Portuguese Style Chicken Drumettes and Salt & Vinegar Potatoes

 

Want something for dinner that is different than the usual? Have I got a deal for you.

These drumettes are crazy good.

I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to Portuguese style cooking but, if this is what it is like, then I am moving to Portugal. I found this amazing recipe over at Dragon's Kitchen. I am definitely adding it to my favorite's list.

And the potatoes?

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

I may just become a potato-tarian. That's a thing, right?

The flavor is like salt & vinegar potato chips but crispy on the outside, squishy on the inside. Sue found the recipe a while ago and raved about how good it was. I only got around to trying it now. I love that it is such an unusual way to prepare potatoes.

Serve these two dishes with a side of salad or veggies (green beans would be good!) and you have a dinner that I guarantee will be out of the usual - in a totally amazing way.

 

 

Portguese Style Chicken Drumettes

(Ever-so-slightly adapted from Dragon's Kitchen)

 

Ingredients

2 large garlic cloves

2 medium bay leaves, crumbled

2 tsp paprika

1 Tbsp coarse sea salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 lbs uncooked chicken drumettes (about 25)

 

Directions

Place garlic, bay leaves, paprika, salt, pepper, and olive oil into a food processor. Process until you have a paste.

 

 

Scrape paste into a ziplock bag and add in the chicken drumettes. Squish around until evenly covered. Marinate at least several hours - better overnight.

 

 

When ready to cook - remove chicken from fridge and place on cookie sheet lined with lightly sprayed tinfoil. Let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

 

 

Preheat broiler.

Broil the chicken about 6 inches from the heat. Broil 10 - 15 minutes, until nicely browned, and then turn over and broil 10 more minutes. (It may take less time depending on your oven.)

Serve hot.

 

 

Salt and Vinegar Potatoes

 

Ingredients

5 medium to large potatoes, scrubbed and peeled (or not)

2 - 3 cups vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

black pepper

 

Directions

Preheat broiler. Line a cookie sheet with tinfoil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

Cut potatoes into chunks - if using new potatoes then simply cut in half. Place in a large pot and pour in the vinegar (enough to cover potatoes).

Boil until potatoes are fork tender but still a little firm.

Drain off vinegar. Toss potatoes with oil and salt and pepper. Spread out on cookie sheet.

 

 

(As you can see from the photo - I used a mix of large potatoes and new potatoes. It worked fine.)

Broil for 5 minutes about 6 inches from heat. You want the potatoes to be browned. Flip potatoes over and broil another 5 minutes.

Serve hot.

 

 

Now, if you want to prepare the two dishes together here is what I did.

Step 1: Spread out the marinated chicken on the prepared cookie sheet.

Step 2: Boil potatoes in vinegar. Drain, toss with oil and salt & pepper, and spread out on 2nd prepare cookie sheet.

Step 3: Place chicken in oven under broiler. Place potatoes in oven on bottom rack.

Step 4: Broil chicken about 8 minutes on each side.

Step 5: Switch the potatoes to under the broiler and place the chicken on the bottom rack.

Step 6: Broil potatoes for about 5 minutes on each side (until browned).

 

I worked out the nutritional info on the drumettes:

Per drumette it is - 65 calories, 4.78 fat, 0.24 carbs, 5.1 protein.

For the potatoes:

For 1 medium/large potato - 280 calories, 0.4 fat, 60 carbs, 5 protein.

Total: So, for the meal I had (6 drumettes and 1 potato) it was=

670 calories, 29.1 fat, 61.4 carbs, and 35.6 protein. (This is an approximation using Fitday so don't take it as gospel.)

 

I really hope you give these a try. The chicken is to-die-for and the potatoes are just so crazy that you can't help but love them!

 

Don't forget to visit The Rustic Pig and Adorned From Above and Let This Mind Be In You and Hun...What's For Dinner and Carol's Chatter for some great links!

Fried Cabbage and Ground Beef

This is one of those meals that is so simple you wonder how it tastes so good. I mean, there is only a few straightforward ingredients and yet, it turns into this wonderful, flavorful combination.

The recipe makes a fairly large amount so you can either serve your family OR you can break it up and freeze some of it for later.

I figured out the nutritional info (using Fitday) by counting this as 4 servings.

Per serving: calories - 315, fat - 13.4, carbs - 24.6, and protein - 26.4.

A quarter of this is a pretty big serving.

Oh, yeah, I wanted to point out the bowl in the photos. My niece, Kenzie, gave it to me for Christmas. She did the design herself. She bought an inexpensive white bowl, drew on it with a permanent marker, then baked it to set the ink.

Pretty cool, right? I love it!

Fried Cabbage and Ground Beef

Ingredients

1 lb extra lean ground beef

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 small onion, diced

1 large carrot, shredded

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 head cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup water

2 Tbsp Worcestershire

2 Tbsp Thai sweet chili sauce

1/4 tsp garlic salt

salt & pepper

Directions

In a large sauce pan, cook beef until no longer pink. Remove to a bowl, set aside.

In the same large pan; add olive oil to pan. Add in onion, carrot, garlic. Cook and stir until onions have started to soften. Add cabbage, water, Worcestershire, sweet chili sauce, garlic salt, salt & pepper. Cover and cook until water is gone and cabbage is soft, about 10 - 15 minutes. (If you need to add more water and cook longer then do so - you want the cabbage to be thoroughly cooked.)

Stir the cooked ground beef back into the cabbage and let cook until heated through.

Serve hot.

NOTE - As you may be able to tell from the photos, I did not shred my cabbage but rather chopped it. I didn't have our food processor and didn't feel like shredding the whole head by hand. Chopping it works just as well as shredding as long as you make sure you chop it into fairly small bits.

In case you need another reason to give this a try - it is full of fibre, protein, Vit A, Vit B6, Vit B12, Vit C, Zinc, and a lot of other healthy stuff.

You can easily change this up to suit your tastes too. Different veggies, different spices - I'm finding it quite interesting and fun to play around with different veggie and spice combinations to find my favorites.

Be sure to visit A Humble Bumble for some healthy links.

Spicy Chickpea, Quinoa, and Barley Patties

 

Happy New year everyone!

I thought, since Jo has been posting tons of recipes lately I thought I should jump in and share one of my new-found favorites.

Sue here, by the way.

I was searching out some new and healthier recipes to help with the new year - eat better changes I am making. I came across this one while browsing through the Fitsugar site. It is soooo yummy.

I'm not sure whose nutritional info you will want to go by, mine has each burger patty at: 213.3 calories, 6.62 fat, 33.67 carbs, and 5.87 protein, BUT over at Fitsugar, the nutritional info is listed as: 377 calories, 9.6 fat, 58.7 carbs, and 16.5 protein.

I'm really not sure why there is such a difference. I mean, I made a few little changes but nothing major. Anyways, if you choose to go by my nutritional info - I used the Fitday website. I tripled checked it. Just sayin' I'm going with 213 calories. :)

 

 

Spicy Chickpea, Quinoa, and Barley Patties

(Adapted from Fitsugar)

 

Ingredients

1 small sweet potato, baked

1/4 cup dry quinoa

1/4 cup dry barley

15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed/drained

2 Tbsp parsley

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

salt & pepper

2 Tbsp coconut flour

2 Tbsp olive oil

 

Directions

Peel, dice, and steam the sweet potato until soft.

 Cook the quinoa and barley in separate pots.

While the grains are cooking, in a food processor, combine chickpeas, sweet potato, parsley, cayenne pepper, cumin, garlic powder, salt & pepper, coconut flour, and one tablespoon oil.

In a separate bowl, mix the bean mixture with the quinoa and barley.

Using hands, form into six patties.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a pan on medium heat. Brown both sides of each burger.

 

 

This is optional - but I added some cheese to mine then threw it in the oven under the broiler to melt and brown the cheese.

 

 

Then you can put it on a bun OR enjoy it in a lettuce wrap with some tomato, onion, whatever your favorite toppings are!

 

 

This is very tasty. Lots of different flavors going on. It is not a very firm patty but it holds together and is easy to eat whether you use a bun or not.

What makes this even better? It's full of Vit B6, Vit A, fibre, zinc, lots of good stuff!

My teenage daughter and I really enjoyed these, as did Jo. My husband, not so much, but he is not a fan of veggie burgers to begin with.

Oh, yeah, my nutritional count is for 6 patties. You could probably even make 8 patties out of this recipe. The 6 were fairly large patties.

 

Be sure to stop by Ms. enPlace and The Chicken Chick and A Humble Bumble for some great links!

Rice Krispie Toblerone Chewies

 

After the holidays I had a bunch of ingredients to use up so I created these chocolate and caramel and peanut butter filled Rice Krispie chewies.

Let me answer a couple of questions you may have.

1. Yes, they are sweet.

2. Yes, they are amazing.

3. Yes, there is a lot of calories.

4. No, they will not help with your New Year's resolutions. (Unless your resolution had something to do with eating more chocolate and peanut butter...then...this will definitely help you with that.)

 

Rice Krispie Toblerone Chewies

 

Ingredients

Bottom Layer

1/2 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter

1 bag (400 gr) mini marshmallows (about 7 cups)

2 mini (50 gr each) Toblerone bars, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

6 cups Rice Krispies

 

Middle Layer

1 brick (8oz) cream cheese, softened

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

 

Top Layer

4 mini (50 gr each) Toblerone bars, chopped

 

Directions

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

Bottom layer - In a large pot, place corn syrup, brown sugar, peanut butter over medium-low heat. Stir until melted. Add butter, mini marshmallows, and 2 Toblerone bars and stir until melted.

Remove from heat and stir in Rice Krispies.

Working fairly quickly - it sets as it cools - scrape mixture into prepared pan. Spray your hands with cooking spray and pat mixture down. (Be careful as mixture will still be fairly warm!)  Set aside.
Middle layer - Put cream cheese and peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 - 40 seconds, until starts to get melty and is easy to stir together. Stir in icing sugar. Spread evenly over the Rice Krispies.
Top layer - put remaining Toblerone bars into a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 20 second increments until melted. Stir until smooth. Pour over cream cheese layer and gently spread out evenly over bar.
Let chill until chocolate has firmed up.
Cut and serve. You don't have to keep chilled, room temp is fine.

These are so chewy and peanut buttery and addicting. Only make these if you have someone to share with.
Seriously.
You will be tempted to just keep eating and eating and eating and fall into a sugar coma.
You don't want that.
Share.
Spread the love.

Visit Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons for tons of great links!

Coconut Flour Double Chocolate Cookies

 

Sue made these delicious cookies a while ago and I made her make them for me again.

See, if someone else makes them for you - they are a gift - and gift's have no calories.

It could be true.

I mean....wouldn't that be the best thing ever? All of my gifts, ever, for the rest of my life would be chocolate...or cheesecake...or ice cream.

New car?

No thank you. I'll take a batch of coconut flour double chocolate cookies, thank you very much.

Anyway, you should make these delicious cookies. You can pop over to Cookie Madness for the original version. That's where we found it!

 

 

Coconut Flour Double Chocolate Cookies

(ever-so-slightly adapted from Cookie Madness)

 

Ingredients

4 Tbsp butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp coconut flour

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted/chopped

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Stir in the cocoa powder and beat until smooth, then stir in the coconut flour. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts.

Let the cookie dough sit for about 5 to 10 minutes to thicken (coconut flour absorbs moisture).

Drop the cookie dough by rounded spoonfuls onto a baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies.

Bake 13 minutes, or until cookies are slightly set in the center. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

 

Sue gets 18 cookies out of the recipe. I figured out the nutritional count using Fitday. Per cookie it is:

149 calories, 16 carbs, 9 fat, 3 protein.

I little high, I know, but - OMG - these are amazing!

Like little squishy chewy brownie bites that are so chocolatey your head will explode. If you are going gluten free then these are your new cookie - all you need to do is make sure you buy gluten free chocolate chips - and you are good to go.

Check out The Mandatory Mooch and Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons for some great links!

Broccomole

I always buy too much broccoli. I eat some steamed and some roasted and then I leave the rest to sit in the fridge until it can pretty much crawl out on its own.

I decided to try and stop being so wasteful. I was searching broccoli recipes on Google and up popped Broccomole. There are several different versions out there so I combined a few and came up with this one.

It is really tasty. I don't know if I would call it a substitute for guacamole or not. It isn't really all that similar. But, it is a very interesting and tasty way to use up the broccoli in the fridge.

Broccomole

Ingredients

4 cups broccoli, raw

1 jalapeno pepper

2 Tbsp onion

1/4 cup cream cheese (light)

1/4 tsp chili powder

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt & pepper

Directions

Cook broccoli in boiling water until broccoli is very tender. Drain well.

Place jalapeno, onion, cream cheese, chili powder, garlic, and salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Add broccoli and process until smooth.

Serve warm or room temp.

This makes about 2 cups. I calculated a serving size as a FULL CUP of the broccomole.

Calories - 150, Fat - 7, Carbs - 15, Protein - 7.

Now, here is an idea to use some of the broccomole to make a really cool lunch or dinner side dish.

Broccomole Zucchini Rolls

Ingredients

1 medium zucchini

1/4 cup broccomole

3 Tbsp Mozza cheese, skim

1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 425. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

Thinly slice the zucchini vertically. Lay strips on the parchment paper. Cook at 425 for 5 minutes, flip strips over, cook another 5 minutes.

Remove zucchini from oven and let cool until you are able to pick it up with your hands.

Turn oven down to 375. Line a small pan (8X8 or smaller) with parchment paper.

Spread a spoonful of broccomole down each strip. Sprinkle with a tsp of Mozza cheese.

Roll up strip and place in prepared pan. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 375 for 8 minutes. Turn broiler on. Broil until cheese is melty and brown.

Serve hot.

Want to know the calories in these?

For the whole recipe of zucchini rolls it is: Calories - 120, Fat - 6, Carbs - 9, Protein - 9.

I think I got 11 or 12 rolls out of the one zucchini. 

I had them as my lunch but you could easily serve these as a spicy vegetable side dish with dinner.

I will remember this the next time I have a head of broccoli to use up.

This dip would be great with veggies as well as crackers if you are looking to save even more calories.

Stop by Carole's Chatter for some great links.