Fire-Roasted Tomatillo Sauce on Grilled Chicken

Fire-Roasted Tomatillo Sauce on Grilled Chicken

I am astounded I am about to make my FOURTH trip over the Santiam (mountain) Pass in Oregon tomorrow for the month of July. Let’s see, I’ve been over it to do a grueling hike to Blue Pool with friends from Ohio just after the 4th of July.

Blue Pool Oregon Hike

I’ve visiting friends (solo) at the coast in Yachats just after that and did another grueling hike to the top of Cape Perpetua. It was much shorter than Blue Pool but twice as steep to get up it! Luckily it was a cool and foggy-ish day so I didn’t die of heat stroke hiking up it.

Me and Friend at top of Cape Perpetua

This past weekend we spent four days at our river property on the Siletz River at the coast and got another base set for a new deck from our dock that washed it away last year in the floods.

New Base for Deck from Dock that Pushed it out Last Year in Floods

And tomorrow our family leaves for a Portland family reunion at Clear Lake! My uncle is turning 89 and my parents have also flown up from Texas so my dad (and mom) can join his brother and extended family and us for a weekend of fun. This is a photo from the reunion two years ago but we did go last year too.

Clear Lake, Oregon

Whew! So what does that have to do with food and recipes? Well, the month of July has been kind of a cheater month for me. I made this dish on a whim a couple of weeks ago on the grill when I discovered I had bought a pound of tomatillos and forgot about them in the fridge. It was hot as heck out so I whipped up an impromptu batch of tomatillo sauce to pour over grilled, marinated chicken. Yummy all the way around!

My “recipe” is just a guideline, as I didn’t even write any notes down. I just kind of cobbled it all together and served it with beans and tortillas chips. That’s just how some dinners go!

Fire-Roasted Tomatillo Sauce on Grilled Chicken

2 small chicken breasts, pounded thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Salt or Mrs. Dash, and ground pepper, to taste
1 pound fresh tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 large clove garlic
1 1/2 large shallot (you can sub 1/2 small onion)
More oil and a little minced garlic for veggies
1/2 cup homemade or low sodium chicken stock or broth
Shredded cheese of choice

Marinate the chicken in oil, garlic, lime juice, and spices to taste for a half hour or more. Toss the tomatillos, minced garlic and shallot in a little oil then place on a pre-heated grill set to high. (The shallot kind of fell apart hence all the pieces)

Grilling the Tomatillos, Shallots, and Garlic

Grill and turn until charred.

Roasted Tomatillos, Shallots, and Garlic

Remove, place in blender with 1/2 or so cup of chicken stock and blitz until blended.

Ready to Blitz the Roasted Veggies and Chicken Stock

Pour into a cast iron skillet and simmer for about 15 minutes until reduced to desired consistency. (I put the skillet on the propane grill burner but you can do this inside too.) Stir occasionally.

Tomatillo Sauce Finishing on Grill

Meanwhile, grill marinated chicken for about 5 minutes per side.

Burning Some Chicken

In the last few minutes, toss some shredded cheese on the chicken until melted.

Melting Da’ Cheese

Remove chicken from grill, let rest under foil for a few minutes, then serve with roasted tomatillo sauce, and beans and tortilla chips, if desired.

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

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One-Pot Kielbasa and Cabbage Skillet

One-Pot Kielbasa and Cabbage Skillet

Well here’s a quick Friday night recipe, as I will be going to my FOURTH exercise class in the morning (along with my daughter, she signed up YAY!) and then I’ll be busy making lists and packing to bring our boat to the coast on Sunday, staying until Tuesday. We’ll be pulling in the RV from higher ground that’s parked up the street down there away from the flood zone, and assessing the damage from the winter flooding. We already found out our nice deck hubby built 4th of July last year got washed away in the flooding. Boo hiss!

RV Deck that Washed Away

It was a day or so work for my hubby, and the majority of the wood was the other half of our 20-foot dock in the river that kept breaking in half, and this half had been sitting around upside down on the property for over 6 years. From what we hear, the other 10-foot dock is still on the property, whew! So it wasn’t a huge loss, except we had strapped down a plastic storage shed to the top of it that contained our crab propane pot and burner and my crawdad pot, among other things. I was able to replace the crab propane pot and unit with one on on half-price at Ace Hardware. Still have to replace my crawdad pot. I have no idea what else was in there until we get down there. I should take a picture of contents of everything before we pull out each year!

But, life goes on. I’m ready to go unplugged again for awhile, my fave time of year! (No internet, cell, or TV service over there, darn. LOL.) Don’t worry, I’ll be checking in occasionally and trying to post somewhat weekly in the meantime in between my real job. Enjoy the recipe!

One-Pot Kielbasa and Cabbage Skillet

7 ounces cooked kielbasa sausage, turkey or otherwise (Half a horseshoe). Freeze the other half for future use
1 tablespoon bacon grease (or substitute oil of choice)
1/2 head small cabbage, coarsely chopped
1/2 large red (or sweet yellow or both) onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (or two cloves minced)
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons white vinegar plus a few tablespoons of water, as needed
1 teaspoon spicy or grainy brown or Dijon mustard
Cooked mashed potatoes, for serving (optional)

Sausage and Cabbage Skillet Ingredients

Slice kielbasa into rounds in your size of choice. Heat bacon grease (or oil) in a large nonstick skillet over medium­high. Add kielbasa, chopped cabbage, chopped onion, minced garlic, and ground black pepper, to taste. Stir to combine, and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until sausage is browned and cabbage is starting to wilt, stirring occasionally. (I actually added the cabbage a bit later but adjust accordingly.)

Cooking the Kielbasa and Veggies

Mix in the sugar, vinegar, and mustard, then cook and stir for a minute or so. Reduce heat a bit, then add a couple of tablespoons of water and cover to help steam the cabbage. Continue to cook covered, until cabbage is done to your liking, adding additional water as needed.

Cooked Kielbasa Skillet Ready to Serve

Uncover, remove from heat, and serve immediately over mashed potatoes or other grain/starch of choice, which is optional. I reheated some leftover potatoes.

One-Pot Kielbasa and Cabbage Skillet

 

Download and Print this Yummy Recipe!

Well “Owl” Be! (plus Chicken Parmesan)

I do apologize to you for those following me looking for a new recipe, but we’ve been gone camping for four days on our RV property on a river by the coast of Oregon. But I am excited to share some photos of my husband installing a Barn Owl box he custom-built for me!

Barn Owl Box at the Base of the Slanted Tree of Its New Home

Barn owls are a natural way to rid your property of unwanted moles and mice, and other rodents. Since we only camp down there part-time, we would always come back to mounds of mole hills that are hard to mow over, and wires chewed through on our fridge or freezer. Frustrating!

Paul Screwing in the 2×4 to Hold the Owl Box

We are hoping to attract a barn owl family this year to help rid us naturally of these pests without chemicals or other drastic means.

Owl Box is Halfway Up There!

The last time we were there in the fall, we saw a barn owl fly by at eye level past our dock in the river two days in a row before we left! The box has been positioned (almost) at the spot we want, and has great visibility to the nest hole from the river.

Barn Owl Box Almost There!

He didn’t get it permanently installed yet, but it is hanging securely for now from two ropes.

Barn Owl Box Almost in It’s Final Spot ~ Soon!

But being a foodie blog, I thought I would also share a a couple of photos of one of our dinners while camping. I made Chicken Parmesan over Linguini.

Frying the Chicken

I don’t have a recipe for the fried version (we don’t have a regular oven in the RV, only a combined micro/convection oven and I have no clue how to run it in convection mode), HOWEVER here is a link to my baked version over spaghetti: Baked Chicken Parmesan. Thanks for reading!

Fried Chicken Parmesan over Linguini. Don’tcha just love my Melamine Camping Dinnerware? It is from my Mom, almost 40 years old!

All Work and No Play?

Stellar Jay

Hi foodie friends! I don’t want you to think I dropped off the face of the planet. We were gone for a week to our RV river property on the Oregon Coast with no cell service or interwebz. I didn’t give a heads up since I have quite a few more readers on board since I started my blog over four years ago — one can never be too safe!

My husband did the majority of “work” on the property to get it ready for the upcoming fishing and crabbing season, but we had plenty of relaxing time, including a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and then to scope out a new store/exhibit in Lincoln City called “Prehistoric.” I got to touch dinosaur bones 165 million years old! I’m a kid at heart.

Prehistoric in Lincoln City <— click here for a video about it.

All is well in foodie land, I plan on posting a new recipe next week. Here’s a couple of photos from the trip to tide you over. 🙂

Husband and neighbor pushing dock into the river ~ it floods every year so we pull it out.

Here’s what we hope to be pulling out of the Siletz Bay in a couple of months! This is me with part of last year’s catch!

Kathryn and Dungeness Crab