Chickpeas

I was a weird kid.  Shocking, right?  One of my favorite things to eat was 3 bean salad.  You've seen it on salad bars and pot luck tables for years.  Usually a combination of kidney beans, green beans or wax beans and the star in my opinion, garbanzo beans (or as more commonly known as chickpeas).  They are seasoned with a great combination of salty and tangy I have always liked them.  

Peep, peep little chickpeas!

Now that I am older I still enjoy 3 bean salad but I know I can cut out the middle man and just have the chickpeas on their own.  There are lots of yummy things you can do with chickpeas...hummus, falafel, add to a soup, curry or roast them.  Depending on time you can use canned chickpeas or make your own.  I am about 50/50 on what I use. When I make my own I usually make a large batch of hummus and roast the rest.

My hummus is simple...drained chickpeas, salt, lemon and garlic (I use fresh and roasted) and let it go in a food processor until it is the consistency you want.  You might have to use some of the reserved liquid to thin it out.  Homemade chickpeas seem a little grittier to me so I have to blend them longer.  Also, the fresh garlic has quite a bite so start with half a clove and add a little bit more at a time...the garlic flavor also seems to intensify as it sits.  This is great with fresh veggies, as a sauce for chicken or even a salad dressing.

To roast them, as pictured, I drain and dry them with a paper towel, put them on a baking pan in one layer and then drizzle a little bit of coconut or olive oil on them (about 1/2 tablespoon) and sprinkle some garlic salt on them.  Shake them till they are well coated and pop them in a 400 degree and depending on how roasted you want them, I usually check and shake them after 10 minutes and then let leave them in for another 10 minutes.

When they are done they remind me of unpopped popcorn kernels or cornuts.  Little nuggets of yum!  I like them plain, straight out of the oven but they are also good as a side dish.

Baked brown rice

Rice, rice baby!

My husband doesn't really care for pasta or rice.  My kids only really like white rice drowned in soy sauce.  I LOVE pasta and rice...period.  I have found a happy medium for all of us is brown rice.  I like the texture and the nuttiness but it does take a long time to cook. 

What I find works perfectly for us, as long as I am thinking ahead, is baked brown rice (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-brown-rice-recipe.html#!).  Alton Brown is a genius!  This easy recipe comes out right every time (except that one time I doubled it).  I don't deviate from the recipe at all and I use short grain rice because it is firmer. 

This is great to make if you are cooking several things in the oven at one time.  I started this rice at 350 degrees for 30 minutes since I was cooking something else at the same time.  I then finished it at 400 degrees for 15 minutes because I was finishing something else.  After sitting for 5 minutes it was perfect and not sticky.

This is one of my favorite things to make and be able to have with baked chicken and salad through the week.

Crock pot pinto beans and whole wheat cornbread muffins

My people call it maize.

Cornbread is comfort food to me.  It reminds me of my Dad because he liked it and he would tell us about when all he had to eat was "cornbread mush".  I normally use a mix like Jiffy when I make cornbread but it is on the sweet side so I wanted to find something more savory.  My daughters are also starting to cook on their own and thought cornbread would be a good recipe for them to know.

This recipe from Keeper of the Home came out really nice (http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2013/05/homemade-jiffy-corn-muffin-mix-simple-healthier-cornbread-with-three-variations.html).  It made 12 medium size muffins easily.  I like the texture of the whole wheat flour with the cornmeal, it was hearty but still tender.  The only substitutions I did was to use coconut oil instead of palm oil and I used regular baking powder, but I am going to purchase aluminum-free in the future.  I also did the white vinegar in milk to make buttermilk trick.

Once the muffins were totally cooled I froze them on a cookie sheet and then put in a gallon freezer bag so they can be used one at a time.  Perfect to pack for lunch for the girls or to defrost and drop into a bowl of pinto beans.

You can find my pinto beans recipe from this previous post (http://sayamouthful.blogspot.com/2012/01/1512-chicken-tacos-with-pinto-beans-and.html)

Baked boneless skinless chicken breasts

Future chicken taco filling.

I could offer a ton of lame excuses as to why it has been over 2 years since my last blog but I'll come right out and say it...I'm lazy, I get really down on myself and I'm scatterbrained.  Those 3 things together are my kryptonite!  But with a new year comes high ideals and goals.  Once of those for me is starting up Say A Mouthful again.

First recipe back puts the "winner, winner" in chicken dinner.  We eat a lot of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  They are quick to cook, take seasoning well and can used for so many quick dishes.  Their biggest downfall, to me is, is they are usually expensive and can get tough or overcooked very quickly. 

So how to make a boneless, skinless chicken breast amazingly moist and flavorful?  I sometimes bake them when they are about 3/4 of the way defrosted, but those results vary.  I wanted to find something more exact and by the power of Google, I did!  This recipe from the kitchn is perfect and made me feel quite fancy (ohhhh...parchment paper).  http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-the-best-chicken-breasts-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-211453

I used 4 large defrosted boneless, skinless chicken breast and split them in half.  I patted them dry with paper towels, seasoned with just sea salt and cracked black pepper and then sprayed 2 large glass pans with non-stick spray (I normally use coconut oil instead of non-stick spray but I was all out of that and butter).  Then I measured enough parchment paper to cover both pans.  Before covering the chicken I sprayed one side of the parchment.  I then covered the chicken and pressed the parchment onto each breast.  I baked them in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, checked on them and gave them another 15 minutes.  These suckers came out so juicy and with the flavor of roasted chicken.  Even with no excess oil or liquid I got about 1.5 cups of broth from the 2 pans.

So how will we use them this week?  Tonight with brown rice (watch for the recipe) and steamed broccoli.  Later in the week as tacos or flautas and hopefully there will be enough for a dish to take to Wednesday night fellowship at church.