Sadly, it’s really hard for me to remember how I made this, so bare with me.

Quinoa Paella
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

What you’ll need:

• 1 lb boneless chicken tenderloins* chunked
• Seasonings (Poultry Seasoning, Garlic Salt, pinch of Cumin, Pepper, Seasoning Salt, Saffron powder)
• 1 1/2 Cups sliced Turkey Kielbasa Sausage
• 1 Cup rinsed Quinoa (if you buy Ancient Harvest it’s already cleaned!)
• Sweet Green Peas
• 1 Cup diced Red Peppers
• 2 Cups Chicken Broth
• Splash Lime Juice
• 1 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Preparation:

This is a one-pan dish. Prepare in a large pan with deep sides that can be covered.

*Whenever I make a dish that required the chicken to be diced or or cubed I always use tenderloins. It makes it so much easier.

Liberally season chicken and sausage with your seasonings. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO. Brown chicken first because it will take longer to cook. The sausage is already cooked, you just want it heated through. Cook chicken for about 8 minutes and then add the sausage and the red peppers.

Add chicken and Quinoa to the pan at the same time. It may seem like there’s not a lot of Quinoa, but trust me, it MULTIPLIES! Stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce the heat to medium to allow to simmer. About 10 mins in, add the frozen peas and allow to finish cooking for another 5 minutes. Most of the liquid will absorb and you’ll know it’s done when the Quinoa looks translucent and you can see a white ring in the grain.

Add a few splashes of lime juice and you are done!

** Want to take it up a notch? Add Shrimp and Mussels to the broth while it cooks down. Yummo!

Enjoy!

Seared Turkey Chops & Cheese Grits
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

What you’ll need:

• 3-4 Boneless Turkey Chops
• Seasonings (Poultry Seasoning, Garlic Salt, Rotisserie Seasoning, Pepper)
• 3/4 C Instant Grits
• 1 C Skim Milk
• 1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• Dash of Salt
• 1 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Preparation:

Liberally season chops with your seasonings. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO. At the same time heat your milk in a saucepan over medium heat. DO. NOT. LET. BOIL. You don’t want your milk to burn. Add the pinch of salt to the milk. Grits taste best when you season the milk before you put them in! (Actually, if you’re not skilled at multitasking in the kitchen, make your grits when your chops are done.)

Carefully place your chops into the hot skillet, and allow to cook on each side for about 5 mins. Do not flip flop the meat. Let brown on each side without touching.

Meanwhile, when your milk is nice and hot (right about to boil) add the grits. Stir. About 2 minutes in, add the cheese. Keep stirring as the cheese melts and the grits thicken. This should take about three additional minutes.

By this point your chops should be juicy and done, and your grits cheesy and creamy. ALL DONE! Make a salad, serve the chops on top of the grits. AMAZING! Quick and easy. If your grits go cold, add a little more milk and reheat. Stirring to get them creamy again.

** Want to take it up a notch? Try using different cheeses: Gruyere, Goat, Mixes!

Enjoy!

Chicken & Ritz
Prep Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 35-40 mins

What you’ll need:

• 3-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1/2 C Plain Greek Nonfat Yogurt
• 1/2 C Course spicy mustard
• 1/2 Roll of Reduced Fat Ritz Crackers, crushed
• Seasonings (Seasoned Salt, Pepper, Garlic Salt)
• Pyrex Dish

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Always be careful when preparing chicken. I like to leave the water running so I can wash my hands frequently. Also, you can rinse the chicken down with Lemon juice to clean it off a bit. When I have really thick chicken breasts I pound them with a meat hammer or the flat end of a heavy pan just to thin them out a little bit.

To crush your Ritz crackers you can put the crackers in a bowl and use the back of a wooden spoon to crush them. They should look like big bread crumbs when you’re done. Spread the crumbs out on a plate

Begin with your chicken breasts. Season them liberally with your seasonings.

Using the small bowl you made the crumbs in, mix the yogurt and the mustard. Spread this mixture on the chicken breasts until completely covered. Using tongs rolls the chicken over the crumbs on the plate. You may have to just place the chicken on the plate and cover the top and the sides with the crumbs. Just make sure you cover the chicken with the crumbs and you don’t make a huge mess. If you run out of crumbs, make some more! Once done I throw a tiny dash of more seasonings on top of the crumbs. Seasoning is a habit hard to break.

Please each chicken breast in a Pyrex dish sprayed with canola oil cooking spray and then slide into the oven!

The crust will turn nice and golden and then inside will be juicy. It’s really hard for me to say how long to cook, but after 30 mins stick a knife into the thickest part of the chicken breast and see if the juices run pink. If not you’re all a good, if pink, they need to cook a little longer.

Serve with some veggies and rice and you’re all set. Here is mine on top of brown rice with cabbage. I’ve even done this with fish!

Sausage & Potato Frittata
Prep Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

What you’ll need:

• 5-6 Russet Potatoes, cut into tiny squares
• 6 large or jumbo eggs
• 1 package sausage (I use turkey. You can buy these crumbled and already cooked to save a skillet)
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 1 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 4 tablespoons oil
• Seasoning Salt, Pepper, Garlic Salt
• Splash of Milk

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Clean and dice your potatoes and onions. I chopped my onion to get bigger pieces because I love onions. Heat up a large skillet with the oil and carefully add the onions and potatoes. Saute and stir in the skillet as the onions soften and caramelize. Hopefully you’re using a large enough skillet, so make a hole in the potatoes and add the sausage. Crumble with a spatula and cook until browned. So now you have the potatoes, onions, and the sausage cooking in the skillet. Season liberally with your seasonings. When cooked through, drain off the oil and grease and set the skillet aside.

In a bowl crack all of your eggs, making sure you exclude any shells. Add a splash of milk, salt, and pepper. Beat eggs until yolks are combined.

Spray a 13 X 9 Pyrex dish with cooking spray and add the potato, sausage, and onions to the dish. Pour the egg mixture over the sausage and potatoes. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Bake in the oven until the eggs are set, about 15 mins. Once done, remove and cut into squares! You can serve alone, with toast, or any side dish you like! Yum! I served mine with cinnamon rolls and mini pancakes.

***You can jazz it up by adding colorful peppers, various cheeses (feta and bleu would be great), or even different meats! Spinach would be a great addition too!

Sugar Kisses!

JG*

Banana Rum Bread Pudding
Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hour

What you’ll need:

4 Eggs
1 1/4 C Dark Brown Sugar
3 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup Milk
6 Cups Stale Wheat Bread, diced (leave out overnight. You can also use Italian bread, Brioche, whatever. Wheat is good for texture though.)
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
6 Ounces Nestle Tollhouse White Chocolate Chips (optional)
4 Large Bananas or 5-6 small ones, sliced
4 Tablespoons Butter
1/2 C Banana Liqueur or Banana Rum. If you can’t find that, use white rum.
Long-neck lighter and a prayer

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350

In a bowl mix together the eggs, 1 Cup of the brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, the cream, and the milk. Combine with a whisk. Fold in the the bread and the chocolate chips. Don’t add the chips before the bread because they will sink straight to the bottom. Set aside.

In a skillet melt the 4 Tbs of butter and add the sliced bananas. Saute in the pan until the bananas are soft. Once soft, add the remaining brown sugar and coat all of the bananas. Now, carefully pour in the Banana Rum. Using a long-neck lighter light the alcohol in the pan. This is called Flambe. Now is when you go for that prayer. Just back away and let the flame die down. Don’t mess with it. When the flame dies down, fold the hot bananas into the pudding mixture that you’ve put aside. You can add a little bit more butter if you’d like now too.

Pour into a large Pyrex dish or a foil pan and cook for an hour until the center is no longer jiggly. Serve with ice cream or a lovely Creme Anglaise.

Creme Anglaise (Sweet white cream sauce perfect for any dessert)

• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 3/4 Cup of Sugar
• 1 Capful Vanilla Extract
• Squeeze Lime Juice (optional)

In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream and vanilla extract until it simmers a tiny bit. While it’s heating in another container beat the egg yolks and sugar together. Temper the hot cream into the eggs by SLOWLY pouring about half of the hot cream into the container with the egg yolks and whisking continuously. You do not want to have scrambled eggs on your hand so go slowly. Once the eggs and the cream are combined, add that mixture back into the remaining hot cream. Cook on medium heat while stirring constantly until the mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon.

Set aside and allow to cool. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice if you’d like.

There ya have it. Tastiness and fanciness!

Sugar Kisses!

JG*

Chicken Taco Salad

Prep Time 15 mins Cook Time: 10 mins

What you’ll need:

Preheat oven to 350°.

The fixings are really up to you, I’m just going to direct the way

• 4 Taco Bowls
• 1 lb Chicken Breasts diced into small cubes
• 1 bag of shredded lettuce
• 1 Cup Sweet Corn
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream or you can get really awesome and buy Crema from your local international grocer. It’s what Chipotle actually uses.
• 1 1/2 Cup of Shredded Cheese, Mexican Blend
• 1/4 Jalepenos
• 1/2 C Salsa (your level of spicyness)
• 5-minute Rice (optional)
• Rotisserie seasoning, Garlic Salt, Pepper, Cumin

Preparation:

This is the really easy part!

Warm your taco bowl shells in the oven according to package instructions. Don’t burn them!

Season your diced chicken with all of the seasonings. Go easy on the cumin and heavy on the rotisserie seasoning. If you don’t have rotisserie seasoning then just use old faithful seasoning salt and pepper. Saute in a skillet sprayed with cooking spray. Cook until done throughout. Should only take about 6-7 minutes.

In a microwaveable bowl warm up your sweet corn with a little dash of sea salt. If you’re cooking rice, go ahead and prepare this as well.

When everything is done you can begin to building process. You can get all excited and set things into little containers and act as if you have your own Chipotle line set up or you can just be boring and take from the original packaging. Build how you like but I like to start with the bowl, add the bed of rice, chicken, sour cream, corn, lettuce, cheese, and then top with the salsa. Voila!

**Naturally you could make this vegetarian, with steak, or pork even!

Be careful when you buy the Taco Bowl Shells. Mine were all broken up when I got home. Still tasted great though!

Sugar Kisses!

JG*

Cheeseburger Pie
Prep Time: 15 Mins Cook Time: 12-15 Mins

What you’ll need:

• 1 lb Lean Ground Beef
• 3/4 C Ketchup
• 1 Tbs minced garlic
• 1/2 small onion diced
• 1 C Shredded Mild Cheddar
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
• Seasoning Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 package crescent rolls

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350° (or whatever the crescent package says)

Unroll the crescents and separate into their individual rolls. Starting on the short side, roll about twice towards the pointed end. Set aside.

In a skillet saute the diced onions in a tiny bit of oil. When they get translucent add the garlic and ground beef crumbling as you cook. Season with all of your seasonings and brown until completely done. Drain and then return to the skillet. Add the ketchup and about 3/4 of the shredded cheese. Stir until combined and the cheese is melted.

Pour the mixture into a 9 inch pie pan and then top with the crescent roll pieces. Top that with the remaining cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 12-15 minutes until the crescents are nice and golden.

The. Best. Ever!

Sugar Kisses!

JG*

Here is another dish that’s great for the Winterboo dinner feasts. It’s good and hearty, easy to make and tastes like home. The cool thing about this recipe is that it’s kind of a base recipe. It’s the path that you can take to make several other recipes. Chicken Stock, Curry Chicken, etc. It also makes the house smell fabulous! Growing up this was a favorite of mine.

Here ya go!

Chicken & Rice
Prep Time 15 mins Cook time 1 1/2 hours

What you’ll Need:

• 1-2 lbs Dark Chicken Meat. (Thighs & Legs. Juiciest and most tender pieces)
• 1 1/2 Cup Water (If you were making a chicken stock this would be all water, but we’ll take a shortcut now)
• 3 Cups Chicken Broth (Use low-sodium)
• Pinch of Poultry Seasoning
• Seasoning Salt, Pepper, Garlic Salt (to taste)
• 1 Small Onion, sliced
• 1/4 C of All-Purpose Flour
• 1 package of Yellow or White Rice

Preparation:

In a large pot bring to a boil (be careful!) the water and the chicken broth. While the water is warming up, season your chicken with all of the seasonings. Keep them on hand though except the poultry seasoning.

Add the chicken and the sliced onion to the broth and bring to a boil. Season the broth conservatively with the all of the remaining seasonings. Reduce the heat slightly to a simmer and cover. Simmer for about and hour and 15 minutes. Occasionally stir and taste test to add more seasoning. The seasonings that were on the chicken should be combined in the broth by now.

After the hour and 15 minutes, use a ladle and carefully remove about 1/2- 1/3 of the broth from the pot into another container. (You may want to take a bit more and set to the side to boil your vegetables in if you’d like. It adds a great flavor to the veggies.) Using a whisk combine the broth and the 1/4 C of flour until you have a very thick “gravy”.  Make sure all of the flour is mixed in. Add that back to the pot of chicken and broth and stir to thicken it up a bit. Continue to simmer for another 15 mins.

You will know when the chicken is done when it pulls completely off the bone effortlessly. You should be able, using a flat spatula, to push the meat off the bones. If this doesn’t happen, continue to cook covered for a little longer.

In the meantime prepare your rice according to package instructions and if you’d like boil veggies in some of the chicken broth that you’ve set aside.

When it’s all said and done, plate your rice and then smother with your chicken and the broth. Sprinkle some parsley flakes on top for dramatic effect.

** You could potentially make this in a slow cooker. I will explore that later and perhaps post an update!

Just seeing that picture makes me feel warm inside!

Sugar Kisses!

JG*

Since it is cold and I’m sure that everyone has booked their Winterboo for the season, I wanted to share a great recipe for Chili to keep tummys and hearts warm.

Winterboo Chili:
Prep Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 35-40 mins

What You’ll Need:

• 1 lb Lean Ground Beef or Turkey
• 1 Small Onion, Diced
• 1 Minced Garlic Clove (1 Tbs Minced Garlic)
• 1 Can Chili Beans
• 2 Cups Stewed Tomatoes (or 1 16oz can of stewed tomatoes), still in their juices
• Dash Worcestershire Sauce
• Chili Powder, Seasoning Salt, Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper to taste
• Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• Sour Cream

Preparation

After you’ve diced and minced your onion and garlic respectively saute in a hot skillet sprayed with cooking spray. (Using cooking spray is healthier than oil or butter) Add the beef, season a little bit with the Seasoning Salt and pepper, and cook until completely browned and the meat is crumbled nicely. Drain and then put back onto the heat.

Drain the can of beans and add to the beef along with the stewed tomatoes. Add the quick dash of Worcestershire sauce and all of the seasonings. I tend to season conservatively and then taste my way along with each of the seasonings. I love my chili to be spicy, but the Beau doesn’t so much.

Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and cover allowing to simmer for about 35 mins. Eat alone or serve over chili with cornbread on the side. I like to top with a dallop of sour cream and a sprinkle of sharp cheddar cheese!

**A great addition would be to break up some good sausage and add that to the beef as well. Great flavor!

*** Also, play around and add different veggies. Consider diced green and red peppers for extra zest!

Yum Enjoy!!!

Sugar Kisses,

JG*

No excuses!

But here’s the deal. I just began my MBA program and while I knew it would be a haze and take over my life, I’m still just now getting used to it and establishing a rhythm. So I ask of my readers to please BEAR WITH ME. I will start posting once a week until I find my groove and then once I get settled I’ll try to up the ante a bit. So right now it’s looking like I’ll be posting every Friday.

It’s crazy because I am now a blogger FOR my MBA program, so I still have to find time for that. It’s all okay though, I work best under pressure so I’m not worried. I just didn’t want everyone to pack their bags and write this here blog off for good. Nope not happening. Food is a huge part of my life and I love sharing! Plus I have been cooking my tail off these past few weeks and even providing some great dishes for our awesome tailgates. JG* STILL runs the Kitchen.

Better yet, I should be getting a new camera soon so expect the quality of this site to go up quite a bit. With Winterboo Season approaching (rather quickly I must say… the North jumps on the coldness quick!) I have plenty of recipes to either jumpstart the boo-lovin, or enhance it while it happens.

Thank you to everyone that voted for my blog in the Black Weblog Awards. I was so excited to even be nominated! Next year we’re bringing home the Glory!

I miss you guys!

JG*