Baked Chicken Tenders

I have a fairly decent number of cookbooks and recipes.  I have a recipe box jammed pack of recipes from family members, and I am constantly googling new recipes and thinking of ways that I can make them my own.  I love to cook, hence the reason for this blog, but I do not consider myself a good cook.  I can take a recipe follow it to the "t" and it will taste good.  Recently, I have been trying to make alterations to different recipes, whether they are minor or major.  With my love of cooking also comes my love of food.  And as we all know loving food can turn into a very bad thing very quickly.  Well, one of the recipe books I have is "Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook" by the American Heart Association.  I got this book a few years ago.  It is filled with great tasting recipes as well as some great tips on how to make recipes better for you and your heart.  This recipe for Baked Chicken comes from this cook book.  I cut the chicken into little tenders so it would cook faster.  It's absolutely delicious.  I hate the term "low fat" because it can mean artificial sweeteners, or not flavor (especially when buying frozen meals).  Food is meant to be good.  We should enjoy what we are eating.  If I do not enjoy what I am eating I will not eat, and that is not very good whatsoever.  The thing I love about this cookbook is that all the recipes I have tried are very good, which is very important.  Here is a simple, easy, and healthier version of baked chicken.  I hope you all enjoy it.

Ingredients:
Vegetable oil spray
4 c cornflakes, lightly-moderately crushed
1-2 cloves garlic crushed, or 1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into tender pieces

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.  Lightly spray a baking sheet with vegetable oil spray.
2. In a bowl combine cornflakes and garlic.
3. In a small bowl coming ginger, paprika, salt, and pepper.  Sprinkle the seasoning on both sides of the chicken.
4. Roll the chicken in the cornflakes, lightly pressing the chicken and the cornflakes together.  Lightly spray the chicken on all sides with vegetable oil spray and put on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is golden brown, tender and no longer pink in the center.

Delicious!!  We had broccoli and mashed potatoes with this.

Spicy Apricot Grilled Chicken

My 6 year old niece was recently selling magazines for her 1st grade class so she sent me a post card about it with a PS saying "Aunt Casie, Please help my class."  So freaking adorable!  I decided to order one magazine subscription, Food & Wine.  It was one only $20 for the whole year and I figured of all the things I spend $20 I can help my niece.  I love the magazine!! I learn a lot of new techniques and a ton of great recipes.  I saw this recipe and it said to do it with wings, but I didn't have wings just chicken breast so I decided to make it with breasts.  I also added some Chipotle Chili Powder for extra seasoning.

Italian Breaded Pork Chops/Chicken

A few months ago I created this recipe for breading pork chops or chicken and it is delicious! Very easy, and tasty. I use it when I make chicken parmesan, or like tonight pork chops! It is a lot of breading mixture, feel free to cut it in half if you don't want to be wasteful.










Ingredients
3 eggs lightly beaten
3 tbsp milk
1 1/2 c plain bread crumbs
italian seasoning, however much you would like
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
parsley, however much you would like
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, chopped or minced
4 pork chops
flour (optional and I never measure this I just put it in a bowl)

Directions
1. In a shallow, flat dish mix eggs and milk. You can use a bowl, just make sure it is a dish that will allow you to fully coat the pork chops.
2. In another bowl add however much flour you would like.
3. In another bowl combine bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, and Italian seasoning.
4. Preheat oven to 325°.
5. Heat oil in an oven proof skillet heat oil. Cook garlic in oil until brown, remove garlic. I chop the garlic when I do this. If you mince it I am sure you can keep it in there.
6. Dip chops in flour, then egg mixture, and then bread mixture. Cook on both sides for 4-5 minutes, until golden brown. Place skillet in oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.

I made some Alfredo noodles and a fresh salad. It was so good!! Such a great dinner. I hope you all enjoy.

Grilled Chicken

It is getting so nice outside! We decided to grill out tonight. This was super easy and very delicious!

Ingredients:

3 Boneless, skinless, chicken breast, pounded

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 1/4 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 cloves of garlic chopped

lime juice, 1/2 of a lime juiced

Marinade the chicken for a couple of hours. Grill it on a grill. We had left over mashed potatoes so I added some pepper, garlic powder and sour cream. Also made a fresh salad. This chicken was very good tender and juicy.

Asian Orange Chicken Recipe

I love Asian food! I have never made it from scratch, usually I get a sauce packet and add that to chicken and veggies. Today I decided to be ambitious. I found this recipe at allrecipes.com. I did make some of my own changes, but not to many.

Ingredients:

Chicken:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-1/2" cubes

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

1 egg (beaten)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Oil for frying

Orange Sauce:

1 1/2 c water

2 tbsp orange juice (about 1/2 an orange), I had fresh oranges so I used those

1/4 c lemon juice (about 1 lemon), also fresh

1/3 c rice vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp orange zest (about 1 1/2 oranges)

1 c packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp minced ginger root

1/2 tsp minced garlic (two cloves)

2 tbsp green onion (chopped)

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

3 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 c water

Instructions:

1. Dip chicken chunks in egg and then toss in the flour mixture. I don't have a deep fryer so I used my wok with some canola oil in single layer batches. Do not over crowd the wok while frying. If you have a fryer: fry the chicken at 375°. I used a skimmer to remove the chicken from the oil. Placed it on a some paper towel on a plate. I preheated my oven to 170° (the fully cooked temperature for chicken needs to be 165° internally). I placed the chicken on a cookie sheet and kept in the oven to keep warm while I made the sauce.

2. In a large saucepan, or wok rinsed after frying chicken, combine 1 1/2 c water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic and onion. Bring to a boil.

3. Combine 3 tbsp cornstarch and 1/4 c water in a small bowl or cup, mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until sauce thickens. I then took a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, steamed them in the microwave, added the chicken and veggies into the sauce. Served over brown rice.

This was very good. Took me about 45 minutes from start to finish. Very inexpensive!! Very simple to make! Next time I think I will add the veggies to the orange sauce and then spoon that over the chicken. I used extra crushed red pepper flakes because I wanted a little more heat. Enjoy!

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

We eat a lot of chicken in my house and I am always looking for new recipes to use because sometimes chicken can be boring.  I found a recipe today, it sounded delicious, I figured why not try it.  I made some changes to it from the original recipe.  I doubled the dry rub, used the chipotle chile powder, used fresh garlic, and used chicken stock for added flavor.

Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken - Servings 4

Dry Rub:
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (crushed red pepper)
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder (this would be 1 clove of real garlic, 1 clove minced = 1/4 tsp)
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. chipotle chile powder (this will add a lot of spice.  It is a smoky spicy and delicious!)
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried parsley

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, pounded.  You can use breasts instead of thighs, I like to use boneless skinless thighs and trim away any of the extra fat.  Thighs are juicy and more flavorful than breasts.

2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 small cloves garlic minced
3 limes juiced
1/3 c. chicken stock

1. Combine the dry rub ingredients in a small bowl or a bag, I prefer bag because its easier to coat the chicken.  Evenly coat chicken with dry rub.
2. Heat butter and olive oil in a large heavy skillet. Saute chicken until golden brown, do no flip chicken  repeatedly cook for about 5-6 (this can differ depending on thickness) minutes on one side and then flip to do the other side.  This will prevent the chicken from drying out.  Add the minced garlic, lime juice and chicken stock.  Cook on a low heat, covered for about 5-10 minutes.  If you can't cover the skillet spoon the sauce over the chicken continuously.  This will allow the chicken to absorb the flavor of the lime and stay moist.

I served this with steamed broccoli and real mashed potatoes.

This dish was delicious!!!!  A little on the spicy side but the creaminess of the mashed potatoes helped tone down the spiciness of the chicken.  I was afraid that it would be al little to garlicy with 4 cloves and the garlic powder but it wasn't at all!  Very tender, cut it with a fork.  It took about 30 minutes, maybe a little less.  Nic wasn't home yet so I put the skillet in the oven at  170° fahrenheit for about 15 minutes to keep it warm, it was incredibly moist and flavorful.  This is definitely going in the recipe box.