MARRIED TO A NON-FOODIE

NF Rating

So last week was the second anniversary for the hubs and I and we celebrated with a lovely trip to Charleston, SC so no cooking for me! So there is a reason I was not posting; I wasn’t just ignoring you all! I have readers that want to follow what I prepare! And apparently I have readers that consist of friends of my husbands that want to know what he is eating too! We actually had a wedding to go to in Charleston last week and decided it would be a great idea to extend the trip and make a little vaca out of it and celebrate our two years! Hard to believe it has been two years already! I swear, the older we get the faster time goes. It is quite scary actually!

For those of you that have not been to Charleston, I highly recommend. It is a beautiful city, full of history and good food! What more could anyone ask for! We had unbelievable weather too which definitely made up for it! Beautiful blue with not a cloud in the sky and tons of sun! We went to the beach, we did a carriage ride tour, we toured the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier and the submarine which was really cool. I have to say I admire and respect the people that are on these things even more. I could not be in such cramped quarters for extended periods of time and I had a hard time moving my small body through some of the areas. I couldn’t imagine being bigger on those ships! I am only 5’1” and weigh 100 pounds and with my purse on my arm I could barely fit up and down the stairs (which are actually ladders in my opinion!) I digress, sorry, in any case, there is a lot to do in this city and we didn’t get to do all that we wanted so we will have to go back!

One last thing about our trip and I will get back to the food! The hubs will probably kill me for this BUT his brother took some pics of us on the beach while we were dressed up for the wedding we attended and one of them I love so I have to post it! I rarely get photos of the two of us as I don’t like having my pic taken and neither does J but since we were dressed up and in coordinating outfits I had to take advantage and I am glad I did! Happy Belated Anniversary to my hot, loving husband!

So for dinner I made Smoky Chicken Corn Cakes! A very simple recipe and one I found quite tastie! I did alter it from the orginal recipe from Real Simple as it called for regular all purpose flour and I can’t eat that - you know that whole wheat allergy thing! I thought this dish was decent. I didn’t love it but I enjoyed it and loved the combination of the cake with the spicy chicken. The hubs, on the other hand, is only giving it a 3 stars mainly because he doesn’t like corn in his bread. I kept telling him that it is basically a corn pancake but that didn’t satisfy him He says he likes corn and he likes bread but he doesn’t like them together. Oh well! You never know until you try! He did thoroughly enjoy the smoky chicken part and ate the leftovers for lunch the next day! So that is always good! Had I had some plain yogurt or even some sour cream I would have served this with a dollop on top and I think that would be a wonderful touch but I was SOL. I decided to slice up some avocado for some healthy fats and serve that on top instead! I also served it with a side salad and surprisingly for what seemed like a small dish, we were both quite full! The best thing about this recipe is that it is fast! For those nights where you don’t have a lot of time, I suggest trying this!

Ingredients

1 Rotisserie chicken, shredded  (I only use the white meat but if you can eat dark meat go for it!)

1tbsp chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce

3btsp fresh lime juice

1tsp sea salt, divided

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

4 roma tomatoes, diced

1/3c fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2c buckwheat flour (or all purpose flour if you would prefer)

1/2c yellow cornmeal

1/2tsp baking powder

1/4tsp black pepper

4 large eggs

1c fat free ricotta cheese

10oz frozen corn, thawed

2tsp olive oil

Combine chicken, chilies, lime juice, 1/4tsp salt, onion, tomatoes and cilantro. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine buckwheat, cornmeal, baking powder, pepper and remaining salt. Stir in eggs and ricotta until no lumps remain. Fold in the corn.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Spoon 1/4c of the batter onto the skillet and cook until golden brown and set on one side (2-3mins) Using a spatula, flip the cake and cook until golden and cooked through on the other side (about 1min or so more) 

Divide the cakes among individual plates and top with the chicken mixture. Feel free to serve with sour cream, yogurt or additional veggies. I used avocados but looking back I would add in some corn, black beans and maybe some green onions as well!

Enjoy!