Spice Rubbed Chicken Breast Tacos with Grilled Poblanos, BBQ Onions and Coleslaw

We had people over to watch the Jazz/Nuggets (GO JAZZ) game last week and I made these to feed the crowd. They were pretty delicious, and I think were worth the wait (dinner was served a little later than planned, oops, sorry again).

Spice Rubbed Chicken Breast Tacos with Grilled Poblanos, BBQ Onions and Coleslaw
recipe from Foodnetwork.com (Bobby Flay)

Ingredients

Grilled Poblanos:
3 large poblanos
Canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

BBQ Onions:
2 sweet onions, skin-on, and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
Canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill BBQ Sauce (or your favorite jarred variety)

Coleslaw:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed
3 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small head cabbage, cored, finely shredded
2 carrots, finely shredded
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
3 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Chicken:
2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (8 ounces each)
Canola oil
8 flour tortillas
2 grilled sliced poblanos
Barbecued onions
Coleslaw
Guacamole

Directions
For the poblanos:
Heat the grill to high.

Brush the poblanos with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the chiles on the grill and cook until charred on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from the grill, place in a bowl and cover with plastic for 10 minutes. Remove the skin, seeds and stem and cut into thin slices.


For the onions:
Brush the onions with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on the grill and cook until lightly golden brown and just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Brush with some of the bbq sauce during the last few minutes. Most of the skin should come off on the grill, but if not, take it off when the onions come off the grill.


For the coleslaw:
Whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar, celery salt, celery seed, vinegar and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the cabbage, carrot, onion and scallion and stir to combine, season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Let slaw sit at least 15 minutes before serving.


For the chicken:
Heat the grill to high.

Whisk together the ancho, cinnamon, cumin, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper in a small bowl.

Season top side of the breasts with the rub mixture, turn over and season the back with the remaining salt. Drizzle with some of the oil and place on the grill, rub side down and grill until lightly golden brown and a crust has formed, about 3 minutes. Turn the chicken over, close the lid and continue cooking until just cooked through, about 6 minutes longer. Remove from the grill and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

Grill the flour tortillas briefly, just to mark and heat. To build the tacos, fold each tortilla around some of the chicken, poblanos, onions, coleslaw and guacamole.

Thank you Bobby Flay!

Greek Chicken Pasta

Just tried this recipe last night and it was YUMMY!

PREP/TOTAL TIME: 25 MIN
YIELD: 5 SERVINGS

2 cups uncooked penne pasta 1 jar (7-1/2 oz) marinated quartered arthichoke
1/4 cup butter, cubed hearts, drained
1 large onion, chopped 1 cup (4 oz) crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 can (14-1/2 oz) chicken broth 1/3 cup sliced pitted Greek olives
3 cups cubed rotisserie chicken 2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a large ovenproof skillet, melt butter. Add onion; saute until tender. Stir in flour until blended; gradually add broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in the chicken, artichoke hearts, cheese, tomatoes and olives.

Drain pasta; stir into the pan. Broil 3-4 in. from the heat for 5-7 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Sprinkle with parsley.

Zuppa Toscana - Olive Garden Style

If you have ever ate Olive Gardens Zuppa Toscona and loved it, you will love this recipe. I know, I know, who goes to Olive Garden for the soup - right? I Do!

1 lb. Italian Sausage
1/4 tsp crushed red peppers
1 Large onion - diced
4 T. Chopped Bacon
2 tsp garlic puree
10 C. Water
5 cubes Chicken Bouillon
1 C. Heavy Cream
3 - 4 cut up large potatoes
1/4 bunch fresh Kale (or Spinach)

Cook sausage with red pepper flakes, drain and remove from pan.
In pan cook onion, 2 slices bacon & 2 tsp. garlic puree
Return sausage to pan
Add 10 C. water & 5 chicken bouillon cubes and 3-4 cut up large potatoes
When potatoes are cooked (the potatoes are done when they break apart by being stabbed with a fork) add 1 C. cream and simmer until ready.
Just before serving add 1/4 bunch of torn Kale.

Chicken Curry

So, I got this recipe from Storm who I think got it on allrecipes.com. Anyways, I was real skeptical about trying it at first because I didn't think I liked curry. Well, I finally tried it and it is delicious! Seriously, I crave it a few times a month and the leftovers are almost better than the first night. Enjoy!

1 lb. chicken breasts (2-3 pieces) 2 zucchini, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp curry powder 1 1/2 cup chicken broth (14 oz can)
1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp olive oil 1/4 tsp pepper
1 onion, thinly sliced 1/2 tsp salt

Cut chicken into pieces and cover with the curry and cinnamon. Heat oil and add onion and zucchini until soft, transfer veggies to a plate. Heat more oil, cook chicke, add broth, cream, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer. Add onion/zucchini and cook 5-7 minutes. Serve over rice and top with almonds and cilantro if you like. YUMMY

Chicken Primavera

So I have to give all the credit to Dev for this recipe. The first time I ate it was at her house a couple of years ago and it was so good I had to get the recipe from her. You could personalize the recipe however you'd like to make it your style, but I like it just the way it's written.

Chicken Primavera
4 chicken breasts cubed
1/4 C butter
2 zucchini sliced
2 yellow squash sliced
1 1/4 C whipping cream
1/2 C milk
2 cloves of garlic crushed
2-3 C pasta cooked (any kind really)
4 roma tomatoes diced
3/4 C fresh basil chopped
1 1/2 C fresh parmesan grated

Saute chicken and garlic in butter. Remove chicken, add squash and zucchinni and saute until slightly tender. Stir in whipping cream and milk and simmer for one minute. Add tomatoes, cooked pasta, basil, cheese and chicken - stir it all together.
Enjoy!

Lemon Bars

So I don't love lemon bars, but Kacey does love them so for her bridal shower last year I decided to make her some from scratch. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com (where I find most new recipes). I thought that they turned out good enough that I even ate some! I squeezed my own lemon juice, but I'm sure you could use the bottled kind and it would still be ok. I also used more lemon juice than what the recipe called for (probably between 1/3 - 1/2 cup).

1 1/2 C flour
2/3 C powdered sugar
3/4 C butter or margarine, softened
3 eggs
1 1/2 C white sugar
3 Tbs flour
1/4 C lemon juice
1/3 C powdered sugar for decoration

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Combine the flour, 2/3 C powdered sugar and butter. Pat dough into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until slightly golden. While the crust is baking, whisk together eggs, white sugar, flour and lemon juice until frothy. Pour this lemon mixture over the hot crust.
4. Return to the preheated oven for an additional 20-25 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Dust the top with powdered sugar. Cut into squares and enjoy!