Chicken and Dumplings

I know I have been super MIA lately, but buying a house has had it's share of projects. I have a list about a mile long of things I would like to do to the house so that its more "our style". I was blessed to have enough furniture to fill the rooms from my grandma, but floral grandma and brown 1970s-ish chairs are really not the look we're going for. So I made curtains for the living and family rooms, I am in the process of making a slipcover for the floral sofa, and then I should really get going on re-upholstering the brown chairs and PAINTING! I really would love to get paint on the walls so I can start hanging pictures and decor :) It's a slow process, but I know we'll get there. We also need to squeeze in some kind of "open-house" house-warming so everyone can finally see the house!

We have been opening our home to others already, but on a smaller-scale basis. In fact, we recently had friends over where I got to make my chicken and dumplings! I really love chicken and dumplings and by far my favorite part is the dumpling. I make mine in the slow-cooker so I can forget about it. I love my crock pot, easy to use and it makes meal planning easy. I also used by bread machine to make dinner roll dough that I added to my crock-pot about 2 hours before serving, so that the rolls would cook in the soup's liquid. An easy substitution would be to use store-bought dinner roll dough. This particular night I was feeling festive and as it was the 2nd official day of Fall it felt appropriate to also serve a Harvest Salad with a raspberry vinaigrette. Also delicious!

Chicken and Dumplings
INGREDIENTS
1.5-2 lbs boneless chicken breast halves
2 tbsp butter
2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 yellow onion
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp parsely
1/2 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp seasoned salt
pepper to taste
1-2 cups chicken broth (enough to cover the chicken once in the crock pot)
2 pkgs refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces OR dough*

*dough
3 c bread flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 c warm milk
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 1/4 tsp yeast

DIRECTIONS
1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, onion, and spices in slow cooker, and fill with enough chicken broth to cover chicken breast. Cover, and cook for 5-6 hours on High.
2. *optional skip this step if using store bought biscuit dough* Place milk, butter, flour, sugar, salt, and yeast (wet ingredients are always first and yeast is always last!) into bread machine. Set on dough cycle and start. Remove risen dough from machine at end of cycle, deflate, and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide dough into equal pieces and form into rounds. Place the round on a cookie sheet and cover with cloth until they double in volume (40 mins or so).
3. About 1.5-2 hours before serving, place biscuit dough in slow cooker. Dough should be cooked through-out by serving time.

General Tsao's Chicken, Asian Salad, and Naan

Ok, admittedly it has been awhile :) We had some delays with moving which meant I was literally cooking out of boxes for the last week in our apt! Then unpacking our new kitchen took a couple days. Since then, I have been cooking my usual 5-6 nights/week. I missed it so much! Rex and I had to eat out for almost 1 full week and it was not fun at all. I was so excited when our fridge arrived and I was able to go grocery shopping with my meal plan for the week. With all this being said, I'm sad to say that I am not in the habit of documenting food again (as if I was amazing at it anyway!). Thus, pictures will have to be skipped for a bit until I find my camera. I also need to order a new camera charger as my last one suffered puppy chewing :(

Since moving, I still travel to my beloved Winco for food items, but I have since learned that they are putting a Super King Supermarket in Claremont and I am so excited I don't have to travel to Winco as often to get necessities. Super King has better produce and meat than Winco AND it is cheaper! If that were even possible :) Winco will still remain my market of choice to grab my dry goods, spices, cooking wines etc., but meat and produce are used faster than any dry good so it will be convenient to have I better market closer!

Anyways, last night Rex and I had hosted his brother and gf over for dinner. I had been itching to try a new recipe I had found on allrecipes.com for some time. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. I made General Tsao's Chicken, an Asian Vinaigrette Salad, and Naan. The naan was just for fun and really didn't match the rest of meal's Asian theme, but isn't the matchy-matchy thing out? Do food menus go out of style? Probably not, but that's the best excuse I had for making naan :) The chicken was delicious! I loved how it was tangy, citrus-y, and had a kick to it. I will definitely use it in the future for other gatherings. I really didn't adapt this recipe (how unlike me!), but I did really enjoy it still. The only thing I left out was peanut oil. I felt like it was unnecessary and why pay for a bottle of peanut oil you will likely not use again! Anyways, I think I left you waiting long enough. Here is my delicious recipes (all from allrecipes.com):

Naan

INGREDIENTS:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast 1 cup warm water 1/4 cup white sugar 3 tablespoons milk 1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons salt 4 1/2 cups bread flour 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional) 1/4 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2.	Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3.	During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat. I just pan fry my naan. As one commentator on the website suggested I rolled two small balls and pushed them together to rise to give more air bubbles in the product. You can put a lid on the skillet to also help form the bubbles. Be careful not to burn the naan. It really only takes 1-3 mins per side depending on the heat setting!
4.	At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 9/1/2011

General Tsao's Chicken II

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups vegetable oil for frying (I always fry in canola oil) 1 egg 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2 inch cubes 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon white sugar 1 pinch white pepper (I just used black pepper) 1 cup cornstarch   2 tablespoons vegetable oil 3 tablespoons chopped green onion 1 clove garlic, minced

6 dried whole red chilies (I just bought a pack from the mexican spice aisle at the grocery store and used 10 of them since they were the size of a raisin) 1 strip orange zest (1 tbsp or so of the orange zest) 1/2 cup white sugar 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 3 tablespoons chicken broth 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 teaspoons sesame oil 2 tablespoons peanut oil (omitted this ingredient)   2 teaspoons cornstarch 1/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat 4 cups vegetable oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.	Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Add the chicken cubes; sprinkle with salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and white pepper; mix well. Mix in 1 cup of cornstarch a little bit at a time until the chicken cubes are well coated.
3.	In batches, carefully drop the chicken cubes into the hot oil one by one, cooking until they turns golden brown and begin to float, about 3 minutes. Remove the chicken and allow to cool as you fry the next batch. Once all of the chicken has been fried, refry the chicken, starting with the batch that was cooked first. Cook until the chicken turns deep golden brown, about 2 minutes more. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
4.	Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Stir in the green onion, garlic, whole chiles, and orange zest. Cook and stir a minute or two until the garlic has turned golden and the chiles brighten. Add 1/2 cup sugar, the ginger, chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and peanut oil; bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.
5.	Dissolve 2 teaspoons of cornstarch into the water, and stir into the boiling sauce. Return to a boil and cook until the sauce thickens and is no longer cloudy from the cornstarch, about 1 minute. Stir the chicken into the boiling sauce. Reduce heat to low and cook for a few minutes until the chicken absorbs some of the sauce.

Asian Salad

INGREDIENTS:

2 (3 ounce) packages ramen noodles, crushed (top ramen w/o the seasoning is easy and cheap!) 1 cup blanched slivered almonds 2 teaspoons sesame seeds 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 head napa cabbage, shredded (I used romaine since it was easier to find and inexpensive)

1 bunch green onions, chopped (only used 3/4 of a bunch and used the rest in the chicken recipe above) 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 tablespoons soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a medium skillet over low heat brown ramen noodles, almonds, and sesame seeds with melted butter or margarine. Once browned, take off heat and cool.
2.	In a small saucepan bring vegetable oil, sugar, and vinegar to boil for 1 minute. Cool. Add soy sauce.
3.	In a large bowl , combine shredded napa cabbage and chopped green onions. Add the noodle and soy sauce mixture. Toss to coat. Serve.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 9/1/2011

Hiatus

Yup, I must go on hiatus for a little while, at least until the move is complete. We are either moving this weekend or the following depending on when we get the keys! I cannot wait to start cooking in the new kitchen. My only concern is being surrounded by several projects in the new house that will limit my access to the kitchen (i.e. removing ugly linoleum from under foot). I think the month of August will be busy, but fun. I will still be cooking before we move, but for sanity's sake I will not be blogging :)

Chicken in Yellow Curry with Naan

Well, the boxes have come out and we are starting to pack. I forgot how much I disliked packing :) I was spoiled this past year and a half with not having to move! Since high school I moved twice a year for 6 years, so taking a year off was really nice, but this will probably be our last move for some time (aka- 5+ years). I really look forward to being settled. I have not packed the kitchen yet, and probably won't until a couple days before we move. So, I should be still creating meals in the kitchen. Hopefully I have the energy between cleaning, packing, and moving!


Last night I made an Indian dish. It was a really delicious meal! I wasn't sure what to expect considering I have never made a real curry sauce or naan from scratch. Both, however, turned out great. The chicken itself did not take much time. The naan was a different story. Although it is a relatively easy bread, it needs 2 full risings. That makes the total time to make the bread about 2 hours (1.5 hours of waiting). Frying the dough on a frying pan, however, made the frying of the bread quicker than a traditional baking time. So I guess it's a give and a take :)


Chicken in Yellow Curry:
INGREDIENTS
1 tsp olive oil
1 c onion, diced
2.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp garam masala (see my recipe below)
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 c red wine
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 c chicken broth


Garam Masala
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp bay leaves, crumbled
1/8 tsp cloves


DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat olive oil in Wok over medium heat and stir in onion. Cook onion until soft and golden brown. Remove onion from Wok.
2. Increase heat to medium-high. Season chicken with garam masala and curry powder (lightly seasoned is best!). Place chicken in Wok and brown while stirring (7 mins). Add red wine and red wine vinegar and simmer for 1 min. Stir in prepared onion and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer 10 mins.


Naan
INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 c warm water
1/4 c sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp salt
4.5 c bread flour
2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 c melted butter


DIRECTIONS
1.     In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2.     Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3.     During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4.     At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

On days I know I am going to be busy, I try to prep dinner as best as I can beforehand. Sometimes that is merely cutting the meat and veggies, or sometimes it's making a sauce. This was a great recipe to try on a busy day. The whole recipe took 10 minutes to put together once my chicken had cooked. Easy! This particular day, I was inspired by the super low-fat mayonnaise I had recently found at Winco. I usually buy lite mayo (50 calories/tbsp) which is 1/2 the calories of regular mayo. I happened to stumble upon a product called "Smart Beat" when I was picking up groceries to make a potato salad. I thought I could at least try the Smart Beat next to my lite mayo and see if I could tell a difference. They were almost identical! The best part is that Smart Beat is only 10 calories/tbsp :) This caused me to think of all the great foods I loved that are slathered in mayo. Enter Chicken Salad Sandwiches.

I made this recipe super easy. I was in a no-fuss, no-heat kind of mood and decided it would be best to make my recipe even easier than normal. I actually boiled the chicken (gasp!). I know, boiled chicken is usually rubbery and gross, but seeing as I would need to shred the chicken and then slather it in mayo I knew we wouldn't know the difference. I threw the chicken in a pot and boiled it with water for 30-35 mins. I didn't even have to attend to the chicken. Like I said, easy :) Then I just used my chop-chop (aka http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-EHC650-2-Speed-Chopper/dp/B00005MF97/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310682430&sr=8-1), and shredded my meat in it. I did the same with my celery and onion. I mixed all of it together in a large bowl with mayo, sour cream, tarragon, salt, and pepper. It was done :) I just needed to refridgerate it afterwards for 1-2 hours and then bring it out for dinner. So delicious and effortless.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 c sour cream
3/4 c mayo
1 c celery, finely chopped
1/4 c tarragon
5 c cooked chicken, cubed

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DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, combine sour cream, mayo, celery, and tarragon; stir in chicken. Refrigerate 2-3 hours.

Szechwan Chicken over rice

This is another spicy recipe! Since keeping this blog I have come to the realization of many things. It's funny how obvious things can be, yet you do not realize them until you write them down and see the pattern!

1. Life is busy. It doesn't matter how many recipes I make in a week, I will only find time to blog 1-3/week. I thought it was just specific circumstances that made me blog less and less, but alas that is not the case. Life doesn't slow down :)
2. Rex and I eat a lot of spicy food, which probably isn't the most universal foods I can blog about, but this is really what I cook and eat on a weekly basis.
3. I use my Wok a lot.
4. I am horrible at taking pictures (not exactly a new revelation!)

Anyways, our family has been experiencing a season of change. Since getting our puppy, we have been house-training him, dealing with the summer heat, staying involved in church, and making time to see each of our families. Well amidst all these changes, we are also moving soon. This means I need to start packing :)

Fortunately, busyness and the heat haven't prevented me from being able to cook! Those are usually 2 words that equate to not cooking, but I've made it a priority to cook and so by God's grace we have been still eating home-cooking. This has caused me, however, to focus on cooking quick meals that don't require the oven. One such meal is a family favorite. We probably eat it once every 4-6 weeks :) It's Szechwan Chicken! It cooks in about 20 minutes and is a full meal once added over rice.

INGREDIENTS
4 tbsp water
2 tbps ketchup
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp veggie oil
1/4 c green onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 lbs chicken, diced

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a bowl, stir water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, cayenne, and ginger. Set aside.
2. Fry diced chicken in Wok or large skillet in oil over high heat. Keep stirring chicken as it fries. Chicken should be white all over (6-8 mins).
3. Add green onions and garlic to chicken in Wok and cook another minute.
4. Stir in sauce and toss to coat. Allow sauce to bubble before removing from heat. Serve over warm rice.

Macaroni and Cheese

Albie and his first tennis ball

I had to add a cute puppy pic :) Albie got his first tennis ball over the holiday weekend and loves it. I would add a pic of our macaroni and cheese, but the picture didn't do it justice. Maybe next time I'll photo it with better presentation skills.

I love a good bowl of creamy macaroni and cheese. What I don't love is that most recipes require lots of cream or processed cheeses to make it the right consistency. My first 2 attempts at homestyle macaroni and cheese were mediocre. They lacked the cheesy taste and creamy texture combo I really wanted (think El Pollo Loco Mac). So, one day I finally stumbled upon a "healthier" version recipe. I glanced at the ingredients and thought it's worth a shot, but traditionally healthy and macaroni and cheese don't belong in the same sentence. Sure enough, however, it turned out creamy and cheesy without cream and overly processed cheese. I was so happy! This was my second time making it. I will post the original recipe as is, however, I will note that with the hot temperatures, I did not bake mine in the oven. I just combined my noodles and cheese sauce and called it a day :) It was still just as delicious!

INGREDIENTS

10 oz macaroni cooked al dente

1 tomato, sliced

2 c low-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

1/2 c crushed cornflakes or breadcrumbs

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 c skim milk

2 tbsp low-fat cream cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a 9 x 9 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Boil water and cook macaroni.

3. Combine flour, salt, onion powder, and black pepper in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk milk into the pan, add cream cheese. Whisk vigorously, until even and no lumps appear (this may take some time!). Bring to a low boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook about 4 minutes, stirring, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted.

4. In a bowl, combine cooked macaroni and cheese sauce. Spoon into prepared baking dish. Top with sliced tomato, shredded cheese, and cornflakes. Bake until bubbly and golden brown, about 25 minutes.