Sweet and Spicy Asian Chicken

This sauce for the chicken is so yummy. I served it with a veggie stir fry and it was a big hit.

Recipe from Mrs. Harding Cooks.

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 tablespoons oil (for pan-frying)

Sauce:
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon ginger (I used ground ginger)
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup apple juice
⅓ cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
½ cup water
⅓ cup soy sauce

Directions:

- Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces.

- Heat oil in your wok and fry chicken bits in batches until lightly browned.

- Drain on paper towels and set aside.
- In a bowl combine all sauce ingredients.

- Pour into wok and bring to a boil.

- Add chicken bits back to the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

- Serve over rice, or by itself.

Tofu Satay with Peanut Sauce

Are you a fan of delicious flavor?

This is the BEST recipe I've tried in a long time. The dish tasted like something you would get at a Thai restaurant. The peanut sauce is phenomenal; I've tried probably half a dozen peanut sauce recipes in the past, and never really liked any of them. This one is far and away the best I've tried. If you're not a tofu-lover, you could do the exact same recipe with chicken instead of tofu (just increase the cooking time a bit).

Step 1) Cook some brown rice. Steam some vegetables (I used broccoli and carrots).

Step 2) Prepare the tofu. Cut a block of extra-firm tofu into 1-inch cubes. Put them in a bowl with a cut-up red bell pepper. Marinate them for 15-20 minutes in a mixture of 2 T. soy sauce and 2 T. sesame oil.

Step 3) Make the peanut sauce. No cooking necessary. Just place the following ingredients into your blender or food processor and whir them up: 3/4 c. coconut milk, 1/2 c. peanut butter, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 1/2 t. curry powder, 1 1/2 T. brown sugar, 1 T. fresh lime juice, 1 T. canola oil, 1 1/2 T. soy sauce.

Step 4) Pour 1/3 of the peanut sauce mixture over the tofu and red peppers. Spread the mixture, single-layered, into a baking dish. Bake 20-25 minutes in a 450-degree oven.

Step 5) Assemble. Brown rice plus steamed veggies plus baked tofu plus extra peanut sauce poured over the top. Top with crushed peanuts, if you like!

I'm not even messing around. This is so good.

Basil Chicken Hash

An Ina Garten recipe. My husband loved this. I just did the whole thing in one pan, instead of two like the recipe recommends.

2 whole (4 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
16 basil leaves
Olive Oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and large diced
2 red onions, chopped
2 red bell peppers, large diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 minced scallions, white and green parts
1/4 cup chopped fresh leaf parsley
Sour cream, Cheddar and sliced lemons, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers, leaving one side attached. Place 4 basil leaves under the skin of each chicken breast. Pull the skin over as much of the meat as possible so the chicken won't dry out. With your hands, rub each piece with olive oil and sprinkle very generously with salt and pepper. Bake the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until the skin is lightly browned and the chicken is just cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones. Cut the chicken in large dice pieces and set aside.

Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large saute pan. Add the potatoes and onions, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until evenly browned and cooked through.

In a separate saute pan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the red peppers, garlic, thyme, paprika, tomato paste, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the edges of the peppers are seared.

Add the chicken and the pepper mixture to the potatoes and heat through. Add the scallions and parsley, toss together and place on a serving platter.

Chicken with Prosciutto, Mushrooms, and Cream Sauce

I got the basics of this recipe from Allrecipes, but modified it to fit my needs. It turned out great - both Chris and I LOVED it. It was actually pretty easy, too.

Ingredients:
3 T butter, melted
8 chicken thighs
salt and pepper to taste
8 slices prosciutto, thinly sliced (you can also use bacon)
8 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 8oz. package of sliced mushrooms (I used baby bella, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms, and it was AWESOME)
1/4 c. dry white wine or low-sodium chicken broth (optional)
1 c. sour cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Drizzle butter into a casserole dish. Sprinkle mushrooms into dish. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon garlic (don't go overboard on salt here, especially if you're using prosciutto, since it's already a salty meat). Wrap chicken thighs in prosciutto, and place in casserole dish on top of mushrooms. Sprinkle the remaining garlic on top of chicken.
Bake in a preheated oven until juices run clear, about 1 hour. Remove chicken and mushrooms to a platter, and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.
Pour drippings from casserole into a skillet set over medium-low heat. Whisk in wine/broth and sour cream, and cook until warmed through, about 5 to 7 minutes. Pour over chicken, and serve.

Elephant Stew

Ok, I lied. One more recipe.

1 medium elephant
2 rabbits
Brown gravy
Salt and Pepper

Cut elephant into bite sized pieces. Cook over kerosene fire at 460 degrees for 4 weeks. Add gravy, salt and pepper. Serves 5 -630. If more stew is needed add rabbits. However, this is an emergency measure only because most people don't like hare in their stew.