Zesty Black Bean & Chicken Nacho Mammas

I’ve been craving nachos lately, good nachos, not the nasty greasy restaurant kind (although there is a time and place for those as well). 🙂 I figured I’d make us this today for a good Saturday lunch at home. It’s super easy and ALMOST impossible to f’ up! 😉  

Prep Time: 10-15 min

Cook Time: 15-20 min

Serves: 2-3 (Pictured: is just one plate, it makes two).

Ingredients

• 1 Chicken breast, cubed and cooked in the seasoning of your choice. I do a chili powder, granulated garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin. Lime is nice too.
• Tortilla chips
• Cheese, your choice. I like a blend.
• 1 C. Black beans, cooked
• 1/2 C. Tomato, diced
• 1 Serrano, sliced (you can use japs if you like less heat).
• 1/4 C. Onion, diced
• Green onion, chopped
• Limes

The rest is simple:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Cook chicken until done.
3. Lay out chips on an oven proof plate or pan. Sprinkle lightly with cheese, add beans, chicken, and more cheese.
4. Bake for 10-12 min.
5. Top with veggies and squeeze lime on top.
6. Serve with your fav sauce or crema.  We used our friends award winning Salsa Verde, she was in the Taco Experiment with us and placed first audience pick, and for good reason! 

Enjoy and Cheers!

Happy New Year from Zestybeandog and Co! Yard Birds with Agave Garlic Citrus Jalapeno Glaze, Black Eyed Peas, and Sun Dried Tomato Bread

Happy 2012 to Everyone! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks but all is well in Zestybeandog Land! We have successfully had Christmas with both families, packed a 1,700 sqft house into a 10×20 storage unit, moved to Lago Vista from Austin to stay at Evan’s  parents home for the next 1-2 years while they’re in Singapore, unpacked some kitchen stuff, had a low key NYE celebration playing poker and enjoying drinks, and of course cooked up a great New Year’s Day meal for everyone. We are so grateful for our families for all of the amazing help we had… or we’d probably still be packing boxes! Here’s to new adventures and good times in 2012. I wish you all the best of everything not only for 2012 but for all the years to come. Cheers!

I’d also like to give a personal shout out to my fellow foodie bloggers: Five Reflections, Rufus’s Food and Spirits Guide, Simple Speedy Snacks, Twistedvines, Talinorfali, Bam’s Kitchen, Saffron and Honey, The Kale Chronicles, The Complete Cook Book, Coffee with Caroline,Pure and Complex, Sports Glutton, Charles with Five Euro Food, Tandy with Lavender and Lime, Sweet Caroline’s Cooking,Hotly Spiced, Edible Substance, Food Diary of a Picky Eater, Adesinsa’s Kitchen AND to all I may have missed, I’m still in a food coma 😉

Yard Birds with Glaze

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 3-4 hours

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 2 Whole chickens 4-4.5 lbs each
• 1 C. Amber agave nectar
• 2 TBS Butter
• 1 Jalapeno, minced
• 1 Garlic clove, minced
• 1 Clementine, juiced
• 2 TBS Sugar
• 1 tsp Sea Salt, kosher
• 1 tsp Green peppercorn, finely ground
• Charcoal
• Mesquite wood chips, soaked in water for 20 min
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

1. Prep smoker, with about 10-12 lbs of charcoal and wood chips.
2. Make glaze in small sauce pot. Mix all ingredients besides the chicken, and last 3 items on the list. Bring to a simmer and then cook on low for 5 min, stirring occasionally.
3. Salt and pepper washed chickens, place on smoker and glaze every 30 min until chicken reached an internal temp of 165 F.

We paired this with a Brooklyn Lager 2, it was great!

Black Eyed Peas

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 3 hrs

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

• 22 oz Black eyed peas,  like Melissa’s
• 5 Thick slices of bacon, cut up into chunks
• 2 Tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 Jalapeno, diced
• 1 Garlic clove, minced
• 1.5 TBS Better than Bullion Paste
• 5 C. Water
• 2 tsp. Cumin
• 1 TBS. Pepper
• 1 tsp. Paprika
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 tsp. chili powder

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to crock pot and cook for 3 hrs on high.

Bread Recipes coming soon 🙂

Brrrr…. It’s Cold! Have Some Chicken Noodle Soup :)

I love chicken noodle soup! Evan and I rarely get sick (knock on wood) so I cannot just wait until one of us gets sick to make it 🙂 It’s good when you’re 100% I promise! Also If you haven’t already…please vote for my last blog of Bacon and Vanilla Fregola Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting that’s in the Marx Foods Dessert Challenge, voting ends today at 12 PST, it’s easy no email or registration needed to vote! Thanks for all of your support. 🙂

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 2 hrs

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 32 oz Chicken Stock (use homemade or something like Kitchen Basics).
• 1 C. Water
• 2 Chicken breasts, raw and cubed into bite sized pieces
• 2 C. Sliced or cubed carrots
• 2 C. Sliced celery
• 1/2 Large sweet yellow onion, diced
• 2 TBS Fresh thyme
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 TBS Zestybeandog Fine Herb Blend
• 1/2 TBS fresh black pepper
• 10 oz Homemade egg noodles

Instructions:

1. Transfer stock to a large pot and turn heat to high, bring to a boil.
2. Add vegetables and spices Set timer and cook for 20 min then reduce to low heat.
3. Add chicken when it has been an hour and fifteen minutes and cover.
4. During the last 20 min add pasta and cook until al dente.
5. Salt to taste. (This will vary depending on your stock you used)

Serve with cornbread, crackers, or toast….maybe even a grilled cheese.

Cheers!

Chicken and Rice Casserole the Unprocessed Version (there’s no canned mushroom soup here)!

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 1.5 – 2 hrs

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 whole free range chicken, cut into chicken pieces (remove skin and bone is left in).
• 2 cups organic chicken stock
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 cup wild rice
• 16 oz of sliced mushrooms
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1 TBS fresh thyme
• 1 TBS fresh rosemary
• 1 TBS herbs de provence (dried)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• olive oil

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a very large sauté pan on medium high or high heat (hot enough to brown but not burn). Sprinkle a dash of salt on the bottom of the pan. Season the chicken pieces all over with salt and pepper. . Remove chicken pieces and set aside in a bowl. Note that the chicken does not have to be cooked through, only browned.
2. In the same sauté pan add 1 Tbsp olive oil, lower the heat to medium, add the onions, and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, cook 30 seconds more. Remove onions and garlic to a large casserole dish.
3. Raise heat to medium high, add the sliced mushrooms. Dry sauté them (no need to add butter or oil), allowing the mushrooms to brown lightly, and release some of their moisture. Add the mushrooms to the casserole dish.
4. Add 1/4 cup dry red wine to the pan to deglaze the pan, scraping off the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Let the wine reduce to about 1 Tbsp, then add the chicken stock, and remove from heat. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the sour cream. Add the raw rice to the casserole dish. Then pour the stock, sherry, cream, sour cream mixture over the rice. Add the  or fresh herbs, herbs de provence, and paprika to the dish. Stir the rice, onion, mushroom, herb mixture so that they are evenly distributed in the casserole dish.
5. Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice mixture in a single layer if you can, they will be crowded. Cover the casserole dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake in a 375°F oven for 1 hr. Remove foil. If the casserole is still too liquidy and or rice is not done let it cook a few minutes more, uncovered, until the excess liquid has evaporated away.

Serve with any veggie you like or just have a bowl of it by itself!  I chose zucchini and squash.

Wild Rice

Chicken Breast Baked in Phyllo Dough Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Orange Marmalade

This is a super easy meal to make that tastes wonderful, I served the chicken with a gemelli pasta and brussel spouts!

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 20 min

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 16 sheets of phyllo dough
• 1 egg
• 4 TBS of goat cheese (I like Cheesy Girls “Hottie” goat cheese, she’s a local Texan cheese maker I met at Central Market).
• 2 TBS of orange marmalade (get some good stuff, not Smuckers).
• I cup of whole wheat gemelli pasta, uncooked
• 2 small campari tomatoes, cubed
• 2 tBS of parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 2 TBS of butter
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 cups of brussel sprouts

Instructions:

1. Pre-Heat Oven to 400
2. Season chicken with rosemary, salt, and pepper on both sides.
3. Cook chicken in a skillet for 2.5 min on each side to brown in olive oil (5 min total).
4. Set chicken aside and brown garlic and shallot in skillet and set aside (this is for gemelli).
5. Lay out 8 sheets of the phyllo dough square (large enough to wrap the chicken in) lay down 1 TBS orange marmalade and on top of that lay 2 TBS of goat cheese then place breast on top and fold phyllo around the chicken seal edges with egg wash and brush on top of wrapped chicken.  Repeat with other breast on remaining 8 sheets.
6. Bake in oven for 12-15 min on 400 degrees.

Gemelli Pasta

1. Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil add pasta and cook to al dente
2. Strain and transfer back to pot and add 1 TBS of butter, tomatoes, reserved garlic and shallot mixture, parmesan cheese, and salt, pepper, and rosemary to taste.  Mix well

Serve with brussel sprouts or your green of choice!

Brussels Sprouts