my years I have used many different kinds of cookware,   In my opinion, there is none superior to the same thing our grandparents used, cast iron. 

They are inexpensive, ( under 20 at your local hardware store) 

They do need to be seasoned, but this is easy and once you do it properly, you should rarely have to do it again 

You can also find them at yard sales ( I would love to have know this magic earlier, because I would have treasured a cast iron skillet from either mine or my husbands’ grandparents ) 

Don’t let rust on a pan at a sale  scare you! You can easily scrub it off, and re season.  A cast iron skillet should last forever! 

Never ever, ever use soap on the skillet.  This is so important . 

Seriously….  This might be the best 20 bucks you’ll spend in your kitchen! 

Save all of your bones and scraps… Next up.. Fail-proof stock! 

strawberry and balsamic chicken summer salad

Good morning, friends!

I made this recipe last week, just sort of opened the fridge and it all came together.

We liked it SO much,that I made it again this week!

And you should too!

Start by making your marinade

20140724-091958.jpg

1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP low sodium soy sauce ( use GF soy suave to make the dish GF)
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/8 c olive or canola oil
1 handful fresh parsley
1 small onion roughly chopped
Dash sea salt

20140724-092333.jpg

Dig out your trusty smoothie maker. And blend

20140724-092402.jpg

Reserve about 1/4 cup of marinade for dressing base , being careful not to contaminate.

Pour the rest of the marinade over the chicken and let sit for 3-4 hours

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When ready to cook, discard marinade that chicken was hanging out , and preheat girl to 375 ish

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Grill chicken breasts for about 7-8 minutes per side. Use a meat thermometer to make sure internal temp gets up to 165.

You’ll get some color on these, don’t worry! It’s the sugars in the balsamic and brown sugar carmalizing. And, it’s delicious!

When chicken has reached 165 in the thickest part, remove from heat and let rest.

Make your dressing…

To the reserved marinade mix, add 1/4 cup of extra virgin oil oil, and black pepper. Re-whirl the dressing in your smoothie maker ( it should look a bit creamy due to the oil emulsifying )

Next, assemble your salad

Place greens of your choice in a serving bowl. Chop up about 1/2 pound ( or more) of fresh strawberries. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts ( toast them first for a deeper flavor) then add about 1/3 cup of soft cheese sprinkled all over the top.

( first time I made this I used goat cheese, second time, I used a soft feta.. Both were amazing! … Use what you have )

Next, slice your chicken ( it should still be warm) and top on top of the cheese and let sit for a minute ( your cheese layer is getting very happy )

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Drizzle the dressing atop chicken and toss when ready to serve

Yeah. You should totally make this.

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I’m almost embarrassed to post this..

almost.

hiya friends.

today what I have for you I cannot really call it a recipe. at all. in fact, I don;t know what to call it other than genius.

I can do that, it’ my blog and my happy place and I make the rules and I called it.

🙂 🙂 🙂

You know when you stumble across an idea and it’s like, ” duh? self, what exactly took you soooo long to think about this?

like last summer when I made watermelon cubes.

https://barefootgirlinthekitchen.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/watermelon-times-three/

insanely. awesome.

Ok.. let’s backtrack a little bit, I love to tell a story. Pull up a chair. grab your blankies.

When I was visiting my sister last month we had a day ( my niece’s graduation party day) that we were running 10,000 errrands and although we stopped to get tea, I a;ll of a sudden got one of those

out-of-the-blue-oh-my-God-I -need-to eat-RIGHT NOW kinda feelings.

I know you know what I’m talking about 😉

She happened to have a protein shake in her backseat ( that girl is always prepared ) and although I like to ‘eat’ my meals, it was actually pretty good and did a great job of quieting the beast that is can be my stomach.

So fast forward. It’s Thursday of last week, and I’m picking up a prescription from Target ( which has an excellent prescription rewards plan, BTW.. every 5 scripts and you get a 5% coupon for one whole day at Target!!)

and there’s a problem with the script… so after calling the doctor, we fixed it but I was going to have to sit there for 30 minutes. Bored and alone.

and guess who came to visit? That nasty hunger beast again.

remembering That it did the job when I was with my sister, I picked up a 4 pack and managed though the next 1/2 hour ( without wandering the store and loading up my cart with Target stuff…. now this I KNOW y’all know what I’m talkin’ about.

The flavor that I had at my sister’s was strawberry. Because I’m all into ‘livin’ on the edge lately’, I bought chocolate fudge.

Imageand discovered that it tastes *just* like* a * fudgscicle!

* show of hands who knows where I’m going with this *

yup! straight to the freezer!

Imagenow does this taste exactly like a full fat fudgsicle?

probably not, after all, this isn’t Oz..

but it was a pretty good replica.. and the perfect snack after a walk ( or run, bikeride, yoga..)

high protein, and cold and refreshing.

so that’s what I have for you today 🙂

If you are friends with me on facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/barefootgirl-in-the-kitchen/247408031957513?ref=hl

then you know about the psuedo- chopped challenge that I”m doing (for fun only)

this week’s ingredients are

zucchini

quinoa

hot peppers

and chicken breast.

If this turns out o be as fun as I hope it will be , next week I will have anyone who wants to suggest a food give me one item each. I will but them into a hat and randomly pick 4.

let’s see how this first challenge goes…

and if you missed the details on the challenge, just search barefootigirl in the kitchen on facebook!

ciao bellas!

for more frozen treats

pina colada freezer pops

watermelon ice cubes

grilled chicken with blackerry- basil sauce

grilled chicken with blackberry-basil sauce

 

click link for recipe

 

oxo

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