Categories
Cooking

Stuff It

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One night, I decided I was bored of the several ways in which I generally make chicken breast so I decided to butterfly a whole breast and stuff it in a way I hadn’t done before. In the stuffing we have… spinach, caramelized onion, Greek yogurt, Feta cheese, and a little salt. I had never thought to use Greek yogurt for stuffing chicken breast until now but it kicked some major ass. It kept the stuffing moist and creamy yet held together very well after cooking. The texture of the spinach was nice and the feta was a nice salty bite amongst everything else, especially the subtle yogurt flavor. I paired the chicken with a bell pepper stuffed with a simple mushroom and onion (mostly mushroom) sauté topped with a little bit of shredded gouda. The first thing I did for this dish was caramelize some yellow onion and put half in a bowl for the stuffing and left half remaining in the pan which I used to make the mushroom mixture. I added my mushroom-stuffed bell peppers in a 350 degree oven. In the meantime, I heated 1 tbsp. of butter and 1 tbsp. of olive oil in an oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. I dusted salt and pepper all over my chicken breast, including the cavity, and stuffed it. Next, I browned the chicken on both sides (this took about 3 minutes on each side) and put it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. The most important thing about this dish is not overcooking the chicken… it will not be very forgiving if cooked improperly. I actually checked the temperature of the thickest part of the breast outside of the oven to ensure it was right around 160 and then let it rest for 10-15 minutes before serving. This was such an enjoyable meal.

Categories
Cooking

Spice up your Tomato Soup

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Popular canned tomato soup is good, but I’m not convinced that its that good. So if I’m eating it, I’m usually adding something. I’ve decided my favorite thing to do is roast a red bell pepper over the stove until the skin is blackened and can be easily peeled once cooled. Next I put the bell pepper, a little bit of the soup, and a little bit of a chipotle pepper in adobo sauce in the blender and blend until smooth. Finally, the blended mixture gets added to the soup and heat it up and you’re done. This whole process really doesn’t take too much time and you’re left with a kick-ass tomato soup. I topped the soup with some parmesan and parsley. If I had basil in the house it would have been basil. Try pairing the soup with grilled cheese.