Roasted Tandoori-Chipotle Chili Powder Chicken with CSA Veggies

I have to say, chicken has never been a favorite meal of mine.

My biggest issue with chicken is that my mom (as amazing of a cook as she is) has always overcooked chicken to the point of it being as crumbly as the fantastic baking powder biscuits she usually made to go with them.  I never really realized chicken was supposed to be…juicy.

As a result, my diet had largely consisted of red meat throughout my cooking-on-my-own years.

Fast forward to now and me not really eating red meat anymore, and I’m finding more and more chicken in my diet (when it’s on sale, of course).

I’ve been making this meal lately, partly because picky-boyfriend-Dave likes it a lot and partly because it’s really freaking easy.

Picky-boyfriend-Dave also lives in Indy now, so we’ve been making it out to Trader Joes every week or two.  This past time I went I picked up a bag of all natural chicken breasts for $7.00.

I don’t know about everyone else in the CSA world, but I am completley overrun with potatoes and garlic.  Especially garlic.  I literally have 15 bulbs sitting in my pie cabinet right now.  Fortunately, potatoes and garlic go perfectly with roasted chicken. 🙂

One thing I have been doing with my roasted chicken is seasoning it to the point I feel as though I may be over seasoning it  I have determined, however, that this is not possible, and the more seasoning the better (especially if you have chicken from a butcher that has good skin on it).

Something I did at the end was put parmesan on top.  I totally don’t recommend this.  I don’t know..I just don’t think it goes well with roasted potatoes (but tastes good with the chicken).  I also don’t think I like parmesan cheese that much, so maybe my opinion on this isn’t the best.

Roasted Tandoor-Chipotle Chili Powder Chicken with CSA Veggies

-chop potatoes, greens, garlic, and cucumber and toss them in olive oil in a roasting pan

-liberally rub two chicken breasts with tandoori, chipotle chili powder, cumin, and salt; place on top of veggies

-chop quarter tomatoes and place on top of chicken

-roast at 400 degrees for ~30 minutes; cut the thickest part of the chicken to make sure it is completley done

Total Price: $8.08

2 all natural chicken breasts: $2.20
5 organic potatoes: $2.00
1 organic cucumber: $0.88
4 cloves organic garlic: $0.40
4 stalks organic collard greens: $1.30
3 organic tomatoes: $1.30

$8.08 isn’t bad since this fed 2 and there is still 25% of the chicken leftover, plus a lunch worth’s amount of veggies.

CSA Garlic Potato Salad

Today we had our welcome back chemistry picnic and I was in charge of bringing a side.

I REALLY needed to use up, oh, the 8 bulbs of garlic, the garlic scapes, and a million bags of potatoes I have accumulated in the past couple weeks.

While flipping through a cookbook my sister got me (Simply in Season) I found a recipe for garlic potato salad (which I slightly adapted).

PERFECT.

Garlic Potato Salad

-add 6 cups of diced potatoes to boiling water and let cook for 5 minutes; drain

-finely chop 4 garlic scapes and 1 clove of garlic, toss garlic in with potatoes

-finely chop 1 cup red onion; toss with potatoes

-add 1/4 cup olive oil
-add 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
-add 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
-add salt and pepper to taste

So, this was actually surprisingly good, albeit crazy garlicky.  I had about half leftover, so I assume this will find many uses over the next few days.  Tonight?  I added it to tomato soup, which was pretty good.

Honestly, I have no clue what the total cost of this was because I used so many random leftovers…I would say probably $3 worth of potatoes, $0.20 worth of garlic, $2.50 worth of onions.

So, I guess this ended up being ~$5.70.

From what I’ve learned, it seems as though organic side dishes aren’t the most economical.  BUT, only about $2.60’s worth was eaten..and I’ll be eating this for the whole week so it worked out?

 

 

“Creamy” Root Vegetable Soup with Turkey Meatballs

I don’t know what it is with me and making creamy soup without creamy ingredients, but I really like it.

finished product 🙂

I wish I had taken a picture of all the ingredients used because it ended up being quite a few.  This was definitely a night for slow cooking 🙂

The last time I went to B-foods, I bought quite a few new ingredients that I’ve been wanting to try.  Mainly, I wanted tonight’s meal to involve red lentils and celery root.

celery root - one of the ugliest vegetables known to man

I also had barley, potatoes, onion, and turnip so I thought soup would be great.  I’ve been thawing ground turkey so I wanted to incorporate that, too.

This soup turned out to be amazing.  (My boyfriend wants me to include that he’s pickky and he thought it was great).  Interestingly, the red lentils disappeared.  I had anticipated them to become pretty soft, but I didn’t think they would completely lose their color and disintegrate.  I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure this is why the soup became so creamy.  It had the consistency of cream of celery.

The soup used little seasoning, and could very easily carry itself without the meatballs if you’re vegetarian.

Creamy Root Vegetable Soup with Turkey Meatballs

–bring 8 cups of water to a boil, add 3/4 cups barley and 3/4 cups lentils (I’m going to be completley honest- these are estimates, I just poured them in)
-add 2 diced potatoes, 1/2 a diced celery root, 2 diced carrots, 1/2 a diced onion, 1/4 diced turnip
-add a bay leaf and salt, pepper, and sage to taste.  (I honestly probably used at least 2 teaspoons salt)

While the soup is simmering, make the meatballs.
-in a bowl combine 3/4 cups ground turkey, 1 egg, 1 chopped garlic clove, salt, pepper, parsley, fennel, crushed red pepper, and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.
-mix with your hands, form into balls, and place onto a frying pan with vegetable oil.
-brown on all sides, then place in the oven at 380 degrees for 8 minutes, or until cooked all the way through

fresh out of the oven

-Add the meatballs to the soup and let simmer for 5 more minutes

The meatballs went nicely with the soup.  As I said earlier, I would compare the soup to a cream of celery – light, yet filling and refreshing.  The meatballs add a little extra, but aren’t necessary.  The parmesan cheese really came through in these meatballs and complemented the soup well.

I was pleasantly surprised with the celery root.  It had a nice flavor, somewhat between a potato and celery.  Picky boyfriend Dave says he wold have enjoyed it if it had been chopped more.  He claims it was a little overwhelming.  I claim it was delicious and should have been chopped less.

I’m glad I saved the other half of the celery root (instead of using it all in the soup) because I’m looking forward to experimenting with it.

Total Cost: $5.54

-organic pearled barley: $0.36
-organic red lentils: $0.67
– 2 organic potatoes: $0.40
-1/2 organic onion: $0.21
-1/2 organic celery root: $0.59
-1/4 organic turnip: $0.12
-2 carrots: free! (borrowed from awesome roommate Becca)
-3/4 lb organic ground turkey: $1.92
-1/4 cup parmesan cheese: $1.00
-1 clove  organic garlic: $0.10
-1 egg: $0.17

This soup was enough for Dave and I to each have two bowls plus there are a couple bowls left over.  Definitely a good deal 🙂

Squash Part 2

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures for this one.  We’ve been making a habit out of Friday night dinners with friends, and I was so excited to try my potato-squash-onion-ground beef pizza that I forgot to take a picture of it.  Actually, my roommate reminded me that I should have as I was taking my first big bite.  That’s okay, though, this post can be an exercise in imaginatory brain power.

I was a little bit nervous about my pizza because I have never had most of the ingredients I used on a pizza before.  I don’t mind making something and having it be bad if it’s just for me, but when other people are involved, I tend to care a little bit more 🙂

The pizza turned out fantastically, though.  If I were to change anything, I would utilize some advice that was given in a comment on a previous post and roast the potatoes a bit before putting them on the pizza.  I thought the garlic olive oil sauce was a great complement to the toppings.  I would maybe use a little bit less next time, though.  Here is what I did:

Potato-Squash-Onion-Ground Beef Pizza with Garlic-infused Olive Oil Sauce
-at least 3 hours ahead of time, make the pizza crust (mix 1-1/2 cups wheat flour, 1/4 tsp yeast, 3/8 cup warm water (I probably ended up using closer to 3/4 cups) in a food processor until a ball of dough forms, let rest for 3+ hours)
-prebake crust at 410 degrees C for 10 minutes
-while the crust is baking, put 3 tablespoons olive oil in a small sauce pan and crush or finely chop a clove of garlic into the oil.  Set stove-top to low and let sit while crust bakes, stirring occasionally.
-thinly slice 2 potatoes and 1/4 onion
-brown 1/4 lb ground beef, add salt/pepper
-pull pre-roasted butternut squash out of the fridge
-after crust is done baking, brush olive oil/garlic mixture over the crust.
-add fennel and italian seasoning
-add desired amount of cheese
-add potato slices, onions, ground beef, and squash on top.  I would suggest salting the potato slices
-pop in the oven for another 8-10 minutes

Total Price: $3.79

crust: $0.61
garlic: $0.10
cheese (not organic): $1.00 (old cheese from before this project began)
squash: $0.13
potatoes: $0.60
onion: $0.20
ground beef: $0.75