Thai Chicken Salad

Mixed greens
Chopped cooked chicken
Orange and red bell pepper, chopped
Edamame
Carrot, shredded
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Wonton strips
Peanuts, chopped
Asian ginger/toasted sesame dressing {we made this using Kraft brand, but any Asian salad dressing will do}

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large salad bowl. Drizzle salad dressing on top and toss salad until evenly coated. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Recipe Source: For the Love of Cooking

Sweet and Sour Chicken {Baked}

Ingredients:
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
4 T. ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 T. soy sauce
1 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:
Cut the chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients together in a bowl and pour over chicken.

Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes so it is evenly coated with the sauce. Serve over white or brown rice.

* I double the sauce ingredients.


Recipe Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Sesame Beef With Chinese Vegetables

1 lb. gound beef
Stir fry vegetables {I used the frozen kind from Costco}
Stir fry sauce {I used Kikkoman}
White rice
Sesame oil
Pepper
Garlic salt
Crushed red pepper flakes
Sesame seeds

Brown ground beef in a few drops of sesame oil in a large pan or wok; drain off fat. Add vegetables to the pan {if they are frozen make sure they are unthawed first}. Add a lot of pepper, a little bit of garlic salt, and crushed red pepper flakes according to desired spicinesss. Cook thoroughly. Add the entire bottle of stir fry sauce and mix well. Let simmer on med-low heat for about 20 minutes. Serve over white rice and garnish with sesame seeds.

Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
4 T. soy sauce

Place chicken breasts in lightly greased crock pot. Combine other ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8-10 hours. Serve over hot sticky white rice.

Recipe Source: Ivory Family Favorites Cookbook, pg. 148

(p.s. of all the cookbooks I own, this one is hands down my favorite and is used most frequently! It's such a fun cookbook with great tips & tricks, and every recipe is delicious! It can be purchased through Make-A-Wish Foundation :)

Korean Beef With Broccoli

I don't think this is the best picture in the world, but don't be deceived; this dish is delicious! It's also really quick to make, is inexpensive, and the best part is, it tastes gourmet! This is definitely one I'm going to add to my meal rotation :) Enjoy!

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 T. sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. powdered ginger
1/2 tsp. crushed red peppers
Black pepper
Broccoli florets
5 green onions, diced
White rice

Heat sesame oil in a wok or a large skillet on the stove. Brown hamburger and garlic together. When the hamburger is almost done add the broccoli. Saute broccoli and hamburger together. Add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, black pepper, and crushed red peppers. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors together. Serve over sticky rice and top with green onions.

Bourbon Chicken

This chicken is kind of like a general tso's, and is so delicious! I'm not sure why it's called 'Bourbon Chicken' because there isn't any bourbon in it, but whatever the reason, I'm glad I stumbled across this gem of a recipe!


Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 T. oil {for pan frying the chicken}
Cornstarch {for dusting the chicken}

Sauce:
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 c. light brown sugar
2 T. ketchup
1 T. cider vinegar
1/2 c. water
1/3 c. soy sauce

Cut chicken into bite size pieces and lightly dust with cornstarch. Heat oil in a wok or frying pan and and fry chicken bits until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

In a bowl combine all sauce ingredients. Pour into wok or frying pan and bring to a boil. Add chicken back into the pan. Reduce heat ans simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve chicken over piping hot white sticky rice. Enjoy!


Recipe Source: adapted from Blog Chef

Beef & Vegetable Stir-Fry {EASY!}

I know I have posted several stir-fry like recipes, but of all of them, this one is the easiest to prepare because I just use the bottled stir fry sauce you can buy in the oriental section of any grocery store. For this particular recipe, this is the sauce I used. I also used beef in this recipe, but chicken, shrimp or tofu would be really good too. We were just in a "beef" mood at our house the other night :)

1 pound of beef {or any kind of meat you want}
Stir-fry sauce {I used Kikkoman, but any brand will do}
White rice

Favorite Vegetables:
Broccoli
Carrots
Snap Peas
Onion
Baby Corn
Bamboo Shoots
Water Chestnuts
Mushrooms
Etc... {you get the idea!}

Cook beef in a skillet or wok on the stove. When it's almost done, add vegetables and cook. When the vegetables are almost cooked add the stir-fry sauce {I use the whole bottle, but when I make this I make a pretty big batch too so we can eat it the next day}. Stir together and let simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. Serve over piping hot sticky white rice.

p.s. to make this dish even easier and less expensive, you can also use pre-packaged frozen stir fry vegetables found in the freezer section of any grocery store.

Yummy!

Panda Express Mushroom Chicken

This is a CopyKat recipe of the mushroom chicken at Panda Express. It is one of my favorites! Now it is such a treat to be able to make it at home :)

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts

cornstarch (for dusting)

1 T. vegetable oil

1 T. sesame oil

2 T. soy sauce

1 T. balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 package fresh mushrooms

4 small zucchini

Cut chicken into 1 inch chunks and lightly dust with cornstarch. Halve zucchini and mushrooms and set aside. In a wok or a large skillet heat the vegetable oil and sesame oil and fry the chicken until a golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Add zucchini and mushrooms to the skillet and stir fry for a few minutes. Add soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic and ginger stirring to coat and stir fry until mushrooms and zucchini are fully cooked. Return the chicken to the pan and coat with sauce, heating thoroughly. Serve over sticky hot white rice.

Shrimp and Vegetable Asian Stir-Fry

Obviously I have been really into cooking a lot of Asian dishes lately that are served over white rice. This is one of them! Another yummy and healthy stir-fry recipe that is surprisingly quick and easy to prepare. All you have to do is chop up your favorite vegetables and throw some white rice in the rice cooker (or make on the stove) and it's done! :)

Sauce

4 T. soy sauce

4 T. ketchup

1 tsp. ground ginger

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 drops Sriracha Sauce

pepper to taste

Favorite Vegetables

onion, sliced (white or purple)

red bell pepper, chopped

red cabbage, thinly sliced

broccoli

mushrooms, quartered

zucchini, chopped

celery, chopped

carrots, chopped

1 lb. uncooked shrimp, deveined

4 T. canola oil

2 T. soy sauce

cooked white rice

Prepare the sauce in a bowl, and let the uncooked shrimp marinate for at least 30 minutes. Set aside and chop your favorite vegetables for the stir-fry.

Heat 2 T. canola oil in a skillet. Add favorite vegetables plus 2 T. soy sauce and cook. Remove from stove when finished and put in a separate bowl/on a separate plate. Add 2 T. canola oil into the same pan and cook shrimp plus marinade. When the shrimp is cooked, add the vegetables and stir-fry everything together. Serve over hot rice.

P.S. If you're not a shrimp fan, chicken or pork would be really yummy too in this dish, I was just in a "shrimp mood" the other day :)

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Pineapple and Vegetable Stir-Fry

Another delicious recipe that tastes like take out! This is the first time I have ever made stir-fry without using a seasoning packet. Making the sauce homemade is super easy, and this dish was surprisingly quick to throw together!

I chopped the vegetables up in the afternoon and put them in a Tupperware, and I let the chicken marinate in the fridge all day. When dinner time rolled around I put everything on the stove in a pan and viola, dinner was served!

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. rice vinegar

3 T. vegetable oil

1 T. ground ginger

1 medium red onion, cut into thin strips

1 can pineapple chunks (save the juice!)

3 green onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped into big chunks

3 cloves minced garlic

Sweet and Sour Stir Fry Sauce

5 T. red wine vinegar

5 T. sugar

3 T. tomato sauce

3 T. pineapple juice reserved from can

½ tsp. salt

Combine sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Cut the chicken into chunks. Place in a large Ziploc bag and toss with the soy sauce and vinegar. Let it marinate for at least 15 minutes, but the longer it marinates the better it will taste.

Cook the chicken in vegetable oil in a pan on the stove for 3 minutes. Set aside in a separate bowl the chicken and all the liquid.

In the same pan cook in vegetable oil the onions, green pepper, and when they’re done add the drained pineapple and cook for 1 minute longer. Add the garlic and ginger; cook everything together. Return the cooked chicken and liquid to the pan. Stir in the sweet and sour sauce and stir fry together for 2 minutes. Serve piping hot over white rice.

Coconut Chicken and Vegetable Curry

I love making dinners that taste like take-out. This is definitely one of them! It was so easy to make and it made for wonderful lunch left-overs the next day. I will for sure be adding this to my dinner rotation. Even my children loved it, and they are 3 and 6, so that alone makes it a keeper :)

{Just a side note, if you make this, your house and the clothes you wore while cooking this WILL smell like curry for 2-3 days after, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, the fragrant smell just really lingers, so plan on doing some wash and lighting a bunch of candles after dinner...}

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 white onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup frozen peas

3/4 cup chopped carrots

1 cup fresh cut frozen green beans

1 1/2 T. vegetable or canola oil

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 T. curry powder {found in the spice section}

1 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 can coconut milk

1-14.5 oz. can stewed tomatoes

1-8 oz. can tomato sauce

3 T. sugar

2 cups cooked white rice

fresh cilantro

Season chicken chunks with salt and pepper {I do this in a large Ziploc bag. Just put the chicken and salt and pepper in the bag and "mush" it all around}. Heat oil, curry powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes. Add chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 7-10 minutes. Add the vegetables, then the coconut milk, the stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and then the sugar. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30-40 minutes, or until the curry sauce thickens. Serve over white rice and top with cilantro.

Apricot Chicken

The other day I was in a big rush to make something yummy for dinner (I had a hungry man outside mowing the lawn ;) and I found this recipe in a cookbook where everything is 5 ingredients or less. Talk about quick and easy! This chicken was a hit (he was all but licking the pan!) I will certainly be adding it to my dinner rotation :)

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (can still be frozen)
1 package onion soup mix (like Lipton)
1 bottle Russian dressing
1 jar apricot preserves

In a large bowl, mix the Russian dressing, apricot preserves and onion soup mix with a wire whisk. Place chicken breasts in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Pour sauce over the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, turning chicken over half way through. Serve over sticky white rice.

Red Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I cut mine into strips)
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
onion slices (optional)
1 lemon, sliced

Place chicken in a single layer in sprayed baking dish. Place lemon slices and onion slices over chicken. In a separate bowl, combine ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar. Pour over meat. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes {covered}. Serve over rice.

Oriental Orange Chicken

4 chicken breasts, cut into strips (or you can use chicken tenders)
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 c. cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
½ c. vegetable oil

Mix together salt and cornstarch. Dip chicken in cornstarch, then in beaten eggs. Fry in oil on medium heat until lightly browned. Place in casserole dish.


Sauce:
¾ c. sugar
½ c. red wine vinegar
¼ c. pineapple juice
3 T. catsup
1 T. soy sauce

Heat sauce ingredients on low; pour over chicken. Bake at 350 for 45 min. to 1 hour, turning over half way. Serve with rice.

* I usually double the sauce*