I have had the cooking blues lately.  It feels like groundhog day around here with the same old meals, week in and week out.  So I pulled out a Cooking Light Magazine and came across this easy, healthy and flavorful recipe.

Gotta tell you, it was a huge hit.  My son even had two servings.  I love the contrast between the tang of the mustard and the sweetness from the maple syrup and brown sugar.  I paired the chicken with green beans and rice.

Easy.  Delicious.  Healthy.  Home run in my book!

It just happened that I had all the ingredients on hand.  Even better, right!

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the mustards, brown sugar, maple syrup (please don’t use pancake syrup, just won’t taste right), grated onion, which in my opinion could easily be omitted, vinegar, soy sauce, pepper and garlic clove.

Give it a good whisk.

Place the chicken breasts in a zip-lock baggie and pour in half of the sauce and marinate the chicken for two hours in the refrigerator.  Cover the remaining sauce and refrigerate that, too.

Pre-heat the grill.  I sprayed my chicken with the cooking spray (instead of spraying the grill, to many flames).  Grill for about 4-6 minutes on each side or until done.

Heat the remaining sauce in the microwave until heated through, about 1 1/2 minutes.

Plate the chicken and pour desired amount of sauce over the chicken breast.

Good bye dinner blues.  Hello my little maple mustard chicken, can’t wait to have you again.

If you aren’t a big shrimp fan I think that bite-sized pieces of chicken tenders would be a nice substitute. 

Want to take it up another notch?  Of course you do.  Serve with quinoa or brown rice to balance out the dish.

Look at all these beautiful fresh ingredients.  The only thing I added to the list was corn starch, honey and a few cloves of garlic.

Corn starch so the sauce would “stick” to the green beans and shrimp, honey for just a hint of sweetness and garlic…..well, I love garlic.

Zest one orange and finely mince.

Squeeze the oranges for 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed juice.

Now mix together the orange zest, orange juice, hoisin sauce, honey, soy sauce, chile-garlic paste, garlic and corn starch.  Set aside.

In a large skillet heat the sesame oil.

Add the green beans, stirring to coat with oil.  Saute over heat for 4 minutes.  Now add 3 tablespoons water and cook for an additional 4 minutes.  I put a lid over the green beans, I like mine a little softer and not so crunchy.

Now add in the shrimp.  I kind of had to move the green beans over to one side so the shrimp could get the heat they deserved.

Add in all the liquids.  Saute the shrimp until they are pink and firm.  It might take more than 3 minutes because the hot tub is just a little crowded.

Yep, that is it.  It was so tasty and so easy.  See, healthy doesn’t mean hard or a lot of ingredients.

Divide evenly onto your plates and top with walnuts.  Like I said, this dish would pair nicely with some quinoa or brown rice.  Enjoy your healthy dinner.

Everytime I have ever made this everyone goes crazy for it.  Once again, I used creamy Gruyere cheese, crunchy pine nuts, sauteed spinach and crimini mushrooms.  All wrapped in a flaky puff pastry.

Get ready to look like a rock star when you serve this delicious dish.  Let me show you just how easy it can be. 

**For those who would like to do ahead, you can make the filling a day in advance and fill the puff pastry several hours before you are ready to bake it. 

I prefer to use the panko bread crumbs, but the seasoned were all I had on hand.  I like the texture and flavor of the panko better.

In a 12″ skillet heat the butter and oil.  Add 2 tablespoons of the minced shallots and two minced garlic cloves.  Saute for about one minute, then add in the mushrooms, saute for approximately 10 minutes on medium heat.  Lightly salt and pepper.

Remove from heat, place in large bowl.

Once again heat 1 tablespoon oil and butter in large skillet.  Add remaining shallots and remaining minced garlic cloves.  Saute for 1 minute.  Add into the skillet your chopped spinach.  Stir the spinach around well to coat with the oil and shallots mixture.

Once the spinach has wilted down, about 8 minutes, place in a collander to let any remaining juices drain out.

In a large bowl mix together the spinach and mushrooms.

 Add in the cheese and bread crumbs.  Give it a good stir.

Lay out one sheet of puff pastry onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Evenly distribute the filling onto the puff pastry, leaving about a 1″ border.

Place the second sheet over the mushroom/spinach mixture.  Trim the sides of any excess puff pastry.  Crimp together the edges.

With a sharp knife, slit the the top.  Brush with the egg wash.

Lightly dust with salt and pepper.  Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

Ahhh, yes.  The puff pastry should come out to be a nice deep golden brown.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Be prepared to give this recipe out to all who get to enjoy it! (Your vegetarian friends will love you for making such a delicious dish).

 

This dip is really kind of like a kicked up bean hummus.  Pairs great with pita chips.

Really, what’s not to love with a line-up like this.

Okay, tilt your head a little to the right to view this photo.    In the bowl of a food processor place the Romano or Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, pepper, red pepper, garlic and white beans. 

Process until smooth.

Put puree in medium bowl and add the spinach and artichokes.  I just couldn’t help myself and added a little bit of the Gruyere cheese.  I love the stuff.

Spray your baking dish with cooking spray, evenly distribute the bean/spinach mixture into the dish and then top with the cheese.

Pop this bad boy into a pre-heated 350 degree F.  oven for about 20 minutes or until bubbly and brown on top.  Serve with your favorite pita chips. 

The dip is very thick and hearty (and just a little addictive).  Pairs perfect with friends, football and a nice glass of chardonnay.

This does make enough for about 20 healthy servings.  Just halve all of the ingredients to bring it down to a more reasonable amount of servings.

I served this for our Christmas Eve dinner, but it would be great for any large gathering.  How about Superbowl Sunday?  I say yes!

Don’t get scared with the long list of ingredients.  There is a lot of chopping.  I prepared and chopped all my vegetables and meat the day before I started so everything came together very easily.

Yep, I did this all one day in advance and kept them fresh in a zip lock bag.  Be sure that you cut your veggies evenly….it just looks prettier that way : )

Here is the secret to giving this dish lots of flavor.  Use the Evergood Hot Link Sausages.  I found them at Costco.  They are tasty in the morning, too.  Just sayin’.

Use about 1 1/2 pounds of skinless, boneless chicken thighs.  Yummy.

Of course everything is better with bacon.  I thought that using the bacon grease would give the dish such a nice flavor, and I was right. 

You can use the bacon bits to mix into your breadcrumb topping.  I just at them as I was cooking.

Last but not least I used a pork tenderloin.  The meat came out so tender.

Cut all the meat into bite-sized pieces.  I also prepped this a day in advance as well.

In a large stock pot or Dutch oven fry up the bacon pieces.  Once browned removed bacon from pan and set aside.  Pour all the grease into a small bowl. We are going to use that later. Keep about 2 tablespoons of the grease in the bottom of the pan

Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and brown the chicken.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Season the pork tenderloin pieces with salt and pepper, add a little more bacon grease to the pan and brown all sides of the pork.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

Mince your garlic and add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the renderings of the pan.  Saute the garlic for about 1 minute on medium heat.

Add the onion, celery and carrots to the pan.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  Saute on medium for about 10 minutes.

Drain the can of tomatoes.

To the vegetable mixture add the tomato paste….

Then add the white wine, chicken broth, drained diced tomatoes and the seasonings.

Add the browned chicken and pork pieces back into the stock pot.  Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and let it go for 40 minutes.

Here is where I stopped.  I allowed it to cool and I popped it into the refrigerator until the next day when I was ready to put it all together.  The next day when you are ready, bring it to a light boil and proceed with the other steps.

Prepare the bread crumb topping.  I can’t really remember how much I used, so I am just guessing at the amounts here.  You want enough Panko bread crumbs to generously top the cassoulet.

To the Panko bread crumbs add the melted butter and the fresh Parmesan cheese.  The bread crumbs should be nice and moist, but not wet.  You may have to add a little more butter to the mix.  Set aside until you are ready to use.

I browned the sausage.  It probably isn’t a necessary step but I just wanted to give the sausage a little color.

Then in a 12″ skillet melt about 2 tablespoons of butter and saute the chopped mushrooms until soft and all of the moisture is gone.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Add the mixture from the stockpot into a large baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes then add in your beans (that you have drained and rinsed), the sausage and sauteed mushrooms.

Back into the oven it goes for another 30 minutes.  Uncovered.  However, if it the pieces sticking up start to burn, cover with foil.

Now sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly on top of the cassoulet.

Put back into oven for an additional 15 minutes or until the bread crumbs turn a nice golden brown.  Oh man, it smells soooooo good.

Remove from oven and allow the cassoulet to sit for about 15 minutes before serving.

Serve with some nice crusty French bread and a simple green salad.  I can’t wait until you try it!!

 Chop the sundried tomatoes, then drain them on a paper towel.  I prefer the sundried tomatoes that have been marinating in olive oil.  They are a little more flavorful, but you do need to make sure that they are drained well.

Chop the fresh spinach.

In a large skillet melt 1 tablespoon of butter, then add half of the minced shallots and half of the minced garlic.  Saute for about 1 or 2 minutes.

Add in the chopped spinach.  Stir well to coat with the butter.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.

Once the spinach is wilted, put into a collander to drain any excess liquid.  Set aside.

In same skillet melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, add the remaining shallots and garlic and saute for a minute.  Add in the mushrooms.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  Stir well, saute for about 10 minutes on medium heat.  Once there is no more liquid in pan and the mushrooms are soft, remove from heat and set aside.

Now we start to layer.  Lightly spray a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray.  Layer the bread (without any overlapping or crowding) on the bottom of the pan.  Top with the spinach and the sundried tomatoes.

Now l ayer with the mushrooms.

Sprinkle the freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Ending the middle layer with 3/4 cup of Gruyere cheese.  You could even use a little bit of tomato and basil flavored feta cheese and a sprinkling of pine nuts here, too. 

Be creative.

Play with your food!

Top with remaining bread.

And the rest of the Gruyere cheese.

In a medium bowl whisk together the milk and the eggs.

Evenly pour over the top of the strata.

Top strata with the freshly sliced tomatoes.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  Cover strata with foil and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.  When ready to bake be sure to take out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before.  Then pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 45 to 55 minutes or until set in the middle and lightly golden brown on top.  Let sit for about 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven.  Slice and serve.

This delicious and savory strata will be the hit of your gathering.

The textures just blend together with each other and well, bacon.  Need I say more?

This will be the star of any meal paired with your ham, turkey, steaks and pork.  Heck, I could just make a main course out of them.

So  here is the deal.  The secret to a good potato gratin is in the technique, and this one is simple.  Start by slicing your potatoes about 1/8″ thick (using a mandolin will give you the best, most accurate results).  Simmer the potatoes in cream and chicken broth until barely tender.  Then layering the potatoes with flavorful bacon and sauteed leeks, shallots and garlic.  But wait, there’s more.  The creamy Gruyere cheese will put it over the top with its delicious creamy flavor.  But wait, there’s more.  The crunchy bread crumb topping will k eep everyone coming back for more.

Cut your bacon into bite-sized pieces.  Cook until nice and crispy.  Let drain on paper towel and set aside.

Be sure to wash your leeks well.  Dry and chop.  Chop the shallots and garlic, too.

Using 2 tablespoons of the reserved bacon grease and 2 tablespoons of butter, start sauteeing the leek mixture.

Saute until nice and golden brown, like the one on the right.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

In a food processor finely crumble the bread, add the melted butter and grated Parmesan cheese.  Pulse until all is incorporated.  Set aside.

Using a mandoline thinly cut the potatoes into 1/8″ thick slices.

In a 12″ skillet add the potatoes, cream and chicken broth.

“The advantage to this method are several:  simmering gives the potatoes more opportunity to soak up flavor; starches are released into the liquid earlier, which  helps prevent curdling during baking; and the top layer of the potatoes reains moist.

There are only three fundamental components to any potato gratin-the potatoes, the liquid, and the top crust.  My favorite gratin potatoes are medium-starch, buttery Yukon Golds.  As opposed to russets, which drink up all the liquid and make a drier gratin, and waxy potatoes, which don’t absorb enough, Yukon Golds soak up plenty of liquid but still leave discernible layers in your finished gratin.

For a classic gratin-rich creamy, indultent-heavy cream is key.  But you can also use light cream, a mixture of cream and milk, or even just broth.”

I just quoted the above from Fine Cooking.  They said it so well.

Partially cover, over medium to medium-low heat, stirring occasionally and gently with a rubber spatula until barely tender when pierced with a fork, about 8 to 12 minutes.

Layer half the potatoes onto the bottom of your baking dish.

Evenly distribute the bacon in one layer, topping that with the leek mixture.

Top both layers with the delicious and creamy Gruyere cheese.

Top with the remaining potatoes and then with the bread crumbs.

Bake the gratin in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until bubbly on the sides and the topping is a nice golden brown.

Allow the gratin to sit for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

You will be asked to make these delicious potatoes for the rest of your life anywhere you go!  Enjoy.

I used a mix of half baby greens and half baby spinach.  It was perfect.

Let’s get started with the vinaigrette.  I really like the POM pomegranate juice.  The recipe says to use any mild oil, so I personally chose grapeseed oil.  Healthy and mild, kind of sounds like a Christmas song.

Add your pomegranate juice, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey and salt and pepper.

Then slowly whisk in the oil.  Minced shallots and minced garlic would be a nice addition, too.

This vinaigrette can be made several days in advance, keeping nicely in the refrigerator.

Here is where you can get really creative.  I used a red skinned pear (more festive) and dried cherries.  You could use apples as the fruit, and cranberries or even pomegranate seeds.  I like using feta, it isn’t too overpowering, but you could certainly use any crumbly cheese.  I think gorgonzola would also be nice.

Once you have all the goodies chopped and ready to go just toss with the greens and the vinaigrette right before serving.  Top the salad with the toasted hazelnuts.  What a great way to start a holiday meal.

Let me show you how.

Just three little ingredients to put a huge smile on someone’s face.  One pint of good quality vanilla ice cream, 16 ounces of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough and whip cream.

If you want to go a little crazy top with some hot fudge or even caramel topping, but why stop there….sprinkle on some nuts with a cherry on top. 

In an 8-inch round cake pan evenly spread out the cookie dough.  Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for about 18-20 minutes.

Ahhh, it will be nice and golden brown.  Let it cool for about 20 minutes.

Evenly spread the vanilla ice cream on top of the cookie crust.  To get the ice cream a little soft, let it sit out at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

At this point you can return the bazooki back into the freezer.

Once you have the ice cream evenly distributed…..

Top with whip cream.  Don’t do this step ahead, though.  The pre-bought whip cream will just fizzle out and you will be left with a soupy mess.  So top with whip cream right before you are ready to serve.

Tada, one easy and extremely kid friendly dessert.  Happy baking.

Just don’t tell anyone, but it is crazy easy to put together.  Who doesn’t like a dish you can throw together the night before and pop it into the oven before your guests arrive.  They will walk through the door smelling this deliciously sweet breakfast casserole.    Let’s get started.

Cut your French bread into 1/2-inch thick slices.  Layer the bread in three rows in a 9×13″ pan.  The bread will overlap just a little bit.  Oh, and be sure to spray or butter your pan before you put your bread in the pan.

Mix together the eggs, half and half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and ground nutmeg.

Pour the mixture over the bread slices, making sure that the overlapped pieces get a little something, too.

Once the egg mixture has been poured over the top of the bread, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Take out the casserole about an hour before you are going to bake it.  This will take the chill off of the dish and will cook a little more evenly for you.

I made the praline topping the night before as well.  You just don’t want to spread it onto the bread until right before you are ready to bake the casserole.

Mix together the room temperature butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Once this is mixed together add in the pecans.

Gently spread on the bread.  I had to put the praline mixture in the microwave for about 15 seconds so it would spread a little easier.  You just don’t want to tear the bread.

Now pop in the pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until puffed and lightly golden.  Serve with maple syrup and a simple fruit salad.  Entertaining really can be easy.