Mushroom Chicken and Rice

Never made anything using condensed soup...ever, until a few days ago. I had a can of Amy's Kitchen Organic Cream of Mushroom Semi-Condensed Soup on hand that I wanted to use up... so good! Since it was only semi-condensed, I didn't add anything to it to thin it out. Some sour cream would have been good, but I didn't have any. I cooked a small onion in pan, add soup and fresh curly parley and voila! Pour it over cooked chicken and basmati rice.

Creamy Chicken and Rice with Peas and Scallion

Ingredients:
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4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium onion, minced

3 medium cloves garlic, minced

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 1/2 cups long-grain rice

1/2 cup dry white wine (vermouth)

4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup frozen peas

5 scallions, sliced thin

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

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Directions:

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1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in flour to coat and shake off any excess. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown the chicken well on one side, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

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2. Off the heat, add the butter to the skillet, and swirl to melt. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and return to medium-high heat until softened, 2 to 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the rice thoroughly and let toast for about 30 seconds.

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3. Stir in the wine and let the rice absorb it completely, about 1 minute. Stir in the broth, scraping up any browned bits. Nestle the chicken into the rice, browned side facing up, including any accumulated juices. Cover and cook over medium heat until the thickest part of the chicken registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 10 minutes.

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4. Transfer the chicken to a clean plate. Gently brush off and discard any rice clinging to the chicken, then tent the chicken with foil and set aside. Return the skillet of rice to medium-low heat, cover, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, 8 to 12 minutes longer.

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5. Off the heat, sprinkle the peas over the rice, cover, and let warm through, about 2 minutes. Add the scallions and lemon juice to the rice. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with the chicken and lemon wedges.

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So I overcooked this a little, what's new?! We loved this recipe and its turn out. This will be a repeat someday soon. I got the recipe here.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken:

2 chicken breasts - cut into chunks
2 tbsp corn starch
1 egg white
salt and pepper

Mix corn stach, egg white, salt and pepper together. Coat the chicken in it and deep fry until golden brown. Drain on a paper towels.

Sauce:

2 tbsp of ketchup
2 tbsp of sweet chili sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1 tbsp of vinegar
1 1/2 tsp of corn starch
3/4 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Whisk all but the cornstarch and 1/4 cups of water together.

2. Over medium-high heat, bring the sauce to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat.

3. In a small cup, mix the cornstarch into the water until dissolved.

4. Stir into the sauce and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, approximately 5 minutes.



Vegetables:

1 half red and 1 half yellow pepper - cut to bite size pieces
1 cup of pineapple
1 small sliced chili-more or less depending your spiciness preference
3-4 slices of ginger
1 small onions - cut into chunks


1. Heat up wok with 1 tbsp of oil. Saute the onions & ginger until lightly browned.

2. Add in all the vegetables and stir fry for 1 min.

3. Add in sauce and toss the fried chicken until it's well coated. Serve with warm rice.

My Perfect Thai Dinner

What a delightful dinner this was! I had to use the rest of my veggies and kind of threw everything I had in the wok. I turned out to be the best dinner this week.

Here is what I used:

Chicken, julienned carrots, green pepper, onion, chilly pepper, sprouts, scallions, garlic, ginger and cilantro. AS for the sauce, I used soy sauces and a spicy ginger teriayki sauce. Served it with Jasmine rice and egg.




Now this might not be considered a Thai meal to some but these are the flavors I remember from dinning out.

Benihana Japanese Fried Rice

I got the recipe here. These guys were on Oprah (not a fan!) a long time ago. I used minced garlic and butter in cooking my chicken as well as in the rice. I didn't have any eggs on hand and it just didn't taste like real fried rice without scrambled eggs. Overall this is a really good recipe though.

Meat Cigars with Garlic and Herb Coucous

INGREDIENTS:
Makes about 20 cigars
1lb ground beef
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp all-spice
Pinch cayenne pepper
3 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
Ground black pepper
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 package of spring rolls
Canola oil for frying

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DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oil in the pan on medium heat, and add the onions. Cook until soft and transparent, but not browned. Add meat, salt, black pepper, spices and herbs and mix everything using a fork to keep the ground meat separate, stir until the meat is not pink anymore, about 7 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and slowly add the beaten eggs. Stir constantly until the mixture becomes creamy but do not allow the eggs to scramble. Remove the meat mixture from the pan into a plate, and set aside to cool.

2. Fill each spring roll with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the meat mixture and roll into cigars as shown in the photo.Fry the cigars, turning once, until golden brown on each side. Drain on a plate lined with paper towel. Serve hot.

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3. For the couscous, I used organic store bought, ready to use "Herb and Garlic" flavored couscous and added in chopped cilantro (about 1 1/2 tbsp) and parsley (1 tbsp) to give it a 'fresh' taste.

Stuffed Chicken

2 large boneless skinless chicken breast
chopped garlic
4 tbs Boursin cheese

4 slices of bacon

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place 2 chicken breast halves in large freezer-weight resealable plastic bag. Pound chicken with meat mallet or side of heavy can until chicken is 1/4 inch thick. Place chicken, top-sides down, on cutting board; spread the cheese and garlic evenly. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Starting at one of the narrow ends, tightly roll up chicken. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish. Wrap in two slices of bacon each. Drizzle with olive oil.

2. Bake for 45 min. Serve with couscous.