Chicken roll ups

Hobby of the Day: Cooking

I know, chicken roll ups sounds a little weird.  I didn't really know what to call my chicken dish. 

Recipe:

-1 egg beaten

-Panko bread crumbs with added garlic powder, kosher salt and some cayenne

- 3 thin chicken breasts

- chopped frozen spinach (thawed)

- ricotta

 

Directions:
1) Dip chicken breast in beaten egg, then dip in panko bread crumb mix
2) Add a thin layer of ricotta cheese and if you feel like it, add some additional spices, italian spices, or some more garlic powder.  
3) On top of the ricotta, add some chopped spinach, then roll up and place in shallow pan.
4) Bake at 375 for 30 minutes

 

With a side of basil pearled cous cous

Super Yummy-again, my personal opinion:-)

Foodie: Chicken Fingers

Hobby of the day: Cooking

I love chicken fingers, but I rarely get them since they are usually appetizers or part of the kids meal.  I do also like fried chicken, but I eat that sooo rarely that when I do eat it my tummy kills after....maybe it's more than just eating it infrequently that hurts me. We don't have a fryer at home. I have a friend who has two, I think if I had one I would experiment frying all sorts of goodies. One that I would love to try is fried feta wrapped in phyllo dough. I saw it once on Giada when she was in Greece.  Sounds yummy, actually any fried cheese sounds fabulous.  I think it's on the Travel Channel where they have Hamburger Paradise and Fast Food Paradise. They had one that was Deep Fried *insert drool here*  There is a place here in Alexandria VA that does deep friend candy bars and of course fairs have deep fried oreos and Twinkies and peanut butter cups. Oddly enough in the 7 years we have lived here we have never gone there.  After my Lent fast is over I am going. Haha...

I made chicken fingers with panko bread crumbs- yum, super crispy and they are baked, not fried.  I didn't have any chicken tenders and didn't want to buy more chicken when we already had some frozen, so I just chopped up the chicken breasts. I am not a big fan of handling raw meat I don't like the feel of it and don't feel like I really clean off the salmonella- ha. So I used tongs to hold the chicken and chopped it with a knife, so no hands touching of the chicken.  

Sorry if you don't like the look of raw chicken.

I dipped the chicken first in the flour mixture, which consisted of salt and pepper.  Then dipped it in the egg whites( no yolks to make it healthier) and then finally in the panko bread crumbs to which I had added Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and a little cayenne. I made sure that the whole little finger got fully covered then laid it on the cookie sheet. 

 

 Before putting into the oven I sprayed the tops of the fingers with Pam to help with browning. I flipped the fingers half way through and sprayed the other sides. Bake at 475 for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked. 

 

And....Voila! Crispy little fingers!

 I added the fingers to a pasta side- I heart pasta. I ran out of my favorite, angel hair pasta, so I mixed that with regular spaghetti which wasn't too bad if I do say so myself. I don't mind mixing pastas, sometimes it gives it a little more texture.  To the pasta I added Parmesan cheese, and Italian bread crumbs. I know right?! Weird, but it gave it a nice flavor almost creamy like, if it's too think add a little extra pasta water. 

 

Nothing like having a few condiments. We have BBQ sauce, Ranch dressing, Frank's Red Hot, extra Parmesan cheese and Gary's favorite, horseradish sauce (frown on that). 

Wing Off!

Hobby of the Day: Cooking

Recently a group of friends and I started a "Cook off."  Whoever wins the competition gets to choose what "secret" ingredient to use, or can choose a theme of the cook off.  So far we have done two.  We had a dip off which was filling, rich and delicious. We had buffalo chicken dip, crab dip, chili dip, some cheesy bacon dip.

This last time was our Wing Off,  the winner from last time, Andy, won with his crap dip.

I have NEVER made wings before.  I am also not a huGe fan of wings.  I will eat them, but I don't get a craving for them.  We dont' have a fryer, so we baked ours, Gary essentially fried his in the oven with oil and butter, thus causing the smoke alarm to go biserk.   I made a Caribbean Chicken wing and he made a Sriracha chicken wing.  We also had several versions of teriyaki chicken wings, bbq wings and ghastly garlic wings.  It was a nice variety of sweet and spicy.  I was not pleased with mine, but Gary's were great, as were the ghastly garlic.

Winner: My Hubs! Yeah, next cook off is at our house.  We also won the coveted trophy.

The First Place Prize

Recipe for Honey Sriracha Wings:

Ingredients

For the Wings:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for the pan
• 2 pounds chicken wings, split at the joints, tips removed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Ingredients

For the Sauce:

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup honey, plus more for drizzling
• 1/4 cup Sriracha (Asian chile sauce)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat a large rimmed baking sheet with vegetable oil. Dry the chicken wings with paper towels and place in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, the melted butter, granulated garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Pour the mixture over the wings and toss well to coat. Spread the wings in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the wings until browned and crisp, 45 to 55 minutes. Meanwhile, make the sauce: Melt the butter in a small pot over medium heat. Add the honey, Sriracha, soy sauce and lime juice and stir until the mixture bubbles gently. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Carefully remove the wings from the baking sheet and transfer to a large bowl. Pour the warm sauce over the wings and gently toss to coat. Transfer the wings to a serving platter and drizzle with morehoney; serve with lime wedges.

The Blessings of a Crock Pot

Hobby of the day: Cooking via Crock Pot

I heart my crockpot!  H.E.A.R.T! We got it as a wedding present and well, I had never used one before.  Let's just say that throwing a bunch of ingredients into a pot and then turning it on before you go to work= perfection.  The best part is that I am the QUEEN of the Crock Pot in this home. Then it's up to hubby to clean up the "mess" and or items that might have stuck to the pot.  Love it!

I use a Rival Crock Pot, it has Slow and faster settings from 4 hours - 10 hours.  Sooo great. Once it's done cooking it sets it to warm....ahhh perfection.

Tonights meal: Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken 

Thanks again to my new favorite, better for you, recipe site.  I am also a HUGE fan of Allrecipes.  Allrecipes is great because people leave their comments and often tweak the recipes, usually to the better. I am a huge fan of tweaking recipes, adding a little extra this or that and cutting on items.

I stuck to the recipe this time- although we did go to Whole Foods this week and therefore the majority of our stuff is organic.  We are not an all organic family by any means and also, it's expensive.  Isn't it a shame that eating healthier means you have to spend more money?!  The only thing I didn't add was cilantro, I am not a huge fan, if at all, of cilantro.  It isn't that I wouldn't have added it, it's just that I couldn't find it.  I know there are A LOT of people who do love cilantro, but sad to say, I am not one.

Let cook 10 hours badabing-badaboom!   Serve over rice, brown or white, I used brown.

Ooooh I also have a rice cooker, well not really mine, but we've had it forever. It's another fav....

Bon Appetite!