Flattened Chicken Breasts with Piquant Basil Sauce

Oh my. Yet again I have disappeared from the bloggosphere. But I can for sure say that I am now back for good. How can I say this? Well, my semester ended and I earned another 4.0 GPA. And I no longer have to stress about last minute deadlines and PowerPoint presentations and reading philosophies. I actually even cooked tonight. And I'm not talking spaghetti. But I'll get to that in a minute.

First, let me point you in the direction of the lovely Susan over at Not Quite June Cleaver. I won her April Spring giveaway and she sent me the cutest apron ever!! My wonderful friend A is modeling it for me because unfortunately my physique trends more towards Julia Child's than Giada De Laurentis. But it's a beautiful apron and my friend A loves it tremendously and I have a wee bit of apron envy. I also received a neat vintage pie tin, a recipe booklet, and some very cool heirloom seeds. Thanks Susan!

The other neat thing Susan did was to post this delicious pie recipe. See the Brain's friend Mac just opened a pizza joint and bakery called The Pie Factory (which if you're ever in Sandusky you should check out because it's seriously delicious and won second place in the Sandusky Pizza Bake Off!) Anywho, Mac has a delicious raspberry cream pie. And I keep wanting to go buy it, even though I don't like pie typically. So I was telling Susan about it and she gave out a recipe that's similar. The crust on Mac's pie is a shortbread crust, but I like Susan's too. Her recipe is here.

Ok, so today has been all about 7th grade. Remember 7th grade? Awkward. Uncomfortable. Hormones running amok. Still a kid, but not really. Well, today one of the 7th graders I taught took his rifle (hunting is very big here and all the kids seem to have rifles) and stole the neighbor's truck and last it was on the news he's driven to Kentucky. This kid is a good kid. He had a little trouble focusing in class, but the other kids seemed to like him and he seemed to enjoy them too. Unfortunately they searched his locker and found his diary and there are 31 students and faculty that he "threatened" in this diary. Now the media is calling this a "hit list". I challenge you to look at any 13 year old kid's diary and not find scribbles about how they don't like people. I'm fairly certain that my entire diary in 7th grade was filled with ramblings about how much I loved Chris S. and Brian B. and multiple pages on how John M. was a big fat jerk. And Mrs. Juntenan was a horrible teacher. (I lost touch with Brian, Chris and John by 9th grade and I'll still tell you that Mrs. Juntenan was the very worst teacher I've ever had.) And besides the boy asked a family member to watch after his pet turtle. He's not the twitchy could-be-killer the media is making him out to be. So I'm worried about the kid and I'm starting to get annoyed at stupid hillbilly people making ignorant comments on the local newspaper website.

Then, my best friend T. is going through a divorce. Her hopefully soon to be ex husband is a real jerk and she's having a hard time. So by the time I got off the phone with her and had heard about the 7th grade boy, I needed to pound something. I chose chicken breasts. I was spending some serious time searching through my plethora of cookbooks and I wasn't finding anything good until I remembered this recipe my friend Scott made for me when we both worked at Victoria's Secret in Chicago. We had both picked up Celebrating the Midwestern Table by Abby Mandel on clearance at Borders and he invited me to his apartment for dinner. It was common back then for him and I to invite each other over for dinner. It was always good company and good food, and the best cheap wine we could afford. We were poor college kids after all.

So flattening these chicken breasts had dual purpose. I got my worry and frustration out and it took me back to the happy days of college in Chicago. And the chicken was exactly as good as I remembered it. Tomorrow will be a better day, it has to be, I still have one breast left over for lunch!

Flattened Chicken Breasts with Piquant Basil Sauce

adapted from Celebrating the Midwestern Table

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

2 tsp honey

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

6 Tbsp chicken broth

cooking spray

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp julienned basil leaves

One at a time, place a chicken breast half between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound it to about 1/8 inch thinness. Repeat with the remaining breasts. Place on a plate and set aside.

Combine the honey, mustard, vinegar, and chicken broth in a small dish and set aside.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place the breasts seasoned side down in the hot skillet two at a time. Cook for 2 1/2 minutes. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the top (uncooked) side and gently flip over. Cook for 2 1/2 more minutes until done. Transfer the cooked breasts to a platter and tent with foil. Repeat with the remaining two breasts.

Once all the breasts are cooked and on the platter, add the honey mixture to the hot skillet. Cook for about 20 seconds until slightly thickened. Return the breasts to the skillet, spooning the sauce over them. As soon as they are warmed through, transfer them to a warm serving platter and garnish with the julienned basil. Serve hot.

Look What I Made This Week!

Yet again I've been lurking around the food blog world. And yet again I've found some delicious delicious posts on other blogs that I gave a try...


This week I decided to give the Egg Muffins found originally on Kalyn's Kitchen, and then found here and here and numerous other places on the Internet. These little babies are a tasty way to start your morning on the go. I usually eat mine cold right out of the refrigerator, but the Brain likes to heat his up. They are super versatile too. I've made them with goat cheese, Swiss, Parmesan, dill and asparagus. I've also made them with red pepper, carrots, fennel, cracked black pepper, and mushrooms. Either way they're great, easy and a healthy way to start the day.


I also made, because I couldn't resist, these unbelievably cinnamony brownies from Quirky Cupcake. They were delicious even though I think I made the glaze wrong. If you'll notice the difference between my week glaze to her luscious glaze in the photos. All I can think is that if mine were made wrong and still tasted so decadent and so lovely that even the Brain, who notoriously doesn't like brownies, ate far more than his share of them. Although it should be noted, because he's been insisting, that I did indeed eat over half of the pan. But I'm not the one who took a fork to the pan the next morning.


Finally I made this delicious Greek noodle dish found on Kalofagas. I bet you were wondering what I was going to do with Halloumi and Ricata Salata. Well okay maybe you weren't wondering. But I have been poking around a lot and when I saw this dish, I knew I had to make it. I just had to wait until I could find some Halloumi cheese and it took a trip to Michigan to find it! And Peter M. is right! Halloumi does squeak when you eat it. I also had to substitute chardonney for port and these fun little radiatore shaped pasta for egg noodles. It's amazing what you run out of when you're not looking. Anyway, it was delicious and light and just perfect. Although I did have some trouble that I kept eating the hot fried Halloumi before I finished making the dish.

Look What I Made!

This week I decided to take pictures and let you know what I've made from other blogs out there. There are tons of great blogs and tons of great recipes and it's a cool idea I got from Deb and Pixie to highlight things I've made from other blogs...

First, remember those mushrooms that I over-bought? Well I took my massive amounts of mushrooms and turned them into Cream of Mushroom Soup as featured on Smitten Kitchen. It was very very good. I followed Deb's suggestion of adding less cream and I also added about a half cup of Chardonnay (because I happened to have it around).

Then, and the Brain will be upset with me if I don't make this one again, I made Skillet Lasagna from More than Burnt Toast. This was super easy and came together in a flash. And to top it off it was hearty and was just right for a rainy weekend night where the Brain and I both came home tired and hungry. Really really tasty.

Finally, I made the Nut Balls that Lisa Rene of Little Bits entered as her aphrodesiac in the Kitchen of Love event at Mele Cotte. I had to substitute an egg for the tofu because I can't eat soy. These were so darn tasty that my mom and I sat there and just kept eating them. I would say they'd be perfect to bring to a party, but make sure it's a party where you know no one has nut allergies. These little tasty bites were delicious and I totally forgot to make the dipping sauce. These lovely beauties seem to me to be very low carb for those of you who watch that kind of thing and are very high in protein and good fats. It's an appetizer you can feel good about eating.

So those are the recipes I made off other blogs this week. I'll try to post on a regular basis other recipes I find from other blogs. Don't worry I have a whole lot of them I'm eager to try!