Tag Archives: 30 minute meals

Green Bean Chicken

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Green beans with Chicken

Green beans with Chicken

We are having a rough week here. Page is finding adjusting to school harder than any of us had hoped. She was fine initially, but has had a delayed reaction to being separated from me.  Yesterday was an especially hard day for us all.  She cried all day at school, and when I picked her up from school my heart just broke.  She looked like she had been crying all day, and the way she fell into my arms…let’s just say that I was reduced to one giant puddle! Needless to say, I never got around to posting my blog yesterday.

A few weeks ago we were out running the last of our Christmas errands, and stopped to eat a Chinese restaurant.  As we browsed the menu, I asked Page what she wanted to eat.  She quickly removed the menu from my hands, took a few seconds and said “I want the green beans mom!”  With her tiny finger she pointed to a picture of a plate of glimmering green beans and said ” I want this one!” Under normal circumstances I would ignore her, and get her what I think she might eat, but she was so confident in her choice that I ordered the green bean chicken for us to share. I’m so glad I did!  I don’t know who enjoyed the dish more, me or Page.  The beans were crisp and fresh, and Page devoured almost all of them!  The moment I tasted this dish, I knew that I had to try to recreate it at home.

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Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound of fresh  organic green beans, ends trimmed

1 tablespoon of garlic paste

1 teaspoon of ginger paste

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

3 tablespoons of rice vinegar

1 chicken breast. cubed

sea salt to taste

Directions: Heat the oil, garlic and ginger paste in a saute pan just until the garlic and ginger become fragrant (about 30 seconds).

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Season the chicken with sea salt and add it to the hot pan.  Toss well, and allow the chicken to cook through about (5-7 minutes).

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Once chicken has cooked through, add in the soy sauce, rice vinegar and green beans.

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Cook for an additional 5-7 minutes–the green beans should still be crisp, remove from heat, serve and enjoy!

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Citrus Marinaded Chicken Thighs

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Citrus Marinated Chicken Thighs

My husband gave me a food saver for Christmas. Most women would balk at such a gift, but not me, I’ve wanted a Food Saver for a long while now. Among the many great things that a Food Saver does, like resealing opened bags of chips, and preserving veggies for an indefinite amount of time, is marinating meat in under 15 minutes. Who knew that sucking the air out of something would create such great results. You don’t need a food saver to make this, just marinate your chicken the old fashioned way, 30 minutes in this marinade is great, but longer is always better.

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Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
5-6 skinless boneless chicken thighs
1/4 cup of green onions sliced
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/4 cup of mandarin juice/ orange juice
1 teaspoon of mandarin or orange zest
3 cloves of garlic grated
1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
Juice of 1 small lime
1 tablespoon of cilantro finely chopped
2 tablespoon of olive oil
Sea salt to taste

Directions:
In a medium bowl whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade. Add the chicken, mix well, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven 425F. Line a baking sheet with foil, remove the chicken from the marinade, and place it on the foil lined baking sheet. Cook on 425F for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Top with cilantro and enjoy!

Turkey chili

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Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili

Chili is another one of my favorite winter weather comfort foods. On a cold blistery day, nothing is as warming as a hot bowl of chili. As a private chef my chili was a favorite amongst my clients. I made so many variations of this recipe and everyone is fantastic. If you want to use something other than ground turkey in this go right ahead. I’ve done this with ground chicken, beef, venison, and even textured vegetable protein(TVP) for my vegetarian friends, all variations work for this. If you are using TVP 1 cup will do in this recipe. I add it in at the point where I add the meat in the recipe. I’m not a big fan of TVP because I would rather use something not so processed. But I will say that I have served TVP chili to unsuspecting friends and family and they didn’t realize that it was not meat! It actually tastes like ground meat.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 15 ounce can of organic kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 ounce can of organic pinto beans, drained and rinsed
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 15 ounce can of organic tomato sauce
1 pound of ground turkey
1 cup of water
3 tablespoons of olive oil
4 tablespoons of ground cumin
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat the oil in a pan, add onion and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add in cumin, and cook for 2 minutes. Add in ground meat, season with sea salt and black pepper. Cook until meat is brown. Add in tomato sauce, water, and beans. Stir well, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, it’s done when the mixture thickens a bit. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, and enjoy.