Chicken Teriyaki

I know, it's been forever since I have posted.  I have been busy and when I am busy I don't have time to find new recipes and just stick to the same old basics.  Eventually we get bored and then I go and search, which is what I did this week.  In the chicken department we usually eat boneless skinless chicken-and by usually I mean almost exclusively.  I am always on the lookout for a way to make this cut of chicken juicy without adding a lot of  sugar or fat.  Which is why I was excited when I found this recipe for chicken teriyaki.    It was simple yet flavorful with minimal added sugar or fat.  I cut down the cooking time as my chicken was pounded very thin but adjust so that the chicken is fully cooked.  I also substituted the fresh garlic and ginger for the frozen cubes.  I didn't get a picture before it was all gone.

4 Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 C. Teriyaki Sauce
1 Tbls. Vegetable Oil
4 Cloves Garlic, crushed
1 tsp. Ginger, minced or 1 frozen cube

Place the chicken in a pan.  Combine remaining ingredients and let the chicken marinate for an hour at least.  Preheat the over to 350.  Bake chicken uncovered for 10 minutes.  Turn chicken and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink inside.  

Pesto Chicken

I made a really yummy pesto chicken last week. I took pictures and had planned on putting them up later in the week and then I dropped my laptop. Bye bye all unpublished pictures. Oh well. You'll have to use your imagination for this one.

1 recipe of Dairy Free Nut Free Pesto
Chicken for grilling(I used some pounded boneless skinless chicken breasts and some legs and thighs)

Madinade the chicken in the pesto for several hours or overnight. Perheat grill to medium high heat. Grill to your liking. I grilled the boneless skinless breasts for about 3 minutes per side. The chicken with a bone was about 20 minutes per side.
Really good served with rice.

Spicy Grilled Chicken

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just began working full time out of the house and haven't had much time to cook or post. I made this grilled chicken recipe last week and we loved it. I didn't use the lime zest as we didn't have one. It had a slight kick to it but not overwhelming that the kids couldn't eat it.

1/3 C. vegetable oil
2 Tbls. lime juice
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves cut into cubes

Mix the oil, lime juice, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Add chicken, and turn to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour, turning occasionally.
Preheat grill for medium-high heat.
Lightly oil the grill grate. Drain and discard marinade. Grill chicken for 6 to 8 minutes each side, or until juices run clear.

Crazy Chicken Marinade

I came across this chicken marinade and it sounded good so I figured I'd give it a try. It was really good. This one would go well in a pita with some homemade hummus. I found that there was not a lot of marinade left to boil so I skipped that step. Otherwise aside from cutting the chicken into cubes I stuck to the original recipe.

4 limes, juiced or 6 Tbls. lime juice
2 Tbls. Olive oil
2 Tbls. Chili powder
1 tsp. Sage, dried
1 tsp. Oregano, dried
1 tsp. Ground Cumin
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into chunks

Whisk the lime juice, olive oil, chili powder, sage, oregano, and cumin together in a small bowl. Marinade the chicken, coating evenly and tossing every 30 minutes for a total of an hour and a half. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat and lightly oil the grate. Remove the chicken to a platter and allow to come to room temperature. Grill the chicken on medium-high heat basting with the marinade remaining marinade until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, 8 to 10 minutes per side.

Pistachio Crusted Chicken Breasts

I found this recipe in the Passover By Design cookbook. I never got around to making it on Passover but did try it after. The recipe is for chicken tenders on skewers but I was too lazy to make it that way so I kept it simple. The original recipe also has a raspberry sauce to serve it with but I wasn't interested in serving it with a sweet sauce and knew nobody in my family would enjoy that. I served it with a mayonnaise based sauce but any sauce/dressing will do. It was a big hit and I will be making it again both during the year and on Passover.

4 Bonesless skinless chicken breasts
Salt
Pepper
1 C. White Wine
1 C. Shelled Pistachio, coarsely chopped

Flatten chicken. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place them in a bowl and add wine. Marinate for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350. Roll piece of chicken in nuts, pressing them so the nuts adhere to the chicken. Bake 13-15 minutes, turning once.

Herb Roasted Chicken Legs

Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best. When I first saw that this recipe included cilantro I was excited as it is one of my favorite herbs and I have a nice amount growing in my yard(If you live nearby and want to make this please come by and take some). Then when I saw how simple it was I was even more excited to try it. It comes from weelicious.com which is one of my favorite cooking websites. Speaking of which, I am compiling a list of my favorite food sites so if you have one(healthy or not) that you think I would enjoy please email me and I will take a look.
Back to topic-I made this one as it says with both boneless skinless chicken breast and with legs. If you use the boneless skinless chicken breast I would recommend pounding them and cooking for about half the time. If you don't pound the chicken(which I did) it will take the full 40 minutes to cook through. We all enjoyed this one, especially my daughter who couldn't get enough.

1/4 Cup Fresh Cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 Tbls. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Kosher Salt
2 Tbls. Olive Oil
2 lbs Chicken Legs

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place tall except chicken into a ziploc bag and mix well. Add the chicken legs, coat with the mixture, close and marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge. Place chicken legs in a greased baking dish, pour the marinade over and roast for 40 minutes.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Garlic Chicken

Are you looking for a use for all the sun dried tomatoes you have? I know I was. I came across this one for Sun-Dried Tomato and Garlic Chicken.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
15-18 Garlic Cloves
1 Onion, sliced
1 Green Pepper, sliced
1/2 cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes (not packed in oil), chopped
1/4 cup White Wine
1/2 cup Chicken Broth
1 tsp. Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp.Ground Black Pepper

Rinse and cut all visible fat off of chicken breasts. Coat a pan with Pam and preheat oven to medium heat. Mince 2 of the garlic cloves, and place them in the pan with the chicken breast. Surround the chicken with the remaining garlic cloves. Cook the chicken for 2-4 minutes on each side, or until the chicken and garlic cloves are browned. Remove the chicken from the pan. Lay the onions, green peppers, and tomatoes over garlic cloves in a 9X13 baking pan. Arrange the chicken over the tomatoes, onions, green peppers, and garlic. Pour wine and broth over chicken, and sprinkle with oregano and pepper. Cover and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Serve chicken breasts with the vegetables and pan juices.

Chicken and Rice Revisited

When I originally posted the recipe for Simple Chicken and Rice Bake it went up with a really bad picture of the tiny amount of leftovers. My sister and brother-in-law, who is one of my "followers"(if you want to be a follower just click on the follow button on the right of the screen) made the recipe and took a much better picture:

Much prettier than mine-thinking I may make it again soon!

Baked Chicken Cutlets with Lemon and Mustard

I found this recipe for Baked Chicken Cutlets with Lemon and Mustard in the Amit Women Efrat cookbook.

The recipe called for 12 medium chicken breasts however I used 6 breasts and 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

12 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken
1 Onion, quartered
3/4 C. Lemon Juice
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Tbls. Dry Mustard
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. White Pepper
1/4 C. Olive Oil

Combine all except chicken in food processor and blend until smooth. Pour sauce over chicken and marinade in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight turning once. Preheat over to 400. Place chicken and marinade in pan and bake for 10 minutes uncovered. Turn chicken and baste. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Do not overcook.

If using the thighs I would recommend cooking the chicken a little longer. I cooked the dark meat for 30 minutes total and the white meat for 20 minutes total. We really liked this one and I think it would also taste good on the grill.

Persian Chicken-Jujeh

I came across this recipe in Chefs' Confidential cookbook. The recipe called for boneless, skinless chicken thighs however we prefer the leaner breast so I substituted it. This recipe was also supposed to be made on skewers however I am not a huge fan of chicken on a stick so I decided to keep them off the stick. If you are putting them on and using wooden skewers please remember to soak the skewers for 30 minutes in water to prevent burning.

1 Large Onion, Quartered
4 Garlic Cloves
1 Tbls. Paprika
1 tsp. Turmeric
2 Tbls. Oregano
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/2 C. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 C. Olive Oil
2 Pounds Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast, cubed

Combine onion, garlic, paprika, turmeric, oregano, salt, pepper and lemon juice in a food processor. Process until well combined. Add oil through feed tube. Toss chicken with marinade and coat well. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Preheat grill or broiler. Grill or broil 5-7 minutes on each side or until meat is opaque throughout.

Simple Chicken and Rice Bake

Sometimes the best meals are the simple ones. I am always a fan of meals that only use one pot or pan so this one is a double win. I used Basmati rice because I was out of brown rice and that was all they had at the store. Apparently basmati rice is lower on the glycemic index so that is a good thing.

I based this loosely around a recipe I found in the Amit Women Efrat Chapter Cookbook

8 pcs. of Chicken(I used 3 legs, 3 thighs and 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts)
Onion Soup Mix
1 C. Rice
2 C. Water

Spray a pyrex with pam. Season the chicken with onion soup mix. Place the rice in the pan. Put the chicken on top of the rice(I didn't put the boneless skinless pieces in yet). Add water. Bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and chicken is browned. At 45 minutes into cooking I added the boneless skinless breasts and they came out perfect.

Everyone was so hungry and ate so much that I didn't get a chance to take a picture until after dinner when there was 1 sad leg left and a tiny spoonful of rice left. Here is what the leftovers look like:

Steak Chicken

I found this recipe for chicken marinade a while back. It quickly became a staple and one of our favorite chicken recipes. We thought that the Worcestershire sauce gave the chicken a steak like taste so we have dubbed this recipe Steak Chicken. When making this recipe I use boneless skinless chicken breast that come already pounded from the butcher. I have made a few changes-when don't I? I have used canola in place of the olive oil on occasion. When making this recipe I use red wine vinegar as it was all I had the first time I went to make it. I have also made it both with and without the thyme and it is delicious either way.

I give you Steak Chicken:

1/2 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
3 Tbls. Full Fat Mayonnaise
1 Tbls. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbls. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 Tbls. Poultry Seasoning
1 Tbls. Garlic Powder
1 Tbls. Sweet Paprika
1/2 Tbls. Onion Powder
1 tsp. Thyme (optional)

Put all ingredients in container with tight-fitting lid and shake well until all ingredients are combined not worrying if there are some beads of mayo that don't combine; they will dissolve when you're marinating.

Put the chicken in a container with a tight-fitting lid. Pour over just enough marinade to cover the chicken, then let it marinate in the fridge for 6-8 hours or longer.

Grill over medium to high heat making sure the chicken is fully cooked. When using the pounded chicken breasts it takes just a couple minutes on each side.

Enjoy!!!

The Breakfast Dilema

Since I began this whole health food revolution in my house I have been struggling with breakfast. Since my family has a serious addiction to cereal and particularly sugar cereal I knew this would be a struggle. Someone suggested that I buy some healthy cereals and offer them to my family. I knew this wouldn't fly so I thought that perhaps if there were other food options in the morning then perhaps they wouldn't notice that there was no Cocoa Pebbles or Honey Nut Cheerios. I decided to try this recipe for Whole Wheat Muffins. I decided to try making them with strawberries since I thought they would be good and I had some strawberries that were going to get bad soon.

Also I didn't include the nutmeg as we don't like nutmeg.
Josh tried them last night and did not like them. I know they aren't the sugary treats he is used to so I decided to try them today and I think that perhaps the strawberries were not a good mix in for this recipe. I think I will try them again with nuts or bananas and maybe a little more honey. Let me know if you make them and find a better mix in.

For dinner I made Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers. I liked that they were oven baked and only a drop of oil. Of course Jordy ended up eating pizza at a friends house for dinner and once again Nadav wouldn't touch what I made but everyone else loved them. They were crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside and flavorful. I doubled the recipe but ended up with a lot of extra egg whites so next time I would use less egg.

I served them with whole wheat couscous and salad. I didn't dress the salad and was really proud that Danya ate it without asking for dressing.