(No Tortilla) Chicken Enchilada Bake

A couple of months ago, we invited Rachel and her family over for dinner.  We've had them over for dinner again since that time, but it was a couple months ago that I made this:

Chicken Enchilada Bake

She's asked me to post the recipe here, especially since this requires no tortillas.  Because who wants to make tortillas in this heat?  

Since it doesn't have any tortillas, it is gluten free, Trim Healthy Mama (THM) and (I think - right, Andrea?) GAPS friendly. 

Gather your ingredients: 

Salt, tomato puree, cumin, green peppers, onions, garlic, chicken, and cheese.

 Layer the chicken, enchilada sauce, and onions and peppers.

Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 200 C for 30 minutes.

Chicken Enchilada Bake

For Enchilada Sauce:

4 small boxes tomato puree

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp salt

6 small cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped (optional)

Combine in a sauce pan.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.  

Other Ingredients:

3 medium onions, chopped

3 green peppers, chopped

butter

2 kg chicken, cooked and chopped/shredded

2-3 cups shredded cheese (mozzarella or cheddar work well)

Directions:

Saute onions and peppers in a small amount of butter (approximately 1 tsp).  Place a layer of chicken on the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan/casserole dish.  Next, pour the enchilada sauce over the chicken. Then, evenly layer the onions and peppers.  Finally, sprinkle the cheese on top.  Bake at 200 C for 30 minutes.  Serve with Spanish (brown) rice, salsa, plain yogurt, avocado, black olives, or any other yummy Mexican food toppings.  

Note:

If you don't have an oven, just heat the enchilada sauce longer until it is thicker, and sprinkle with cheese while the chicken is still hot to melt it.  To make this easier, I cook my chicken with the ingredients for the enchilada sauce together in my crockpot on high for about 5 hours, then finish up with the onions and peppers, sprinkle with cheese and bake. 

Thai Green Curry

From Mindy B.: 

After our first visit to Thailand, I wanted to try to find a recipe that tasted like something I’d had there and loved! This recipe has done the trick for me. The lemongrass and zucchini are the items that are harder to find in India. You can substitute the zucchini for some other vegetable very easily, but you will have to find a place to get lemongrass. The easiest thing to do is to buy some lemongrass at a nursery and grow it in a pot. It grows like a weed, and you’ll always have it on hand.  When I didn’t grow it, I would order one or two stalks from one of those import groceries and make up a double batch of the green curry paste (and freeze the excess). If you have the paste already made, this is a meal that can be ready in 30 minutes or less!!

Thai Green Coconut Curry

3 T. Green Curry Paste (recipe below)
3 c. coconut milk
8 oz. chicken breast
1 green bell pepper
1 zucchini
1 onion
1 c. frozen peas
1 T. olive oil

Saute chopped up veggies and chicken (cut into bite-sized pieces) in olive oil.  Add coconut milk and curry paste, simmer on medium heat for ten minutes.  Remove from heat.  Serve with brown rice.  Makes 4-6 servings.

Thai Green Curry Paste

1 stalk lemongrass, minced
1-2 green chilies, sliced
4 T. minced purple onion
4-5 cloves garlic
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, thinly sliced
1 c. packed chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems
1/2 t. ground cumin
1//2 t. white pepper
1/2 t. ground coriander
3 T. fish sauce (or soy sauce for vegetarian option)
1 t. shrimp paste (vegetarian sub 1 t. salt)
2 T. lemon juice
1 t. brown sugar
3-4 T. coconut milk (to blend ingredients together)

Place all ingredients in a food processor, chopped, or blender.  Then simply process well to form the fragrant Thai green curry paste.  It is now ready to be used.  You can bottle up any leftovers and keep them in the fridge for up to one week, or freeze.   

Rosemary Chicken

This has become my quick go-to chicken recipe when I want to make a more complicated side dish, like a Sweet Potato Casserole, or Broccoli Rice Casserole.  (To me, a simple side dish is a roasted or sauteed vegetable. I tend to not do a complicated main dish with a complicated side.  Just too lazy, I guess, or maybe everything is just more complicated from scratch!)

Rosemary Chicken
1 whole chicken (this usually just barely feeds the six of us, as the kids grow, we'll need 2!)
2 T. olive oil
1 T. dried rosemary
Salt and Pepper

I normally rinse my chicken off before I get started, get rid of all the bits from butchering.  You know what I'm talking about. : )  Heat the oil in the bottom of a pressure cooker (one large enough for the chicken).  Toss the rosemary into the hot oil, and saute until they smell great!  Add salt and pepper into the oil, then place the chicken, breastside down, into the oil.  Sear the breast side for 1-2 minutes,  then turn a quarter on to the side, sear it, then repeat, searing all four sides of the chicken.  You won't be able to get every part of the skin seared, just get the main parts.  This helps lock in the flavor.

Turn the chicken to be breastside up, back down.  Add about 1 c. of water.  Close the cooker and cook it for 15 minutes or so.  If the chicken was frozen, it takes more like 25 minutes.

You can also add more flavors to this by adding some quartered onions or garlic pieces to the oil before adding the chicken.  Or for a complete meal, add some chopped or wedged potatoes and carrots and more water.  This is also a great started for broth. After you pick the chicken and eat it, leave the water in the cooker from before, throw the bones back in with some onions and fill it up with water and cook it.  Delicious broth for soups, casseroles, and sauces.  

Mango Ranch Chicken!

It's that time of year again!  Mangoes are so sweet and tasty right now.  They are the one redeeming feature of "hot season".  And it is a hot one this year!

Load up on mangoes at the market this week and try this for dinner! It's from a new contributor!

Mango Ranch Chicken

2 Tbs oil

1 Package of Ranch dressing mix

3 Tbs mango marmalade

3-4 ripe mangoes, cubed

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 c. uncooked rice

Combine oil, Ranch, and mango marmalade in a sauce pan.  Simmer until marmalade thins.  Add 3-4 ripe Mango's cut into small cubes.  Continue cooking for a few minutes until good and saucy.

Meanwhile, cook your chicken however you want.  In the oven.  Pressure cook it and then shred it.  Pan fry it.  Saute it with salt and pepper.  Blacken it.  Get crazy. 

Also meanwhile,   cook your rice.  If you want to boost the flavor, throw in a buillion cube to the boiling water before adding the rice.  

Serve the mango sauce over cooked chicken and rice. 

I'll be giving this one a try soon!  Thanks, Mica! : ) 

Pulled Chicken Barbecue

My husband is a barbecue nut.  He loves it.  He says that barbecue sauce is one of his top two favorite foods.  (The other is parmesan cheese... he's really out of luck living in South Asia!) : )

To make up for his lack of barbecue options on this side of the world, I have experimented with several different options.  The one that he asks for most often are these simple pulled chicken sandwiches.  They're a quick go-to meal, especially if you have a place where you can buy burger buns!

Pulled Chicken Barbecue

Rub:

⅓ c. Sugar

2 t.  Paprika (don't use lal mirch!)

2 t. Dry Mustard
1 t. Salt 

4 whole Chicken Breasts

1 can Ginger Ale
1 c. Water

Sauce:

½ c. Apple Cider Vinegar

½ c. Ketchup
⅓ c. Brown Sugar (or white sugar/bhura is fine too!)
½ c. Pan Drippings (Or Broth)
1 T. Dijon Or Yellow Mustard
2 pinches Salt 

Directions:
Mix together in a bowl the sugar, paprika, dry mustard, and a teaspoon of salt.
Mix and rub on the outside of the chicken breasts. 

Heat 1 t. of oil in the bottom of the pressure cooker.  Quickly sear the chicken breasts on both sides in the oil. Don't cook too long, just brown the tops and bottoms.

Pour water and ginger ale into pressure cooker. Seal the lid. Bring to high pressure and cook for 10-15 minutes. 

Remove from pressure cooker, and use two forks to shred the chicken.

Pour off all but ½ cup of the drippings from the pressure cooker. Put pressure cooker on a medium heat (without the lid on) and add ketchup, brown sugar, prepared mustard, and apple cider vinegar. Use a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to incorporate any drippings sticking to the bottom on the pan.
Turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning. I have found that this bbq sauce tastes strongly of vinegar at this point. Don’t worry; it will mellow out once you mix it in with the pulled chicken.

Add bbq sauce to the chicken. You may not want or need all of it. It depends on your taste. I use all of mine, but I really love sauce! Great with potato or pasta salad, or just plain chips or McCain Super Wedges for a quick and easy meal! :) 

Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce-from PW

I love the Pioneer Woman. I've said it before.  I'll say it many times in the future. Many of her recipes are so easy to adapt to our available food items.  I keep trying to win a KitchenAid mixer or Le Crueset pot from her.  But it's not working for some reason.  : )

I try to attempt at new PW recipe almost at least once a week.  They pretty much never fail. This is one that I will keep in rotation for awhile, because it was very quick, and very tasty, and my whole family loved it.  My kids even said they wanted to give me a reward for making the best chicken ever, what would I like?  I said "Kids who listen and obey all day tomorrow!" : ) 

The original PW recipe is here.  This is how I tweaked it for our South Asian non-alcoholic version: 

Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce-PW Style

4 whole chicken breasts

2 T. olive oil

2 T. butter

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 c. chicken broth/ 1 cube buillion in 1 c. water

1 T. Dijon mustard (I used Remia imported brand)

1 T. grainy mustard (I used Fun Foods English Mustard)

1/2 c. heavy cream

Water for thinning

1 t. sugar

1 T. red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise for eight thin pieces.  Salt and pepper both sides.  

Heat oil and butter together in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook chicken on both sides until golden brown.  Remove chicken to a plate. 

Reduce the heat to medium.  Add the garlic to the pan and saute for a minute, make sure it doesn't burn.  Add the chicken broth/bullion, and cook to reduce it to half.  Add both mustards and stir.  Add the red wine vinegar and stir with a whisk to combine.  Add the cream.  If sauce seems thick, add a bit of water.  Add sugar, salt and pepper, adjusting seasonings to your taste.  Place the chicken back in the sauce and cook for just a couple of minutes.  Serve with sauce on top of chicken!

PW suggest serving this with a green salad.  We had this with a fresh green bean salad, and it was a big hit. I'll definitely be making this again! :) 

Shish Taouk (Lebanese Chicken)

This is one of my favorite Lebanese dishes to make.  I got the recipe from Nita Mehta's Lebanese Cooking for the Indian Kitchen.

This will require some planning ahead because you will have to assemble your Lebanese spice mix and also marinate your chicken for at least 4 hours (I usually marinate overnight), but the results are well worth the extra planning. I usually double this for my family.





Serves 3-4
250 gms boneless chicken - cut into 3/4" pieces
1 medium sized onion- cut into 8 pieces

Marinade
1 egg
1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste (I usually just use fresh grated ginger and minced garlic)
4 Tbsp. thick curd (yogurt)
1/2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. salt
1 onion, grated
1 tsp dried thyme or oregano
1 tsp Lebanese spice mix
1 tsp roasted cumin (bhuna jeera) powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder or paprika (degi mirch) powder (I always use paprika b/c of the little people)
2 tsp tomato ketchup
2 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp oil

1. Mix all ingredients of the marinade in a bowl.
2. Add chicken pieces and onion.  Keep in fridge covered for at least 4 hours.
3. Preheat oven at 180 C for 10 minutes.
4. Grease the wire rack with oil.  Place the chicken pieces on it. (I always use the skewers that came with my oven.)
5. Bake at 180 C in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is well cooked.

This goes great with some hummus, and carrots, cucumbers, and Megan's pita bread for dipping.

Bierocks!

I grew up eating these.  My family has a German background, and I guess that's where it came from.  : )   

Since I have a spouse who doesn't appreciate the simplicity of the bierock itself, I've had to tweak it a little to make it an enjoyable meal for everyone in my house. : ) You can also make it a good vegetarian option by substituting channa deal(yellow lentils) for the chicken.  One of my favorite things about this recipe is it makes 12 bierocks, which means two meals for us!  I always freeze 6 of them (wrapped in saran wrap and foil) and pull them out later for a quick meal.  

Here's what I do!  It's a nice little comfort food meal, especially if you serve it with onion rings. : ) 

Bierocks


Dough:
2 ¼ t. Dry Yeast1 c. Warm Milk¼ c. Sugar¼ c. Vegetable Oil1 t. Salt 2 Eggs, Beaten4 c. Bread Flour, More As Needed

Filling:
½ c. Onion, Chopped1/2 kg chicken keema2 T. Vegetable Oil.
4 c. Cabbage, Cut Fine
3-4 T. Amul creamy cheese
1 t. Worcestershire sauce

Salt, Pepper And Cayenne Pepper To Taste


Directions:
Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm milk. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine oil, salt and eggs; add yeast mixture. Add 1 cup of flour and beat for 1 minute. Beat in ½ cup of flour at a time, until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.
Knead in remaining flour until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
Place dough in a well-oiled large bowl and loosely cover. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. 

To make filling, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add meat and onion and cook until meat is browned, stirring to crumble. Add cabbage and cook until wilted. Add cheese and worcestershire.  Season with salt and pepper. Let cool. 

Punch dough down and let rest 5 minutes. Divide dough in half. 

Roll each half into a letter-sized rectangle (roughly 8 by 11) and cut each rectangle into 6 squares. 

Spoon ¼ or ⅓ cup filling into center of each square. 

Bring opposite corners together at the center, pinching corners and seams to seal.

 Place seam side down on a large baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise 20 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Pasta in Creamy Garlic Sauce (Chicken and Broccoli version)

Although this meal is REALLY easy to put together, it does require a little bit of planning ahead. That's because the sauce (which you can make in about 5 minutes) needs to sit for several hours for the garlic to really get nicely infused. Otherwise, your sauce is just going to taste like milk:( But this is a great meal for making all the things ahead of time, and then throwing it all together in a snap later in the day (or even the next day). This is really, really easy to make!

Creamy Garlic Sauce Ingredients:

1/2 c. water, divided

2 Tbsp. chopped garlic

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 c. heavy cream (in India, use 1 c. Amul cream and 1 c. milk. This is not good with 2 c. Amul cream...trust me)

1 Tbsp. fresh parsley (or 1 tsp. dried parsley if you have it...I've made it without this before)

salt and pepper to taste (I also use Tony's creole seasoning)

2 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Directions

1. Pour half of the water into a saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the garlic and garlic powder, and boil until the water has almost evaporated, about 5 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream, parsley, salt, and pepper. At this point (before I add the cornstarch) I take it off the burner and allow it to cool, then put it in the fridge. I usually do this in the morning if I’m going to make this for dinner, or you could do this before you go to bed and let it sit overnight in order to make it for lunch.

2. When you are ready to make your meal, see the rest of the directions below.

Ingredients to add to the sauce:

2 baked chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces (I season mine with Tony's before baking)

1 small head of broccoli, cut into small pieces and steamed

3 cups of cooked pasta (macaroni, elbow, etc.)

When you're ready to assemble your meal, remove the garlic sauce from the fridge.

3. Add the cornstarch to the sauce and slowly heat it. Add all your other ingredients (I add the chicken and brocolli first, and then add the pasta so that I don't get too much in there. You want the sauce to nicely coat everything). Heat everything through til you get the sauce to the thickness that you want.

To turn this into a veg meal, leave out the chicken and add a variety of steamed vegetables (carrots, summer squash, etc.).

This goes nicely with French bread and Carrots with Rosemary Butter.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Roasted Pears and Rice

This dish calls for wild rice, something I've never been able to find here.  So I just used a plain short grain rice. This would be really nice served with some sauteed green beans or steamed broccoli.  You will need some craisins/cranberries that we can't typically find here.  I wasn't sure how I would like this, because I normally go for more savory main dishes, but this was really good, and the whole family loved it, especially the kids!  Also, I labeled it 40 minutes or Less, because it's less than 40 minutes of prep time, but 30 minutes of inactive baking time.  From start to ready, it's more than 40 minutes.

Chicken with Roasted Pears and Rice
3 pears, cored and cut length-wise into 1/2" slices
1 1/4 c. apple juice
3/4 c. water
1 cube chicken bullion
1 c. uncooked rice
1 lb chicken breast, cubed into 1 inch pieces
1/2 c. dried cranberries, or dried tart cherries
2 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450F/220C.  Arrange pear slices in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. Bake for ten minutes, or until tender.  Remove from oven, and reduce oven tempt to 400F/190C.

Combine apple juice, water, and chicken bullion in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Add rice, cover, reduce heat, and cook until rice is tender, 15-20 minutes.  Fluff rice with a fork.

Combine rice, chicken, cranberries, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Spoon mixture in a a large baking dish.  Arrange roasted pear slices over chicken mixture.  Cover and bake at 190C for about 30 minutes or until chicken is done.  5-6 servings.

Luke liked this so much, he had a very clean plat.  And he wanted a pear slice with cranberries he dug out of the leftover neatly perched on top for dessert. : )

Greek Chicken Casserole

Here's a quick and easy meal in a dish! I love baked dinners, because I can clean up while dinner cooks in the oven. : )

Greek Chicken Casserole- from Barefoot Con Terra
1 T. Olive Oil
2 c. Chopped Onion
2 T. Dried Thyme
1-2 t. Black Pepper
10 cloves Garlic, Minced
6 c. Cubed potatoes (1/4 kg)
2 c. Cut Green Beans (1/4 kg)
½ c. Water
2 T. Finely Chopped Olives (optional)
2-3 c. Diced Tomatoes

8 Skinned, Boned Chicken Thighs, Or Breasts
½ c. Crumbled Feta Cheese



Salt to taste

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the thyme, pepper, and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Increase heat to medium-high. Add potato; sauté 8 minutes or until potato begins to brown. Stir in green beans, water,and tomatoes. Salt to taste, adjusting seasonings to your liking. Remove mixture from heat. Nestle chicken thighs into potato mixture. Top with feta cheese. Cover and bake at 375° for 45 minutes. 

*I might be a little more generous with the feta cheese.  : )  

Keralan Honey Lemon Chicken

Recently, I found some lime powder at the grocery store.  A big huge bag of it. I thought I could find something interesting to do with it, so I bought it.  I found this recipe online, and even though it didn't call for lime powder, the whole family loved this.  It was really tasty! : ) 

Keralan Honey Lemon Chicken
4 Chicken breasts
1/2 c. corn starch/corn flour
4 garlic cloves, chopped
Oil – sufficient for frying
2 T. light soya sauce
2 T. hoisin sauce
1/4 t. red chilly flakes, optional
Salt to taste
2 T. lemon juice
4 T. honey
1 T. roasted sesame seeds 

Mix 2T cornstarch in 1c. of water and keep the remaining corn starch.  Finely chop or press the garlic.  Heat the oil over a high heat.  Cut the chicken breasts into one inch cubes.  Dredge the chicken pieces in the corn starch, coating them thoroughly.  Fry the chicken in the hot oil, 4-5 minutes.  Remove chicken and drain on a paper towel.  In a separate skillet, heat 2 T. oil.  Fry the chopped garlic, and add soy sauce, hoisin, chilly flakes, salt.  Stir to combine.  Add the fried chicken pieces to the sauce, and add the cornstarch/water solution and stir well.  Reduce the heat and add the lemon juice and honey.  Stir continuously until the sauce is thickened.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds to finish.  Serve over steamed rice or noodles. 

Three Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake

I got this from my friend Terra's blog.  Quick and easy pasta dinner!

Three Cheese Chicken Pasta Bake

3 c. uncooked ziti (I used penne)

1/4 kg spinach leaves

1 lb. of chicken, cut into pieces

1/2 t. each of oregano, basil, thyme, salt, pepper, garlic powder

3 diced tomatoes

2 oz. cream cheese

2 T. parmesan cheese (you can substitute cheddar)

1/2 c. mozzarella

2 boxes tomato puree

1/4 c. bacon bits (optional)

oil

Cook pasta according to package directions.  One minute before it’s done, add spinach leaves.  Drain.

Heat oil in a skillet. Add chicken and all seasoning and saute in skillet until done. Add tomato puree and tomatoes, bring to a boil.  Simmer 3 mins.  Stir in cream cheese.  Toss in spinach and pasta.  Toss in 1/2 c. mozzarella. Pack into baking dish.  Bake 20 minutes.  Remove and sprinkle with parmesan and remaining mozzarella.  Bake at 375/180, covered lightly for 15 minutes.  Remove foil for the last five minutes. 

Moroccan Stew with Couscous

This is a new favorite recipe.  My husband totally loves it, and I do too. It's a bit too spicy for the kids though, so I have to tone it down by either removing some for them before adding all the curry powder, or reducing the curry powder.  So good, though!

Moroccan Stew
2 T. olive oil
4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 large green bell pepper
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 medium red onions
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 T. curry powder
10 ounces of tomato soup
1/2 c. golden raisins
1 c. cooked chick peas (optional)
1/3 c. toasted slivered almonds (optional)

Heat oil in a large wok or saute pan over medium high heat.  Add chicken and cook until well browned on both sides.

Reduce the heat to medium.  Add onions, pepper, and garlic, and cook five minutes or until tender crisp. Add cinnamon and curry and cook and stir one minute.  Stir in soup and heat to a boil.  Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 15 minutes.

Add raisins and chickpeas to saucepan.  Cook ten minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  Stir in almonds.

For couscous:  boil 1 1/2 c. water with 1 T. butter and 1 block of chicken bullion.  When water is boiling and everything is melted, add 11/2 c. couscous.  Shut off the heat and cover the pot and let it sit 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork and serve.  If you don't have couscous, serving with rice would be good.

Notes:  I usually omit the chickpeas because I don't plan enough ahead.  But you could easily make this an all veg. meal by omitting the chicken and doubling the chickpeas.  If I have slivered almonds, I use them.  If not, obviously, I leave them out.  : )

Also, for the tomato soup, you can use either leftover tomato soup, or just two boxes of tomato puree and season it a bit with salt and pepper and maybe some basil and cumin.  If it's too thick, thin it down with some water.  I've done both, and both come out great.  

Mango Chicken Pasta

Here is another recipe from DebbieR!  I've had this before, and it looks interesting, but it is really great!

Mango Chicken Pasta
16 oz. uncooked rigatoni pasta
1 T. olive oil, divided
3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed
1 onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 mango, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 c. fresh cream
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 T. grated cheese, or more! : )

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add rigatoni pasta, cook for 8 minutes until almost done.  Drain.

Heat 1/2 the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Place chicken in the skillet and cook 10 minutes, or until juices run clear.  Remove from heat, and set aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet, and cook the onion and green pepper until tender.  Mix in the garlic, and mango, and continue to cook and stir five minutes, or until mango is soft.  Gradually mix the heavy cream into the skillet, and cook five minutes, until thickened.

Return the chicken to the skillet.  Cook and stir 2 minutes, until ingredients are well blended.  Mix in the cheese.  Serve over pasta.

Enjoy!

Shish-Ka-Bobs

My mom used to make this growing up, and it was one of my favorites.  I just loved grilled pineapple!

Shish-Ka-Bobs

¼ c. soy sauce

¼ c. cider vinegar

2 T. honey

2 T. vegetable oil

2 green onions, minced

4 chicken breasts, cubed

1 pineapple, cubed

1-2 green peppers, cut into squares

1 white or yellow onion, cut into squares

Combine soy sauce, cider vinegar, honey, oil and green onions in a large bowl.  Marinade four chicken breasts, cut up or whole.  Marinate for four hours or longer.  Skewer with green pepper, onion and pineapple.  Grill.

I do these on my stove top grill.  You could also do them in the oven if you need to!  They are so tender and wonderful! I served it with a jamaican-y rice with peas and watermelon slices.  Quick and easy!

For the rice: I simply took some leftover white steamed rice from lunch, melted some butter in the skillet and added 1/2 t. cumin seeds, or thereabout.  I let them sizzle, then added about 1 t. of jamaican curry powder (that I had brought from the states, yes, sorry, but it's mostly turmeric and a few other spices...).  I threw in some frozen peas and the white rice and stirred it up, little salt and pepper.  Done!

Mango Chicken

It's Mango season!  I'll be trying to come up with lots of different recipes to share using mangos in the next few months.  Here's one we love that's quick and delicious!

Mango Chicken

4 Chicken breasts, cubed

1 red pepper, coarsely chopped

1 yellow pepper, coarsely chopped

1 mango, cubed

1 c. pineapple bits 

1 c. Orange juice

1 T. cornstarch

Hot Sauce

Tony’s

Rice

Chicken bullion

In a large skillet, cook sliced chicken and peppers.  Add Tony’s to taste.  Whip together juice, hot sauce, and some flour or cornstarch and pour over chicken and peppers. Cook on a low heat until it’s a gravy like consistency.  Add fruit to skillet. Serve over rice.

Deep Dish Barbecue Chicken Pizza

One of our favorites. :)

2 1/2 t. yeast

1 t. sugar

1 c. warm water (100-110 degree F)

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. cornmeal/makka atta/corn dalia

1/2 t. salt

1 T. olive oil

1 recipe Pizza Hut pizza sauce (it's right here)

1/2 c. barbecue sauce of your choice

2 chicken breasts

1 ball Amul mozzarella cheese

1/2-2/3 block of Brittania cheddar cheese

Jalapenos (optional)

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

For the dough:

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water in a measuring cup.  Let the yeast proof. Meanwhile, spoon the flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife.  Place flour, makka atta and salt in a food processor, pulse 2 times or until blended.  With processor on, slowly add the yeast mixture and 1 T. oil through the chute.  Process until a ball forms, and let it knead in the machine for one more minute.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead lightly four to five times.  (You can do it all by hand if you want too).  Put the dough in a bowl coated with cooking spray, and turn it to coat the top.  Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place (in the microwave with a cup of warm water?) for 45 minutes, it should double in size.  

Now, make the sauce, chop the onion, cook the chicken, shred the cheeses.

When it's doubled, punch dough down with one good blow.  Let it rest five minutes.  Prepare 2 9 inch cake pans by coating them with butter and sprinkling some sooji (semolina) around the bottom and sides.  Divide dough in half.  Shape dough into a ball and then press into a disc with your palm.  It should be about six inches wide and an inch or so thick?  Place the dough in the prepared pans and smoosh it to the edges and up the sides, making the base even.  

For the sauce: 

Make the pizza hut pizza sauce.  Mix it with 1/2 c. barbecue sauce.  Voila. 

Toppings: 

Rub chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Grill or saute in a bit of olive oil or butter until cooked through.  Shred, chop, or slice.  However you like it.  (We usually shred it). 

Combine the shredded mozzarella and shredded cheddar and mix it well. 

Spread the sauce evenly between the two pizzas.  Sprinkle with some chopped onion.  Divide the chicken between the pizzas.  Add half the cheese to each pizza.  Top with jalapenos if you want.  (Makes it taste a bit like Schlotzsky's!!)  Bake at 245 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 190 and bake another 10 minutes.  

Some notes: I have always used makka atta for this, but recently ran across "corn dalia" at a store.  It is in the jar on the right in the photo below.  The middle jar is makka atta.  The jar on the left in the picture below is corn dalia that I "mixee-eed" for a few minutes to get it finer.  The corn dalia just looked like dried corn kernels that had been pounded and broken up a bit. I thought if I put it in the processor I could get it to be more like actual corn meal.  It did get finer, and I tried it in the dough, but it was still too chunky, and the bits were too hard.  I either need to let it go longer, or not use it.  

Also, this does make two pizzas, so I usually do one barbecue chicken pizza and another one that's just cheese for the kids. I alter the sauce a bit , using less barbecue sauce and half the pizza hut sauce recipe for our pizza, and the other half for the kids cheese pizza.