Tag: chicken

General Tsao’s Chicken

Like many of you, my favorite Chinese take out dish is General Tsao’s Chicken.  I’m also a big fan of chow mein, fried rice, beef and broccoli, and egg rolls.  But I don’t think I’ve ordered Chinese take out without getting some form of General Tsao’s Chicken.  There’s just something about that crispy breaded chicken slathered in that sweet and tangy, sometimes spicy suace that gets my taste buds going.

Now, I’m pretty sure that even though it is a “Chinese” dish, I’m almost positive that they don’t have General Tsao’s Chicken in China.  It’s one of those dishes that is totally Americanized, but we like to pretend that we’re actually eating Chinese food.

I was watching a segment on TV one time where these journalists were walking around some of the busiest cities in China handing out fortune cookies asking the locals if they knew what it was.  Almost 100% of the people they talked to had no clue what a fortune cookie was, and the ones that actually took a bite were shocked to find a piece of paper inside the cookie.  If that doesn’t give you a clue as to where our “Chinese Food” actually originated, I don’t know what does.

Ok enough rambling.  Now that I’ve completely gone off on a tangent, how about a delicious new recipe to add to your repertoire?  Can you guess what that recipe is?  That’s right!!!!  General Tsao’s Chicken!  Did the title give it away?

Here’s what you’ll need: (serves 2)

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 Tbsp sherry
  • salt
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 1 cup broccoli (chopped)
  • 1 cup green or red bell pepper (chopped)
  • peanut oil, enough to coat the pan (I didn’t have this so I used olive oil)
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup General Tsao’s sauce (found in the international foods aisle at your grocery store)

Chop bell pepper into thick strips (about an inch thick).

 

Then turn the pepper to the side and chop again into bite sized pieces. (Steve took this picture for me so I could use both hands…..how nice of him!)

 

Here’s a nice little pile of chopped bell pepper.  This Christmas, Steve gave me a new WONDERFUL lens for my camera, as well as a tripod, so my pictures are turning out clearer than ever!  Thanks, Baby!

 

Next, chop up some broccoli into bite-sized pieces.

 

Chop your chicken into……you guessed it…..bite-sized pieces.  Place in a bowl, add the sherry, and mix around with your fingers so that each piece of chicken is coated in the sherry.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  (You could do this step first so the chicken can marinate while you’re chopping your veggies, but I was waiting for my chicken to defrost, so that is why I waited until now).

 

Add cornstarch to a plate.

 

Once the chicken has finished marinating, add to the cornstarch and toss to coat.  Make sure every piece is completely covered and there are no wet spots.  You may want to scoop the chicken out of the bowl by hand instead of just dumping it onto the plate.  It will probably help keep the wetness to a minimum.

 

Add your cooking oil to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat.  Add your chicken in a single layer to the hot oil.

 

Make sure you turn chicken periodically during cooking so that all sides get browned.  Once chicken is golden brown, remove and transfer to a paper towel lined plate.

 

Add broccoli and peppers to the hot skillet and let cook for about a minute or so.  If you like your broccoli a little softer and not so crunchy, you can boil it for a few minutes prior to adding it to the skillet.

 

Add chicken back to the pan.

 

This is the General Tsao’s sauce that I picked up at the grocery store.  It was really tasty!  I had a recipe to make the sauce from scratch, but I couldn’t find one of the ingredients, so I decided to take the easier route and use the pre-made stuff instead of chancing that the absence of this one ingredient would completely ruin the sauce.

 

Add about 1/3 – 1/2 cup of the sauce to the chicken and veggies and stir to coat completely.

 

Doesn’t that just look divine!!!?  By the way….this is not a low calorie meal.  So just keep that in mind. 😉

 

Add chicken and veggies to a bowl on top of a fluffy bed of white rice.  The crispiness of the chicken really added great texture to the dish!  It is definitely a repeater meal in our house!  Enjoy!

Chicken & Red Pepper Panini

Normally I only get to make lunch on weekends, since our office doesn’t have a microwave.  So today, I decided to try out The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for a chicken & roasted red pepper panini.  I had a long time to think about what I was going to make, too, since we are dog sitting Tinkerbell for Rustin & Elizabeth.  I woke up at 8:20am ON A SATURDAY to make sure that she wouldn’t potty in her crate, and so that she could get out before she started whining…..which is what she’s doing right now as I write this blog.  I’m sorry Tinkerbell!  I can’t pay attention to you every second of the day!

She’s a cutie though, so it kinda makes up for it.

Now, back to the panini.  Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 8 sun-dried tomatoes, in oil
  • 2 roasted red peppers in a jar (or you can roast them yourself by charring the outside of the pepper over an open flame or in the broiler)
  • 3 tbsp prepared pesto (you can certainly make your own if you can find fresh basil at this time of year)
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or enough to make the right consistency for the marinade/spread)
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • salt & pepper
  • 4 slices mozzarella or provolone cheese
  • 1/4 cup mayo
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 4 slices bread

Start by putting the sun dried tomatoes into a food processor or blender.

Next, add the pesto.  I love pesto, especially on tortellini!  Yum.

Add lemon juice.  I used bottled lemon juice, but you could certainly squeeze fresh juice out of a lemon.  I just didn’t happen to have any on hand.

Season with salt and pepper.

Stream in olive oil.  If a tablespoon doesn’t seem like enough to create the correct consistency, feel free to add more.

Blend until thoroughly combined.

Pour half of the pesto mixture into a Ziploc bag with the chicken and smush it around so that the chicken is thoroughly covered.  Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

In a small bowl combine mayo….

…and the rest of the pesto mixture.

Stir until everything is combined.  Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Cook chicken over medium-high heat in a skillet or on the grill.

Once fully cooked, cut chicken into strips.

Spread mayo/pesto mixture on one side of each of the slices of bread.

Lay chicken on the mayo covered side of the bread.

Cut roasted peppers into strips and place over the chicken.

Lay cheese over peppers.

Place another piece of bread over the cheese and liberally butter the outer sides of each slice.

I didn’t have a panini grill, so I used my George Foreman grill, and it worked just fine.  You could also set this in a skillet with a heavy pan on top, flipping it over to cook both sides equally.

Slice in half diagonally and enjoy!

Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

I love making casseroles, because it usually means I only have to dirty 1 or 2 dishes, which makes for an easy clean up.  One of our favorite restaurants here in Hendersonville is Cheddars, which serves American food.  It can be compared with Chili’s or something like that.  Anyway, the have the most amazing broccoli cheese casserole side dish!  It is like heaven in your mouth!  So I attempted to recreate it, and in the process added some chicken so that we could eat it as a main dish.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 bag (8 oz) frozen broccoli florets, thawed
  • 1 can of Campbell’s Condensed Broccoli Cheese Soup (I didn’t have any, so I used cream of chicken soup)
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or more if you like)
  • 1 cup instant rice, uncooked (can also use 1 cup of regular cooked rice)
  • 1/3 cup crushed Ritz crackers (about 1 sleeve)
  • 2 tsp melted butter
  • salt & pepper

Start by dicing up some chicken and tossing it in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Season with salt and pepper. (You can also use shredded or rotisserie chicken)

Thaw your broccoli in the microwave (per package instructions) and place in a large bowl.

Add broccoli cheese soup, or in my case, cream of chicken.

Pour the milk into the bowl.

Next comes my favorite ingredient — freshly grated cheddar cheese.  Yum!  I can never grate this cheese without eating a handful.

Mix it all together, and then add the instant rice.  The rice shouldn’t be cooked at this point, because it will cook with everything else in the oven (unless you’re using regular rice, in which case it should be cooked first).

Stir until everything is thoroughly combined.

Next, add your cooked chicken and stir to combine.  It’s ok if the chicken isn’t completely cooked through since it will continue baking in the oven.

Place the mixture into a baking dish.  You can always double or triple the recipe depending on how many people you are feeding (wow, that is really stating the obvious, isn’t it?).

Next, take some Ritz crackers (I used whole wheat cuz I’m super healthy like that) and place them in a Ziploc bag.  You’ll want enough to cover the top of the casserole.

You can use a mallet to crush the crackers, but I found that using my fingers was just as easy.

Melt your butter and pour it into the bag with the crumbs.  Close the bag and mix the crumbs around with the butter so that all the crumbs are covered in butter.  This will help the top get nice and crispy and brown.

Scatter the crumbs on top of your casserole.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until the top is hot and bubbly.

Serve and enjoy!  Don’t those crunchy, crumbly bits look delish!?