We are leaving for Bulgaria in less than two weeks and I gotta say, I am pretty much only interested in daydreaming and anticipating. In turn, my kitchen time has been downsized to make room for these valuable and time consuming activities.

But let’s be honest, my appetite certainly has not decreased, so I am really digging recipes that take minimal effort but still taste delicious. If you have kids, I can imagine trying to convince them that these are the new chic form of chicken fingers. Just serve them with some familiar condiments and they won’t even notice they’re baked, not fried!

For the Recipe, click here:

Baked Pistachio Crusted Buttermilk Chicken

This happens quite often. Ivan and I plan to venture out on Saturday morning and pop into a breakfast joint but nine times out of ten, we end up staying home. I think it’s because we are both very opinionated about our eggs and don’t enjoy shelling out oogles of cash for some under-stuffed, measly omelets. We have found that breakfast, is just better at home!

Take this Spicy Southwestern Layered Chicken Frittata. This took me no time at all and used up a bunch of ingredients that were bopping around the fridge with no destination. I even had some frilly lettuce straight from my friend Zipporah’s garden! I think we hit it on the nail. And, we got to lounge around in our bathing suits on this 107 degree day! What could be better than that?

For the Recipe, click here:

Spicy Southwestern Layered Chicken Frittata

I love a spur of the moment dinner party. Even more, I love friends that I can try my recipes out on. Thank goodness Jorge and Jamie enjoy being guinea pigs. A little Southern or as Jorge put it, Peruvian, this is a nice homey meal that you can prepare in under an hour.

I threw together a Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Lime Sorbet (which because of the lack of freezing time, was more like a creme) for a sweet bite at the end. My mom had given me her recipe about a year ago and I’m not so sure why it took me so long to make something so perfect sounding. I’ll probably be having sorbet for breakfast. So much for limiting my sugar intake. I figure this week, with the cookie contest, I am already a lost cause…

Juiciest Chicken with Tri-Pepper Succotash

6 chicken drumsticks

6 chicken thighs (trimmed of excess fat)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup white wine (sweet, such as Riesling)

1 red pepper, diced

1/2 orange pepper, diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1/2 small onion, diced

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 1/2 cups frozen lima beans

1 can unsalted corn kernels

1/2 tsp paprika

1/8 cup flour

1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into ribbons

Salt

Pepper

Place a pot of hot water on the stove. Boil lima beans for 10 minutes until almost softened, but still slightly underdone. Strain.

Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Heat oil in a dutch oven. Brown the chicken on both sides, working in batches. Remove browned chicken to a plate. After all chicken has been browned, use a paper towel to soak excess chicken fat from the dutch oven by blotting. Leave some juices.

Add the onion and turn the heat to medium. Add the peppers and corn and sauté until translucent. Add lima beans, paprika, wine, and chicken stock and using a spoon, scrape up any chicken bits from the pan. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken back to the pot, reduce heat to low and cover. Let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. After the 30 minutes, remove chicken from the dutch oven and place in a baking dish. Cover with tinfoil and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Scoop about 1 cup of the juice from the succotash into a bowl. Add the flour and whisk well to form a roux. Add the roux back into the rest of the mixture and allow to boil, uncovered for the 15 minutes that the chicken is cooking. Garnish with basil. Serve with warmed bread.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Lime Sorbet and Ripe Mango

Adapted from Epicurious

4 oz. fine quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped (such as Ghirardelli)

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

powdered sugar or cocoa for sprinkling

1 ripe mango, diced

raspberries for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter 8” baking round. Line with wax paper and butter paper. Chop chocolate. In a double boiler, melt chocolate with the butter, stirring until completely melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar. Add eggs, whisk well. Sift in the cocoa powder until fully combined. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 25 minutes, until top has a thin crust. Remove from pan and allow to cool 5-10 minutes. Dust with cocoa or powdered sugar.

Coconut Lime Sorbet (or if 1/2 frozen, Creme)

15-20 oz. cream of coconut (such a Coco Lopez. This can be found in the “mixer” section in the liquor department of a supermarket)

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Whisk together and freeze in an airtight container overnight, or 1 hour for creme.

I am an Italian. Enough said. I like some pretty damn tasty meatballs. My dad makes some killer contestants and I always find them close to unbeatable. Instead of taking the traditional beef and pork route, I had some ground chicken and by gosh, they came out delicious. I am very much looking forward to leftovers in a sandwich tomorrow.

The Best Darn Chicken Meatballs Ever

1 lb ground chicken

1/2 sweet onion

1 garlic clove, diced

2 tsp chopped flatleaf parsley

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 slice whole wheat bread, torn into small pieces

1 slice french bread, torn into small pieces

4 slices hickory smoked bacon, diced

2 tsp tomato paste, separated

2 tbsp Panko crumbs, plus more for sprinkling

1 tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, placing the racks high in the oven. In a hot skillet, add bacon and cook 4 minutes til just slightly browned. With a slotted spoon remove to a dish covered with a paper towel. In the same skillet, add onions and garlic and sautee until translucent, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add the bacon back to the mixture and heat through. Turn off the heat and place the mixture into a large bowl. Let cool slightly.

While the bacon mix is cooling, place the torn bread pieces in a separate bowl with the milk. Let soak 2-3 minutes. Wring out the bread and add it to the bacon mix. Discard the milk. Add the egg, parsley, thyme, and chicken. Mix with hands until combined. Season with salt and pepper. Add the panko and combine gently.

On a greased baking sheet, form meatballs. Combine 1 tbsp tomato paste and oil. Brush this mixture onto the meatballs and then sprinkle with Panko. Bake 20 minutes, until cooked through.

Serve with pasta and shredded Parmesan. I had some leftover meat mixture, so I used some crushed tomatoes, garlic powder, 1 tsp of brown sugar, basil, salt and pepper to make an impromptu meat sauce. I got a thumbs up!