Low Carb

Lemon Brine Chicken

March 24, 2010 by polishhousewife 6 Comments

Start this in the lemon brine early in the day, and by evening you’ll have moist, lemony chicken. It’s a classic flavor combination!

I’m not usually the one to do the grilling in our family, but I must have learned a little something watching over the years because this chicken turned out pretty well.

My parents have been brining the Thanksgiving turkey for the last few years. (Brining is soaking the meat in a salty, spicy solution before cooking.) It makes for very moist, flavorful meat. I would love to tell you that I always fix chicken this way, but the truth is I don’t usually plan that far in advance. (That’s why I don’t have a list of crock pot recipes for you too!)

I had to take photos outside to get the last bit of natural light. The chicken looks pretty good; the taste was even better!

Adapted from: myrecipes.com

Lemon Brine Chicken

Yield: 8 - 10
Category: Lemon Brine Chicken
Cuisine: American

Description

Chicken that’s moist and full of flavor

Ingredients

4 quarts water
2/3 cup kosher salt
3 lemons, quartered
1/8 cup dried parsley
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, sliced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 – 5 pounds chicken, cut up (I used a jumbo package of thighs)

Instructions

Place water and salt in a large dutch oven, heat just enough to dissolve salt.
Squeeze lemons over the dutch oven, add the fruit as well as the juice.
Add parsley, onion, garlic, and pepper.
Add chicken to dutch oven. The water should just cover the chicken.
Cover dutch oven and refrigerate 6 – 8 hours.
Grill or bake as usual. I used indirect heat on a gas grill for about an hour and then medium direct heat to crisp up the skin.

It looks like this chicken thigh is haning out of Wee Dax’s mouth like some kind of giant poultry stoggie, but it’s an optical illusion. He was just hoping I’d turn my back.

Turkey Fajita Salad

December 8, 2009 by polishhousewife 1 Comment

sauteed peppers, sauteed onions, turkey taco meat

Salad #1 of 7

Turkey Fajita Salad came into my kitchen lineup when Weight Watcher’s convinced me that I needed to eat more extra lean ground turkey and less ground beef. We often pick up a multi-pack of ground turkey at Costco – popping all but one package in the freezer. Once a week or so, we’ll prepare this recipe. With just the two of us, the four servings give us two meals. I originally thought of it as a taco salad because of the seasoning, but I think with the grilled veggies, fajita a more accurate description.

This fajita salad is also the one I wanted to start my week of salads (an effort to counteract the preponderance of carbohydrates around a church office in December. The spicy meat and yummy grilled vegetable make this so much more than just a salad. I’ll admit that sometimes a plate of green sounds kind of boring. This is so far from boring that feels more like a yummy main dish rather than a good for you salad.

Ingredients

1 package extra lean ground turkey (approx. 1.25 lb)
2 T. taco seasoning (or one package)
2 bell peppers (any color, red is my favorite)
2 onions
canola oil spray
kosher salt
1/2 c. light sour cream
1 1/3 c. low fat cheddar cheese
salsa
salad greens

Directions

Season turkey with taco seasoning, brown and set aside.
Julienne peppers and onions.
Saute separately or together, as desired until tender and caramelized.
Spray the veggies while they’re cooking with canola oil as needed, season with kosher salt.
Fill plates with greens.
Top with turkey, cheese, peppers, onions, sour cream and salsa.

Serves 4

Note: WW Points – 10 per serving. This seems like a lot for one meal, but it’s about the same as a bacon ranch salad from McDonald’s with grilled chicken and it seems so much more substantial. It’s so full of flavor and interesting textures; I hope you’ll try it and love it as much as I do.

Pincho Moruno (Moorish Style Kabobs)

October 14, 2009 by polishhousewife 1 Comment

My husband found this recipe in The Foods & Wines of Spain by Penelope Casas. He had to buy the book when he saw that Penelope wrote about having Pinchos at the same tapas bar we had – at the Bar Espuela on the Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid. She has street cred, or should that be kitchen/bar cred?

We made Pincho Moruno for a drinks and nibbles party. Grilling them was our “performance art” of the evening. Even with two tables full of sweet and savory goodies, the Pinchos stole the show. They disappeared the moment they came off the grill, and our five pounds of pork was gone in no time at all.

We sometimes saute the pork with a little olive oil rather than grilling. It’s not traditional, but the meat seems to be a little more moist. If grilling, be careful not to overcook. Try it for your next cookout; you won’t be disappointed!