One Dish Dinner : Spiced Chicken and Rice

Spiced Chicken and Rice

1 whole chicken, cut into quarters or eighths ( its better with the skin on,but you can take the skin off if you like.)

1 1/2 cups rice; brown or white

3 1/2 cups water

Onion Powder

Garlic Powder

Paprika

salt

Pour rice and water into a large roasting pan. ( You can use an aluminum pan instead, but it will take at least another hour to bake.) Arrange chicken pieces on top of rice. Sprinkle with seasonings. Cover and bake at 375° for 1 hour. 

Cornflake Crumb Chicken

Cornflake Crumb Chicken

1 whole chicken, cut into eighths, skin removed

1 cup cornflake crumbs

1 1/4 cup flour, divided

1/4 cup milk/soy milk

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Rinse chicken. Prepare three bowls for dipping: Combine the egg, 1/4 cup flour, milk and garlic powder in a medium sized bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Pour remaining flour into the second bowl, and the cornflake crumbs into the third. Dip each piece of chicken into the flour, then the egg mixture, then the cornflake crumbs. Arrange in a 9x13 pan. Bake, uncovered at 375° for 45 minutes. 

Barbecue Chicken Wraps

This is a really easy supper, that takes about 5 minutes to throw together, and but presents like you worked for hours.  Don't you just love those kind of recipes?

Barbecue Chicken Wraps

(Serves 2)

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 onion, cut into strips

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

red pepper flakes (Optional)

1 avocado, cut into slices

1 red pepper cut into slices

2 wraps,laffas or tortillas

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Saute onion in oil, about 2 minutes, until it starts to soften. Add the chicken, and stir. Cook until no longer pink. Add the barbecue sauce and red pepper flakes. Simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Lay a wrap on a dinner plate. Arrange some avocado and red peppers on top. Spoon chicken mixture on top. Wrap tightly and secure with a toothpick, or wrap in foil. 

Grilled Chicken Salad

This recipe is incredibly deceiving. At first glance it looks basically like a salad. How can you possibly have salad for dinner? Well, check out the list of ingredients and you'll see that it really is much more than that- by the time this salad is finished in our house, I am fuller than after eating a shawarma. Trust me, that says alot. 

Grilled Chicken Salad

1 chicken breast, whole, and flattened

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Salad

1 can chick peas (15 ounces)

1 can baby corn ( 15 ounces)

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 plum tomato diced, or 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes

1 cucumber diced

15-20 sugar snap peas ( I didn't have any, but they are really good if you can get some)

Lettuce of your choice

Dressing

3 cloves garlic, crushed, or 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup sugar

Drizzle chicken breast with soy sauce. Broil at 500° for 4-5 minutes on each side. Let cool, and slice into chunks. Toss salad, dressing and chicken in a (very) large salad bowl. Serve with a fresh roll, or whole wheat bread. (Hey if you're going healthy, you might as well go all the way!) Enjoy!  

Sesame Teriyaki Chicken

This chicken is super easy and can be in the oven in less than 10 minutes. The sauce is a little strong before you bake it, but after its baked, it mellows alot, and the chicken has just the right amount of flavor.

Sesame Teriyaki Chicken

1 chicken, cut up into quarters or eighths, skin removed

• 2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoon cold water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

In a small saucepan, combine the cornstarch, cold water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger and ground black pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles.Preheat oven to 400° F (220 degrees C).
Place chicken pieces in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Brush chicken with the sauce.  Bake in the preheated oven (uncovered) for 40 minutes, until the chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Brush with sauce every 10-15 minutes during cooking. ( If you don't have a basting brush you can just spoon the sauce over it from the bottom of the pan.) Sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.

Broiled Chicken with Honey Roasted Potatoes

Broiled Chicken
Broiled chicken is super easy to make, with very little effort. Its a flexible food- you can change the seasoning easily to suit your taste. 


1 chicken cut into quarters or eighths - you can leave the skin on or remove it.
Any of the following:
Montreal Chicken Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Paprika
Cajun Seasoning
Salad Dressing
Teriyaki Sauce
Barbecue Sauce

Arrange chicken in an aluminum 9x13 pan. Sprinkle seasonings and/or sauce onto chicken. You can refrigerate it at this point until you are ready to broil the chicken. Adjust your oven rack to be one level higher than usual. Turn your oven on to the broil setting. This is usually 500° but most ovens have a special setting. Broil chicken for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over and broil again for 8-10 minutes, depending on how rare/well done you like it.


Honey Roasted Potatoes
1 pound red potatoes, cubed
1 medium diced onion
3 tablespoons margarine, melted ( you can substitute oil, but the margarine makes it creamier)

• 3 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons mustard
• salt to taste
• 1 pinch ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C). Lightly coat a 9X11 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
Place potatoes in a single layer in prepared dish. In a small saucepan, melt margarine. Saute the diced onion until it starts to become clear. Add in the mustard,honey, salt and pepper. Cook until it is well combined. Drizzle the honey mustard sauce over the potatoes. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until tender, stirring halfway through the cooking time.

The Wednesday Night Special

Remember I promised a surprise for you? Well here it is! I thought it would be fun to feature some dinner ideas on Wednesdays. I am not sure how it will work, so please bear with me! I do know that my Monday post generally drains me of all my creative energy, so chances are, there will not be that much witty text on the Wednesday post- just straight up food! Hope you guys enjoy this new feature, and please leave feedback in the comments- I love to hear from everyone. 

Now, onto more serious business- dinner! 

Disclaimer: Please note that we generally do not have such complicated and impressive dinners such as the one you shall see as soon as you scroll down, if you haven't already. But, since I greatly enjoy making you fall out of your chair with wonder and awe, I decided to kick off "Wednesday Night Specials" with something extra yummy. This is really not as hard as it looks, and is completely worth the four pots and one bowl you are about to use (hence;wash)....

CopyCat General Tsao

Adapted from www.copykat.com

Sauce

1/4 C. Cornstarch
1 C. Water
1 1/2 tsp. minced fresh Garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. minced fresh Ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Soy Sauce
1/4 C. White Vinegar
1/4 C. Sherry (you can skip this, I don't use it)
1 cup chicken soup broth* or 1 cup  hot water + 2 tablespoons soup mix

1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, depending on how spice you want the sauce

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. When you are ready to cook it ( you should cook it right before you are ready to serve) heat over a medium fire, and bring to a boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes, until the sauce thickens. 

Chicken

3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken, cut into small chunks
1/4 C. Soy Sauce
1 egg, beaten
1 C. Cornstarch
2 C. sliced Green Onions (optional)

Mix chicken and soy sauce in a large bowl. Stir in egg. Add cornstarch, and mix until chicken pieces are coated. (It doesn't look that pretty at this point.) If you are not ready to serve it yet, you can put it in the refrigerator until you are ready. When you are ready, heat about 1 1/2 cups oil in a small sauce pan. (You can test to see if the oil is ready by putting a piece of chicken in. If it bubbles immediately , its ready. Or you can be super fancy and use a thermometer, and heat the oil to 350°.) Deep fry 7 or 8 chicken pieces at a time until chicken pieces are crispy (less than 2 minutes). Drain on paper towels. Repeat until all chicken chunks are fried.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add in 1 sliced onion ( not diced) and 1 red pepper cut into strips. Saute about 3-4 minutes and add approximately 1 cup broccoli florets. Saute another 3-4 minutes, and then turn off flame. ( You can do this earlier in the day and reheat when you are ready to eat.)

Serve with steamed rice. ( Layer rice, vegetables, chicken then sauce. Or you can mix the vegetables and chicken into the sauce, and then serve over rice. )

* Whenever I have leftover chicken soup, I measure out 1 cup increments, and freeze them in  sandwich size ziploc bags. This way I have it all ready for recipes like these.

Crispy Breaded Schnitzel

Who doesn't like shnitzel, right? Glad you agree. If you don't, run along now. Anyways, I would have to say that schnitzel ranks pretty high in our family's all time favorite chicken list, and over the years my recipe for schnitzel has been tweaked to perfection.( If I may say so myself) So, as a special present to you, behold....my very own schnitzel recipe....with a delicious dip to go with it!


Breaded Schnitzel
2 pounds chicken breast, cut into 4 inch strips
1 cup flour
1 cup cornflake crumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cajun spice
1/2-1 teaspoon Montreal Chicken Seasoning
salt to taste
2 eggs
1/4 cup duck sauce
1/4 cup soy milk


In a medium size bowl, combine the flour, cornflake crumbs and seasonings. In a seperate bowl, whisk eggs, duck sauce and soy milk. In a large frying pan, heat about an inch of oil over a medium flame. Once it is hot, dip the chicken into the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, and the flour mixture again. Fry on each side for about 2 minutes, or until it is golden brown. 


Ketchup Dip
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
2-3 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 tbl mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbs. sesame seeds


Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium flame, and stir until thickens. Allow to cool before serving.


For a really nice presentation, put the dip in a gravy dish or teacup in the middle of a large serving plate, and arrange the pieces of schnitzel around the dip. 

Enjoy!

BBQ in a snap

 

So yesterday we had an awesome barbecue, and I thought I would share it with you! And the cool part is we threw it together in less than 20 minutes! So here's what we had:

A: Chicken Breast and Hotdogs in Hunts Honey Mustard Barbecue Sauce

B:Yummy fresh corn

C:Crinkle Cut French Fries....Stop and Shop special

D:New Kosher Special Sweet and Sour Sauce

(Incidentally the best Chinese restaurant in the world)

E: Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

F.Three Bean Salad

G: Coleslaw

H: Hamburger Chips Dill Pickles

Recipes

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into french fry shapes

Pam cooking spray

Garlic Powder

Salt

Cumin

Cajun Seasoning

Heat oven to 450. Spread sweet potato slices in a cookie sheet in a single layer. Spray slices with pam. Sprinkle seasonings over. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are soft.

Three  Bean Salad
1 pound  fresh green beans*

1 can chick peas ( garbanzo beans)

1 can baby corn

1 red onion, diced

4 stalks celery, diced small

3 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Bring 4 inches of water to a boil. Meanwhile, trim green beans. When water is at a strong boil, pour green beans into the water. Let the water return to a boil, and cook uncovered for 6 minutes. Pour green beans into a colander, and rinse with cold water. Put green beans in a bowl and add the rest of ingredients. Mix well.
*If you are in a hurry you can use two cans of canned green beans.

This is a great recipe for coleslaw that I got from my good friend DT. It comes out perfect every time! Thanks DT!

Coleslaw
1 bag Dole coleslaw

1/2 cup mayonaise

1/2 cup sugar

1/4  cup vinegar

splash of lemon juice

Mix everything together.

Enjoy your BBQ!