quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Chicken Saltimbocca

 

serves 6. 

I purposely made the recipe for some extra.  Freezes great in a zip loc with some of the sauce in each bag.

6 small chicken breasts, pounded to about 3/8” thick

Salt and black pepper

6 paper-thin slices prosciutt ,,boiled ham will work in a pinch

1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed

olive oil

1/4 cup grated Parmesan  cheese

1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

about ¼ cup of white wine or red if your feeling adventurous

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Lay 1 slice of prosciutto on each chicken cutlet.

Squeeze the frozen spinach to remove the excess water. Season the spinach with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, toss the spinach with 1 about a tblsp of oil to coat.

Arrange an even, thin layer of spinach on the prosciutto slices. Sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over each.(sometimes I put a slice of mozzarella or provolone on also). Beginning at the short tapered end, roll up each chicken cutlet like for a jellyroll. Tie it up with a toothpick.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large frying pan over high heat. Add the chicken and cook just until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Add the chicken broth, lemon juice and the wine. Scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Simmer the cooking liquid over high heat until it is reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Season the cooking liquid with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove toothpicks from the chicken. Drizzle the reduced cooking liquid over the chicken and

SERVE IT UP!!!! With some pasta aglia e olio, salad, crusty Italian bread and the rest of that wine and maybe another bottle.

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Italian Chicken Soup..

This is sorta like Chinese egg drop soup , but, 'ay it’s Italian,,,ya know wat I mean? With a some salad, some good crusty Italian bread and some wine it makes a good, fast meal. Also, let the leftovers cool, then into Ziplocs and into the freezer for some great outtta the freezer and into the nuker quick and easy meals.

3-4 cups cooked chicken cubed or pulled from a rotisserie chicken

6 cups chicken broth 

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

2 tblsp chopped fresh or 1 Tbsp. dried parsley

2 tblsp chopped fresh or 1 tbsp. dried basil leaves

1 cup lightly packed spinach leaves, cut in thin strips

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring the broth to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, cheese, parsley, and basil to blend. Add the chicken to the broth. Cook for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir the broth in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin strands about 1 minute. Stir in the spinach, then season the soup, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

This a recipe from our friend Butch. It makes a lot of it but it freezes good for a no brainer some weeknight. I'll let Butch tell you about it.

This recipe is easy to make using leftover chicken. Feel free to
substitute cooked ground beef or chopped steak.
 
2 1/2 cups chicken, cooked, shredded
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
16 ounces salsa
1/2 teaspoon cumin
pinch of salt
6 − 10 inch flour tortillas
1 cup refried beans
Olive oil (for basting)
Sour Cream
Guacamole
 
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  In a large saucepan, saute
onion and garlic in oil until tender.  Stir in chili powder, salsa,
and cumin. Stir in shredded chicken. Let cool.  
 
Grease rimmed 15 x 10 x 1 baking pan.  Working with one tortilla at
a time, spoon a heaping tablespoon of beans down center of each
tortilla. Top with a scant 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture. Fold up
the bottom, top and sides of tortilla; secure with wooden
toothpicks if necessary.
 
Place chimichangas in greased baking pan, seam side down. Brush all
sides with the oil. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and
crisp, turning every 5 minutes.  Serve with sour cream and
guacamole.
 
Serves 8-10

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Quick marinated pork chops, onions and wine sauce

2-4 sorta thick pork chops
some good olive oil
about 2 tbsp. butter
red wine
1 whole orange (or lemon or lime)
half  of a med sized onion or about 8-10 pearl onions
some rosemary fresh is great but dried will work in a pinch
salt and pepper
flour for dredging

Put the pork chops in a big bowl. Put in about 2 swirls off olive oil. 2 good splashes of red wine. cut the orange (or lemon or lime) in half and squeeze the juice in with the pork chops. Put in the skins as well. Mix it all up so all the chops get coated. Slice up the onion in sorta wide slices or if pearls just cut off the ends and peel them. Heat up a frying pan big enough to handle the chops with a couple of swirls of olive oil. The thicker the chops slightly more oil is needed. Coat the chops with some salt and pepper.Dredge them in some flour. Cook them in the pan just turning once. Put the onions in with the chops when you turn the m over. When the chops are done remove them and put on a plate on the back of the stove to keep warm. Add the butter and rosemary (a couple of sprigs of fresh or about a tbsp. of dried)  Add the wine and kinda scape the bottom  the pan with whatever you used to turn the chop to "deglaze" it. When the wine is reduced some and thickened pour it all over the chops and serve.

I usually fry some potatoes while I'm doing all this and get a salad ready in between turns and stuff.

SERVE IT UP!! with some good crusty bread and the rest of that red wine and maybe another bottle!!