winner winner chicken dinner

Between all my classes and doing homework it becomes hard for me to make a decent meal each night. After countless days of eating panini's and Annie's I decided it was time to get serious and make myself a real meal! I went to the store not really with any recipe in mind and I left with a meal plan for that night's dinner. 

For my dinner I made chicken and a side dish of veggies.
For the side dish you will need:
one corn on the cob,
 a small green zucchini,
one tomato,
about 1/8 of a large red onion, and
2 cloves of garlic.
Cut the corn off the cob, and chop the rest of the veggies into nice squares. Then, put just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a wok, turn the stove on and wait a minute for the olive oil to get hot. Once it gets hot, pour in the veggies and add some salt, pepper, and juice from 1 lemon. Stir it together and let all the juices flow and get aquatinted with each other. While that cooks, begin to cook the chicken so that they are done at around the same time. Be sure to make the marinade for the chicken before beginning with the veggies, and let it sit while cutting and cooking them. I used a boneless skinless chicken breast, but you can use which ever kind of chicken you prefer.
For the marinade you will need:
a little over 1/4 tsp of garlic salt,
about 1/4 tsp of pepper,
 1 tbsp of mesquite seasoning,
juice from 1 lemon,
olive oil, and
dried parsley.
Put all this in a container and shake the chicken and seasonings until the chicken looks fully marinaded. Let it sit while working on the veggies. When finished with the veggies, grill the chicken (I cooked the chicken breast on my panini grill). Then let the chicken sit on the grill for about 5/6 minutes so that it cooks fully, but each grill is different so be sure to check your chicken every 3 minutes. When it's finished put a little bit of chevre goat cheese on top of the chicken for a great extra flavor.   

I couldn't make my dinner without making my favorite chocolate chip cookies for dessert with my recipe based off of William Sonoma's The Kid's Cookbook. They always turn out so yummy, especially because I add my own twist to them! The recipe calls for shortening/vegetable oil, but I have never made it with that ingredient. Also instead of using unsalted butter I use salted, and instead of using baking salt I use kosher salt. This makes the cookies chewy, and they always turn out so yummy that they always disappear that same day!

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4  teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil
2. In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until well blended.
3. In a larger mixing bowl combine the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat the mixture until it is smooth. Turn off the mixer a few times so you can scrape down the sides of the bowl with the rubber spatula. Add the flour mixture. Using the rubber spatula, stir until the flour is almost mixed in. Pour in the chips and stir until completely blended.
4. Using a table spoon form the batter into small balls and place about 1 1/2 inches apart.
5. Place cookies in oven and wait about 12-14 minutes until they reach a golden brown color, let cool for 10 minutes.

I usually double the recipe and save it in the fridge (it will stay good for up to 1 week) and make it throughout the week so that the cookies are fresh each time I make them.


enjoy!!

-M