Sweet and Sour Chicken

I have to say that I am not one for much Chinese Food, but I really love this Sweet and Sour Chicken. This recipe is not difficult to prepare, you can make it to feed a crowd and it tastes delicious to boot!

Heat up a large skillet over medium heat. Start with some chicken breasts (use as many as will get eaten), dip them in some beaten eggs and then dredge in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Shake gently to remove excess.

Add 1/4 inch oil to your skillet and fry those chicken breasts until they are golden and crispy.

Place the browned chicken in a large, shallow casserole. Mix together 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup white vinegar, 6 cubes chicken bouillon, 1 cup hot water, 1 cup ketchup and 6 tablespoons soy sauce. Pour sauce over the chicken.

Place in a cold oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 45-60 minutes. Serve over cooked rice. Or you can really go for the gold and serve it with Bacon Fried Rice.

Apricot-and-Cheddar Chicken Melts

I found this recipe on an insert in my Everyday Food magazine, by far one of my favorite publications...thanks, Martha! These were easy, quick and delicious! (Although my children had a hard time eating them. Their chicken kept sliding off the bread. If I make them again I might cut the chicken into slices before placing them on the baguette.)

Here's what you'll need:

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

2 Tbs Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, chopped

coarse salt and ground pepper

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6-8 ounces each), split horizontally

1 baguette (about 20 inches), split horizontally, then cut in half

1/4 cup apricot preserves

4 oz thinly sliced deli ham

4 oz white cheddar cheese, grated (1 cup)

So first, heat up your broiler and set the rack 4 inches from heat. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a shallow dish or resealable plastic bag, combine vinegar, mustard, garlic, 1 tsp coarse salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper; add chicken and turn to coat. Marinate at room temperature for 10 minutes (or cover and refrigerate in marinade up to 24 hours).

Lift chicken from marinade and place on prepared sheet; broil (without turning) until opaque throughout, 4-6 minutes. Transfer chicken to a work surface; discard pan juices from baking sheet.

Looks good so far! Now, spread each piece of your baguette with some of those apricot preserves and then top 'em off with some chicken.

Layer on the ham and cheese! (I forgot to tell the guy at the deli counter to slice it ultra-thin, I think that would have made a more appealing presentation.)

Pop those babies in the oven under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly. (I would move the rack down one position more to keep the cheese from melting too fast. This will also help your baguette crisp up a little more since it will have more time under the broiler.)

Looks like a winner, huh?

Buffalo Chicken Salad

I made this for myself for lunch yesterday. It was quite delicious and you can increase all amounts for a larger salad.

1 1/2 - 2 cups mixed salad greens

1 crispy chicken strip (I got mine from a deli)

1 Tbs hot wing sauce (more or less to taste)

grape tomatoes

cucumber slices

grated cheddar

Bleu cheese dressing

Slice chicken strip into small, bite-size pieces. Place in a small resealable container, pour in hot sauce. Cover and shake until chicken is evenly coated. Place chicken over a bed of salad greens. Garnish with tomatoes, cucumber and cheddar. Serve with bleu cheese dressing.

Southwest Chicken Eggrolls with Avocado Ranch Dipping Sauce

I love Chili's Southwest Chicken Eggrolls so I decided to try to make them myself. I didn't quite like the marinade I used for this recipe, it's more like fajita flavor. So if you have any suggestions on how to better flavor the meat, please let me know! (Sorry I don't have any pictures, I was experimenting cooking at my mother's house.)

Southwest Chicken Eggrolls
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, marinated (below)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
1/2 cup fire roasted bell peppers, drained and chopped
5 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain
8 oz grated pepperjack cheese
20 soft flour tortillas (thin tortilllas work best)
oil for frying

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Slice chicken into thin, 1-inch strips and add to hot pan with 1-2 Tbs of marinade. Cook until chicken is opaque. Off heat, stir in black beans, corn, peppers, spinach and cheese. Mix well, set aside.

In another large skillet heat 1/4 inch oil over medium high heat. Working in batches, heat 4-5 tortillas in the microwave for 15 seconds, this will make them easy to bend and wrap. Place 2 Tbs chicken filling in each tortilla, fold like a burrito (click here for egg roll wrapping pictures.) Using tongs, place seam side down in hot oil. (If the tortilla begins to bubble use tongs to hold it in place until the tortilla has shaped itself.) Cook until tortilla is golden on bottom, turn over the egg roll and cook on the other side until golden. Remove with tongs onto paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve warm.

For the avocado ranch dipping sauce combine 1 medium, mashed avocado and 1 cup prepared ranch dip.

Marinade
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c Worchestershire sauce
2 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 tsp black pepper
pinch of onion powder, red pepper, and cumin

Combine all ingredients and add meat. Place in a gallon size resealable bag and refrigerate for 4-6 hours or overnight.

Crock Pot Chicken Alfredo

This is a very simple recipe that yields delicious results. However, it may not be for the health conscious. I make it because my kids are twigs and could stand to gain a few pounds...and because I really like it! Here's what you do: Place 2-4 chicken breasts, 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter and 1 package dry Italian dressing mix in a crock pot. Cook on low 4 hours or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove th chicken from the pot. It will look yummy like this. Slice the chicken or chop it into chunks. What's left in the crock pot will look kind of yucky, like this. I use a fork to skim the fat chunks out of the base.

Add one can of cream of chicken soup to the mixture. Then fill the soup can 1/2 full (or is it 1/2 empty?) of water, stir it around to get that final bit of soup out and pour that in as well.

Now take an 8 oz block of cream cheese and whisk it in until there are no lumps.

There, now we have our alfredo sauce! Looks yummy, huh?

Usually I stir the chicken back into the sauce and then just spoon it over linguine. Last night I opted for a more aesthetic presentation by placing strips of chicken over a bed of pasta and then spooning the sauce on top.

Santa Fe Chicken

Lay 4-5 chicken breasts in a casserole dish.
Mix: 1 1/2 c minute rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 pkg taco seasoning

Pour the mixture over chicken breasts. Cover and bake for 50 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from oven. Uncover, sprinkle with grated cheese and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I got this recipe from a friend at a recipe swap. Tonight was the first night that I tried this recipe and we all really liked it. I think that adding a can of sliced olives would be yummy, too.

Tip: Use the leftover taco seasoning to add pep to a bag of microwave popcorn!

Rotisserie-Style Chicken

1 (4#) fryer chicken, whole
2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 onion, quartered

Clean chicken (discard giblets if present) and pat dry with paper towels; set aside. Combine salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, white pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper and garlic powder. Rub mixture onto chicken skin and inside cavity. Place quartered onion in cavity. Place chicken in an oven bag and refrigerate for 4-6 hours or overnight. Place in a roasting pan and bake at 250 degrees for 5 hours or until internal temperature is at least 160 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes before carving.

This recipe can easily be doubled to make two chickens, which is great if you're cooking dinner for another family or want a head start on a recipe calling for cooked chicken.

This chicken is so delicious, moist and tender. It falls right off the bone and has tons of flavor. The drippings also make excellent gravy.

Honey-Soy Glazed Drumsticks

a.k.a. Dinosaur Bones

1/2 c honey

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1/3 c water

sea salt and ground pepper

3 pounds drumsticks (about 8), skins removed

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Combine honey, soy sauce and water in a large bowl. Add drumsticks and toss to coat. Place chicken on a foil-lined cookie sheet, pouring sauce on top. Season with salt and pepper. Place in oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, basting with juices from pan every 10 minutes.

Although this recipe only calls for 3 pounds of drumsticks, I just buy the large package. I skin all of them and freeze the rest, and trust me, you'll use them for this recipe again! Also, be sure the line the pan with foil. The glaze gets pretty sticky and this makes cleanup a cinch!

You may be wondering why we call them dinosaur bones. That was my trick to get my oldest son to try them. But now that I look at these pictures, it could just as well be because we all look like cavemen while we devour them.

Of course, real cavemen use both hands, and look at the camera with puppy-dog eyes.