Quick + Easy Chicken Marsala + Chocolate Cake

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala is super easy to make and it tastes way better homemade than from a restaurant. 

When I make this, I usually cook enough to last for two or three meals. I love to serve it with a salad and either homemade loaves of Italian bread or large batches of angel hair pasta tossed with olive oil + herbs.  

Ingredients:

4	skinless, boneless	chicken breasts
1	cup	flour
½	cup	olive oil
8	oz	Cleaned + sliced mushrooms
2	tablespoons	butter
½	cup	sweet marsala wine
½	cup	chicken stock/broth
		Salt + Pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Pour flour into a large ziplock bag.  
2. Slice chicken breasts into cutlets.  Click here to learn how, if you are not sure.
3. Lightly season sliced chicken breast cutlets with salt and pepper on both sides.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large pan.
5. While the oil is heating, place 3 or 4 chicken cutlets into the flour bag.  Shake it like a polaroid picture  Continue until all of your cutlets are coated.
6. Cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side until they are golden brown. Season w/ salt + pepper if you would like to.  
7. Soak excess oil from the cooked chicken by blotting them on paper towel-lined plates, then place them on your serving dish.
8. Add the butter and the mushrooms to the empty pan. Saute the mushrooms for 4-5 minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper 
9. Add the marsala and chicken stock to the mushrooms.  Let some of the liquid evaporate to concentrate the flavors. 
10. Pour the mushrooms and sauce over the cooked chicken.  Serve.  Enjoy. 

Dessert!!

Since exam week is stress-eating week for many students, it’s nice to have something sweet around that doesn’t come out of a box or plastic package to satiate (ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus!) those pre-test cravings.

It’s kind of risky to send out a recipe that I have not tried yet, I know, but I WILL try it this weekend and I hope that you will too.  My one concern is that there is very little cocoa in this recipe.  I will probably decrease the sugar by ~1/4 cup and stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to make the cake a little more chocolate-y.

It looks so ridiculously easy.  If you have time, let us know how it turns out :)

cut-and-pasted from:  http://www.marthastewart.com/334278/busy-day-chocolate-cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 cup cold water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In an 8-inch square baking pan, whisk together all-purpose flour, sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and coarse salt.
2. Make a well in center of flour mixture and add vegetable oil, pure vanilla extract, white vinegar, and cold water. Whisk until well combined. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Happy Cooking 

Scaled-Down Desserts Edition

These are some of my favorite, easy single- and double-serving desserts.  If you don't have ramekins or custard cups (which you can buy cheap at Schnucks or Target) , you should be able to bake these recipes (especially the molten cake recipes) in an oven-safe coffee mug.  If you try them in a mug, try to use one with a wider diameter or they might take a little longer to bake, as mugs don't tend to be as wide as ramekins or custard cups.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Molten Cake

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

1 ½ tablespoons white sugar

1 ½ tablespoons packed brown sugar

⅛ teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of Salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon milk

4 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons milk chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli chocolate chips, personally)

Instructions

1. Place butter in a small ramekin or custard cup.  Soften the butter in the microwave for about 10 seconds.
2. Using a fork, cream together the now-softened butter with the white sugar and the brown sugar.
3. Add the vanilla, salt, and baking powder to the butter-sugar mixture, and stir to combine.
4. Add the flour, and pour in the milk.  Using a spoon, stir to combine.  Make sure that the cookie dough is thoroughly mixed by scraping the bottom and sides with the spoon.
5. Mix in the chocolate chips and smooth the top of the cookie dough out.
6. Bake the ramekin or custard cup at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top and sides are a golden brown.  The middle will not look set (i.e. it will still look jiggly), but the top and sides will look done (advantage to using a clear glass ramekin is that you will be able to see the sides).
7. Serve warm.... perhaps with a scoop of ice cream on top!

 

Chocolate Molten Cakes

Ingredients

2 oz semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate [You can buy a Ghirardelli baking bar, and just use half.  For a more chocolaty cake, choose the bittersweet chocolate]

½ stick (¼ cup) butter

½ cup powdered sugar

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

3 tablespoons flour

Ice cream, cool whip, or whipped cream for serving

Instructions

1. In a small, heavy saucepan (preferably in a double boiler), melt the chocolate squares and butter on low heat, stirring constantly.
2. When the chocolate and the butter have melted together completely, remove from heat.  You can now transfer the mixture to another bowl, or if you are careful (and you are like me and do not want to dirty more dishes than necessary), you can mix everything together in the saucepan.
3. Add the powdered sugar, and stir until combined.
4. Add the egg and egg yolk, and stir until combined.
5. Add the flour, and stir until combined.
6. Divide the batter into two buttered custard cups.  You can refrigerate the second cup for the next day if you only want to make one--just cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator.
7. To bake, preheat oven to 375.  Place custard cup(s) on a baking sheet, and bake for 13 to 14 minutes, or until the top is just barely cooked.
8. To serve, let the cake cool for a minute before running a knife or small spatula around the edges.  Once the edges are loosened, gently turn onto a plate and serve with ice cream, cool whip, or whipped cream.  If you, however, would like to minimize the cake to plate potential cake loss (again, like me), simply put the custard cup with the cake in it onto a small plate and top with the ice cream/cool whip/whipped cream.

Maple-Glazed Pumpkin Spice Cakes

Ingredients

for the pumpkin cakes

¼ cup butter, at room temperature

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

⅓ cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)

⅓ cup all-purpose flour

⅛ cup cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

⅛ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

for the maple glaze

1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup (or you can just use Hungry Jack or Aunt Jemima--which is actually not real maple syrup)

1 tablespoon water

¾ cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well-combined
3. Mix in the pumpkin puree.
4. Add the rest of the dry ingredients, and stir together until just combined.
5. Spoon mixture into two greased custard cups, and bake in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes at 350.
6. While they are baking, prepare the maple glaze by mixing together the maple syrup, water, and powdered sugar in a small bowl.
7. When the cakes are ready to come out of the over, allow them to cool for a few minutes, and then spoon the glaze over the top.  Serve.

Other easy small-batch dessert recipes

Microwave Peanut Butter Brownie

Coffee Cake in a Mug

Banana Mug Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

S'mores Cups

Microwave Peanut Butter Mug Cake

Whole Grain Blueberry Muffins & Granola

Breakfast Edition- Whole Grain Blueberry Muffins & Granola

These are two of my favorite make-ahead recipes- both pack loads of whole grains and fiber for a healthy start that will keep you feeling full all morning.  Both keep well in the fridge or freezer for on-the-go convenience!

More reasons and tips for eating a healthy breakfast visit:  

http://www.jhsph.edu/offices-and-services/student-affairs/Breakfast

Whole-grain blueberry muffins:

Hands-on time: 10 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

¼ cup flaxseed meal (you can find it ground at Schnucks or any natural-food store)

¼ cup pecans

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup plain low-fat yogurt

½ cup packed light brown sugar

3 Tb unsalted butter, melted

1 Tb grated orange zest, plus ¼ cup orange juice

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Line or lightly grease a muffin tin (12-cup standard or 6-cup jumbo).  In a food processor, process the flour, oats, flaxseed meal, pecans, baking powder, baking soda and salt until finely ground.

In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, butter, orange zest and juice, egg and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated (do not overmix).  Fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 22-25 minutes (more for jumbo sized muffins!)

NOTE on making ahead- the muffins will keep at room temp for 3 days, in the freezer for 1 month.  Warm in the microwave, 1 to 2 minutes.

NOTE on ingredients- I have found this recipe to be very forgiving if I am missing an ingredient or two.  Don’t be too shy of substituting white flour for whole wheat, extra oats for pecans, almond instead of vanilla extract etc- I’ve even used applesauce and milk when I was out of yogurt and orange juice. 

Granola

Time: 30 minutes

6 cups rolled oats

2 cups nuts and/or seed (anything goes: sunflower seeds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds)

1 cup shredded coconut (optional)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Dash salt

½ to 1 cup maple syrup or honey

1 cup raisins (or any dried fruit)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl combine all ingredients EXCEPT raisins.  Spread evenly on a LARGE, rimmed baking sheet.

Bake for 30 minutes or so, stirring about every ten minutes to make sure the mixture browns evenly.  The more it browns (without burning!), the crunchier the granola will be.

Remove the pan from the oven and add raisins.  Cool on wax paper or a rack.   Once cool, I store in a gallon size bag in the fridge (Supposedly lasts indefinitely refrigerated- mine never lasts that long!)

NOTE:  This recipe is exceedingly flexible to whatever ingredients you have around.  Change up the nuts, fruit, and seasoning for different flavors- try pumpkin spice, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries for the fall season!

Cottage Pie: ground beef and veggies under a blanket of mashed potatoes

This is a comforting meat and potatoes meal.  For optimal flavor, use all-natural local and organic ingredients.

Make-ahead tip: You can freeze portions of this and reheat them later for a quick dinner when time is short :)

Ingredients:

For the cottage pie:

1	tablespoon	oil
1	medium	onion, chopped
2	cloves	garlic, chopped
1 or 2	pounds	ground beef
3	cups	frozen mixed vegetables (corn, green beans, carrots and peas)

Mashed potatoes, Gravy, Cheese

For the mashed potatoes:

1/2	teaspoon	salt
4	large	potatoes
4	tablespoons	heavy cream (or milk)

For the gravy:

2	tablespoons	flour
2	tablespoons	butter
3	cups	beef or chicken broth

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Strategy:

Save some time: make the mashed potatoes and gravy while the meat cooks.

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Heat the oil in a pan, then add the onion and garlic.  Cook until the garlic is browned and the onion is translucent.
3. Add the ground beef to the pan and break it up into small pieces using your spatula or  wooden spoon.  Once the meat is almost done, drain the fat out of the pan and add the mixed veggies.  Cook until the veggies are done.

Mashed Potatoes:

1. Wash the potatoes, then place them in a pot with the 1/2 teaspoon of salt and enough water to completely submerge them.  Cook the potatoes until you can easily pierce them with a fork.  
2. Drain the water from the pot.  If you’d like to, remove the potato skins.
3. Add the cream or milk and mash the potatoes with a fork or a masher.

Gravy:

1. To make the gravy, melt the butter in a pan and then add the flour.  Stir them until they resemble a clumpy dough.  Transfer this mixture to a heat-safe bowl.  
2. Boil the broth, then add enough of it to your butter and flour mixture to make a smooth paste.  Add this paste to the remaining broth in the pan.
3. Stir until the paste dissolves.  Let the gravy simmer over low heat until it thickens.
4. Add half of the gravy to the meat and veggies and add the other half to the mashed potatoes.  Stir well.

Assemble the cottage pie:

1. Pour your meat and veggie mixture into a deep baking dish or casserole pan.
2. Spread the mashed potatoes over the meat and veggies.
3. Top the potatoes with a sprinkling of cheese.  I like to use shredded cheddar or grated parmesan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F until the cheese melts.