Week 5 – Tomatoes (Abby)

Tomatoes are one of my (many) favorite things about summer. Our parents have grown tomatoes since before I can remember; when I was little (and even still) I loved being able to stop by the garden while playing outside and pop a few fresh cherry tomatoes in my mouth for a quick snack.

This recipe is a simple and quick one. Plus, in my opinion, anything with fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella must be good; add the fact that it is grilled and I’m not sure you could go wrong. Luckily I have a basil plant growing at Scott’s (the boyfriend) house these days; it has been the best purchase I have made I think. My basil is a boxwood basil, so the leaves are pretty tiny, but I like the texture of it better than the big leaf basil.

While we were eating this the other night I asked Scott what his favorite recipe that I had tried on him so far was. He responded quickly, and said that this dish was his favorite. The marinade keeps the chicken incredibly moist and flavorful, and when  combined with the mozzarella, tomatoes, and fresh basil each bite just melts in your mouth. It is absolutely delicious.

As I mentioned, it is a simple recipe. You marinade the chicken for a half hour or so in a sun-dried tomato dressing (I just had it marinade while the coals were heating up). Then, you grill one side of the chicken while you prepare the topping. The topping is just a couple of tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil, and a little bit of dressing. Once the dressing is mixed up and the chicken is ready to flip, you turn the chicken onto a piece of tinfoil on the grill (with the already grilled side up) and cover it with the tomato mixture. Then you grill the chicken until it is fully cooked. See, simple.

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

Adapted From: The Girl Who Ate Everything

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 ¾ cup KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing (divided)
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, diced

Instructions:

1. Place the chicken in a large resealable bag. Pour in 1 ½ cups of dressing (or enough to completely cover the chicken), seal the bag, and refrigerate for a half hour, or up to a full day.
2. Prepare the grill and bring to medium heat. Place a large piece of tinfoil over half of the grill grate.
3. Place the marinated chicken on the uncovered side of the grill, and cook for around 6-7 minutes (depending on size of chicken breast).
4. While the chicken is on the grill combine the basil, mozzarella, tomatoes, and 1/4 cup of the remaining dressing. Stir until well combined.
5. Turn the chicken over onto the tinfoil (grilled side up) and spoon the tomato mixture on the chicken breasts. Close the grill lid, and cook for another 8 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.

Enjoy! 

And as always, please feel free to share!

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Week 4 – Quinoa (Abby)

Things have been crazy busy for me lately. Between various trips, shooting a wedding, and moving I haven’t had a chance to get this posted until now. My sister and I have fallen a bit behind in the recipe challenge, but I’m hoping in the next few weeks we can get back on track.

So, back to business. A few weeks ago we decided on quinoa for our ingredient of the week. If you haven’t tried quinoa before, it is considered a super food, and is absolutely packed with great things. It has a pretty unique texture, and a slightly nutty taste. While searching for recipes I knew I wanted something with some contrasting textures, and summer flavor. I found a recipe on Two Peas & Their Pod and decided to put my own spin on it.

I made this delicious salad for dinner with Scott (the boyfriend) one night, and it was a huge hit. He had never tried quinoa before, and was fairly timid when first dishing up. But, after having a few bites he piled it on his plate! It is full of incredible nutrients, and has lots of great summer flavors. One of the nice things about this salad is that you can switch it up based on what you have around the house, what is in season, or flavors you are craving at the moment. And, quinoa comes in different varieties, each with their own color and slightly different taste, that you could play around with as well. This time I decided to go with red quinoa since I had never tried it before.

The dish is extremely simple to make. Basically you cook and cool the quinoa, and mix it all together. I mixed all the ingredients together while the quinoa was cooking, and then just stirred in the quinoa and the dressing when the quinoa was cool.

Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked Quinoa (any variety works)
• 2 cups water

• 8-10 cherry tomatoes, quartered (I used a large handful or two)
• 1 large mango, diced
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 medium avocados, diced
• 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook the quinoa according to the directions on the packaging (some come pre-rinsed, some you will need to rinse prior to cooking), and allow to cool to room temperature.
2. While the quinoa cooks, combine the tomatoes, mango, onions, cilantro, and avocados, and black beans in a large bowl.
3.  Once the quinoa is cooled, mix into the other ingredients.
4. In a small bowl whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, and cumin. Pour over the quinoa dish, and gently mix together until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Enjoy!

Week 2 – Fresh Herbs (Abby)

I’m a bit behind on this post, since I didn’t make the meal until late last week and then was out of town over the weekend. This spring Scott (the boyfriend) and I bought some basil, chamomile, and mint plants. I have fallen in love with using fresh herbs while I cook, and so I was excited when Kari and I decided to go with them for our second week ingredient. In fact, this almost turned in to a week long “challenge” for me, since almost everything I made last week had fresh herbs.

My cute boxwood basil plant 🙂

For the specific challenge meal, I decided to use the huge piece of salmon that Scott had bought. I thought rosemary would be a good pair for the fish, so I picked some up while at the grocery store as well. It was such a simple meal to prepare; I first rubbed it with some olive oil, and then seasoned it with some roughly chopped fresh rosemary, sea salt, cracked black pepper, and a little crushed thyme (unfortunately not fresh). I then grilled it on top of some tinfoil, skin side down. I didn’t get any pictures of it, but I served the salmon with some baby red potatoes that I boiled and seasoned with butter, olive oil, fresh basil, chopped rosemary, and salt and pepper. It was a perfect summer meal.