10 Jun 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish
Tags: chicken, hot sauce
The name says it all. It’s a pow!pow! in the mouth. This chicken has some heat- but it also has a ton of flavor and a some sweet so everything’s balanced out nicely.
While this dish does have to cook in the oven for 1 hour the prep time and initial cooking take no more than 25 minutes-unless you’re really really really slow. Then allow a few minutes to reduce the sauce.
Pow! Pow! Chicken
Ingredients:
- 1.5lb boneless skinless chicken breast, trimmed of any fat and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 tsp canola oil
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- Arrowroot (optional-for a sauce thickener if needed)
- Sliced scallions (optional-for garnish)
For the sauce:
- 1/3 cup Franks Hot Sauce
- 1 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark is fine)
- 1 tbsp water
- 3 tsp cider vinegar
Instructions:
- Season chicken with salt and pepper and place into a large ziplock bag. Add the cornstarch, smush around to coat, and set aside.
- Pre-heat the oven to 325 and find a baking dish who’s base is large enough to fit all of the chicken in one layer.
- Place the eggs in a shallow dish and set aside.
- Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
- In a skillet over medium heat place 2 tsp of the oil and wait for it to get hot. When hot start to cook the chicken pieces in batches as follows until all are cooked: shake off excess corn starch, coat in egg, shake off excess and brown in pan one minute on each side then place in baking dish. Do a few pieces at a time being careful to not crowd the pan.
- When all chicken is in the baking dish pour the sauce over it and place in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes then turn the pieces over and cook for another 30 minutes.
- When the oven time is finished remove the dish from the oven. Place the chicken on a plate and pour the remaining sauce into a small sauce pan. Put the chicken back into the dish and back into the oven (which is now off) to keep warm. Cook the sauce over medium/low heat until thick and reduced, stirring continuously. Add arrowroot if you have it and if you need it.
- When the sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon remove the dish with the chicken from the oven, pour the thickened sauce over it and stir to combine.
- Garnish with sliced scallions if desired and serve over rice or plan.
This recipe falls into the category of ‘who knows where it came from’. If it’s yours or you know please email me through the contact information tab and I’ll give proper credit.
07 Jun 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish, Salad, Side Dish
Tags: burrito, mexican
I admit I’ve never had a burrito bowl. I hear a lot about them but never actually ate one. I mean I guess, essentially, it is just really a salad of sorts but with the contents of a burrito without the actual burrito. Ok.
So for this month’s swap with the Mexican theme hosted by Sarah at http://tasteofhomecooking.blogspot.com I was given the burrito bowl from Jenni’s blog doughseedough I was pretty excited. It looked delicious and I love burritos! It didn’t disappoint. What a great recipe. It came together pretty quickly (it took less than an hour including all prep and rice cooking from start to finish on a weeknight) and was just good all around. Jenni’s recipe called for brown rice but since I’m not really a fan I used white. I also added some green chilies and corn. That’s what was so nice about her recipe-the ability to add or remove something to taste easily. So go make one to your taste!!!
Burrito Bowl
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white rice, cooked
- 1/2 lime, zested and juiced
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped small
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast trimmed of fat and cut into evenly sized strips about 1 inch thick
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp granulated dried onion
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
- 1 tsp olive oil
- Goya Salsita Chipotle sauce (optional)
- 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped small, guts removed
- 1/4 red onion chopped very small
- kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can yellow corn, drained and rinsed
- 1 small can green chiles, drained and rinsed
Topping ideas:
- Fat free sour cream
- Freshly grated cheddar or monterey jack cheese
- Sliced avocado
- Hot sauce (same as above or different)
- Jalapenos
Instructions:
- Cook rice according to package instructions. When cooked stir in half of the cilantro, half of the lime juice and half of the lime zest. Set aside.
- In a small bowl mix the chili powder and other spices through the italian seasoning and set aside.
- In a skillet set over medium/high heat warm the oil. When hot add the chicken and cook until cooked through. Place the chicken on a cutting board and chop into small pieces. Put it back into the same pan.
- Into that pan add the spices from step #2 and stir to combine for a minute until spices are fragrant. Into the same pan add the beans, corn and chiles and lower heat to medium/low to heat the new ingredients and stir to evenly distribute the spices. If desired add a few splashes of salsita for a kick.
- In another small bowl mix the tomatoes, the remaining cilantro, zest and juice of the lime and the onion and stir. Season with salt and pepper if desired.
- Assemble your bowl! Start with some rice on the bottom, some chicken and bean mixture, some of the tomato mixture and top with whatever you’d like!
I made mine this way: rice then chicken mixture then grated cheese (so it would melt-YUM), tomato mixture, sour cream. I sliced half of an avocado and put the pieces around the plate.
This recipe makes about 2 medium sized soup bowl’s worth.
Check out the other great swap recipes here:
04 Jun 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Main Dish, Uncategorized
Tags: beef
What a simple and delicious steak!! I made a super tasty quick throw-together marinade and then served with wonderful Yukon Gold Baked Potatoes and crisp roasted green beans. Easy peasy!
Note: I cooked this on my stove-top Le Creuset grill pan but you could also use an outdoor grill or press-just adjust the cooking time accordingly.
One Great Steak
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb top sirloin about 1 inch thick
- 2-3 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 1-1.5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic put through a press or smashed to a paste
- 1.5-2 tsp freshly grated ginger
Instructions:
- Put meat and other ingredients into a zip-lock bag and marinate for 30 minutes to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- When ready to cook pre-heat the grill pan to medium/medium-high. When sufficiently hot place steak on pan.
- Cook for approximately 8 minutes on each side for medium rare and leave it alone while it’s cooking. You can also use a meat thermometer.
- When the meat is cooked remove it from the grill pan and place it on a plate, cover it with foil, and let it rest 10 minutes.
- Slice across the grain and serve.
Note: you may want to season the steak with salt and pepper too but I left it out due to the saltyness of the soy sauce.
Serves 4 approx.
01 Jun 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish, Salad
Tags: chicken, salad
Every once in a while I get the urge to have a chicken salad sandwich. I’ve tried a few recipes over the years and wasn’t ever happy with any of them for one reason or another-too much mayo, didn’t like the curry etc… and I didn’t ever take the time to mess around with the recipes to get it just right. So I’d go to my local deli and get a chicken salad sandwich which is neither waist-line or budget friendly.
Well my friends-my search is over. Last night I made (in my opinion anyway) the perfect chicken salad. Not too much sauce, tang from the gherkins (or cornishons if you’re feeling saucy), crunch from the celery, onion and gherkins, and a ton of flavors from the Dijon, lemon juice and parsley. The best part is I don’t feel like I’m the size of a hippo after I’ve eaten it-and it’s just darn tasty to boot.
I ate my chicken salad sandwich on one of the Pepperidge Farm sandwich flats with sliced tomato, a few wedges of avocado and some romaine lettuce and it made a pretty tall sandwich.
I think this would also be great served on pieces of cucumber, rolled up in lettuce leaves or even crackers for an appetizer. This would also be amazing eaten from an avocado cup. I think I’ll try that next time.
Winner Winner Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (about .75lb) cooked and cut into small pieces (mine were about the size of my pinky nail)
- 1.tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1 tsp lemon juice-freshly squeezed
- 2 tsp fresh parsley, minced
- 1/3 cup light Hellman’s mayonnaise
- 2.5 tbsp fat free sour cream
- 1/2 cup celery, diced small
- 2 tbsp red onion, diced small
- 1/3 cup gherkins, diced small
- kosher salt and white pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Add everything into a bowl and stir to combine.
Notes:
- For the celery, onion and gherkins I used my little Kitchen Aid chopper to have all uniform sized pieces.
- I cut the chicken breast into about 7 equally sized strips and then cooked them on my panini press. I then cut them up into small nugget sized pieces and put them on a plate in the fridge to cool down so that I could make the salad. They only took only about 25 minutes to cool.
30 May 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish, Salad, Side Dish
Tags: feta, pasta, salad
I cannot believe Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone. It’s almost time for summer fruits and veggies again.
That being said this pasta salad is perfect for the warm weather. There’s a ton of veggies, a bit of cheese and a great light vinaigrette. It can be made in advance and kept in the fridge too. You can feel free to add other veggies too-maybe some red or yellow peppers, onions etc….
Veggie & Feta Pasta Salad
Salad Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb gemelli pasta
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped kalamata olives (pitted obviously)
- 1 cucumber cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/4 cup feta cheese
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 large clove of garlic, put through press or mashed to a paste
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/3-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions:
- Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, drain and rinse with cold water. Shake out as much of the water as possible.
- In a large mixing bowl combine all of the salad ingredients above and mix well to combine.
- In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients except the olive oil until evenly combined. Then, while whisking, add the olive oil and continue to whisk until emulsified.
- Pour dressing over salad, mix to evenly distribute the dressing, and serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.
28 May 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish
Tags: bacon, tart, vidalia onion
It’s Vidalia season again!! I picked up two of those beauties at my grocery store a few days ago and have been wondering what to make. While I did find a roasted Vidalia onion salad that sounded promising I wanted to somehow incorporate this month’s What’s Baking theme of Puff Pastry into it too. So I searched and searched and found a delicious sounding Vidalia Onion Pie recipe from Paula Deen. I haven’t ever made anything of hers but it looked like exactly what I was hoping for. A nice pie with crumbly bacon topping, sweet browned onions and (my idea) a flaky crispy crust-not the pie crust that Paula’s recipe called for.
Truth be told I was secretly thinking that the crust wouldn’t ever work right and I’d have to throw everything out. I’ve never switched out a puff pastry for a pie dough before but I thought if I pre-bake it that it will be just fine. And it was. It was glorious!! And surprisingly easy to make too!
It’s not a deep pie-only about an inch since I used a tart pan. It’s a very light custard type of filling-surprisingly light and the onions–OH THE ONIONS!!-beautifully sweet just like they should be.
Vidalia Onion Pie
Ingredients:
- 3 cups thinly sliced Vidalia onions (I used about 1 & 1/2 onions)
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 sheet puff pastry (thawed if frozen-I like Pepperidge Farm)
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp AP flour plus more for rolling out dough
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 & 1/2 cups sour cream
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 5 slices bacon, cooked to crispy and crumbled (4 for pie, 1 for dog 🙂
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 350.
- Roll out the pastry until it’s thin enough to cover entire inside, sides and have a small amount hang over sides of tart pan.
- Lay pastry in pan and press all around to fill evenly. Using a fork poke holes in the dough on the base of the pan and in the edges around the outside. Cover the edges with 1 layer of foil and bake for about 15-20 minutes.
- While the pastry is baking prepare the onions. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat melt the butter and then add the onions. cook them until they’re lightly browned. Then remove from heat and set aside.
- In a small bowl beat the eggs and then add the flour and whisk to combine. Then add the milk sour cream, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- When the pastry is done spread the onions over the bottom of the pan and then pour the egg mixture over it. Sprinkle the bacon on top and bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve right away.
I only had about 1& 1/4 cups of sour cream. I subbed a new Greek Yogurt/Cream cheese mix that I had for the remaining 1/4 cup. It worked out fine.
It will help you a lot if you put the tart pan onto a cookie sheet for the duration of the recipe so you don’t run the risk of messing up the edges of the dough getting it in and out of the oven.
Cara from The Boys Made Me Do It was the host of this month’s challenge. Check out all of the other dishes made here!
24 May 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish
Tags: beef, cheese, sandwich
Yes I know I thought the same thing when I read the name of the dish–YUM!! Putting 2 classics together-that’s genius! I’ve seen a few different recipes for this floating around the internet and blog world for a while but never got around to making one. For this month’s blog swap I was given http://www.tasteofhomecooking.blogspot.com/ and it took me a while to decide to make this dish-Sarah’s got a ton of great sounding recipes on her blog.
I really did enjoy eating these yummy sandwiches. The recipe makes about 4-6 sloppy joes depending on how much you can load into the bun. I toasted the roll with a slice of provolone on each side and then put the beef mixture in the middle. I stuck to her recipe pretty closely with this one-the only changes being that I added a bit of worstershire sauce and used less onion and upped the steak sauce amount and then let it reduce for a while. I think the green pepper added a great depth of flavor too. Next time I make this I will use the leanest ground beef that I can find to cut down on the fat. The beef mixture also reheated extremely well.
Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion, chopped small
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 4 tbsp A1 Steak Sauce (or similar)
- 3 tbsp Lea & Perrins Worstershire Sauce
- 1/2 cup beef stock
- Salt and Pepper
- 4-6 kaiser rolls
- Provolone cheese-sliced thin
Instructions:
- Add the olive oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat. when the oil is hot add the onion and geen pepper and cook until starting to brown and slightly soft. Remove the onions and peppers from the pan and set aside for later.
- To the same hot pan add the ground beef and brown, cooking through thoroughly. Drian any fat, add the peppers, onions and stir to combine. Then add the steak sauce, worcestershire sauce, beef stock. Bring it to a boil and then reduce heat and let it simmer about 10 minutes until most of the liquid is gone. Add salt and pepper if necessary to season.
- Cut the rolls in half, place one piece of provolone on each side and toast.
- Mound up the beef onto the rolls and either eat open face or as a sandwich.
Check out the other May blog swap recipies here. Thanks for hosting Sarah!!
21 May 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Freezer, Lunch, Main Dish, Prep-Ahead, Freeze then Cook, Slow Cooker
Tags: beef, burrito
I must have 3 trillion lists that I’ve found on Pinterest and all over the internet from super savvy ladies who make these mountains of meals and stockpile them in their freezer. Seriously they could feed their entire town for a year if they needed to. It makes me feel very inadequate considering I only having frozen berries and ice cream in mine. So I decided to try one and see how it worked out. All in all it was a great success. It was easy to just pull the ziplock bag out of the freezer, thaw it for a bit and then just pour everything into my slow cooker. I honestly didn’t see it saving any time. The thawing time was far more than it would have taken me to chop the onion and measure out a few ingredients but it was nice to have it there and ready to go. I cooked it on Sunday all day and then put it in a container in the fridge with other toppings to eat during the week.
A few weeks ago my supermarket had top round roasts on sale. I bought one, took it home, put it in the ziplock with a bunch of ingredients, zipped it up and put it in the freezer. Easy. I wrote the instructions for cooking with a sharpie on the bag before I put the ingredients in so that I wouldn’t smudge it and I wouldn’t have to write with meat/tomato sauce to lean on. I did add some of this seasoning to the slow cooker too. The best part-the beef was DELICIOUS!! It also didn’t make too much-I’d say enough for between 5-7 burritos depending on how much you put in each.
Beef Burritos in the slow cooker
Ingredients:
- 2lb top round roast
- 2 8oz cans tomato sauce
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp peppercorns
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- taco seasoning to taste
- 1 small can green chilies, drained
Optional Ingredients (to taste):
- sour cream
- grated cheese (don’t use pregrated-that stuff doesn’t melt nearly as well due to preservatives and anti-sticking additives–YUCK!!)
- sliced avocado
- salsa
- burritos
- refried beans
Instructions:
- Write all cooking instructions on a large freezer bag and make sure it won’t smudge.
- Add all ingredients through and including the cider vinegar to the ziplock bag, remove all of the air from the bag and seal. Place in freezer flat to freeze.
- When you’re ready to cook it thaw the bag in some water until no longer frozen. Place contents of bag in the slow cooker and add the taco seasoning and chilies. Cook on low for 7 hours.
- After 7 hours carefully remove the meat and place on a board. Remove any fat and discard it.
- Pour the liquid through a strainer into a bowl, discard the contents of the strainer.
- Add the beef back into the cooker and shred with 2 forks. Pour enough of the strained liquid over the beef to cover it half way and cook on low for an additional 30 minutes.
Then make a burrito how you like it. This time I used beef, beans, a sprinkle of white cheddar and monterey jack, sliced avocado and sour cream. I put the burrito on my panini press to heat it up and melt the cheese and to give the burrito that nice crispy crunch.
16 May 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish
Tags: bacon, bbq sauce, bread, cheddar cheese, grilled chicken
There’s that saying ‘even the best laid plans’……..well that’s what happened last night. I was all set to go home after work and grill chicken, slice avocado, slap some bacon and pesto and cheese on a delicious toasted roll and enjoy a great sandwich for dinner. Not so much. My supermarket didn’t have any more of the rolls I wanted, my avocado had passed it’s ‘edible’ stage and I screwed up the pesto. So that sandwich never happened. It sill sounds really good so I will make it sometime.
What I ended up with instead was DELICIOUS!! Grilled chicken, melty white cheddar, tangy BBQ sauce, crispy bacon and delicious toasted french bread. Really simple yes but really YUM!!!! After one bite I wasn’t sorry the other sandwich hadn’t worked out. BBQ sauce always reminds me of the west for some reason-like John Wayne riding into the sunset shooting his rifle into the sky as he goes. So that’s why I named this sandwhich what I did. Enjoy!!
Cowgirl Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients (for 2 sandwiches):
- 1 large chicken breast (boneless, skinless) about 1/2 lb cut into 2 even 1/4 pieces (give or take with the weight)
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- 6 pieces cooked bacon (2 &1/2 for each sandwich, 1 for the dog 🙂
- white cheddar cheese sliced thin-as much as you want
- Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce-as much as you want
- Pieces of french bread cut in half length-wise or kaiser rolls
Instructions:
- Preheat grill pan or grill or panini press or whatever you’ll use to cook the chicken.
- Season the chicken on both sides with S&P and set aside until the cooking vessel is ready.
- Cook the bacon and set aside (and give that one piece to your dog 🙂
- Cook until about 30 seconds from being done then top with the bbq sauce and then the cheese. Since I used my panini press I closed the lid but let it just hover over the chicken to melt the cheese and heat the sauce.
- Put a little sauce on the bottom piece of bread, top with chicken, place the bacon on top of the chicken, add a little more sauce if you want, and then put the top piece of bread.
- Eat it!
06 May 2013
by sparksfromthekitchen
in Lunch, Main Dish
Tags: chicken, honey, mustard
I really don’t have all that much to write about today. I found the original recipe for this on Pinterest and improved upon it a great deal. It came out great, the chicken was nice and juicy, the honey mustard reduction at the end made a delicious sauce-it was sweet and mustardy with just a hint of the rosemary and white wine. The shallot added a nice level of flavor as well. It’s also a one-pan dish which is a plus in my book. The prep for this is pretty non-existent aside of dicing a shallot so it’s very quick to put together. When the chicken is initially finished cooking the sauce is pretty liquid so I thought reducing it would be a great idea! It wouldn’t be good to just leave all of that yummy flavor in the pan. I was right. The reduction is so so so tasty.
I’ll certainly be making this again. I imagine the chicken would be amazing sliced up on a sandwich or over rice if there are left overs.
Baked Honey Mustard Chicken
Ingredients:
- 1 shallot, diced small
- 2 cloves garlic, diced small
- 1 & 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into even pieces (my package contained 2 pieces so I ended up with 5 smaller portions).
- 2-3 tsp extra virgin olive oil plus 2 more tsp for honey mustard sauce
- 4 tbsp white wine
- 1/4 cup grainy mustard
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 tsp butter
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 400F.
- In a dutch oven (or other stove and oven safe vessel with a lid) large enough to hold the chicken in one even layer add 2 tsp of the olive oil and heat over medium heat. When hot add the shallot and sautee until translucent-about 5-7 minutes. Then add the garlic and sautee for another minute or so. If you need more oil add extra little by little but you want to get some bits on the bottom of the pan so don’t add too much.
- Deglaze the pan with the wine and scrape up the bits. Let the wine reduce a bit. Be careful-the steam is hot.
- Place the chicken pieces into the pan on top of the onion and garlic.
- In a small separate bowl mix together the mustards, honey and additional 2 tsp olive oil. Pour the mixture over the chicken and move the chicken around to be sure all are coated. Place the rosemary sprigs into the sauce.
- Put the lid on the pan and bake for 20 minutes then remove the lid, baste the chicken with the liquid and return the chicken to the oven and cook another 25-30 minutes until it reaches a safe consumption temperature and has browned slightly around the edges.
- Place chicken pieces on a plate, tent with foil and set aside.
- Over medium heat cook the sauce remaining in the pan until it has reduced to half and is thick. Add the butter and mix it through.
- To serve spoon the reduced sauce over the chicken pieces.
Greatly adapted from this recipe at goodlifeeats.com.
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