Week 19: Southwestern Bean Salad

The Recipe
1 can (450g) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (285g drained) corn
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1 spring onion, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and fresh pepper
1 medium avocado, diced
1 diced jalapeno (optional)

In a large bowl, combine beans, corn, tomato, onion, spring onion, salt and pepper. Squeeze fresh lime juice to taste and stir in olive oil. Marinate in the refrigerator 30 minutes. Add avocado and jalapeno just before serving.

Alterations: I couldn't find spring onion, so added a bit more red onion instead. The ratios looked off, so I added another tomato and another avocado. Left out the jalapenos for DH's sake, but added some chili flakes to my portion.

The Verdict
LOVED it!! I served it with paprika/oregano marinated pork chops and it just fit the bill perfectly. Extremely delicious and will definitely be made again. DH wasn't too keen on the beans, so I'll have to try something else next time... chickpeas might work quite nicely as well.

Week 18: Baked Zucchini Sticks

The Recipe
1 thin zucchini
1tsp salt
3/4dl bread crumbs
1/3dl parmesan cheese
oregano
paprika
1 egg
olive oil

Cut the zucchini into sticks - about 1x1x3cm. Put them in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Leave for at least 1 hour. Rinse thoroughly and pat dry.
In one bowl, mix up the egg; in another, mix the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, oregano and paprika.
Preheat the oven to 225C. Prepare a baking sheet by drizzling it with olive oil
Dredge the zucchini sticks through first the eggs, then the bread crumbs. Place them on the baking sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes, turn over the sticks and bake for another 8 minutes.

Serve with sweet chili sauce :)

The Verdict
I really loved it :) I don't think I rinsed mine thoroughly enough, as it was a tad on the (too) salty side, but it still tasted great! I only ate half of them, but the recipe says that they can be reheated at 175C for 15 minutes, so I'll have to try that.

It's a lot of work, so I don't know how often I'll be making them, but they're very delicious :)

Week 17: Baked Chicken Tapenade

The Recipe
1lb boneless, skinless chicken pieces - preferably breasts
5-6 olives, finely chopped OR 4 tbsp olive tapenade
8 slices of pancetta or parma
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1dl (~6.5tbsp) white wine
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 bell pepper, cut in chunks
Salt, pepper

Preheat the oven to 220C.

With a sharp knife, cut some deep wedges into each chicken piece. Put the chopped olives/olive tapenade into the wedges and wrap each piece in 1-2 slices of pancetta. Place the chicken in an ovenproof dish and place the tomato and bell pepper pieces around them. Pour wine and olive oil on top and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the juices run clear. Cover with some foil and leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with ciabatta bread that's been sliced, brushed with olive oil and grilled for 2-3 minutes.

The Verdict
After a couple of weeks with disappointing results, I am very happy to say that I loved this. It tasted just as good as it sounded, and my not-too-fond-of-chicken DH liked it too :) I think I'll chop of the garlic finer and add it to the olives next time though - they rather disappeared in the sauce. The ciabatta would only improve with some garlic as well ;)
I tried chopping the garlic finer and adding it to the olives - it DEFINITELY needs less garlic if doing it that way. I used 2 large cloves, and it was almost overpowering. So one should be more than enough.

Week 16 - Chocolate Pudding Cake

The Recipe
Cake
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp vanilla

Sauce
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups hot water

Grease your crockpot with butter. In a bowl, mix together all of the cake ingredients. Beat until smooth. Put the batter into the crock pot, and pat it down evenly.

In a smaller bowl, mix the cocoa and brown sugar. Add the hot water. Mix until smooth. Pour this sauce evenly over the batter but do not mix!

Cover. Cook on HIGH for about 3 hours until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Turn off the crockpot and let the cake sit for half an hour.

The Verdict
So very, very bad :( Neither my husband nor I could stomach eating more than a couple of mouthfuls of this. It actually tasted gross. I never thought the day would come that I'd pick throwing chocolate cake out over eating it, but here there was no contest. I never knew chocolate cake could taste that bad. Erdk.

Week 15: Beer Crock Chicken

The Recipe
4-6 pieces of chicken
1 can of beer
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp basil

Dump everything in the crock pot.
Frozen chicken: 5-6 hours on HIGH / 8-10 hours on LOW.
Fresh/thawed chicken: 3-4 hours on HIGH / 7-8 hours on LOW.

The Verdict
Just... not good :( Can't pin-point exactly what was wrong with it, but I didn't care for it at all, unfortunately.

Week 14: Sweet Garlic Chicken

The Recipe
2 pieces of chicken
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp brown sugar.

Preheat the oven to 225C.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small skillet and briefly saute the garlic until it's soft and fragrant. Take off the heat and add brown sugar and any other seasoning (+ salt / pepper) you might like.
Bake for 15-30 minutes or until the juices run clear.

The Verdict
Unfortunately I didn't care for this at all. It was much too sweet. Odd, because generally speaking I like things that have been caramelized. The exception that proves the rule, I guess?

Week 13: Crispy Edamame

The Recipe
No real recipe for this. Just take frozen edamame, toss with olive oil, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, put in oven-proof dish. Bake at 200C for 15 minutes.

The Verdict
Hmm... I think I may have made the mistake of crowding the edamame, because they didn't turn out crispy at all. Either that or I just didn't bake them for long enough. Better luck next time I guess?