Girl and the Kitchen
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Hi! I'm Mila, the Girl and the Kitchen. And I know good food! Having worked in many incredible restaurant kitchens as a chef, I know what it takes to make delicious food with simple ingredients and bright flavors! I believe that anyone can make great tasting food by knowing a few of the tips of the trade. Read along with me as I teach you how to prepare incredibly tasty and wholesome meals made with simple ingredients that are loaded with flavor in no time at all!
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How to Roast Chicken Drumsticks with Garlic and Herbs
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Combine all the ingredients except the chicken in a bowl and whisk until well combined.
- Place the chicken into a ziplock bag or a bowl and pour in the marinade. Toss everything well to combine.
- Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
- Place some parchemnt paper or a silicone mat on a sheet pan.
- Lay out the chicken and roast for 20-30 minutes or until juices run clear.
- 2 lbs chicken drumstics or thighs
- ½ cup homemade or storebought mayo
- 1 lemon (zested and juiced)
- 6 garlic cloves (minced)
- 4 tbsp flat leaf parsley (chopped)
- 2 shallots (finely chopped)
- kosher salt and black pepper
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
Instructions:
- Place everything into an Instant Pot and turn to close. Make sure the lid is on the "sealing" position.
- Press the "manual" option and use the dial to get to 15 minutes.
- After the cooking program completes, turn the pressure valve to "venting" and carefully open the pressure valve (quick release) and remove the lid.
- Shred the chicken with two forks or as I prefer, place into a kitchen aid mixer and using the paddle attachment shred the chicken until it is the preferred texture. Make sure to add in the juices from the braise to really enrich that flavor!
- Feel free to sautee up at this point with some olive oil and some juices from the braising liquid. Notes:
- If the chicken breasts are large, like 1 pound each, you may need to increase the time to 25 minutes.
- If freezing, freeze with the braising liquid to keep it nice and tender.
- Nutritional information is only to be used as a guide.
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 can diced tomatoes with chilies
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 each lemon (juice and zest)
- 1 each orange (juice and zest)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves
Creamy Low Carb Cauliflower Soup (Keto Friendly)
Instructions:
Ingredients:
- Place the diced bacon in a heavy bottomed pan. Remember you are placing the COLD bacon into a COLD pot.
- While the bacon is cooking, cut up your onions and measure your other ingredients.
- Allow the fat to render out of the bacon on medium heat. This will take about 15 minutes, but keep a watchful eye on it, once it starts turning brown it can go from gloriously brown to burnt in seconds!
- Remove with a slotted spoon and pour out all but 2 tbsp of the fat. Feel free to reserve the fat to use in sauces, soups or for cooking eggs in the mornings.
- Add in the onions and toss them in the bacon fat. Season with a pinch of salt. Allow to sweat for abou 5-10 minutes until translucent and tender.
- Place the cauliflower into the pot and fill the pot with the heavy cream. Allow to simmer for 15 more minutes or until flavor has developed. Taste for seasoning.
- Remove the pot from heat and puree the soup either in a blender or right in the pot with a stick blender. Taste for seasoning.
- Add in the grated cheese and stir in with a whisk over low heat to ensure all the cheese melts in.
- Serve with a few swiirls of olive oil, bacon lardons and soem freshly cracked black pepper
- If you would like to use any other cheese feel free! Parmesan, Swiss, Cheddar or you can even use Monterrey Jack for a kick!
- In the event that you want to lighten things up and are trying to keep this low carb DO NOT use half and half or milk. Instead do half heavy cream and half broth. If you add milk or half and half you are adding in lactose, ie, carbs.
- Feel free to garnish with some chives or parsley!
Ingredients:
- 16 oz Thick Cut Bacon (Cut up into squares )
- 16 oz Cauliflower (Frozen or Fresh, Cut up into Florets)
- Fine Sea Salt (To Taste)
- 1 Medium Onion (Cut up roughly)
- 4 cups Heavy Cream
- ½ cup Mild Swiss Cheese (Shredded )
- fruity olive oil (to garnish)
- freshly cracked black pepper (to garnish)
How to Make Kimchi Soup
Instructions:
Marinade
Ingredients:
Marinade for Shrimp
Marinade
- Combine all the ingredients of the marinade in a food processor or a blender, except the shrimp. Combine until well processed. Toss shrimp with the marinade and allow to stand for 15-20 minutes.
- Add avocado oil to a soup pot and turn the heat to high. (See Note)
- Add the shrimp once the oil is warmed up and sear the shrimp until nice and golden brown and almost charred. Give it about 5-7 minutes total.
- Remove the shrimp and set aside. Lower the heat to a low-medium heat.
- Add in the remaining oil. Add in shallots, mushrooms and chili oil. Sautee until mushrooms and shallots are slightly browned and tender. About 10 minutes.
- Add in your ginger, garlic and broth. Increase heat to high and allow to come to a boil.
- Once the soup has reached a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and add in kimchi, miso paste, soy sauce or tamari and sesame oil. Allow everything to simmer for 10 minutes.
- TASTE! This is the crucial step of figuring out what exactly the soup needs! Does it need more soy? More miso? More lime? Taste and adjust! You know the flavors you like so adjust as YOU see fit.
- If you are adding in greens, add in the bok joy and dried seaweed at this point.
- Garnish with any necessary garnishes. Enjoy!
- You can omit the chili oil if you like. Additionally, you can just add in red chili flakes if you do not have chili oil.
- You can use a nice miso broth or just a plain vegetable broth is great too. I find chicken broth can work but sometimes it fights the flavors in the soup and overpowers it.
- When you add in the miso paste, continue tasting the soup as you cook it. Sometimes you could want more miso, sometimes less. Start with 2-3 tablespoons and then continue from there.
- The toasted sesame oil really makes a difference. A toasted sesame oil vs a regular sesame oil is way more powerful and extremely flavorful.
- All stoves are different, what is high for me may need to be medium high for you depending on the stove. You want the oil to be super hot so you can extract all the flavor out of the shrimp. Contrary to popular belief…most of the flavor of shrimp is in the shells.
- 1 store bought jar of kimchi is plenty! Just make sure you trust the company!
- The nutritional portion is to be used as a guide. Values can be misleading.
Ingredients:
Marinade for Shrimp
- 1 lb Skin On Shrimp
- 2 tbsp Lemongrass
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 1 inch Knob piece of ginger
- 2 tbsp Cilantro
- 1 Chili or Serrano or Jalapeno Pepper (Feel free to leave out ot add more in)
- 1 Lime (Zested and Juiced)
- 2 tbsp Avocado Oil (Can be replaced with Olive oil or Coconut Oil)
- 1 tbsp Avocado Oil
- 2 Shallots (Sliced)
- 1 1 inch knob of ginger (Minced on Microplane)
- 4 garlic cloves (Minced on Microplane)
- Chili Oil (See Note)
- 1 Cup Shiitake Mushrooms (one of the containters they come in is fine)
- 1 quart Vegetable Broth (See Note)
- 3 Tbsp Miso Paste (See Note)
- 1/4 Cup Low Sodium Tamari (or soy sauce)
- 1 tsp Toasted Sesame Oil (See Note)
- baby bok choy
- Nori or Dried Seaweed (Torn up)
- Chili Oil
- 7 Minute Eggs
- Scallions (Sliced)
- Toasted Black Sesame Seeds
- Chili Oil (To Taste)
- 1 pint Kimchi (See Notes)
Easy Miso Glazed Salmon
Instructions:
Ingredients:
- Place the salmon in a Ziplock bag or a mixing bowl. Pour the all purpose miso sauce on top of the salmon. Toss the fish and ensure that is covered in the sauce. Allow the fish to marinade for a minimum of 15 minutes and up to 24 hours.
- Place the fish in a baking pan. Add vegetables around the fish if using them. Pour exess marinade in bag or in bowl over the fish and the veggies. Toss the veggies in the sauce to ensure that they are covered.
- Preheat the oven to convection roast to 450°F.
- Place fish in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until browned and opaque on the sides.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup miso all purpose sauce
- 2 lbs salmon (skin on or off)
- sesame seeds (garnish)
- scallions (garnish)
- lemon wedges (garnish)
Mexican Chicken Soup (Caldo de Pollo)
Instructions:
Ingredients:
- Add olive oil to a medium pot and turn the heat to medium.
- Add onions, carrots, celery, jalapeños and garlic to the pot. Sweat COVERED in the pot. Ensuring you do not get any color on the vegetables. Allow to sweat for 5-7 minutes.
- Add chicken broth to the pot along with the cubed potatoes and the chicken breast. Bring up to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.
- Add the rice, Knorr's Caldo de Pollo cubes, turmeric and the better than Bouillon.
- Allow to simmer until rice and potatoes are tender.
- Turn off the soup, add cilantro and serve.
- Serve with avocado, extra cilantro and pico de gallo.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 Pounds of Chicken Breasts
- 5 Carrots (Sliced into Half-Moons)
- 1/2 Large Onion (Diced)
- 3 Stalks Celery (Sliced)
- 5 Garlic Cloves (Minced)
- 1 Jalapeno (Seeded and Finely Diced)
- 3 Large Red Potatoes (cubed)
- 1 Bunch of Cilantro (Roughly Chopped)
- 4 Knorr's Caldo de Pollo Cubes *
- 1/4 cup of rice
- 8 Cups Chicken Broth
- 1 Tsp Better Than Bouillion
- 1 Tsp Turmeric*
- 4 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- For Garnishes:
- Avocado
- Chopped Cilantro
- Pico de gallo
- Limes
Ricotta Meatballs
Instructions:
Ingredients:
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl (except marinara) and mix with hands until completely smooth, pale and homogenized.
- Spray down a sheet pan or a foil pan with pan spray
- Using an ice cream scoop, messily place the mixture onto the sheet pan.
- Form meat into golf ball size balls, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
- Place them into a 450-degree oven for 12-15 minutes.
- In another pan, heat up the marinara in a pot large enough to fit the marinara and the meatballs.
- If serving with marinara, once the meatballs are done, carefully add them into the pot with the marinara and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
- Serve meatballs in sauce alone, or over pasta; sprinkle fresh Parmesan, grate some lemon zest and sprinkle some chopped parsley on top.
- Both the sauce and the meatballs can be made ahead of time.
- The meatballs and the sauce are both very freezer friendly. Just place them into ziplock bags or into a freezer safe container and freeze until needed. You can also place them both into a foil pan and freeze covered in the sauce until needed. Simply reheat right in the oven without defrosting at 350 degrees COVERED until they come to temperature.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ricotta cheese
- 1 pound ground turkey or chicken
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (plus more for serving)
- 1 tbsp parsley (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon salt (or as needed)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Freshly grated nutmeg (as needed)
- Vegetable oil for frying
- 4 cups classic marinara
- 1 lemon for zesting
- pan spray (as needed)
- lemon (zested, as needed)
- parsley (chopped, as needed)
Sparkling Crinkle Chocolate Nutella Cookies
Instructions:
- Heat oven to 375 and prepare cookie sheets by covering them in parchment paper.
- Beat sugar, butter and Nutella with a hand mixer or a stand mixer for about 2 minutes on medium speed until mixture is light and fluffy.
- Turn the mixer to low and add in the egg, milk, vanilla, and red food coloring. Mix on low just enough to incorporate, then increase heat to medium high and blend until light and fluffy.
- Add in cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt. With mixer on slow add flour mixture to sugar mixture and beat until just combined.
- Shape dough into 1 inch balls by using your hands or an ice cream scooper.
- Pour the red sanding sugar onto small plate or bowl. Roll dough ball in sanding sugar and place on prepared cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. These babies spread like crazy, so make sure you give them room so they do not collide with each other.
- Bake for EXACTLY 7 minutes. They will be soft, but this is exactly what you want.
- Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack.
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup Nutella
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick, room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
- 1 teaspoon red food coloring
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup red sanding sugar
- pinch salt
3 Ingredient Christmas Bark
Instructions:
Ingredients:
- Place parchment paper into an 8X8 baking pan, making sure that the parchment over hangs two of the sides. This is important because you will be lifting the bark out by grabbing the parchment paper.
- Place white chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and melt in 30 second increments. Make sure to stir with a spatula in between so that everything melts evenly.
- Once completely melted, add in coconut oil and combine.
- Add in 1/4 cup dried cranberries and 1/2 a cup shelled pistachios into the white chocolate and mix to combine..
- Pour the white chocolate into the pan lined with parchment paper.
- Place the 1 tbsp cranberries and the 1 tbsp pistachios into the white chocolate. This is more for the decorative effect.
- Put into the fridge for 30 minutes until set.
- Lift the parchment paper out of the baking sheet carefully.
- Use a sharp knife or a just crack the bark with your hands.
- This will keep for up to two weeks in an airtight container.
- You can use any dried fruit or nuts you like. You can also sub out dark chocolate or milk chocolate.
- These make such incredible gifts guys. Put them in some beautiful little baggies and tie them with a ribbon and hand them out to mailmen, teachers or anyone who just loves chocolate.
Ingredients:
- 16 ounces good white chocolate (finely chopped)
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries+1 tbsp
- 1/2 cup whole shelled salted pistachios+1tbsp
Simple Cranberry Sauce with Citrus
Instructions:
- Add cranberries into a sauce pan and set over low heat. Allow to cook for about 15 minutes or until super saucy.
- Remove ½ cup of cranberries and set aside.
- Add all of the ingredients and cook for 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from the stove. Allow to cool. Add the 1/2 cup of cranberries to the rest of the sauce once cooled.
- Serve garnished with orange zest.
- The classic elderflower liquor is St. Germaine. But there are plenty of other brands that I have had that are significantly less expensive.
Because of the pectin in the fruit, the sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. This will keep for 2-3 weeks in the fridge.
- 16 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3 tbsp Elderflower Liquor
- juice and zest of half an orange
Balsamic Glazed Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400-degrees
- Slice up the Brussels sprouts in half, yes straight out of the freezer.
- Place the Brussels sprouts onto a sheet pan, feel free to use the foil pans for super easy clean up.
- Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss and place in the oven.
- Once the Brussels sprouts are nicely browned and soft on the inside, about 20 minutes, remove from the oven.
- Add in balsamic glaze, liquid smoke and dates. Toss everything to combine. Roast for another 3-5 minuts.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle candied pecans on top. Serve immediately.
- Feel free to candy up your own pecans. I personally find it easier to buy the suckers. Because otherwise I have them handy in the pantry and I start munching…and it's just not necessary.
- 2 frozen packages of Brussels sprouts (they usually come in 12 oz bags)
- 8 dates (sliced up)
- balsamic vinegar glaze
- ½ a cup of candied pecans (Note 1)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1–2 drops liquid smoke
Meet the Speaker
Mila believes that everyone should have access to the tips of the trade that she learned as a chef at multiple restaurants. This organization (girl and the kitchen) is here to teach others the joy of cooking. There are numerous recipes that can be made and frozen for use later on. Each recipe is made to help promote healthy wholesome foods. The organizations aim is to help people learn how to cook in a more healthy way while juggling the tasks of everyday life!
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Simplicity is not the absence of clutter; that's a consequence of simplicity. Simplicity is somehow essentially describing the purpose and place of an object and product. The absence of clutter is just a clutter-free product. That's not simple.
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