Pineapple Chicken Burgers

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded thin and cut into two pieces
1 small can of pineapple slices (4 slices)
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar + some brown sugar for pineapple
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 buns
Provolone cheese

Combine the juice from the pineapple can, soy sauce, brown sugar, and mustard.  Marinate the chicken overnight in juice mixture.

Rub some brown sugar onto the pineapple slices.

Send the husband out to grill the chicken (about 7 minutes on one side and 6 on the other, he said).  Add the cheese near the end so it can melt.  Right after you flip the chicken, throw the pineapple rings onto the grill, turning once.  Serve on buns with two pineapple slices per sandwich and any other fixings that sound delicious to you.

Here are some pictures from out trip out to Utah in September.  Since we spent most of our time chasing Isaac, most of the pictures we got were of his back as he swiftly ran off to explore something else.  

We spent most of our time at temple square trying to keep him out of the fountains.  We ran into my uncle and a few cousins and stopped to chat for a brief moment.  When we looked down at Isaac he had a foot in the fountain (not the fountain in this picture) and was seconds away from getting the other leg in, too.  My cousins two year old obediently stayed with his parents, watching our son spew craziness in every direction.

Balsamic Chicken Sandwiches

I forgot to take a picture - I'm always hungry; this dinner was immediately consumed with no consideration for a blog, only thoughts for my stomach.  There should be a picture here. 

2 lb chicken breast, cut in cubes or strips
Salt and Pepper
Flour
Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 C chicken broth
1/2 C balsamic vinegar
6 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 C broccoli puree (steam some broccoli, throw it in a food processor or blender with a teaspoon or more of the steaming water.  Puree until you have a smooth, creamy texture.  My thoughts - cook up a bunch of steamed broccoli and either use it the night before and save out enough for this, or serve the extra steamed broccoli as a side to this sandwich)
6 ciabatta rolls
Tomatoes, sliced
Fresh basil
Grated mozzerella cheese

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Dredge in flour.  Cook in skillet with olive oil and garlic until chicken browns on all sides.  Add chicken broth, vinegar, and brown sugar.  Bring to boil.  Simmer ~10 min until chicken is cooked all the way through.  Add broccoli puree.  Cook for 2 more minutes.

Place tomato slices and basil on bottom of rolls.  Top with chicken, sauce, and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 350 (or if your impatient like me, broil - but watch closely so it doesn't burn) until cheese is melted.  Enjoy!

Original recipe in the parade magazine a month ago, by Jessica Seinfeld.  Supposedly Jerry Seinfeld's favorite sandwich. 

Another Glorified Grilled Cheese

Grilled sandwich with leftover ham, Swiss cheese, and a touch of Dijon mustard.  Enjoy!

Here's another one, because grilled cheese (or variations thereon) are just delicious.  I needed to get rid of the last of the Easter ham (we'd frozen a Tupperware of it and just pulled it out earlier this week for a meal).  This sandwich was delicious, just the thing for lunch!

Glorified Grilled Cheese

We have this sandwich every time we make tomato soup (recipe here) and together they are delicious!  Use sourdough bread.  Spread with prepared pesto.  Top with mozzarella cheese, and fresh tomatoes.  Grill to perfection.

We first had this with Geoff's brother, who I think said he saw it on a cooking show.

Veggie Sloppy Joes

We had some extra buns in the freezer from burgers a few weeks ago that needed to be eaten.  Hence, sloppy joes.  Not the most exciting meal, but these are a little different than your everyday joe, so I'll post it anyways.  Plus, if you start readers with low expectations, they get excited when you pull out something really great a few posts later . . . right?


1 lb can tomatoes
2-3 carrots
2-3 celery sticks
1/2 lb ground meat (I used ground turkey because it's what I had on hand)
1 onion
mushrooms
14 oz can beans (I used kidney, but I've used red before)
Buns
Cooking staples


Place tomatoes, carrots (grated), and celery (roughly chopped) in a blender.  Blend.

Brown meat with onion (minced) and 2 cloves garlic (minced) in a large skillet.  Cook and drain (if needed).  Add mushrooms (chopped real small) and some salt and pepper.  Cook mushrooms for a few minutes.


Pour tomato mixture into skillet.  Add 2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp oregano, a little red pepper, and a spoonful of sugar.  Simmer for 10 min or so.  Drain and rinse beans.  The beans I used this time were huge so I quickly mushed them all with a fork (not a thorough job at all).  This serves 2 purposes:  1)  My husband doesn't really likes beans.  Mashing them hides the taste and texture of the beans (once added to the tomatoes) but you still get the protein (since there's barely any meat in this), and 2) Mashing beans helps thicken the tomatoes, which were pretty runny until I added the beans.  When I made this with small red beans I only mashed half of the can and left the other half whole to be chunky like the meat.  That worked, too.  Heat through.  Simmer without a lid until it reaches your desired consistency.  Enjoy!


When Anna made this, I think she said she toasted the buns with some red onion slices and cheddar cheese, or something.  I didn't want cheese, didn't have red onion, and didn't feel like toasting the buns (call me lazy).  Also, when Anna did this, she used one of those cans of sloppy joe base that you can open and just add meat.  So she added the veggies to the can of sloppy joe base instead of the tomatoes and left out the spices.


Note:  If veggie sloppy joes creeps you out, you wont really taste the celery, carrots, mushrooms, or beans, I promise.  But since there isn't much meat in this, they help to thicken everything so that it's still sloppy joe consistency.


Recipe idea by Mark Bittman in the May 2010 Cooking Light Magazine, with several changes by Anna and myself.  Thanks Anna for trying this first!