Kitchen Weapons

Looks like a weapon, doesn't it?

Meet my new favorite tool.

I've been on the hunt for a meat tenderizer for the past several weeks. I found some pretty good deals on Amazon, but they all had one flaw noted in fine print: Do Not Place In Dishwasher. This would apparently ruin their shiny finish.

REALLY?? Why would I want a tool made for pounding raw meat that is not dishwasher safe? I'm not going to pound chicken with ANYthing that can't be tossed into the dishwasher.

Others at Target and Walmart that were dishwasher safe seemed light and inadequate.

So, I finally decided to splurge for this little beauty at Williams Sonoma.

Nice and heavy. Big surface for even flattening. No more falling-apart-chicken breasts from pounding them unevenly with a can.

With a simple twist of the handle, you can flip over the surface and use the tenderizing side.

Tough meat, no more!

I see more chicken parmigiana and grilled chicken in my immediate future!

Name that Gadget: Part 1

I picked up a new kitchen gadget today.

It's different.

A common tool, yet like none I'd seen before.

What is it?

Apparently, this one was too easy!

Yes, it's a meat tenderizer/pounder.

Chipotle-Lime Grilled Chicken Salad

I am no culinary genius.
I'm more of a culinary copycat.
But, I know a good recipe when I try one, and that is the purpose of this blog!
I promise to share my best finds with you and try to include a photo whenever possible.

I've been thinking about chipotle all week, since I made white chicken chili last week. I came across this reipe on the Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen. I changed enough that I'm going to list my own recipe below. Here's the link to the original.

Chipotle-Lime Grilled Chicken Salad

1/2 cup cilantro
1-2 Tbsp minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (two peppers...I minced them all and froze the rest)
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lime (or 3 Tbsp lime juice)

Combine all of the above ingredients, whisking in the olive oil last.

Pour half of the vinaigrette into a container and marinate 2 chicken breasts for 1 hour or overnight. [I used my FoodSaver and it was ready in 20 minutes.] This is a pretty spicy dressing/marinade. Reduce chipotle to 1 Tbs for the faint of heart!

Grill chicken breasts, slice thinly and serve over salad.

Combine salad ingredients, which include:

1 head romaine lettuce or mixed greens
1-2 carrots, cut in half and shaved into peels
2 small tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 avocado, diced
2 cups corn kernels, roasted [I fried frozen kernels in olive oil until brown and crispy-YUM! You could also broil on a baking sheet.]

You could add cotija or feta cheese, but I found cheese unnecessary, with so much flavor going on already.

Grill chicken breasts, slice thinly and serve over salad, dressing with remaining vinaigrette.

So good...it's what's for lunch tomorrow.

Sugar and Spice

A few of my most recent discoveries in the land of sugar and spice:

#1) Course sugar sprinkled over cookies and pies. WHY had I not tried this before??

#2) Ground Chipotle Powder. Hard to find in grocery stores, but easy to make. I found a bag of dried Chipotle pods at a latin market and ground them in an electric coffee grinder. So. Good.

#3) Freshly ground Nutmeg is fresher and tastier than buying it in powder form. I stumbled across some whole nutmeg the other day and decided to try it. I have no idea how people do this without losing the skin from their fingers, but it SMELLS and TASTES so good.

Sheena's Black & White Chili

We tried Sheena's Black & White Chili recipe tonight. I think it might've killed me.....

......'cuz I've died and gone to heaven! Seriously better than ANY chicken tortilla soup I've ever had.

Who knew how important [and potent] ground Chipotle could be? Apparently, Sheena did! I couldn't find it locally, but I did find whole dried chipotle pods at Pueblo Market #2. I ground them into powder myself using a coffee grinder [but not before practically ruining my Cuisinart food processor and destroying my lungs by inhaling it]. But, I digress!

You can find her recipe HERE on her blog. I used about 3/4 Tbsp chipotle and it had some HEAT! Just enough bite and SO much flavor.

Her presentation is prettier than mine. I took this picture before I crumbled some Tostitos w/ Lime tortilla chips over the top of my bowl.

We love all things: Avocado, Cilantro and Lime.

Add Chipotle to the list!