Chicken Cordon Bleu Redo

I was at the grocery store yesterday and was looking around at what I might pick up for dinner.  I first picked up some chicken breasts, having no idea how I was going to cook them.  As I wandered around the store I thought what about chicken cordon bleu?  I could do my own version of it.  So here is what I did.

1 chicken breast split into 2
Small hand full fresh parsley
Couple of small sections fresh oregano
1 small stalk fresh tarragon
Salt
Pepper
Sliced ham
Sliced Havarti cheese
Flour
2 eggs
Seasoned bread crumbs
Cooking twine
Finely chop parsley, oregano and tarragon.  Pound chicken flat, sprinkle with salt and pepper, place a small amount of herbs onto both chicken breasts.  Layer ham and cheese over herbs.  Carefully roll up chicken breast and tie in 2 places with twine. Roll tied chicken into flour to coat, then egg to coat and then into seasoned bread crumbs.  Add chicken to a greased baking dish and place into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven and cook for about 30-45 minutes.  Use a thermometer to check internal temperature, you want it to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.  Serve with vegetables.

Grilled Eye of Round Roast

I have never grilled a whole roast on the grill before so this was a whole new experience.  It was my husbands idea to do this.  He is the grill master in our house.

Grilled Eye of Round Roast
I used a store bought barbecue seasoning rub that I used for this roast.  Rub roast with seasoning.  Preheat grill to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place roast on grill and sear on each side for 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cook to an internal temperature of 125 degrees Fahrenheit, turning occasionally.  Remove from heat, cover, let rest for 15 minutes before slicing.  Cooked to this temperature ensured meat that was cooked to medium.

Grilled Potatoes and Onions
Slice new potatoes leaving skin on them.  Add to a packet of foil potatoes, sliced red onion and a pat or two of butter.  Seal up and place on grill and grill for 5 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit and moved to upper rack for an additional 10 minutes.

Serve with a side of cooked spinach

Sweet Potato Soup with Smoked Salmon

Today there was a little taste of fall in the air.  This summer has been so hot and humid.   It is starting to cool off some and I really hope that it continues.  I am ready for cooler weather.  The fall and cooler weather makes me immediately think of soup, don't ask me why I don't know.  I thought a sweet potato soup would be great.  I dug through some recipes and found this one, it is from the Food Network, the recipe is called Nutty Sweet Potato Soup.  The only difference is that I added smoked salmon to the soup bowls.

Sweet Potato Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, diced (about 2 cups_

1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced (about 1 cup)

2 medium carrots, diced (about 1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)

1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)

6 cups homemade chicken broth 

1 (14.5) ounce can of diced tomatoes, with juice

2/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter

2 teaspoons of honey

• 1/2 cup chopped scallion greens (about 3 scallions)
• Salt to Taste
• Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, bell pepper and carrots and cook, stirring until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.  Add cayenne, black pepper, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute more.  Stir in the sweet potato, broth, and tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a medium low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  
• Puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender or in a regular blender in 2 batches and return to the soup pot.  Add the peanut butter and honey and stir, over low heat, until the peanut butter melts.  Serve warm, garnished with the scallions.   Add salt to taste ( I use homemade chicken broth that doesn't contain any salt).

**Note:  I use a Vitamix blender which has a way of blending spices that really bring out their natural flavors.  Because of this I think I would add slightly less cayenne pepper.  I would also add the peanut butter and honey while some of the soup was in the blender.  The peanut butter, although it melted, didn't really become smooth.  I added smoked salmon from seabear (this is where we buy our seafood) to the bowls before adding the soup.  The salmon added a nice flavor and of course added some great protein. 

Grilled Salmon with Corn and Grilled Romaine Lettuce

We got this fantastic salmon from SeaBear.  The salmon is Copper River Coho Salmon.  It was delivered fresh.  Copper River Coho has an orange red flesh which is firm and slightly milder, and delicate texture.  This is our favorite of all salmon.

Grilled Salmon
I used a local made barbecue sauce which has a little bite to it.  Place salmon on a platter and brush with barbecue sauce.  Heat the grill to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, place a piece of foil (we used grilling foil) on the grill.  Place salmon on the grill skin side up, cook for 5 minutes and then flip, add a little more sauce and grill for 5-7 more minutes.  The size of fish we grilled weighed about 6 ounces each.

Corn on the Cob
I cooked my corn in a pot of water on the stove.  The amount you cook it will depend a lot on how long the water boils for etc.  You want the corn to be tender but not mushy.  Serve with butter, salt and pepper.

Grilled Romaine Lettuce
Take 1 head of romaine lettuce, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper, sprinkle with garlic powder.  Place romaine on the grill over medium heat for 10 minutes.  Remove from grill sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Serve.  If needed add olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.