Make me a quesadilla - part 2

Here is part 2 of "Make me a quesadilla" (part 1) and this one isn't oozing with cheese either!
This year, we only went camping one time so I wanted to make sure we made something really good, yet still try to keep it simple. I ended up making Bobby Flay's quesadilla recipe. What's camping friendly about this recipe is that you can do a lot of the prep at home and it only takes a single, small burner to cook (if you didn't want to make over a fire).

Bbq Chicken Quesadilla with Smoked Tomato Relish and Buttermilk Dressing
via foodnetwork.com

Chicken

4 chicken thighs, boned (about 1 lbs), skin removed
3 cups Mesa BBQ sauce or store bought, divided
Salt and freshly ground pepper
24 (6-inch) flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 cups shredded white cheddar cheese
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbs ancho chile powder


Smoked Tomato Salsa
8 cold smoked plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 serrano chile, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Buttermilk Dressing
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 Tbs finely chopped red onion
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground pepper

• Place chicken in a medium baking dish. - I used a large plastic sealable bag
• Pour 2 cups of the barbecue sauce over chicken and let marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
• Remove from marinade, season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Grill for 7-8 minutes on both sides or until tender and cooked through.
• Transfer chicken to a plate and let cool. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• When chicken is cool enough to handle, slice. - I shredded the chicken
• Toss with the reserved 1 cup of bbq sauce.
• Place 8 tortillas on a flat surface and sprinkle with 2 Tbs of each of the cheeses and onion.
• Top with some chicken.
• Stack another tortilla on top and repeat. 
• Brush the top of the tortillas with oil and sprinkle with the chili powder.
• Place tortillas on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown and cheese has melted. 
• For the smoked tomato salsa mix all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste. - I used store-bought tomatillo salsa
• For the buttermilk dressing, mix all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste. - I used store-bought dressing
• To serve, place 1 quesadilla on each plate and cut into quarters. Top with a dollop of salsa and drizzle with the buttermilk dressing.

To make this camping friendly, I packed the cheese, onions, and cooked chicken in separate containers. Then, I just assembled the quesadillas at the campsite. If you don't want to use store-bought salsa and dressing, then you can make those ahead of time as well. Either way, don't skip this part and use a traditional, red salsa. The mixture of buttermilk dressing and tomatillo salsa was so good it should not be missed!

AP's Buffalo Chicken Dip

Everyone has their staple that they like to bring to potlucks (or at least what everyone likes them to bring). For a friend of mine at work, her dish is buffalo chicken dip. This is her recipe...

Buffalo Chicken Dip

1 package cream cheese

2 cups cooked chicken

1/2 cup buffalo sauce - I use Franks Red Hots brand

2 Tbs melted butter

1/2 cup blue cheese dressing

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

• Preheat the oven to 300
• Cover the bottom of an 8x8 glass dish with the cream cheese
• In a large bowl, combine the chicken, sauce, and butter
• Pour over the cream cheese
• Top with blue cheese dressing and mozzarella
• Bake for 20 min
• Server warm with chips

It's dangerously addictive. The weird thing is that it doesn't look that appetizing. The first time I saw it, I didn't even want to try it, but I was told it was good so I gave it a try!

Even when I brought it over to a party, no one wanted to dive in, but once they did they couldn't stop. I've also seen a variation of this dish in a crock pot instead of a baking dish - that's a good idea too. It looks more like a chicken dip that way.

Iron Chef! Part 2

My work had a pot luck lunch a few weeks ago and we decided on an Iron chef theme. We had three categories and each category had a theme ingredient. Appetizer: Cheese, Main course: Booze, and Dessert: Fruit. It turned out really well! There was a ton of food and it was all so good. I took pictures of most of the dishes, but only got the recipes from the winning dishes. I competed in the Main course category. I didn't win :(. BUT the winning dish was fantastic, so I'm going to share that with you.

See the previous post for the winning appetizer recipe.

Cajun Cafe Bourbon Chicken - Made by Amber


1/2 cup Soy sauce
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
2 Tbs White wine (dry or semi-dry)
1 tsp Powdered ginger
2 Tbs Dried minced onion
1/2 cup Bourbon Whiskey
1 lb Chicken, cut up

• Combine soy, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, onion, and bourbon in a plastic storage container
• Stir till sugar dissolves
• Add Chicken and stir to coat
• Cover and Refrigerate over night
• Place chicken and marinade in a 8x8 glass dish
• Bake at 350 for 45 minutes - Basting every 10 min
• Remove chicken and set aside
• Move all juices, with all the brown bits, into a frying pan
• Place over medium heat
• Slowly add in white wine
• Stir and add chicken

Allow sauce to thicken a little before serving

You don't have to be a fan of Bourbon to be to enjoy this dish! It's full flavored and smells great. It is good served with rice, but I often prefer egg noodles.
Thanks AP!

Strawberries and Chicken?!?!?

Back in my post, "I really love sandwiches' I mentioned I had two recipes I would share from Looking Light magazine and I only shared one of them. Well, wait no longer....I'm about to share with you the other recipe!!!!

Gorgonzola-stuffed chicken breasts with strawberry gastrique
Sauce:
1 cup chopped strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth - regular chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

• Place strawberries in a small, heavy saucepan
• Partially mash with a fork
• Stir in sugar, vinegar, broth, and coriander
• Bring to boil
• Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 min, stirring occasionally
• When sauce is reduced to about 2/3 cup, strain mixture and discard solids

Chicken:
1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
2oz prosciutto, chopped
4 6oz boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Cooking spray
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh, ground, black pepper

While the sauce is cooking...

• In a separate bowl, combine cheese, thyme, and prosciutto
• Cut horizontal slits in the thickest portion of the chicken to form a pocket
• Place about 3 tbs of cheese mixture in each chicken pocket
• Heat large, non-stick skillet over medium heat
• Coat pan with cooking spray
• Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper, then place in pan
• Cook for about 5 minutes or until browned on one side
• Cook in the other side for about 4 minutes
• Once cooked completely, serve with sauce.

I thought I was really going out on a limb when I picked this recipe. The combination of strawberries and chicken just didn't sound good. But WOW, this was really really good. I defiantly have to make this again. We unexpectedly had my cousin and her fiance over for dinner that night and they loved it too. We didn't' serve it with any sides though, and it was filling enough for us (with some wine of course).

My First Alfredo!

It was Sunday and we were tired and hungry. We didn't have much food in the house, so I was thinking we could have some sort of chicken and pasta dinner. Also, it was our three month anniversary and I didn't just want some boring chicken and pasta dinner, so I went online to find something....and this is what I found!

Cajun Chicken Alfredo and Jimmy's Favorite Garlic Bread - both from Guy's Big Bite on the Food Network.

These recipes were great! They had so much flavor, were cheap and easy to make, and even easy to clean! Most of the ingredients needed we keep on hand anyways, so it was nice that we only needed to run to the store and grab a few things.

Cajun Chicken Alfredo4 (5-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup blackening spice (recommended: Paul Prudhomme's Chicken)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup roughly chopped marinated sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup white wine
3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound cooked fettuccine
1/2 cup sliced scallions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Dredge the chicken breasts in the blackening spice and place in a cast iron skillet over very high heat. Blacken both sides of the chicken and place in the oven for 10 minutes, or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Slice in strips on the bias and set aside. - For us, the chicken was small and thin enough that we didn't need to put it in the oven.
In a saute pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Add garlic and lightly caramelize. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes and the chicken slices. Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Add the heavy cream, increase the heat to a simmer, and reduce the cream sauce by half.
When the cream sauce is to desired consistency, stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan, salt, pepper, and pasta.
Nest the pasta on large rimmed plates, pour sauce over pasta, and garnish with scallions and the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan.

Jimmy's Favorite Garlic Bread
Garlic Butter, recipe follows
1 loaf sourdough bread, cut in 1/2
Basil leaves
8 ounces sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons grated ParmesanLiberally apply garlic butter to bread halves. Bake in oven until light golden brown. Remove and top with basil, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan. Cut into 2-inch slices.Garlic butter:
2 heads garlic
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature - We cut this down to 1/2 lbs and it was still plenty!
1/2 cup mayonnaise - We used Miracle Whip instead
Pinch paprika
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley leaves - We forgot to use this
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Slice the tops off the garlic heads, place in a piece of foil, drizzle olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place in oven and bake for 1 hour, or until soft.
Squeeze roasted garlic out into medium mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and thoroughly mix together, divide in half, and refrigerate.

I titled this, My First Alfredo because this was the first time I attempted to make my own alfredo sauce (normally I shorten the recipe and buy the stuff!) and it turned out very good. Well, it looked a little off in color, but it tasted good non-the-less.

Since it was our anniversary we decided to sit down at the table rather than in front of the TV. We also had the dinner with a bottle of wine we received as a wedding gift.