Garlicky Basil Chicken

Sometimes when life is hard -- and it does get that way sometimes -- it's important to still take care of yourself. Right now, my Mom's in critical condition in the hospital and we've been having to grab food here and there. Yesterday I decided it was important to cook something at home and just get lost for a few minutes in preparing a small, easy - and nutritious meal. It was a little retreat for us. This literally took me about 20 minutes, but it tasted like something that took a couple hours. One of the things that made it so easy is something I think is the best thing in the world - individually frozen chicken breasts. Especially the tenderloin pieces. Anyway, if you need a quick escape and an absolutely flavorful, nutritious mini meal, try this.

Ingredients:

Garlicky Basil Chicken

- 6 individually frozen chicken breasts (I like the ones at Trader Joe's)

- about 6 cloves of fresh garlic - just hit the top with a flat surface, remove the skin, and leave just like that

- a few tablespoons of olive oil

- about 10 fresh basil leaves

- salt and cracked black pepper to taste

- 1 cup of white wine or water

• In a small to medium pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Place about 6 chicken breast pieces in the olive oil.



• Throw in the cracked garlic cloves, salt and pepper and let heat up for a few minutes.



• Cover so that the chicken breast heats all the way through, causing the chicken to both defrost and begin to carmelize.



• Once you see one side start to brown, turn and add the basil and return the cover to finish cooking. Add more basil if you like. I like a lot of basil and garlic so that I can top the breast with it.



• Toward the end of cooking - around fifteen twenty minutes - you'll see that the juices start to absorb.



• Add wine or water to loosen all the great flavors.



• Make sure there's still a gravy at the bottom when you're done, because after you plate the chicken, you'll want to pour this with basil and garlic on top of the chicken.

Serving suggestion: The side dish I prepared with this was perfect. Just slice the center of a head of Romaine lettuce in half. Drizzle olive oil, red wine vinegar over the top - sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and parmesan cheese shavings. I took a bit of the "salad" with a bite of the chicken and it was sooooo good.

OK, back to the hospital.... : (

Nina's Salami and Tomato Omelet

I'm not a huge breakfast person, but I really love to make brunch-like omelets or frittatas on the weekend when I'm not rushing off to go somewhere. Omelet's are great because they're satisfying and can be very healthfu. I also notice that I end up eating less since eggs in general tend to make you feel full for a long time. This morning I made one for myself. And by the way, I really like to cook for myself, although I hear a lot of single people say that they don't cook very often because they don't like cooking for one. But I actually enjoy it because you can make a creation designed from the tastes only you enjoy. But it's true that I'd prefer to cook for people I love -- just because. Here's an omelet that I always love and that's hard to mess up...

Nina's Salami and Tomato Omelet (for two)

Ingredients
4 large eggs
6 slices of salami (I used the Columbus brand from Trader Joes, but the yummy salamis like supprestata, capicolla are excellent)
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 chopped green bell pepper
5 cherry tomatos (this morning I used small heirlooms that I cut in half)
a few chopped black olives
1/4 freshly grated Asiago cheese
about 3 tbls olive oil
sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

• Beat the eggs with a little salt and pepper - then put aside. Also, put the broiler on with a rack close to the heat.
• In a small fry pan - (I just discovered that I love Emeril's cookware. The pan I have is a stainless steal with a copper bottom. Not even eggs stick!). Back to the that pan, heat a couple splashes of olive oil and then sautee onions, bell peppers and crushed red pepper on medium/low heat.
• When the onions and peppers are soft, add the strips of salami and the olives -- just sautee for another couple of minutes.
• Now you can pour the egg mixture over the onion minxture in the pan.
• As the eggs starts to set, place the tomatos evenly on one side of the pan.
• Now turn the pan so that the loose egg moves toward the edge of the pan while gently lifting the side of the omelet away from the edge (with a fork) to let the loose egg run under the cooked egg. This step is really important when cooking omelets because it helps the omelet cook evenly and it prevents the omelet from getting over-cooked at the bottom of the pan.
• Once the egg stops running to the side when tilted, it's time to add the cheese.
• Now place the pan under the broiler to continue cooking the omelet. This step will take less than a minute typically.
• Now gently lift the omelet from the edges of the pan so that you can slip a spatula in between the pan and the omelet.
• Once you get it there, just put the omelet underneath half the omelet and gently push it toward the other side so it folds over evenly. It helps to tilt the pan in that direction too.
• Remove from the pan and you can sprinkle the top with a little more grated cheese if you like.

Serving suggestion: a little sour cream is always good (in my opinion) with any omelet. And I love this with toasted whole grain bread with a little butter. AND don't forget the Capuccino!

Feel free to share your favorite omelet ingredients.

Almond Cookies

My favorite girl in the world (my daughter Jasmine) made the best cookies the other night for some friends I was having over from my church. I love to cook - and I think I'm pretty good at it - but trust me when I say I can't bake. So when I saw (and ate) these great cookies, I had to take a photo and share the recipe she used. She said it was a really simple recipe - and by the looks of it, I'd have to agree. Maybe if you're like me, and you're not the best baker, you might want to try these. Let me know how it goes! I usually just add original recipes to my blog, but it seemed like a fun thing to add this recipe that Jasmine tried!

Butter Cookies with Ground Almonds
(courtesy of a recipe found on About.com)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup ground almonds
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
dash salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
48 whole blanched almonds

Preparation:

• Stir together flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
• In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar at medium speed of electric hand held mixer.
• Beat in egg white and almond extract.
• Stir flour and ground almond mixture into the creamed mixture. Cover with plastic wrap; chill for about 2 hours.
• Shape dough into small balls, about 3/4-inch. Place balls 2 inches apart; flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass.
• Press an almond into the center of each cookie. Bake at 350° for about 12 minutes, or until set but not browned.
  Makes about 4 dozen almond cookies.

Nina's Sicilian-Style Pasta Salad

Yesterday my daughter Jasmine and I took the twins to the beach in Santa Cruz for Amber's son's b-day party. It was a very nice barbeque and Amber made yummy potato salad. I brought a pasta salad that I threw together with a sort of unique combination of ingredients. I was wondering how it would turn out since I didn't put much thought into, but sometimes that's when the best recipes happen. I was a little surprised when Amber said her family thought it was a hit. If you want a savory pasta, that's a little different, that's not loaded up with mayo - you might want to give this one a go. By the way, I've never seen two-year olds more daring in the ocean. Wild babies!

Nina's Sicilian-Syle Pasta Salad

1 lb Penne pasta (I used "Pennette" from Trader Joes)
1 can of albacore tuna (in oil) - drain most of the oil.
1/4 cup olive oil - (about)
a few splashes of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped black olives
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 medium red onion (finely chopped)
1 clove of crushed and chopped fresh garlic
6 slices of bacon (cooked and chopped)
1/2 cup of grated fresh parmesan cheese
1 tbl dried basil
salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Remember that I don't measure ingredients, so these are approximate measurements. Also, it's important to adjust to your own preferences.

• Cook pasta according to package directions (and remember to add salt to the water). You don't need to add olive oil since the oil doesn't mix with the water anyway.


• While the pasta is boiling, prepare all the ingredients, because once the pasta is drained (no need to rinse) you're pretty much ready to go.


• In large bowl, add a couple splashes of olive oil, salt,the garlic and the red onion.


• Toss in the pasta and make sure it's coated with those ingredients.


• Now you can just start adding the other ingredients - I really don't think it matters in which order. Just leave the cheese for last.
  
• When it's all mixed, give it a taste and add additional salt and olive oil to your taste.


• When finished, just sprink a little additional basil and cheese on the top. Of couse you can also garnish with freshly, chopped parsley.
  

I hope you're having a wonderful summer and enjoying the fresh fruits and veggies from farmers market. I was at the Campbell Farmers Market this morning and snapped this photo below just so I can look at it in the Winter and long once again for summer!