Chicken piccata is, hands down, one of my most favorite chicken dishes…. ever! I love ordering it when we go out to eat at an Italian restaurant and I love making it at home. It is honestly so simple to prepare!!
It has such a light, lemony, robust, satisfying flavor! Served over pasta, it just sticks to your ribs and leaves you feeling nourished but not glutinous.
Ingredients:
2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup flour
salt & pepper to taste
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup white wine of your choice
1 tbsp drained, whole capers
juice from 1 fresh lemon
lemon slices for garnish
Directions:
Cut the chicken into manageable cutlet sizes (I got 5 pieces out of my 2 breasts) and pound each piece between 2 pieces of parchment paper or wax paper.
Dredge the pounded chicken in the flour and season with salt & pepper.
Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken, about 4 minutes on each side. You may need to cook the chicken in a few batches, as I did.
Remove chicken from the hot skillet and reduce heat to medium- low.
Begin making the piccata sauce by sauteing the garlic. You may need to add a little more butter and oil at this point. Add the wine to deglaze the pan. Simmer on low so the alcohol burns off. Scrap the flour and chicken bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the capers to the pan.
Return chicken to skillet and simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and squeeze lemon juice into sauce.
Serve over angel hair pasta and garnish with fresh cut lemon slices.
I hope you enjoy this hearty comfort food as much as I always do! Make it for your family and let me know how much they loved it!
OMG! They make the most mouth watering, buttery soft and tender, perfectly cooked prime rib!
Jesse’s infamous queen cut prime rib! Horseradish sauce and warm buttery bread just makes it more magical!
This divine little steakhouse is a locally-owned mom and pop restaurant in Brandon, Florida. It’s been around since the 80s and their loyal following hasn’t left their side since!
Right now, times are tough for locally-owned businesses including the restaurant industry. Many food establishments are offering to-go, curbside pickup and discounts on their most popular menu items. Including Jesse’s… BOGO pork chop dinners, this week, for the unbelievable price of $17.95!!!
Thick and cheesy broccoli cheese soup as my starter, you can choose a salad instead if you prefer!
My boys have often ordered their fried shrimp and love it! My middle son also enjoys the cheeses fries. My husband and I truly enjoy and ALWAYS order the prime rib! Jesse’s is one of the few steakhouses where a prime rib dinner is still affordable without compromising their impeccable quality! The warm bread loaf, side salad (or soup of the day) and fully loaded baked potato is our favorite way to enjoy our prime rib dinner!
You must add this renowned local mainstay to your to-go list of places to enjoy while you host in-home date nights for you and your significant other right now! Then make sure to visit their kitschy restaurant when the world opens back up for business!!
Be safe friends!
Rachel
*I was not paid or compensated for this independent restaurant/ food review. I paid for this meal and experience as any customer would have.
I love cooking but I’m a little over it right now! Since we can’t go out to enjoy a nice sit down meal at a restaurant (thanks global pandemic!), I’m the family chef morning, noon and night! My usuals are getting a little boring, so since I’m home all day (working remotely) I have time to prepare more time consuming dishes. Yesterday I channeled my inner South Florida girl and decided to make picadillo over fluffy white rice. It’s the same recipe I use as the stuffing for my empanadas. I did assure my husband I would use the leftover meat to fry up in some empanadas….
This recipe does require a few key ingredients most home cooks my not have on hand, so this will require a shopping list! Let’s begin!
Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
3 packets Sazón Goya with coriander and annatto
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 cup frozen Goya Sofrito
2 small cans tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup pimento stuffed green olives
Directions :
Heat the oil in a 10” pan, (I used my cast iron) over medium-high heat. Sautee the chopped onions for a few minutes, then add the ground beef, break up the meat as it cooks. Continue to stir the meat so it evenly browns, about 10 minutes. Drain the fat from pan, I use a strainer so I don’t loose any meat. This is a common problem I face!!!
The onions and ground beef browning together.
Add the sazón and cumin to the browned meat. Stir and cook for a few minutes then mix in the sofrito, bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring, until the liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, ½ cup water and olives. Bring liquid to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer on low, stirring occasionally, until meat mixture thickens and flavors come together, about an hour.
Let your picadillo simmer for an hour or so to maximize the flavor!
I generally let any ground beef and tomato mixture I make simmer on the lowest temperature for a few hours, it is the best way to maximize flavor!
Serve over white rice and enjoy with a side salad for a healthy dose of greens!
You can serve over fluffy white rice and enjoy with a crispy green salad for a hearty dinner! I made this recipe for 6 people, or in my case, 2 non-picky eaters with enough leftover to make empanadas!
I often call my cooking style and well stocked kitchen the real life “Chopped” series. I’m not a meal planner or prepper, I just buy what my family likes to eat and let the ingredients speak to me. I feel more creative that way.
Last night’s dinner was inspired by the baby cremini mushrooms that I purchased at Publix on Saturday morning and an unopened bottle of Taylor Marsala wine from my pantry. Granted, it’s not the highest quality marsala but I’m not a drinker and I’ve used this brand for years. It’s always worked out quite well.
So I thawed out three large chicken breasts from the freezer and scoured the kitchen to make sure I had the remaining ingredients such as chicken stock and a shallot. I was able to find all of the ingredients to put this mouth-watering Monday night dinner together for my family!
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil (you can also use olive oil)
3 tablespoon butter
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into smaller sizes & pounded thin (3 breasts become about 9 serving sizes)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup flour
8 oz. cleaned and thinly sliced button or crimini mushrooms
1 shallot, minced
4 tablespoons Marsala wine
1/3 cup chicken broth or stock
Directions:
Be prepared … pound your chicken thin, out your flour in shallow dish for dredging, clean & chop your veggies and have your cooking liquids ready to go!
Heat the butter and oil in a skillet or cast iron pan on medium-high heat. Dredge the pounded chicken in flour. Sprinkle floured chicken with salt & pepper. When the butter/ oil starts to sizzle, place 3 chicken pieces in the pan and cook until golden brown (a few minutes per side). You may need to add more butter and grapeseed oil as you get your next few batches of chicken cooked.
The brown bits in the pan is what makes the marsala sauce magical!
Set the sauteed chicken aside on a platter and repeat this process until all the chicken breats are sauteed.
Sautee and begin browning your shallots and mushrooms….Add the Marsala.
Once all of chicken is cooked, add the mushrooms & shallot to the sautee pan. Continue to cook on medium-high, until the mushrooms are tender and begin to brown.
Add the Marsala wine and cook until reduced by half. You may need to add more wine than the ingredient list calls for, use your best judgement.
Stir in the chicken broth/ stock and heat for a few minute, deglazing the pan. Turn off the heat and add the chicken back to the sauce while it’s still hot. Make sure you turn the chicken over so the sauce permeates all of the chicken, maximizing the flavor!
Serve with egg noodles or linguine and your favorite veggies!
5 quarts of field fresh strawberries cost me $2.50… half of a Trader Joe’s paper shopping bag worth of berries!
Yesterday I went to a local, family owned strawberry field I had never been to before, drove by hundreds of times but never knew they opened for UPick. In fact, it may be the only UPick in Seffner (between Brandon and Plant City, FL). My friend and her husband, excitedly, called me about finding this place on Saturday afternoon. They described the berries as large, red, ripe and to good not to use it as an excuse to get some vitamin D! Since I was already planning on blueberry picking Sunday morning, I decided to do both. If they were as perfect as they described, how could I pass it up?! I only live about 3 miles from the farm, so I seriously had no excuse to at least drive by and check it out.
I am so blessed to live a few minutes from several strawberry farms! How can I not take advantage of UPick season?!
The owners/family was sitting out near the road, just a block west of Chastaine, when I pulled up. One of the women came to my car window with baskets to pick with, prices and directions to the best berries and told me to just drive over to them … it was a short walk from the roadside tent we were in front of, but I drove over as instructed. My friends were right, there were plenty of ripe, lucious berries ready to be picked. Probably the best quality berries I’d picked in a long time! At $.50 a quart, I let my back decide when I was done picking instead of my wallet!
Strawberry UPick off of Old Hillsborough Rd in Seffner FL. This size carton was $.50… such an amazing deal!
When I was done picking my 5 quarts, I drive back to the Easy Up tent to pay and saw a few more families had arrived! Yes! Supporting our local farmers is always important!! I also grabbed a strawberry onion for a dollar. They are perfect for onion rings and my 14 year old loves my homemade onion rings!
Off to the next stop, Wishing Well Barn in Plant City for some blueberry UPick as I had originally planned! I’ve been a loyal IG follower of theirs for years… WWB is rustic barn wedding venue and they are always posting the most breathtaking wedding photos. I saw them post that they had blueberry UPick this weekend ….
I am not sure when they open but whomever I was planning my trip with through IG direct message and I agreed to be there at 9am. When I pulled in, a sweet grandmotherly woman met me at the wedding barn and chatted me up for a few minutes before she drove me, in her golf cart, to the blueberry field. She warned me that the berry bushes looked scrawny but were actually ripe and full.
I’ll agree, looks were deceiving, the scrappy little twigs were bountiful with ripe, large blueberries and I picked a little over a pound in about 15 minutes. In this case, since the berries were $4 a pound, my wallet told me to stop way before my back did!
Definitely the most beautiful UPick I’ve ever patronized! Over a pound of fresh blueberries!
I learned Wishing Well Barn had only been growing blueberry bushes for 2 years, such an impressive growth and product for 2 short years. I can’t wait to see how much more full the bushes will look next growing season!
Once I paid, I wished them luck in these horrific economic times our small, locally owned businesses are facing and went on my way. I promised my husband Danish Puffcakes with fresh fruit for breakfast! So home was my next stop!
I made these Puffcakes on Saturday morning and saved half. In a Ziploc baggie in my fridge. They heated up real well the next day… I wrapped them in foil and put them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes. They were as fresh and delicious as the day before.
10″ cast iron skillet with a generous four person serving of the Danish Puffcake.Warm, tangy homemade blueberry syrup!
I’d love to share this easy and crowd pleasing recipe with you (recipe will feed 4, so double as needed!).
Recipe card I made about 10 years ago.
I also made good use of my berries and made a yellow sheet cake to enjoy for dessert later that night!
Sunday mornings berry haul! $8, what a bargain!
Although we are all exercising social distancing, we should get out and get some vitamin D whenever we get the chance… And supporting your local farmers is a bonus!
Friday I ran to grab fresh strawberries, peaches and blueberries from Keel and Curley Winery’s pop up fruit stand off of Hwy 60 in Brandon! Too hard to pass up if they’re only a short drive (3 miles) from my house!
Farm fresh eggs, organic strawberries and blueberries!
Check out their website for future u-picks, the blueberry and peach festivals, their wine tours and onsite winery/ restaurant! ksuthttps://keelfarms.com/
Keel and Curley fruit wine, made right here in Hillsborough county in Plant City!
Once I saw how beautiful the fresh blueberries were, I knew I’d needed a recipe to show them off and enjoy them! After using Google to inspire me, I settled on blueberry turnovers since I had a box of puff pastry in the freezer.
I thawed out the puff pastry for about an hour in the counter while I made the blueberry filling in the stove.
I rinsed the berries well, in a strainer then added them to a small sauce pot with 1/4 c sugar. I simmered on medium for about 5 minutes then added a tsp of corn starch and whisked well. I removed from the heat and let it cool for about 45 minutes.
Hot blueberry filling, use caution… It is piping hot!
Once the puff pastry is thawed and manageable, cut it into 4 even squares. Go around all 4 sides with an egg wash then put a heaping tbsp of your berry filling in the middle. Fold over like a triangle and crimp the edges with a fork. Cut a slit in the top so the steam may escape to avoid your pasty explode! Then brush with the egg wash and sprinkle generously with granulated sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until golden brown!
And yes, oozing pastry filling is ok… It lets you know what scrumptious fruity filing awaits your taste buds! Anticipation makes each bite more gratifying!
Since we all missed opening day for baseball this past week, thanks to the Coronavirus… I thought I’d put on my Rays tee shirt today, the one I always wear to the Trop to cheer on our home team, and reminisce with all of you!
We always head to Tropicana Field as a family. With exception of a few double date nights with our best friends, the kids always go with my husband and I. It’s one of the few things the five of us enjoy together and are truly happy doing. It’s a bit of a hike from our part of the Tampa suburbs, but we’ll worth the most hour drive!
I even found a few fun baseball posts from my original blog dating back to 2009! Yes folks, I’m an OG Blogger!
“I had found these awesome graphics and have been waiting for the perfect LO to use them with! We are a baseball- lovin’ family and go to several Ray’s games a year, the trick was remembering to bring the camera!!! Here is a photo of me and my eldest in the stands 🙂 Oh, notice my beloved Thickers?” -I Love My Three Sons: 4 the Love of the Game, Blog entry circa 2009
I even made baseball themed cards and gift tags for their favorite elementary school PE coaches!
I also wanted to share a few more oldies from September 2010 when the Tampa Bay Ray’s made it to the plays offs, back when David Price was the best pitcher on the team!
My kids loved hounding the players during practice for a few autographs- guess being cute worked, they always got their mitts and balls signed! My big boys were so cute back then, what happened, just kidding! They’re still cute just much larger and hairier!!!!
Thank you for humoring me and reading my thoughts and sharing my families favorite pastime memories! Hopefully the world can get back to normal soon and we can carry on our family tradition of attending a few Rays games this season!
Seriously, I know the entire world is going through very hard times right now. There is no place to escape and seek refug from this crazy virus…. Other than your own home BUT I’m over it! You feel me?!
Family fun while enjoying a delicious shaved ice at my local Bahama Bucks!
I’ve always considered myself a homebody. I mean, I love food shopping and go to several different grocery stores on any given weekend as well as my produce co-op every other Saturday, making dinner plans with our best friends or just dragging my husband or one of my boys out to a new place to eat that I’d been wanting to try for the past week. Or a coffee shop I read about earlier in the week! And I loved knowing I could come home and prepare a new dish I found on Instagram, because I love cooking, I love my house… my foundation, my safe space. But now days, it kind of feels like I’m on house arrest…. You still feel me, right?!
My produce co-op basket was always my version on “Chopped”, hopefully it will be this weekend too!
Coming up with new, creative and satisfying meals has been a true challenge. I am sure you’ll all agree with me on this! I truly miss calling in a pizza order! Don’t we all?! I feel like I’ve cooked my bajllionth socially distanced family dinner, and it’s only been a few weeks! I miss someone else cooking for me and cleaning up after me!!
Sesame chicken from Yummy House in Tampa
I feel for the hard working restaurant staff that had to temporarily sacrifice their livelihood until this pandemic blows over. I can’t imagine how scary their world is right now. But my heart is with them and I can’t wait to sit in the dining rooms of all my favorite local restaurants when this is all over! I’m dreaming of Jesse’s Steak and Seafood’s queen cut prime rib dinner! Pizza Rock for a heaping plate full of the Marty Salad is just a fantasy! Romano’s 1977 Restaurant for the Chicken Souvlaki Platter sounds like heaven! I miss the big heaping basket full of warm tortilla chips and savory salsa from Sabor a Mexico or Mi Casa (both my favorites)! I’d kill for a chili dog from Campbell’s Dairyland with a soft serve cone chaser! Ahhhh, a fresh bagel with a schmere of veggie cream cheese! I can’t tell you what I’d for anything from Yummy House….
The large Marty salad from Pizza Rock, Brandon. With a side of pizza!Brandon Bagels on Hwy 60Sabor A Mexico, Hwy 60 next to GFSMi Casa Mexican restaurant in Plant City and Riverview!
I know the restaurant industry is doing what they can but this is such a heart breaking scenerio.
Even if I can’t sit in Bahamas Bucks right now and watch my kids beat me at Uno, as I lick the shaved ice syrup running down my hand… I know I’m blessed to have the memory!
I miss you restaurant world! We all do! Stay safe out there, we need you!!!!
at a time like this! This Covid19 mania is really taking its toll on the world today. My family seems to be taking it in stride. As much as they can with my eldest two boys working part-time at Publix and my husband constantly in strangers houses as a cable/ internet/ phone installer. I figured a turkey dinner and telling each other what we are grateful for was the best Sunday dinner idea to end this crazy, stressful week!
There were tons of turkey breasts at my Publix yesterday and enough side dish ideas in the grocery aisles. Frozen dinner rolls and fresh veggies… Voila- a Thanksgiving turkey dinner that will out a smile on your families face and lift their spirits! A real, old fashioned Sunday Supper! It’s not called comfort food for nothing!
I had my husband split the breast since only 4 of us were eating tonight and my kids are not leftover turkey fans. I froze the other half for another meal. I rinsed off the halfed breast and rubbed it with soft butter, salt and pepper. Simple yet delicious. I inserted a meat thermometer set at 165 degrees, pop it in a 350 degree oven and wait, patiently!
I always have a box of Stove Top stuffing in my pantry since it’s my favorite! And when I say favorite, I mean I mean so much so, my kids have told me they are buying me a Costco sized case of it for my next birthday! So the stuffing was covered! Then I scouted out the cranberry sauce while I was at the grocery store. Sadly, the few Ocean Spray cans were dented so I grabbed Publix brand. My husband have me grief over “cutting corners” with his favorite Thanksgiving side, but I’m sure he’ll make it through dinner a-ok with the store brand cranberry!!! Since it’s slim pickins in the grocery store right now, I picked a dinner roll I normally would not buy, at least it was a brand I like. Beggars can’t be choosers, right?! Next up, the veggies… I had a new package of peas and some Brussels sprouts left from my last produce co-op.
And the crowning jewel, the gravy. I’m going with the frozen packet that came with the turkey breast. I’ve done this in the past and it’s always been flavorful once I add the pan drippings.
While the turkey is in the final stages of roasting, I prepare the simple sides…. Stuffing, peas, pan seared Brussels sprouts, gravy, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls.
Remember, let your turkey rest for about 15 minutes, on the counter, like you would a roast. Resting ensures juicy meat as the juices won’t flood out as you carve the turkey immediately after removing it from the oven.
While your waiting (patiently, right?!) for the turkey to rest, set your dinner table. Use your nice (heck, break out the fancy stuff!) dinner plates! Set out your better quality silverware. Go the extra mile, more than you would on a random Tuesday evening. Fold your napkins. Sit close together! Make it special… Your family is worth it!
Ladies, put your hubby’s to work and have him carve your turkey!!
Wishing you and your family safe passage from Covid19! May you all use every precaution you can to stay healthy! And love each other!
If you’re like me and love being in the kitchen … you have been trying to occupy your new found free time with new recipes. I made sure to stock up on all the baking essentials, knowing I’d be cooped up at home for the next several weeks! I love King Arthur Flour’s recipes and they have never let me down, so I decided to try their recipe for chocolate chip scones this past Sunday!
(Almost) all the ingredients ready to make breakfast magic!
The recipe I used from King Arthur Flour’s website:
Ingredients
Dough
2 3/4 cups (326g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour
1/3 cup (67g) sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup (113g) cold butter
1 cup to 2 cups chocolate chips or chopped dried fruit
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup (113g to 152g) whole milk
Topping
2 teaspoons milk
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
Cut the cold butter into small pieces and combine (by hand or with a pastry cutter) until the mixture is crumbly. If there are larger chunks of butter, that’s perfect, it will make a more tender scone.
Stir in the dried fruit or chocolate chips. I, obviously, prefer chocolate chips!
In a separate mixing bowl (I used one of my glass Pyrex measuring cups), whisk together the eggs, vanilla and whole milk
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently stir until it is all moistened and holds together. Do not over mix.
I cant stress enough, do not over work the mixture!
Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment or pan and form the dough into a large circle, about an inch thick.
Cut out the circles (I used a small glass for the perfect round cut outs!
Brush each circle with milk and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.
King Arthur’s recipe suggests for the best texture and highest rise, place the pan of unbaked scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. I skipped this step and my scones came out fabulous!
Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don’t have parchment, spray your baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle a bit of flour on the scone batter.
Bake the scones in the upper part of your oven for about 17 minutes or until they’re a light golden brown.
Once the scones have completely cooled, you can wrap them in plastic and store them at room temperature for several days. I would also put them in an airtight container to ensure freshness. King Arthur Flour suggests, to reheat your room-temperature scones, place on a baking sheet, tent lightly with foil, and warm in a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.
Don’t skimp on the deliciousness, enjoy a pat of butter on your warm scone!
Tampa Food Mom 