Zesty Cook » noodles

A+ Lemon Chicken

zesty — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:00:47 +0000

Help The Students Event: Day 18

Happy Friday! It is hard to believe that the end of the month is drawing so near. Does anybody else feel that September flew by? I cannot believe it. Lots of action over here so I guess that usually makes time fly. Alright, today I have a very special post! This recipe has been donated by a zesty in law and truly is a family favorite. In fact this recipe is by far one of the all time fav’s of a zesty niece ( The niece who really inspired me to start the help the students events ).

I have consumed this recipe many times and I must say it is super easy, very quick and the sauce always hits the spot. The combination of lemon and basil flavor the chicken and infuse a tremendous balance in your mouth. This recipe literally takes the amount of time it takes to boil some noodles in a pot. The sauce is completely done in the microwave, the chicken is sauteed on the cook top and the entire dish makes friends with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Take a look at the recipe and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts ( chopped )
1 Tbsp. Basil ( dried )
2 Tbsp. Fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Box Roitini Noodles
Parmesan cheese ( grated )
Salt ( for pasta water )

Method

Combine basil, olive oil, lemon juice and soy sauce in a large microwaveable dish
In a medium sauce pan, cook pasta according to directions
Heat saute pan over medium heat and begin to cook chicken until no longer pink. Once chicken is no longer pink, transfer to the sauce dish
Heat on high in microwave for 2 minutes.
Drain pasta noodles and plate. Serve chicken and sauce on the side or atop the noodles ( whichever you prefer )
Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese

ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: If you have leftovers, keep the sauce separate from the noodles and reheat the sauce . Once the sauce has been warmed through you can put it on top of the noodle and reheat together. This will avoid the congealed texture from the sauce and keep the noodles from clumping together.

Hopefully you enjoyed this simple chicken dish. This is a great recipe to make using tofu or even a vegetable such as squash or eggplant. So whether you are a meatatarian, vegetarian or full vegan you can spin this recipe to your liking. I would like to wish you all a great weekend and hopefully the weather holds on for a few more days.

I am golfing on Sunday with the “BOYS” so I am looking forward to that. Other items on the agenda include some yard work, some writing and of course some cooking. I will be back on Monday morning with a few more days of the “Help the Students Event” to round out the week.

Take care

zesty

Japanese Prawn Noodle Salad

zesty — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:00:53 +0000

Hello all, happy Wednesday. So it seems that it’s turning out to be yet another crazy week. There is a lot going on and not enough time in the day to get everything done. However, Zesty is surviving and back with another super simple dish that can be ready in no time flat and is packed with flavour. If you haven’t noticed already, I am a big fan of deep flavour in my food and this Asian inspired number is just that.

Sometimes you feel like a salad, sometimes you do not want to see a green leafy vegetable for miles. Moderation is the key.

So next time you have a hankering for a salad, I suggest you give this a try.

Ingredients

150 g Japanese noodles or Chinese
6 Cups Mixed Greens
2 Cloves garlic; crushed
1 Red pepper; deseeded and cut into thin strips
4 tsp. Rice vinegar
3 Tbsp. Coconut Milk
1 Tbsp. Fresh root ginger grated
2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
2 Tbsp. Sesame seeds toasted (1oz)
2 tsp Sunflower oil
1 Lb. Prawns

Method

Place the cooked drained noodles in a salad dish and chill.
In a small bowl add the the rice vinegar and soy sauce. Leave for 10 minutes.
Heat the sunflower oil in a wok and add the crushed garlic,stir fry for 1-2minutes and add the red pepper.
Add Prawns to the hot pan and cook for 1 minute.
Add coconut MIlk and allow to thicken.Then cool slightly.
Combine the vegetables with the noodles and add the rice vinegar and soy sauce directly to noodles.
Take the grated ginger and holding in one hand squeeze the juice over the salad and discard the pulp.
Chill for 30 minutes before serving.
Toss with mixed greens.

ENJOY!

Delicious served as a light lunch or as part of an asian meal.

Zesty Tip: When dressing a salad, place the dressing in the bottom of the bowl and the greens on top of them and gently toss with a pair of tongs just before serving. This will prevent damaging the greens.

I hope everyone has a great Wednesay… looking forward to hearing everyone’s take on- ” Zesty goes Asian“.

zesty

5 Fun Ways to Kick Up Kraft Dinner

zesty — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:00:50 +0000

Well I think it is safe to say that at some point in our lives we have all been exposed to a box of kraft dinner or two. I first have to tell you a couple of mandatory ingredients that are a must have for a successfull batch of the popular fluorescent orange meal.

To start it off – if one does not have real milk and real butter they should not even open the package of kraft dinner and get started. These really are must haves to make the kraft dinner as it was intended. While cooking it at our house – I usually add a little less milk and little more butter than they suggest to make it creamier. I find if you add to much milk it becomes soup-like ( which I am not a huge fan of)

Now because Kraft Dinner preparation is not rocket science… I thought I would spice this post up and show you how I spent yesterday at the house. I tested ( not for the first time for some) the below add-in recipes to make sure they turned out edible and worthy of letting the world see inside my unique kraft dinner add-ins. So I hope you enjoy the recipes to follow and if you have any different or interesting comments about Kraft Dinner – I would love to hear about them.

Ground Beef

1 lb. ground beef, cooked
add taco seasoning (as you would to make meat for tacos, according to the package directions)
drained 1 can (15 oz.) Mexican style diced tomatoes
1 Cup mushroom pieces and stems

Tuna

1 can (6 oz.) tuna, drained chunk
1 celery stalk, sliced
dash of Italian seasoning
1 can (10-1/2 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup each milk and frozen peas

Chicken

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1/2 lb.), cooked, chopped
1 can (15 oz.) Italian style diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup chopped green peppers (about 1 medium)
dash of thyme

Pepperoni/Hotdog

1 cup Pepperoni or hotdog slices (about 1/4 lb.)
1 cup chopped green peppers (about 1 medium)
2 cups chopped tomatoes (about 2 medium)

Ham

1 cup of cooked ham ( cubed)
1 cup of cooked spinach ( or baby spinach raw)
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Bread crumbs

For the Ham Recipe above I like to stir in the parmesan cheese in at the very end then transfer everything to a casserole dish and top with bread crumbs and baked it in oven at 375 degrees until golden brown and bubbly. And of course you can do that for any of the above choices but I find it works best with the ham and spinach.

Just for the record – I am not a huge fan of Kraft Dinner and I rarely eat it but it is fun to experiment. No matter how much you argue – most kids in this generation really do love the infamous orange noodle.