Dinner and a Movie™: The Emmy Awards and Pina Colada Chicken With Calypso Confetti Cauliflower

Dave and I, after much painful trial and error, have declared Sundays "socializing-free zones," which means that except for major occasions – like a friend's recent wedding – we don't make plans with other humans on Sundays. It's our day to sleep late, do laundry, cook for the week, taunt the cat about being a skinny-ass Zombie beast, read books, take a nap, sit in the yard and think about nothing... or scrap all of that and just lie in bed with the A/C cranked while watching an entire season of a TV show on DVD.

Once the chores are done, we reward ourselves with Dinner & A Movie™. Our dining room table faces the TV, so we dim the lights and sit side-by-side, just like the Alamo Drafthouse, only Paleo-Zone-friendly and free.

This week, we had Pina Colada Chicken with Calypso Confetti Cauliflower and watched The Emmy Awards. I give the dinner 4 stars. The Emmies get 4 stars for Neal Patrick Harris as host and 2 stars for all the overly-casual, just-rolled-out-of bed hair on Hollywood's TV elite. (Yay, Jon Cryer! Congratulations on your win. I've loved you since No Small Affair and Pretty in Pink, and I always will. Andie should totally have chosen you over Andrew McCarthy (duh) and you may lip sync to "Tenderness" in my presence any time.)

Our Menu
Pina Colada Chicken
Calypso Confetti Cauliflower
Strawberries & Sunbutter

I must give credit where credit is due, before we get down to delicious business. Mark's Daily Apple pointed to this recipe at Joyful Abode. I swiped the concept and re-worked it to add more veggies and use the ingredients I had in the fridge.

RECIPES

Pina Colada Chicken & Calypso Confetti Cauliflower
This recipe makes enough for 2; easy to double or triple!

Ingredients:
8 oz. grilled chicken (If you don't have already-grilled chicken you can just dice the chicken and saute it in some olive oil, then set aside.)
1/2 cup unsweetened, crushed pineapple
1/2 cup coconut milk
juice of 1 lime
2 garlic clove, crushed
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
1 carrot, grated
2-3 cups grated cauliflower
olive oil or coconut oil for sautéeing

Directions:
1. Make the sauce. Place the coconut milk, pineapple, lime juice, garlic clove, and cayenne, in a medium sauce pan. Heat over medium while you make the rest of the meal.

2. Prep the vegetables & chicken. Dice the peppers and onion to a 1/4-inch; try to make them all the same size so they cook evenly. Shred the carrot with a grater or peeler. Turn the cauliflower to "rice" in a food processor or with a grater; see this link for details. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.

This is where things start happening faster. Get ready! Dinner is so close, and it's really tasty.

3. Cook the vegetables. Put some oil in a saute pan. I used 1 teaspoon for the onions, peppers, and carrot – cook those vegetables until they're tender and starting to brown. Then I added another 2 teaspoons of oil, the cauliflower, a pretty good sprinkle of salt, and stir-fried the whole thing 'til it was hot and slightly browned.

4. Heat the chicken. I used the microwave. You can also just throw in the chicken on top of the veggies and re-heat it that way.

5. Assemble. Make a bed of Calypso Confetti Cauliflower on a plate, then top with the diced chicken. Remove the sauce from the stove and take a big whiff – it smells heavenly! Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables.
6. Pretend you're wearing this outfit and dig in!
Some delicious alternative additions:

Avocado: It occurred to me after I'd cleaned my plate that this would probably be delish with some diced avocado sprinkled top.
Toasted nuts: Ditto. I realized too late that it would be perfect with crushed toasted pecans or macadamia nuts as the final touch on top.

If you try the avocado or nuts, post to comments and let us know how it is. And if I make this for dinner again tomorrow (which I'm tempted to do), I'll give you my opinion on the additions.

Special thanks to Dave for taking the photos, for acting as my taste-tester, and for being such a good sport about wearing the ruffled pants.

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Just in case you want to print the recipe without the photos, here's a version you can copy and paste:

Pina Colada Chicken & Calypso Confetti Cauliflower
This recipe makes enough for 2; easy to double or triple!

Ingredients:
8 oz. grilled chicken (If you don't have already grilled chicken you can just dice the chicken and saute it in some olive oil, then set aside.)
1/2 cup unsweetened, crushed pineapple
1/2 cup coconut milk
juice of 1 lime
2 garlic clove, crushed
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
1 carrot, grated
2-3 cups grated cauliflower
olive oil or coconut oil for sautéeing

Directions:
1. Make the sauce. Place the coconut milk, pineapple, lime juice, garlic clove, and cayenne, in a medium sauce pan. Heat over medium while you make the rest of the meal.

2. Prep the vegetables & chicken. Dice the peppers and onion in a 1/4-inch dice; try to make them all the same size so they cook evenly. Shred the carrot with a grater or peeler. Turn the cauliflower to "rice" in a food processor or with a grater; see this link for details. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.

This is where things start happening faster. Get ready! Dinner is so close, and it's really tasty.

3. Cook the vegetables. Put some oil in a saute pan. I used 1 teaspoon for the onions, peppers, and carrot – cook those vegetables until they're tender and starting to brown. Then I added another 2 teaspoons of oil, the cauliflower, a pretty good sprinkle of salt, and stir-fried the whole thing 'til it was hot and slightly browned.

4. Heat the chicken. I used the microwave. You can also just throw in the chicken on top of the veggies and re-heat it that way.

5. Assemble. Make a bed of Calypso Confetti Cauliflower on a plate, then top with the diced chicken. Remove the sauce from the stove and take a big whiff – it smells heavenly! Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables.

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I'm excited to be part of the punk rock foodies at Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays. Get subversive with your food!