So many recipes, so few dinners a week to prepare and worse than that, so few people to prepare for. Honestly, I could handle cooking dinner twice a day with two separate groups to feed, because no one should be allowed to eat as much as I can cook.
This Cashew Chicken is oh, so good. So many flavours blending together so perfectly. And so easy to make.
2 lbs Chicken Breasts or Thighs, skinless
1/4 cup Flour
1/2 Pepper
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Ketchup
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 clove Garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh Ginger, grated
1/4 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
1/2 cup Cashews
Combine flour and pepper.
Coat chicken in flour mixture.
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.
Brown chicken, about 2 minutes on each side.
Place chicken in slow cooker.
Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and chili flakes; pour over chicken.
Cook on LOW for 3 – 4 hours.
Add cashews and stir.
Serve over Rice.
This recipe came through me FB feed the other day; I liked it because it sounded like it would be packed with flavour and incredibly easy to make.
I am going to go back to cooking more Vegetarian meals because, quite frankly, I am getting tired of eating you know, rice, potatoes and a vegetable and/or salad all the time. I have to eat, too! Now what I have found is that it is often quite easy to turn a Meatasaurus dish into a Vegetarian one. I have made this recipe both ways…I can’t speak for how the real Chicken batch tasted but mine was YUM! Both the Vegetarian and Meatasuruses concluded that the recipe might be improved with the addition of ginger, reduce the soy sauce by half and more garlic.
At any rate, I will list the recipe here as I will make it next time.
Vegetarian Sesame Chicken
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into thick strips
OR 2 pkgs (170g) Yves Chicken Tenders or another brand of Meatless Chicken Strips
1/2 cup Honey*
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 medium Onion, sliced
4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons Ginger, grated
2 Tablespoons Ketchup
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 teaspoons Cornstarch
3 Tablespoons Water
Sesame Seeds, to taste
Green Onion, garnish
Lightly spray Crock Pot with vegetable oil spray for easier clean up.
Place Chicken or Soy Chicken into Crock Pot.
Slice onion, chop garlic and add to chicken (soy chicken).
In a large measuring cup combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup and oil; pour over chicken (soy chicken), onions and garlic.
Cover and cook on LOW for 3 – 4 hours or on HIGH for 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
Remove chicken (soy chicken) from the Crock Pot to a medium size heat proof dish.
Pour liquid into a small saucepan over medium high heat.
Make a paste with the cornstarch and water; pour into hot liquid.
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and cook for a minute.
Remove from heat, pour over chicken and toss to coat all the chicken well.
Stir in sesame seeds.
Serve over warm rice and garnish with chopped green onion.
Serves 4 – 6
Crock Pot Sesame Chicken
* When purchasing Honey, avoid products that include Blends….they could come from ANYWHERE! In the Summer we like to drive to Keremeos…you should hear how my husband says that name! …to buy pure honey straight from the farm….nevermind that we live a stone throw from some of the best Honey in the Valley 😉
Alright, so normally I look at a recipe, think about the flavours, presentation, etc and then change it up to suit our needs. I must confess, having been, and continuing to be a Vegetarian for over 30 years, I feel like a fish out of water when it comes to cooking Meat products which is why I followed this recipe for Chicken Bombs, pretty much to the T.
Chicken Bombs with an Explosion of Flavour in every bite!
5 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
– or Fast Fry Chicken Breasts
2 Jalapenos, cut into 10 strips
20 slices Bacon
4 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Colby or Jack Cheese, shredded
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 cup BBQ sauce
Preheat Grill to 350F.
Combine cream cheese and shredded cheese together and set aside.
Slice Chicken Breasts in half.
(I got a package of the Fast Fry Chicken Breasts which were pretty thinly sliced so I got to omit the first step.)
Place between wax paper and pound until about 1/4″ thick.
Season with Salt and Pepper.
Spread about 1 Tbspn of cream cheese mixture onto a strip of jalapeño and place on chicken breast; roll up to wrap completely – repeat with each chicken breast.
Wrap each chicken breast with two strips of bacon each, starting at one end of chicken breast and working your way along to cover the entire thing with bacon.
Cook on preheated 350F Grill over indirect heat, turning over every 5 minutes, brushing with BBQ sauce each time, for about 30 minutes or until chicken is done – when pierced with a fork the juices run clear.
You can also bake these in the oven:
Bake in 375F oven for 30 minutes or until chicken is done.
Turn midway through cooking time, baste with BBQ sauce.
At the end of the cooking time, turn oven to Broil and Broil for about 3 minutes.
When the day gets away from you, you forgot to take something out of the freezer to defrost and the last thing in the world you want to do is cook but you have to feed your family then this has got to be the most simple meal to throw together!
I had some thin boneless Chicken Breasts in the freezer to work with, half a bottle of Chicken and Rib BBQ sauce in the fridge and I always have some kind of Potatoes and fresh vegetables on hand. Here is what I did:
Preheated oven. Got the Chicken into a baking dish, threw some baby potatoes into another and got them into the oven. Then I prepped the broccoli and went to put my feet up for a half hour before coming back to the kitchen to get the plates ready by layering lettuce leaves, sliced red cabbage, celery and tomato on one.
Now I am a Vegetarian so I skipped putting Chicken on my plate; instead I added chopped pecans, a bit of shredded Cheddar and some dried Cranberries to my salad. Not the most wholesome meal for a Vegetarian but, man, I was beat and so not into cooking two separate meals!
Super Quick BBQ Chicken Breasts
1- 1lb pkg Thin Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 cup Chicken and Ribs BBQ Sauce
3/4 lb each Baby Red Potatoes and Baby White Potatoes
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning spice mix
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 head Garlic
Preheat oven to 375F.
Spray one 9×13 inch casserole pan, 1-8″square casserole dish
Separate and lay chicken breasts, slightly overlapping if you need to, in prepared 9×13″ casserole.
Pour BBQ sauce over top, spreading with a pastry brush if needed.
Cover with Aluminum Foil.
Place baby potatoes in prepared 8″ casserole.
Whack the head of garlic and separate each clove; add to potatoes.
Drizzle both with olive oil, sprinkle with seasoning mix and toss to coat.
Put both pans in the oven and cook for 35 minutes at 375F.
Remove foil from Chicken casserole dish.
Increase oven temperature to 425F and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.
When you remove the foil and increase oven temperature that is when you would turn the broccoli on to cook and get your salad together.
I was flipping through my November Issue of Chatelaine and came upon this recipe in the “it’syourhealth” section on page 155. I had just taken boneless, skinless chicken breasts out of the freezer with absolutely no idea what I was going to make with it. I was only missing the oranges called for in this recipe but did have a can of mandarin oranges in the pantry. I also subbed in a can of coconut milk for the milk.
The husband says the chicken was delicious! I wouldn’t know as I remain a Vegetarian … I rely on smell, A LOT, and I grill the husband about taste, texture, presentation…I usually get, “It was….tasty, very tasty.” <- A quasi quote from 84 Charing Cross Road
2 teaspoons Butter
1 Onion, sliced
1 teaspoon each: Paprika, ground Cumin, Dried Mint
1/4 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 lb skinless, boneless Chicken Breast, cut into strips
1/3 cup chopped Dried Apricots and/or Raisins
2 cups Coconut Milk (or milk)
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1 can Mandarin Orange slices, drained
In large non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium heat.
Saute onion, paprika, cumin, mint, cinnamon, salt and pepper until onion is softened.
Add chicken; saute for 3 minutes.
Add dried fruit.
Whisk a small amount of coconut milk into cornstarch, until smooth; whisk in remaining coconut milk.
Stir into skillet.
Simmer, stirring, until chicken is no longer pink inside, 4 – 5 minutes.
Top with mandarin orange slices.
Serve over a bed of Brown Rice or Whole Wheat Couscous with a Green Vegetable.
Serves 4
Isabelle Neiderer, November 2012, Chatelaine, it’syourhealth, Volume November/12, page 155
Moroccan-Spiced Chicken and Brown Rice with Blackened Peppers
Welcome to my Kitchen where the most important ingredient is Love.
