Sweet and Sour Chicken

This chicken is amazing! 3/4 of my family loves it, which is saying a lot :).  I did change one thing though; the original recipe calls for apple cider vinegar and I changed it to white vinegar because the taste is the same, but the apple cider vinegar makes my house stink for the rest of the night!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

from melskitchencafe.com

*Note: if you like extra sauce, double the sauce ingredients - pour half over the chicken and follow the recipe instructions; pour the other half in a small saucepan and cook the sauce on the stovetop at a simmer for 8-10 minutes until it reduces and thickens. Serve it on the side of the chicken.

*Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

4 tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. While the oil is heating, cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Place the cornstarch in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Put the chicken into the bag with the cornstarch and seal, tossing to coat the chicken. Whisk the eggs together in a shallow pie plate. Dip the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces in the egg and place them carefully in a single layer in the hot skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes and then flip each piece over to cook on the other side until nicely golden but not all the way cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and pour over the chicken in the baking dish. Bake for one hour, turning the chicken once or twice while cooking to coat evenly with sauce. Serve over hot, steamed rice.

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan

Most things I put in the crock pot I just throw in frozen and not worry about it.  This recipe, however, you do need to use thawed chicken otherwise you'll have frozen egg that the bread crumbs won't stick to...I speak from experience :).  It was still really good, so it's going to be even better next time!


Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan

2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (I cut mine into strips, to make them into more reasonable serving sizes for the kids)
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 egg, beaten
4-6 slices mozzarella cheese
1 jar (28-ounces) favorite marinara sauce

Directions: Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over the bottom of the crockpot stoneware.
In a medium bowl, beat egg.  In second medium bowl, mix the bread crumbs, spices, and grated Parmesan cheese all together.

Dip chicken in beaten egg and then toss into bread crumb mixture to coat completely on both sides.  Place chicken breasts on bottom of crockpot.  Place a layer of mozzarella slices on top of breaded chicken breasts.  Cover cheese layered chicken with entire jar of sauce.

Place lid of crockpot securely on and turn heat to LOW for 6-7 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours.  Serve over cooked pasta of your choice. 

Easy Lemon Chicken

I love any recipe that involves my crockpot...so easy!  This recipe can be done in the crockpot or frying pan, in case you don't think of dinner enough ahead of time :).  I think I will do less butter next time, it made a lot of juices that we ended up throwing away.  We ended up mixing the shredded chicken, quinoa and a mixture of vegetables with the juice and it was SO good!

Lemon Chicken

Melt 1 cube butter in fry pan.
Layer on 4 Chicken Breasts, or Chicken Tenders.
Sprinkle with 1 pkg. Italian Seasonings Salad Dressing Mix
Add juice of 2 lemons.
Cook until tender. Put the lid on at first, then take off at the end in order to brown and absorb seasonings.
Can be done in crock pot. (For chicken breast:  Cook on Hi: 4-5 hours, on Low:  6-8 hours.  When finished cooking, take out, shred chicken with 2 forks, and ladle on the juices.

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

 This recipe was amazing!  Make the rice and throw some corn on the grill and you've got a meal.  Make sure you use thighs versus breasts or it won't turn it nearly as lip-smackin' good!

 

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

 

3 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 cups soy sauce  (the soy sauce and water just needs to be a 1:1 ratio)

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 bunch of green onions, chopped (reserve some for garnish)
1/4 cup of a white onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 (13.5 ounce) can of coconut milk

Note: The real key is the soy sauce. Kikomen's is way too salty. He prefers the Aloha Shoyu soy sauce. If you can only find Kikomen at least get the low sodium kind.
Trim chicken thighs of any visible fat. Mix soy sauce, water, brown sugar, onions, garlic, sesame oil, and coconut milk in a large bowl. Marinade chicken for at least 4 hours or overnight to make sure the flavor gets infused.

Grill chicken at a low heat so that the marinade does not burn for 5-7 minutes per side or until done. If you do not have a grill you can use a indoor grill pan.

Serve over a platter of coconut rice and garnish with green onions and a some additional soy sauce.

*Coconut rice can be made by just replacing half of the water in your rice recipe with coconut milk.

Rumbi Island Mango Chicken and Rice

Awesome recipe, found here!

Rumbi Island Easy Mango Chicken and Rice
submitted by Melanie
4-5 chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups mango salsa
Cumin to taste
Lemon Pepper to taste
Put chicken breasts in crock pot. Add spices. Cover and cook chicken until tender. Shred chicken on a plate and return to crock pot. Save juices in separate bowl.
Add corn, beans and salsa. More salsa can be added to taste. If mixture seems dry, add some of reserved juices.
Serve over coconut jasmine rice for that Rumbi Island Grill taste. Garnish with cilantro or parsely, if desired.
*You could use regular salsa for a Mexican taste and serve over regular rice or tortilla chips.

Chicken and Dumplings

Original recipe here. 

The recipe doesn't have vegetables in it, but I boiled up some carrots, celery and peas and put them in when the dish went into the oven.

Chicken and Dumplings

3 c. cooked chicken, cut into large pieces

½ c. butter

1/3 c. flour

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 c. chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup (98% fat free variety works great)

Dumplings:

2 c. flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp celery seed

¼ c. oil

1 c. milk

Blend butter, flour, salt and pepper in saucepan. Add chicken broth and cook until thick. Stir in cream of chicken soup and add cooked chicken. Put in a 9×13 pan. To prepare dumplings, mix all ingredients together and stir until moistened. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto chicken and gravy. Bake at 425° for 20-25 minutes.

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken

LOVE this recipe.  It originally comes from here.

Serves 4

4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup salsa or picante sauce
1 cup frozen corn
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed (OR 2/3 cup dry beans soaked overnight and cooked on LOW for 6-8 hours in a separate slow cooker)
1 package taco seasoning (I used the whole package, but next time I'll probably only use about 3/4 of it)
1/2 cup sour cream
cornstarch and water
grated cheddar cheese
tortillas

Throw the frozen chicken in the slow cooker.  Cover it with the broth, salsa, corn, beans, and taco seasoning.  Cook on HIGH for 4 hours.  Remove the chicken and either shred it or cut it up into bite size pieces.  Take the lid off and stir in the sour cream.  It will still be a little runny so take 1 T cornstarch mixed with 1 T water and stir it in.  Add the chicken back in.  Leave the lid off and let it thicken up for about a half hour.  Spoon it over tortillas and sprinkle with cheese.  You can also eat it like a thick soup with corn chips.

Review:
I really loved the use of the chicken thighs versus the breasts in this recipe.  I also used the cornstarch to thicken it and that worked great.  I would use this revised recipe over the original...although they are both good.  My husband said he didn't think he would love it but he actually ate so much that there was no leftovers.  4 1/2 stars  easy, yummy, no thawing the chicken is a bonus.