Honey-Lime Grilled Chicken

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where I got this recipe, and an online search didn't yield the answer. The recipe's origins may be a mystery, but that doesn't prevent it from visiting our kitchen regularly.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. honey

Lime juice (a couple tablespoons)

Shoyu/soy sauce/tamari (a tablespoon or so)

Fresh cilantro, chopped (a couple tablespoons)

Freshly pressed garlic (a couple cloves)

Fresh jalapeno, seeded and minced (a couple teaspoons--optional, but tasty and not particularly spicy)

1 lb. (or so) boneless, skinless chicken pieces (in the past, we've used breasts, and they're good, but we used thighs this time, and they're even better)

Cooked brown basmati rice (optional)

Combine all ingredients except chicken and rice in a medium-sized, shallow baking dish. Then add the chicken, and flip it to coat it well with the marinade. Cover and chill for at least a couple hours--or even overnight. Flip the chicken pieces once or twice during the marinating process. After marinating, remove the chicken from the dish (reserve the marinade!). Grill the chicken over medium heat until it's cooked through and slightly crispy on the edges. Meanwhile, bring the reserved marinade to a rolling boil (to kill any bacteria that were lurking in the raw chicken juices). Serve the chicken with the boiled marinade spooned over it. We typically eat this with brown basmati rice, but you don't have to.

Comments:

Delectable. My thanks--indeed, my whole family's thanks--go out to whoever came up with this.

Creamy Cilantro Potato Salad

This recipe is based on a Rachael Ray one from 365: No Repeats, but we've adjusted it to suit our potato-salad preferences.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 lb. (give or take) russet potatoes, cubed*
Salt
Freshly pressed garlic (a couple cloves)
1/3 c. (or so) mayonnaise
Red wine vinegar (a couple tablespoons)
1/2 c. (or so) fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Put the potatoes in a pot and cover them with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add some salt to the water, lower the heat somewhat, and simmer the potatoes for 8-10 minutes, or until just tender. Drain the potatoes and spread them out in a single layer to cool quickly. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Add the cooled potatoes. Stir to combine, then taste. Add more salt, vinegar, or mayonnaise if desired.

*I used to peel the potatoes too, but I didn't last time, and the potato salad was great as usual.
Comments:
We make this potato salad all the time, and it's a favorite of ours. This particular time was not my best work (a bit mushy and soupy due to not lowering the heat as well as adding too much red wine vinegar), but it was still tasty.

Carrot Top Scramble

I found this recipe during my search for carrot-top recipes a couple months ago.

Not the best picture, I'll admit.

Ingredients:
Olive oil (a tablespoon or so)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
Freshly pressed garlic (a few cloves)
Carrot greens from one bunch, chopped
Tomatoes (I used a few halved cherry tomatoes from our garden, but you could use another type or even boxed/canned tomatoes if necessary. Or you could substitute something else you have on hand.)
Eggs (I used 4)
Cilantro, chopped (or you could substitute another herb that you have on hand)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Shredded cheese (optional)

Heat the oil in a skillet, and cook the onions in the oil for a couple minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add the carrot greens and cook for another couple minutes. Add the tomatoes, cover the skillet, and cook for a couple more minutes. Uncover the skillet and stir in the eggs until everything is well mixed and the egg is cooked. Remove the skillet from the heat, stir in the cilantro, and add salt and pepper to taste. Top with a little shredded cheese if you want.

We had this with toast.

Comments:
Quite tasty--and very modifiable. You could add all sorts of different veggies and herbs.

Purslane, Cucumber, and Yogurt Salad

This is another recipe that came along with our CSA share this week.

Ingredients:
1 large cucumber
1 c. (or so) chopped purslane
Chopped mint (about 1 T.)
Chopped cilantro (about 1 T.)
1 c. Greek yogurt (plain)
Olive oil (a tablespoon or two)
Freshly pressed garlic (a clove or two)
1/2 t. (or so) ground coriander seed
Salt (to taste)
Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Peel and halve the cucumber lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape the seeds out of each half. Compost the seeds. Cut each cucumber slab lengthwise into two to four strips, depending on how big you want your cucumber pieces. Then chop the strips. Combine the cucumber, purslane, mint, and cilantro in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the yogurt, olive oil, garlic, and coriander. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the yogurt mixture to the veggies and mix well. Taste again, and add more salt if desired. Serve chilled.

Comments:
I liked this; it was fresh and summery. Steve thought it was decent but wasn't absolutely sold on it. Liam ate his, and Annika ate a couple bites before refusing the rest.

Grilled ¿Sweet-Potato? Salad

This recipe comes from The News Tribune. It sounded tasty enough that I worked it into our weekly meal plan ahead of time. I know there are people who love sweet potatoes, and there are others who love yams, and supposedly never the twain shall meet. Well, the fact is that oftentimes people think something is a yam when it's actually a variety of sweet potato that's more orange than some other varieties. A true yam is a different veggie altogether. I'm not sure if I've ever tasted real yams. Hmmmmm. That's one of life's deep mysteries. At any rate, I tend to prefer the softer, moister, more orange tuber--be it yam or sweet potato. So that's what I used to make this.

Ingredients:
2 lb. sweet potatoes/yams (oh, whatever, you purists!), peeled and sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slabs
Canola oil or other neutral-tasting cooking oil (a couple tablespoons)
Coarse salt, to taste
Scallions (2 bunches) or chives (enough to equal about 2 bunches of scallions), washed and trimmed at both ends
Cilantro, finely chopped (a couple tablespoons)
Butter (a couple tablespoons)
Lime juice (a couple tablespoons)
Ground cumin (1 t. or so)

Heat or light your grill. You want it to be on medium heat, if you have that option with your grill. While the grill is heating, toss the sweet-potato slabs with some oil. Add salt to taste. Oil and salt the scallions/chives, too, keeping them in a loose bunch. Put the scallions/chives on the grill in a bunch (perpendicular to slats). Cook, turning once, until they're softened and lightly charred in places (about 5 min.; a bit less for chives than for scallions). Remove from grill. Place sweet potatoes on grill and cook, turning once, until they have nice grill marks on both sides and are cooked all the way through (6-8 min.). Remove from grill. Coarsely chop the scallions/chives. Chop the sweet potatoes into bite-size pieces while still hot. Put the chives and hot sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Add the cilantro, butter, lime juice, and cumin. Toss to coat. Add more salt to taste, if desired.

Comments:
The flavor combination of this dish was very good. It's definitely repeatable. We sliced our sweet potatoes into rounds, which made for a pretty presentation but a lot of work at the grill. Placing about a hundred sweet-potato pieces on the grill, then flipping them, then removing them makes for a long project. Slicing them lengthwise would mean a much quicker grilling process, though perhaps a slightly less attractive presentation. But it would be worth it. I've adjusted the recipe accordingly.

Barbecue Chicken Salad

This recipe is based on California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad. I haven't had theirs for years, but I always really liked it, so long ago, I took a stab at replicating it at home. It's been a long, long time since we've made it, but Steve suggested it this week. We used cilantro, basil, and chives from our garden and lettuce and beets from our CSA share.

This is less a recipe and more a list of ingredients and assembly instructions.

And it definitely doesn't abide by the use-only-ingredients-you-have-on-hand rule.

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts (1 for every 2 people)
Canola oil or other neutral-tasting cooking oil
Barbecue sauce
Lettuce, torn
Carrots, shredded (I actually used raw beets sliced into thin strips this time, because I had some on hand and wanted to try it.)
Jicama, peeled and sliced into thin strips (I suggest using a paring knife to peel jicama. A veggie peeler is hopeless.)
Bell peppers, chopped (I like the visual appeal of yellow peppers in this salad. I actually used mixed mini peppers this time--yellow, orange, and red.)
Green onions, chopped (I used chives instead)
Basil, shredded
Cilantro, chopped
Canned black beans, drained and rinsed (you could also prepare your own from dry beans if you like)
Corn (you can use canned or you can thaw some frozen corn. I supposed you could also cut some off the cob, but I've never done that with this recipe.)
Shredded cheddar or jack cheese (I used cheddar)
Ranch dressing (you could probably use vinaigrette instead)
Tomatoes, chopped (or you can use cherry or grape tomatoes. I used grape tomatoes this time.)
Tortilla chips, crumbled (I used blue corn tortilla chips)
Lime juice

Cut the chicken into strips. Heat a little oil in a skillet over medium heat, and add the chicken. Cook until no longer pink. Add some barbecue sauce and cook for a bit longer. Put the lettuce into a large bowl. Add the veggies and herbs (except the tomatoes) and toss well. Add cheese and toss again. Add ranch dressing and toss once more. Arrange tomatoes around the edge of the bowl. Sprinkle crumbled tortilla chips over the salad. Add chicken on top of the tortilla chips. Drizzle with barbecue sauce and lime juice.

Comments:
This was tasty; it always is. The beets worked well in it.