Coconut-Crusted Chicken with Cashew-Curry Sauce

Now that's an alliteration if I've ever heard one.  Try to say that 10 times fast! 

I've been intrigued by this recipe ever since I saw it in my subscription to Cooking Light.  I'm not a big fan of coconut but I like coconut shrimp and thought this might be similar.  The recipe does have a lot of ingredients but most of them we have in our pantry. I think I only needed to buy chicken for this recipe.  You might not have as many ingredients in your pantry, and may be turned off by the number of ingredients, which I understand. 

I'll save you the trouble of buying the ingredients, this was another 'meh' recipe.  Now I will say that I like bold flavors, so if you like delicate flavors this may be your dish.  The chicken was delicious, I would make it again and serve it with another sauce.  And I probably would, if Cooking Light didn't have a bunch of other similar recipes that are panko-coated chicken tenders.  I expected way more flavor out of this sauce and was let down.

As of today's post, 18 people gave this an average rating of four out of 5. 

This is probably one of those 'decide for yourself' type of recipes. It's not awful but I can see how some people might like it.

Recipe by Jackie Mills, Cooking Light, May 2009

• YIELD: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 3 tablespoons sauce)

Ingredients

• Chicken:
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 3/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/2 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• Sauce:
• 3/4 cup light coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon red curry paste
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped dry-roasted cashews
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 4 lime wedges (optional)
• 4 cilantro sprigs (optional)

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 400°.
• 2. To prepare chicken, sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch and red pepper in a large zip-top plastic bag. Combine panko and flaked coconut in a shallow dish. Place egg white in another shallow dish. Add chicken to bag; seal and shake well to coat evenly. Remove from bag; discard remaining cornstarch mixture. Dip 1 chicken breast half in egg white; dredge in panko mixture. Repeat procedure with remaining 3 chicken breast halves, egg white, and panko mixture.
• 3. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Place skillet in oven. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes or until done.
• 4. To prepare sauce, combine coconut milk, sugar, curry paste, and 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch in a small bowl. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots, ginger, and garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add coconut milk mixture; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or just until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in cashews, juice, and fish sauce. Garnish each serving with 1 lime wedge and 1 cilantro sprig.

Nutritional Information

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• Amount per serving
• Calories: 376
• Fat: 15.4g
• Saturated fat: 5.8g
• Monounsaturated fat: 5.8g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 2.4g
• Protein: 43.8g
• Carbohydrate: 15.4g
• Fiber: 1.1g
• Cholesterol: 99mg
• Iron: 2.4mg
• Sodium: 772mg
• Calcium: 34mg

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Slow Cooker Meatloaf

Slow cooker meatloaf, sounds like a match made in heaven right?  This recipe calls for you to cook the loaf in the slow cooker for 5 hours on low.  Cooking anything that long will result in a very moist and tender piece of meat.  We served this with cider glazed carrots from Wegman's and 'my heaven'. 

The shiitake mushrooms in this are great.  As other reviewers noted, they add this earthiness to the meatloaf that makes it tasty.  Having said that, the rest of the recipe gets a big fat 'meh'.  The 'sauce' only coats the top layer of meatloaf, meaning that you only taste the sauce in every fourth bite.  The sauce itself is quite tangy, so I would suggest doubling it and stirring half into the meatloaf itself.

Would I make it again? nah.  I'll stick to our favorite, Italian Style Meatloaf instead. 

As of today's post 11 people gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5. 

So, give it a shot and let me know if you agree. If you really want to make meatloaf that's worth your while though, go with the Italian Style. I can't believe I haven't even blogged about that recipe yet. It is one of the best ones we have.



Recipe by Jess Cool, Cooking Light, October 2003

• YIELD: 6 servings (serving size: 4 ounces)

Ingredients

• 2 (1-ounce) slices whole wheat bread
• 3/4 pound ground round
• 3/4 pound ground turkey
• 1 1/2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 1/2 cup grated fresh onion
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Preparation

• Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until crumbs measure 1 1/3 cups. Combine the crumbs, beef, and next 7 ingredients (beef through garlic) in a large bowl, and shape meat mixture into a 9 x 6-inch loaf. Place loaf in an electric slow cooker.
• Combine ketchup, mustard, and pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a fork. Spread ketchup mixture evenly over top of loaf. Cover with lid; cook on LOW for 5 hours.

Nutritional Information

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• Amount per serving
• Calories: 265
• Calories from fat: 43%
• Fat: 12.7g
• Saturated fat: 4.2g
• Monounsaturated fat: 5.1g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 1.7g
• Protein: 25.2g
• Carbohydrate: 12.7g
• Fiber: 1.9g
• Cholesterol: 152mg
• Iron: 3mg
• Sodium: 545mg
• Calcium: 41mg

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Artichoke-and-Red Pepper Pizza

Ah pizza, the American staple.  Well believe it or not this pizza is meat free.  Wait let me just double check that....yep no meat in this pizza.

Given that this pizza has 0% meat, I was fairly certain that this would be one of those meals that my husband ate just to appease me. For him, pizza with no meat is like breathing without air. 

I guess they say you never stop learning things about your partner.  He loved it!  I'll admit I loved it too, but I was in such shock that he loved it that I thought I might have been dreaming--or that he was just saying it was good to make me feel better.  But he had a genuine love for this pizza.  Normally Cooking Light cuts back on the cheese, which is one method they use to make things 'lighter'. However, I felt like this was a great amount of cheese to pizza ratio.  The recipe used up most of a bag of shredded mozzarella.

Like other reviewers, I bought fresh mushrooms and sauteed them with the red peppers.  See those green spots? I also added some homemade pesto, from another great CL recipe (seen here).  It really took the recipe to an awesome level.  How do I have fresh pesto in the winter when basil is not abundant? Simple silly, I freeze it and thaw some whenever I need it.
 
This recipe was designed as a party appetizer, with 16 servings total.  We split this into 8 servings instead, to make it more of a meal portion.  The only caveat I would mention with doing this is that the crust isn't tough enough to hold a 'slice'.  So next time we will up the time on the pre-bake of the crust to see if that works. And there will be a next time.

It appears as though www.myrecipes.com is doing a redesign of their website.  Because of this, I can't give you the rating of this recipe. I think it was a 5 star rated recipe with about 10-20 reviews. 

Recipe by Cooking Light, November 1995

• YIELD: 16 appetizers (serving size: 1 appetizer)

Ingredients

• 1 (10-ounce) can refrigerated pizza dough
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup julienne-cut red bell pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
• 1 (2.5-ounce) jar sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• Cracked pepper (optional)

Preparation

• Unroll pizza dough onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; pat dough into a 14 x 10-inch rectangle. Bake at 425° for 5 minutes; set aside.
• Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add red bell pepper, basil, oregano, and garlic; saute 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in artichokes and mushrooms.
• Sprinkle half of cheese over prepared pizza crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Spread the vegetable mixture evenly over cheese, and top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle with cracked pepper, if desired. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes or until crust is lightly browned

Nutritional Information

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• Amount per serving
• Calories: 101
• Calories from fat: 32%
• Fat: 3.6g
• Saturated fat: 1.3g
• Monounsaturated fat: 1.5g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 0.6g
• Protein: 4.8g
• Carbohydrate: 12.7g
• Fiber: 0.3g
• Cholesterol: 6mg
• Iron: 1.1mg
• Sodium: 256mg
• Calcium: 103mg

Spinach Salad with Gorgonzola, Pistachios and Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette

Red pepper jelly. What a weird thing.  Jelly is supposed to be sweet so why do you have this jelly that tastes a bit spicy?!  To make this salad of course!

I needed red pepper jelly for another recipe and for the life of me I cannot figure out which recipe it is.  Anyway I had this stashed in my fridge and so I figured let's give it a go. I was a little skeptical of this salad at first, I wasn't sure how the flavors would come together.  In the end this turned out to be a nice little salad.

To make this substantial enough for my lunch, I added two soft boiled eggs (not pictured).  The only other thing I changed in this recipe was to use blue cheese instead of gorgonzola.  I have issues some times navigating the Wegman's cheese department....But blue cheese and gorgonzola are essentially the same, so I don't think it made a big difference. 

The spiciness of the vinaigrette complements the blue cheese perfectly.  I'm not exactly sure what the pistachios add to this recipe but I enjoyed them nonetheless.  Maybe this salad would be better with a little sweet bite, like dried cherries.  Don't quote me on that though. :)

This salad would be a great compliment to any meal and sounds fancy when serving your guests.

As of today's post 11 people gave this an average rating of 5 out of 5.

Recipe by Laura Zapalowski, Cooking Light, November 2008

• YIELD: 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup spinach mixture and 2 teaspoons nuts)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup red pepper jelly
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
• 1/4 cup dry-roasted pistachios 

Preparation

1. Place jelly in a 1-cup glass measure. Microwave at HIGH 30 seconds. Add cider vinegar, oil, salt, and black pepper, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cool to room temperature.
2. Combine spinach and cheese in a large bowl. Drizzle vinegar mixture over spinach mixture; toss well. Sprinkle with nuts. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information

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• Amount per serving
• Calories: 101
• Calories from fat: 54%
• Fat: 6.1g
• Saturated fat: 1.6g
• Monounsaturated fat: 3g
• Polyunsaturated fat: 1.1g
• Protein: 2.9g
• Carbohydrate: 10.4g
• Fiber: 2.3g
• Cholesterol: 4mg
• Iron: 1.3mg
• Sodium: 187mg
• Calcium: 54mg

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