My boring life continued

New recipes for you.

Spicy Chicken Marinara Pasta - Skin and pull half the chicken meat off of a whole roasted Jalapeno Honey glazed chicken - $3.99 at Walmart. (Keep rest for sandwiches.) Saute onion, celery, garlic, any other vegetables like red or yellow peppers in olive oil till done. Add the cut chicken, bottle of marinara sauce, wine and seasonings and simmer. Boil pasta with a bit of oil and garlic salt. Add shredded mixed Italian cheeses before serving.

Chicken Mediterranean - Saute handfuls of chopped celery, bell peppers, carrots, onions, and a bit of garlic. Add lemon juice and ginger and a can of spicy tomatoes and peppers. Add chopped up left over chicken and a can of garbanzo beans. (This was a couscous recipe and I didn't have the coucous and decided not to replace it with anything. To extend it add coucous, rice, pasta or barley.)

Calico Orzo Stuffed Peppers - Brown one third of the orzo, a rice shaped pasta, in skillet with olive oil. Replace the rice in your favorite stuffed pepper recipe with the orzo pasta. (Brown ground meat and onions etc. Add tomato sauce, seasonings, mix with rice - yah, yah, yah - you know how to do that.) In last two minutes of baking sprinkle shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top.

The barley and garbanzo beans made me think of this recipe:

Barley Cashew Salad
Yield: 8 servings
A great way to enjoy cashews and garbanzo beans.

1 cup Barley, Pearl
3 cups Water or Vegetable or Chicken or Beef Broth
1 cup Garbanzo Beans
1/2 cup Cashews, Pieces
1/2 cup Shredded Carrot
1/4 cup Snipped Fresh Parsley
2 tsp Dried or Fresh Mint
1 Tb Canola Oil, 2 Tb Olive Oil
3 Tb Fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
6-8 Large Lettuce Leaves

Cook garbanzo beans according to package directions or used canned. Drain and set aside.
Cook barley in boiling, salted water or vegetable broth until tender (about 1 hour). Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the barley, garbanzo beans, cashews, carrots, parsley and mint.
Combine the canola oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper; pour over the barley mixture and toss to coat. Chill for several hours.
Arrange lettuce leaves in a chilled salad bowl or platter. Turn barley-salad mixture into the bowl. Garnish with additional fresh parsley and carrot curls, if desired.

I make small changes to recipes like the above because I don't like the taste of canola (rapeseed) oil.

My brother has mentioned recently wanting to try chicken marinated in Red Soda Pop which a Mexican place in Houston is supposed to do. I usually marinade in some mixture of oil, vinegar, honey, and/or fruit juices. I can't find Robb Walsh's mention of the red soda marinade but here is a review of some ass-kicking margaritas and chicken dance karaoke. I did find a recipe for Black Cherry Soda Chicken and BBQ sauce which I am sure is not the same thing with a different soda. It would be more like this lemon-lime smoked chicken recipe.

Robb Walsh also finds that the mediocre Thai place near my brother's house actually has great Thai salads for takeout. Meanwhile Alison Cook is starting a salsa scorecard after getting bummed and not burned at original Ninfa's. Cook also witnessed a volcanic chocolate spill in Vermont. Much more interesting if less practical for me to see than Walsh's smelly shirt Korean BBQ adventure.

Tags: food,, recipe,, restaurant,, Robb Walsh,, Alison Cook,, rapeseed