Chicken Sliders

The idea for chicken sliders came about when I was thinking of a cooked meal I could make for my son that I could freeze, and have ready in a few seconds after a quick defrost in the microwave.  So voila, the idea for homemade chicken sliders came about.  I ground the meat for these sliders at home, so there's no ammonia or pink goop in them.  There's no salt and can be frozen so they're great for babies.  However, these sliders taste awesome to my adult palette, and would be a fantastic appetizer If served with a dip, or served on a cute Hawaiian bun with some toppings would be an awesome little meal.

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts, partially defrosted

1 small onion chopped

3 medium carrots 

1 cup of cooked white rice (brown rice, quinoa, or cooked barley would work well)

1 egg

1 tsp garlic powder, smoked paprika, and cumin

1/2 tsp kosher salt (optional)

Directions:

Break the carrots into small chunks and place in food processor.  Pulse carrots until they're chopped, and place in a bowl. Repeat this step for onion, or chop by hand.  Place veggies in a bowl.

Cut the still partially frozen chicken into large chunks, and place in food processor.  Pulse for about 15 seconds and scrape sides of bowl.  Pulse for ten more seconds or until chicken looks crumby (you want to avoid making chicken paste). Scrape sides of food processor and place the chicken in same bowl as veggies.

Add egg, spices, and rice to chicken and veggie mixture.  Mix with a spatula until combined.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.  After time has passed, divide mixture in bowl into four sections.  Take about a tablespoon and a half of the mixture and roll into a small ball.  Squish the ball flat into a patty and place on a plate.  You should be able to make 7 patties per section (about 28 total patties).

Pour about a tsp of olive oil in a sauté pan and heat on high.  Place about six to seven patties in the pan and brown.  Flip the patties, drop the heat to low, and cover sauté pan.  Cook patties until they reach internal temperature of 165 degrees.  Place cooked patties on a plate. Wipe pan with paper towel before sautéing each batch of patties in a fresh teaspoon of oil.

 If not serving immediately allow patties to cool down, and place in a large freezer bag and freeze for later use.

Serve with ketchup, BBQ sauce, or spicy mustard.

Turkey Zucchini Greek-style Tacos

So what do you make when the AC is busted, and the temperature in your home is 90 degrees?  No, you don't start a boy band, you make these Greek-esque tacos.  

For t sauce:

1 English cucumber peeled, seeded, and finely diced or shredded

1 cup of unflavored yogurt (you can use low fat or Greek style)

6-8 cloves of garlic finely minced (you can increase or decrease the garlic)

Kosher salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Fresh dill finely chopped (this can be optional)

Combine all ingredients, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour (overnight preferred).

For the filling:

1 LB ground turkey or chicken

2 zucchini diced

1 onion finely diced

1 tomato finely diced

1 tbsp Olive oil

2 tbsp garlic powder

1tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

1/4 cup white wine

*1 tsp dried oregano (optional)

*lemon juice (optional)

In a large sauté pan heated to medium-high heat add olive oil and sauté the onions, zucchini, and tomato.  As vegetables become soft add spices and stir.  As the veggies start to change color, push to side of pan, raise heat to high, and add turkey or chicken.  Allow meat to brown, and then stir with vegetables. Continue to stir, and drop heat to medium, and add wine.  Cover, and allow to cook for about five to ten minutes. After this time,check to make sure meat is cooked, turn off heat and add lemon juice.  

Serve in a flour tortilla, garnished with fresh tomato slices, and tsatziki sauce.

Chicken Florentine

I remember a million years ago when I was a kid Italian restaurants would carry a dish called Chicken Florentine...essentially it was fettuccini Alfredo tossed with spinach and grilled chicken.  It's probably not very Italian, but it is really good. I think the last time I had it, or even seen it on a menu was probably early 2000.  Today I decided to make it, and damn was it good.  If even say it was the best pasta fish I have EVER made, aside from my awesome pea pesto spaghetti.

Thai Peanut Chicken in the slow cooker

I have been thinking a lot about my schedule for this coming school year.  I will be working at a middle school and commuting with my husband so I will no longer be the first one home at around 3 PM, now I might not be home until around 5 PM.  So I have started researching freezing meals and slow cooker meals.  I am very familiar with using the slow cooker, and usually prepare whatever needs to go in the pot the night before, place it in the slow cooker sleeve, cover it in plastic wrap and store in the fridge.  Then I just pop the whole thing into the slow cooker, add the lid, and set to cook for the whole day.

This particular recipe was taken and adapted from this blog: "365 Days of Slow Cooker by: Stephanie O'Dea" http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2011/02/easy-peanut-butter-chicken-slow-cooker.html

A nice blog where the writer cooked at least one item each night using her slow cooker.  She has done everything from chicken nuggets to desserts in a slow cooker.  Worth checking out if you find yourself doing the same research.

For my version here were the ingredients I used:

4 chicken thighs with bones and skin

4 chicken legs with bones and skin

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup of water

Drizzle of sesame oil

1/4 cup of lemon juice

Generous squirt of rooster sauce

Cumin, garlic powder, and pepper (1 tbsp each, or more to your taste)

3/4 cup of peanut butter (I intended to use crunchy...but realized all I had was Peter Pan my husband bought on sale.)

1 large onion in large chunks

2 red bell peppers cut in large chunks

1/2 green bell pepper diced (I don't like eating large chunks of green bell pepper, but do like the flavor)

Cover and cook for 6 hours on high in the slow cooker.  Serve over steamed rice with steamed broccoli or other veggie (I always have frozen broccoli on hand)

*****If I had fresh garlic I would have also added a few cloves of crushed garlic

*****Next time I would use boneless/skinless thighs and real peanut butter, because the spread looks crumbly.

**maybe add Chopped cashews to sprinkle on top (the only nuts I have on hand)

Broccoli fried rice

This fried rice was thrown together using leftovers I had in my fridge.  I had leftover broccoli from a dinner earlier in the week.      I had used up all my soy sauce except two lonely packets leftover from Chinese takeout; so the prime flavoring used was sesame oil  and sesame seeds.

Omelette with spicy mayo sauce served over White Rice

What do you make on a Friday night when you just want to order a pizza and be done with it?  Eggs and rice of course!

My mother would call this "comida de pobre" or "the poor man's dinner."  My husband who lived in Japan would call this "Om-rice," I just call it fast food.

What makes this particular dish awesome is the steamed white rice, which is way easier to accomplish in a rice cooker.  It doesn't have to be as fancy as my zojiroshi Japanese style rice cooker, but when you use a rice cooker the rice really does come out fluffier.  My mother has three different ones that have all served her well: a Hitachi from the 1960's which is still kicking despite its wear, a 20$ one she picked up at a local drugstore, and a microwave rice cooker that she found at her local Latin grocery store.  All are able to produce fluffy rice on the cheap.  Aside from that the only other tool needed is a decent nonstick pan.

Omelette Ingredients:

6 large eggs beaten (at least three per person)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil divided

White rice ingredients:

1 cup white rice

Water according to rice cooker's recommendation

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

Spicy mayo ingredients:

2 tbsp light mayo

1 very generous squirt of Siracha sauce (spicy Thai chili sauce AKA Rooster sauce)

2 tbsp lime or lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Water if you want the sauce more fluid or less spicy

Directions:

Wash the rice really well with lots of cold water constantly pouring out the fury water and adding fresh water until the water looks clear. Once rice is clean add water according to rice cooker's directions and then add a splash more (this makes rice a little more sticky and fluffy). Then add oil, salt, stir everything and begin to cook rice. My rice cooker takes about 45 minutes on "quick setting,". Other rice cookers depending on the brand can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

During The last five minutes of cooking time begin work on your omelette and sauce.

In a small bowl mix the mayonnaise, siracha sauce, and lemon juice.  Taste it and add salt and pepper as needed.  If sauce is too spicy you can add a tbsp if water or extra lemon juice. If not spicy enough add more siracha sauce.  Keep sauce Refrigerated

Heat nonstick pan in high with 1tsp of olive oil.  while oil is heating up, crack the first three eggs in a small bowl and beat vigoursly with a fork. Add eggs to pan and begin stirring the center and then re distributing uncooked egg throughout pan by turning pan with handle.  Lower heat to medium low.  Using spatula drag it around edges of pan lifting cooked egg up slightly.  Once egg starts to look like a pancake and is only slightly runny in the middle, lift one side of the omelette and fold it over the other side.  Slide onto plate over the rice.

Drizzle sauce over omelette, and serve hot.

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients:

4 Chicken breasts (with or without bones/skin is fine)

Half palm each of kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and cumin

Pressure cooker

Water

Favorite BBQ sauce or hot sauce

Directions: place chicken in pot and add enough water to fill half of pot and cover chicken.  Add spice to water. Lock lid of pressure cooker and after pot is pressurized (lid begins to shake) cook for 20 minutes.  If cooking chicken with bones add an additional 5 minutes.

Once time has passed cool pot in an empty sink and run cold water over the top and the base until youcan safely   remove the lid.

Remove chicken from pot and place in a bowl.  Remove any skin, bones, or fat. And begin to shred using two forks or tongs.  Add about 1/4 cup of sauce and mix, adding more if desired.

Serve on a salad or on a bun.