Baked Asian Style Chicken Drumsticks (Honey, Lemon Soy Sauce)

Chicken drumsticks are great! Inexpensive and delicious at the same time. A little asian fusion twist made these a big hit. They were juicy and sweet/ savory at the same time. If your family likes thighs, this recipe would work great as well. 

I did not make enough--my gang was begging for more so will definitely double this recipe next time.  This recipe is for about 5 drumsticks. If you want more, double up on the sauce ingredients

I served this with sauteed string beans, sauteed mushrooms/shallots and a lovely heat and eat wild rice (with cherries, pistachios and squash) from Fresh Direct (which is a home delivery service I swear by). 

INGREDIENTS:
5 drumsticks 
Whole wheat flour (a few tablespoons)
Juice of one lemon (I used Meyer lemon)
1/4 cup soy sauce (I always use low sodium)
3 tablespoons of honey
1 large ziploc bag

1) Preheat oven to 350. 
I use my Breville convection oven which I can't say enough great things about. If not, regular oven will do just fine. Breville BOV800XL Smart Oven 1800-Watt Convection Toaster Oven with Element IQ

2) Add flour to a galon size ziploc bag. Add  clean washed and dry drumsticks. Zip the bag and toss them around in there till well coated.  You may wish to do this in batches. 
Remove chicken, dump out the remaining flour.  Reserve empty bag.

3) In a microwavable bowl, combine soy sauce, lemon juice and honey. Mix well.  If your honey is too thick, you may want to microwave the mixture for about 20 seconds to get it to thin out and them mix again. Pour into bag, add chicken. Toss to coat. Add chicken to oiled baking dish.  I adore this one Le Creuset Stoneware 1-1/2-Quart 9-Inch Square Baking Dish, Cherry. Pour remaining sauce over it.

4) Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, flipping the drumsticks over a few times (about every 15 minutes).

Baked Beef Ricotta Meatballs

Made these meatballs the other night. Even my picky eater gobbled one up fresh out of the over! 

Freshly baked meatballs

Recipe adapted from http://thelemonbowl.com/2013/01/beef-and-ricotta-meatballs.html though mine were not gluten free.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound of ground beef
3/4 cup ricotta
some chopped parsley
1 clove minced garlic
pinch of salt
pinch  nutmeg
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup panko

Combine the first 7 ingredients in  a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat an egg and add to your mixture. Mix well but don't over mix.

Add panko to a plate. I use Ian's Whole Wheat Panko found on amazon.
Make into meatballs of ~2 inches in diameter.  Roll in panko.

Preheat oven to 400.  Cover baking sheet with parchment paper, spray with cooking spray.
Bake about 1/2 hour.

I served mine over whole wheat angel hair with some tomato sauce.
The next day I served them over salad for a yummy use of leftovers.

Meatballs Over Angelhair with a side of pureed butternut squash (by Bird Eye)

Served the next day over butter lettuce with shaved carrots, shaved parmesan and roasted tomatos 

Baked Whole Wheat Panko Crusted Potato Croquettes with Tomato Basil Dipping Sauce

Made some potato skins the other night. Post to follow on that but in the meantime, of course I had all these potato insides left that I needed to use up.
Decided to make potato croquettes and baked ones to boot. These were made for a very nice lazy Sunday lunch, will definitely be making these again. Also, a great use of leftover potatoes. Wonder if this would work w sweet potatoes as well... Will have to explore that one.

INGREDIENTS FOR CROQUETTES:
4-5 Russet Potatoes
2 tablespoons of shopped chives
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 cup shredded cheese (I used part skim mozzarella)
4 tablespoons of whipped cream cheese
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 chopped red onion (regular onion or whole shallot fine too)
1 cup whole wheat panko (regular panko or bread crumbs would also work)
2 eggs
salt to taste

FOR DIPPING SAUCE
1 4 oz can of tomato paste
6-8 leaves of fresh basil
1 clove of garlic minced

FOR SALAD
2 cups of butter lettuce mix (any lettuce ok)
1/4 cup pine nuts toasted on pan
about 1 ounce of aged parmesan shaved
For Dressing: 2 tablespoons aged vinegar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon honey

If you are starting from scratch, peel and wash potatoes. Cut into thick slices and boil in salted water till can easily piece with a knife. Basically same like when you are making mashed potatoes. It should take about 20 minutes. My potatoes were already cooked so I skipped this step.

In the meantime, in a bowl, combine chives, onion, melted butter, cream cheese and salt.

Once potatoes are cooked, mash them. 

Add cheese and the cream cheese mixture from the step above. 

Beat an egg and fold into your mixture. At this point, if the mixture is too sticky, add some flour.

Preheat oven to 450. Place parchment paper over your baking sheet. Brush it with oil. I used grape

Roll your mixture into balls. Mine were about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Try to keep size consistent.

Add panko to a plate. Add your second egg to a bowl. One at at time, dip the balls into egg and then into panko.  Add to your baking sheet. Allow a bit of space in between.

Bake about 15 minutes, flip over and bake another 15. They should be nice and crunchy on the inside. Soft and cheesy on the inside.

I served mine with tomato sauce-- heated up some tomato paste, add a bit of minced garlic and basil leaves.

These were very nice with a salad. All I used for this one was about 2 cups of butter lettuce mix, 1/4 cup pan toasted pine nuts and shaved parmesean cheese.

For dressing, I used 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon honey and 2 tablespoons aged vinegar.

Recipe adapted from http://www.aflockinthecity.com/

Warm Farro Salad with Mushrooms, Shallots and Lentils

Another nice variation on faro salad.
When we had this for dinner, we ate it warm, but it’s just as good if not better cold.
Flexible in terms of ingredients, I was really just looking to use up what was already in my fridge.
This recipe assumes that you already have cooked lentils, if you don’t instructions are below.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon grape oil
1 cup faro
3 cups water (plus a few more for soaking faro)
1 cup kale washed, ripped by hand and dried
1 box baby portabella mushrooms (white or any other is fine)
2 finely chopped shallots
1 cup cooked lentils
Fresh mozzarella cubed (or feta would work well)
Sage leaves (optional)
Salt/Pepper to taste

Dressing
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 small lemon
1 tablespoon white balsamic
1 teaspoon honey


Preparation for Salad:

1) Soak farro in cold water for about 25 minutes. Rinse and drain.
2) Add 3 cups of water to 1 cups of farro. Bring to boil. Cook on low flame for about 1/2 hour.
3) Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.
4) Preheat 1 tablespoon of grape oil, add shallots. Cook about 3 minutes till begin to soften. Add mushrooms, cooked lentils and sage leaves. Cook about 5 minutes. Add farro and heat till warm. Throw in kale, toss and turn off flame. This will result in kale wilting but not being fully cooked.
5) Remove into a large bowl. Allow to cool a bit, toss in dressing and fresh mozzarella cubes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or cold.


To cook lentils:
1 cup of lentils to 2 cups of water.

Rinse under running water. Remove soil and rocks. Add lentils and water to pot with a cover, bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer with a slightly open lid. Add water if none left and lentils still not tender. The lentils cook in about 40-45 minutes. They are done when tender and can easily be mashed with a fork.
Add salt to taste. I like to keep lentils for adding to rice, quinoa, etc for a complete meal.