Baked Honey-Mustard Chicken Bites or Second Time's a Charm.

     Welcome back and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is Baked Honey-Mustard Chicken Bites.

     This is actually a party snack that I make occasionally for my Friday night get-together.
     Very early in this experiment before I had even thought about writing this blog I posted a picture of honey mustard chicken bites on Facebook. The response that I received was strong and a few people asked me to send them the recipe.
After sending out a couple of emails I quickly realized that I was going to have to come up with a more streamlined way of making these recipes accessible to the general public. Thus, I created this blog to address that issue and to allow my experiment to evolve.
     The reason that I sub-titled this "second time's a charm" is because the first I posted a picture of it on Facebook was the first time I made it, and, like many recipes there was a certain amount of trial and error involved in making it and getting it to turn out the way I thought it should. The first time I made this I cut the chicken into large squares and I used the wrong Pillsbury dough which had to be rolled out and didn't want to stay rolled out. What this lead to was a piece of chicken with a piece of dough stuck to it. While it still tasted good it was a little visually off-putting. The first solution that I found was to cut the chicken into smaller rectangular pieces so that the diameter is smaller and the ends of the chicken exceed the width of the dough. The second solution was to buy the Pillsbury crescent roll dough that comes in a tube and can be unrolled into a sheet of dough. Once you have this type of dough it's easy to cut it into 24 uniform rectangles. When you are ready to assemble put the dough in front of you so that the rectangles are arranged vertically and then put the chicken on the dough so that it is oriented horizontally.
I Know this sounds simple but the first time I made this recipe it gave me fits.
By the second time I made this recipe I had learned from my mistakes and everything went much more smoothly, the results can be seen in the picture above.
     Now that I've covered the pitfalls that I've encountered let's take a look at today's snack.


                       Baked Honey-Mustard Chicken bites

Prep time   10 Min.     Cook time   20 Min.     Serves   24

Ingredients

8 Oz. refrigerated crescent roll dough

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 24 equal size pieces

1/4 cup honey mustard

Dipping Sauce

2 Tbs. honey mustard

1-1/2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce

2 tsp chives, fresh, minced


Instructions

Preheat oven to 375f. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unroll dough and cut into 24 strips; place strips vertically in front of you. Top each strip with a piece of chicken and brush chicken with some mustard; roll dough around chicken (chicken will stick out on the ends).

Place chicken bites on prepared baking sheet. Bake until dough is golden brown and chicken is cooked through, about 12 to 16 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Meanwhile combine mustard and soy sauce in a small bowl; sprinkle with chives.

This recipe yields 1 chicken bite per serving.


     This is an easy to make party snack that will have a broad appeal and will get a lot of compliments. As always, if you try this recipe check back and let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Spicy Beef Tacos or Always On The Run.


  

Pork Piccata or Eureka.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is Pork Piccata.

     This dinner should more accurately be titled "Pork Piccata with Garlicky Spinach" since it is pork and spinach cooked separately in one skillet.
     Early in my diet I was looking through recipes online and I was trying to find some new and interesting recipes that might challenge my cooking skills and offer new tastes and flavors. As I narrowed my search I selected "only dinners" followed by "only pork" and there on the screen was a list of over 500 pork dinner recipes.
Over the next hour I clicked on different recipes solely based on the interestingness of their names and printed the ones that sounded good. As I got a little more than halfway through the list I saw an interesting name that I had never heard before - Pork Piccata. When I clicked on it a picture popped up on the screen, a picture of medallions of pork nestled on a plate and covered with a light sauce and dotted with capers. Next to the pork was wilted spinach with minced pieces of garlic.
What had I found, this looked delicious and the instructions seemed easy enough to follow. I clicked print and added it to my growing stack of recipes.
     Fast forward a couple of weeks and I am going through my stack of recipes, as I flip one more sheet of paper there it its again - pork piccata.
Wow, that staged picture looked delicious and what's that ingredient; capers, I've never had capers. I decided right there that I was going to make this dinner.
The next day I loaded my shopping list in my phone and off to the store I went.
I got pork, spinach, lemon juice, and yes I even found those little caper things.
When I got home I launched right into the recipe, I prepped everything and started cooking. As I went through the instructions everything was going well; there were no real difficult steps, everything looked like the picture, and the smell was becoming intoxicating. The recipe was coming together well so I threw together a salad and baked a loaf of mozzarella bread.
     The moment of truth. We sat down to eat and there it was, the pork was tender and moist and the sauce with those little capers, so lemony and delicious.
Next was the spinach with the garlic and a hint of lemon. Eureka! I didn't know exactly what it was but I had found it. This recipe was full of unexpected flavors that the picture just couldn't convey. I was instantly hooked and I still look forward to making this dinner at least once a month.
     Piccata is an Italian term that refers to a way of cooking. It means sliced , sauteed, an served in a sauce containing butter, lemon, and spices.
It can be applied to chicken or veal as easily as it's applied to pork here.
Capers are simply the edible flower buds from the caper bush that are picked before they bloom and are pickled in vinegar and salt. If they are allowed to bloom they would become large white to pinkish-white flowers. The idea of cooking the spinach is not to overly fry it but to heat it just to the point that the garlic is Incorporated and the leaves have wilted enough to release their flavor.
With all of that in mind let's take a look at today's dinner.


                                           Pork Piccata

Prep time   10 Min.     Cook time   10 Min.   Serves   4

Ingredients

3 Tbs. all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp black pepper, divided

1 pound lean pork tenderloin, trimmed, cut into 16 thin slices

2-1/2 tsp olive oil, divided

3/4 cup canned chicken broth, reduced sodium

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tsp cornstarch

2 tsp butter

1 Tbs. capers, drained

1/2 tsp minced garlic

12 Oz. fresh spinach, baby variety


Instructions

In a small bowl combine flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper; sprinkle over both sides of pork, shaking off excess.

Heat 2 tsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork (in 2 batches if necessary) and cook until just cooked through and golden, about 1 1/2 minutes per side; set aside on a serving plate and cover to keep warm.

In a cup whisk together broth, lemon juice, cornstarch, 1/3 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper until blended. Pour into same skillet and whisk to combine with pan drippings; simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat; stir in butter until melted. Stir in capers and spoon over pork; cover to keep warm.

Heat remaining 1/2 tsp in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring until fragrent, about 30 seconds. Add spinach to skillet in batches, tossing mixture and adding more spinach as some of it cooks down; cook , tossing, until wilted and tender, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 tsp salt, a pinch of pepper and serve with pork.

This recipe yeilds 4 slices of pork, about 3 Tbs. sauce and 1/2 cup spinach per serving.


     This is an amazing dinner and if you only make one of the recipes that I post here, this is the one I would recommend you try. As always, if you try this recipe check back here and let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Baked Honey-Mustard Chicken Bites or Second Times a Charm.

Chicken Marsala or The Things We Do For Others.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog. Today's dinner is Chicken Marsala.

     If you are reading this the odds are good that you are a woman, the odds are also good that you are a wife and/or mother. If you fit into any of these groups you probably know a lot about doing things for others. I'm not going to give you a list of examples but I do want to say that you have my respect. My wife is a wonderful person and she does many things for me , and me being the "mister wonderful" that I try to be, I try to do nice things for her.
     What does all of this have to do with chicken marsala? Stick with me a little longer and I'll explain. In a couple of previous posts I told you about how we like to go to restaurants and how I like chicken parmesan and stuffed grape leaves and how I had to find recipes that let me eat these things and still maintain my diet.
Well, one of Ellen's favorite restaurant dinners is chicken marsala.
The cool thing about doing the dinner planning, shopping, and cooking is that I get to choose what we eat but if I want to do something nice for Ellen I find recipes that reproduce her favorite dinners as accurately as possible and chicken marsala is at the top of her list.
     One of the restaurants that we used to frequent made an excellent chicken marsala and when we went there it was the only thing Ellen would order.
I have made chicken marsala from a box a few times in the past but when I checked the nutritional values they didn't fit into our diets, so what am I to do if I want to do something nice for my wife? I find a chicken marsala recipe that tastes great and works with our diets. I believe that I've found a recipe that does both.
     although I was initially apprehensive because I didn't have a lot of experience at making sauces I quickly found that this is a very easy dinner to make.
Chicken marsala is basically chicken, mushrooms, and a marsala sauce.
Marsala is a sauce made with marsala wine, marsala wine is a fortified wine similar to Port or Sherry and is generally used in cooking although like Port it is occasionally drank as an aperitif. If you are reluctant to try cooking with wine this is a great place to start. Although we are talking about wine you generally won't find marsala in the wine section of your local grocery store. It's usually stocked in the vinegar section with balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and cooking sherry.
     So, now that we've covered all of the basics of chicken marsala, let's take a look at the recipe.


                                        Chicken Marsala

Prep time   15 min.     Cook time   18 min.     Serves   4

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil

1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, four 4 oz. pieces

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup table wine, marsala variety

1-1/4 cups canned beef broth, reduced-sodium, divided

1-1/2 Tbs. cornstarch


Instructions

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute' until tender and releasing liquid, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place chicken on a plate and season both sides with thyme, salt and pepper. Move mushrooms to outer edge of skillet once cooked. Place chicken in center of skillet and saute' until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Add wine to skillet; simmer 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup of broth and simmer uncovered until chicken is tender and cooked through, about 8 minutes.

Dissolve cornstarch in remaining 1/2 cup of broth in a small bowl; add to skillet. Simmer until sauce thickens, stirring constantly and incorporating mushrooms into the liquid, about 1 minute. Serve chicken with mushroom sauce spooned over top.

This recipe yields about 3 ounces of chicken and 1/3 cup of sauce per serving.


     Chicken marsala is usually served with a spaghetti type of pasta but if you want to try something different think about serving it with rice. I prefer rice pilaf but you could use white rice, long-grain and wild rice, or even spanish rice.
If you are making this to do something special for someone, serve it with something that they would like.
     Thank you for checking out this dinner and as always if you try this recipe check back here and let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Pork Piccata or Eureka.
   

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry or Time For A Change.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog. Today's dinner is Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry.

     I imagine that we all have a varied diet, especially when we dine out.
There are many different cuisines to choose from, American, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Middle Eastern and so on, but when it comes to cooking at home we tend to stay in our comfort zones. You can probably cook most of the standard fare, probably cook a couple Italian dishes, and maybe you can make a decent taco but how often do you change things up and try to cook something completely different?
I know that I've posted a couple of dinners that are outside your normal cooking routine, today I want to change directions and introduce Chinese cooking into your repertoire.
     You may have tried some of the pre-packaged  La Choy dinners or the new Wanchai Ferry dinners in a bag but that is not what I'm talking about.
I've been stir frying chicken and vegetables over angel hair pasta for twenty years but that also is not what I'm talking about. What I am talking about is real ginger root and soy sauce, high temperature sizzle Chinese cooking.
     I think that the beauty of good food lies in simplicity. Whether it's Italian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, or Asian most of the really delicious foods that you've eaten where made with only a few ingredients. Beef and broccoli stir fry is a great example of this because beyond the title ingredients it really is only a few more ingredients, cornstarch, soy sauce, and ginger root.
     In this recipe cornstarch may seem odd and unnecessary but don't skip it, it adds a layer of complexity of flavor to the beef that you really should experience.
Soy sauce practically speaks for itself, it's the salt and pepper of Chinese cooking. Ginger root has a wonderful flavor that works well with broccoli and gives the whole dinner an added dimension but make sure you peel off the outer skin.
The one thing you won't find in this recipe or any others that I post is MSG. Mono-sodium glutamate is a flavor enhancer that is used to make bad food taste good, if you follow this recipe you won't need it. If you want a little more flavor try adding a little more soy sauce or ginger root or maybe a dash of pepper.
     A great way to experiment with this dinner is in the way you serve it.
The standard way of serving Chinese food is over white rice, while I like the traditional approach I'd like to suggest that you try it in bibb lettuce as a wrap with or without rice.

     So let's take a look at today's dinner.


                                Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

Prep time   12 min.     Cook time   12 min.     Serves   4

Ingredients

2 1/2 Tbs. cornstarch, divided

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 pound lean trimmed sirloin beef, thinly sliced against the grain

2 tsp canola oil

1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided

5 cups broccoli florets, about a 12 oz. bag

1 Tbs. ginger root, fresh, minced

2 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup water


Instructions

On a plate, combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch and salt; add beef and toss to coat.

Heat oil in a large nonstick wok or large deep skillet over medium-high heat.
Add beef and stir fry until lightly browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes; transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon.

Add 1/2 cup broth to same pan; stir to loosen any bits on bottom of pan.
Add broccoli; cover and cook, tossing occasionally and sprinkling with a tablespoon of water if needed, until broccoli is almost crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.
Uncover pan and add ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes; stir fry until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In a cup, stir together soy sauce, remaining 1/2 cup broth, remaining 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch, and water until blended; stir into pan. Reduce heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer; simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Return beef and accumulated juices to pan; toss to coat. Serve over rice or noodles.

This recipe yields about 1 1/4 cups beef and broccoli per serving.


     If you've never made Chinese food from scratch this is a great recipe to start with. If you are a fan of Chinese cooking I will have more recipes in the future.
As always, if you try this dinner, check back here and let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Chicken Marsala or The Things We Do For Others.

Crock Pot Chicken, Mushroom, and Brown Rice Casserole or A Few of My Favorite Things.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog. Today's dinner is Crock Pot Chicken, Mushroom, and Brown Rice Casserole.

    
     A few weeks ago I wrote about my Thursdays and cooking with a crock pot (slow cooker), today I'm writing about another Thursday crock pot dinner.
     One of my favorite things about using a crock pot is that there is very little prep work, you simply cut up your ingredients, measure your herbs and spices and throw it all in, set the time and temperature and leave it. This recipe does have one extra step in that it requires you to brown the chicken thighs before putting them in the crock pot. This is a step that you don't want to skip as the browning process really brings the flavor out of the chicken.
     Another of my favorite things about using a crock pot is that they are portable.
I recently made this dinner and took it to a pot-luck, everyone enjoyed it and I received a lot of compliments. This dinner is a definite winner and is one of my favorite crock pot recipes.
     The last of my favorite things about cooking with a crock pot is the way that it makes the house smell delicious. The one thing I would recommend you do is arrange your day so that you get home before everyone else and watch your family's expressions as they walk through the door. The smell of food cooking in a crock pot will change any one's mood and evoke a Pavlovian response.
     Now that you know about my favorite things about cooking with a crock pot let's take a look at my favorite crock pot dinner.


           Chicken, Mushrooms, and Brown Rice Casserole

Prep time   15 min.     Cook time   426 min.     Serves   8

Ingredients

2 sprays, cooking spray

8 uncooked boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 2 1/2oz each

2 cups canned chicken broth, reduced sodium

1/2 pound cremini (baby portobella) mushrooms, sliced

1 cup leeks, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced

1 cup carrots, thinly sliced

1 cup celery, thinly sliced

3/4 cup uncooked brown rice, medium-grain (such as brown Arborio

2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper


Instructions

Coat a large skillet with cooking spray; warm over medium heat. Add the chicken thighs and brown, turning once, about 6 minutes; set aside.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a 5 to 6 quart crock pot, nestle the chicken thighs in the mixture. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours.

This recipe yields 1 chicken thigh and about 2/3 cup rice-vegetable mixture per serving.


     This is a delicious, easy to make dinner that will please the whole family and is great as leftovers or lunches the next day. As always, if you try this recipe, check back here and let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry or Time For A Change.