Sweet & Sour Chicken and Fried Rice

Just made this for supper tonight and it was SO GOOD. Took a while, but it was worth it. I got the recipe from pinterest, which took me to someone's blog. So there are even a couple of pictures, too. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to reproduce those, but I'll post the link below to give the original author/photographer credit. I've tried to make fried rice before, but it was never as good as when I tried this recipe.

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

The chicken coating:

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

The sweet and sour sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

       Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.  

                                 Below is the greatness you will get when it's all cooked:

Fried Rice                                                                                             

3 cups cooked white rice (day old or leftover rice works best!)

3 tbs sesame oil

1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed) I didn't have this, so I used fresh carrots and it was great

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 cup soy sauce

      On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok.  Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated!  

     

SO good!

Here is the link to the blog where I got it. 

http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html

Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

Found this on Pinterest and we loved it. You can serve it in tacos, or with rice and beans in a bowl.

Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

cooking spray for sauteeing

2-3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in bite sized pieces

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup cilantro lime pesto (recipe follows)

flour or corn tortillas

preferred taco garnishes (salsa, sour cream, cheese, etc)

Season chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder. In a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, saute chicken over medium high heat and cooked through. Toss cooked, seasoned chicken with the pesto. Fill tortillas with chicken and top with preferred garnishes.

Cilantro Lime Pesto

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves (do not include stems)

2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons sliced, toasted almonds

3 tablespoons chopped, fresh garlic

1 1/2 teaspoon lime juice

1/2 cup shredded asiago (Parmesan or Romano can be substituted too)

1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup chicken broth

Using a blender, mix together the cilantro, olive oil, almonds, garlic, lime juice, asiago, salt and chicken broth on low speed for 2 minutes. 

Garlic Lime Chicken

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 Teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 Cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons lime juice


Directions:
In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts.
In a skillet, heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat. Sauté chicken until golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes on either side or until no longer pink in the center. Remove chicken and add lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve.

Serves 6

I've cooked this a few times, and we really like it. I thought it would be too spicy for Roselyn, but she liked it (dipped in ranch). You could cut back on some of the cayenne and paprika if you wanted it less spicy. This is good served with rice.

Oriental Chicken w/ rice

1 cup of Soy Sauce
1/3 cup of rice vinegar
1 tsp of sesame oil (or vegetable if you prefer a less oriental flavor)
garlic powder to taste

3 lbs of chicken breast (if you use more chicken you will need to increase the sauce)

Mix the first ingredients together and pour over raw chicken. Let marinade a few hours (or all day for even more flavor.) Grill on your outside grill. Eat over white, brown or fried rice. This is SO simple and SO flavorful and good!

Cheddar Ranch Chicken

***For those of you who know me you know I don't cook (especially not new recipes that I'm leary about) BUT, I made this last night and we all loved it.

1/2 cup Ranch dressing
1 tablespoon flour
4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Combine Ranch and flour and coat all over chicken. Place in 9 x 13 baking dish. Combine both cheeses and sprinkle all over chicken. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or so....till it's not pink in the middle and juices run clear....all that good stuff. This chicken is so yummy....enjoy!

Roasted Rosemary Chicken

1 whole chicken (4-5 lbs I think)
1 lemon
1 whole garlic bulb
1 stick butter
fresh rosemary sprigs
veggies (red potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, etc)
salt and pepper

This is about the same cost as buying a cooked chicken at the store, but it is much yummier I think, and makes pretty food for company. :)

Rinse chicken thoroughly with skin on. Take out any inner junk they put in there (those CDR types will find this easy!). Slice lemon in half. Stuff the chicken's rear end with both lemon halves, the entire garlic bulb (I broke it up a bit), and the rosemary sprigs. (you can use dried, but it is not as good.) Place whole thing in a 13x9 pan, breast side up. Melt butter and pour over. Rub down with salt and pepper. Cook in HOT oven at 450 for 1 hr and 15 minutes.

The veggies can be placed around the chicken and cooked simultaneously, but I found that they get overdone and dry. I brushed a little olive oil on them and put them in around the chicken with about 45-50 minutes left... and perfecto.

I put this in the CDR cookbook!! :)

Cheesy Chicken Soup

This is so easy and so yummy!

1 family size can of Chicken and Rice soup
1 regular can Rotel
1 regular can Corn
1 regular can Ranch Style Beans (rinsed and drained)
1 large can of chicken
1 big thing of Velveeta

Dump all of the cans into a pot and let them get warm. You can drain the juice from the corn if you want the soup a little thicker. Put in as much cheese as you want and let it melt. I usually use half of the thing of Velveeta. It makes enough to feed four and I can't even tell you how yummy it is. I eat it with cornbread! Enjoy!

Spicy Honey-Glazed Chicken

I made this one last night, and it is easy and yummy, bit kinda spicy. You could use less red pepper flakes if you don't like spicy.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup honey
4 Tbsp. frozen OJ concentrate
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. olive oil
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt & pepper
cilantro, chopped
green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. In a skillet, heat butter in olive oil over medium heat, add chicken, salt, and pepper to taste, and brown for several minutes on each side.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine honey, OJ, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
3. Add honey mix to chicken, then cook for several more minutes, coating the chicken with sauce.
4. When serving, spoon sauce over chicken, and garnish with cilantro and green onions. Don't skip on the garnish, because it really adds a lot to the taste.

I served it with boiled squash and asparagus.

Recipe with no name!

We have multiple names for this dish at our house. The person I got the recipe from called it "Chicken Chili". I've called it "Mexican Chicken". Jeremy calls it "That chicken thing in the crock-pot." Regardless, this is a crock-pot recipe for some kind of chicken dish..... :)

Ingredients:
4 frozen chicken breasts
1 can of kidney beans
2 cans of mexican corn
2 cans of rotel or 2 cans of diced tomatoes (depends on how "zesty" you want it)
tortilla chips
sour cream
fresh cilantro
grated cheddar cheese
chili powder
salt and pepper

I cook this in my crock pot, on low, all day while I'm at school. (roughly- 7:30 am to 4:30 pm)
Dump kidney beans, corn, and tomatoes (rotel) in crock pot. Place frozen chicken on top. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and chili powder on top. Let this cook all day.
When I come home and the chicken has cooked all day I take it out of the pot and shred and dice the chicken. It makes it more manageable when you are serving it. When you put the chicken back in the crock pot add 2 cups or so of crushed up tortilla chips. It seems to thicken up the "chili."
To serve: Place tortilla chips in the bottom of a bowl. Spoon desired amount of "chicken chili" on top. Top the chicken with shredded cheese, sour cream and fresh cilantro. Sometimes I will also cook plain white rice and serve the chicken on top of that instead of tortilla chips---it just your preference.
It's also one of those meals that tastes great as a left-over. We usually eat off it for 2 or 3 days.
Enjoy! (And let me know what name you think suits this dish!!!)

Homemade chicken/ ham cheesy pockets

Okay, I tried this today for lunch, and everybody ate it good, so here it is. It was so easy.

You'll need:

1 big can of chicken (cooked)
1 cup of diced ham
1 - 1 1/4 cups cheddar jack cheese (depends on how cheesy you want it.)
2 things of crescent rolls (I used fresh bread dough, but I think the crescent rolls would be real good. I don't think one package would be enough for all the mixture.)

2 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup diced onions and peppers (optional)

Mix the chicken, ham, cheese, butter, and onions/peppers together.
Unroll the crescent rolls.
Spoon the mixture onto the rolls and fold them over it, pinching the sides up good. It doesn't take much of the mixture for each one.
Place the pockets on a cookie sheet.
Cook at 350 degrees until the rolls are done.

You could also add broccoli to this, but you would need to steam it first. There you have it!

Chicken Salad

4 cups of diced chicken (or two cans of chicken cubed, looks like tuna but it's CHICKEN)

1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup of mayonnaise (I use Hellman's)

1/2 cup of sour cream

1 tsp of salt

1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Combine the chicken, pecans, green onions and celery in large bowl. In a separate small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, salt and pepper. Stir into the chicken mixture. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I serve with fresh croissants or Healthy Nut Bread and slices of tomato.

You can also try to mix in green chillies, green olives to put a different spin on the whole thing. Jeff likes it when I do it this way instead of celery and pecans and mix in few jalapenos.

I prefer the way above but I also squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon to give it an extra kick or pour 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar to make it not as dry.

I figure both or our ways are subject to individual preference so that is why I just listed the basics above.

Rosemary Balsamic Chicken with Brown Butter and Balsamic Ravioli

I am so excited to get to be an author! I love to cook and I love to eat. I can't wait to try out some of the recipes I have been seeing. I have been out of town all week and away from my recipes. Here is a new favorite one that my sister-in-law made for me a couple of weeks ago. It is actually a Rachel Ray recipe. Some of her stuff is made with really random stuff, but most of this stuff is pretty common and you might already have it on hand. It is great!

Chicken:

4-6 Chicken Breasts
2 T. Balsamic Vinegar (BV)
2 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
3 stems Rosemary stripped and chopped
Salt and course black pepper
4 Garlic Gloves chopped or some minced garlic in a jar

Coat the chicken in the BV and EVOO. Season chicken with rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Cook the chicken on a skillet and give it a nice brown coating. It cooks up really nicely. You might want the slice the chicken up so it cooks faster and it makes the presentation nice.

While the chicken is cooking you can get the ravioli ready.

Ravioli:

1 package 12-16 ounces (I love the Burtolli brand they have regular and whole wheat. It is kept in the refrigerated section usually.) Any flavor you like.
3 T. butter or more if you like more sauce
2 T. Balsamic Vinegar
2 Handfuls grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
parsley for a little extra color

Cook the ravioli as the package directs. In a small saucepan melt the butter. Once the butter is melted you can add the Balsamic Vinegar to it and mix it up. Once the chicken is cooked you can mix the ravioli with the sauce let it sit and reduce for a few minutes. Remove from heat and add cheese and parsley.

This is one of those meals that doesn't involve to much time and energy but tastes amazing. If you have any questions let me know. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Can't wait to post more! Thanks Rachel!

Chicken Pasta with Tarragon Cream Sauce

This is a favorite of mine that I picked up when I was in Belgium. Soooo good, but not that healthy for you. The tarragon adds a unique flavor, almost minty.


Ingredients:

16oz pasta (I prefer bowtie, penne, or spirals. So much easier than dealing with the long stuff.)
4 chicken breasts
8oz sliced mushrooms (Optional)
1 pint heavy whipping cream (At least)
2 cups shredded swiss or parmesan cheese
4Tbsp Margarine/Butter
Tarragon-fresh or dry
Garlic salt-to taste
Salt-to taste


Directions:


Cook pasta according to directions, drain. Cook and cube chicken, (or buy the already cooked chicken slices for convenience.) In a big saucepan melt the butter, add mushrooms, saute until tender, adding garlic salt. Add heavy cream, bring to a boil, stirring constantly to avoid burning. After cream is boiling, reduce to med-high, and start adding cheese (the swiss has a stronger flavor, so if you don't like it use parmesan) a little at a time, making sure it's melted before adding more. The sauce will thicken. You may not need both cups. Fold the chicken into the mushroom cream sauce, then add tarragon to taste-at least 2 Tbsp (for dry spices you can use less.) Put pasta back in the pot that you cooked it in over heat, add chicken mixture, stir it all up, adding more cheese or cream if necessary. Serve. You can garnish with fresh, diced tomato.


(You can play around with how soupy you want your cream sauce. I like it to be pretty thick so it sticks to everything.)

Chicken Pesto Pasta

OK, I don't know if this even counts as a recipe, but it's one of my new favorite easy meals to make. Any time we go to an Italian restaurant, Clint just asks for chicken pesto pasta, even if it's not on the menu, so I decided to try to make it. It uses the same pesto sauce that I buy for the chicken pesto pizza, and I use the same rotisserie chicken from Wal-mart, so I usually make this and the pizza in the same week. If you buy one of those chickens, which only cost about $4.50, it has more than enough meat for both recipes.

Ingredients: (All the ingredients are in the title of the recipe)

• ~2 cups cooked chicken - small pieces (I use Wal-mart rotisserie chicken)
• Pesto sauce (comes in a little green tub in the refrigerated pasta area next to the deli at Wal-mart)
• Angel hair pasta (or any kind of pasta you want to use)

Directions:

• Boil and drain pasta
• Add pesto (I use the whole container, but you could probably use less)
• Add chicken
• Mix and serve!

If you use a whole box of pasta and the whole container of pesto, I think this will serve about 6 people.

Note: Jodi tried this recipe, and she added a little bit of healthy stuff that made it even better. I tried it when I made it again, and it was great! Saute some finely diced zucchini in olive oil until it's soft, then add diced tomatoes at the end just to warm them up a little. Add this mix to the pasta and mix it in. Yum!

My Mom's Chicken and Rice

Ok, cooking is not really my game either, but I love it. When I have time.... Anyways, I have tons of recipes I will share, but I'll start with something easy and yummy... something that can be cooked for 2 or for a bunch.

Needed:
chicken (thawed breasts, pieces, etc.)
flour
minute rice
can(s) of Chicken&Rice soup
margarine
salt and pepper

Melt margarine in a flat baking dish, dip chicken in melted butter, then in flour. Then lay it back in butter dish, turn piece over, then salt and pepper each piece. Bake about 30 minutes at 400. Take chicken out of dish, cover bottom of dish in minute rice, stir to mix up the butter drippings, pour in can of soup and add maybe half a can of water, put chicken back. Bake about 30 minutes more. (If cooking for more than 2, using a bigger dish like a 9X13, then probably use more than one can of soup.)

This is one of David's favorites. And it's easy! I'll use green beans or broccoli or something green for a side dish and that is it!

Chicken Pesto Pizza

One of my all time favorite meals is Chicken Pesto Pizza from EZ's in San Antonio. Since we don't have an EZ's here in Paris, a couple of weeks ago I decided to try to recreate it, and it turned out pretty good.

Ingredients:

• ~1.5 cups small pieces of cooked chicken (I buy the rotisserie chicken from the Wal-mart deli and shred it by hand, but you could cook your own)
• Pizza crust (Pillsbury roll-out crust is good, or my Wal-mart has some small round pizza crusts in the deli section that don't have to be pre-baked.)
• Pesto sauce (also from the Wal-mart deli area, by the refrigerated pasta. It comes in a small plastic tub, and the label is green. I'll try to find out the brand later.)
• ~2 Tbsp. Pine nuts
• Shredded Cheese (I bought the Parmesan blend that has Parmesan, Fontina, Asiago, and Romano)
• 2 Roma tomatoes, very thinly sliced

Directions

• If you bought the Pillsbury or similar pizza crust, it needs to be cooked part of the way before you put on the toppings, so cook it about 8-9 minutes or whatever the package directions say. If you bought crust that does not need to be pre-cooked, go straigt to the next step.
• Spread a thin layer of pesto on the crust.
• Add chicken, sprinkle pine nuts and cheese, and place tomato slices on pizza to your liking.
• Bake at 400-ish until crust is light brown and cheese is melted (6-10 minutes)

Sorry the directions are sort of vague. I didn't pay attention to brands or amounts, but when I make it again, I'll try to pay attention and come back and add those details. If you use the Wal-mart rotisserie chicken, you'll have a ton of meat left over for another meal.