Caribbean Broccoli Chicken Salad

This recipe is from a Publix Apron Meal card.  I took HUGE license with it and only loosely based the salad on this recipe:


Ingredients
3–4 Deli chicken tenders (.75 lb)
1 mango
Juice of 1 lime
1 head Bibb (or iceberg) lettuce
3 tablespoons mango chutney
2 tablespoons peach preserves
3 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
1 (12-oz) bag broccoli slaw
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

Prep
Cut chicken tenders into thin slices.
Peel and slice mango (1 1/2 cups).
Squeeze lime for juice (1 tablespoon).
Remove lettuce core; separate individual leaves.

Steps
Prepare dressing in medium bowl by whisking chutney, preserves, and lime juice until smooth. Stir in yogurt and mayonnaise until blended.
Add slaw, chicken, mango, and raisins; toss to coat.
Arrange lettuce leaves on serving plates and top with salad; sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Serve.

CALORIES (per 1/4 recipe) 470kcal; FAT 14g; CHOL 60mg; SODIUM 700mg; CARB 61g; FIBER 6g; PROTEIN 27g; VIT A 90%; VIT C 150%; CALC 10%; IRON 10%

There were the following substitutions:I have no mango chutney nor do I like chutney so instead of the chutney and peach preserves, I used mango/passion fruit preserves.  Instead of yogurt, I used low-fat sour cream.  I couldn't find the broccoli slaw so I used cole slaw mix instead and since the hubby hates raisins, I used craisins.
I really liked this one!  It was very light and refreshing but still filling.  This would be a handy recipe to have around for those hot summer days.  I don't know how easy the ingredients are to find outside of the south, but I'd imagine you can make substitutions where necessary

***

Chicken Liver Stroganoff

Today I was in the mood for something comforting and filling.  I don't have a whole lot of food left and I don't get anymore food until the Saturday delivery, so dinner will be made with what I have left in the freezer and pantry.  I had some chicken livers left in the freezer as well as a little bit of flank steak.  So I used this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cooking for Two circa 1982, page 54:

2 slices bacon
3/4 C sliced, fresh mushrooms
1/4 C chopped onion
8 oz chicken livers, cut-up
1/4 tsp instant chicken bouillon granules
1/4 C hot water
1/2 C dairy sour cream
1 Tbl flour
2 Tbl dry sherry
Hot cooked noodles
Snipped Parsley

In an 8-inch skillet cook bacon til crisp.  Remove bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 Tbl drippings in skillet.  Crumble the bacon and set aside.

Cook the sliced mushrooms and chopped onion in the reserved drippings until tender but not brown.  Add the chicken livers; cook 5 to 6 minutes or just til slightly pink in the center.

In a small mixing bowl dissolve bouillon in hot water.  Stir together sour cream and flour in another bowl.  Gradually stir in some of the bouillon mixture into the sour cream mixture.  Return all to the mixing bowl.  Stir in the sherry.

Add the sour cream mixture to the liver mixture in the skillet.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir for 1 minute more.  Serve the liver mixture over hot cooked noodles; garnish with the crumbled bacon.  Sprinkle with the snipped parsley, if desired.  Makes 2 servings.

Substitutions: We only had about 4 ounces of liver and 4 ounces of beef so we used both instead of just liver.  The bacon was turkey bacon and instead of parsley, we used green onions.  This was served with a side of buttered broccoli.  YUMMY-YUMMY-YUMMY!

For a thrown together meal on a work night, this was pretty quick and comforting. I would like to have this one again relatively soon.

Mexican-style Chicken roll-ups with Mexican Corn

I had a rather long day today and this was a nice, quick, easy meal for two.  The Chicken recipe is from Cooking Light '87 page 52 and the Mexican Corn is a family recipe given to me by Aunt Carolyn (it's sooooo good!):

Chicken recipe:

Ingredients

8 boneless chicken breast halves (2 pounds), skinned
4 canned whole green chiles, halved and seeded
3 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, cut into 8 strips
2/3 cup fine, dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup skim milk
Vegetable cooking spray
4 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup commercial picante sauce
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt


Trim excess far from chicken.
Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheers of waxed paper, flatten to 1/4 inch thickness, using a meat mallet or rolling pin.
Place a green chile half and one strip of cheese in center of each chicken breast half; roll up lengthwise, tucking edges under.
Secure with wooden picks.
Combine breadcrumbs, chili powder, cumin, salt, and garlic powder.
Dip chicken rolls in milk; dredge in breadcrumb mixture, coating well.
Place chicken in a 12- x 8- x 2-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until chicken is done.Place each chicken roll on 1/2 cup shredded lettuce, top each with 1 tablespoon picante sauce and 1 1/2 teaspoons yogurt.
Serve immediately. Yield 8 servings

Mexican Corn recipe:

Ingredients
8 oz - package cream cheese
1/4 lb butter softened
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies
3 (16 oz) cans white shoepeg corn
 
Instructions
1)Stir softened cream cheese and butter together.
2)Add remaining ingredients and mix.
3)Pour into a 2 Qt casserole and bake at 350 for 30 mins.

As far as serving size goes, I quartered the first recipe and halved the corn recipe.  Here are the substitutions...I used some canned, chopped green chiles instead of whole, seeded chiles and  salsa instead of picante. Also, I hate yogurt on my food...I like it alone, but leave it off my dinner!  I used light sour cream instead.  I knew the corn was awesome but the chicken was just terrific!  I highly recommend this one!

*****

Chicken Livers Veronique

So for the last couple days my big brother was in town from Colorado.  We ate over at my parent's house so I wasn't doing any cooking :D.  Today of course it was back to work.    Now I will tell you I enjoy the odd chicken liver in a dish, but I have never had a meal starring this ingredient and thought this might be the meal that i wouldn't be able to eat.  We are adventurous sorts and wanted to try new things, so here we went.  Darling hubby followed the directions and made this while I was working.  Here's the recipe as it originally appeared (the serving size is actually for one so we doubled it) in Better Homes and Gardens Meals for One or Two circa 1978, page 11:

Ingredients:
1/4 lb chicken livers
1 Tbl sliced green onion
1 Tbl butter
2 Tbl dry white wine
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
dash pepper
8 seedless green grapes, halved
hot cooked rice

Preparation:
Halve chicken livers.  In a small skillet, cook livers and onion in butter for about 5 minutes or until livers are just barely pink inside.

Combine wine, cornstarch, salt and pepper; add to chicken livers.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.  Stir in grape halves.  Serve over rice

Makes 1 serving

Substitutions:  We didn't have any grapes so we didn't use any.  Hubby sprinkled some balsamic vinegar on top at the very end before serving.  Also, we use brown rice instead of white.

Yummy.  Seriously...this was SO good.  I am as surprised as anyone.  I figured it would be good to get my iron up (I've been anemic for years and even after the tumor was removed I'm still a little low on iron) so I would stomach it.  It was delicious!  I highly recommend this to anyone who has a kind, understanding, adventurous spouse.  Ironically enough, hubby said he loved this and would really like to have it again.  One of the pluses, is for a pound and a half of chicken livers, I only spent $2.09.  A rare thing to have a meal for so little.

****

Grilled Chicken and Artichoke Soup

So today is going to be a two-fer.  I will not bore you with the details, but today has been a VERY bad day.  I am feeling worse as opposed to better and hubby  volunteered to make us soup for lunch. He said since we have the leftover chicken, he would look for a good recipe calling for some of our leftovers.  Well, he went to AllRecipes.com and put the ingredient list of :chicken, artichokes, and tomato paste.  This is the recipe that popped up (changed to servings for 2 instead of 8):


Ingredients

1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), snipped into small pieces
1-1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 clove cloves garlic, minced
1/4 red onion, minced
1/2 (13.75 ounce) can artichoke bottoms, drained and chopped
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
Directions

This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 8 servings.

Place the dried mushrooms into the boiling water and set aside until softened, about 20 minutes. Once softened, squeeze excess water from mushrooms and finely chop. Reserve the mushroom-flavored water.

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil grate.
Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Grill chicken breasts until no longer pink in the center, about 6 minutes per side. Once cooked, set aside.

Pour chicken broth into a large pot, and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, and reserved mushroom liquid. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and onion, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped mushrooms, artichokes, pepper, parsley, lemon juice, and white wine. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes; add to the simmering chicken broth.

Slice the grilled chicken breasts into strips and stir into the simmering soup. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 254 | Total Fat: 11.1g | Cholesterol: 37mg

Several changes were made for convenience sake.  He used the extra chicken breast from last night.  The only sun-dried tomatoes we had were jarred in oil (used those).  Instead of chicken broth, he used beef broth and no lemon juice. We didn't have any porcini mushrooms, so he used regular, white mushrooms. I don't know if its just because I feel lousy, but this hit the spot and was very yummy!.  It made exactly 2 servings which was just perfect.  He was able to use the extra artichokes and chicken from last night as well as some leftover tomato paste. (Nice clean refrigerator now :D )

*****

Artichoke Chicken with Roasted Potatoes

OK, so this was my first day back at work since I came down with pneumonia. The part that really sucks is I still have it. It made for a long day and I was having difficulty talking towards the end of the day.  I was worried there was no way I was going to be able to make dinner tonight.  The hubby was busy all day and also was trying to clear our storage out this afternoon so there was no way I was going to ask him to do dinner as well.  I found this recipe in a Pampered Chef cookbook 29 Minutes to Dinner on page 15.  Here's the recipe as written:

POTATOES AND CHICKEN

3 small red potatoes
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) water
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4-6 oz/125-175 g each)
2 tsp (10 mL) Rosemary Herb Seasoning Mix, divided
2 tsp (10 mL) olive oil, divided

ARTICHOKE TOPPING

1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped artichoke hearts (about 2 hearts)
2 tsp (10 mL) chopped fresh parsley
1 oz (30 g) Parmesan cheese, divided
2 tsp (10 mL) mayonnaise

1. Preheat broiler on HIGH. Meanwhile, cut potatoes into quarters. Place potatoes, water and salt into Small Micro-Cooker; microwave on HIGH 6-8 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, for artichoke topping, chop artichokes and parsley using Santoku Knife; place into Small Batter Bowl. Grate cheese using Microplane Adjustable Grater. Set aside 2 tbsp (30 mL) for later use; add remaining cheese and mayonnaise to artichoke mixture and mix well.

3. Flatten chicken to 1/2 in. (1 cm) thickness using flat side of Meat Tenderizer. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with 1 tsp (5 mL) of the seasoning mix.

4. Add 1 tsp (5 mL) of the oil to Stainless (10-in./25-cm) Skillet (do not use nonstick cookware); heat over medium-high heat 1-3 minutes or until shimmering. Meanwhile, add remaining 1 tsp (5 mL) of the oil and remaining 1 tsp (5 mL) of the seasoning mix to potatoes; stir to coat.

5. Place chicken and potatoes, cut side down, into Skillet. Cook 3-4 minutes or until chicken is golden brown. Turn chicken and potatoes over; cook an additional 3-4 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and centers are no longer pink.

6. Remove potatoes from Skillet; set aside and keep warm. To finish chicken, spread artichoke topping evenly over chicken; sprinkle with reserved cheese. Place Skillet as close as possible to heating element (2 in./5 cm); broil 4-6 minutes or until topping is deep golden brown and internal temperature of chicken registers 170 F (77 C). (Watch closely. If topping starts to brown unevenly, adjust accordingly.) Carefully remove Skillet from broiler. Serve chicken with potatoes.

Yield: 2 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 320, Total Fat 14 g, Saturated Fat 4 g, Cholesterol 80 mg, Carbohydrate 21 g, Protein 34 g, Sodium 1280 mg, Fiber 3 g

So here were my changes: I omitted the potatoes outright and served with pasta salad instead. I do not have their rosemary herb seasoning so I used a sprinkle of rosemary, salt and pepper. I did not used fresh parmesan...I used shaky cheese :D.  OMG, this was SO YUMMY!!  I am definitely going to make this again! It was easy, delicious and most of the ingredients you probably already have on hand.  Speaking of which, I still haven't mastered the buying for two so I have a half can of artichoke hearts and one extra chicken breast that I cubed and cooked up for something later. I'll see if there's a recipe out there that I can try in the next few days with some of that.  Anyway, this was a winner and my only complaint was the broiler heated up the house too much...this is Florida and it was a bit too warm in the kitchen. My last suggestion is to use fresh chicken.  I have been using giant bags of frozen chicken breasts for years and was so used to it tasting like sheets of cardboard, I forgot what real chicken tastes like.  A big bonus of cooking for two is I don't NEED to buy the big bag...I can just buy what I need.


*****

Kung Pao Chicken

Woke up to a stormy day and feeling horrible.  Can't catch my breath.  We decided to have Kung Pao Chicken for dinner.  This recipe is from my mom and is for 3 large servings.  I went ahead and made the portions as listed and kept some for leftovers.  We've had this before, though I've never made it.  Because I was feeling really ill today, Peter took care of it with me supervising :D.  He appreciated it so much, lol.


Ingredients
 
-3 1/2 tsp cornstarch, divided
-5 tsp soy sauce, divided
-5 tsp dry sherry, divided
-1/4 tsp salt
-3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-size pieces
-1 Tbl red wine vinegar
-2 Tbl chicken broth or water
-1 1/2 tsp sugar
-3 Tbl vegetable oil, divided 
-1/3 cup salted peanuts
-6 to 8 small dried hot chili peppers
-1 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger
-2 green onions with tops, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
-additional green onion and dried hot chili pepper for garnish
 
Instructions

1 - For marinade, combine 2 tsp cornstarch, 2 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp sherry and salt in large bowl; mix well. Add chicken;stir to coat well. Let stand 30 minutes.
2 - Combine remaining 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch, 3 tsp soy sauce, 3 tsp sherry, vinegar, chicken broth and sugar in small bowl; mix well. Set aside
3 - Heat 1 Tbl oil in wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add peanuts; cook and stir until lightly toasted. Remove peanuts from wok; set aside. Heat remaining 2 Tbl oil in wok over medium heat. Add chili peppers; stir fry until peppers just begin to char, about 1 minute.
4 - Increase heat to high. Add chicken mixture; stir fry 2 minutes. Add ginger; stir fry until chicken is no longer pink in center; about 1 minute. Add peanuts and onions; stir fry 1 minute. Stir cornstarch mixture; add to wok. Cook and stir until sauce boils and thickens. Garnish, if desired.

Let's see... the changes made were; water was used in place of sherry, rice wine vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, and I only used 2 thai peppers instead of 6 chili peppers. We had brown rice and some canned veggies on the side.

All in all I'd say this was very high up on the taste scale! It's an easy meal but expect to have to clean up a couple bowls, a wok and your cutting board so I wouldn't put this on a day when you want to avoid dishes.

*****