Category Archives: Heart-Healthy

Garlic and Soy Sauce Marinated Grilled Chicken

Asian Style, BBQ, Chicken, Heart-Healthy
Garlic and Soy Sauce Marinated Grilled Chicken

Garlic and Soy Sauce Marinated Grilled Chicken

Wanted to grill something this past weekend. But we didn’t have much in the house and this is the season when all the yard work makes every weekend minute precious– no time in the schedule for a last-minute grocery store run. Let’s see what we have…hmmm, some boneless chicken breasts. OK, but how to season them…a spice rub? Nahh, done that many times. Maybe some kind of marinade, but what kind exactly? What to make, what to make… finally decided on a quasi-Asian style marinade. Only had a few hours to marinate it, but it turned out great! For a side dish I made some fried rice with ingredients I had on hand– that’s what’s in the background of the pic above. The rice turned out really good too– I’ll make a separate post on the fried rice next week.

Ingredients:

  • 4 Chicken Breasts, Boneless or better yet, Bone-in. Dark meat such as chicken thighs work really well for this recipe too.
  • 1/2 Cup Water
  • 1/2 Cup Peanut Oil
  • 1/4 Cup Mirin (Rice Vinegar)
  • 2-3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
  • 1 Teaspoon Fine-Ground Black Pepper
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Toasted Sesame Oil
  • 1 Whole Head of Garlic

 

Special Utensils:

  • Meat Thermometer
  • Garlic Press (optional)

 

Serves 4

Separate the cloves from the head of garlic and remove the skins. Dice up the garlic, or better yet, crush the cloves in a garlic press. Mix the garlic with the rest of the marinade ingredients. Marinate the chicken for at least several hours, preferably overnight.

As always, heat up enough charcoal to cover half the grill, and either burn some of your favorite hardwood down to coals or soak some wood chips for smoking. What I’ve been doing lately is lighting the charcoal in a chimney starter, then pouring out the coals onto the bottom of the grill when they’re good and ignited (but before they’re covered in gray ash, meaning they’re ready for cooking). I put some pieces of wood on the charcoal so it has a chance to catch fire, burn down to coals and be ready for cooking when the charcoal’s ready. the slightly quicker, easier method is to briefly soak wood chips, and throw the chips on the charcoal when it’s ready for cooking. I used apple wood, and it worked really well with this recipe.

Here’s a tip for cooking marinated meats when the coals and the smoking wood are ready– I tried this with the chicken, and it worked nicely. Usually you want to cook the meat on the hot side of the grill first to get a nice sear on the outside, then move to the cooler side of the grill to finish cooking. This works great if you used a dry rub, or you’re cooking some nice steaks seasoned only with a little salt and pepper. But if you take marinated meat directly from the marinade to the hot side of the grill it will drip on the coals and create a sooty smoke that may give the meat an off-taste. Also, it’ll be hard to get a good sear on the wet marinated meat right away. Works better to cook on the cooler side of the grill first– put down a drip pan or some foil to catch the excess marinade. Use the meat thermometer and when the chicken is close to temperature, move to the hot side of the grill to brown both sides of the chicken last. Cook to 165 degrees, let the chicken rest for a few minutes, serve and enjoy!

 

Diced Potatoes on the Grill

BBQ, Heart-Healthy, Quick Meals, Sides, Vegetarian

potatoesAfter

Now that warm-weather grilling season is here in Michigan, I thought I’d focus a little more on BBQ/grilling side dishes. Here’s one my dad used to make when he grilled in the backyard. I’ve added to it but the principal of cooking the diced potatoes in foil is the same as when he did it back when I was a kid. It’s a great-tasting side that’ll go with anything you’re grilling or barbequing. Simple, and a nice change of pace over plain old whole potatoes wrapped in foil and grilled.

Ingredients:

  • 5 medium-sized potatoes, skin-on, washed and scrubbed
  • 1 medium sized onion
  • Sweet red, orange or yellow peppers (optional)
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil or butter
  • 1-2 tablespoons granulated garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon salt

 

Special Utensils:

  • Heavy-duty aluminum foil

 

Serves 2-4

Pull out a long piece of foil from the roll. I usually pull out a 3-foot long piece and fold it in half for extra strength. Dice up the potatoes into around one-inch squares. I leave the skins on, but you could peel the potatoes first if you like. Dice up the onion and peppers (if you’re using peppers) and add it all to the foil sheet. Then drizzle the olive oil and apple cider vinegar over and add the salt, pepper, garlic powder and thyme. Grab both ends of the foil sheet and kind of roll the potato mixture back and forth to help distribute the spices. oil. etc. This is what it should look like at this point:

potatoesBeforeNow take the top and bottom of the foil sheet and wrap it together carefully, rolling the top of the seam down to make a good semi-airtight seal. Do the same with the sides. Get the charcoal going or turn the gas burners up on one side. Now here’s the trick to making the potatoes really good– lay the foil package right on top of the heating-up coals, or put them where the gas flame is the hottest. Turn over at regular intervals. The idea is to brown the potatoes just enough to carmelize them and increase the flavors, to get that hash brown flavor– not enough heat and all you’ll get are steamed potatoes.

Get the potatoes sizzling away nicely on the high heat first, and when you start to grill you can back off on the heat to the potatoes. By the time your BBQ is ready you should be able to open a perfectly cooked pouch of potatoes. Enjoy!

Chicken Piccata

Chicken, Heart-Healthy, Pasta Dishes, Quick Meals
Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata

Here’s my version of an old Italian classic. This is a quick version that uses mostly ingredients that are not too perishable and that you’re likely to have on hand (if you’re like us and have garlic available at all times) so if you have unexpected company for dinner this is an easy and impressive meal to throw together at a 1/2 hour or hour notice.

Ingredients:

  • 4 Boneless Chicken Breasts
  • 1 14 oz. Can Low-Sodium Chicken Stock
  • 1/2 Cup White Wine
  • 1/2 – 1 Bulb Garlic
  • 1 Can Quartered Artichokes
  • 1/2 Red Pepper
  • 4 Tbsp. Capers
  • 1 Tbsp. Butter
  • 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
  • Juice of 1 Large Lemon
  • Salt/Pepper to Taste
  • Shredded Parmesan Cheese
  • Pasta-Spaghetti
  • 2 Tbsp. Flour

For Breading:

  • 3 Tbsp. Flour
  • 1 Tsp. Salt
  • 1 Tsp. Granulated Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 Tsp. Pepper

Serves 4

For this meal I used some homemade chicken stock and simmered it down, but you can use canned chicken stock and simmer it to reduce by 1/2. This meal is all about intense flavors. Use low-sodium stock since you’re concentrating it. It’s a good idea to start simmering the stock first since it will take around 1/2 hour to reduce it.

Dice up the red peppers very thin (most Chicken Piccata recipes don’t use red pepper, but I added a little here for vitamins and color). Dice up the garlic very fine, or use a garlic press. I like garlic so I use nearly a whole bulb of garlic, but you might want to just use a few cloves.

Butterfly the chicken breasts so they are the same thickness throughout (that means cutting into the thick part of the breast from the center, so you can fold it open like a book). It’s also a good idea to pound the chicken thinner so it cooks through quickly. You can put the chicken between two pieces of clear wrap and roll or pound it thin with a soup can or just about anything handy. I just used my fist, caveman-style.

heat up some butter or smart balance, and olive oil in a pan, and while that’s heating up, mix the flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder together, spread it out on a plate and cover the chicken breasts.

Heat up a skillet with the butter and olive oil, and brown the chicken on both sides. When it’s nicely browned on the outside, take it out and put it in the oven at 350 degrees to finish cooking. Add the red pepper and garlic to the pan and cook until it’s softened up. Pour the white wine into the pan to deglaze it, scraping the browned stuff off the pan. Add the chicken stock, artichokes, and capers and simmer a little longer.

Mix the 2 tbsp. flour with a little water to make a paste and stir it into the chicken stock mixture to thicken up. Mix in lemon juice.

Take chicken out of oven and add to plate with cooked spaghetti. Cover all with sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Smoked Chicken Jalapeno Soup

BBQ, Chicken, Heart-Healthy, Soup, Spicy
Smoked Chicken Jalapeno Soup

Smoked Chicken Jalapeno Soup

This is a good one. I first came up with a variation of it looking for a way to get creative with some smoked fish on a camping trip. I usually use chicken now, because it’s more typical I’ll have some leftover smoked chicken on hand. It was perfect for this past Labor Day Weekend, because I had just happened to have some applewood-smoked chicken left over from a barbeque, and I have a ton of tomatoes and jalapeno peppers from the garden. The combination of spiciness, smokiness and citric flavors (from the lime juice) work together fantastically.

Ingredients:

  • Smoked or Barbecued Chicken
  • 30 oz. Chicken Stock
  • 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes or several fresh tomatoes
  • 1 Green Pepper
  • 3-5 Jalapeno Peppers
  • 1 Large Onion
  • 4-5 Cloves Garlic
  • 3-4 Celery Stalks
  • 2 Carrots (optional)
  • Juice of 1 Large or 2 Small Limes
  • Black Pepper to taste
  • 1/2 Tsp. Thyme
  • 1 Tsp. Oregano
  • 2-3 Bay Leaves
  • 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

I added carrots for a little extra color this time, but I usually don’t add carrots to this, so I consider them optional. What I DON’T consider optional is the lime juice and the jalapenos. If you don’t want it to be too spicy I’d recommend cutting out the seeds and the ribs that attach the seeds to the inside of the jalapeno peppers, instead of using fewer peppers or leaving them out altogether.

Dice up vegetables. Dice or shred chicken. Squeeze lime juice and set aside.

Cook diced peppers, onion celery and garlic in olive oil until they soften up. Add chicken stock, tomatoes, and the rest of the ingredients except for the chicken and lime juice.

Note: Even though I had some frozen home-made chicken stock on hand, I just used canned chicken stock for this soup. I like to save the good stock for recipes that benefit the most from the flavor and richness of the home-made stock, but this soup has so much going for it flavor-wise I decided to save the good stock. You may disagree, and decide to use good stock for this if you have it.

Simmer for about 1/2 hour, add the chicken and simmer for another 20 minutes to 1/2 hour (since the chicken is already cooked, I don’t add it right away but I like to let it simmer long enough to let the smoky flavor mix in). Add the lime juice at the end, after the soup is done cooking– if you add it at the beginning the lime flavor won’t be as “bright”.

Serve with pasta or rice. You could even dice up some potatoes and throw them in, same time as the chicken. I usually prefer rice, but I had some pasta left over from the day before, so I used that in the photo.

Enjoy!

 

 

Tomato-Basil Rice

Heart-Healthy, Quick Meals, Sides
Tomato-Basil Rice

Tomato-Basil Rice

I came up with this recipe years ago, late one summer when I was getting tired of using the tomatoes and basil from my garden in pasta-based recipes. So I came up with this rice dish instead, and it turned out great! This is a great side for barbecued chicken and seafood. It’s another crowd-pleaser- everybody loves it.

I used hearts of palm in this recipe– Kristina found big jars of it cheap at Costco, so I added it to the recipe. It goes good in this recipe…hearts of palm taste similar to artichoke hearts. If you can’t find hearts of palm, don’t worry about it– I made this for years without adding that particular ingredient.

Ingredients:

  • 14 oz. rice (Basmati works well for this)
  • 2 medium size tomatoes, diced, or 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup basil leaves, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1/2-1 green pepper, diced
  • Any other peppers from your garden if you want it spicy, diced
  • 28 oz. chicken stock, or 28 oz. total with liquid from tomatoes (total volume of liquid should be twice vol. of rice)
  • Hearts of palm, diced up (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1/2 cup shredded or grated parmesan cheese
  • Salt, to taste
  • Fresh ground pepper

Serves 3-4

Heat olive oil in a pot. Add onions, peppers and garlic and saute until they’re kinda softened up. Add chicken stock, diced tomatoes, salt, pepper and chopped basil leaves and get it boiling. Throw rice in, turn down to low and cover.

Rice will take about 20 minutes to cook. When rice has about 5 minutes left to cook, stir in the hearts of palm (if you’re adding them) and the parmesan cheese (this is not optional). Turn heat off and let it sit covered for 10 minutes for rice to finish absorbing liquid and for all flavors to combine. Enjoy!