Grilled Chicken and Zucchini Couscous Salad

Deliciously healthy, perfectly balanced one-dish meal. 

Great recipe for your 4th of July celebration!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Yesterday here in Los Angeles the weather was just perfect for the beach: warm and breezy, not too hot and not too windy. Also, the ocean was finally warm enough for me to hit the waves, and boogie board with my boys. Lots of fun!
With all the playing in the water and sand, I always need to be prepared and pack a nutritious and filling lunch. The beach can really make you hungry! What I cooked was a yummy and super healthy couscous salad with grilled chicken and zucchini. A perfectly balanced, one-dish meal. Great for your next picnic, and a must-try for your 4th of July celebration party! Not really Italian, but with strong Mediterranean aroma and flavor. You will enjoy every bite of it!


Ingredients: serving 4

• 3 zucchini
• one chicken breast
• 1 cup of couscous, I used the Israeli pearl 
• extra virgin olive oil
• rosemary
• 2 garlic cloves
• half lemon, juice
• salt, to taste

Preparation time: about 40 minutes

Directions:
Step 1: Marinate the chicken breast with rosemary and garlic, and a bit of olive oil.
Thinly slice the zucchini and grill. Season with salt.

Step 2: Grill the chicken: I cut mine in thinner slices so that it would only take a few minutes per side to grill. Season with salt.

Step 3: Follow the directions on the box to cook the couscous. Mine said: boil three cups of salted water. When boiling, add half tablespoon of olive oil and the couscous. Simmer for 12 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to cool down.

Step 4: In a large bowl combine all the cold ingredients: grilled zucchini and chicken cut in pieces and the couscous.  Drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil and lemon juice ... as much or as little as you like! 

Buon Appetito!

CROCK-POT CHICKEN PARMESAN

This is a quick and easy "cheater-recipe" for chicken Parmesan. YES, I KNOW, technically it's not fried and crispy chicken Parmesan, but it IS delicious and it IS quick and easy...you just throw everything into the slow cooker and 4 hours later its ready to devour...comfort food at its best, trust me.

 

 

2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (see note)
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg beaten
1 jar meatless marinara sauce (about 25 ounces)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons dry onion flakes
2 teaspoons basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
Mozzarella cheese

Coat the bottom and sides of your slow cooker with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Coat the chicken breasts with beaten egg, then roll in the crumb-cheese mixture and place the meat in your slow cooker in a single layer.

In a bowl, mix the marinara sauce, onion flakes (see note), oregano, basil, sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour over the coated chicken, DO NOT STIR.

Set your slow cooker on low for 4 hours, do not disturb chicken. About 45 minutes before it's time to eat, put a nice thick layer of Mozzarella on each chicken breast and spoon a little of the sauce over the cheese and continue cooking.

NOTE: All crock-pots cook at different temperatures, so keep that in mind when you set your timer. I usually cook 2 chicken breasts, so I cut the breading in half, but I DO NOT CUT DOWN THE SAUCE. My chicken is done (nearly fall-apart tender) in 3 1/2 hours on LOW. If you cook all 4 chicken breasts, you'll need a larger slow cooker and you'll have to adjust the cooking time a little (about 4-4 1/2 hours) just keep an eye on it the first time you make this recipe.

NOTE: If you want to use fresh onion in this recipe, rather than onion flakes, just sauté them in a little butter before adding.

NOTE: Use whatever commercial marinara sauce you enjoy. Personally, I use an inexpensive brand (like Ragu) because the extra onion, oregano, basil, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper jazz up the marinara nicely.

NOTE: This would be a fantastic recipe for a potluck dinner if you quarter the chicken breasts.

And the winner is ...

Today is the end of my first giveaway!
And the winner, randomly selected via PromoSimple is ...

Mary Varner

Congratulations Mary on your win!
You will receive shortly an email from me, and soon your new set of silicone baking mat from Kitchen Executive Chef!
Thank you all for your entries. And many thanks to Kitchen Executive Chef for the generous gifts.
I have been so excited about this giveaway that I might host another one pretty soon. So ... stay tuned!!

Today, I would also like to take the chance to thank YOU, readers, followers and friends, for all your nice comments and support!
I am always happy to receive feedbacks about my recipes and posts. But most of all, I love when I find out that some of you got inspired by my dishes, and tried them out. So today, I would like to post the pictures you sent me of your creations.


Here is a picture of  the ricotta tart with raisins that Tanya made with her daughter Elsa. Looks amazing, right?

This is what Breanne's husband made her for Mother's day. Her comment was: "Sinfully delicious!!" I am absolutely impressed by how nice this strawberry with marscaprone cream cake looks. Lucky girl :-)

 These are the shrimps over creamy polenta that Heather made. Yummy!!

This is Tanya's photos of the spaghetti with lentils sauce. I'm really getting hungry now!!

 This delicious pasta salad with grilled eggplants is Coleen's creation. Wonderful!!

And I absolutely love this last picture. Amanda's kids made the butter-free apple cake with ricotta. I heard it was really yummy. And they did it all by themselves. Amazing job :-)Very inspiring!!

Thank you all for sharing your wonderful pictures and your very sweet comments.
Please send more! I will share them if you'd like me to.
Have a great and super fun weekend! Happy cooking :)

Deliciously Crisp and Sweet Meringues

So crisp, airy and light meringues that will melt in your mouth!

Only two more days left for your chance to win a free set of silicone baking mats from Kitchen Executive Chef. Once again, here is the link:

This giveaway ends at 1:59 pm on Friday, June 27, 2014, and is open to US resident 18+ only. Bookmark this page and come back for extra entries.
On Friday, the winner will be randomly selected, via PromoSimple. I will email the lucky winner directly, and will post the name here. Good luck :)

I'd like to finish my giveaway week with something yummy, that I made using my new silicone mats. So, here is the recipe for meringues. This is a great dessert to prepare when you have left over egg whites. Rather than throwing them away, whip them up with some sugar and make this deliciously crisp and sweet meringues.

It has been a long time since I made meringues, and my first attempt did not quite work. The problem was with the baking: my oven was at 300 degrees, which I thought was low enough. But only after 30 minutes the meringue started to become brownish, so I had to turn off the oven. I left the meringues in the oven for an hour to cool down before removing. But even if they looked almost perfect (a little too tan), they were not crisp enough. More soft and chewy. My kids were so happy ... I made "marshmallows"!! :-)
My second attempt, though, was great! I lowered the oven to 200 degrees, cooked the meringues for one hour, and left them in the oven to cool down for one hour and a half.
Simply perfect: so light and airy they just melt in my mouth!


Ingredients: to make about 50 small meringues

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup of powder sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• one pinch of salt

Preparation time: 10 minutes to prepare, 1 hour to bake, about 1.5 hours to cool off.

Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Please make sure that no part of the yolk is present. This might prevent the whites to become foamy.

Step 2: Add half of the powder sugar and beat some more. Beat in the rest of the sugar, with the salt and vanilla extract, until the mixture is fluffy and stiff.

Step 3: Pipe the mixture in small round shapes on the silicone baking mat. No greasing necessary! Bake for about one hour. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside the oven to cool down for about one hour and a half.

Enjoy!

Italian Biscotti with Almonds - Cantucci

Simple, crunchy and nutty: Italian biscotti filled with toasted whole almonds

Happy Monday!
There are only four days left for your chance to win a free set of silicone baking mats from Kitchen Executive Chef! Here is where you can enter for free: all you need is to write your name and email address. I promise, I will not email you ... unless you win, of course :)

This giveaway ends at 1:59 pm on Friday, June 27, 2014. Get your entries now! This giveaway is open to US resident 18+ only.

You can also buy the mats on Amazon.com, and here is the link:

Today, I will present you my recipe for Italian biscotti, which I made using my new silicone mats. I told you: I'm loving these mats, and have been using them every chance I get.
In Italian, "biscotti" means "cookies", plural of "biscotto". Obviously we don't called them just biscotti there, or it would be really confusing! They are called "cantucci", are typical of Tuscany, are traditionally made with whole almonds, and are twice-baked cookies: first are cooked in the oven as a long loaf, then cut in slices and baked again to toast. If I lived in Tuscany, I would eat biscotti after dinner, dunked in "vin santo", a sweet, intensely fragrant and aromatic dessert wine. But given that I am here in California, I really eat them at any time of the day, dipped in cappuccino, latte, tea and, why not ...Cabernet?!? Well, I have not actually tried them in Cabernet yet! But please, let me know if you do :)
Here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 pinch of salt (1/8 of a teaspoon)
• 4 oz of unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 3.5 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 cup of toasted, unsalted whole almonds
• 1 lemon, zest

Preparation time: About one hour

Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, blend the eggs with the sugar.

Step 2: Melt the butter by cutting it in pieces in a heat safe container, placing it in a small pan with an inch of boiling water, until it melts.

Step 3:  In the large bowl, stir in the melted butter, the pinch of salt, the vanilla extract and the lemon zest. 

Step 4: Blend in the flour and the baking power.

Step 5: Add the almonds and mix with a spoon.

Step 6: On the silicone mat, make two long rolls with your hands, and flatten them out, as shown in picture. Remember: no need to grease the mat!! You can sprinkle with flour the dough if it sticks to your hands when making the rolls. Bake for 20 minutes.

Step 7: Remove from the oven, and let it cool off for 10 minutes. On a cutting board, with a sharp knife, cut out the cookies, diagonally, and place them on the silicone mat. Please do not cut directly on the mat or you might damage it! Bake the cookies for about 7-8 minutes on each side, or until golden.

Buonissimi :)

Pinwheel Cookies

Perfectly baked, soft and buttery, sweet and chocolaty pinwheel cookies!

I am so excited! I recently received a free set of silicone baking mats from Kitchen Executive Chef. I could not wait to use them, so I immediately baked these super cute and delicious pinwheel cookies.


I love silicone baking pans because they are really easy to use: no greasing required before baking, no sticking to the pan when ready, and extremely fast clean up at the end. What more could you ask for?!?
These silicone baking mats from Kitchen Executive Chef are simply perfect! Exactly like promised: professional quality, durable, non-stick silicone mats, in three very convenient sizes. And from now on, I can start saving money: no more parchment paper to cover my baking sheets, and no need to replace them every so often. Let's face it, baking sheet don't last very long even when using parchment paper. You just need a spill, a little bit of scrubbing to clean it, and your pan is scratched and no longer usable!

Anyways: my pinwheel cookies came out perfectly baked! Soft and buttery, sweet and chocolaty. These are great for breakfast next to your cappuccino. Excellent for snack, dunked in a cold glass of milk. And oh-so delicious with your afternoon tea. I can really eat these cookies all day long! Could I?!? Sure, why not? ... maybe adding an extra 10 minutes to my morning run!!

Thank you Kitchen Executive Chef for the amazing set of silicone baking mats.

AND because I'm so happy with these, here's what we'll do. Are you ready for this?
You can enter below for a chance to win a free set of silicone baking mats from Kitchen Executive Chef!

Good luck :)

This giveaway ends at 1:59 pm on Friday, June 27, 2014. Get your entries now! This giveaway is oen to US resident 18+ only. Bookmark this page and come back for extra entries.

You can also buy the mats on Amazon.com, and here is the link:
And here is the recipe for the pinwheel cookies:
Ingredients: to make about 32 cookies

• 4 oz (1 stick) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus 30 minutes in the refrigerator, and 15 minutes of baking.

Directions:
Step 1: In a large bowl cream together the sugar and the butter (softened) using a spoon or a blender.

Step 2: Stir in the vanilla extract and the egg yolks, one at the time, mixing in between.

Step 3: Sift in the flour and the baking powder, until blended, using your hands if needed.

Step 4: Gather the dough in one ball, and set aside half of it. Blend in the cocoa powder to the half in the bowl.

Step 5: On a lightly floured surface, or parchment paper, roll out the dough to a 1/8 inch thickness. Try to make both as rectangular as possible.

Step 6: Place the cocoa dough on top and cut out the edges.

Step 7: Roll up the dough on the longer side, helping yourself with the paper if needed.

Step 8: Place in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Step 9: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With a sharp knife cut slices about 1/4 of an inch in thickness.

Step 10: Place on the silicone baking mat, no need to grease!! And bake for about 12 minutes.

Yummy!!