Oven Baked "Fried" Chicken

I have had this recipe once before, about 4-5 years ago, and I lost it.  It took me forever to remember where I got it from in the first place.  This recipe is from Robin Miller's (Food Network) Quick Fix Meals "To your health" episode:





Ingredients

Cooking spray

2/3 cup instant oats

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 (4-ounce) boneless skinless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 cups frozen green peas, steamed or microwaved until hot

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.



Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.



In a resealable plastic bag or shallow dish, combine oats, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, paprika, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.



Brush each chicken breast with Dijon mustard. Add chicken to oat mixture with tongs and turn to coat both sides. Transfer chicken to prepared baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.



Bake 30 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Serve with peas. Serves 4.

OMG, YUMMY!!  Let me start by saying that the house we moved into does not have a working oven.  Believe it or not, even with me loving to bake, it is not a top priority.  We have all manner of cooking appliances plus a roaster oven (for large jobs) and toaster oven (for little ones).  I baked these in the toaster oven outside (since I didn't want to heat up the whole house) and had to vary the times a bit. The only other variation from the recipe was I used bone-in chicken thighs instead of boneless, skinless breast meat.  Frankly, I can eat only so much chicken breast before it just flat out looses any chicken flavor and becomes cardboard tasting to me.  Sometimes you just hafta switch it up and save calories elsewhere.  DH agreed and would like to add this recipe as a staple :D



PS- just a warning, some people actually tried using oatmeal instead of oats (yuck).  Stick to rolled oats and you should be just fine.

*****

Hamburger Stroganoff

Several things.  One, Blogger has been down for over a day so the oven fried chicken recipe from Wednesday night should be back online this weekend.  Now I know that this is like the third stroganoff recipe, but this is one of my go to recipes which is not healthy in and of itself, but with some substitutions, can be made that way.  Here's the recipe from Betty Crocker's New Dinner for Two circa 1968, page 46:

1/2 Cup minced onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 Cup butter
1 lb ground beef
2 Tbl flour
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced or 1 (8 oz) can sliced mushrooms
1 can (10 1/2 oz) cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 Cup sour cream
parsley

Saute onion and garlic in butter over medium heat.  Stir in meat and brown.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and mushrooms.  Cook 5 minutes.  Stir in soup.  Simmer, uncovered 10 minutes.  Stir in sour cream.  Heat through.  Garnish with parsley.  Serve over egg noodles. 4-6 servings

Substitutions:  First the recipe was halved.  All the substitutions made were to make it healthier rather than for taste preferences.  I used ground turkey instead of ground beef.  I used low fat cream of mushroom soup and sour cream as opposed to the full fat versions.  You would never have been able to tell the difference!  YUMMY :D.
*****

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

***

Zesty Grilled Chops

I can't believe I've been absent from here for over a week.  We went camping this past weekend and I changed schedules this week so I haven't been able to keep up like I should.  Anyway, here are the zesty grilled pork chops with a side of carrots and snap peas.  This recipe is from Taste of Home Simple and Delicious cookbook circa 2007 page 32:


Ingredients
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
6 bone-in pork loin chops (8 ounces each)

Directions
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the soy sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, chili sauce and garlic powder. Remove 1/4 cup for basting and refrigerate. Add pork chops to the remaining marinade; turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight, turning once.
Drain and discard marinade from chops. Grill, covered, over medium-hot heat for 4 minutes. Turn; baste with reserved marinade. Grill 4-7 minutes longer or until juices run clear.
Yield: 6 servings.

The recipe was changed to just two servings.  This was delicious!  Proof positive that sweet and pork go super well together.

****

Corned Beef and Cabbage

I realize this one is no one's idea of diet or healthy eating, but since yesterday was my hubby's birthday, I made an exception for his favorite meal.  I tried to purchase the smallest corned beef I could find, but it was still 5 lbs. The leftovers will be used for his lunch today as hash or a sandwich.  I haven't a clu where I got the recipe, This is just how I learned to make it:

1 Corned beef
4 medium potatoes
4 carrots, peeled
1/2 head of one cabbage

Scrub the potatoes and carrots and cut the potatoes into quarters and the carrots into 2 inch slices.  Place the potatoes and carrots on the bottom of a 6 quart slow cooker.  At this time you can also take the outer leaves from the cabbage and place those in the slow cooker, or cook them separately. ( I usually cook them separately in a 2 quart, microwave safe casserole dish with about a 1/2 cup water for 10 minutes on high until the cabbage is still green but tender).
Remove the corned beef from wrapper and set aside the small baggie of spices.  Place the corned beef fat side up over the vegetables in the cooker.  Pour enough water into the cooker to cover the beef.  Sprinkle the spices over the top.  Place on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

OK, so I confess...I LOVE THIS MEAL!  Buttery cabbage and fatty corned beef is just delicious.  I shall continue to behave, but this was an awesome little splurge.  I now must ride by bike across the island to visit my folks instead of driving.  Must work this one off!
*****

Grilled Mahi-Mahi Sandwiches with Pasta Salad

So we've had a long, exhausting week and since the weather was gorgeous, bordering on hot (84 degrees), we thought we'd have a Florida cookout night.  We went over to my folks where my hubby grilled Mahi steaks for dinner.  The recipe tonight was for 5-6, but can easily be adapted back down to two.  This recipe lies less on steps and a lot more on availability of very fresh seafood.

Mahi Sandwiches:
Fresh Mahi steak, 6oz steak for each sandwich
Fish marinade of choice (we used Grills Seafood Restaurant Tuna Marinade)
Kaiser rolls
Lettuce
Tomato
Mayo

About an hour before grilling, place steaks in a sealed container such as a tupperware container.  Put enough marinade in to cover the steaks. Seal and chill in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Turn container over and let rest in fridge for last 1/2 hour.

Cover rack of grill with aluminum foil and spray foil with non stick cooking spray.  Heat grill to medium.  Place steaks on grill and cook for about 7 minutes each side depending on thickness of steaks.  After turning, brush more marinade on steaks.  Remove steaks from grill and toast kaiser rolls.

Serve with aioli **, lettuce and tomato.

**For aioli : combine 1/4 C mayo with 1 Tbsp of chosen marinade.

Pasta Salad:

Ingredients
-8 oz pkg seashell or elbow macaroni
-1/2 can tuna, drained
-Miracle Whip or Mayo
-1 tsp mustard
-Salt & Pepper
-Shredded lettuce, 1/4 head
-1 tomato, diced
-1 tsp sweet relish
 
Instructions
Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain. Add tuna, mustard, relish and salt and pepper to taste. Add Mayo to moisten.  Fold in lettuce and tomato.  
Chill and serve.

There was no way to go wrong with this one! Hubby got the Mahi-Mahi fresh caught, never frozen just this afternoon.  The dinner was very, very yummy and just perfect for sitting out on the patio with a small breeze.

*****

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!

*****

Crab Mornay

1/4 C water
1/4 C Chablis or other dry white wine
1/2 tsp chicken-flavored bouillon granules
dash of white pepper
1/2 C sliced mushrooms
1 Tbl sliced green onion
1/4 C skim milk
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 C shredded swiss cheese
1/3 lb lump crabmeat paprika

 Combine first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil.  Add mushrooms and onions. Cover; reduce heat and simmer 1minute or until mushrooms are tender.

 Combine milk and cornstarch, mixing well; add to mushroom mixture.  Cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from heat; add cheese, and stir until melted.  Stir in crabmeat.  Spoon into custard cups or ramekins.  Sprinkle with paprika.  Broil 2 minutes or until hot.  Garnish with green onions. Serves 2.

153 calories a serving

YUMMY!  My only complaint is that it didn't make more...which I suppose would just kill the reason for all this portion control, lol.  I used canned crab (cuz it's cheaper) and I did use the skim milk as directed.  It was a tad loose so I would say maybe whole milk would be better.  Very good though and a lot quicker and easier than I first thought.

*****

Sunny Vegetable Pasties

I got this recipe from watching the Cooking Channel's Caribbean Food Made Easy with Levi Roots.  These just looked so ...sunshine-y!  It took me a long time to find the recipe he did on the show that didn't get Americanized by the show afterward....then I had to convert the amounts.  Took an hour, lol.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
-1 yellow pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
-1 1/2 Cup carrots, also cut in 1/2 inch pieces
-3 Cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1.2 in pieces
-2 inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled, grated
-4 Tbls chopped fresh cilantro leaves
-4 green onions, finely chopped
-1 (8-ounce) can corn, drained
-1 cup Colby (or other orange) cheese, grated
-2 - 4 tsp salt
-1 Cup flour, plus extra for dusting
-1½ tsp ground turmeric
-pinch salt
-1 stick cold butter, cut into small cubes
-4-5 Tbsp cold water
-1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions
1)Preheat the oven to 400F. For the filling, place the pieces of pepper, carrots and butternut squash into a deep-sided, lidded pan. Add enough boiling water to just cover the vegetables. Cover the pan with the lid and return to the boil. Boil for four minutes, or until the vegetables are tender, then drain well. Transfer the drained vegetables to a large bowl and add the remaining filling ingredients (thru 2-4 tsp salt). Mix together until well combined, then set aside until completely cool.

2)For the patties,mix together the flour, ground turmeric and salt in a bowl until well combined. Add the butter cubes and rub them into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water, a tablespoon at a time, stirring the mixture with a spoon, until it comes together as a dough. (You may not need to use all of the water.) Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in saran wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3)When the pastry has chilled, roll it out onto a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4in thickness. Cut six to eight 3in discs from the pastry using a cookie cutter or upturned glass. Divide the filling mixture equally among the pastry discs, covering only one half of each disc and leaving a 1/2in border at the edge of each.

4)Brush the edges of the pastry discs lightly with some of the beaten egg, then fold the free half of each disc over the filled half and press down the edges to seal using a fork. Brush the tops of the patties with the remaining beaten egg. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the patties onto it. Bake the patties in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown.

This was served with my hubby's specialty, grilled sliced pineapple :D!!  You can see where the pasties get their name, they look so colorful and sunshine-y.  A few changes were made; I did not have fresh ginger so I used some ground ginger. I forgot to use the cilantro and I did not use yellow pepper because I hate bell pepper.  These were really yummy and filling.  I can't say I'm a huge turmeric fan, but it didn't overwhelm the whole pastie.  As usually, whenever I make pasties, turnovers or filled cookies, I ALWAYS end up with WAY MORE filling than I could ever use to fill the pastry.  Frankly, I gave up trying to figure out what I did wrong.  I'm thinking of cooking down the leftovers and making soup. This is a great recipe, but takes an hour or so of prep work, so I would not make this on a weeknight, personally.

*****