April 19, 2024

Homemade Chicken Meatballs

March 24, 2015 by

Y’know those fully-cooked ground chicken sausages and meatballs that you can find in almost every grocery store?  There are any number of brands that now make them…plus they come in quite a variety of flavor variations.  You can find breakfast sausages, dinner sausages, mini-sausages, and meatballs.  I have been a big fan of these for quite some time now.  Of course, there is ‘variety’ in quality amongst the different brands, too. You probably wouldn’t have to search too hard to find organic chicken sausages and meatballs.  All very helpful towards a healthy eating lifestyle! And they are so handy for those nights when your meal plan falls apart (or you forgot to take something out of the freezer)! These even defrost right in their package in a bowl of cold water for 10-15 minutes!

But recently I had the crazy thought, ‘Why can’t I do that? I should be able to make my own, right?’ And then I found it that wasn’t really so crazy!  Easy to find the ingredients…easy to throw together…easy to prepare…easy to cook!  And here’s the best part—making them from scratch in your own kitchen, the variety’s are almost endless.  But I started fairly simple…check out the recipe!  The variety I made this time lent itself well to serving with some Tzatziki (zah-d/zee-kee) Sauce (Greek yogurt cucumber sauce) alongside some spaghetti squash and steamed broccoli…yum!  I would love to hear about your version, if you decide to make them.  Enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Meatballs—Greek Style

2015-03-11 20.11.51

ingredients:
meatballs:
2 (10 ounce) boxes frozen chopped spinach
1 tablespoon +/- olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 heaping tablespoons chopped garlic
1 egg, lightly beaten
(2) 4 ounce pkg. crumbled feta cheese (set aside 2 ounces or so)
2# ground chicken (or ½ chicken, ½ turkey)
2 tablespoons lemon-pepper blend
1/4 cup almond flour

tzatziki sauce:
1+1/2 cups Greek-style plain yogurt
1/2-1 teaspoon garlic, finely minced
1/3 seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped small
3 tablespoons fresh dill (or 2 teaspoons dried)
1/2 lemon, juiced
sea salt, freshly ground pepper (to taste)

directions:

  • mix up the tzatziki sauce and refrigerate ’til ready to serve
  • preheat oven to 400; line a baking sheet w/parchment paper
  • cook frozen spinach (stovetop or microwave) just ‘til heated through; drain excess liquid, dump out onto a clean dishtowel and squeeze dry; set aside
  • preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
  • in a large bowl combine onion and garlic; add egg
  • add the spinach, pulling it apart to separate it
  • add feta, chicken, and seasoning to the bowl
  • dust the almond flour over top
  • start combining and add a 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
  • lightly mix everything ‘til well-combined
  • using a 1+1/2″ cookie scoop, or something similar, form 36-40 meatballs; they do not have to be perfectly round…I left mine fairly rustic
  • place the meatballs on the lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes and then turn them over
  • cook for additional 8-10 minutes (depending on the size of them) ‘til they are beginning to brown
  • I used my instant-read meat thermometer (165 degrees for poultry); you can also test them by poking one and making sure the juices run clear
  • serve with tzatziki sauce and a sprinkle of the leftover feta cheese

I know I often mention that I use ‘lemon-pepper seasoning’ in the place of salt&pepper.  Here is a link to what I use.

  ♥       ♥       ♥       ♥       ♥

God loves you!  ♥  (Don’t ever forget that!)

♥  coleen

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Healthy St. Paddy’s Day Shakes

March 17, 2014 by

Sorry…breaking into our little series on spring veggies ‘cause I just have to share these healthy but-oh-so-yummy! green minty “shakes” with you!  It is tradition to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day in our family…heritage and all, y’know!  (Your name can’t be coleen ann brigit mcelroy hayden…and not recognize your Irish background!)

So, I have to admit to indulging <in the past!> in a Shamrock Shake from a certain fast food place…uh-huh…you know!  But we are working on having a healthier eating lifestyle now…by God’s grace!…and so I took a little peek ‘n see about the nutrition facts (from the manufacturer) for that minty shake of my past.  Can you say “Holy Saint Paddy!”  530 calories, 86 grams of carbs (of which 73 were sugar carbs, mostly corn syrup), and 15 grams of fat in a 16 ounce cup!

healthyshamrockshake

I think you will find this healthy but-oh-so-yummy version equally satisfying and delicious. I would love to hear from you!

Ingredients:
1 scoop protein powder
2 cups almond milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 packet of stevia sweetener
2 hefty tablespoons of vanilla greek yogurt
1 ripe avocado
2 handfuls of raw spinach
2 cut-up frozen bananas
4 or 5 ice cubes

Directions:

  • Start off with all the liquid ingredients, the protein powder and stevia; blend for 10-15 seconds.
  • Layer in the balance of the ingredients. Whirl away ‘til nicely blended!
  • This made more than enough for two big servings; the glasses pictured hold more than 14 ounces each.

** Certainly can be prepared in a standard blender, too. I would suggest doing it in two batches, however, using 1/2 of the ingredients at a time.

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

God loves you!  ♥  (Don’t ever forget that!)

♥  coleen

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My Favorite Fruit Salad Recipe

September 4, 2013 by

Yummy is the best way to describe this dish. It is perfect for the summertime when you have fresh fruit readily available. You can make a meal of it or it is a perfect healthy side dish too.

Boyd1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:
Bag of fresh spinach leaves
Pint of strawberries
2-3 Peaches
Bag of sliced almonds
Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing

Directions:

  • Rinse the spinach leaves and the fruit.
  • Cut up the strawberries and peaches in bite size pieces.
  • Combine the spinach leaves, fruits and almonds in a bowl. You can also add fresh blueberries or any other of your favorite fruits. You can use sunflower seeds or pecans instead of almonds.
  • Toss the salad and drizzle with the dressing. Any type of vinaigrette dressing tastes great with this salad. I have also used balsamic vinaigrette and strawberry vinaigrette.

This salad keeps well in a Tupperware container overnight. If you know you will have leftovers, it is best to add the dressing per serving instead of on the entire salad directly. Approximately 6 servings.

Serve and Enjoy! 🙂
Amy

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At Home with GCH: Soba Noodles with Salmon and Miso

March 29, 2013 by

Soba Noodles with Salmon and Miso

 

I know some people give up meat on Fridays, especially during Lent, so to celebrate the end of Lent, the coming of Easter, and the arrival of Spring, I have a fresh and tasty fish recipe for you!

The two “ethnic” ingredients you’ll need for this recipe are both Japanese.  Soba noodles are thick, chewy buckwheat noodles, with a wonderful nutty taste.  They come dried and are widely available, so if your grocery store has an Asian section, there’s a good chance they’ll be there.  (You could substitute whole wheat spaghetti if you really can’t find the soba noodles.)  The other ingredient is miso paste.  It’s made of fermented soy beans and adds a mild soy sauce-like flavor.  Check the refrigerated section of the store, maybe by the tofu.  (If you can’t find it, use soy sauce instead, but the flavor will be more pronounced.)  As for the vegetables, I like baby Bok Choi, but if you can’t find that, you could use 5 ounces of spinach instead, or Napa cabbage, or even bean sprouts and strips of bell pepper.  Be creative!  This recipe serves two, but you can easily double it if you like.

Soba Noodles with Salmon and Miso

(Adapted from a recipe in the book Homestyle Asian)

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces dried soba noodles
  • 1 heaping teaspoon miso paste (or one teaspoon soy sauce)
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 4 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
  • 1 pound salmon filets
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic (use 2 cloves)
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
  • 3 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 4 heads of baby bok choi, separated into individual leaves (or use one 5 ounce bag baby spinach)
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Salmon Grill Pan

 

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350*F.  Cook the soba noodles according to the package directions.  Drain, add back to the pot you cooked them in, and toss with a teaspoon of the sesame oil, so the noodles won’t stick together.  Set aside.
  2. Whisk together the miso, honey, one teaspoon sesame oil, and one teaspoon water to form a paste.  Brush over the salmon.  Sear on a hot grill pan or frying pan for 30 seconds.  Brush salmon with any remaining glaze and place on a foil-lined baking tray.  Bake for 6 minutes, then cover and leave to rest in a warm place.
  3. Heat one teaspoon of sesame oil in a frying pan.  Add the garlic, ginger, carrot, green onion, and bok choi and sauté for one minute.  The vegetables should not brown, but remain bright and crisp.  Add the noodles, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and last teaspoon of sesame oil, and stir to combine for another 30 seconds.
  4. To serve, place the noodles and vegetables on the plate.  Top with salmon and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

 

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

*****

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipes, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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At Home with GCH – Meatless Mondays – HashBrown Crusted Quiche

March 18, 2013 by

Here on our At Home with GCH blog, Mondays are always focused on healthy but oh-so-yummy! recipes.  This month we are going to spotlight vegetarian dishes.  Each Monday will actually be a Meatless Monday!  This week we are making quiche!  Oh, yum!  But in light of our healthy but oh-so-yummy inclination, we are substituting a shredded potato crust for a pastry crust.  So delicious…so easy…so nice and crispy!  I took a peek at a few similar recipes, and calorie counts on ingredients like those below will add up to approximately 250-300 for each wedge of this quiche.  This along with a simple salad (we had spinach-strawberry salad with ours) makes for a filling yet light supper.  You certainly can exchange different veggies and cheeses for the spinach-tomato-fresh mozzarella combination in this recipe.  During the spring and summer, we often have quiche once each week on our menu.  It is quick and nutritious; and, if I prepare different varieties from time to time, no one gets bored!  I would love to hear about your quiche if you make a different variety!  Enjoy! 

IMG_0184

Caprese Quiche with Hash Brown Crust (makes 4 generous servings)

Crust:
3 cups frozen hash browns, thawed
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 425. Thaw hash brown potatoes, and blot between paper towels to remove excess moisture.  Combine in mixing bowl with melted butter, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings.  Lightly grease 9″ glass pie plate.  Pour potatoes mixture into pie plate and press down onto bottom and up sides of pie plate…go all the way up to the rim.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned; do not let burn!  When done, remove from oven.  Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly.  Reduce oven temp to 350.

Filling:
1 medium sweet onion, diced
2 teaspoons olive oil
good-sized handful (12-14 grape tomatoes), chopped
1/2-3/4 cup fresh spinach leaves, sliced 1/4″ slices
1 heaping tablespoon chopped garlic (I use jarred)
Heat olive oil in medium-sized saute pan over medium heat.  Add diced onions and cook for 6-7 minutes until softened but just slightly browned.  While onions are cooking, chop tomatoes (drain away any excess juice).  To slice spinach, stack a number of leaves, and then just carefully slice down through them into 1/4″ slices; repeat until all spinach is sliced.  When onions are ready, add tomatoes, spinach, and garlic.  Saute for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until spinach has wilted.  Remove from stovetop and allow to cool.IMG_0189

Egg Custard:

4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup ricotta
dash of Kosher salt
1/2-1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup fresh mozzarella balls, rough chopped
To the eggs, add the milk, ricotta, seasonings, and breadcrumbs; whisk together until smooth.

To assemble:
Once baked crust has cooled slightly, layer in filling ingredients and then pour the custard on top.  Add chopped cheese and swirl with fork to evenly distribute ingredients.  Carefully place in middle of 350 oven, and bake until eggs are set and cheese is slightly browned, approximately 30 minutes or so.  Let stand for 10 minutes to set up and finish cooking.  Cut into four wedges.

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God loves you! ♥  (Don’t ever forget that!)

♥ coleen

_________________________________

If you would like to send a personal message to Coleen concerning this series, you may email her at: Coleen@girlfriendscoffeehour.com, or leave a comment below.

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At Home with GCH: Greek Chicken Soup – Avgolemono

February 1, 2013 by

Avgolemono

 

If there is one unifying theme to At Home with GCH, I would say it’s stewardship.  To me, being a good steward means using my resources wisely and creatively.  The biggest challenge to being a good steward is being thrifty and cutting down on waste.  If you haven’t already, check out the post on the Great Freezer Challenge!  And then, check out this soup recipe!

My favorite tip for saving money in the kitchen is buying a whole chicken instead of pre-cut pieces.  You can easily get two meals out of one chicken, and for the same price you would pay for a package of chicken breasts!  For the first meal, you have endless choices; but then comes the challenge—once you’ve cut the legs and breasts off, or roasted the whole bird, what do you do with the carcass? Easy answer?  Soup!

This Greek recipe is called Avgolemono.  In Greek, “avgo” means “egg” and “lemono,” well you can probably guess what that one is!  This is a fresh-tasting soup, with a bright lemony flavor.  There’s also a lot of room to customize—you can add more vegetables beyond just the spinach (bell peppers, onions, zucchini), and you can choose what kind of starch you want in it.  I’ve seen recipes that call for cooked rice, or different shapes of pasta.  However, most will call for orzo, which is a small, rice-shaped pasta.  Or, if you are cutting out refined flours or grains, just don’t add it in!

This makes a great dinner, with a salad and some bread or a roasted sweet potato.

Greek Chicken Soup – Avgolemono

Ingredients:

  • 1 chicken carcass  (You can also use 2 bone-in chicken breasts)
  • 1 (10ounce) box of frozen spinach
  • 3/4 cup orzo
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Put chicken carcass in a large pot with enough water to cover.  Cook until chicken is cooked through and falling off the bone.  Remove carcass to a large bowl to cool.  Strain broth and return to the pot.  
  2. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone and shred or chop into small pieces.  You should have 2-3 cups of chicken.
  3. Return broth to the stove and heat on medium.  When it simmers, add the box of spinach (no need to thaw), along with the bay leaves and the chicken.  Now look at the consistency of your soup.  Do you like it really brothy?  You might want  to add more water.  Do you like your soup thicker, more like a stew?  Now is the time to raise the heat and reduce your broth.
  4. When you have your preferred consistency, add the orzo to the soup.  Cook on medium heat for about 8 minutes.
  5. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs with the lemon juice.  Slowly add a ladleful of your broth to the eggs and stir, to temper them, so they don’t seize up when you add them to the soup.  Turn the heat off.  Slowly stir the egg/lemon juice mixture into the soup. Keep stirring to make sure you don’t get any eggy clumps.  Season with salt and pepper.

 

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Please visit me at Frugal Girlmet for more unique recipes!

If you would like to contact Dana in regards to this blog, please email her at Dana@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? Korean Banchans

December 6, 2012 by

Spinach Banchan

If you read my post last week for Dubu Buchim (Korean Pan-Fried Tofu), you’ll remember that a Korean meal has many components:  the rice, kimchee, main dish, and the banchans.  Banchans are little dishes, meant to be shared, and are usually vegetable-based.  Today I’ll show you how to make two very easy banchans:  spinach banchan and a cucumber salad.

For the spinach, you can buy whole spinach, which is the cheaper option, or a bag of washed and trimmed spinach salad – it will cost more than whole spinach, but the upside is that the roots and sand have been removed for you!  This spinach banchan is also a component in several other Korean dishes, including kimbap, japchae, and bibimbap.  (We’ll get to those later!)  For the cucumbers, you’ll want to look for small cucumbers, often called Persian cucumbers.  They have thin skin and very little seedy pulp in the middle.  You could also use a regular English cucumber, or a hothouse cucumber, but you may want to take off some of the skin if it’s waxed or feels tough to you.  Also, the cucumber banchan calls for a pinch of Korean dried peppers.  If you don’t have these in your pantry, you can use crushed red pepper (like the kind used in Italian cooking or on pizza) or even a little cayenne.  It won’t be the same, but you’ll get the idea!

Both of these banchans are best made fresh, and won’t last in the fridge more than two or three days.  Make a batch, cook some rice, and  practice your chopstick skills:  it’s dinner time!

Spinach Banchan

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound whole spinach, trimmed and cleaned, or 1 large bag prepared spinach salad (9 oz.)
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 green onion, minced

Directions:

  1. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Prepare an ice bath:  a very large bowl filled with ice and water.  When the water boils, add the spinach, and blanch for 15 seconds.  You want all of the spinach out of the boiling water within 30 seconds at the max, or it will be mushy.  Remove from the water and transfer to the ice bath.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together garlic, oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and green onion.  Squeeze the water from the spinach – be firm, but don’t pulverize it!  Add the spinach to the garlic mixture, and using your hands, massage the sauce into the spinach.  (Korean housewives go through more plastic gloves than the school lunch lady.  I just get in there and don’t worry about the gloves.)  Let the spinach marinate in the sauce for about 30 minutes at room temperature.  Taste for seasoning – you can add a tiny pinch of sea salt or more soy sauce if you like.

Cucumber Banchan

Cucumber Banchan

Ingredients:

  • 4 Persian cucumbers, or one large hothouse cucumber
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • pinch hot pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

  1. Wash cucumbers, and if you’re not using Persian cucumbers, remove the peel.  Slice very thinly into coins and put in a sieve.  Sprinkle with the sea salt and let sit for 15 minutes.
  2. In another bowl, mix together oil, vinegar, sugar and pepper flakes.  Rinse the cucumber and squeeze out any extra water.  Add to the oil mixture and let marinate for 30 minutes before eating.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Find more recipes from Dana, Korean and otherwise, at Frugal Girlmet!

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