Mediterranean Chicken and Orzo

Adapted from: Betty Crocker Easy Weeknight Meals, September 2002

Prep: 10 min. Cook: 23 min.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts  (approx. 1 1/4 lbs.) (I would go by weight not by number of chicken breasts)
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced  (using garlic press)
1 1/3 c. orzo
2 c. vegetable broth (using vegetable bullion or a can)
1/2 c. water
1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into fourths, then cut crosswise into slices (1.5 c.)
3 roma or plum tomatoes, cut into fourths and slices (approx. 1.5 c.)
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped (1 c.)
1/4 c. crumbled feta cheese (about 2 oz.)
Pitted kalamata olives (optional)

Directions: 

1. Heat oil in dutch oven or large skillet over medium-high heat.  Sprinkle salt and pepper on each side of chicken.  Cook chicken, for 5 minutes on each side or until brown. Take chicken out of skillet and transfer to a plant to keep warm.

2. Combine garlic, orzo, vegetable broth, and water in skillet and heat on high to boiling.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer about 8 minutes, being SURE to stir every so often, until most of liquid is absorbed.

3. Stir in rosemary, zucchini, tomatoes, and green pepper.  Add the warm chicken.  Heat  to boiling and again reduce heat.  Cover and simmer about 5 minutes, stirring once (or more often to keep orzo from sticking to bottom of pan), until bell pepper is tender but a little crisp and pasta is al dente.  Sprinkle finished product with feta and olives.

Makes 4 servings.

This is the plated finished result.  This was a fairly simple recipe and turned out delicious.

Nutritional information:

1 serving
Calories: 380 (calories from fat 80)
Fat: 9g (saturated: 2g)
Cholesterol: 75mg
Sodium: 830mg
Carbs: 42g
Fiber 4g
Protein: 37g
Vitamin A: 28%
Vitamin C: 40%
Calcium: 6%
Iron: 20%

Pork with Apples and Squash

Adapted from: Betty Crocker Easy weeknight meals, September 2002. 

Prep: 15 min. Cook:21 min.

Ingredients:

3-4 lean pork loin chops (appox. 1 lb.)
1 tsp. ground sage
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced (using garlic press)
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/4 in. slices
1/2 c. vegetable broth (using vegetable bullion)
1 acorn squash (about 1 1/2 lbs.)
1 medium unpeeled granny smith apple, cored and cut into eighths

Instructions:

1. Trim fat from pork. Rub pork with sage, salt, pepper, and garlic.

2. Cook pork in dutch oven/skillet over medium heat for approximately 3 min. on each side (until browned).  Place onion on pork.  Pour broth around pork.  Heat to boiling, reduce heat.

3. Cut squash crosswise into 1-in. slices, being careful to remove seeds and fibers.  Cut each slice into fourths.  Add squash and apple to dutch oven/skillet on top of pork.  Cover and simmer about 15 minutes  squash is tender.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutritional information:

1 serving
Calories: 255 (calories from fat 80)
Fat: 9g (saturated: 3g)
Cholesterol: 65mg
Sodium: 590mg
Carbs: 25g
Fiber 3g
Protein: 25g
Vitamin A: 8%
Vitamin C: 12%
Calcium: 6%
Iron: 10%

So I have a bunch of recipes...

A few weeks ago, while visiting with Dad, he gave me a large mover's box worth of cookbooks, recipe boxes, magazine clippings, all containing recipes belonging to my mother and grandmother.  We don't have the space to keep them all forever, and I highly doubt my mother made or seriously intended to make a fraction of these, so I decided to sift through and try to make at least a fraction of them.

The collection includes a number of those small recipe magazines available at the checkout counter at most supermarkets, of which my mother was particularly fond.  My mission is to choose 2-5 recipes from each of these small magazines to cook, and blog about the results of each.  I am also going to endeavor to sort through the random clippings and other books to see what strikes my fancy.

I hope this blog will serve as an impetus for me to relieve my wonderful husband of cooking some meals (he really is the best) as well as help me connect in a different way with two of the ladies I loved most in this world and whose love and guidance I miss every day.

I also hope it inspires some beginner cooks out there!

Buon appetito!