Bite. Sip. Repeat…

One of my son’s friends joined us for dinner.  She tries to eat a gluten-free diet, so I decided to keep it simple and serve oven-baked chicken breasts, rice and steamed veggies.

Seasoned the boneless, skinless chicken with my spice mix (Essence of Bargabus, recipe here) and baked it at 350° until it was at an internal temperature of 165°.  Rice in the rice cooker, steamed veggies for the kids.

For Lisa and I, I made some collard greens.  Sautéed a slice of bacon, a small onion (diced) and two cloves of garlic (pressed) in a large stock pot.  After the aromatics had softened, I added the greens and cooked them until they were wilted. The greens almost filled my large stock pot, but wilted down to about 2 1/2 cups of greens.   Then I added a cup of chicken stock, covered the pan and let the greens steam on low for 20 minutes.

B: Toast, fruit

L: Tuna sandwiches

D: Chicken “Fried” Rice

Had an emergency computer service call come up and we didn’t have time to shop yesterday.  We had a bunch of miscellaneous veggies, so I thawed a couple of chicken breasts and made a cooker of rice.  Marinated the chicken in oyster sauce, sesame oil, pepper, cayenne and ginger.  Diced the veggies small (sugar snap peas, green pepper, mushrooms, onion, garlic, scallions, carrots).  Sautéed the chicken and set it aside.  Sautéed the vegetables in a teaspoon each of canola and sesame oil.  When they were still a bit crisp, I threw in a handful of frozen peas and added in the cooked rice, about 2 cups.  Mixed in the chicken, seasoned everything with some salt and pepper and it was done.  I took a tip from Ming Tsai who doesn’t use soy sauce to season his fried rice.  I like this version.  Pretty tasty

I had been planning to grill some chicken, but suddenly had the urge to do something else.  I had some boneless, skinless chicken breasts already thawed.  I also had a leftover green bell pepper.  I broke out the Le Creuset “French Oven”, seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper, and browned the breasts.  I added tomatoes, garlic, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, and some seasonings.  15 minutes of simmering and dinner was done. Continue Reading »

Tonight I had a craving for panang curry. I went to Trader Joe’s and got 2 bottles of panang curry sauce, a red pepper and some cooked chicken breast. I put the sauce, chicken, diced red pepper and a big handful of frozen peas into the pan. After simmering a few minutes I tasted my creation. It was a little too spicy and a little too salty. So, I added 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter and about 1/4 cup cream of coconut. Wow! It was perfect. Made a little rice and the wife, boy and I were very happy. Total cooking time: 15 minutes. BSR :]

I’ve had enough of chicken breast fajitas, so I bought some chicken thighs (change doesn’t come easy to me) and tried a one skillet chicken and button mushroom dish. The starting point was a Emeril Lagasse recipe for Braised Chicken Thighs with Button Mushrooms, I’ll note the changes.

Here are the ingredients (the essence was a gift from Scott)

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My in-laws visited on Saturday to install a closet organizer they’d bought for us (thanks, Wally and Hilda!) and I wanted to cook a nice lunch for them. We cleaned out some cabinets a week ago and I saw my two Le Creuset Dutch Ovens that had migrated to the back of the cabinet. The large one was a gift from my wife and it’s a bit spendy, but whenever I cook in it, I love the results. I resolved to find some more uses for it.

A few weeks ago, the America’s Test Kitchen tv show (ATK) had an episode where they made a whole chicken and French Onion Soup, both in a Le Creuset Dutch Oven. The chicken looked so moist and juicy, I had to try it. Don’t be put off by cooking a whole chicken. I find them to be cheaper and fresher than the cut up chicken parts. They’re easy to cook and easy to carve. I like the organic whole chickens from Trader Joes.

Following the ATK technique, I started with a whole chicken, Continue Reading »