Green Chile Chicken

Green Chile Chicken Over Asparagus With Hummus Crostini

Cook's notes: There is an amazing grocery store nearby called Publix. I am impressed with the store where their motto is a capital letter S for service. 

There is someone to help you in every aisle and will actually walk you to the place where the item is you are searching for. They bag your groceries and even buzz them out in a cart to your car.  Another great feature is every noon someone cooks a feature dish for customers to sample and provide you with a recipe card. I am in heaven at the Publix. 

Since I still had asparagus left over from previous dish I thought I would try this one.  The unusual mix of ingredients really make this dish stand out with loads of flavor. It is very easy to prepare and quite tasty.

If you happen to have a wok this type of pan would work well for this recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. asparagus spears
• 4 bonelesss chicken breasts 
• 1 TB. garlic/herb seasoning
• 1 TB. canola oil
• 2 TB. + 3/4 cup water divided
• 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 (1.25 oz.) packet broccoli cheese soup mix
• 1/4 cup diced green chiles

Directions:

1. Trim asparagus, remove tough root ends
2. Preheat large saute pan on medium-high for 2 minutes, coat both sides of chicken with garlic herb seasoning mix
3. Place oil in pan, add chicken and cook 3 minutes per side, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and arrange asparagus spears over chicken
5. Add 2 TB.water and cover, cook for 4 minutes or until chicken registers 165 degrees and asparagus is tender
6. Set aside chicken and asparagus on a serving platter, cover to keep warm 
7. Whisk together 3/4 cup water, yogurt and dry soup mix in a small saucepan;bring just to a boil on medium
8. Reduce heat to low and stir in green chiles, simmer 3 minutes or until thickened
9. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve

another cooking option as show in the picture

• Follow steps 1 and 2 but cut chicken breasts into cubes and do step 3,4, 5
• Skip step 6 and do step 7 mixing up sauce but adding it to cooked chicken and asparagus in pan, add in green chiles
• Cook on low heat 5-8 minutes 

Hummus Crostini

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 cup prepared tomato basil bruschetta  
• 1/4 cup each green peppers and diced onions
• 4 deli pita bread 
• deli hummus

Directions:

• Cut cream cheese into cubes and let stand at room temperature
• Saute peppers and onions, add in bruschetta topping  and blend together
• Bake bread 5 minutes till toasted, cut into triangles
• Blend softened cream cheese and hummus together until smooth
• Spread hummus mixture over  each toast piece, top with bruschetta mixture and bake 3 minutes or until hot 

Your microwave may be a powerful weapon in protecting your family against disease-causing germs.

A new study shows zapping sponges and plastic scrubbing pads in the microwave can kill bacteria, such as E. coli, that can cause illness.

"Basically, what we find is that we could knock out most bacteria in two minutes," says researcher Gabriel Bitton, professor of environmental engineering at the University of Florida, in a news release. "People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if they really want to decontaminate them and not just clean them, they should use the microwave."

The results showed that two minutes in the microwave at full power killed or inactivated more than 99% of all the living germs and the bacterial spores in the sponges and pads, including E. coli.

Before you zap your sponges in the microwave, researchers do offer the following advice:
Microwave only sponges or plastic scrubbers that do not contain steel or other metals.
Make sure the sponge or scrubber is wet, not dry. Two minutes should be enough to kill most disease-causing germs.

So I just had to test this theory out...

and yes it all makes sense :)