Baked Asian Style Honey Chicken, Spicy Rice, Fried Zucchini

Bad picture, fantastic meal! My husband says that this is his new favorite meal, but he says that pretty much every night. It was awfully tasty, though!

Baked Asian Style Honey Chicken

Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp minced or grated ginger root
2 tbsp honey
2-4 tbsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste
2-4 tbsp soy sauce

Mix garlic, ginger, soy sauce, honey, and sesame oil together. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk. Pour over chicken breasts in a ziploc baggie or a baking dish. Let marinate 1 hour, turning chicken over once. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Spicy White Rice

Make rice as usual, in rice cooker or stovetop. Add a tsp (or more if you like it super spicy) of crushed red pepper flakes. Easy and yummy!

Fried Zucchini

1-2 zucchini
3-4 eggs
1 tbsp or so of milk
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup corn meal
salt and pepper
oil for frying

Cut zucchini into rounds. In a separate bowl combine eggs and milk, whisk together. In another bowl mix flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper. Dip zucchini rounds into egg wash, then coat with flour mixture. Fry in frying pan with oil (I use canola) until coating is golden and crispy.

Fresh Chili

It's no secret that I'm a HUGE fan of chili. I make it all the time. Vegetarian chili, meaty chili, I like them all. I came across a lighter version of chili in the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine and modified it quite a bit. It came out great! Perfect summertime chili.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 7 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup corn
• 1 red onion, half chopped and half cut into slices
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 small zucchini, chopped
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 cup Mexican 4 cheese shredded blend

Combine lime, cilantro, whisk in 6 tbsp of olive oil to emulsify. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Heat remaining tbsp of olive oil in skillet. Add onions, garlic, and chili powder. Saute until onion starts to become translucent. Add beef, season with salt and pepper and paprika. Brown beef, drain excess fat from pan. Add the beans, corn, zucchini, tomatoes, red onion slices, and lime mixture. Cover, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top and serve.

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Ratatoille

This meal included about 95% ingredients from our garden. Exciting! I modified a few different recipes that I found.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 lg zucchini, cubed
• 1 lg sweet pepper, diced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 3 tbsp wine, chicken stock, or veg stock (I used chicken)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• fresh basil and oregano
• salt and pepper to taste

Slice the eggplant in 1/2 inch slices, lightly salt and lay on a paper towel. This will draw out excess moisture and any bitterness in the eggplant. Let sit for about an hour, then rinse and pat dry and cut into cubes.

Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil, until the onion is translucent. Add the eggplant, zucchini, pepper, tomatoes, stock, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and stir, then add the herbs. Let cook for another 5-7 minutes until the veggies are tender and serve! Great with brown rice or couscous!

Mediterranean Frittata

This is hearty enough to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Mm! Adapted from a recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup half and half, light cream, or milk
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted red sweet peppers
• 1/2 cup sliced kalamata or pitted ripe olives
• 1/4 cup slivered fresh basil
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• fresh basil leaves for garnish
• I also threw in some mushrooms and topped with some fresh grated parmesan cheese
  

Directions

Preheat broiler. In a large skillet (that can go in the broiler) cook onion, garlic, and mushrooms in the oil until tender.

In a bowl, beat together the eggs and half-and-half. Stir in feta, peppers, olives, basil, and pepper. Pour egg mixture over onion mixture in skillet. Cook over medium heat. As mixture sets, run a spatula around the edge so that the uncooked portion flows underneath. Continue until mixture is almost set. Reduce heat to prevent overcooking. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top of frittata. Broil 1-2 minutes, until top is set and cheese is golden. Garnish with fresh basil.

Baked Eggplant with Savory Cheese Stuffing

Stuffed Eggplant, originally uploaded by Dayna Riley.

Remember that eggplant from earlier? Yeah, this is what it looked like after cooking. Mm!

I got the recipe from Brinnalee, who got it from Cooking Light

The only change I made to the recipe is that I used store-bought breadcrumbs instead of making my own. I served it alongside brown rice.

Ingredients

2 medium eggplants, each cut in half lengthwise (about 2 pounds)
Cooking spray
1 (1-ounce) slice white bread
1 teaspoon extravirgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 1/4 cups finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped seeded plum tomato
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.

Score cut side of each eggplant half by making 4 crosswise cuts. Place the eggplant halves, cut sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; cool on pan 10 minutes. Carefully remove pulp, leaving a 1/3-inch-thick shell; reserve eggplant shells. Chop pulp.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°.

Place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1/2 cup. Drizzle the breadcrumbs with olive oil, and pulse to combine.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in the chopped eggplant, bell pepper, tomato, oregano, and garlic; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, parsley, salt, and black pepper. Stuff each eggplant shell with about 1/2 cup onion mixture; sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture. Place on a baking sheet; bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated and lightly browned.
Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 stuffed eggplant half)

First Eggplant of the Season!

054, originally uploaded by Dayna Riley.

This little sucker grew so fast! It was hiding behind the zucchini and I didn't realize that it had gotten so big. Also pictured are the first roma tomatoes of the season. These will be incorporated into dinner tonight!

Tomorrow we head off to San Diego for my birthday weekend. We're going to the Red Bull Air Race....I've never been to an air show before, it should be a good time!

First post! Vegetarian Chili

I've been wanting to start a food blog for awhile, but I had an awful camera that took AWFUL pictures of food. The Husband got me a new camera for my birthday and I can now take decent (I hope!) food pics. I hope everyone enjoys my stuff as much as I enjoy making it!

This vegetarian chili is my go-to ALL THE TIME. I switch the recipe up a lot, depending on what I have available. I never measure for it, so all measurements are an approximation.

Dayna's Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 4-5 cloves minced garlic
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 1 can vegetable stock or chicken stock if you don't mind meat!
  
• 1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
  
• 1 can great northern beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 2 cups frozen corn or frozen mixed veggies (corn, peas, carrots, green beans)
• steak rub spice mix, 2 tbsp (my secret ingredient! My mix contains chili powder, paprika, and dry mustard)
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Heat the vegetable oil in a stock pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in stock and the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 20-40 minutes. Serve! Simple and oh-so-good.