Butter Chicken

I made one of our favourites for dinner tonight. However, it is high in butter and cream, so I tend to not make this recipe very often. Not to mention it is a little more time consuming than many of my other recipes, but extremely delicious nonetheless. I was sent this recipe through an e-mail subscription from www.allrecipes.com just over a year ago, and we have loved it ever since.

Butter Chicken
Makes: 6 servings
Total time: 1 hour

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/141169/easy-indian-butter-chicken?mvtid_tab=b


Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, divided
• 1 oncion, minced
• 1 Tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 can tomato sauce (15oz)
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp indian masala
• 1 1/2 lb boneless,skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp indian masala

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. Melt a few tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic, cook until onion caramelizes to a dark brown, about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat along with tomato sauce, heavy cream, salt, cayenne pepper, and indian masala. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir in caramelized onions.
4. While sauce is simmering, toss cubed chicken breast with olive oil until coated, then season with indian masala and spread out onto a baking sheet.
5. Bake chicken in preheated oven until no longer pink in the centre, about 12 minutes. Once done, add chicken to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes before serving with Basmati rice.

Please feel free to attempt, tweak, and enjoy this delicious recipe.


Kage

Thai Sweet Chili Chicken

A great place to pick up a new recipe is your local grocery store. Often an individual grocery store will print a flyer to advertise some of the products they offer, which often include recipes. Sometimes they'll provide recipe cards in the entrance of their store, or even down the aisle of a key ingredient they hope to promote. The other day I picked up a couple of these recipe cards from my local Sobeys as they were promoting Knorr products. This evening I made the Thai Sweet Chili Chicken recipe and it turned out to be fairly flavourful and simple, a great combination.

Thai Sweet Chili Chicken
Serves: 4
Total Time: 25 min.


Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 pkgs Knorr Sidekicks, Thai Sweet Chili Noodles
• 2 cups snow peas, halved
• 1 can (250g) sliced water chestnuts, drained

Directions

1. Combine soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and oil. Toss with chicken.
2. Heat mixture in skillet on high and cook chicken about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package. Stir in snow peas, chicken, and water chestnuts during last 3 minutes of cook time. Continue cooking until chicken is done.

Please feel free to attempt, tweak, and enjoy this simple, spicy recipe.


Kage

Crunchy Chicken Nuggets

I found this fun recipe for chicken nuggets using cheerios instead of bread crumbs the other day and it turned out to be quite delicious. I typically do not enjoy breading chicken since it always makes my fingers really gross and goopy, but today I used a bag, like shake 'n' bake. I don't know why I haven't done that before. It's so much easier, less of a mess, and I don't find breadcrumbs under my fingernails during dessert.

Crunchy Chicken Nuggets
Makes: 4 Servings
Total Time: 40 min.

http://www.hellocereallovers.com/recipe/20/


Ingredients

•  2 cups Cheerios cereal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp mustard
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400°F and line a cookie sheet with foil.
2. Finely crush cereal in a large ziploc bag. Add salt and pepper to crushed cereal. Set aside.
3. In medium bowl, stir together milk, honey, and mustard until blended. Dip chicken into milk mixture and add to cereal mixture. Seal Ziploc bag tight and shake to coat chicken with cereal mixture.
4. Place chicken on cookie sheet and drizzle with melted butter.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden and chicken is no longer pink in center. 

Please feel free to attempt, tweak, and enjoy these homemade chicken nuggets.


Kage

Lemon Chicken Piccata

Tonight I made one of our favourites: Lemon Chicken Piccata. It's not a very complicated dish, but it does require a little more effort than some of my other dishes, which is why I usually like to save this dish for my days off.

If I remember correctly, I think this was the first main dish I made after my husband and I returned from our honeymoon; boy am I glad this one worked out the first time. Although, I may have set the bar a little high for myself, because I now feel like those real simple dinners like chicken nuggets or hot dogs don't really qualify as dinner. There have certainly been times when I have been stuck on dinner ideas and my husband has to remind me that fish sticks and french fries are great too. Today however, was my day off. So I took advantage of my time and made something I knew would make my husband smile, no matter what kind of day he had.

Lemon Chicken Piccata
Time: 50 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-chicken-piccata/


Ingredients

• 3 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, or as needed
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 4 Tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 4 Tbsp minced parsley 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200° F. Place serving platter into the oven to warm.
2. Season chicken breast pieces with salt and pepper to taste and dredge them in flour. Shake off excess flour. Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet; pan-fry chicken pieces until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Work in batches and do not crowd skillet, adding oil as needed. Place chicken pieces onto warmed platter in the oven. When finished with all the chicken, drain most of the oil from the skillet, leaving a thin coating on the surface of the pan.
3. Cook and stir minced garlic in skillet until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Pour in chicken broth. Scrape and dissolve any brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Stir in lemon slices and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces to about 2/3 cup, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add lemon juice and capers; simmer until the sauce is reduced and slightly thickened, about 5 minutes more. Drop butter into the skillet and swirl it into the sauce by tilting the skillet until the butter is melted and incorporated. Add the parsley, remove from heat and serve over chicken pieces and rice.

Since we usually enjoy this over rice I double the recipe for the sauce, because the rice tends to absorb much of it. The recipe above is the doubled recipe, so if you decide to serve this dish over pasta, or simply as larger pieces of chicken I recommend halving the above recipe for the sauce. Please feel free to attempt, tweak, and enjoy my first official dish. 



Kage

Honey Sesame Chicken

The other day we had some friends over for dinner to celebrate a birthday. However, I knew I wasn't going to get home from work until about 7, so I didn't want to spend much time preparing dinner. Yet, I also wanted to prepare something a little healthier and impressive than KD. Therefore, I pulled my handy dandy Crock Pot out of the cupboard and made Honey Sesame Chicken, another Pintrest find. It took no time at all to prepare, and once we finished work all I had left to do was prepare some rice, shred the chicken, and pull out the prepared salad and fresh veggies.

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken
Makes: 6 Servings
Total Time: 4 hours & 15 min

http://www.chef-in-training.com/2012/04/crock-pot-honey-sesame-chicken/

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lbs boneless chicken thighs (or breasts)
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup honey
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp diced onion
• 4 Tbsp ketchup
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
• Sesame seeds

Directions

1. Season both sides of chicken and place in crockpot.
2. In a small bowl combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Pour over chicken.
3. Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours, or on high for 1 1/2 to2 1/2 hours, until chicken is cooked through.
4. Shred chicken with a fork. Serve on rice, topped with sesame seeds. 

 Please feel free to attempt, tweak, and enjoy this simple yet savoury recipe as I have.



Kage 
 

Healthy Taco Salad

I really need to thank Pintrest. Most of my more exciting finds have been discovered on that fabulous website. My husband often accuses me of being addicted to Pintrest. Is that even possible? I say no. I don't know about you, but I know I can't get enough of it. Besides, he only enjoys the discoveries.

Today, I want to share my husband's personal favourite, a Pintrest find of course. We call it "Taco Salad", but it's more like a chicken salad with taco flavouring. The link I found on Pintrest took me to yet another blog, where she calls it "Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad". I like this particular dish because it's easy to make, extremely delicious, always a huge hit, and super healthy. I don't feel guilty going back for seconds, and when my husband doles up his third portion, I am happy knowing he's getting so many nutrients. 


Taco Salad: Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad
servings: 6
Time: 15 min.
 

http://www.greensnchocolate.com/2012/05/southwestern-chopped-chicken-salad.html

Ingredients
     For the Salad:

• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 can black beans, rinsed
• 2 cans yellow corn (or 2 cups frozen corn, thawed)
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 2 avocados, diced
• 1 head of iceberg lettuce, washed and chopped
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 3 cups (approx.) crushed tortilla chips

     For the Dressing:

• 1/2 cup mayonaise
• 2/3 cup greek yogurt (plain or vanilla)
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 package ranch seasoning

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine all the salad ingredients together, excluding the tortilla chips
2. In a small bowl combine all the dressing ingredients together
3. Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine
4. Dish salad onto serving plates and top with tortilla chips

Since I usually make this for just the two of us, I wait to add the tortilla chips once the salads are on individual plates to prevent the chips in the leftover salad from going soggy. My husband certainly appreciates this.

Please attempt, tweak, and enjoy this delicious dish as we have! And I won't tell the kids it's actually good for them.





Kage