SORRY for the last 13 hours of NO Zesty.  My hosting account was suspended due to excessive usage!!!  GRRR anyway we are backup and running and I have a post for you.

Happy Wednesday to you!

Before we get on to the most exciting part of your day ( I mean you reading this post) let me mention that Blake from Blake Makes is doing something really cool today.  He is hosting a giveaway but guess what, the giveaway is for a chance to win Zesty’s Blog makeover.  How cool is that?  So everyone that votes enters over at Blake makes will also be entered into the blog makeover contest.  As i write this post, we are so close to getting 200 comments – not too mention all the blog mentions and tweets.  When all is said and done we will be well over 300 entries… so exciting.

On to the Food

What do you get when you have one piece of boneless chicken left, a cup of Jasmine rice, a head of broccoli on it’s last leg, a carrot and one can of Wolfgang Puck’s Organic Vegetable soup on hand?

I give you Zesty’s All in the Pot Goulash.  It tasted quite good actually.  It was not something I h ave ever whipped up before I can honestly admit that.  I used the soup as a sauce almost and added it early after the carrot and chicken sauteed so that it would reduce and thicken without the lid.  It worked like a charm.  I cooked the rice separately to avoid to much complication with measurements and liquid balance ratios.

In the end you have something that looks like this…

Ingredients

• 1 Carrot ( chopped)
• 1 Chicken Breast
• 1 Cup rice
• 1 Head of broccoli
• 1 Can of Wolfgang Puck’s Organic Vegetable soup
• 1/2 can of water
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
• 1 Tsp. red pepper flakes
• Dash of chili powder

Method

1. Preheat pot to medium heat; add olive oil.
2. Toss in carrot, garlic and chicken and let brown about 5-7 minutes
3. Cook rice in a separate pot according to directions
4. Add soup, water, chili powder and red pepper flakes; let simmer for 10 minutes while rice cooks.
5. Toss in broccoli for final 3 minutes; add salt and pepper
6. Once rice is cooked, add rice to the mixture and stir.
7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Keep the heat up to medium when you add the soup and the lid off.  This will allow the soup to thicken.  Add your seasonings once the soup has been added.  Do note, add whatever flavors you like…. curry would work well in here as well.

Again – sorry for the delay in posting and all the hiccups I have caused.  Hopefully the issue is solved and we can move on as per usual.  Have a great Wednesday and don’t forget to enter in the makeover.  The final day is Friday.

Take care

zesty

Happy Friday!!  WHOOOOO HOOOOOO.  As I type this post I am stranded in the house as the driveway is completely filled in from a snow drift.  No big deal as our snow removal guy is en route.  This gives me just enough time to share this delicious, quick and easy chicken recipe with you and kick off Friday with a bang.

Ingredients

• 2 Boneless Chicken Breasts
• 1 Cup of Mushrooms ( sliced)
• 1 1/2 Cups Salsa
• Mozzarella cheese
• 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• Black Pepper

Method

1. Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees
2. In a preheated sauce pan add the olive oil and begin to brown the chicken.



3. Add the mushrooms and let cook down for about 3 minutes.



4. Turn the chicken and brown the other side and then transfer to baking pan.



5. Top the chicken and mushrooms with the salsa and top with the cheese.







6. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted and cooked through.



7. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Over cooking a boneless chicken breast can really turn into a bad experience.  Make sure to just cook it through until no longer pink.  Remember that boneless does not take as long as bone in too cook.

Do you Remember

Remember back when I baked homemade beer bread.  It was very good but had a funny after taste and many of you tried the recipe and some suggested the same problem with the amount of baking powder.  Well I was concerned about that so I made the recipe again last night and tweaked the 4 1/2 Teaspoons of baking powder to 3 Teaspoons.  It was much better.  I also halved the amount of melted butter on top and it was still delicious.

Here are a couple of snapshots of the finished product.

I hope you have a great Friday and I will talk to you on Monday.

Take care

zesty