Hello, again!

Let's just say, something had to give, and this blog was it. Now that the insanity has passed, it's time for me to get back on the wagon of eating at home, saving money, and finding creative new recipes...just in time for the garden to start producing in bulk.

We had some lettuce volunteer very early this year and let it grow, just to see if it would taste good. Lettuce wraps seemed the ideal recipe to try, with leaves that look like this:

My sister-in-law had mentioned making Lettuce Chicken Wraps from PF Chang's recipe, but after looking at it, I didn't have most of the key ingredients. A little more searching found this recipe, but again, I didn't have all the essentials. So, I improvised. I substituted white radish and turnip for the water chestnut -- YUM! And, the sauce wasn't exactly how they said to make it but it was delicious. From start to eating, including picking the veggies from outside, this meal took about 35 minutes.

Ingredients:

8 large lettuce leaves

2-3 Tablespoons canola oil

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed

3-4 white radishes

1 small turnip

1 small onion

6 baby carrots, or one big carrot

1/4 cup almond slivers

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 Tablespoon soy sauce

4 Tablespoons white vinegar

3 teaspoons EVOO

1. Wash the lettuce and lay flat.

2. Prep work: Cut thawed boneless skinless chicken breasts into thin strips. Dice carrots into matchsticks. Dice 1 small onion. Peel and slice 3 white radishes and 1 small turnip.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet. Stir fry the chicken for 3-4 minutes until cooked through. Drain.

4. Return skillet to heat. Add garlic, turnip, radishes, onions, carrots, almonds, pepper and ginger to the chicken. Stir fry for about 5 minutes, until radishes and onions soften and almonds start to turn golden brown.

5. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the garlic powder, red pepper flakes, vinegar, olive oil and soy sauce.

6. To serve,  lay a lettuce leaf on each plate. Top with a spoon full of the chicken mixture. Spoon the sauce over the chicken mixture. Roll up, burrito style.

My girls don't like anything spicy, so their lettuce wraps had Western dressing on them instead of the red pepper sauce. Also for the girls' sake, they had asked for oven-baked french fries. That's not what I would normally serve with this, but a peaceful dinner is a beautiful thing. 

The only bad part about this meal: no leftovers for lunch today.

Ways to improve: Add 2 tablespoons teryaki sauce to the sauce mixture. Add fresh ginger instead of ginger "powder". Add more almonds.

Orange-Chicken Rice Bowl

These days, my priorities in the kitchen are:

1. easy
2. cheap
3. nutritious
4. yummy

This Orange-Chicken Rice Bowl recipe from Kraft Foods fits all those priorities. It takes about 30 minutes, including prep. The flavor is sweet enough that my girls love it, yet flavorful for the adult tastes. To make it seem more like take-out, we cheat and pick up a few egg rolls from Ray's (local grocery store).

Mexican Corn-Chicken Chowder

My favorite type of cooking is piecing together three or four different recipes and creating something new, hoping the result is tasty enough for everyone in our family to enjoy it. This weekend's invention was a definite hit.

Mexican Corn-Chicken Chowder

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 Tablespoon cumin
1/2 Tablespoon southwest seasoning or chili powder
10-12 splashes of hot sauce
1 can cream-style corn
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups Monterey jack/cheddar cheese mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 diced bell pepper (or Anaheim, jalapeno, or banana pepper for added heat)
1 diced tomato

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion, chicken, cumin, and southwest seasoning. Cook until chicken is cooked thoroughly, about 6 minutes.
2. Add corn, creamed corn, cheese, sour cream, diced pepper, and milk. Stir until mixed thoroughly. Reduce heat to medium.
   
3. Add hot sauce and additional cumin or southwest seasoning to achieve desired spiciness.
4. Continue cooking until heated thoroughly, about 10-15 minutes.
5. Just before serving, stir in chopped tomato, if desired.
   
6. Serve topped with tortilla chips and extra cheese.
   

Parmesan Chicken for Valentine's Da

For our Valentine's Day lunch, we had Parmesan Chicken, garlic green beans, and lemon-butter fried potatoes. YUM! The chicken recipe comes from my good friend, Cydnee:

Baked Parmesan Chicken
4-6 chicken tenders, boneless and skinless
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

1. Mix together mayo, cheese and garlic powder.
2. Spread mayo mixture over each chicken tender. Then coat with bread crumbs.
3. Place on a greased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

To make it an extra special day for Katie, we let her have full rein on decorating the dining room table. I gave her a book that showed the "proper" way to set a table and off she went. It was complete with a white tablecloth, red ribbon, roses, and candles, a chocolate heart for each of us and small Valentine's gift from the girls' V-day stash. It was lovely and, more importantly, made my HGTV-girl so proud of herself! I'll try to post pictures later.

W is for White Chili

Lunch today rocked, simply stated. We've been trying our best to not eat out, with Chinese food being the biggest temptation. We all love Chinese buffets, but it costs us about $30 to go, now that there are 5 paying to eat. So, today, Jay watched the girls and I prepared some good, fried, authentic-ish, homemade Chicken Lo Mein, Fried Wontons, and Crab Rangoon. YUM!

Here's hoping supper's White Chili (adapted from here) will meet or exceed lunch's yummy-ness!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 onions, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 boneless chicken breasts, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 anaheim peppers, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans, undrained
• 1 can red beans, undrained (just because I didn't have two cans of white beans)
  
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
  

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook chicken until cooked through. Remove from saucepan.
2. Add another tablespoon of olive oil Add the onions and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes, or until onions are tender.
   
3. Add the chicken, chicken broth, green chile peppers, cilntro, oregano and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to low and add the beans. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until heated thoroughly.
   
5. Add sour cream and stir until mixed thoroughly.
6. Ladle into individual bowls and top with the cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.

(Post supper report: Not too spicy for the girls, good flavor for us adults. Definite repeat.)

No fork allowed

Ah, my secret tool, the trick to get kids to eat anything you want...make it crazy. For us, "crazy" can be as easy as no forks allowed. They get a kick out of it when I tell them, "whatever you do, do NOT use a fork. NO, NO FORKS! You MUST eat with your hands! You MUST, I say!"

Our No-Fork-Fridays usually consist of cherry tomatoes, cut up broccoli and cauliflower, sliced apples or peaches, grapes, crackers, cubed cheese, homemade fries and oven-baked chicken nuggets. I put it all on fancy serving trays in the middle of the table and let the kids make their own plates, with the requirement that they take at least one of each item. Then add salad dressing, ketchup, and barbecue sauce for dipping.

The other part of this secret: I like it as much as they do!

Oven Nuggets and Fries

I hate McDonalds.

No, I don't mean in a corporate-you-kill-small-businesses sort of way. I just can't stand their food. And thankfully, neither can my girls.

But, we still love the occasional chicken nuggets and fries meal. This is the easiest and healthiest way I've found to make this kids-favorite. NOTE: If you want the meal to be done at the same time, make the fries first, because they take longer to cook.

Chicken nuggets

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasted, cut into 3-inch pieces
• 2 cups flour
• 2-3 tablespoons of seasoning salt
• 4 Tablespoons of butter

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Slice the butter into tablespoon sized pieces and place in a 13x9 casserole dish. Place the dish in the oven until the butter melts, about 4 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix the flour and seasoning salt (or seasonings of your chosing) in a gallon sized ziploc bag.
3. Put the chicken in the bag.
4. Seal it.
5. Check to make sure it's sealed.
6. Check again.
7. Hand the chicken bag to your child and let them shake it until the chicken is thoroughly coated. (Or shake it yourself, but then you lose super-mom points.)
8. Take the dish out of the oven and place the chicken in the butter. Turn the chicken once, so all pieces are coated.
9. Put the dish back in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (165 degrees internal temp).

And, while you're heating the house up for chicken nuggets, why not make some ...

French Fries

• 5-6 potatoes, washed and cut into strips
• 2-3 Tablespoons EVOO
• 1 ranch dressing packet, optional

1. Pour the EVOO into a gallon-sized ziploc bag.
2. Add the potatoes.
3. Seal the bag. Make sure. Check a third time.
4. Shake the bag until the potatoes are evenly coated with the EVOO.
5. Open the bag, add the ranch dressing mix.
6. Seal the bag and shake again, until potatoes are coated.
7. Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet
8. Bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees, turning halfway through.

Chicken quesadillas

The Menu says chinese food tonight. Translation: I'm making the fried rice posted last week.

But if that doesn't suit your tastebuds, try this.

1. Preheat the oven to broil.
2. Dice up some of that leftover chicken from the beer-butt chicken.
3. Saute some diced onions in butter, then add the chicken until warm.
4. Place flour tortillas on a baking sheet.
5. Spoon the chicken and onion mixture on the tortillas and spread evenly.
6. Top with cheddar cheese or colby-jack.
7. Place a second tortilla on top.
8. Broil on low until cheese is just melted or until tortillas start to turn golden brown.
9. Put a dollop of sour cream on each quesadilla and enjoy!

Tip: use a pizza cutter to cut the quesadillas into wedges, to make it easier for the kiddos to eat.

Beer Butt Chicken

I love making beer-butt chicken. Not only does it make delicious meat and enough for multiple meals, it also does all the cooking outside. It does use a significant amount of propane (yes, we'd make Mr. Hill proud!) but it is SO worth it.

I am a cheater. I bought the can holder to make it easier to grill the chicken, and I just use the instructions that came with it. If you don't have any beer available or don't want to use it, I've heard you can substitute a can of soda.

Me? I like it the original way. And so, here is the original beer-butt chicken recipe, thanks to This Site:

THE ORIGINAL BEER BUTT CHICKEN Recipe

Beer Butt Chicken Recipe courtesy of Grilling America, by Rick Brown (2003 ReganBooks).
(Rick Browne is also host of public television’s “Barbecue America”)

DRY RUB 1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. savory or oregano
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. paprika
1 TBS. sea salt –ground
1 tsp. dry yellow mustard

BASTING SPRAY
1 cup apple cider
2 TBS. olive oil
2 TBS. balsamic vinegar
6 oz. warm beer

To cook a large 4-5 pound chicken with indirect heat on a charcoal or gas grill.
Cooking time 1 1/4 – 2 hours.
Use a grill with lid large enough to cook a chicken standing upright.

Mix the rub in a small bowl until it’s well incorporated. Wash, dry and season the chicken generously inside and out with the rub. Work the mixture well into the skin and under the skin wherever possible. Place in medium bowl, cover and set aside at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

Using a 12-oz. an of your favorite beer, pour out half the contents into a spray bottle, add the cider, olive oil, vinegar and set aside. Take the beer can in one hand and insert it into the ChickCAN™

(The beverage can may be used alone, with the bird’s legs creating a pedestal)

OPTIONAL: You may add Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, minced garlic, onions, etc. to liquid. You can also use fruit juices, colas, or wine instead of beer.

Place the chicken over the ChickCANTM rack and beer can and place on the grill over indirect heat. To prevent flare ups on the grill place the rack into a disposable aluminum pie pan and add 1/4 cup of water

CAUTION: “Cook with indirect heat”! This method of cooking chicken does two things: first, it helps drain off the fat as the chicken cooks, second, the beverage steams the inside of the chicken, while the outside is cooked by the BBQ heat, making it the most moist bird you’ve ever laid yer eyes, or gums, on. Some people put a small potato or carrot in the neck opening of the chicken to keep the steam inside.

For Charcoal Grills: Place coals on one side of barbecue grill, cook chicken over the other side. Add 6-8 coals every 30 min.

For Multiple Burner Gas Grills: Turn gas to medium on one burner, place chicken over an unheated burner.

For oven use: Place in a disposable pie pan and add 1/4 cup of water. Cook at 350°.

Cook for 1 1/4- to 2 hours. During the cooking time spray the chicken all around with the basting spray several times. The chicken is done when it is dark golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 180o in the thigh. Carefully remove the bird on the ChickCAN rack, and place it on heatproof counter top to rest for 5-10 minutes. Remove the chicken from the beer can with tongs while holding the rack with an oven mitt.

WARNING That aluminum can, and the liquid in it, is very hot and can burn you.

Give the chicken one more spritz of the basting spray and then carve. Serve and enjoy!