Basil Smashed Peas on Pizza

I had a variety of ideas for dinner tonight.  I figured out pretty quickly that I was going to make baked chicken tenders, but it took me awhile longer to figure out what I was going to eat with them.  Did I want to make mac & cheese?  Did I want to make pizza?  Did I want to make some other kind of pasta dish?  If I made pizza, did I want the chicken tenders on the pizza, or next to it?  So many decisions...

I narrowed it down to pizza, so I pulled a hunk of dough out of the fridge to warm up while the chicken tenders were cooking.  (sliced b/s chicken breasts, coated with a mixture of garlic powder, italian bread crumbs, and corn meal)  I also had to come up with a vegetable to go with dinner. I had some leftover peas, and I remembered the Minty-Smash Peas that I made a few years ago that were pretty tasty.  I decided to make a variation of those.

I put about 1/2+ cup of peas into my food processor and sprinkled them with garlic powder.  Then I decided to use basil instead of mint.  I added a generous handful of fresh basil leaves to the processor, and added just a splash of olive oil.  When I blended it up, it seemed a bit too dry, so I added approximately a tablespoon of ranch dressing.

I was going to have the smashed peas next to my pizza, but then it occurred tome that I could use them as a pizza sauce of sorts.  So I did that instead.  I spread the peas out on my crust, topped them with a bit of sliced onion and two sliced mushrooms, added shredded colby jack cheese, and popped it in the oven.  (450 degrees, 20 minutes)

It was super delicious.

Guinness Marinade, Part 2

Part 1: Guinness Fish

Part 2: Guinness Pork

I put the pork in the marinade around 10:30 this morning, and didn't get around to cooking dinner until about 8 PM.  Plenty of time for the pork to soak up all that delicious Guinness flavor. 

(Check out Part 1 for the marinade ingredients)

this is what the marinade looks like after a night in the fridge...mmm congealed olive oil...haha

after 30 secs in the microwave to un-congeal the olive oil before I removed the pork

 pan-fry til it looks yummy like this:

don't forget the pasta!

Pasta w/peas & spinach

(tossed with pesto, mustard, and olive oil)

And now I will share with you some pictures from the Allegheny Trail, where I spent some time this evening. Absolutely stunning.  My camera doesn't begin to do that view justice, but I tried anyway.  Totally worth getting home late for dinner.  We saw a bald eagle, flying waaaayyyy overhead, I took a picture but it was so far away it doesn't even show up.

there was a stunning sunset on the drive home

Layered Pasta Bake

step one: make some sauce

(a little bit each of white sauce and red sauce, then a whole bunch of sun-dried tomato alfredo)

add 4 slices of provolone cheese, chopped

step 2: cook some pasta 

step 3: cook some peas

 step 4: cook some salmon

step 5: Build the Layered Pasta Dish

layer 1 : peas

Mix some sauce into the peas, put one piece of sliced gouda on top

(thin-sliced gouda was my amazing grocery find of the day...I love gouda!)

layer 2: pasta

 (mixed with most of the remaining sauce)

layer 3: salmon

(mixed with the last little bit of sauce)

layer 4: gouda cheese slices

side view

bake at 375 for about 20 minutes

mmmm melty gouda-y goodness

Dinner is Served

(with zucchini)

Beer-Batter Chicken and Minty-Smash Peas

Sound appetizing?  Because it was definitely a delectable dinner.

I threw together some leftovers for lunch this afternoon, and was looking for something to watch on Netflix instant while I was eating, since I had finished a book earlier, and didn't feel like starting a new one right away.  I found something called Oliver's Twist in my list of recommended TV shows.  I read the summary, and it was about FOOD.  No need to look further.  I clicked on it, and watched the first episode, in which Jamie Oliver made beer-batter fish & chips, and this smashed-pea thing.

After spending much of the morning thinking about what I wanted to cook for dinner (I was pretty sure I was going to make sweet-potato soup...), I threw it all out the window and decided to make some beer-batter chicken.  (Chicken, becuase I'm not a huge fish fan, but I loooove chicken.)  Also, the smashed-pea thing sounded incredibly interesting, so I decided to make that too. 

I already had chicken in the fridge, but did not have the necessary ingredients for the peas, so I stopped at Kroger on my way home from visiting Pony.  (The fact that I was driving by Kroger anyway justifies the fact that I made an unnecessary grocery stop...right?)

BEER-BATTER CHICKEN
     Beer-Batter
1) in a bowl, mix approx. 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2-1 cup flour, some beer (I used about 2/3 bottle of Samuel Adams Summer Ale...should have used less, I had to add more flour than I had planned, and I have a lot of leftover batter to play with at dinner time tomorrow...), and an egg yolk.  Beat the egg white seperately with some salt until stiff. (This is how Jamie did it on the TV show...I could not get the egg white to stiffen.  I gave up eventually and just poured it into the flour mixture. Whisk it all together, should be kinda thick.
    Chicken
1) heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil in a saucepan on the stove (you probably want to turn on the fan now...there will be some smoke when you drop in the chicken...)
2) clean a B/S chicken breast (chop off all the fat if you're obsessive about stuff like that...like me...)
3) cut the chicken into pieces (I cut mine into strips that were probably about an inch wide)
4) put the chicken pieces in the beer batter, swirl them around some, drop them in the oil (watch out for the oil splashing...it kinda hurts.  I've been splashed by burning oil so many times I hardly notice it any more)
5) let the chicken fry for a few minutes (3-5?) then fish it out and put it on some paper towels to soak up the extra grease  (ewwwwww grease)

MINTY-SMASH PEAS
I think Jamie Oliver just called them "smashed peas."  BORING.   Minty-smash peas sounds way cooler. 
1) Put about 2 tbsp olive oil in a small saucepan on medium heat. 
2) Chop up some green onion and fresh mint.  (How much?  ummmmm I'm gonna guess here, cause I have no idea how much I threw in that pot.  Maybe 1/4 cup chopped green onion and...1/8 cup chopped mint leaves?  You decide.  Measuring is boring anyway.)
3) Let the onion and mint cook for a bit til they're kinda soft/wilty.  Add some frozen peas.  I added 1/2 a bag.  How big was the bag? Um, I don't remember.  Let's say I put in about a cup and a half of frozen peas.
4) Add some more olive oil if you think it's necessary ( I did), put a lid on the pot, and let the peas cook.
5) When the peas are done cooking, transfer the contents of the pot into a food processor, and blend it up. 

DINNER

As a side-note, I would like to say that I am somewhat appalled that I not only made deep-fried food in my kitchen, but also ate it.  Me?  Eat deep-fried food?  But...but...but...it's soooo not healthy!  Oh well.  Guess I should live a little once in awhile.  At least I put some vegetables on the plate with the deep-fried chicken...

Beer-batter chicken on a bed of alfalfa/radish sprouts, dollops of minty-smash peas, and tortilla chips

And I would be lying about my meal if I didn't admit to the side dishes...

Mashed avocado for the chips, and honey mustard for the chicken.  Mmmmm I love honey mustard.