Favorite Chicken Marinade

This marinade makes a delicious tasting chicken, and it is super easy. Literally the hardest part is just remembering to mix it the night before so that it has plenty of time to flavor the chicken. Then all you have to do is grill it. (I use a George Foreman, but you could use an outdoor BBQ grill or probably even bake it in the oven.)

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (10 ounce) bottle Worcestershire Sauce
• 3 tablespoons italian seasoning
• 3 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white pepper

Directions:

1. Put the amount of chicken that you want to grill in the bottom of a big bowl.
2. In another bowl put all above ingredients in and whisk together.
3. Then pour the prepared marinade over the chicken, and refrigerate overnight, or for 4-5 hours.

I like to serve it with a fruit and nut salad (spring mix lettuce, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, feta cheese or substitute, and balsamic vinegar dressing). But you can pair it with any side you like. Yum!

Scary Easy Pumpkin Cookies

My VT comp shared this recipe with me this week. I plan to make them with vegan chocolate chips so Liz can have them.

Ingredients:

• 15 oz can of pumpkin
• Duncan Hines spice cake mix 
• 12 oz bag of Chocolate Chips OR Craisins OR Nuts, etc.

Mix all the ingredients together. Drop on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees. (I'm not sure for how long, but I'm guessing 8 to 10 minutes.

Empanadas

I've been in an experimenting mood lately. Last week I made up my own chicken chimichanga recipe, and it was pretty amazing. This week, I plan to experiment with empanadas. (Empanadas were one of my favorite foods on my mission.) Here's the recipe I plan to use. (It's a combination of a taco recipe that I got from LeiLani's mom year's ago, plus an easy empanada recipe that I found online.)

PREP: 3 or 4 hours before you plan to start cooking, put out Rhodes rolls to rise.

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 large potato
• 1 small onion
• 1 can green beans, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• crushed chili
• salt
• 1 1/2 t. chili powder

Directions:

• To prepare the filling: Brown meat. Add garlic and onions. Add carrots and potatoes. Add about 1/8 c. water and lots of salt. Add chili powder. Stir and let cook on low-medium for about 10 minutes. Add green beans. Stir and let cook on medium 5-7 minutes. Add crushed chili.
• To prepare the empanadas: Take your Rhodes rolls that have raised and roll them out paper thin. Put taco filling on half of each piece of dough, and fold over. Use a fork to close up the edges (like you would with a pie crust). Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.

I will let you know how it turns out! It probably won't be very authentic, but it's bound to taste good--I hope. :)

Note: If you're unfamiliar with empanadas, they look something like this:

On my mission, I usually ate them stuffed with cheese, but you can also get them filled with meat and veggies (which is what I'm attempting here), or they make special sweet empanadas that are filled with manjar (kind of like caramel).

Another Note: This concept could also be adapted to make calzones. Instead of stuffing with the taco filling, you could try pizza sauce, mozarella cheese, and pizza toppings (diced pepperoni, sausage, diced peppers, etc.). If the empanadas work out, I'll try the calzones variation next week. :)

Creamy Lentil Soup

Since Nori's going vegan, :) here's my favorite vegan recipe. We ate lentils a lot on my mission, so maybe that's why I like it so much.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 T. vegetable oil
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, cut into small dice
• 5 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small dice
• 4 ribs celery, cut into small dice
• 2 cups lentils, rinsed
• 7 c. vegetable broth
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 T. Herbes de Provence (I have a hard time finding this seasoning here, so lately I've just been leaving it out of my recipes)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1/2 c. dry brown rice
• Corn tortillas

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat a soup pot over medium heat and add in oil. Once oil is hot, add the onions, half the carrots & half the celery. Sweat the vegetables with a sprinkle of salt until they are soft and the onion is translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add in lentils and stir to combine with the oil. Pour in 4 cups broth and add in garlic, Herbes, and salt & pepper.
3. Cover with a lid and simmer gently for 20 minutes or until lentils are soft and tender.

Note: You can stop at this point and serve the lentils as a side with roasted salmon or chicken. OR

1. Add remaining 3 cups of broth. Blend in the blender until smooth. Return to pot.
2. Add in rice and remaining carrots and celery; simmer until vegetables and rice are tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve with warm corn tortillas.

Makes about 8 servings.

Oriental Chicken Salad

Have I posted this already? Scott really likes it, and it's egg- and dairy-free. :) It's Mom's recipe.

Oriental Chicken Salad

                                                                                                     

1 small head or ½ large head cabbage                                            

½ bag chow mien noodles                                                              

2 chicken breasts (boiled, grilled, or however you like it) cubed       

3 green onions chopped                                                                      

2 TBS sesame seeds                                                                      

1-cup almonds (roasted 5 minutes in a hot buttery frying pan)          

2 pkgs ramen noodles                                                                         

Dressing:

2 TBS sugar                                                                                  

½ tsp salt                                                                                      

½ tsp pepper                                                                                

½ c salad oil                                                                                 

3 TBS red wine vinegar                                                                

Make dressing first.  Pour dressing over cooked chicken and let it “marinate” while you are putting the rest of the salad together.

Dice cabbage and put in a large bowl.  Add all the other ingredients except the dressing and chicken.  Add chicken and dressing right before serving.  Serves 10 if it is the main course.  If it is being served with other salads it will probably serve 15-20 people. 

*Mom's tip: Double (or even triple) the dressing part (depending on the amount of cabbage you have).  

Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

This recipe is from my sister in law Michelle. I've tried lots of broccoli cheese soups and this one was the best. I made it before rushing to the church for a meeting and I forgot to add the cheese at the end.  The boys seemed to still like it and there was only a little leftover for me to have when I got home. Luckily I remembered to add the cheese to mine. :) Serve with homemade rolls.

 I would recommend doubling this if you want leftovers. it made just barely enough for us.

1T butter
1/2 onion
1/4 c butter
2 c milk
1/4 c flour
2 c chicken stock
1.5 c chopped broccoli
1 c. matchstick carrots
1 celery stalk, chopped
2.5 c grated cheese
salt and pepper

Saute onion and butter until tender. Set aside. Whisk melted butter and flour in pot, add milk if needed for 3-4 minutes. Add milk and stock and cook about 20 minutes. Add veggies and cook for about another 20 minutes. Stir in cheese and salt nad pepper.

Tomato Coconut Curry

This has been our favorite vegan meal so far.  We will definitely add this one to our meal rotation.  We didn't have turmeric though, but I it was still good.  I also loved how fast and easy it was to make.

Tomato Coconut Curry 

INGREDIENTS

15 cherry tomatoes

1 14-oz can coconut milk (you can substitute with light coconut milk but the end result will be more acidic, although still delicious)

1 can of chickpeas

1 tsp chili powder

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp canola oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oil in a saucepan.

Add the cumin seeds.

When the cumin sputters, add the tomatoes, chili powder and turmeric.

Let the tomatoes cook on medium heat about 5-7 minutes until most of the tomatoes have broken down.

Add the coconut milk, chickpeas and salt.

Let simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve hot with rice.

Potato Fajitas

So randomly, I decided to try an all vegan dinner week.  And let me tell you, it is kicking my trash!  I have to tell you, Em, that I am seriously impressed that you do this all day, everyday.  But hopefully you can use some of these recipes for Lizzy. 

Potato Fajitas

INGREDIENTS

3 medium potatoes

1/2 medium onion

1/2 large green bell pepper

1 TBS garlic

1/2 TBS cumin

1/2 TBS chili powder

Dash of red pepper flakes

2 TBS vegetable oil 

Salt to taste

Honestly, I do all of the spices to taste. 

1. Boil the potatoes whole until nearly tender in the middle. Take off stove and rinse with cold to stop the cooking. When cool, cube potatoes. 

2. Thinly slice the onion and pepper. 

3. Heat oil in pan and then put onion, garlic and peppers in.  After onion and peppers cook 1 minute, add cumin, chili powder, salt and red pepper flakes. Cook on high heat for 7 - 10 minutes. Veggies will be soft looking but not carmelized. 

4. Add potatoes (more salt of needed) and cook another 5 minutes. 

Teriyaki Chicken Stir- fry

Love this Teriyaki Chicken Stir- Fry recipe. Yum and simple. From Melskitchencafe.com

• 20-ounce can pineapple chunks, drained (juice reserved)
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil, plus more as needed (I use coconut oil but canola, vegetable or olive oil would work also)
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 red pepper, seeded and chopped or sliced
• 1/4 cup of reserved pineapple juice
Sauce:
• 1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice
• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 clove garlic finely minced
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger or 1/4 teaspoon dried ginger
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

1. Thinly slice the chicken breasts and toss them in a medium bowl with the cornstarch and salt and pepper (about a teaspoon of each). Let the chicken sit for about 10-15 minutes while whisking the sauce and prepping vegetables.
2. For the sauce, combine all the ingredients together in a bowl or liquid measuring cup and whisk until smooth.
3. Heat the oil in a large, 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until rippling and hot. Add half of the chicken to the skillet in a single layer without overlapping and let it cook until nicely browned, about 30-45 seconds. Flip the chicken and let it cook through on the other side, 1-2 minutes. If your chicken is sliced super thin, it won't take long to cook through. Remove the chicken to a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken.
4. Add another teaspoon or so of oil to the pan if needed and heat again until hot and rippling. Add all of the vegetables and pineapple to the hot skillet and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are bright in color and barely tender. Add about 1/4 cup of the reserved pineapple juice to the skillet and cover (you can add water here instead of the juice, if desired). Cook, letting the vegetables steam for 2-3 minutes until crisp-tender (add more liquid, if needed, if it dries up).
5. Add the chicken back to the skillet. Whisk the sauce to recombine and then stir the sauce into the skillet and simmer for 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened. Serve immediately over hot, cooked rice, if desired.

Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Cheddar Biscuits

I haven't made these in years because of Lizzie's dairy allergy, but they are SOOO good! They are similar to the biscuits that Red Lobster serves.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Bisquick mix

• 2/3 cup milk

• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)

• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine

• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 9 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir together butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits.