chicken

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

April 2, 2013

There has been so much going on lately. I love being busy but it typically means that something slips. Most often it is what we eat or laundry. oh well. But Kemper is keeping us busy with nice nights out playing around and some design reports that Price and I are working on for our city for some downtown redevelopment. Very different things but both enjoyable and fulfilling.

Since we have been so busy I have been relying on some super simple meals or take out to keep our nights moving along. One of the cookbooks that I have been turning to is The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. I love the idea of assembling a casserole leaving it be to bake and then having leftovers for another meal. Among the over 400 recipes (oh my!) the Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole jumped out to me one night so I whipped it up and we loved it so much. So, so much.

This took about 30 minutes for assemble and then another 35 to bake up. I cooked up some chicken breasts but you can easily shredded some rotisserie chicken instead. The dish is so flavorful and so cheesy. I can’t not love a cheesy dish. It’s really hearty so it can be stretched from 4 servings to 6 with a side of veggies or a side salad.

I only made one change to the original Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole recipe from The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. The original recipe called for Cream of Chicken Soup but 1) I didn’t have it 2) it sounds really gross, which would be why I didn’t have it. So instead I used Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup since it didn’t have ‘mechanically separated chicken’ or ‘chicken fat’ in it. If you happen to make your own Cream of Chicken or Mushroom soup instead of using canned, then I suggest you do that. It’s sure to only make this wonderful casserole even better.

Dig in. You know you want to.

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Makes 4 hearty servings

Ingredients

1 6-ounce package long grain and wild rice mix
1 medium white onion, chopped (approx 1/2 cup)
1 celery stalk, chopped (approx 1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons butter
1 10.5-ounce or 10.75-ounce can of cream of mushroom condensed soup
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/3 cup dry white wine or low sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed basil
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Process

While preparing the rice according to the package, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and cook the onion and celery until tender.
Sir in the soup, light sour cream, wine, and basil until evenly combined. Add the shredded chicken and rice and mix until just combined.
Transfer mixture to a greased 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.
Bake uncovered for 35 minutes, or until heated through.

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

February 25, 2013

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken will quickly become one of your weekly recipes when you realize how easy it is to make at home.

Every month there I have Pricer pick out a recipe he would want me to make for my Secret Recipe Club post. Sometimes I give him a few suggests or restictions, like I’m not feeling like making cookie or pizza then, but other than that he gets pick. I love having him involved and I love to see what intersts him.

Well, this month I sent him over to check out the recipe index for Erin’s blog called the The Spiffy Cookie and he picked her Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken. It sounded good to me so I was looking forward to when I’d make it. We love to get Chinese food take out but 99% of the time I order shrimp as I do not like the quality of chicken dishes at Chinese food places so this would give me the chance to have some good Honey Sesame Chicken. Plus much cheaper, fresher, and healthier than take out.

This recipe was so super easy. There was very little prep and active cook time and the rest of it was just letting it do its own thing in the slow cooker. I got it all started by mixing up the sauce, adding it to the chicken, and let it be for about 3 hours. Around that time I cut up my brocolli and got my rice going in my rice cooker. When I needed to take the chicken out I added some corn stach to the sauce to thicken it and while I was cutting up the chicken I added my broccoli in my steamer basket to my rice cooker. Perfect for a great Sunday night dinner. Plus, I had very little clean up which is always a win as well.

I just about made the recipe exactly as Erin wrote it, with the exception that i steamed the broccoli instead of sauteeing it, and it came out exactly as described. Don’t you just love when that happens?! Plus it was super tasty. Overall, I think it was a little sweet to me but I typically LOVE really spicy Chinese food. If you do then maybe you can increase the amount of red pepper flakes or add some Siracha to the sauce. While this is a slow cooker meal I think it can be converted into a week night super meal by cutting up the chicken and cooking it in the sauce in a skillet while you cooke the rice.

I only wish I made a double batch so I would have had leftovers for all week. This def beats spending too much money on a sandwich or salad for lunch.

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (1.25 lbs)
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1/2 onion, diced
2-1/2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp sesame seed oil or extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced, pressed or grated
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup dry brown/white rice
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb broccoli florets

Directions:

Put the chicken breasts in crock pot.
In a small bowl, combine the honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic, and redpepper flakes. Pour over chicken in the slow cooker.
Cook the chicken on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through.
Cook the rice according to package directions.
Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet until hot. Add broccoli and saute 5-6 minutes or until cooked but tender. Or steam the broccoli instead of sauteeing.
Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Whisk the cornstarch into liquid in the crock pot. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened.
Shred chicken or cut into bite size pieces, then return to pot and coat with sauce. Serve chicken over rice with broccoli, garnish with sesame seeds.

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Check out the rest of the reveal day posts!

Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts

February 20, 2013

When we first got Kemper I took most of the next week off so I could run outside with him every hour-ish so we could get him trained quickly. Well in hopes of that. Also in making wrong assumptiongs… I thought I would get so much blogging, scrapbooking, cleaning done while he sleep but that is a big fat no since I just ooed and awwed over him while he slept. Seriously. Hopeless.

At least I did manage to make some great meals for my lunches and for our dinners that week. I’ve been looking all around at the mass quantities of cookbooks I have and I’ve decided that I need to actually crack them open and make some recipes from them. The first one I grabbed was The Ultimate Casseroles Book: More than 400 Heartwarming Dishes from Dips to Desserts. This is such a fantastic Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. There are so many great recipes in there that I’ve flagged. The book is so full of post-it’s now it’s a bit crazy.

I suggest that you try the Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts because they were just fantastic. I love spanakopita with it’s puff pastry pockets stuffed with spinach, salty feta, and fresh lemon. Stuffing the chicken breasts with that mixture was a great way to spice up some chicken for dinner. I love Greek inspired dishes and this is one that I will make again.

I made some changes along the way but it still worked out just a planned. Mainly, I used boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts. My preparation of the chicken differed as I didn’t stuff the spinach mixture between the skin and breasts, but created a pocket myself. Also, the recipe called for 3 tablespoons snipped fresh dill added to the spinach mixture, but I didn’t have it around so I didn’t want to buy it just for this as I don’t really like dill anyway.

Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (1 medium)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
10oz box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1/3 cup crumbled feta
1/4 ground nutmeg
1 medium sized lemon
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 skinless chicken breasts (approximately 2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium sized lemon, cut into wedges

Process

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 3 quart casserole dish by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium skillet, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent (about 4-6 minutes). Remove from heat then add the spinach, feta, nutmeg, pepper, and the juice from 1 lemon. Combine all the ingredients and then divide into 4 equal portions.
Cut large pockets into the chicken breasts. Put 1/4 of the spinach mixture into each open chicken breast. Close the chicken breasts as much as possible and place in the casserole dish. Add the lemon wedges to the casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (170 degrees).

Slow Cooker ‘Roast’ Chicken

April 13, 2012

You know when you have one of those moments of “well, like, duh!” because something you never considered before made perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of that moment. Well, that happened to me when I was hopping around on Julie of The Little Kitchen and I saw in her sidebar a recipe for ‘Whole Chicken in a Slow Cooker‘. I kept going “that makes sense! Why haven’t I thought of this? It has to be so good! I have to make it!!”

This was one of the juiciest chickens I have ever had (other was beer can chicken- OMG!). It was so moist, flavorful, and cooked perfectly. Any rub on the chicken would work, even just salt and pepper with some lemons in the mix. This is more about technique, not about the ingredients. Don’t want sweet potatoes- fine… just throw some fingerlings in there. I think the biggest thing to consider is how long to cook it. I would not do this on a week day since I am away from home for 10 hours. This would just fall apart too much then. I suggest this on a nice weekend when you want to relax and do nothing or if you have errands up to your eyeballs and you have no time to cook and just have dinner (almost) appear in front of you.

Slow Cooker ‘Roast’ Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 onions
2 large sweet potatoes
4-5 carrots
3 1/2 -4 1/2 pound whole roasting/frying chicken
Preferred seasoning blend

Process

Remove giblets bag from chicken to discard and rinse entirely. Pat chicken dry completely with paper towels.
Cut all vegetables in large pieces, such as carrots in 2″ long pieces, and the onion in 8 large wedges.
Rub the chicken with your selected rub to completely coat it.
Place onions, carrots and sweet potatoes inside the slow cooker to create a layer on the bottom. Then put chicken on top of the vegetables.
Set slow cooker for 6 hours. Check the internal temperature of the leg, if it is 160 degrees F then it is done. If you used a chicken with a pop up thermometer then remove the chicken when it has popped.
If you crock pot is broiler safe (consult your product information) then put the entire crock pot into the oven for 4-5 minutes. If your crock pot is not broiler safe then carefully remove the chicken and place on a glass baking dish or a large baking sheet. Allow the chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes prior to cutting.

California Chicken Salad

September 23, 2011

I personally think that chicken salad is a a great example of a perfect food. Smooth yet crunchy. Salty yet sweet. Lean and yet fattening as well. The textures and flavors made great for a great combination. You have diced crunchy veggies,crunchy walnuts, and crisp grapes tossed together with moist chicken. If that was not enough all of that is held together with a creamy mayo.

I really love Waldorf Chicken Salad but the apples throw me off for some reason. my favorite chicken salad is from Whole Foods. I love their Sonoma Chicken Salad, but my wallet doesn’t since it can add up quickly. I often think that the best way to get what you want is to combine favorites, like my donut muffins, which is exactly what I do here.

I have some rules when it comes to making chicken salad.

1- I always use a roasted chicken because the skin helps keep the chicken moist. If I take the time to make a roasted chicken at home I always make 2 so that 1 can go towards chicken salad. Or if you happen to find a roasted chicken on sale, like I did, then use one of those.

2- Shred the chicken. I think that this makes you much more careful about having consistently sized ingredients. If you chop up the chicken breast you can make the pieces too large and that is too awkward for a successful sandwich.

3- I always use Helman’s mayonnaise. Always.

California Chicken Salad

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 small roasted chicken
1 cup of pecans, finely chopped
1 cup of celery, minced
1 medium onion, minced
2 cups red grapes, halved
1 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Process

Once the chicken has completely cooled, remove the skin and set aside the pieces of meat. Shred the chicken by hand.
Combine together the chopped pecans, celery, onion and grapes. Lightly combine.
Add the mayo, mustard, and salt and pepper to the mixture. Combine so the chicken salad is evenly coated.
Eat as a sandwich or with a salad.

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken

April 19, 2010

I have always wanted to make chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. The idea of using that much garlic had me so interested, like the time price ordered Garlic soup and it was AMAZING! I had seen several recipes for chicken with 40 cloves are garlic but to be honest they seemed like more work than what I wanted to deal with, like chopping up a chicken, dredging it, boiling the garlic, etc. So I opted for creating an easy version by using a whole chicken and roasting it along with the garlic. So this is my reworked version, simple, easy, and delightfully garlicy!

This recipe is more like a complete meal. I think it is essential to cook potatoes, maybe other root vegetables also, with the chicken. The potatoes take on the flavor from the chicken, wine, and, of course, the garlic. So just add a side vegetable or a salad and your meal is complete.

40 Cloves of Garlic Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 pounds

40 cloves of garlic

1 pound of small potatoes, such as fingerling

1/2 cup white wine

olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 375.

Rinse and clean chicken. Dry chicken- very important! (A dry chicken equals a crispy skin) Put chicken into a pan and season with salt and pepper. Lift up the skin of the chicken and place several small cloves of garlic between skin and breast.

Clean and cut, if necessary, the potatoes. Combine potatoes and remaining garlic in a bowl to lightly dress with oil and season with salt and pepper.

distribute potatoes and garlic around chicken.

After chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes, toss potatoes and garlic, preventing burning. Add wine to pan.

Cook chicken until it is done, approximately another 45 minutes. You can use a pop up or a manual thermometer test chicken’s doneness. Let chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving to serve. When slicing keep skin intact to show the softened garlic layered between the chicken breast and skin.

Enjoy, and feel free to finish off the wine you opened for the chicken!

Fried Rice

December 6, 2009

Making Chinese food with my Dad has become one of those experiences that leads to great food, dirty dishes, lots of laughs, and full stomaches. One year our bird, Studley, ‘got hungry’ and flew into the bowl of fried rice- no one was happy then. Or we always seem to bring up the time when my brother, Dad, and I made chinese food and the kitchen looked like a nuclear holocaust. Food on the floor, sauces dripping down the cabinets, spills in the fridge, and a sink full of bowls. Of course everything was worth it since the food is always amazing. We have made shrimp with lobster sauce, chicken with cashews, chicken and shrimp chow mien, and, as always, fried rice.

When my Dad came to visit a few weeks ago we planned on making chinese food so he brought up some of the ingredients and his wok. This excited me to no end. It had been so long since I had the fried rice. Sure, you can get fried rice at your local chinese food restaurant, but I have to say that it’s not the same. I find the fried rice from most chinese food places has too much soy sauce for my preference. So that is why it is worth it to take the time to make amazing fried rice.

Fried Rice

3 C. rice

1 C. diced chicken or shrimp or pork

Marinating sauce

1 TBS. cooking Sherry
1 ½ tsp. sugar
1 ½ TBS. Cornstarch
1 ½ TBS. Soy sauce

1 chopped onion (small)

3 eggs

½ tsp. black pepper (optional)

½ C. diced celery

4 Tbs. oil (wok oil is prefered)

diced scallion

soy sauce as much as desired

Marinate the meat in the sauce for 30 minutes to an hour.

Cook 3 cups of rice accordingly.

Add 1 TBS. of oil to a wok on medium heat. Add the eggs into the oil and break them into bite size chunks while scrambling them. Cook until they begin to set. It is very important not to cook them entirely as there will be carry-over cooking. Put the eggs to the side until ready to use them again.Add the rest of the oil to the wok. Add the onions and stir-fry for a minute. Push to one side of the wok when done. Then put the meat and celery in the wok; stir-fry until the meat is beginning to brown. Add the rice, soy sauce, and pepper; Mix that for about 2 minutes/until everything is coated. Then add the diced scallion and the reserved scrambled egg and stir-fry until everything is well mixed.** If you use shrimp add the celery a minute prior to the shrimp because of cooking time.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

November 17, 2009

I really dislike those Chicken Soup for the <insert: mother/teen/daughter/son/diabetic/etc> Soul books. I’m just not that person who finds encouragement in them. I don’t like to read quotes helping me relate to my peers/mom/dad/etc or stories to make me feel that tomorrow will be a better day.

That random fact aside, this chicken soup does heal the soul. I think a good soup has a much better effect than some book. Esp when it is this soup. Sure, it is just chicken soup but this reminds me of all the times my mom made it for me when I was sick. I would eat it with rice, cover every square inch of it with cheese, and curl up on the sofa. I really think chicken soup is so much better eaten on the sofa covered in a blanket.

Anyway, chicken soup is easy. Chicken, water (broth is better) veggies, seasonings- just cook. I think the hardest part is getting the whole chicken(s) out without burning yourself/making a mess and impatiently waiting for it to cool to tear it apart. When my dad makes chicken or turkey soup be makes tiny meatballs that he adds in there. I’m not a delicate person and I typically destroy the meatballs when I stir up the soup- I’m a wreck.

Chicken Soup

2 whole chickens

2 lbs of carrots

2 bunches of celery

4 yellow onions

2-4 plum tomatoes diced/1 can of diced tomatoes

chicken broth

salt & (white) pepper

1. Remove bag from inside chicken, rise chicken throughly. Trim excess fat/skin from chicken. (This makes less fat for you to remove from soup later)

2. Peel carrots and slice into 1/4″ thick pieces.

3. Cut celery into 1/4″ pieces.

4. Slice onion into thin slivers.

5. Dice tomato into small pieces. If using canned diced tomatoes, drain juice.

6. Combine chicken and veggies into a large pot. Cover with broth*.

7. Bring to low boil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and remove chickens, allowing them to cool.

8. Discard skin and tear apart the chickens, adding meat back into soup.

9. Skim fat from soup. It is easiest when the soup has completely cool, even better after it has been in the fridge for a while.

Serve with rice, noodles, or pastina. Grated cheese is a plus 🙂

*Broth is already seasoned so it adds more flavor but water is fine, just season soup to taste.

must add celery and more broth

18 quart pot

there is a funny story about this- I’ll explain one day

Cooled and ready for the deep freeze

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

HaHa’s Chicken

August 3, 2009

I hate when people ask you hypothetical questions like:

What would your last meal be?

For one thing, I don’t expect to participate in a crime that results in the death penalty. Although, I assume that people just mean that if you knew you were going to die what would pick but I try not to think about it much either way. However I do have an answer. Well, it’s two things but since I would be dying I would make sure I got both…

1) Lobster and Lobster (on the Lunch Menu) at The River Cafe in Brooklyn NY.

Amazing! My mom and I went to see the Telectroscope last summer and ended up having lunch at the River Cafe. It was one of the best meals I have ever had.

2) HaHa’s Chicken

Price first told me about HaHa’s chicken when we first started dating. He told me about this great dish from a family friend that is Chicken, Broccoli, Peaches, with a sour cream based sauce served over rice…. um excuse me? I could not believe it would be so great (or even edible) but I was REALLY proven wrong. (I’m sure Price loves that I admit when that I am wrong!) It is great right out of the oven but it is even better the next day when the flavors get to mingle together in the sauce.

Well with chicken on sale I bought a bunch and the best thing to do with it is… HaHa’s! So we made it for dinner. Such a great Friday night. Especially one that is rainy and gross.

HaHa’s Chicken:

4 breasts of chicken, halved

3 can of peach halves, drained most of the syrup

1/2 c. butter

1/2 cup minced onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 bunches broccoli crowns (without stems)

1.c.sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 t. paprika

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Melt butter and sauté onion and garlic.

Add paprika to the sautéed onions and garlic.

Coat each chicken breast by placing it into the onion mixture.

Place all the coated chicken in a 9×13 plan.

Pour remainder of butter/onion mixture over the chicken.

Cover loosely with foil and bake until chicken is cooked through, about 30-40 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, steam broccoli until it is just tender.

In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, mayonnaise, and parmesan cheese.

Remove the chicken from the over and put your broiler on.

Arrange peaches and broccoli pieces among the chicken.

Dollop the sour cream mixture on top of the broccoli, peaches, and chicken.

Return to oven and broil just until brown. Serve with rice.

Chicken after it was coated in the butter/onions/garlic/paprika.

After the broc and peaches are added.

All done! (Our’s does not get very brown because we dont have a broiler)

Back to last meals:

According to the all knowing Wiki….it seems that fried chicken is requested quite a lot.

Including: ” Homer Simpson in The Simpsons episode “The Frying Game” demands a virtually limitless buffet of food including hot dogs, pizza, beer, donuts, and fried chicken. When asked how he could have such an appetite, he responded, “This baby’s gonna be full when the cannon goes off!” indicating he wanted his stomach to explode during the electrocution.”