Delicious Dinner Recipes

This was the last weekend before Tyler's internship starts. While I know he's so excited to start, it's been so nice having him home as he's been taking care of dinner (see below for some great recipes) and odds and ends around the apartment :) This weekend, we enjoyed the beautiful weather, explored the city, walked in the park, shopped, headed to the gym, went to the movies, and had two delicious dinner dates at Acqua and Kefi. While both restaurants were great, we highly recommend Kefi if you like Greek good; the food was so fresh and really tasty!

Mexican Corn Crostini
This was out-of-this-world delicious! I will be dreaming about these crostinis all week. They make a good side for dinner or would be great for appetizers. I served this with Margarita Chicken and salad......so good!!!
Ingredients

• 2 ears corn, shucked
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used less by using a brush to cover the corn)
• Kosher salt
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 12 slices of ciabatta bread
• 1/2 garlic clove (I minced 1 garlic clove between the two pieces of bread)
• 1/4 cup crema mexicana or sour cream
• 3 tablespoons crumbled feta
• Drizzle of olive oil (I drizzled a little olive oil over the bread)
• Diced red onion (optional)
• Lime wedge
• Cilantro leaves
• Chili powder

Directions

1. If cooking inside, preheat the oven to Broil. Rub corn with vegetable oil. Season corn with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; grill/cook until slightly charred and tender. Slice corn off the cob in wide strips.
2. Grill bread slices and rub with garlic clove (this is where I drizzled a little bit of oil).
3. Mix crema mexicana or sour cream with feta. Smear toasts with crema mixture. Top crema with grilled corn. Squeeze a lime wedge over each. Garnish with cilantro leaves, red onion, and sprinkle with chili powder.

Braised Beef Brisket
I made this tonight for tomorrow night's dinner. My coworker gave me this recipe and recommended cooking the beef one day prior to allow the juices to sink in further.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 (2-pounds) piece beef brisket (preferably second-cut)
• 2 large white onions, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 4 celery ribs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (28-ounces) can crushed tomatoes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in lower third.
2. Heat oil in a wide 5-to 6-quart heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Season brisket with 1 tsp each of salt and pepper, then brown brisket, turning once, about 8 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown, 12 to 15 minutes. 
4. Add carrots, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. 
5. Add vinegar, stirring and scraping up brown bits. Add stock and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Return brisket to pot, nestling it in braising liquid (liquid will not cover meat). 
6. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and braise in oven until fork-tender, 3 to 3 1/2 hours. I'm serving ours with salad and roasted red potatoes.

These were fabulous and relatively healthy and extremely filling. We didn't need to serve anything else with them.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 tbsp. taco seasoning
• 3 large bell peppers, halved, de-seeded
• 1 cup of mozzarella cheese shredded cheese 

Directions

1. On a large baking sheet, place your pepper halves on them, upright and drizzle olive oil all over them and bake them in the oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until peppers are blistering and getting slightly translusent around the edges. Set aside.
2. In the meantime, in a large skillet, saute your onions in a tbsp or two of olive oil until soft. Then add in the ground turkey. Cook the turkey and onions all the way through and then add the taco seasoning. Stir to combine then add in the beans and corn.
3. Cook for about 5 minutes longer then remove from heat.
4. Take the (cooled) halves of peppers and place them in a small casserole dish then using a spoon, scoop the filling inside the peppers. Overstuffing is a good thing :)
5. Sprinkle a good amount of cheese on top of the filling, enough to cover it all, then place under the broiler on high until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Bruschetta Chicken
If you like bruschetta, you will love this! I slightly adapted this recipe by not using the sun-dried tomato dressing and it came out great!

Ingredients

• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves 
• 1 cup of chopped cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves
• Drizzle of balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook chicken for 10-15 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, cheese, basil and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
4. Top chicken with tomato mixture and cook for about 203 minutes until cheese is melted.