Grilled Chicken Caprese

We had Deb and Al over for dinner on Saturday night.  I didn’t know what to make, but as it got closer, inspiration just took off (well, thanks, of course, to Pinterest).  First, I started by searching for a recipe that was healthy, with fresh ingredients.  With our recent trip to Europe, and especially to Italy, and it being summer, this seemed the right way to go.  Immediately, recipes popped up saying caprese and I was salivating.  With our renewed love of tomatoes, basil, garlic and mozzarella, I came across this and new it was the perfect recipe!  It looks so “gourmet”, yet it is soooooooo simple!  I made a homemade pesto, used fresh mozzarella, the rain clouds cleared so I could grill out, and we had a perfect meal.  Catherine helped me with the meal prep, and we served with corn on the cob, rice pilaf, tomato garlic crustinis and sangria.  This is definitely a summer meal I want to make over and over! 

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 ½ cups zesty Italian salad dressing
• ¼  cup balsamic vinegar + a few tablespoons to drizzle later
• 6 Tbsp. pesto
• 2-3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 12 slices fresh mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Put chicken breasts into a large ziploc bag, pour in the Italian dressing and balsamic vinegar, and seal the bag, give everything a squish together and marinate in the fridge for a few hours.
2. Heat up grill to medium-high; grill the marinated chicken for about 6 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness of your chicken).
3. When the chicken is cooked almost all the way through, add a tablespoon of pesto onto each breast, followed by 1-2 slices of tomatoes, and 2 slices of mozzarella.
4. Reduce heat on the grill to low, close the lid and let them cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the cheese has melted a bit.
5. Drizzle the top of cheesy chicken with balsamic and remove from the grill.

The chicken, hot off the grill, before adding the drizzle of balsamic

Adapted from First Home Love Life Blog

Grilled Hamburgers

I always thought that to make hamburgers you just smoosh ground beef in to a patty and that's it -- viola, a hamburger.  Sure, I guess you can do that; but I wanted one that would remind me of a restaurant hamburger.  I looked on Pinterest and found this link to a recipe.  I seem to have this recollection that my grandfather used to make burgers with "wooshtisheer" sauce, so when I saw this, I knew that I wanted to try it -- easy but pretty classic.  I threw a slice of Wegman's steakhouse onion cheese on it, and put it on a grilled bun with some ketchup, grainy mustard and some onion -- PERFECTO!

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• ½ tsp. seasoned salt
• Cheese, if desired
• Hamburger rolls or bulkie rolls

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat grill on high
2. Mix all ingredients together until evenly combined
3. Form into 4-5 patties, depending on the size you desire(I made them one-third of a pound and got 4 patties, having started with 1.3 lbs of ground beef)
4. Place the patties on the grill, turning the grill down to medium-low heat, cooking for 6 minutes per side
5. Serve on lightly grilled rolls

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Grilled Potato Wedges

I had taken out ground beef from the freezer yesterday to thaw out and everyone voted on hamburgers to have for dinner tonight.  I wanted to make something as a side dish, but all we had were russet potatoes.  When I think about russet potatoes, I think of baked potatoes, but considering we hit almost 80 degrees today, I wasn't in the mood to turn on the oven.  I searched through Pinterest and found a recipe and I pinned it.  If you see it on my Pinterest board, you'll notice it's a little different than what I am posting here (the recipe was in the actual pin, with no valid link, so I can't post it here).  Let's just say I "adapted" this more because of not reading the directions correctly, than looking to change it.  But they still came out pretty dang good -- cooked through, crispy on the outside, and flavorful (although I have been requested to not "eyeball" the red pepper flakes next time -- I may have shaken more than what the recipe called for.  Oops :-)  But yummy for me!)

• 4 russet potatoes, scrubbed
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
• ¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• ¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Put the potatoes in a pot of cold water, add 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a simmer over medium heat
2. Cook the potatoes until tender, but still firm, about 30-40 minutes
3. The potatoes should be cooked through and fork tender, but still holding their shape without losing the skins
4. Drain and put on a cutting board to cool
5. Let cool, then slowly and carefully cut each potato lengthwise into 8 wedges
6. Heat grill to medium-high
7. In a small saucepan, heat on high the canola oil, olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, parsley and cheese, stirring constantly until just boiling and then remove from heat
8. Carefully place potato wedges in a medium sized bowl, pouring in the oil and herb mixture, gently turning until the wedges are coated
9. Place each potato wedge on the grill, reserving the remaining oil and herb mixture in the bowl
10. Cook until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes per side
11. When thoroughly grilled, carefully transfer back to the bowl and gently toss the wedges in the remaining oil and herb mixture
12. Transfer to a serving bowl

Cilantro Grilled Chicken

Happy Grilling Season!

My go-to recipe for grilling chicken comes from one of my moms -- so super easy -- Seven Seas Italian Dressing used as a marinade -- bing, bang, boom, DONE!  Since we have that virtually once a week, I wanted to try something different because I don't want to overdo my go-to chicken so much that I don't want it that way.  I looked in the fridge and saw some cilantro that was within a day or two of being limp and ready for the trash.  Tonight was a use it or lose it kind of night for one of my favorite herbs.  I went with using it -- I had saved this recipe off of Pinterest.  It was pretty easy to make, other than my mental moron moment of not being able to get the mini Cuisinart to work (Jimmy came and saved the day... derrrrr!).  So, for a fast, flavorful grilled chicken, my other half has given this a THUMBS UP and the vote to do it again!

• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup cilantro 
• 2 Tbsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
• 2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

DIRECTIONS

1. Place all the ingredients above in a food processor and process until smooth
2. Pour marinade over chicken breast and let flavors sink in for 15 minutes in the refrigerator
3. Prepare your grill or broiler. Cook until temperature registers 165F on the meat thermometer.
4. Let the chicken breasts rest for 5 minutes before serving, this prevents the meat from drying up.

Adapted from the Artsy Foodie blog

Grilled Meatloaf Burgers

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I decided to make today special -- I wanted to make a dinner that was a little different, but one that everyone would enjoy, but wouldn't be too much work.  I wanted to do a slightly different twist on hamburgers.  My sister, Caroline, made Grilled Mushinata Burgers last year on our family vacation -- basically grilled Italian meatball burgers.  They were delicious.  Taking off on this idea, and knowing that Catherine likes hamburgers, but without the buns, I thought, "what if I made grilled burgers out of meatloaf?"  I looked on Pinterest and realized I wasn't the first genius who had come up with this idea, so I just decided to use a "Tried and True" meatloaf recipe.  Knowing how much Catherine LOVES ketchup (she's one who needs to have ketchup on her ketchup), I started with Martha's Glazed Meatloaf recipe.  From there, grilled deliciousness was born!  YUM-DILLI-YUM-YUM-YUM!

The kids had plain hamburgers and the grown ups had these fantastic meatloaf burgers.  Catherine helped make the corn on the cob and the mashed potato salad, and I also made some green beans with sautéed garlic and shallots.  What a great dinner for us moms!  (oops, if I do say so myself... lol)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat grill to about 500 degrees
2. Make glaze according to Martha's Glazed Meatloaf recipe and set aside
   I actually doubled it, and might consider tripling it for next time, setting aside one serving's worth for dipping once served
3. Make meatloaf according to the same recipe
4. Measure out in half-pound increments and make into patties
   I found it best to freeze for about 1 hour, as the patties are quite moist and it helps give them a better structure for grilling
5. Baste with the reserved glaze the side of the patty that is coming into contact with the grill first
6. As the patties are going on the grill, turn down the heat to medium-low
7. Before turning, baste other side of each patty with the remaining glaze and flip
8. Grill for approximately 6-8 minutes per side
9. Serve, topped with a slice of cheese on a lightly grilled fresh bulkie roll
   I bought Wegman's Steakhouse Onion Cheese and Wegman's bulkie rolls