Connie's Kitchen: Magazine Recipes and Random Gifts

My beautiful mother was the most amazing person I have ever known. She survived a childhood filled with horrific abuse, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her 20's, and through all this she was full of more love and strength and good humor than you could imagine.She never met a stranger or someone she didn't love. She and my Dad raised my sister and I in a warm and loving house where we never wanted for anything. She made sure we had everything she never had and turned her horrible past into a beautiful future for us. She battled hard times with humor and could turn the worst moment into something hilarious. Even in the very end, after two awful weeks in the hospital and finding out she had a stage 4 cancerous brain tumor, she still cracked jokes and made you feel like everything was going to be OK. She was always more concerned with everyone else being happier than herself...
My amazing and courageous mother passed away in March 2011. In her honor I am going to try to post a story and recipe for her on Fridays in a series I am calling; "Connie's Kitchen".

So for today I am going to share a little story about my Mom and a recipe for Grilled Chicken Marinated in my Lemon Pepper Garlic White Wine Marinade and Fresh Green Beans with Lemon and Feta.
I made the chicken recipe myself. Its a staple in our house and something I came up with several years ago but the green beans are from my Mom... or at least from her People magazine.
 Mom got on this kick where she would bring me recipes from her People magazine whenever she saw me. She would usually show up at my house with a big shopping bag full of random gifts and there were always a few of these photo copied recipes with a picture of some celebrity next to it. My Mom was the queen of giving random gifts to my sister and I because she just had to show up for a visit with something. We picture her running around the house gathering any extra thing she could find right before her and Dad got in the car. Her grab bag of items would contain something like:
A plunger
a bulk size bottle of conditioner
a couple boxes of flavored rice
two camisoles
a roll of paper towel
5 coupons
and a lint brush
AND course a photo copied recipe

She would always be so excited to give me this recipe and she would open up the folded paper from her purse and show it to me and point at it several times or slap it down on the counter and point at it saying "ooh look! doesn't this look good!".
I have a wooden box full of these magazine recipes and I am going to try to make them all one by one just like the Julia and Julia girl.

So last night I whipped up my favorite grilled chicken and green beans. The green beans are from the people magazine recipes my mom gave me and its one of my favorites. I make it my own way so here it is:

Grilled Chicken-Lemon Pepper Garlic White Wine Marinade
Take a few raw chicken breasts and marinate them in this mixture for 15 mins or several hours if you can.

Juice from 1 or 2 lemons
1/2 cup white wine
2/3 cup Italian dressing
drizzle olive oil
lots of lemon pepper seasoning--lots
few dashes of salt and pepper
2 T minced garlic from a jar or fresh
a couple dashes of oregano
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
1 T of blue cheese dressing (sounds weird but its good)

Mix all that together, coat chicken, and then let chicken sit in the mixture for 15 mins or more. The longer the better.
Then heat up the grill, place chicken on the grill, brush some of the marinade on the breasts and sprinkle with some more lemon pepper seasoning. Flip and sprinkle with more lemon pepper.

While the chicken is cooking steam your green beans.

Green Beans with Feta and Lemon

1 T fresh lemon juice
3 T olive oil
salt
pepper
crumbled feta
chopped tomato-vine ripe or cherry are good
avocado, bacon, and/or slice almonds are optional.

In a small bowl mix lemon juice, olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Steam green beans. While they are cooking you can cook up some bacon if you like. Its a wonderful option to top this side dish off.

Also chop up some tomato. I used a couple small ones from my garden.

Once the beans and bacon are all done, drizzle the beans with some of the lemon and oil mixture and toss. Next toss in tomato and feta. Its great to add that feta while the beans are still warm. Top off with a little more pepper and salt if needed and crumble some bacon on top and you are ready to enjoy.
Avocado and slice almonds are also a really nice touch if you have them.

Check out the finished dish! Healthy and delicious....I didn't have bacon on mine but I really wanted to....