What's more American than a chicken tender?? A nice piece of the most tender part of a chicken breast, straight from the freezer to your fryer....Wait, that's not a good way to eat. With everyone on a diet, it seems that this delicious treat gets cut out of a lot of diets. But it doesn't have to. Here is a great way to enjoy chicken tenders, baked, and without shelling out the big bucks to get them from the frozen section. It's a little messy but it's pretty easy to make them right at home. Here's how it goes
1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp Garlic Salt
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
4 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Yellow Mustard
1/2 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Water
4 Cups Coarsely Crushed Pretzels
Start by cutting your chicken breasts in to strips. The size is a personal preference, but I try and get them about the same size as restaurant strips. From the grocery store, this should be about 4 breasts, but from your local butcher shop, you might be able to get a pound out of one breast. Once these are cut up, set them aside for a moment. Next, find three wide, shallow containers. Chinese food containers work great for this. In the first, combine the flour, garlic salt, and onion powder and mix them well. In a separate bowl, place the eggs, honey, mustard, and water, and whisk well. Once these ingredients are combined, pour the mixture in the second shallow container. Place the Pretzels in a freezer ziploc bag (trust me, you will want the extra thick bag to prevent rupture) and crush them up with something heavy. I use my four cup measuring cup in a hammering motion, so I get some fine crumbs, but most of the pretzels are very coarse. This will make the pretzel appearance for the crust. Once they are to the proper consistency, pour them into the third shallow container. Now, line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and then spray it lightly with cooking spray. Set your oven heat to 400°F. Now, take the chicken pieces, one at a time and prepare them as follows. Dredge in the flour mixture. Dip in the wet mixture, making sure the entire piece is saturated, then roll it in the pretzel pieces. Once all the pieces are breaded, the oven should be fully heated, so slide the cookie sheet in on the top rack and cook your strips for 15-25 minutes. Ovens vary, and you may have cut some bigger than I did. A meat thermometer to 165°F or cutting a big piece open to see if there is pink in the middle is the most certain indicator. Once they are out, find your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy.
Makes: Well that depends on how big you cut your pieces. I got 10 out of my last batch. They are a little dryer than deep fried, but baked is always healthier.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Healthy Eating Tips 1: Chinese Food Containers
You read this blog, and you may start to think, "I would gain hundreds of lbs if I ate this way". Well, that could be a truth, but you do need to keep in mind that if you are, in fact, concerned about this, then you need to portion what you take in. As a single male that lives alone, but loves to cook, I quite often find myself with an ample amount of food. One thing that's important about the way I cook is that everything I make, and by extension every recipe I share, reheats very well the next day, or later on in the week. One of the things that makes portion control easiest for me, as well as feeding myself for days to come, is one of the greatest advances in food technology. The Chinese Food Container.
Now, anyone who has had Chinese in a city knows these containers well. Flimsy as hell, white plastic bottom, clear plastic top. Usually house a noodle dish such as lo mein or chow mai fun. These containers are washable and completely re-usable, and they are FREE. One of the things that makes these wonderful containers great is that they were really designed to house a meal, and are great to keep using for such a purpose. And unlike that expensive tupperware or even those Ziploc brand containers; if your container cracks or breaks, throw it out and go order Chinese food and get another one.
What makes these containers ideal is they are wide and relatively shallow. So, at night, after you make your boneless spare ribs and mac and cheese, and everyone has had his or her fill, and the kids are out watching cartoons, you bust out your containers, and portion out some mac and cheese, some broccoli, and some cut up pieces of rib meat in each one, drizzle some sauce over the top of the meat, and pop it in the fridge. Then, on your way to work the next day, grab one out of the fridge and put it in the fridge at work. There's your lunch for the day, quick and painless. The shallow nature of the container even makes for a very effective plate, and the container itself is microwave safe.
And don't forget the cookies.
What's better than cookies straight out of the oven?? It's too bad that most cookie recipes are intended to make dozens at a time. Our friend, the Chinese food container, offers a solution. See, cookie dough actually freezes very, very well. So, you make your batch of cookies as normal and bake whatever you find to be an appropriate amount for you and the people in your home to have a fresh from the oven cookie. Then ball up the remaining dough into small balls as if you were going to bake them, and put them in a series of Chinese food containers. The shallow design means that you have a layer of dough balls that won't stack on top of each other no matter how hard the container gets shaken, and the cover protects from the drying effects of the freezer. And, when you're ready for more, take the container out, remove as many balls as desired, and bake away. Keep in mind that you'll have to bake them a little longer, and they won't flatten out as much as fresh dough, but they taste just as great.
Included is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is the Nestle Toll House recipe with the chips reduced.
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of butter, softened (do not melt completely)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or 3 tablespoons artificial vanilla flavor
2 eggs
1 cup Nestle Chocolate Chips
Combine the butter and the sugars in one bowl and cream them together. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir well. Beat the eggs into the sugar mixture and then whisk in the vanilla. Stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture little by little and then add the chocolate chips. Ball up the dough to desired cookie size (the recipe says a Tablespoon, but we all know no one does that) and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375°F for 9 minutes, or until golden brown, and cool on a wire rack then a paper bag. Put the leftovers in a Chinese food container for later. Freezable for up to 8 weeks
Now, anyone who has had Chinese in a city knows these containers well. Flimsy as hell, white plastic bottom, clear plastic top. Usually house a noodle dish such as lo mein or chow mai fun. These containers are washable and completely re-usable, and they are FREE. One of the things that makes these wonderful containers great is that they were really designed to house a meal, and are great to keep using for such a purpose. And unlike that expensive tupperware or even those Ziploc brand containers; if your container cracks or breaks, throw it out and go order Chinese food and get another one.
What makes these containers ideal is they are wide and relatively shallow. So, at night, after you make your boneless spare ribs and mac and cheese, and everyone has had his or her fill, and the kids are out watching cartoons, you bust out your containers, and portion out some mac and cheese, some broccoli, and some cut up pieces of rib meat in each one, drizzle some sauce over the top of the meat, and pop it in the fridge. Then, on your way to work the next day, grab one out of the fridge and put it in the fridge at work. There's your lunch for the day, quick and painless. The shallow nature of the container even makes for a very effective plate, and the container itself is microwave safe.
And don't forget the cookies.
What's better than cookies straight out of the oven?? It's too bad that most cookie recipes are intended to make dozens at a time. Our friend, the Chinese food container, offers a solution. See, cookie dough actually freezes very, very well. So, you make your batch of cookies as normal and bake whatever you find to be an appropriate amount for you and the people in your home to have a fresh from the oven cookie. Then ball up the remaining dough into small balls as if you were going to bake them, and put them in a series of Chinese food containers. The shallow design means that you have a layer of dough balls that won't stack on top of each other no matter how hard the container gets shaken, and the cover protects from the drying effects of the freezer. And, when you're ready for more, take the container out, remove as many balls as desired, and bake away. Keep in mind that you'll have to bake them a little longer, and they won't flatten out as much as fresh dough, but they taste just as great.
Included is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is the Nestle Toll House recipe with the chips reduced.
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of butter, softened (do not melt completely)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or 3 tablespoons artificial vanilla flavor
2 eggs
1 cup Nestle Chocolate Chips
Combine the butter and the sugars in one bowl and cream them together. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir well. Beat the eggs into the sugar mixture and then whisk in the vanilla. Stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture little by little and then add the chocolate chips. Ball up the dough to desired cookie size (the recipe says a Tablespoon, but we all know no one does that) and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375°F for 9 minutes, or until golden brown, and cool on a wire rack then a paper bag. Put the leftovers in a Chinese food container for later. Freezable for up to 8 weeks
Monday, November 11, 2013
Recipe-Apple Barbecue Marinade for Pork
I made this up in the middle of Wal Mart last night in my head. It came out amazing, so I decided to share it. I'm gonna write it as I made it, and include the recipe for the side dish I made, too.
1 1/2 lbs Boneless Pork Ribs
1 Cup Melted Butter
1 Cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
1/2 Cup wine (I used Cabernet, but you can easily choose a sweeter or dryer wine depending on your tastes)
1/4 Cup Chopped Sweet Onions
1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 Quarter of a peeled and cored red delicious apple, finely minced. The finer you can mince it, the better it will be.
1 Tablespoon White Sugar
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
Mix the Butter, Barbecue sauce and wine in a medium mixing bowl and whisk vigorously together. Whisk in both sugars until smooth. add the onion, garlic, and apple. Place Ribs in a gallon size Ziploc bag and pour in the marinade, reserving about a half cup or more for basting and topping. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of an hour. Take out and cook your favorite way (I broiled, but baking and grilling would work very well too). Once the ribs are cooked through, plate them and top them with the sauce that you reserved earlier.
And what goes better with barbecue ribs than a nice home made mac and cheese??
3 Cups Elbow Macaroni
12 Cups water
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Teaspoon Mustard Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Onion Powder
In a Large pot, boil water, and salt water a small amount to flavor the noodles. Add the macaroni and boil 8-10 minutes until al dente. Drain and return to pot
In a separate, very small pot, melt the butter. Remove from heat and add flour and mix. Add milk and whisk together. Add Mustard and Onion Powder and whisk in. Return to heat and cook until the solution just starts to thicken, whisking frequently. Remove from heat, and whisk in the cheese. Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth. Pour this over the noodles and mix well with a wooden spoon. Pour the cheesy noodles into a cake pan and cover. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes, just enough for the cheese to start cooking into the noodles. Remove from the oven and top with more shredded cheese. Serve and enjoy.
Serve this up with some nice biscuits and your favorite vegetable and you have a nice southern comfort meal. Corn works really well with the theme.
1 1/2 lbs Boneless Pork Ribs
1 Cup Melted Butter
1 Cup of your favorite barbecue sauce
1/2 Cup wine (I used Cabernet, but you can easily choose a sweeter or dryer wine depending on your tastes)
1/4 Cup Chopped Sweet Onions
1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 Quarter of a peeled and cored red delicious apple, finely minced. The finer you can mince it, the better it will be.
1 Tablespoon White Sugar
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
Mix the Butter, Barbecue sauce and wine in a medium mixing bowl and whisk vigorously together. Whisk in both sugars until smooth. add the onion, garlic, and apple. Place Ribs in a gallon size Ziploc bag and pour in the marinade, reserving about a half cup or more for basting and topping. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of an hour. Take out and cook your favorite way (I broiled, but baking and grilling would work very well too). Once the ribs are cooked through, plate them and top them with the sauce that you reserved earlier.
And what goes better with barbecue ribs than a nice home made mac and cheese??
3 Cups Elbow Macaroni
12 Cups water
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Teaspoon Mustard Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Onion Powder
In a Large pot, boil water, and salt water a small amount to flavor the noodles. Add the macaroni and boil 8-10 minutes until al dente. Drain and return to pot
In a separate, very small pot, melt the butter. Remove from heat and add flour and mix. Add milk and whisk together. Add Mustard and Onion Powder and whisk in. Return to heat and cook until the solution just starts to thicken, whisking frequently. Remove from heat, and whisk in the cheese. Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth. Pour this over the noodles and mix well with a wooden spoon. Pour the cheesy noodles into a cake pan and cover. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes, just enough for the cheese to start cooking into the noodles. Remove from the oven and top with more shredded cheese. Serve and enjoy.
Serve this up with some nice biscuits and your favorite vegetable and you have a nice southern comfort meal. Corn works really well with the theme.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Pizza Casserole
3 cups Rotini Pasta (white or whole wheat)
12 oz Can Red Pasta Sauce of your choice
1/4 cup Diced Onions
1/4 cup Diced Green and Red Peppers, Mixed
1/2 lb Raw Italian Sausage (mild or spicy, depending on your tastes)
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Boil water and cook pasta to al dente texture. Drain, do not rinse, and pour into a 9x13 cake pan. Cover noodles with sauce. Sprinkle onions and peppers over the sauce. Break Sausage into very small chunks and spread evenly over mixture. Spread Cheese over mixture. Cover and bake 15-30 minutes at 400 Degrees Fahrenheit, or until Cheese is all melted and sausage is cooked all the way through.
This very simple casserole is great warm and, like pizza, is even better reheated the next day. Great with some breadsticks or garlic bread. One of the greatest things about Pizza Casserole is that, also like pizza, you aren't limited to the ingredients listed in the recipe. This is just how I like to eat it, but you can just as easily throw in Mushrooms, Black Olives, Pineapple, Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Chunk Chicken, Bacon, or anything else you like on your regular pizza. It goes together really quick at the last minute and I have no problem getting five huge servings out of it, so it will easily feed the whole family, too.
12 oz Can Red Pasta Sauce of your choice
1/4 cup Diced Onions
1/4 cup Diced Green and Red Peppers, Mixed
1/2 lb Raw Italian Sausage (mild or spicy, depending on your tastes)
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Boil water and cook pasta to al dente texture. Drain, do not rinse, and pour into a 9x13 cake pan. Cover noodles with sauce. Sprinkle onions and peppers over the sauce. Break Sausage into very small chunks and spread evenly over mixture. Spread Cheese over mixture. Cover and bake 15-30 minutes at 400 Degrees Fahrenheit, or until Cheese is all melted and sausage is cooked all the way through.
This very simple casserole is great warm and, like pizza, is even better reheated the next day. Great with some breadsticks or garlic bread. One of the greatest things about Pizza Casserole is that, also like pizza, you aren't limited to the ingredients listed in the recipe. This is just how I like to eat it, but you can just as easily throw in Mushrooms, Black Olives, Pineapple, Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Chunk Chicken, Bacon, or anything else you like on your regular pizza. It goes together really quick at the last minute and I have no problem getting five huge servings out of it, so it will easily feed the whole family, too.
Monday, October 7, 2013
Banana Salsa
This is a great recipe for everything. I found this as a garnish for a fish entree, but I quickly discovered it goes great on chips and pretzels, too. Any place you can use salsa you can use banana salsa
2 Medium Chopped Bananas
1/2 cup Green Pepper
1/2 cup Red Pepper
3 chopped Green Onions
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
3 tablespoons Lime Juice
1 tablespoon Softened or Melted butter
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 Small Seeded and Finely Chopped Jalepeno Pepper
Put it all in the blender or food processor and blend it until it's uniform. The recipe I found said to chill it for 2 hours before serving, but I promise you that it will be better if you leave it overnight
This is the recipe it came with
Potato Crusted Grouper
1 lb Snapper, Grouper, or Tilapia fillets
1 1/2 cups Crushed Potato Chips
1/4 Cup Parmesan
1 Teaspoon Ground Thyme (this will make your house smell great while it's baking)
1/4 cup Milk of Choice
The Banana Salsa you made yesterday
Combine the chips, parmesan, and thyme. Dip the fish in the milk, then dredge it in the chip mixture. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees Farenheit or until the fish is completely opaque, white, and flakes in the middle.
2 Medium Chopped Bananas
1/2 cup Green Pepper
1/2 cup Red Pepper
3 chopped Green Onions
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
3 tablespoons Lime Juice
1 tablespoon Softened or Melted butter
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 Small Seeded and Finely Chopped Jalepeno Pepper
Put it all in the blender or food processor and blend it until it's uniform. The recipe I found said to chill it for 2 hours before serving, but I promise you that it will be better if you leave it overnight
This is the recipe it came with
Potato Crusted Grouper
1 lb Snapper, Grouper, or Tilapia fillets
1 1/2 cups Crushed Potato Chips
1/4 Cup Parmesan
1 Teaspoon Ground Thyme (this will make your house smell great while it's baking)
1/4 cup Milk of Choice
The Banana Salsa you made yesterday
Combine the chips, parmesan, and thyme. Dip the fish in the milk, then dredge it in the chip mixture. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees Farenheit or until the fish is completely opaque, white, and flakes in the middle.
- 2 Medium chopped ripe bananas
- ½ Cup chopped green bell pepper
- ½ Cup chopped red bell pepper
- 3 Green chopped onions
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 Tablespoon cooking oil
- ¼ Teaspoon salt
- ¼ Teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Small jalapeno seeded and finely chopped
- 2 Medium chopped ripe bananas
- ½ Cup chopped green bell pepper
- ½ Cup chopped red bell pepper
- 3 Green chopped onions
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 Tablespoon cooking oil
- ¼ Teaspoon salt
- ¼ Teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Small jalapeno seeded and finely chopped
A Chef's Prayer
It's been quite a while since I have written to this because I have had so much to say on my other blog, but as I ease back into this, I felt like starting with a prayer I wrote about the business I want to go into. I'll be following with three recipes.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Ingredient Review - Whole Wheat Pasta
Pasta is a staple ingredient to most diets around the world. It's a very simple, very versatile item that can go into anything from main dishes to soups to desserts to snacks. It's a great provider of energy, and it's very easy to digest. However, these great points to it can make it easy to overdo it on pasta. The excess energy contributes to the obesity of America. But there are healthier options to help make this less of a problem. When I went on my big diet, one of my changes was switching from normal white pasta into whole wheat pasta.
Whole wheat pasta is healthier than white pasta for a couple reasons. The biggest one being the fact that the flour that the pasta maker uses isn't artificially bleached. The bleaching process to turn ground wheat flour into the white flour that most of us are very familiar with takes with it a lot of the minerals and vitamins that are in the wheat. Wheat pasta is also very high in fiber, which is an indigestible carbohydrate. This means that you have the mass in the pasta from the dietary fiber, but the calories are not available to use by your body, as it cannot break that part of the mass down. It's a great way to fill you up without putting on the excess weight.
One of the great things about wheat pasta is that it has quite a variety, maybe more so than eating white pasta. Different companies have provided different ways of making it. My personal favorite is Racconto's 8 grain pasta. In addition to the fiber it is packed with vitamins and minerals that just aren't there in white pasta. It also doesn't taste much different than it's bleached counterpart, so you can cook it right into your favorite dish and enjoy it just the same as you would have enjoyed your white pastas. A nice plate of 8 grain rigatoni, a light layer of tequila butter sauce, and some margarita shrimp and some simmered broccoli florets, and you have a healthy meal fit for a king. So next time you're in the pasta aisle, give it a try. Make it for the family, and don't tell them. I guarantee they go back for seconds, and don't even know the difference.
Whole wheat pasta is healthier than white pasta for a couple reasons. The biggest one being the fact that the flour that the pasta maker uses isn't artificially bleached. The bleaching process to turn ground wheat flour into the white flour that most of us are very familiar with takes with it a lot of the minerals and vitamins that are in the wheat. Wheat pasta is also very high in fiber, which is an indigestible carbohydrate. This means that you have the mass in the pasta from the dietary fiber, but the calories are not available to use by your body, as it cannot break that part of the mass down. It's a great way to fill you up without putting on the excess weight.
One of the great things about wheat pasta is that it has quite a variety, maybe more so than eating white pasta. Different companies have provided different ways of making it. My personal favorite is Racconto's 8 grain pasta. In addition to the fiber it is packed with vitamins and minerals that just aren't there in white pasta. It also doesn't taste much different than it's bleached counterpart, so you can cook it right into your favorite dish and enjoy it just the same as you would have enjoyed your white pastas. A nice plate of 8 grain rigatoni, a light layer of tequila butter sauce, and some margarita shrimp and some simmered broccoli florets, and you have a healthy meal fit for a king. So next time you're in the pasta aisle, give it a try. Make it for the family, and don't tell them. I guarantee they go back for seconds, and don't even know the difference.
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