Voodoo Chicken

I modified this recipe from Robin Rescues Dinner, the new book by Food Network star Robin Miller. There are a lot of recipes I want to try in the book, so watch for some more from her!

For the chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp Creole seasoning
Salt/pepper

For the potatoes:
2-4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin (I used chili powder)
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

For the onions:
1 med red onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup rum - Alternately 1/2 cup pineapple juice & 1/8 tsp. almond extract - I used pineapple juice & vanilla extract
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Get out two baking dishes, one for the potatoes and one for the chicken. Spray both with cooking spray. Toss the potatoes with the ingredients listed; sprinkle the ingredients listed over the top of the chicken. Put both in the oven for 25 minutes. While those are baking, saute the onions with the ingredients listed. Serve everything together.

My husband and I really liked this, but we found that it was more time-consuming than it looked, and it was quite spicy. We will probably make these dishes separately in the future, not all three together as Miller suggests. (It is convenient that they can both be in the oven at the same time.) Also in the picture is a pineapple smoothie I made from a packet - great complement to this spicy dinner.

Turkey Lasagna

This is another recipe I modified from Eat Cheap but Eat Well. I debated posting it since I screwed it up the first time... but even though the noodles on top came out crispy, the rest of it was so good I thought I would post it anyway.

1 lb. ground turkey - I used the "Italian Flavored" kind
36 oz. spaghetti sauce - Whatever kind you want, but make sure to use that much. You might need 2 cans.
14 oz. ricotta (1 container) - I used the low-fat kind
8 oz. shredded mozzarella (1 cup) - I used part-skim
1/2 cup Parmesan
2 eggs
Dried parsley, salt & pepper
9 lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350. Cook the turkey in a skillet and add spaghetti sauce. Turn down heat and simmer for 10 min. While that is cooking, in medium-size bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, eggs, and a dash each of parsley, salt and pepper. In a 9 by 13 pan, layer uncooked noodles, sauce, and ricotta mixture. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 45 minutes.

To make this more successful next time, I plan to cover the noodles on top with sauce, make sure I get the right amount of sauce to start with, and use the "no cook" lasagna noodles!

West Indian Curry

This recipe is modified from a recipe in Charles Mattocks's new cookbook, Eat Cheap but Eat Well. This came out pretty well--recommended if you like mild curry with just a hint of spice. Serves two.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp Creole seasoning
2 tbsp ginger/sesame seasoning
2 tbsp curry
Dash extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 cups jasmine rice

Chop the chicken into 2-inch cubes. Mix uncooked chicken with garlic, Creole seasoning, and ginger seasoning, and set aside. Chop and add onion while oil is heating on skillet, then add chicken and onion mixture to skillet. Add 2/3 cup water and curry powder and saute until chicken is fully cooked. While the chicken is sauteing, begin cooking the rice as directed on package. Finally, add coconut milk, bouillon cube, and brown sugar to the mixture, turn temperature to low, and simmer for 10 minutes. When sauce has thickened and rice is done, serve together.

Taco Ring

This is a Pampered Chef recipe that I vaguely remembered from a party my mom had when I was in high school. I decided to recreate it from my memory and from various recipe sites I looked at. One of the reasons I believe the company sells this recipe is because they have a great baking stone you can use to make this (which I have) but you can use any sort of baking sheet.

Ingredients:
2 packages reduced fat crescent rolls
1 lb. ground turkey - You need only 1/2 lb. of meat, but I bought the lb. and had extra left over.
1 package taco seasoning
Sliced green pepper - about 1/2 cup - I used the frozen kind
Chopped onions - about 1/4 cup
Mexican cheese - about 1/2 cup or more if desired

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown the turkey, add taco seasoning, and chop the green peppers and onions--unless using frozen kind--then you can just heat them in a skillet. While that is going, unroll one package crescent roll dough out on your baking sheet or pizza stone. Form it in a ring shape. When the turkey is done, spoon it out onto the ring-shaped dough, and top with veggies and cheese. Unroll the second package of crescent roll dough on top of the other ingredients, and fold around so that they are covered. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the roll dough is brown.

I made two rings, one with Nacho Taco cheese and one with regular Mexican cheese. Both were very tasty--you can top with lettuce and sour cream if you like as well. There are also versions with pizza ingredients and chicken ingredients. We will be having this again!

Sauteed Shrimp with Hibachi Shrimp Sauce

Ingredients
1/2 lb cooked shrimp
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice

Shrimp sauce:
1 cup Mayonnaise
2 tsp Sugar (taste the mix if not sweet enough add more sugar and mix again)
2 tbs Ketchup
1/2 tsp Paprika
Dash Garlic salt
1 tsp Lemon Juice

Heat saute pan on medium high and add olive oil. Saute shrimp for about 8-10 minutes, turning. Add lemon juice and saute another few minutes. Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and serve together. Delicious!

Oreo Cheesecake

I first ran across this recipe on allrecipes.com while looking for a dessert to bring to a friend's. However, the version I found called for a springform pan, and I don't have one. As it turns out, I also didn't have an electric mixer, so I had to go out and buy one of those! So this is the version I used, with a pre-made crust I bought.

2 packages cream cheese
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
Pre-made Oreo crust
12 Oreos

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Use electric mixer to mix the first three ingredients. When fully mixed, add the eggs. If you can, crush the Oreos in a food processor before you put them in, but you can also mix them in using the electric mixer (we don't have a food processor). Pour entire mixture into pre-made crust and pat down. Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked through. Refrigerate for 3 hours, then serve.