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Herb + Garlic + Lemon Baked Chicken

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When I first started cooking meat back in January, I definitely did not know what I was doing. I didn’t think there would be any way that I’d be coming up with my own recipes any time soon, but after lots of time in the kitchen, this chicken recipe came to be and is one of our new favorite things that I’ve made.

It’s so easy to make and is so incredibly tasty – all that you do is rub the chicken with salt, pepper and a little homemade rub, and then bake it until cooked through.

The rub
The rub is a mixture of fresh herbs – basil, sage and rosemary – fresh lemon juice and zest, fresh garlic and just a bit of oil. You could definitely mix up the herb mixture depending on what you like/have, but this combination is just so delicious. And a note on the lemon – the end result of this recipe is not overly lemony, but if you aren’t a huge lemon fan, you could definitely use less. I use avocado oil in this but I think that most oils would work just fine.

The chicken
I have been getting all of our chicken locally, and I buy whatever is available that day. Usually, it’s a whole chicken, chicken quarters, or like in these photos, chicken legs – always skin on. You can definitely use any type of chicken that you like, using the same rub and method and just adjusting the cooking time depending on what you’re baking. The amount of rub that this recipe makes is enough for about 6-8 average servings of chicken, no matter the cut. While this recipe is very easily modified depending on what you have, made as is, the flavor and texture of the chicken is just so delicious.

One other note – the side dish that is shown in these photos is worth mentioning – it’s something that Greg and I make all of the time and is so delicious. It’s collard greens and kale, cooked in butter with fresh garlic, salt, pepper and lots of fresh lemon juice. For this batch, we added fresh Romanesco cauliflower because we had some that needed to be used.  I will think about sharing the recipe at some point :).







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Herb + Garlic + Lemon Baked Chicken

Ingredients

  • 4 large garlic cloves minced
  • 1 bunch fresh basil chopped
  • 1 bunch fresh sage chopped
  • 1 bunch fresh rosemary chopped
  • Zest from one lemon
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons avocado oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 6-8 servings chicken, about 3-4 pounds

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

  2. In a small bowl, combine minced garlic, chopped herbs, lemon zest, lemon juice and avocado oil. Stir well to combine.

  3. In a large bowl, toss the chicken with salt and pepper. I usually use about 1/4 teaspoon of both salt and pepper per serving of chicken. Add garlic, herb and lemon mixture and toss to completely coat the chicken.

  4. Arrange chicken on a baking sheet and cook until internal temperature reads 165 degrees, about 20-30 minutes.

Kale, Cranberry + Walnut Stuffing (stuffed in a pumpkin!)

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I’ve got something to tell you.

I am OBSESSED with stuffing.

Oh my goodness do I love it.

When I tell people that I don’t eat turkey on Thanksgiving, I often get the response, “If you don’t eat turkey, then what do you eat?”

I eat stuffing. Lots and lots of stuffing. 

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I’m not sure when exactly this obsession started, but I’m glad it did. Stuffing makes me so happy. I even “liked” stuffing on Facebook. I’m not sure why you can do that (or how I discovered that you could), but I did. And every year around Thanksgiving, “Stuffing” begins to post on Facebook. And I secretly love it!

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I think my mom makes the best stuffing. It’s very simple and very classic, but so delicious. It has the perfect flavor. And it is so moist. It doesn’t need gravy, although I put gravy on it anyway because I also love gravy. 

And while I love and wouldn’t want to go without my mom’s amazing, classic stuffing, it is fun to experiment with it a bit, too. As far as I’m concerned, the more stuffing, the better. 🙂

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The story behind this kale, cranberry + walnut stuffing:

When I came home from Florida last week, a beautiful pumpkin was sitting on the table waiting just for me (and flowers, too!). Greg picked out the pumpkin for me at the farmers market when I was away. He said he talked to a woman about stuffing the pumpkin, and thought that I would love the idea. He knows me too well – there is nothing I would rather do this time of the year than stuff a pumpkin with stuffing! 

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I bought some multigrain bread (my favorite) and then searched my fridge and pantry for the perfect add-ins for the stuffing. I love the classic flavor combo of fresh garlic, shallots, carrots and celery so I thought that would be my base. I added baby kale because I am obsessed with adding it to everything lately. To the bread, I added dried cranberries and walnuts, just because I thought it would work. I spiced it up with plenty of dried thyme, sage, nutmeg, salt, pepper and some fresh rosemary. I used fresh rosemary because I love the flavor of fresh over dried and I know that I will use the entire package when I buy it. The only binding ingredient in this stuffing is chicken broth (use veggie broth to make it completely vegetarian!). I didn’t want to add egg, so I tried just the broth and it worked perfectly as a binder.

And just a note: stuffing doesn’t have to be wildly unhealthy to be delicious! This stuffing has only 2 tablespoons of butter in the entire thing. I used multigrain bread, nuts, dried fruit and a ton of veggies. I’m not saying it’s a health food, but you don’t have to feel guilty about indulging in this!

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My origianl plan was to cut the pumpkin top off, jack-o-lantern style. Just as if I were carving the pumpkin. But, this pumpkins skin was very thick and hard to cut through. I tried but decided I just couldn’t do it. I decided to cut the pumpkin in half, take the seeds out and stuff some stuffing into each side. It worked very well, and I think that anyway you can cut your pumpkin would work, too. 

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The flavor of this stuffing is amazing. It is everything I hoped for. The cranberries and walnuts add great texture. It is perfectly moist. Greg and I agreed that gravy is not necessary for it. 

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And the pumpkin presentation is fun and cool. I think that it would be a fun dish to take to a family or friend Thanksgiving get-together. And as far the the pumpkin flesh, it can be scraped out and eaten with the stuffing, or scraped out and used for another recipe. Don’t let that pumpkin go to waste!

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So, what do you think? Will you stuff some stuffing into a pumpkin this season? Even if you have a traditional stuffing recipe, I encourage you to give this one a try too. It’s fun, delicious and like I said above, there can never be too much stuffing. 🙂 Enjoy!

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Kale, Cranberry + Walnut Stuffing
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Ingredients
  1. 5 cups multigrain bread, cut into cubes
  2. 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  3. 1/2 cup walnuts
  4. 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
  5. 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
  6. 1/2 tablespoon dried sage
  7. Pinch of nutmeg
  8. Salt and pepper
  9. 1 tablespoon butter
  10. 2 tablespoons olive oil
  11. 2 garlic cloves, minced
  12. 8 small shallots, sliced
  13. 2 medium carrots, diced
  14. 3 celery stalks, diced
  15. 2 ounces baby kale
  16. 2 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth to make it vegetarian!)
  17. 1 large baking pumpkin
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400*.
  2. Prep your pumpkin. Do what seems to work best. You could cut it as if you were carving a pumpkin, or like me, cut the pumpkin in half. Clean out the pumpkin seeds.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the cubed bread, dried cranberries, walnuts, rosemary, thyme, sage, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Set aside.
  4. In a skillet over medium heat, heat the butter and olive oil. Once hot, add the minced garlic and shallots. Cook several minutes, until shallots soften.
  5. Add the carrots and celery and cook several more minutes, until veggies begin to become tender. Once tender, add the baby kale and cook, stirring until kale is wilted.
  6. Add the cooked veggies to the bread combo. Add the chicken broth and stir, until well combined and all bread is wet.
  7. Stuff the stuffing into the hollow, cleaned out pumpkin. Place the pumpkin in a baking dish and bake in the preheated oven for 1-1.5 hours, or until stuffing is cooked through and the pumpkin flesh is fork tender.
The Dreaming Foodie https://www.thedreamingfoodie.com/

Kale + Mint + Cashew Pesto

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You know how people have secret recipes? Or a secret ingredient in a special recipe?

kale

Well I think I just made my first secret ingredient recipe.

cashews

And I’m going to share it with you!

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It won’t really be a secret. But if I were ever to have a secret recipe, this would have been it.

lemon

The very secret ingredient in this pesto? It’s mint!

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I don’t think I’ll ever want pesto another way.

mint

Making this was two things: random and kind of scary.

ingredients

Let’s start with random. I’ve never really made pesto before because I don’t have a food processor and I didn’t think my blender could handle it. But I’ve wanted to make it for so long, so I just crossed my fingers that my blender would work and went for it!

kale1

This pesto happened because I had a bunch of random ingredients to use that I thought would make a good pesto. Cashews I bought to have as a snack that never happened. Mint I bought to use in something else but forgot what it was that I was going to make. Kale that I wanted to use for a salad but I thought tasted weird in that particular salad. A half of a lemon left over from making this dressing. This might be good, I thought.

blender

I wasn’t sure. Like I said above, I was a little scared. Sure, a little scared that my blender wouldn’t pull through and make a smooth pesto. But, even more scared about serving Greg pesto with mint in it. He doesn’t like minty things. Things like mint ice cream or mint chocolate anything or mint tea. He says something like “the only thing mint belongs in is gum.”

So, putting mint in his pesto? I wasn’t so sure.

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It was sort of like when I was afraid to give him a quesadilla with cream cheese, knowing he doesn’t like cream cheese. That turned out well, and I hoped that this did too.

pesto

I used this pesto for Greg and I very simply. I made our favorite noodles (spinach spaghetti noodles) and tossed together the noodles, pesto and some reserved cooking water. I topped the noodles with a sprinkle of Romano cheese. It was divine. Simple and delicious. A ton of flavor from the pesto.

spoon

And, Greg liked it. After he said he liked it, I told him there was mint in it. 🙂

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The mint adds a hint of freshness to this pesto. It doesn’t stand out too much, but when you taste the pesto, it’s like there is something in it that is so refreshing, and of course that is the mint.

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I hope that you enjoy this pesto. 🙂

Ingredients
4 cups raw kale, any variety (I used Tuscan kale)
2 small handfuls fresh mint (I used two stalks of fresh mint)
1/2 cup cashews
1 garlic clove
3/4 cup olive oil
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
1/4 cup Romano cheese
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

To make the kale softer and easier to process or blend, blanch the kale first. Do this by preparing a bowl of very cold water. Then bring a pot of water to a boil. Once the pot of water is boiling, place the kale in it. Keep the kale in the water for about 1 minute, no longer. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the kale to the bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Then place the kale into a colander and squeeze it to remove any excess liquid. Transfer the kale to paper towels to dry off a bit.

Once the kale is dry, place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Serve over pasta, with bread, vegetable or in quiche.

Enjoy!

Asparagus, Kale + Mushroom Skillet Pizza

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What goes together better than Friday and pizza?

asparagus

If you ask me, not much. Friday + pizza + perhaps a beer, if that’s what you’re into (I am).

onion

This great combination just got even better. Pizza made in my beautiful cast iron skillet, with slightly sweet caramelized onion sauce, fresh asparagus, crunchy kale, balsamic mushrooms and salty parmesan cheese. O yes, Friday (or any day) is even better with this pizza.

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The inspiration for this pizza came from two places.

onions

The method came from the great Bev Cooks blog. I love Bev’s blog. She makes food that looks amazing and she is seriously hilarious. You have got to check out her blog. And this pizza idea? Brilliant.

cheese

The flavor combination was inspired by a great restaurant, Earth Bread + Brewery in Mt. Airy, Pa. Earth is the coolest little restaurant. It was the first restaurant that Greg and I tried in Mt. Airy and we were obsessed from the very first bite of hearth-baked flatbread. Earth makes flatbreads and they make them well. They are cooked in a wood-fire oven with ingredient combinations that just blow your mind.

pizza

We haven’t had anything there we don’t like, including their selection of small-batch, house-brewed beers.

pizza4

One night not too long ago, we tried their “special” flatbread of the night. It had an onion marmalade as the sauce, kale, asparagus and mushrooms. Well, not too much later, I tried recreating it and this is what I came up with.

pizza5

The delicious ingredients mixed with the skillet method makes for one great pizza.

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You have got to try it!

Ingredients
1 ball of pizza dough
Olive oil
1 large red onion
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 bunch of asparagus
2 cups chopped kale
4 oz. mushrooms
4 oz. parmesan cheese

First work on caramelizing the onion. Slice the onion thin. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan over medium high heat on the stove. Add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt, stir and let cook about 5 minutes or until onions begin to soften. Add the balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar and brown sugar and stir well to incorporate into onions. Turn down heat and cook on medium low, stirring occasionally, until onions are caramelized, about 25-30 minutes.

While onions are caramelizing, prep all of your veggies. Preheat oven to 350*. Chop the asparagus into thirds.Toss asparagus and kale with olive oil to coat the veggies well and roast in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Set aside.

Slice the mushrooms. Toss with olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Set aside.

Once onions are caramelized add to a food processor or mini food chopper (what I used). Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil with the onions and process until they are completely broken down and are thick and “sauce” like.

Now get ready to assemble the pizza. You can read the skillet method in-depth here. Place your cast iron skillet on your stove over high heat. Preheat your oven’s broiler. On a floured surface, roll out the pizza dough to fit into the skillet. Mine was 8 inches. Bev used a pizza skin to transfer her pizza from the counter top to the skillet. I don’t have a pizza skin so I used an extra wide spatula. Transferring the uncooked pizza from the counter to the skillet is tricky, so make sure you have a plan before you add the toppings.

For the pizza, spread a thick layer of the caramelized onion sauce onto the rolled out dough. Top with cheese. Then add on the asparagus, kale and mushrooms. Transfer the pizza to the hot skillet. Quickly transfer the skillet to the oven and broil. Bev said her pizza took 2 to 3 minutes, however, mine took around 10. Keep in mind that cooking time will vary depending on your oven.

Once the dough is cooked through and crust slightly crispy, remove the pizza from the oven, slice and enjoy!

*Notes:
-You can definitely make your own pizza dough like Bev did in the link
-I used a store-bought pizza dough that was 8 oz.
-You could also use the asparagus, kale and mushroom combination on a pizza without using the skillet method
-Do what works for you!

Quinoa with Kale and Lemon

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Kale + lemon + quinoa = a trio just meant to be together.

Finish Quinoa

I started making this dish over my month-long winter break from school. It was inspired by a pasta dish from one of my favorite blogs, Bev Cooks. Bev’s recipe used spaghetti. I swapped in quinoa for spaghetti and made a few other changes as well.

Spilled Quinoa Pepper

This dish is quick and uses simple ingredients. It’s my favorite kind of recipe.

Lemon

I just know that once you make this, you will love it, and make it again, again and again!

Finish Quinoa1

Method:

Start with:

1 c. quinoa
2 c. vegetable stock

Thoroughly rinse quinoa. Add quinoa and stock to a pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is fluffy.

Meanwhile:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 Tbsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 of a lemon
2 c. chopped kale
1/4 c. sunflower seeds
Salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook to flavor the oil, about 2 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and squeeze the juice of 1/2 of a lemon into the pan. Add chopped kale and stir. Cook until the kale is slightly wilted and tender, about 3 minutes. Toss in sunflower seeds and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour lemon/kale mixture over quinoa and stir to incorporate.

*I like to serve this with a dollop of goat cheese and a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

I hope that you enjoy!