Musings on Momentum

design a life you love

Heavenly Hummus Covered Chicken

When it comes to chicken entrees we have a clear fan favorite in our house.  It combines juicy chicken breasts, fresh vegetables and…drumroll please…HUMMUS!  When I first stumbled across this recipe for hummus covered chicken on Pinterest I was a bit skeptical.  It seemed like a strange combination of flavors that could easily go awry.  However one quick look at the original recipe on Ali’s gorgeous site,  Gimme Some Oven, convinced me that it was worth testing out because that woman KNOWS HER STUFF.  This recipe is 100% Ali’s, I simply want to share it with all of you because it has become a staple in our household and is too delicious to keep to ourselves!

Hummus Covered Chicken

While the amazingly flavorful end result makes this a win in my book, perhaps the best part about this recipe is that it is exceedingly quick and easy to prepare.  And guess what? You’re only dirtying one baking dish and one bowl when you make it so clean up is a breeze!

Yellow squash, zucchini and lemon

Yellow squash, zucchini and lemon ready to cover the dish!

Hummus Covered Chicken

Ready to bake!

If you guys are fans of hummus I highly, HIGHLY recommend giving this recipe a try.  I promise you will not be disappointed!

Hummus Covered Chicken

Dinner is served!

Bon appetit!

 

Hummus Crusted Chicken Pinterest
Hummus Covered Chicken
Heavenly Hummus Covered Chicken
Print Recipe
This delicious and easy hummus covered chicken recipe combines fresh garden vegetables, hummus and chicken to create a delightfully unique dish.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Hummus Covered Chicken
Heavenly Hummus Covered Chicken
Print Recipe
This delicious and easy hummus covered chicken recipe combines fresh garden vegetables, hummus and chicken to create a delightfully unique dish.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
30 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
  2. Prepare a large baking dish (I use a 9x13 Pyrex) by coating it in cooking spray or olive oil
  3. Chop squash and zucchini and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper
  4. Spread squash and zucchini over the bottom of the baking dish in an even layer
  5. Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper to taste
  6. Place chicken in baking dish on top of squash and zucchini
  7. Coat chicken breasts evenly in hummus
  8. Squeeze juice of one lemon over baking dish
  9. Slice additional lemon and place slices throughout baking dish
  10. Sprinkle the dish with paprika
  11. Pop in the oven for 30-35 minutes
Recipe Notes

Ali uses one medium chopped onion in her recipe.  Somebody around here doesn't like onions so I leave it out and it still tastes delicious.

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Strawberry Prosecco Granita

As we look ahead towards our upcoming move, we have started making plans to do a lot more entertaining at home.  As a result, I have been on the hunt for delicious, beautiful and easy(ish) recipes to offer future guests.  This strawberry prosecco granita will be a perfect dessert to serve friends on warm evenings at home.  After all, how could you go wrong when you’re combining prosecco and strawberries?!

Strawberry Prosecco Granita

 

The recipe itself was exceedingly easy to prepare.  The only trick is that you have to continue scraping the prosecco granita with a fork every hour or so as it freezes to break it up and give it that yummy crushed ice consistency.  Therefore this is definitely a dish you want to make on a day when you’ll be home for a few hours.  Perhaps on a day when you will be preparing for a dinner party?

strawberry prosecco granita

Juicy strawberries

strawberry prosecco granita

Prosecco and strawberries

strawberry prosecco granita

Puggle Chef is eager to help

This delicious recipe made enough to cool us down and satisfy our taste buds for several days in a row.  I have already been getting requests to make it again so it seems that it will be a staple in our household.  We both highly recommend giving it a try.

Do you have any favorite recipes you serve when entertaining that you might share with me?  I’m doing my best to get some recipes and hostessing skills under my belt but I know I have a long way to go.  Tips and tricks are always appreciated!

Strawberry prosecco granita
Strawberry Prosecco Granita
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6 people 5 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
2 minutes 5 hours
Servings Prep Time
6 people 5 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
2 minutes 5 hours
Strawberry prosecco granita
Strawberry Prosecco Granita
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6 people 5 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
2 minutes 5 hours
Servings Prep Time
6 people 5 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
2 minutes 5 hours
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Combine water, sugar and mint leaves in a small sauce pan to make simple syrup. Stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let sit for 20 minutes.
  2. Puree strawberries, blending in lemon juice and mint from simple syrup.
  3. Combine pureed strawberry mixture, prosecco and simple syrup in a glass baking dish (I used an 8x8). Place in freezer for 4-5 hours scraping the mixture with a fork every hour to break it into pieces.
  4. Serve with a sprig of mint and enjoy!
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Savory Gourmet Tuna Melt

Mendocino Farms gourmet tuna melt

Tuna melts and I go way back.  When I was growing up, my mom would always make them for us on nights when my dad had to work late.  They were a special treat for the two of us because my dad inexplicably despises tuna melts (he’s weird) so we never ate them when he was around.  Fast forward a couple of decades to when my new boyfriend (now fiance) brought a tuna melt from Mendocino Farms on a date to the Hollywood Bowl, forever rekindling my love.

Unfortunately my body’s tendency to reject gluten and dairy briefly put a damper on this tuna melt obsession of mine.  Regardless of how delicious something is, it is difficult to justify consuming a meal that you know will negatively impact every system in your body within an hour or two.  This led to a very dark, tuna melt-less year.  I finally decided that enough was enough, I would not be held back from my one true food love, and created a gluten free, lactose friendly version.  This gourmet tuna melt recipe is based on the one from Mendocino Farms, the tuna melt that is the king of all tuna melts.

Gourmet Tuna Melt

Parsley, green onion and lettuce

Gourmet Tuna Melt

Melting  white cheddar cheese

There are several differences in ingredients between my gourmet tuna melt and the one from Mendocino Farms which I address below, but my taste buds feel (and my fiance’s agree) that this recipe comes pretty close to capturing the magical taste of theirs.

 

Gourmet Tuna Sandwich

I hope you will give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as we do!

Gourmet Tuna Sandwich
Savory Gourmet Tuna Melt
Print Recipe
This gluten free, lactose friendly version is a delicious zero-regret way to satisfy your tuna melt cravings!
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Gourmet Tuna Sandwich
Savory Gourmet Tuna Melt
Print Recipe
This gluten free, lactose friendly version is a delicious zero-regret way to satisfy your tuna melt cravings!
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Mix together all ingredients in bowl (tuna, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, parsley, green onions, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, salt)
  2. Oil or butter the outside of each slice of bread
  3. Place two slices of bread in skillet over medium heat, oil side down
  4. Once bread begins to slightly brown, top one slice with tuna
  5. Top piece of bread with tuna with slice of cheese and add other slice to other piece of bread, allow to melt slightly
  6. Add lettuce to slice of bread with tuna and cheese, then top with other slice of bread, cheese side down
  7. Flip occasionally and cook until cheese has melted and bread is golden brown
Recipe Notes

The Mendocino Farms tuna melt contains tomatoes and pickles and uses red onion instead of green.  I don't like pickles and generally leave out tomatoes, but I'm sure the addition of both would only make this more delicious!

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Veggie Quinoa Bowl

When looking for recipes I search out those that are healthy, don’t use too many ingredients and are simple to make.  I’d love to have the time and budget to prepare extravagant meals every night, but since that isn’t possible at the moment I try to make sure what we eat is great tasting and good for us.  This veggie quinoa bowl checks all the boxes.  It is comprised of just four healthy base ingredients and I can prepare it quickly after a long day at work.

I found the basis of this recipe at Reclaiming Provincial  and made a few modifications.  The original recipe was geared towards more of a meal you would eat for breakfast and we generally eat my version for dinner.  To make it more dinner friendly and heartier, I added in extra eggs as well as additional broccoli and mushrooms so it is more filling.

It may not be the prettiest to look at, but it always hits the spot and, as you will see, is one of Puggle Chef’s favorite meals to help prepare because she loves to snack on broccoli!  She has become quite the little sous chef and hangs out in the kitchen with every night me while I cook dinner.  She’s quite helpful, in fact if water is about to boil over and I’m looking away she alerts me to it.  She’s too cute!

Veggie quinoa bowl ingredients

Veggie quinoa bowl ingredients

cheese for veggie quinoa bowl

Plus some cheese which deserves its own photo.

Puggle Chef

Puggle Chef stir-frying the broccoli.

veggie quinoa bowl

Stir-fried veggies

veggie quinoa bowl

Veggie quinoa bowl ready to eat.


veggie quinoa bowl
Veggie Quinoa Bowl
Print Recipe
A great-tasting healthy option for any meal of the day, this veggie quinoa bowl will leave you fueled and satisfied!
Servings Prep Time
2 people 10 minutes
Cook Time
15-25 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 people 10 minutes
Cook Time
15-25 minutes
veggie quinoa bowl
Veggie Quinoa Bowl
Print Recipe
A great-tasting healthy option for any meal of the day, this veggie quinoa bowl will leave you fueled and satisfied!
Servings Prep Time
2 people 10 minutes
Cook Time
15-25 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 people 10 minutes
Cook Time
15-25 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Cut up broccoli and mushrooms and grate cheese.
  2. Heat a little olive oil over medium heat.
  3. Add broccoli to heated pan and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
  4. Add mushrooms to pan with broccoli and stir-fry for additional 2-3 minutes.
  5. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
  6. If you are cooking your own quinoa, combine milk, water and quinoa and bring to a boil. (If you are using Trader Joe's pre-cooked quinoa, place the 8 oz bag in the microwave and cook for 3-4 minutes.)
  7. Once pan with quinoa reaches a boil reduce heat and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed.
  8. Remove pan from heat and add broccoli and mushroom mixture and cheese. Mix well.
  9. Scramble eggs
  10. Add scrambled eggs to quinoa, broccoli, mushroom, and cheese mixture and mix well.
  11. Add salt and pepper to taste.
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Roasted Bacon Potato Salad

I was looking for a potato salad recipe to serve alongside salmon earlier in the summer and stumbled across this recipe in all it’s bacon-y glory.  I firmly believe that bacon improves all dishes and this one was not an exception!  We have become such big fans of this potato salad recipe that we have been eating it at least once a week.  It is fabulous hot or cold and perfect for a picnic, in fact we took it to the Hollywood Bowl a couple weeks ago to enjoy during a Beethoven concert.

I did make one crucial change to this potato salad recipe – the original recipe called for mayonnaise and I unfortunately do not eat mayonnaise.  I substituted the mayo with extra virgin olive oil and the dish was still perfectly moist and delicious.

So turn on that oven, pull out those baking sheets and get ready to enjoy a delicious potato salad!

potato salad

SO. MANY. POTATOES.

potato salad

Bacon improves everything in life.

potato salad

Add in a few additional ingredients and you’ve got yourself a delicious potato salad!


roasted bacon potato salad
Roasted Bacon Potato Salad
Print Recipe
A simple and delectable potato salad combining the goodness of bacon and roasted potatoes. Try this one hot or cold!
Servings Prep Time
4 people (depending on whether you're serving as a side or as the main dish) 10
Cook Time
45
Servings Prep Time
4 people (depending on whether you're serving as a side or as the main dish) 10
Cook Time
45
roasted bacon potato salad
Roasted Bacon Potato Salad
Print Recipe
A simple and delectable potato salad combining the goodness of bacon and roasted potatoes. Try this one hot or cold!
Servings Prep Time
4 people (depending on whether you're serving as a side or as the main dish) 10
Cook Time
45
Servings Prep Time
4 people (depending on whether you're serving as a side or as the main dish) 10
Cook Time
45
Ingredients
Servings: people (depending on whether you're serving as a side or as the main dish)
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees and slice potatoes.
  2. Arrange potatoes onto slightly greased baking sheet and cook for 30-35 minutes (I used olive oil).
  3. Remove potatoes from oven.
  4. Line a baking sheet in foil and arrange bacon. Cook for 7-20 minutes until bacon is crisp. The timing will depend on oven temperature and whether bacon is pre-cooked. (I left my oven at 450 degrees and used pre-cooked bacon so I had a very short cook time.)
  5. Chop scallions
  6. Remove bacon from oven and cool.
  7. Once bacon has cooled chop or crumble the pieces between your hands into a bowl with your potatoes.
  8. Mix together bacon, potatoes, salt, pepper, and garlic powder while gradually adding in the olive oil. Continue mixing until ingredients are distributed evenly. Enjoy!
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