Antipasto Chicken Salad for a Hungry Crowd
This antipasto chicken salad recipe is perfect has a meal and it’s very easy to make. I make this recipe all year round, not just during the summer. You can add more meat to it for a heartier dish and serve it with warm crunchy bread for the perfect meal.
When Scott and I first bought our boat Kokomo, I didn’t think we would prepare that many meals on board. But once we fell in love with being at our marina, enjoying the views of DT Seattle, I love to eat on board. The biggest challenge I have is working in a small space with not a lot of counter space. With that said, I buy ingredients that are already cooked or prepared when I make meals on our boat.
In this recipe, I will either pre-make the chicken at home or buy cooked chicken from the deli at Safeway. You could also use a rotisserie chicken too. Enjoy!
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Antipasto Chicken Salad
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This hearty salad is perfect for a hungry dinner crowd. Buy cooked chicken from the grocery store deli, add crunchy bread and you have dinner prepared!
Ingredients
Italian Vinaigrette Dressing
Ingredients
Italian Vinaigrette Dressing
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Instructions
Whisk the vinaigrette dressing ingredients until blended together. When ready to serve, toss salad ingredients with dressing (use as little or as much to your taste). Serve immediately with a warm baguette.
An Elegant Hors d’oeuvres – Onion Tartlets
Tis the holiday season and this onion tartlet hors d’oeuvres recipe is classy & delicious. Our marina is having a holiday party and all of the boats will be dressed up. This is a great occasion to meet other boaters and enjoy tasty treats and cocktails. This recipe is one I can easily prepare and share at the holiday party. Recently, I served these onion tartlets along with baby potatoes with caviar and potato chips with smoked salmon as appetizers. They were a hit!
One of the challenges of serving appetizers is keeping them warm. Which is why I like to stick with those that can be enjoyed at room temperature. You can make the onion tartlets ahead of time and bring them up to room temperature when ready to serve. At home, we bake them in our oven. On a boat, you can easily use a toaster oven.
Toaster Ovens
Speaking of toaster ovens, we found this awesome one from Cuisinart and now it’s on our wish list! It has 7 cooking functions, including an AirFryer! This will definitely go on our live-aboard.
Happy Holidays and enjoy!
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Onion Tartlets
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These onion tartlets are perfect for any cocktail party and they are very easy to make! Serve them warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!
Instructions
Heat oven to 350º. In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium high and add onions. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring often. Make sure that the heat is not too high, as you don't want to scorch the onions. Add oregano, thyme crushed red pepper and brandy. Cook the onions until they are tender and caramel in color.
Remove from heat and add cream cheese, egg and parmesan cheese. Place fillo shells on a cookie sheet and fill each one with the onion mixture. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until cooked thoroughly. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Chicken Tortilla Soup for a Cold Winter’s Day
There’s nothing more comforting than a bowl of hot soup on a cold winter’s day and we love my chicken tortilla soup. It’s super easy to make and it doesn’t take long. This would be the perfect soup to make on a boat, as the cooking time is short and as a result it doesn’t create a lot of condensation in your cabin.
The cabin on our boat is small and so any type of heat we generate in the winter, quickly creates condensation on our hatches. If we crack them open, the rain gets in, so it’s a lose lose situation. That’s why I like to make recipes that don’t require a lot of cooking time. This chicken tortilla soup is hearty and a crowd favorite! Enjoy.
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Chicken Tortilla Soup
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This hearty soup is perfect on a cold day and easy to prepare on boat. Serve it with cheese quesadillas and everyone will be in heaven.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small jalepeno, diced and seeded I prefer to use fresno or red jalapenos
- 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 tsp ancho chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 12oz can petite diced tomatoes with chilies
- 1 medium cooked rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 1 cup corn (frozen, fresh or canned)
- 1 12oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 48 oz chicken stock, low sodium
- 1 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 sm avocado, sliced
- sour cream
- tortilla chips
- cheddar cheese, shredded
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small jalepeno, diced and seeded I prefer to use fresno or red jalapenos
- 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 tsp ancho chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 12oz can petite diced tomatoes with chilies
- 1 medium cooked rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 1 cup corn (frozen, fresh or canned)
- 1 12oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 48 oz chicken stock, low sodium
- 1 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 sm avocado, sliced
- sour cream
- tortilla chips
- cheddar cheese, shredded
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Instructions
Heat olive oil in a large stock pot and add onion, garlic, jalapeno and bell pepper. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add spices and salt & pepper. Add tomatoes, chicken, corn, black beans and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and return to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Be sure to taste the soup along the way and adjust spices to your preferences for spiciness.
Ladle into bowls and top soup with cilantro, green onions, avocado, sour cream and tortillas.
Hearty Beef Stew with Mushrooms, Carrots and Potatoes
It’s finally winter and who doesn’t love beef stew? This recipe is set up to make in an oven, but you can easily make it on a stove top using a Dutch oven. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on an expensive Dutch oven. I bought my Martha Stewart Enameled Cast Iron 6 qt. Round Casserole
Dutch Oven for just $99. Simply keep it at a simmer, stir often and be sure to check on it regularly.
Whether you have been boating all day or working outside in the yard, there’s nothing more comforting than a bowl of hot stew with tender beef. I recently served this for one of my dinner parties, with homemade artisan bread and it was a huge hit! Enjoy!
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Hearty Beef Stew with Mushrooms, Carrots and Potatoes
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This hearty stew is elegant enough to serve at your finest dinner parties or for your hungry boating crowd. Give yourself at least three hours to cook it for the ideal taste and tenderness.
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 300º. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in Dutch oven on medium high. Cook bacon until crisp and remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel covered plate. Cut chuck roast into 2" pieces. Season beef with salt and pepper. Brown beef on all sides, then remove from pot and set aside with bacon.
Add remaining olive oil to Dutch oven and add onion. Cook for about 5 minutes until tender. Add garlic cloves, beef and bacon to the pot. Add thyme, bay leaves and red wine, cooking for about 5 minutes. Add beef stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and place pot in oven. Cook for 2 hours and check regularly. Add more broth if needed.
Add carrots, mushrooms and potatoes to beef stew and continue cooking in oven for 1 hour or until potatoes are tender. Remove from oven and return pot to stovetop. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Heat pot to a simmer. Add water to corn starch and add to beef stew to thicken. Stir gently. If it thickens too much, simply add a bit more stock. Serve with warm artisan bread.
Vegetarian Enchiladas
Vegetarian enchiladas on a boat? Okay, so I know we can’t make enchiladas on our boat unless we get a toaster oven. Scott and I have looked into getting one, but we don’t know how much time we would spend on the boat during the winter. A toaster oven would take up a lot of counter space and during the summer, we use our Magma Gas Grill
Then there’s the question, of which one to buy? There are many choices out there and since we don’t own one personally, we wonder what would be best? For me, I would want one that can easily bake without scorching the food. At the same time, I don’t want to spend a lot of money on something we might not use a lot. So stay tuned and we’ll let you know what we decide.
In the meantime, I still wanted to share with you one of my favorite healthy recipes. This is a great dish for a Sunday evening after you have spent all weekend boating and want some healthy comfort food. In this recipe, we are using canned green enchilada sauce for ease of prep on a boat.
This recipe does call for a lot of chopped vegetables. As I have mentioned before, I love my Onion & Vegetable Chopper. Here’s a quick demo video:
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Vegetarian Enchiladas
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These vegetarian enchiladas are so delicious that even the meat lovers love them!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup white mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup yellow onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup orange bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 tsp ancho chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 cup zucchini, chopped
- 1 12oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 6 10" tortillas, flour & corn combo or use your favorite type of tortilla
- 1 12oz can green chile enchilada sauce
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup green onions, sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup tomato, chopped
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup white mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup yellow onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup orange bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 tsp ancho chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 cup zucchini, chopped
- 1 12oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 6 10" tortillas, flour & corn combo or use your favorite type of tortilla
- 1 12oz can green chile enchilada sauce
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup green onions, sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup tomato, chopped
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Instructions
Heat olive oil in a large skillet and saute' mushrooms, onion and bell peppers. Season with crushed red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin. Cook until tender and add garlic. Add zucchini and black beans and remove from heat.
Pre-heat oven to 375º. Warm tortillas in microwave under a moistened paper towel for about 15 seconds. Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish and spread about 1/8 cup of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the dish. Holding a tortilla, fill it with about 1/6 of the bean mixture and carefully roll up and place in dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas. (If you have left over bean mixture, you can spread it on top of the enchiladas). Pour enchilada sauce evenly over all of the tortillas, covering each of them. Sprinkle cheese and cover with non-stick foil. Bake for 20 minutes and then remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes.
Top with chopped green onions, cilantro and tomato. Serve immediately.
Cheese Tortellini Pasta Recipe
Fresh cheese tortellini pasta can be found in the cheese section of your grocery store. While my Italian friends will only make fresh pasta from scratch, I find it much easier to just buy it freshly made. Our local Safeway and Whole Foods both have great selections of fresh pasta.
Pasta is one of the easiest things to prepare on a boat , since you really just need two pots. One for boiling pasta and the other for the sauce. When entertaining guests on a boat, the last thing you want to do is be spending time in the galley cooking all day. I would rather be sharing a glass of wine or a cocktail with my guests. What I love about this cheese tortellini pasta recipe is that it is super easy and hearty for the hungry sailors at dinner. I love to serve this over the Holidays as it is also festive in color.
Since this pasta is so rich, I love to pair it with a mild green salad.
Enjoy!
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Cheese Tortellini Pasta with Asparagus & Mushrooms
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This pasta is very rich and hearty. Serve it with your favorite salad and crusty bread and you have the perfect dinner!
Instructions
Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onions, mushrooms, garlic and prociutto. Cook for about 5-8 minutes until prociutto is slightly crispy. Season with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.
Cook pasta according to directions and be sure to not over cook or boil too hard. Reserve a 1/2 cup of pasta liquid.
Add whipping cream to the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce and simmer for about 5 minutes until thickened slightly. Add asparagus and cook for another 3-5 minutes until tender. If you need to thicken the sauce more, add some of the reserved pasta liquid. Add pasta and shredded cheese to the cream mixture and blend well. Serve with crusty bread.
Italian vegetable noodle soup is one of my all time favorite soups. I’m one of the strange people who love soup all year round. Scott only likes it in cold weather and I was glad that the nights are finally getting cooler so I could make up a big pot of goodness.
Most soups require an all day simmer and lots of salt. Luckily, this soup is very easy and super flavorful. In fact, you can add your own favorite ingredients and it would be just as good. It’s also really easy to prepare on a boat, with only two pots.
This soup would also pair great with our Antipasto Chicken Salad recipe for a heartier meal.
Enjoy!
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Italian Vegetable & Noodle Soup
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This hearty comfort food soup is very easy to make on a boat and is a definite crowd pleaser!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped Checkout my chopper recommendation on our Boat Gear & Gadgets page
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic cloves, minced
- 5 oz European bacon or pancetta, chopped You can find European bacon in the butcher section, or you can use thick bacon
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 12 oz can diced tomatoes with garlic & olive oil
- 1/2 tsp thyme, dried
- 1/2 tsp summer savory, dried
- 1/2 tsp oregano, dried
- 4 cups kale, no stems chopped I buy bags of chopped kale, but be sure to pick through it and remove stems
- 1 12oz can white kidney beans, drained (cannellini beans)
- 5-6 cups chicken broth this varies depending on how liquid you want your soup to be
- 8 oz ditalini pasta, cooked
- 1/4 cup shreeded parmesan cheese
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped Checkout my chopper recommendation on our Boat Gear & Gadgets page
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic cloves, minced
- 5 oz European bacon or pancetta, chopped You can find European bacon in the butcher section, or you can use thick bacon
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 1 12 oz can diced tomatoes with garlic & olive oil
- 1/2 tsp thyme, dried
- 1/2 tsp summer savory, dried
- 1/2 tsp oregano, dried
- 4 cups kale, no stems chopped I buy bags of chopped kale, but be sure to pick through it and remove stems
- 1 12oz can white kidney beans, drained (cannellini beans)
- 5-6 cups chicken broth this varies depending on how liquid you want your soup to be
- 8 oz ditalini pasta, cooked
- 1/4 cup shreeded parmesan cheese
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Instructions
Heat olive oil in a large stock pot and add onion, carrot and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes until tender. See my note below about my vegetable chopper.
Chop the European bacon and add to the pot. Again, you can find European bacon in the butcher section - it's a bit more smokey than regular bacon. If you can't find that, you can use pancetta or bacon, just make sure they are thick sliced. Cook bacon for about 5-7 minutes until slightly crispy. Season with salt and pepper.
Add diced tomatoes, thyme, summer savory, oregano and kale. I buy bags of chopped kale, but be sure to pick through the kale and remove any stems. Cook for about 3-5 minutes.
Add kidney beans and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 35 minutes. Add cooked ditalini pasta and simmer for 2 minutes. Top with shredded parmesan cheese and serve with crusty bread.
This smoked salmon pasta is probably the top favorite recipe I have been making over the past five years. It all started when I owned our wine shop, The Wine Alley and we started carrying a local smoked salmon. Steve’s Hot Smoked Salmon, is made locally in Buckley. It’s unlike any other smoked salmon you will try. It’s extremely moist and super flavorful! You can get this at The Wine Alley or at some local grocery stores.
Don’t try and serve this simply as an appetizer by itself, unless you have more than one filet. It will disappear in literally five minutes as I learned the hard way.
How the Smoked Salmon Pasta came to life
Back to the smoked salmon pasta dish! Scott and I were working late one night and I didn’t have time to go to the grocery store, but I knew I had some salmon in the fridge at the wine shop. I decided to whip up a simple pasta dish and when I say simple, that’s exactly what this is! It only has a handful of ingredients and it is elegant enough to serve at a dinner party. It also would be super easy to make on a boat! Enjoy!
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Smoked Salmon Pasta
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This is an all time favorite dish that I make for friends and family who rave over it. It is rich and hearty and super easy to make.
Instructions
Make pasta according to the directions.
In a large skillet, heat olive oil and saute' onions until tender, about 3 minutes. Season with garlic salt, ground pepper and parsley. Add whipping cream, stirring frequently. To thicken, mix corn starch with water and gradually pour into cream mixture. If it gets too thick, then add some pasta water until you get the consistency you like. Add smoked salmon, breaking it up into bite size pieces. Stir in capers and cooked pasta. Stir in parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
Dutch Oven for just $99. Simply keep it at a simmer, stir often and be sure to check on it regularly.
