Whats For Dinner Wednesday

What’s For Dinner? Wednesday: Honey Sesame Chicken

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by Tracie on May 30, 2012

 

Today’s recipe was originally a Crock Pot Recipe, but of course the first time I made it I forgot to put it in the crock pot so I adjusted it to make on the stove top.  It only took about 30-40 minutes from start to finish (from prep work to sitting down at the table to eat).  I just wish I would have remembered to put it in the crock pot!   Since then I have made it in the crock pot and it turns out just as wonderful!

I have provided the original crock pot recipe and then below that have added in notes on how to create this meal on the stove too.  So just in case you forget to start the crock pot, no worries you can still enjoy this meal!  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Kitchen Tip:

Recipe:
1-1/2 lb Skinless Chicken (I usually use Boneless Skinless Breast)
Salt & Pepper
1 C Honey
1/2 C Soy Sauce
1/2 C Diced Onion (or 1/2-1tsp Onion Salt and Omit Salt from above)
1/4 C Ketchup
2 T Vegetable Oil or Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes (adjust according to taste preference)
4 tsp Cornstarch Dissolved in 6 T water
1/2 T Sesame Seeds

Season Chicken with salt & pepper and place in crock pot. In bowl combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup oil, garlic and pepper flakes.  Pour mixture over chicken and cook on low for 4 hours.

Remove chicken from crock pot.  Dissolve cornstarch in water and pour into crock pot, stir into sauce.  Cook sauce on high for additional 10 minutes or until thickened. While sauce is cooking, shred chicken into bite size pieces.

Serve chicken and sauce over rice, add sesame seeds to the top and enjoy!

Stove Top Directions: I do recommend a boneless chicken for this preparation.  Cut chicken into approximately 1-2″ pieces.  Add chicken to skillet and cook for about 5-10 minutes, or until almost cooked through.  In bowl combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup oil, garlic and pepper flakes, pour mixture over chicken and bring to a boil.  Simmer for approximately 10-15 minutes.

Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.  Dissolve cornstarch in water and add to skillet, bring to a boil and simmer until thickened.  While sauce is thickening shred chicken.  Add chicken back into skillet and serve over rice, add sesame seeds to the top and enjoy!

Freezer Tip:
When you buy the ingredients for this meal, go ahead and buy double!  Put everything except the cornstarch, water, and sesame seeds into a ziploc bag and freeze for a quick meal to pull out of the freezer and drop in the crock pot.  Prep once and enjoy two meals!

Original recipe found at Very Culinary

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What’s For Dinner? Wednesday: Salmon, Bacon & Feta Packets

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by Tracie on May 2, 2012

 

 

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

This week’s recipe is a nice and simple one that takes little of my time to prep, but is full of flavor.  Plus I can get it ready and it can go in the oven, or if we’re grilling out we can put it on the grill too.  I’m thinking that I’ll be making this for Mother’s Day this year for our annual cookout.

Salmon, Bacon & Feta Packets:
4 – 6oz 1 inch Salmon Fillets, skin on
1/2 C Ranch Dressing
3 Slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 C Feta Cheese
2 Tomatoes, diced

Place each piece of salmon skin side down on a piece of foil approximately 8″x12″. Top each with 2 T ranch dressing, 1T bacon and 1 T feta.  Fold up the foil to create a packet leaving the top exposed.  Cook in a 375 oven for approximate 20-25 minutes or until salmon flakes easily.

If you want to grill it, heat your grill to high and place your packets on the grill and close the lid.  Cook for about 10-12 minutes or until opaque and flakes easily.

Top your packets with tomatoes and you’re ready to go!  Wasn’t that easy?  Such a nice simple meal with little time in the kitchen.

Original Source: RachelRayMag.com

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What’s For Dinner? Wednesday: Apple Pork Loin

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by Tracie on April 11, 2012

 

Have you thought about What’s For Dinner tonight?  Today’s meal is a sweet savory dish, which is one of my favorites.  While it was baking I was asked if we were having apple pie for dessert.  To the disappointment of the family, we didn’t and it was just the Apple Pork loin.

Apple Pork Loin
2 T All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Caraway Seeds
1 tsp Ground Mustard
3/4 tsp Salt (for a little more flavor I sometimes substitute with 1/4 tsp onion or garlic salt)
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Sage (rubbed and broken)
1/4 tsp Pepper
1-2 lb Pork Loin Roast (I typically use the 1lb Pork Loins that come prepackaged)
2 T Olive Oil

Apple Topping
1-1/2 C Finely Chopped Peeled Apple (I prefer Granny Smith or Braeburn)
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Mace

Combine the first 7 ingredients together and rub over the roast.  In a large skillet, heat the oil and brown the roast on all sides.  Place in a baking dish and bake uncovered for approximately 30-40 minutes at 350.  If you are using a full boneless pork loin roast you can place it on a rack in a roasting pan and bake at 325 for about 50-60 minutes or until reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

Combine all of the Apple Topping ingredients together and spread over the roast the last 15-20 minutes of cooking.

Kitchen Tip:
Make sure when you cook meat that you give it about 5-10 minutes of resting time.  When you let the meat rest it gives it time to absorb all of the juices that cooked out of the meat but are still trapped inside.  If you cut it before your meat can absorb the juices, the juices run out and it can make for pretty dry meat.

This is especially true for the larger the item that you cook, like those turkeys at the holidays.  I actually plan on having my turkey or ham done about 45-60 minutes before we eat and let it sit on the counter covered in foil to keep it warm.  It gives you a super moist meat, that stays moist even after being sliced and sitting on the counter for one trip through the buffet.  Along with giving you great tasting meat, having it done early takes one less stress off of you during a big meal by not having to worry that it won’t be done in time!

Original variation of recipe from Susan Seymour at Allrecipes.com

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What’s For Dinner? Wednesday: Italian Chicken with Spinach Salad

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by Tracie on April 4, 2012

 

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Since our kids started eating table food I have been a lot more conscious of what we’re eating and trying to get a bigger variety of things, along with healthy items on the table.  Sadly, we’re actually eating better now that the kids eat the same meals we do than before, and I wish I would have started doing it a lot earlier.  Spinach is not something that we ate, but I have been working on trying at least one new thing a month.  I try to cook it at least 3 different ways to see if we prefer one cooked way over the other before I completely dismiss it, plus trying it at least 3 times gives the kids multiple chances to try something new if they didn’t eat it the first time.

This meal started out as a recipe for an appetizer and I modified it to meet my needs of a full meal.  In this recipe it calls for the spinach to stay raw, however we have found that we like spinach cooked more, so I toss it in a warm pan with olive oil for just a couple minutes.  Of course, do whichever way you prefer the spinach, or try both ways if you’re trying Spinach for the first time.

Italian Chicken with Spinach Salad:
2 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast Halves
1-1/4 C Tuscan Italian salad dressing (we have tried Italian, but prefer the Tuscan Italian)
4 C fresh Spinach, torn
1/3 C feta cheese (original taste good, but the Garlic & Herb is great)
2-3 Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped

Place the chicken and 1 cup of dressing in a plastic bag and marinate for 3 or more hours.  Grill the chicken for about 7-10 minutes or until juices run clear.

While chicken is cooking, add spinach, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and 1/4 cup of dressing to a large bowl and toss.  Serve salad with chicken and bread.  I prefer French or Italian bread, however Focaccia was originally intended with this recipe as an appetizer.

It’s nice outside right now which means you can grill the chicken a little easier, but if you prefer to cook it in the oven you can bake the chicken at 350 for about 15-20 minutes, or until done.

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What’s For Dinner? Wednesday: Homemade Meatballs

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by Tracie on March 28, 2012

 

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Kitchen Tip:
Do you end up throwing away the heals on the loaves of bread you eat?  I’m sure you’ve heard you can make bread crumbs out of them, but did you realize it is REALLY easy?  I make a variety of homemade breads and also get different breads from the store, whatever ends up drying up or if I have heals left over, I toss them in the freezer in a gallon size bag.

Once the gallon bag is full, I place all of the pieces on a cookie sheet in a single layer and bake at about 300 degrees for 15 minutes or until all of the bread is dry.  You will want turn it about half way through to ensure it dries evenly.

Once the bread is dry, let it cool and then put in a food processor or blender and blend til it’s reached the desired coarseness.  Put into an airtight container for storage.   Now wasn’t that easy?  During the summer though,  I have to fight my kids for the dry pieces as they would rather take them to the park and feed the ducks!

I have to admit, I don’t care for homemade meatballs or meatloaf.  I can’t remember a recipe of either that I ever enjoyed while growing up. They all seemed too dry, too many “additions”, or even t0o bland.  However, I have been exploring a variety of different recipes over the last 10 years because I just knew that there had to be a recipe that I would like.  I finally found one that we all like!  It took a tweaking and combining of recipes to find one that we all liked, but it was worth the wait.  You can serve this as a main dish, add it to your spaghetti, or add it into a family favorite dish.

I also want to make a note, that all of the recipes I share use either onion salt or powder.  I have an onion allergy in our house and I can not use fresh onion or onion flakes, so I substitute with salt or powder when fresh onion is called for.  If you have onion in the house and enjoy cooking with it, please use it in place of the salt or powder that I list in a recipe.

Recipe:
1 lb. ground beef (pork or turkey can be substituted too)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp onion powder (or 1 small onion, diced)
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (more or less depending on taste preference)
1 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce
1/3 C milk
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese (freshly grated is our preference, but prepackaged works well too)
1/2 C bread crumbs

Add everything from the ground beef through the Worcestershire sauce to a mixing bowl and mix well.  Add in the milk, Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.  Mix until blended well.  Make 1-1/2″ meatballs (approximately 2 T) and place onto baking sheet.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables, or over your favorite spaghetti.

Freezer Tip:
These meatballs freeze well pre-baked or after they are baked.   While you’re making the batch for dinner, double or triple it and put the extras in the freezer for another meal.  One night of prep in the kitchen for 2 or 3 meals.  Just put them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze solid, once frozen put into freezer containers, or freezer bags and freeze until ready to use.

If you freeze them pre-baked, you can put them directly in the oven, just plan on baking a little longer.  You can easily thaw them overnight in the fridge though and bake them as listed above.

If you freeze them after they’re baked just warm them up in the oven, or add to your spaghetti sauce and warm them up together on the stove top.

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What’s For Dinner? Wednesday: Chicken Strips

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by Tracie on March 21, 2012

 

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Kitchen Tip:
Do you have as much cereal as I do after the last month of cereal deals?  Did you get some new cereals to try because they were a good price and then tried them and found out you didn’t really care for them?  Don’t throw them away!  Crush them up and save them in the pantry for a quick and easy coating on chicken, pork, or even a crusted beef.

I also collect and crush the bottom of the bag when there isn’t enough left for a bowl of cereal.  Don’t forget those crackers also, they make a great coating and when you start to get a mix of the crackers together it can make for a nice combination of flavors.

I found a great deal one time on Chex and picked up some new flavors that I hadn’t had before.  The honey oat sounded delicious so I picked up a few boxes.  Unfortunately no one in the house really cared for it, so I was left with 2-1/2 boxes that I had no idea what I was going to do with.  Well one night I wanted to make chicken strips and and didn’t have any of the store bought coating that I normally used, so I went hunting in recipe books.  I found a recipe that called for rice krispies and that gave me the idea to crush up the honey Chex and use that, it was a WINNER!!  The sweet flavor is just right and when it’s baked it gives you that crispiness that we like also.  I will change up the cereal we use every now and then, but honey Chex is one of our favorites, so now I have to keep an eye out for another great deal!  Since I just stocked up on a lot of Kelloggs cereals I’ll also be using Corn Flakes, Special K and I’m even going to try the Honey Crunch Oats.

This recipe is very basic.  I can scale it up or down depending on how many I’m cooking for, or change up the ingredients depending on what I have on hand.  A simple recipe to create a variety of meals.

Recipe:
2 Boneless skinless chicken breast (or chicken tenders)
1 C Crushed Honey Chex
1 T All-purpose Flour
Salt and Pepper to taste

Clean off excess fat from chicken and slice into strips and rinse with water.  Mix flour, Chex and salt and pepper together in a shallow dish.  Dip chicken into coating and place on baking sheet.  Bake 15 minutes at 350 or until chicken is done.  Serve with any sides you’d like or cut up and toss in a salad.

You can easily substitute any chicken, cooking times will need to be adjusted however for bone in chicken.  Bone in chicken breast typically take about 25-35 minutes to cook thoroughly depending on size.

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What’s For Dinner? Wednesday: Baked Salmon

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by Tracie on March 14, 2012

 

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Ok, I admit it, we do eat a lot of chicken!  I grew up eating a lot of beef and pork, and to be honest, I’m just tired of it.  It seems I can do so many different things with chicken so that is what I fall back on.  However, I am trying to add a variety of things into our diet and Salmon is one thing that we enjoy, but usually only get if we go out to eat somewhere.  So I found a nice simple recipe that takes little of my time, but offers a meal full of flavor.

Baked Salmon
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 T light olive oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 T lemon juice
1 T fresh parsley, chopped (I use about 1/2 T when using dried)
2 fillets of salmon, approx 6oz each

Mix everything, except for the Salmon, in a shallow dish or plastic bag.  Add the salmon and marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 375  degrees and place salmon in aluminum foil and cover with marinade.  Create foil packets for the salmon and place in a baking dish.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until the fish easily flakes with a fork.

Serve with your choice of sides.  I like to serve with rice or a light pasta and a vegetable, don’t forget to pour the extra sauce in the packet over your rice or pasta too.

Freezer Tip:
Have you noticed yet that I like to have a freezer full of quick meals?  My grandma always told me that you can freeze just about everything (and she does! everything except sugar) but never really took it to heart until I started couponing and was able to get some perishable items really cheap and wanted to stock up, and meat and fish are no exception!

When I find a good deal on salmon I like to get 3-4 meals worth.  Since it freezes well I will plan on eating one meal within the first day or two of purchasing it, and the rest I will put into freezer bags with the marinade and freeze until we’re ready for more salmon.  Just take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge 24-36 hours before you want to cook it and it’s ready to grill, bake, or broil!

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