Key Lime Jerk Chicken/Tofu with Cilantro-Garlic Rice

The Inspiration

I realize this is not an Irish recipe, but for St. Patrick's day I do like to do a little something green. I love holidays and will do all the cheesy things involved, like dying food green. I also realize that food that isn't supposed to be green doesn't look all that appetizing. So I decided to add my green a more or less natural way. Don't get my wrong I still dyed the yogurt green. I mean come on...it's St Patrick's day.

The Know-How

This is a super quick recipe that is perfect for a weeknight, or a lazy weekend. With just a few ingredients I was able to make a flavorful and tropical-ish dinner. I'm hoping that if I make enough tropical inspired dishes that I might somehow magically be transported to a beautiful island. I'm still waiting.

I was able to make quite a few shortcuts with this meal, by using a rice cooker, George Foreman grill, and pre-blended jerk seasoning.

The How-To

Key Lime Jerk Chicken/Tofu with Cilantro-Garlic Rice

Prep time: 10 min (overnight for marinade, optional)

Cook time: 20 min

This is a meal for two.

(Optional marinade for chicken)

Ingredients:

11/2 c orange juice or enough to partially cover

2 tsp soy sauce or a few shakes

- Pour the orange juice and soy sauce over chicken, cover and refrigerate overnight.

-Flip the chicken over in the morning to let the other side soak during the day.

Ingredients:

1 c rice (I used short-grain, it's what I had on hand)

1/2 c fresh cilantro ( or 1-2 Tbsp of dried)

1 tsp of garlic salt

2 Boneless skinless chicken breast or 1 lb tofu

2 Tbsp Key lime marmalade

1 Tbsp of Caribbean Jerk seasoning I used McCormick

1/2 c Tillamook Key lime Greek yogurt

a drop of green food color for the yogurt, if you are a weirdo like me 

-I like to add my herbs and seasoning at the beginning of the cook process instead of after the rice is cooked. 

-Add cilantro and garlic salt to rice and water stir to mix and get that rice cooking.

-Preheat your grill if using.

-Take chicken out of marinade and discard marinade; or cut your tofu into 3/4 inch slabs (I did not marinade the tofu b/c you need to press the liquid out of it.).

-Rub the Jerk seasoning onto the chicken or tofu. 

-Spread the Key lime marmalade on top each breast or tofu. (This is what gives you that nice brown caramel color. It's also delicious.)

-Grill that chicken and tofu. (On my Foreman it was set to 300) and cook for about 6 min. Or until the chicken juice runs clear.

-Make sure not to start the chicken until the rice only has about 10 minutes left, so everything is done around the same time.

-Add a dollop of the Key lime yogurt on top of chicken/tofu. (For the record, if it wasn't Paddy's day I wouldn't have dyed the yogurt.) It is normally white.

I served this dish with some pre-seasoned black beans, and had a little beans and rice left over.

Lemon-Ginger Banana Bread

The Inspiration

It's easy to understand why banana bread is one of the more popular quick breads. It can take a beating, in the sense that it's really hard to mess up. You can add a lot of sugar, or just a tad, and many other add-ins that make it such a versatile and scrumptious breakfast, snack, or even gift. 

So for one of my versions of banana bread I used the flavors of lemon and ginger; in the form of Chobani's lemon blended Greek yogurt and ground ginger. Usually for me banana bread feels like a fall/winter baking item, I think due to the standard addition of cinnamon. I was craving some banana bread, and recently I've been on a tropical or citrus kick. So I decided to bring my banana bread up to spring with these fresh flavors.

The Know-How

I've found the best way to be able to experiment with banana bread (or any quick bread for that matter) is start with a basic recipe that you know works for you then substitute and add away. For instance, maybe you want to use honey instead of sugar, or yogurt instead of oil or butter.

I didn't have any add-ins in this recipe because I wanted to see how the flavors came out, next time I'll add in some dried tropical fruit or coconut just to give it that extra oomph.
This bread came out very moist, the flavor that came out the most to me was the almond extract. So next time I would add 2-3 tsp of ginger possibly fresh ginger, and maybe some lemon zest as well. You cannot tell this is a very low-fat bread. It was so moist. The crust on the outside was a bit chewy, but the next day it moistened.

The How-To

Lemon-Ginger Banana Bread

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 50 min

Ingredients:

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 c very ripe banana, mashed (I used 3 med bananas)

3/8 c egg whites (I used egg beaters)

1 (5.3 oz) container of lemon blended Chobani greek yogurt

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

1 Tbsp almond milk

1 tsp almond extract

2 c unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

This will make 1 loaf in a 9 x 5 inch pan. Feel free to make mini loaves  or muffins; adjust cook time accordingly.

-Preheat oven to 350° F

- In a mixer combine the banana, yogurt, egg whites, sugars, milk, and extract.

-In a separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients: flour, b. soda, b. powder, and ginger.

-Slowly add the dry mixture to the mixer of wet ingredients. Use the stir setting until fully combined. (You don't have to use a mixer, but I did.)

-Pour mixture into a lined or greased (I used parchment paper) loaf pan (or pan of your choice).
-Bake for approximately 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
-Cool in pan for 20-30 minutes, remove from pan and completely cool on rack.
-Enjoy your fresh banana bread.

Quick Cider Infused Pizza Dough

The key players

The Inspiration

Raise your hand if you are someone that tries to plan out your meals for the week. Keep your hand up if it doesn't always happen that way. I start out my week with the best of intentions, then life happens and you need some quick meals at the spur of a moment. As much as I love to cook I don't have time to spend hours and hours making dinner when it's just the two of us. But I love good food, so I'm always looking for ways to make quick and delicious meals. Enter no-yeast pizza dough—made with Woodchuck Cider! 

The Know-How

Making this pizza dough is more similar to a quick bread than a yeast bread—Capt. Obvious everyone—what I mean is that, the rising this crust will do is due to the baking powder. And without the yeast it doesn't have to rise which makes this a simple and quick option, when you are craving pizza, and don't want to order out. With the semolina and lack of yeast involved, you shouldn't expect to get a very fluffy crust out of this dough. It is going to be a nice dense yet soft (unless you over bake it) thin crust.

The cider: The carbonation helps with the rise just a tad, but mainly gives the crust a nice flavor. I love the flavor of all of the Woodchuck ciders but the Pink and Amber are my favorites. I had the Pink on hand, so that is what is used here. And Yes! the cider is actually pink, love it. 
I'm the type of person that will almost never use water when a recipe needs some moisture. Why miss out on a flavor opportunity.

The semolina flour: I had once read that a lot of what makes a professional pizza not compare to homemade is the fact that they use semolina. I'm not sure how much this is true, but I wanted to try it out for myself to see how much of a difference it made. It makes a difference. I bought the Bob's Red Mill semolina flour. The semolina gave the crust it's gorgeous yellow color along with a deeper flavor than only using all-purpose flour. It has a much grittier texture than flour so I only subbed 1 c of the flour for the semolina.

Semolina

The How-To

Quick Cider Infused Pizza dough

Prep time: 20 min
Cook Time: 8-10 min

Ingredients:
3 c Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 c Semolina Flour
1 (12 oz) bottle of hard cider (I used Pink Woodchuck)
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (plus extra for rolling out dough)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp each: oregano, basil, parsley (feel free to substitute to your liking)

This will make two medium sized pizzas (The pictures show a 14" and a 12" because I was not careful separating the dough in half.)

-Preheat over to 450° F.
-Gather all your ingredients. I like to measure everything out a head of time so I can just throw it in when I'm ready.

I love the pink cider!

-Stir/Mix all dry ingredients together. I didn't use a mixer but you can. Just do it on low so you don't make your cider a foam.
-Bit by bit, add the cider as you stir, and add the oil.
-The dough may be very sticky; add a little more AP flour to make it knead-able if needed.
-It will still probably be a fairly sticky dough...you have been warned. Knead the dough until a fairly smooth texture is achieved. No need to let it sit and rise

-Spread a bit of olive oil on a pizza pan, Roll the dough out on the pan. You can also use parchment paper—I think next time I will so the bottom crisps just a little more. If you like a slightly soft crust use a pan.

-Prick the dough with a fork a few times
-Pop the rolled out dough in the oven for about 2-3 minutes, only if you are using a pan.

-Top pizza dough with sauce, cheese, and toppings.
-Bake at 450° F for about 8-10 minutes.
-Enjoy the fruit of you labors with a delicious beverage.