Lemony Chicken (Slow Cooker) w/Roasted Potatoes

Lemon Chicken is a dish that scares me a bit. I've made it twice before, one unimpressive and one awful. The first was just some Lemon Pepper seasoning, so kind of boring. The second was a recipe from my Biggest Loser cookbook that turned out WAY too lemony and just not good. So, once again, B was pretty skeptical, but he agreed to let me try it.

Lemony Chicken ("The Everything Slow Cooker Cookbook; Margaret Kaeter, 2002)

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1/2 tsp. table salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1/4 c. sherry
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. crumbled dry oregano
• 1 tsp. grated lemon peel

4 to 6 quart slow cooker.

Wash the chicken breast; do no remove the bone or skin. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the butter in a medium-sized skillet. Saute the chicken until brown. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, transfer the chicken to the slow cooker. Add the sherry to the skillet and stir to lossed the brown bits on the bottom of the skillet (deglaze). Pour the sherry mixture over the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with the oregano and garlic. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. Cut the lemon peel into 1/8-in. squares. Add the lemon juice and bits of lemon peel. Cook covered on low for 1 additional hour.

Roasted Potatoes:  Nothing special here. Just 2lbs. baby red potatoes cut into pieces. Toss with olive oil and whatever you like. This time I used garlic and onion powder and dried, minced onion and garlic. Put in sprayed baking dish. Cover and cook at 400 for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 20 to 25 minutes until slightly crispy.

Sissy's Variation:
I do not ever cook with chicken breast on the bone or with the skin. So, I just used 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I always have on hand.
I did use one extra clove of garlic because I love it so.
I did not have any sherry on hand, so I used a bit of white wine that I had in the fridge.
Because I used BLSL chicken, the browing step was a bit different. I couldn't let it get too brown or it would have cooked all the way through, so I just barely let it get brown. The BLSL chicken also does not give out good "bits" for deglazing, but there were some and I did want to utelize the butter flavor, so I still did that step.
Once I poured the wine mixture over the chicken, I didn't think there was quite enough liquid in there to keep the chicken from drying out--even knowing I would add the lemon later. Two things made me add some additional liquid in the form of chicken broth:  I have a larger (8 qt.) slow cooker than the recipe called for and chicken not on the bone tends to be a bit drier, especially in the slow cooker.
We were unable to eat the chicken the night I made it, so I stuck it and the juice in the fridge for the next night. Even reheated, it was so good. B ate it on sandwiches. I ate it with the juice drizzled over and for dipping. Yum!

Stinky Cheese Chicken and Skinny Mashed Potatoes

That's the best way to describe Parmesan Crusted Chicken for me. I absolutely despise the way Parmesan cheese smells, especially when cooking, and I really don't like the way it tastes all that much, but sometimes it's awesome. I've done a lot of different version of Parmesan Crusted Chicken over the years, and this one is by no means original. It's just a compilation of so many different recipes I've seen and used.

The skinny mashed potatoes are all mine. I love mashed potatoes, but the way my grandmother makes them (the best EVER) would have me at least 50 pounds heavier if I made them on a regular basis. For a long time I didn't even realize I was making "skinny" mashed potatoes--I was just using low fat/low cal stuff I always have on hand. But I love them, so does Bill, and my little brothers still say I make the best mashed potatoes.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken (I had three breasts)
1 tbsp. flour
1/4 c. grated parmesan/Romano/asiago blend cheese
1/8 c. Italian style bread crumbs
1/8 c. shredded parm/Romano blend cheese
garlic powder (to taste)
fresh ground pepper (to taste)
2 egg white, slightly beaten
splash of skim milk

1. Pat chicken dry and trim any skin/fat.

2. Heat oven to 375. Cover baking sheet with foil (for easy cleanup) and spray with light coat of cooking spray.

3. Mix flour, bread crumbs, cheeses, garlic powder, and pepper in shallow dish (a pie plate works well). In separate dish, beat egg whites with milk.

4. Dredge chicken through egg whites, allowing excess drip off. Coat chicken with cheese mixture. Place chicken on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle and press leftover cheese mixture on top of chicken. Spray with light coat of cooking spray.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked and breading is a golden brown.

Sissy's Variations:
I think next time I will use a bit more bread crumbs. But other than that, it turned out great.

Skinny Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:
potatoes of choice, peeled, and cubed
4 garlic gloves, cracked
skim milk
Smart Balance butter
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray
garlic powder

1. Make sure potatoes are cubed pretty small for faster cooking. Place potatoes and garlic in pot and just cover with water. Cover pot and bring to boil. Cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Drain potatoes and put back in hot pot to get rid of excess moisture.

3. Add a splash or two of milk, about 1 tbsp. butter, and garlic powder (to taste) to potatoes and mash with potato masher.

4. Add more milk, but not so much that you can see the milk--too much milk with result in a gluey consistency. Spray with spray butter (5-10 sprays). Mix with hand mixer (or in standing mixer) until desired consistency--add milk as needed.

Sissy's Variations:
I change this up depending on the meal and what I have on hand. For this meal, I added parmesan cheese to go with the chicken. Next time I will add more.

Steak and Potatoes

So, we love a good steak in our house. Bill actually cooks the steaks quite a bit. Three years ago, for Valentine's Day, he decided that he would cook dinner for me. He looked up some recipes, went to the store and bought ingredients, and cooked all by himself. He picked a steak dish with a cream sauce/dressing over salad. It was really good. He also "discovered" a new way to cook steaks at home. I grew up on steak cooked on a grill, so it never really occurred to me to cook them any other way.

So, in our house, steaks are seared on the stovetop, in a pan, then transferred to stove to finish cooking under the broiler. We also love to eat steaks at Outback Steakhouse, and their method is searing before cooking, so I suppose it makes sense that's how we'd cook them.

So for tonight's menu, I chose steaks, twice baked potatoes, and green beans. (I meant to make garlic bread, but I never got around to it.) All of these "recipes" are ingredients I sort of threw together and that can be adjusted to taste/dietary restrictions.

Steak Marinade:
garlic, finely chopped
shallot, finely chopped
onion, finely chopped
parsley, chopped
red wine vinegar
olive oil
Worcestershire sauce
salt substitute
fresh ground pepper
salt free steak seasoning
cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients in large plastic bag. Marinate steaks for at least one hour.

Heat pan over medium high heat with a little olive oil or cooking spray. Make sure you use an oven-proof pan. Turn oven to broil. Sear steaks for about 30 seconds on each side. You want them just browned on the outside. Transfer pan to oven and cook to desired doneness. We like medium to medium rare, so about five minutes each side. I don't have a pan large enough to cook both steaks at once (they were pretty big sirloins), so I transferred the first steak to a baking sheet and covered tightly with foil, then cooked the second.

Twice Baked Potatoes:
two large baking potatoes, scrubbed and rinsed
garlic cloves (I used four)
butter (I used a little Smart Balance butter and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray)
sour cream (light sour cream)
bacon (low sodium, cooked in microwave)
Parmesan/Fontina/Asiago/Romano cheese blend
sharp cheddar cheese (I used light)

Pre-heat oven to 400. Poke holes in and spray potatoes with cooking spray and wrap with foil. Place garlic gloves on sheet of aluminum and toss with a little olive oil; wrap. Place potatoes and garlic on baking sheet. Garlic was done in about 30 minutes. The potatoes took about an hour. Allow the potatoes to cool just enough to handle. Cut slit in top and spoon out the insides, leaving just the skin. To the potatoes add the roasted garlic and next four ingredients (amount is purely based on taste) and loosely mash together with fork. Spoon mixture back into potato skin and top with cheddar cheese. Put potatoes back in oven and bake until cheese is melted.

Green Beans:
frozen green beans, thawed
olive oil and olive oil cooking spray
garlic, chopped
onion, chopped
fresh ground black pepper
vinegar
butter

Heat pan over medium heat with a little olive oil and cooking spray. Saute onions and garlic until slightly tender. Add green beans to pan and coat with a little more cooking spray. Saute green beans until almost cooked through. Add vinegar and pepper and reduce heat. Just before serving, add a little butter or spray butter (I used spray).

Sissy's Variations:
For the steak, I think I will sear just a little longer next time. I don't think mine turned out as well because I didn't sear as long. And I'll probably use less vinegar next time.
For the potatoes, I think more roasted garlic, but they were just about perfect. Oh, and I'll make sure I'm not out of green onions next time.
For the green beans, I want to try them with fresh next time and maybe add a little Parmesan cheese at the end.

Overall, the steaks tasted good, although Bill's wasn't a very good cut. The potatoes were awesome. Bill said it was the best potato he'd ever had. Bill didn't like the green beans and I thought they were just okay. But, still, an all-around good dinner, which is good because I burned myself again on the stupid pan that came out of the oven!