Chicken

The Best Homemade Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken in the Whole Wide World

June 15, 2012 by jen 3 Comments

I’ve learned that Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken is one of those dishes from a Chinese restaurant that is hit or miss. There is this Chinese restaurant near where my old office building was that had THE BEST Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken. They set the bar quite high, because I have yet to find another place that makes it like they do. They deep fry the chicken (heart attack on a plate, anyone?) and then they give you a container full of sweet ‘n sour sauce that has onions, green peppers and pineapple in it. It’s seriously to die for. I’ve had dreams about it. No really. I have.

In the past when I’ve ordered Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken from other restaurants, they only gave me the deep fried Chicken and a little container of sweet ‘n sour sauce. What? That’s it. Where are the onions, green peppers and pineapple? So I’ve just stopped ordering it from any other place but the original restaurant I got it at. And if it doesn’t have those items in it, it’s not Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken to me. I got tired of being disappointed and you can bet that I go back to that restaurant just for that dish. So good. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Poultry, Recipes · Tagged With: Chicken, Chinese Restaurant, Day Old Rice, Fried Rice, Green Pepper, Homemade, Jasmine Rice, Onions, Pineapple, Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce, Sweet 'n Sour Chicken, Sweet and Sour Sauce

Baked Pretzel Coated Chicken Strips with Honey Dijon Sauce

March 23, 2012 by jen Leave a Comment

I came across a recipe on Pinterest for Fried Pretzel Coated Chicken with Honey Dijon Sauce. Now I’m from Philly and we have an unhealthy love for soft pretzels in this city. But we also have a love Hard Pretzels as well. And I love Chicken. So it just seemed like a no-brainer for me to try this. However, I opted to bake the chicken instead of fry it. Trust me, I wanted to fry the chicken. But I’m trying to cut down on calories and make some healthier choices (a girl has to save her calories for cupcakes!) so I decided to bake them and see how they turned out.

I made these Baked Pretzel Coated Chicken Strips before going to Orlando, FL for Food Blog Forum Orlando. There were so many other fabulous food bloggers there and I had the opportunity to meet Angie of Eclectic Recipes! It was a pleasant surprise since I didn’t even realize she’d be in attendance. It was so nice to meet her and I look forward to trying out many more of her recipes in the future!

So back to the Pretzel Chicken…let’s do it!

(I used this recipe and made a few changes to it)

INGREDIENTS

Chicken

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 eggs, whisked
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper

Breading

2 cups pretzels, ground in the food processor (until they are the consistency of bread crumbs)

Sauce

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine mustard and honey for sauce. Mix well and set aside.

Preheat the oven to about 400 degrees. Combine eggs with spices in a large bowl. Whisk together until everything is incorporated and it looks like scrambled eggs (before you would cook it!).

Using a food processor or Vitamix, turn the Pretzels into crumbs. I think next time I’d probably make them a bit finer, but it still worked well the way mine turned out,.

Dip the chicken into the egg mixture, and then place them into the pretzel crumbs. Make sure that you coat all sides of the chicken in the pretzel crumbs. I like the press down on all sides to make sure it sticks.

Place the pretzel breaded chicken on a greased baking sheet leaving a little room between each strip. I like to cover my baking sheet with foil to make for an easier clean-up!

Bake in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the internal temperature is at 165 degrees.

Remove from the oven and enjoy!

I thought these were pretty good! I would also like to try them fried (how Eleclectic Recipes made them) to see how the baked strips compare, but I thought they were quite tasty for being a lower fat option. I think they’d be a little crunchier if they were fried, but we still enjoyed them. The Honey Dijon Sauce was a lovely addition! I want to try some of these in a wrap with some cheddar cheese, lettuce and ranch!

Filed Under: Poultry, Recipes · Tagged With: Appetizer, Baked, Chicken, Fried, Main Dish, Poultry, Pretzel Coated Chicken Strips, Pretzels, Snack, vitamix

Kraft Fresh Take & Homestyle Hearty Four Cheese Macaroni & Cheese [Product Review + Coupon]

February 10, 2012 by jen Leave a Comment

I love to cook and so I use any opportunity I can get to play around in the kitchen. I try to make dinner every night, and I try my best to make everything myself and not use a lot of pre-packaged foods. For instance, I’d rather make my own macaroni and cheese than buy a box of it; I’d rather make my own au gratin potatoes than buy a box; I’d rather season up some panko bread crumbs myself and bread chicken that way. But sometimes I don’t have the time to do it, especially if it’s during the week.

Last night was one of those evenings where I had some things to do after work so I was short on time. But I didn’t want to go out for dinner or get take-out. So I tried a few of Kraft’s new products.

I had some boneless skinless chicken breasts that were thawed so I got that new Kraft product called Fresh Take. It’s a special blend of Kraft Natural Cheeses and seasonings that can dress up your chicken, fish, pork, beef, pasta, vegetables, etc. It sounds like the possibilities are endless – there were ideas on the packet for chicken, meatballs and even baked potatoes!

They have several different flavors – Chili Lime & Panko, Southwest Three Cheese, Italian Parmesan, Cheddar Jack & Bacon, Savory Four Cheese and Rosemary & Roasted Garlic. I picked up the Cheddar Jack & Bacon because I love anything with bacon in it! You can find this in the Dairy aisle.

It comes in a large ziploc type bag that separates the cheese and the seasonings. When you open it up you pull apart the separation and mix the two things together. I just coated my chicken breasts in the mixture and baked them for 25 minutes. They turned out really good! This isn’t something that I’ll do all of the time, but it’s nice for something quick, easy and flavorful!

Click here to print out a $1 coupon!

I also decided to give the new Kraft Homestyle Hearty Four Cheese Macaroni & Cheese a whirl as well. I thought it was pretty good! it was quite easy – you boil the macaroni for about 7 minutes and drain it. Then you melt a few tablespoons of butter in the saucepan and add a seasoning packet. This also has a thickening agent in it. Once you incorporate the seasoning packet with the butter, you stir in some milk and let it thicken. Once that’s thickened a bit you add in the cheese sauce (which is quite thick) and whisk it together until it’s creamy & smooth. I added in the macaroni and combined them together. They also provide a bread crumb topping if you’d like to use that. I thought this macaroni and cheese was good – much better than the blue box!

I WAS NOT COMPENSATED AT ALL FOR THIS POST. I PURCHASED THE PRODUCTS MYSELF AND FORMULATED MY OWN OPINIONS.

Filed Under: Poultry, Product Review, Side Dish · Tagged With: $1 off coupon, Blue Box, Cheddar Jack & Bacon, Chicken, Chili Lime & Panko, coupon, Dairy aisle, Fish, Fresh Take, Italian Parmesan, Kraft, Kraft Fresh Take $1 off coupon, Kraft Homestyle Hearty Four Cheese Macaroni & Cheese, Macaroni and Cheese, Meatballs, Pasta, Pork, Pre-packaged, Rosemary & Roasted Garlic, Savory Four Cheese, Southwest Three Cheese

Roasted Chicken, Potato Medley and Maple Gravy

December 5, 2011 by jen 1 Comment

I was in the mood for some Comfort Food. But I didn’t want the usual – which is usually a heavy casserole, Macaroni & Cheese, etc. Do you ever get tired of making the same things week after week? I do! So I decided that I’d Roast some Chicken and Potatoes but put a Maple twist to it! I didn’t really have a set plan before getting into the kitchen. I just kind of went with it, which is why there really aren’t exact measurements to this recipe. It’s one of those recipes where you just “eye ball” it.

4 Chicken Leg Quarters (or Split Chicken Breasts)
Butter
About 8 Baby White Potatoes
1 medium sized Sweet Potato
Maple Syrup
Salt
Pepper
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
1/4 cup Water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Wash the Chicken thoroughly, and pat dry with a paper towel. Season the bottom of each piece of chicken and place skin side up in a large baking dish. Make a small slit in the skin and stuff a small slice of butter under the skin. Repeat for each piece of chicken. Lay a small slice of butter on top of each piece.

Season with salt and pepper.

Wash the Baby Potatoes and the Sweet Potato. Cut up into bite sized chunks (make sure they are all about the same size so they cook evenly).

Arrange the Potatoes around the chicken. Season the Potatoes with salt.

Drizzle the Potatoes and the chicken with Maple Syrup. I didn’t put an exact measurement because you should use your judgement. Don’t drench everything with the Maple Syrup – remember that it’s sweet stuff!

Roast in the oven for about an hour. After about 30 minutes I took it out of the oven and mixed up the potatoes a bit. I also drizzled a little bit more Maple Syrup on everything. Make sure the Chicken is at least 160 degrees (use your thermometer!) and when it’s done take it out of the oven. I scooped the potatoes out of the baking dish and put them in a bowl.

Strain the juice/gravy into a measuring glass. You want to make sure you get the chicken bits, etc out of the liquid. Remove the fat off of the top. Pour the liquid into a small saucepan and heat under medium heat. Mix the cornstarch and water together. Add to the saucepan. Let it come to a boil. This will thicken it into a nice gravy.

Place the Chicken on a serving platter.

Plate it, and enjoy! The Maple Gravy is delicious on both the Chicken and on the Potatoes!

Filed Under: Poultry, Recipes · Tagged With: Butter, Chicken, Maple Gravy, Maple Syrup, Potato Medley, Potatoes, Roasted Chicken, Sweet Potatoes

5 Ingredient Friday: Chicken with Fresh Cranberries

December 2, 2011 by jen 1 Comment

This week we have a super easy 5 Ingredient Friday dish! I took some chicken breasts out of the freeze one morning before working with no clue what I was going to do with them that night for dinner. Over the course of the day I remembered that I still had some fresh cranberries in my refrigerator, so I set out to come up with something to make using those. Then I remembered that I had a few oranges leftover, so I knew this was going to be a delicious dish! Check out what’s in my Chicken with Fresh Cranberries…

1 lb of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
1/4 cup of Orange Juice
2 cups of Fresh Cranberries
1 cup of Brown Sugar

In a small saucepan, combine the cranberries, brown sugar and orange juice. Cook over medium heat until the cranberries start to burst, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for another 15 minutes or so. It should thicken up very nicely. Remove from the heat and let it cool a bit.

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Coat a large frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Brown the chicken breasts, making sure they are cooked on both sides.

Cooled Cranberries

Place the chicken breasts on a serving plate and spoon some of the cranberries over top. Serve!

Filed Under: 5 Ingredient Friday, Poultry, Recipes · Tagged With: 5 Ingredient Friday, Brown Sugar, Chicken, Chicken with Fresh Cranberries, Cranberries, Fresh Cranberries, Olive Oil, Orange Juice

The Best Homemade Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken in the Whole Wide World