Easy Baked Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken

So, this dinner is incredibly lazy/easy, but it won't taste either lazy or easy. These are the only ingredients you need:

1/2 to 1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breast

Kikkoman spicy miso teriyaki sauce

Pineapple, sliced

Green onion, chopped (for garnish and flavor)

Submerge your chicken in teriyaki sauce. Slice pineapple and layer it over the chicken. Let marinate for 30 minutes. Yes, 30 minutes is long enough. 

Pop into your oven preheated at 375 degrees until chicken is cooked through. Garnish with chopped green onion and serve over white rice. 

The easiest dinner I've made all week. Also, YUM.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

It's raining outside. A little. Any excuse to make comfort food, I'll take. Tonight I cooked a batch of Pioneer Woman's amazing chicken soup - I substituted the dumplings for egg noodles - love dumplings, but the boyfriend's not so hot on them.

I love this recipe because it incorporates two ingredients my grandmother never taught me to put in chicken soup - apple cider and half and half. Now I don't think I could ever go back to standard chicken soup.

Beer-Braised Sausages with Warm Potato Salad

It was cold today in Los Angeles - like, we peaked at 71 degrees and it is now 57. Soup weather, right?

I made Martha's Beer-Braised Sausages with Warm Potato Salad. This recipe was incredibly easy, and it had beer in it. Awesome.

I switched things up a bit and cooked my onions alone for a while after browning the sausage. I love well-cooked, flavorful onions. 

I feel much warmer now.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies

Sunday just feels like a cookie day. If you devote your Sundays to laziness the way I do, it's important to have baked goods for movie-watching, book-reading, and general lounging.

Tread carefully with this recipe - you will want to eat the bowl of cookie dough and then you won't have anything left for baking.

(Ingredients)
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup oats
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 sticks of butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tsp salt
3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix your flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into one bowl. In a separate bowl, combine softened butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well. Slowly combine your dry mixture with the butter & sugar mixture, and then add your chocolate chips.

At this point, I refrigerate my dough for about 15 minutes so I have an easier time shaping my cookies.

Place small balls of your dough onto a baking sheet (I use a nonstick one).

Sprinkle a little sea salt onto the top of each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees until browned.

Erm, they're ready now right? I like my cookies nearly raw, but Chase likes them a little crispy on the edges. I almost ate a cup of raw cookie dough while making these (I know, I know, uncooked eggs = bad). 

Now I'm rolling 5 oatmeal chocolate chip sea salt cookies deep! 

Actually this recipe makes about 23, but I don't think I could stack my cookies any higher than this.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Dog Treats

That's Tessie begging near the kitchen - this has been happening ever since I started cooking treats for her and Lulu.

Today I made them a super simple, healthy treat. 

(Ingredients)

2 sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil (you can omit the olive oil if you have dietary concerns)

Peel and slice the sweet potatoes to desired thickness. I discovered that Lulu will only eat them thick and chewy - picky girl. 

Cook at 250 degrees until the sweet potato slices curl at the edges. 

I had some happy dogs tonight!

Crock Pot Beef and Wheat Berry Soup

I know my blog description says "A new recipe daily," and I promise I have a good excuse for a few days' absence. I was at the Sundance Film Festival watching the premiere of The Internet's Own Boy, partially funded by my boss Charlie Annenberg. When the film becomes readily available, I highly recommend you watch it - Aaron Swartz was a brilliant person whose life ended far too soon, and the film by Brian Knappenberger was incredibly well done.

I had a lot of good food while I was in Park City, UT, but I missed cooking at home. Since I returned to Los Angeles with a stuffy nose and sore throat (thanks LAX), I was really craving some soup today.

I always see red wheat berry recipes for salads, but never stews or soups. I hadn't even heard of red wheat berries up until a year ago, at which point I had to google photos of them in order to locate them at the grocery store:

Just look at those sexy wheat berries. You know you want them. You know you're tired of the quinoa trend. Just give in to the red wheat berry. 

(Ingredients)
6 cups beef broth
1 lb stew beef, cubed (I used Eye Round Roast)
1 onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup of chopped crimini mushrooms
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cup red wheat berries

I always sear my stewing beef before putting it into the slow cooker. You don't have to do this, but here is a good argument for why it is a delicious choice.

I know why being a vegetarian or vegan is a health-conscious and morally commendable choice, but damn, steak is delicious. 

After you sear your stewing beef on high heat on the stovetop, put it into your crock pot along with the chopped onion, garlic, parsley, mushrooms, carrots, bay leaves, red wheat berries, and beef broth. Flip the crock pot on "low" for 7 to 8 hours or "high" for 4 to 5 hours. When your broth has heated up to a simmer, add the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and stir it in. 

Yum - I think my cold is subsiding already.

Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

My favorite thing in the whole wide world of food is soup. I will eat almost every type of soup, and I love making it. A big favorite is Pioneer Woman's Chicken and Dumplings, but tonight I was craving French Onion Soup.

(Ingredients)

3 32 oz cartons of beef broth

2 large onions

2 tablespoons worcestershire (I can never say that word out loud correctly)

1/2 cup of dry red wine

1 tsp garlic powder

1 sprig of fresh thyme

salt and pepper

parmesan cheese

sliced swiss cheese

baguette

Slice up your onions - can you do it without crying? Go ahead and cry; it's good for the psyche. You can blame it on the onions. Sautée the onions in a sauce pan with 1 cup of your beef broth and a splash of worcestershire until the onions have absorbed the broth and they're soft and brown. 

Transfer your onions to the crock pot and add remaining broth, garlic powder, thyme, worcestershire, wine. Cook on high for 4 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste towards the end, along with a handful of parmesan cheese. Slice up your baguette and bake until crispy, and then layer a baguette slice over a bowl of soup with a slice of swiss cheese on top: