Hawaiian Delight

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

After 2 months of Dr. Office Nightmares I am BACK!!!! I think that I am on the mend! I have missed my lovely foodie friends in foodie cyberspace! I have my appetite back and I am ready to roll out some yummy treats for you all!!

This is a super easy meal and it makes me so happy to eat it! Just think of cool Hawaiian breezes off the ocean, hot sun bronzing your skin, the aroma of sweet hibiscus and tropical flowers, the sounds of the birds chirpping the canopy……. Ahhhh now you need a cool and refreshing Tiki Punch!

Dinner is served Luau Style!! This Sweet Dish is best served over my Spicy Coconut Rice! Aloha everyone!

Hawaiian Delight

Recipe type: Main

Author: The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

Ingredients

1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs sesame oil
reserved pineapple juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 lb keilbasa cubed
1 fresh pineapple cubed/ reserve juice
1 recipe coconut Rice

Instructions

In a sauce pan combine first 6 ingredients and bring to just a boil then remove from heat
In a skillet over medium high heat sear the sausage and pineapple until just turning brown
pour sauce over the meat and fruit cook thru for 5 min
serve over Coconut Rice!
ALOHA!

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Beef Rouladen and German Potato Salad

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

I should name this the Post that almost wasn’t! WordPress and I have not been getting along the past few days and this is the Third time I am writing this post! Arrrg! Ok enough of my whining… On to the good stuff

My Great Grandparents immigrated to America when Ellis Island was still open and they made their way from NYC to Chicago. Once settled there they opened a Bakery. I love my Grandpa’s stories of living above the bakery and growing up in downtown Chicago during The Great Deppression! I never met my Great Grandpa Schmidt but I spent much time with my Great Grandma. She spoke with a heavy accent and with broken English. My Grandmother’s kitchen was always alive with the sights and smells and sounds of great cooking! German cooking is heavy and filling and quite frankly not that healthy. We are a robust people. This is not my grandmothers recipe the sauce has no bacon fat or heavy cream in it like the traditional recipe calls for. Trust me when I say you won’t miss it! This is a lighter, healthier and tastier version. Traditional Rouladen is braised for a long time and uses a cheaper cut of meat. I get around this by using a leaner better cut of sirloin. I pan sear it and finish it off in the oven.

Have your butcher cut and trim your sirloin steaks to about 1/4″ thick. Like this:

When you get home, you will need to pound them to about 1/8″ thickness. Like this:

This recipe will be great for beginners learning cooking and knife skills, and also help hone some skills for those more advanced. If you are a beginner do not be intimidated, this is a dish that is very forgiving. If you cut one carrot thin and the other thick no worries…. We all have to learn and we all need to keep up our skills. Here is how my veggies came out. Not that perfect, yet I don’t think too bad.

Layering and rolling and securing your steaks can also be a skill set to practice. You can use kitchen twine or secure with toothpicks. I used toothpicks. You just have to be a bit more gentle when you turn the meat while you are searing it.

I make the Potato Salad first. You can always pop it in the microwave to heat it back through if it cools off too much.

Beef Rouladen and German Potato Salad

5.0 from 1 reviews

Recipe type: Main Dish

Author: The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

Serves: 3-4

A healthy lighter version than the German Traditional Version

Ingredients

For the Potato Salad:
1 lb small red potatoes quartered
4 Strips Turkey bacon
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbs brown sugar (I use slpenda)
For the Rouladen:
3-4 1/4″ inch thick sirloin steaks trimmed of fat
Stone Ground Mustard (for an authentic taste use a German brand)
3-4 slices black forest ham
1/4 white onion sliced thin
1 long carrot peeled and julienned
2 dill pickles julienned
handful of shredded red cabbage
1 tbs tomato paste (I use the concentrated in a tube kind)
1 can beef broth
1 tbs cornstarch and 3 tbs cold water to make a slurry

Instructions

For the Potato Salad:
boil potatoes until fork tender, meanwhile
slice turkey bacon into small strips and cook in a pan
sautee onion with the bacon untill soft and translucent
stir in the flour and cook til onions are thick. approx 1 min
add vinegar and brown sugar
simmer for 2-3 min and toss over the potatoes
place in a serving dish and keep warm
For the Rouladen:
pound the steaks to 1/8″ thick pre heat oven to 300
spread the mustard on the steaks and layer the black forest ham and the veggies on top of each steak
roll the steaks up and salt and pepper to taste
secure with toothpicks or kitchen string
sear meat in a hot pan for approx 8 min on each side
transfer to a baking sheet and place in oven to continue to cook. Leave in the oven for at least 10-15 min
In the pan that you browned the meat in add the tomato paste and beef broth. Scrape up the good brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and reduce liquid to half
add the slurry and cook about 3-5 min more til sauce becomes thick
warm the potato salad up in the microwave if needed. You want this to be warm to almost hot
plate the steaks and pour the broth over and serve with the potato salad

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I hope that you will enjoy this healthy and tasty meal. I love the tangy flavors of German food, I also love how when I make this dish it smells like my Grandma’s Kitchen. It feels like home and I think that we all really relish that feeling!

Dan Dan Noodles and Cucumber Salad

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

I love P.F. Changs! I love Chinese food! I love Food in general! No big surprise to anyone. I also love to eat fairly healthy, my biggest downfall is portion control. If one serving is only 300 cal and I eat 2 and 1/2 servings it is not that great after all. I can’t help it! I am a Hungry Girl! I am really trying to get better at it. I need some help though….. This is my adaptation of P.F. Changs and a mixture of a couple of cookbook recipes. A few months ago I wrote a World Tour of Chicken and I did an Asian Fusion recipe. It was a mix of Pad Thai and Chop Suey. http://www.pandpkitchen.com/2011/08/21/asian-fusion-chicken/ That recipe was similar to this yet completely different in taste. Feel free to try both! This is my complete Dan Dan Noodle recipe.

Dan Dan Noodles and Cucumber Salad

4.0 from 1 reviews

Recipe type: Main Dish

Author: The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the Pickled Cucumbers:
1 large cucumber
1/4 of a red onion sliced
1/2 cup rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tbs red pepper flakes
For the Dan Dan Noodles:
1/2 package of spaghetti noodles
1 lb of ground chicken
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tbs smooth peanut butter
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs brown sugar (I use splenda)
2 tsp chili garlic sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp of each salt, white pepper, ground ginger, onion powder and garlic powder

Instructions

For the Cucumbers:
Take a vegetable peeler and slice off ribbons of cucumbers until you reach the seeds.
In a mixing bowl combine: all cucumber ingredients and cover and chill while you prepare the noodles.
For the Dan Dan Noodles:
Boil water and cook spaghetti. Meanwhile:
In a mixing bowl combine ground chicken and seasonings. Mix well.
In a hot pan drizzle the vegetable oil and cook the chicken in small spoonful batches.
In a mixing bowl combine all the broth and remaining ingredients and whisk til smooth.
Pour in the pan with the chicken and heat through
Plate with Noodles and Cucumbers.

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This is how your Cucumbers should look when you are making the ribbons

This is what I meant by Spoonful of Chicken

Here the chicken is cooked and the sauce is added and heating through. I hope that you have better luck at portion control than I do! Here is to healthy eating!!

On the Healthier side of Spaghetti

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

I think that Italian food must be at the top of everyone’s favorite foods to eat. I know it ranks up there with me and most certainly with my Husband. Carbs, Carbs, Carbs!!! They taste fantastic and make us feel happy inside! Too bad they are most definitely not that great for the waistline. If your waistline did to you what mine did to me this winter you can understand…..

I don’t really advocate a certain brand of products, as I think we should all buy what we like, I am making an exception for this post. Dreamfields Pasta is a low carb pasta. Regular whole wheat and semolina pasta have approx 40g of carbs per serving. Dreamfields has a fantastic waistline friendly 5g!!!!

Please try this brand and you won’t have to starve on your diet and also it is just a healthier way to live!!! Plus it tastes way way better than chewy Whole Wheat Pasta!

1 pkg spaghetti cooked and drained

1 lb turkey or chicken italian sausage

3 large handfuls of fresh spinach torn

2 garlic cloves crushed

1 carton of grape tomatoes sliced

1 jar of best organic no sugar added spaghetti sauce

It can be hard to find bulk chicken sausage so I buy the links and then just squeeze the meat out of the casings. It is a bit messy but worth it for the fat gram savings over pork sausage.

Brown the sausage in a hot pan. Don’t add any extra oil. I let the sausage cool then I crumble it by hand.

Don’t worry if it is not cooked completely all the way through, you are going to put it back in to cook a bit more.

In a hot pan add the sliced grape tomatoes and a bit of salt and pepper. Cook untill they start to pop and release their juices. Then add the crushed garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the torn spinach and drizzle just about 1 tbs olive oil and bit more salt and pepper. Cook till the spinach is almost wilted.

Add the cooked sausage back into the stock pot that you cooked the pasta in. Heat back through, return the drained pasta to the pot and add the jar of sauce. Heat til almost bubbling. Add the spinach and tomatoes and toss. If you want you can add some parmesan cheese, but I left it off. It saved on fat grams and calories, plus this is so flavorful you won’t miss the cheese!

Enjoy!!!

Stuffed Chicken Cordon Bleu

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

We have just about been around the Globe together this week! Morocco, India, Asia, now France! This is my quick and easy version of a traditional Cordon Bleu. I wanted to show all my readers and my husband that chicken can be exciting and flavorful in ways he couldn’t imagine. How do you all think I am doing?

One good thing about this recipe is that there is no exact measuring. So the amounts can be as large or as small as you want depending on how many you are feeding!
skinless boneless chicken breast
turkey or streaky bacon ( I like the turkey bacon healthier)
salt and pepper
herbs d’ provence
blue cheese slices or crumbles.

Fry bacon in a skillet, slice chicken breast half way through the thickest part of the breast to make a pocket. Stuff with the blue cheese. Sprinkle the salt and pepper and herbs d’provence, wrap two slices of bacon around each breast and arrange in a shallow baking dish.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Bon Appetite! Serve with the Pomme Frite Crisps and a spring salad.

Asian Fusion Chicken

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

OK so believe me I know how pretentious that name sounds. We just recently moved to Kansas City from California and everything in the Bay area is Fusion this, Fusion that….. It is all over the food world when you don’t have a pigeon hole to stick something we call it Fusion. I could call this, it was at the end of paycheck and I did not have all the ingredients to make either Pad Thai or Chop Suey so I made this. Somehow I don’t think you would respond to that so well. Asian Fusion it is!! This is the latest installment on my World Tour of Chicken Dishes! If you like Pad Thai, and you like Chop Suey, or if you like one but not the other, I promise you will Love this!

For the Sauce

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup chicken broth
3 tbs peanut butter
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs brown sugar ( I use the Splenda Blend)
2 tsp Asian chili sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 pound ground Chicken
1/4 red onion chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
salt and pepper
1 tsp ginger powder
1/2 can water chestnuts chopped
1 bag of frozen chop suey vegetables or any other Asian vegetable blend

In a mixing bow combine all the sauce ingredients and cover and set aside. Do not chill. In a hot wok or skillet, heat 1 tbs canola oil add onion and garlic. Always add onion and cook for a few seconds before adding garlic. Garlic is tender and the pieces are small and will burn easy if you throw them in first. Cook for 1-2 min. Remove from pan and reserve. Season the ground chicken with salt and pepper and ginger power and cook in the hot wok till crumbled and cooked all the way through. Add the onions and the garlic back in and add the frozen vegetables. Pour the sauce mixture over all and mix till all is coated. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook 7-10 min till vegetables are done, stirring occasionally.
Asian Fusion without the pretension served up on a platter!

A Taste of North Africa in your Kitchen!

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

In keeping with my global theme on chicken, I have a special delight for you tonight! This Moroccan inspired dish is healthy, fast, easy, and quite possibly the tastiest chicken you will ever eat!!!

3-4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
olive oil to coat pan plus more
1 onion sliced
1 yellow pepper diced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 heavy dashes of cinnamon
1 short dash of cloves
1 heavy dash of nutmeg
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice of 1 lemon keep lemon halves

Cut the chicken into 1″ cubes and salt and pepper. Dredge in the flour and pan fry in the olive oil in a hot pan till golden brown. You may have to do this in small batches. Be sure not to over crowd the pan or you will end up steaming the meat and not getting a nice crunch to it. Remove chicken from pan.

Add a bit more olive oil to the pan and add the chopped yellow pepper and sliced onion. Cook for approx 10 minutes stirring occasionally, till they are golden and tender. Return the chicken and add the chicken stock, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Add the juice of the lemon and toss the rinds in to add more of a lemon flavor. If you have Sumac, (which I thought I had, but apparently not so much) you can keep the rinds out and just add 2 tsp.
Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 5-7 min. Add the cilantro and stir. Serve with Risotto, or couscous. Tonight my dear husband made the Risotto, hence that is why it is not shown in the picture. But he did try and it was so sweet to have a sous chef in the kitchen.

Grilled Chicken with Indian BBQ Sauce and Peach Relish

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Chandra@The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

So after a week of over indulgence in red meat it is back to my staple meat, CHICKEN!!! Now don’t let the idea of bland, white, boiled, tasteless white meat rule your thinking of chicken. I can make even the most mundane of proteins exciting for you!!! Just follow me on my global tour of chicken this week and I will make the most skeptical of you (my husband) see just how exciting and versatile this important healthy protein is!

For the Indian BBQ sauce

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup white wine

1 tbs brown sugar

1tbs chili powder

1tbs coriander

1tbs curry

1tbs cumin

1tbs paprika

1tsp allspice

For the Grilled Chicken
4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
salt and pepper
For the Peach Relish
4 Large peaches
1 red pepper
1 jalapeno seeds and veins removed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup orange juice
juice of one lime
1 tbs honey

Slice peaches, dice both peppers and combine in a mixing brown with cilantro, honey, and lime and orange juices.

To make the BBQ sauce combine the vinegar, wine, all the spices and brown sugar in a mixing bowl, cover and chill.

Brush the chicken with olive oil on both sides and salt and pepper each side. Grill over medium high direct heat 5-7 min each side. Making sure to baste the chicken multiple times each side with the BBQ sauce.

Plate the grilled chicken with the peach relish and serve with the extra BBQ Sauce. A taste of Mumbia in your family’s kitchen!! Just think you didn’t even have to travel the 10,000 miles!!!