Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs

I have tried a few times now to get the crunchy skin flavor of chicken thighs and I am happy to say I finally found something simple that was really yummy...and crunchy! It was so flavorful that even my husband who is not a fan of skin on his chicken liked it.

Pan Roasted Chicken Thighs

4-6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Lay chicken in skillet, skin side down and cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium high and continue cooking skin side down. Occasionally rearranging chicken thighs and rotating chicken to evenly distribute heat until skin is golden brown, about 12 minutes.

Transfer chicken to an oven safe pan (with oils) and cook for 13 minutes. Flip chicken and continue cooking until skin crisps and meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. YUM!

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

My kids LOVE muffins and I am all about making them at home to keep them as healthy as possible. My older son is a bit more particular about what kind of muffin he eats, i.e.: there must be blueberries in his muffin. However, I decided to try my luck on adding some apple to these pumpkin muffins in hopes that if I mention apple then maybe he'll be more willing to try the pumpkin part of it. My younger son has already enjoyed a muffin (older son is at school during the day) and wanted more, my hubby even tried it and liked it too. One thing I have learned as my kids have been in the eating solids world is that making things from scratch isn't quite as difficult as it sounded. I used to just go straight for the premade packages and now trying to save money and make things as healthy as possible I have figured out that a couple extra minutes are SO worth making them from scratch.

This recipe can be found at Weelicious.com but I am posting it here in case I ever want to modify it.

Pumpkin Apple Muffins


Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup agave or honey
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 medium apple, peeled and grated (gala, pink lady, fuji or golden delicious are good choices)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl and mix.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Grease muffin tins or line them with muffin cups and fill each cup 3/4 full with the batter.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Serve.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

For a little fun I decided to make meatloaf in a muffin/cupcake pan. It intrigued my little one and he even tried mashed potatoes because he wanted to eat the meatloaf cupcake. My husband ended up putting a little extra ketchup on top since he likes more ketchup on his meatloaf and it tasted good.


Meatloaf
1 eggs, beaten
1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef or can use ground turkey
1/2 cup Progresso® panko crispy bread crumbs
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup ketchup
1 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper

Top with mashed potatoes. 

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray regular size muffin cups with cooking spray.
In a bowl mix all meatloaf ingredients together then divide ingredients into the muffin cups pressing mixture down firmly.
Bake 35-40 minutes then let cool in muffin cups for a few minutes.
During the baking process make mashed potatoes and then once the meatloaf cupcakes have cooled then place a dollop of the mashed potatoes on top and serve. Garnish with additional parsley if you want.

Coconut Garlic Shrimp

With the leftover coconut milk that I had from my Mahi Mahi dish the night before I decided to put the shrimp that I bought together with the coconut milk and the fresh garlic that I had on hand and we had ourselves a little noodle dish. Granted, I think it needs a few things to add to the flavor but I am posting it on here in case anyone has any recommendations to add to it or something.

Coconut Garlic Shrimp

1 lb shelled shrimp
15 ounces coconut milk
chili powder (I am not a fan of spicy but added a few shakes of this in the mix)
8 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion
1 cup carrots
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soy sauce (you can use fish sauce if you have it)
udon noodles
minced parsley or coriander for garnish

Directions

Skim about 2 tablespoons of the cream off of the top of the coconut milk and set aside (this will be used for stir-frying later). Steam carrots and set aside for sauce.
Remove the shells from the shrimp and set in a medium saucepan. Pour the remaining coconut milk over it and add the salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and continue simmering for 15 minutes.
Drain the coconut milk through a strainer and set aside.
Heat a wok to medium high. Add the coconut cream, stirring until the oil separates (add a little vegetable oil if there is not enough oil at this point).
Add the shrimp and chili powder and fry for 2 minutes, until the shrimp is nice and pink. Add the garlic and onions and stir fry for another minute. Now add the coconut milk and soy sauce and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Then add the steamed carrots and udon noodles and heat for 2-3 minutes. Then serve and garnish.

Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi

I had initially went to the store to grab some sushi grade ahi but none of our local grocery stores had it so I had to move to a different plan, while at Albertsons I saw they were having a sale on Mahi Mahi which I have not cooked before. I ended up buying 3 5 oz fillets because I wasn't sure how hungry we were going to be and wanted to have enough in case my little one wanted to share. This was going to be an interesting meal since I had not done this before but Googled some recipes and found a few that I meshed together to make what I made. We were happily surprised with the meal and is definitely something I will make again!

Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi

3 5-ounce mahi mahi fillets
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped in food processor
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1 lime, sliced round
coconut milk (brushed on each fillet)
salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.
Combine macadamia nuts (already chopped), bread crumbs, flour and melted butter.
Slice the onion and lay the slices down on the foil to make a bed for the fish to lay on. This acts as a protection for the fish to keep it from sticking as well as adding to the flavor. Slice the lime into round shapes and rub the fish on both sides.
Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides and lay the fillets on top of the onion bed. Lay the lime rounds right on top of the fish and seal the foil up all around the edges.
Pop in to the oven and bake for 7 minutes.
Remove from the oven, open up the foil and remove the lime wedges.
Brush the tops of the fish with the coconut milk then use your fingers to pack the macadamia crust on top of the fish.
Bake for another 5-7 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
I did a quick broil after baking the fish to give the macadamia crush a bit more crunch, watch closely!
I served the fish with a side of white rice (mixed with coconut milk).