Innie or Outie

This dish was inspired by a chicken recipe on a Japanese foodie television site, Papa’s Olive-Chicken in Cream Sauce:

(Click on image to view large size)

For this meal, hubby pan-fried julienned onion, chopped chicken thighs, and carrot slices in olive oil; added minced garlic paste, sliced green olives with pimento, sliced black olives, mushroom slices, fresh chopped basil, mirin, white wine, and white pepper, simmered for about fifteen minutes, stirred in cream, and simmered for approximately five more minutes. To accompany the dish, he chose walnut bread for sopping-up the sauce.

Sometimes we get caught up in various activities in life, limiting preparation time for meals. This is one solution hubby came up with for an impromptu outdoor barbecue, Papa’s Grilled Chicken Thigh Dinner:

(Click on image to view large size)

Hubby began by preparing a simple marinade of fresh rosemary leaves, dried thyme flakes, tsuyu somen sauce, seasme oil, and white wine vinegar. He placed the ingredients in a zip-lock plastic bag, added chicken thighs, and let marinade in the refrigerator for about one hour until the BBQ charcoals were ready.

Meanwhile, he placed potatoes in the microwave and half-baked for about five minutes. After removing the potatoes from the microwave, he cut in half and wrapped in a foil packet.

As the potatoes were baking in the microwave, hubby took some frozen mixed veggies out of the freezer, placed in a foil packet, adding some dried garlic slices, white pepper, sea salt, and olive oil.

Once the charcoals were at the right temperature, hubby placed Papa’s Grilled Chicken Thighs, Papa’s Simple Grilled Foil-Wrapped Veggies, and Papa’s Grilled Foil-Wrapped Half-Baked Potatoes on the grill and cooked until done (about 30 – 40 minutes).

(Click on images to view large size)

This is a simple and light meal for those hot summer days, Chicken Nugget Salad:

(Click on image to view large size)

Sauté chicken nuggets in olive oil and flavor with Italian seasonings. Cut into bite size chunks and toss in a salad of choice. I used iceberg lettuce, arugula, julienned yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, chives, and chopped fresh basil, parsley, and rosemary leaves. Then drizzled the salad with a whole grain mustard/white wine vinaigrette.

To accompany the salad, I used Bleu Cheese Toast Strips:

(Click on image to view large size)

Simply toasted bread with bleu cheese melted on top and then sliced into strips.

This is cool and quick summertime snack, Mixed Greens with Chicken Wrap:

(Click on image to view large size)

For the snack, I used a tortilla,some leftover salad with dressing, and added bleu cheese chunks.

A creative use hubby came up with for leftover salad, Papa’s Asian-Style Pork and Chicken with Greens Medley:

(Click on image to view large size)

For this dish, hubby used sliced pork lightly sautéed in sesame oil, dried sliced garlic chips, minced ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, chicken broth, chopped bok choy, rosemary, and leftover Hot & Tangy Mixed Greens with Chicken Salad served on a bed of rice and sprinkled with cracked toasted sesame seeds.

This is a tomatoless summer salad that combines several unexpected ingredients: Hot & Tangy Mixed Greens with Chicken Salad:

(Click on image to view large size)

The salad consisted of sliced Chinese cabbage, bok choy, watercress, carrots, and red onion, with diced red bell pepper, avocado, and boiled chicken tossed in a dressing of minced garlic, sesame oil, olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic and chili sauce, coriander, oyster sauce, and lime juice. To complete the summertime meal, I served assorted cheeses with mini-croissants.

We finally had a few good days of weather and a break in our schedules. So we decided to give a try to a new outdoor dish, Papa’s Grilled Almost-Seafoodless Paella:

(Click on image to view large size)

For this version Hubby used rice, olive oil, Italian sausage, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, clams, onion, chicken, garlic slices, oregano, parsley, white pepper, saffron, chicken broth, thyme, bay leaves, and lemon slices.

Hubby is trying another delicious chicken dish, Papa’s Lemon Chicken with White Wine Sauce Penne Dinner:

(Click on image to view large size)

Hubby arrived at the idea by combining two seperate recipes. First he a sautéed the chicken in olive oil, then added garlic, butter, lemon, oregano, and white wine. After plating the penne, he topped it with the chicken and then sprinkled with some parmesan cheese. To accompany the dish, hubby made a small salad of iceberg lettuce, arugula, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and bacon bits with creamy dressing.

This is a hearty curry hubby made where the sauce is a different color than what is usually expected, Chunky Chicken White Curry:

(Click on image to view large size)

For the curry hubby used chunky chicken, yellow bell pepper, potato, onion and carrot pieces.

This dish is a combination of leftover Pork Tetrazzini and Chicken and Dumplings on a bed of Parsley Golden Rice, Leftover Mix on Golden Rice :

(Click on image to view large size)