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Simple Roast Chicken

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Our Simple Roast Chicken is juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Pan leftovers create a superior tasting chicken gravy.

Learning to roast a chicken is one kitchen basic everyone should learn how to do. A roast chicken can provide a delicious meal and leftovers (my favourite part) can be turned into several new meals like Chicken Soup, Chicken Pot Pie, Tacos, Salads and more.

Preparing the Chicken for Roasting
Preparing the Chicken for Roasting

Roasting your own chicken tricks

Over the years I’ve roasted my fair share of chickens. In fact my first ever roast turkey was cooked when I lived in a bachelor suite in downtown Vancouver over 30 years ago. It was small quarters, with dirty dishes ending up in the bath tub, but I pulled out all stops and served up a darn good bird.

Once you roast your first chicken it will be easy for you to roast a turkey.

To keep my chicken moist, I cut slices of butter and gently push them under the skin. Note in the raw chicken photo the chicken breast skin is torn, but in the cooked chicken photo you can not even see the tear.

There is no fancy photo editing happening here. It is merely the butter under the skin keeps the chicken moist as it cooks therefore the skin does not tear any more or dry out causing it to shrink and the breast meat to show. Cool tip right?

Trussed Chicken
Trussed Chicken

Essential Chicken Gravy

I adore roast chicken and roasting a bird is something I could possibly do in my sleep since I’ve done it so many times. When I didn’t have a rack for my roasting pan, I improvised using vegetables.

As the chicken cooks it releases it’s juices into the pan and flavours the vegetables. The cooked vegetables become the base of an incredibly flavourful chicken gravy.

The vegetable roasting rack
The vegetable roasting rack

Lemons in the pan will add lemon flavour to your gravy so if you prefer more of a classic tasting gravy do not add the lemon to the roasting pan. A few simple herbs are all you need, let the chicken speak for itself. Our herb of choice is rosemary.

Roasted vegetable rack ready for gravy making
Roasted vegetable rack ready for gravy making

Ovens and bird sizes will vary so plan accordingly factoring about 1 – 1.5 hour cooking time. Your meat thermometer is your best friend when it comes to cooking poultry or any meat so have it handy for checking the bird.

 

 

Simple Roast Chicken
Simple Roast Chicken is the real deal. No food styling shots here, just chicken before being sliced

PRO TIPS:

  • Bring your bird out of the refrigerator one hour before cooking to warm up
  • Completely dry chicken with paper towel
  • Ensure you have a meat thermometer on hand to check internal temperature of chicken
  • The chicken is done when your internal temperature is 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the thigh, the drumsticks and wings wiggle easily and juices run brown
  • Plan for 1- 1.5 hours total roasting time for your chicken
  • We use vegetables to create a rack on the bottom of the pan, no rack required

What to do with Roast Chicken Leftovers

We love roast chicken leftovers and are always trying new recipes. Here’s a few tried and true to help you use your roast chicken leftovers.

 

 

 

 

 

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

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In less than an hour you can make these Instant Pot Chicken Tacos served with your favourite toppings and warm tortillas.

Growing up my mom had a pressure cooker. She was no Julia Child and she could not cook a roast if her life depended on it. When she pressure cooked a roast it tasted like leather. It was a turn off and most likely the reason I do not love roasts and have always shied away from pressure cookers.

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

Since we received an Instant Pot at Christmas I have been playing with it a lot. I have no fear of pressure cookers and recall my mom making leather often. It was a bright orange/yellow pressure cooker which would now be considered vintage or a relic, even a blast from the past if it surfaced somewhere! Always amazes me how technology advances into something like the Instant Pot.

Seared chicken breasts for tacos
Seared chicken breasts for tacos

My initial plan in making chicken tacos was to use salsa. However when I pulled the salsa out of the refrigerator it had grown legs. Big white moldy ones on the surface. Gross right. I knew I wanted diced tomatoes of some sort in this dish and just so happened to have some frozen diced tomatoes available. A quick defrost and into the tacos they went. Either or will work in this dish, even canned tomatoes with green chiles.

Shredded cooked chicken
Shredded cooked chicken

Taco toppings are endless. For these tacos we stayed simple and used diced white onion, shredded iceberg lettuce, cilantro, jalapenos and shredded cheddar cheese. There is so much flavour in this chicken it really didn’t need any kind of salsa on top however being a salsa lover I would never judge if you added some to yours!

Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

Four chicken breasts fed 5 people with enough for leftovers. If you like spicy use spicy salsa. Lots of options with this dish.

Pro Tips:

  • Get a good sear on the chicken – it adds flavour
  • Having liquid is key as you want to nestle the shredded chicken back in to it so it can soak up all those juices
  • Prepare your toppings in advance to save time
This recipe was cooked in a 6 Quart Instant Pot

 

Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas – 30 Minute Meal

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Meals come together quickly when you use the broil feature in your oven like our simple Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas.

These fajitas can be on the table in 30 minutes or less when you prep things in advance or get the gang to help with dinner preparation. Once dinner prep is done, it’s as simple as preheating your oven, tossing items onto your baking sheet and selecting broil. In about 12 minutes you are sitting down to eat dinner.

Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

We like to serve tacos with an array of toppings and condiments allowing everyone to choose what they like in their tacos. We are all so different it’s funny some days.

For fajitas, I don’t add cheese, but the family does. I do however like spice and add in jalapenos, pickled or freshly sliced, banana peppers, or even thinly sliced thai chili peppers. After doing this for so many years, the kids are now willing and able to try spicy peppers – sometimes!

PRO TIPS:

Change up your onions by using white or yellow in stead. Roast some baby tomatoes and add a variety of peppers. Remember to cut everything the same size to ensure even cooking time.

We use flour tortillas when eating our fajitas. Warming them on our electric glass stove burner provides a little char. To do this simply turn on your burner to medium, toss one on, watch it, after a few seconds flip it with tongs and set onto a plate. Do this with all of them and keep them covered under a dish towel until ready to serve.

A second warming option is wrap them in foil, place on rimmed baking sheet and put on lower rack in oven until warmed through while your fajitas cook. Or low heat and time in your microwave.

Additional sides for fajitas, salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

 

Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad

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There’s something to be said about roasting more than one chicken at a time or in our case buying two rotisserie chickens from the store when time is not on our side. Would you believe it is cheaper at times for us to buy two chickens already cooked then buy them raw and cook them? It’s true and that’s comparing apples to apples (size, supplier, etc.).

One of my favourite things to do is cook one and eat two or three meals from your main meal. Lots of great food can be made using leftover chicken like casseroles, soups, salads, quesadillas, tacos, taquitos, nachos, pot pies, pasta dishes, sandwiches, wraps and more. It’s a winning situation as long as you are prepared for meal 2 or 3.

 

Crunch Asian Chicken Salad
Crunch Asian Chicken Salad

 

This Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad is a family pleasing quick dinner that can be ready in under 30 minutes or less if you cook your chicken the night before. Or buy it like we often do.

Toss together all ingredients, add dressing and top the salad with crunchy itchiban noodles and toasted cashews just before serving.

What do you love making with leftover chicken or turkey (which can be subbed in for any dish that calls for chicken).

 

 

Baked 3 Cheese Penne with Chicken and Pancetta

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Happy week before Christmas food friends! I planned out our meals this week with as little cooking as possible to ensure there were not many leftovers in the refrigerator to save room for all the Christmas dinner items soon to be taking up residence in there. Tonight leftover Baked 3 Cheese Penne with Chicken and Pancetta + leftover Pulled Pork turned into tacos. My goal is by the time Friday rolls around to have as little leftovers as possible since we are out each night until Christmas Day and it’s our turn to host dinner!

This Baked 3 Cheese Penne is made with a three cheese sauce that thinks it’s an alfredo sauce. Seriously. But it’s better because it’s home made and entirely delicious featuring provolone, parmesan and asiago cheese. I tossed in some leftover pancetta and cooked the chicken in the bacon fat. Cheese in the sauce, cheese on top, bake it for 25 minutes and dinner is on the table.

This recipe was loved by the family so I’m definitely making it again!

 

 

Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry

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Chicken pot pie wasn’t something my mom made much of when we were growing up, however she did make a mean beef pie using leftover roast beef. The chicken variation was something I discovered in my Vancouver days during employee potlucks and lunches. I didn’t play with meat pies too much back then, but started to get more involved making them when I got married.

Chicken pot pie is one of those cook once eat twice meals when you have leftover baked or roasted chicken to use up. A few additional and simple pantry items like onions, potatoes, carrots and stock turn this into an easy to make and delicious meal. My frozen peas were getting ready to crawl away so I stirred the last of them into the pie when it came off the heat.

chicken Pot Pie

This recipe calls for some spices you may not have access to but don’t worry! Seriously. Grab some thyme, lemon pepper, Mrs Dash, oregano, or whatever seasonings you can find and improvise. Remember this is an easy and simple pie to make.

Chicken Pot Pie

The puff pastry idea was inspired by a soup I love to have every time I visit a certain pub in Canmore. They serve this spicy cheese soup, which I am going to try to make at home, with a puff pastry topper. I’ve been ordering it for years and love how the puff pastry puffs and hugs the top of the soup while cooking in the oven and flakes into the soup while you eat it. I might just puff pastry everything at this point.

I baked these in individual dishes allowing more for the bigger appetites and less for the littles. Equally delicious if you substitute chicken with leftover turkey after the holidays.

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Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry
Author: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 3 medium sized yellow potatoes,, peeled and diced small
  • ½ onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 4 tbsp flour
  • 5 cups chicken stock.
  • 2 cups leftover roast chicken, shredded or chopped
  • 2 tsp za'atar
  • 2 tsp fresh rosemary
  • 2 tsp old bay seasoning
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • ½ cup frozen peas
  • Puff Pastry, thawed
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 6 oven proof bowls
Instructions
  1. In a small sauce pan, heat the chicken stock.
  2. In a large sauce pan over medium high heat add olive oil and potatoes. Cook for 5 minutes stirring regularly. Add onions and carrots cooking for another 5 minutes.
  3. Add butter and flour and cook over low heat stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Pour in the hot chicken stock and simmer until thick. If your sauce doesn't thicken add a mixture of ¼ cup cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup water to help thicken.
  4. Preheat your oven to 400F.
  5. Mix in your chicken, zatar, rosemary, old bay, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and add in your peas.
  6. Pour into individual oven proof bowls and cover with a square piece of puff pastry. Brush with the beaten egg, sprinkle on some additional chopped rosemary, cracked black pepper, sea salt and hot pepper flakes if you wish.
  7. Bake for 25 minutes and serve immediately.

 

 

Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry

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Stir-fries can be many things. An easy clean out your fridge dinner, a healthy meal after an all you can eat holiday, a quick dinner on a busy evening or as simple or complicated as you choose to make it. This Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry is a quick dinner on a busy night in our house. You could make this meal every day of the week changing up your proteins, veggies, carbs and flavour add ins and never have the same meal. I definitely need to stir fry more.

 

Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry
Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry

 

I tend to learn towards chow mein noodles or rice when I stir fry, however this time while browsing the International aisle in the grocery store, egg noodles called my name. So I called back and they came home with me. Get the whole family involved in chopping and dinner is ready in no time at all.

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Chicken Noodle Stir-Fry
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, lunch
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 6 chicken thighs cut in small strips
  • 3 carrots
  • 2 cups broccoli florets
  • 2 green onions, sliced on diagonal
  • 1 tbsp ginger, grated
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup bean sprouts
  • ½ cup whole cashews, toasted
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sherry
  • ¼ tsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 3 tbsp chicken stock
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 400 gr. instant egg noodles
  • oil
Instructions
  1. In a plastic bag combine 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sherry, ¼ tsp sugar, 1 tbsp chicken stock, 1 tsp cornstarch to make your marinade. Add chicken, squish bag to ensure all chicken pieces coated, zip up and set aside. Marinate for minimum 30 minutes.
  2. Trim, peel and thinly slice the carrots on an angle. Cut the broccoli into small florets and slice the green onion in about ½ inch pieces.
  3. Combine ginger and garlic in a bowl and set aside.
  4. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions, then drain and toss in a little oil. Pour into bowl.
  5. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add chicken and stir fry for 2 minutes. Toss in ginger and garlic cooking for another minute or until chicken is golden. Remove chicken from pan and place in bowl.
  6. To make the stir fry sauce whisk together 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp sherry and 2 tbsp chicken stock. Set aside.
  7. Add a little splash of oil to your preheated wok and add carrots, broccoli and green onions. Stir fry for 2 minutes then add 2 tbsp water and place lid on wok to steam vegetables. After approximately 2 minutes toss in your cooked noodles and chicken .
  8. Stir in bean sprouts and stir-fry sauce. Stir really well, put lid on and and remove from heat.
  9. Top with cashews and cilantro. Serve immediately.

Here’s how we did it.

 

Sweet Red Chili Glazed Chicken with Salad

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Summer days can be hot, and there is honestly no desire in this house to cook a big meal. Instead we love real simple meals. Like grilling up some meat and having a nice flavourful salad with it.

This meal was inspired by expiring sweet red chili sauce in our fridge (ha ha!) and the fact we love grilled corn and asparagus. The Cilantro dressing is the perfect dressing for this meal and one I could literally drink up or put on everything. I will make it again and again.

This meal may seem labour intensive but it’s really not. First thing get your lettuce cleaned and corn/asparagus ready for the grill and BBQ them. Grill chicken next. While it’s cooling a bit get your dressing ready. Finally finish off the chicken and assemble. The first time I made this dish I admittedly kept two of the chicken thighs out of the glaze as I thought the kids would like it. Boy was I wrong. They devoured all the glazed chicken and LOVED it!

Sweet-Chili-Chicken-v2

Here’s how we did it.

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Sweet Red Chili Glazed Chicken with Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: lunch, dinner
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • 6 skinless boneless chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp Chinese five spice powder
  • 2 tbsp sweet red chili sauce
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp soy sauce
  • olive oil
  • *********
  • 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bigger pieces
  • 4 large radishes, sliced thin
  • 2 tbsp. parsley, rough chop
  • 2 cobs of corn, husked
  • 10 spears of asparagus, bottoms removed
  • ***********
  • ½ cup cilantro
  • 1 tbsp tamari
  • 1 tbsp + ½ tsp fish sauce
  • ½ jalapeno seeds included
  • 2 limes
  • 2 cloves garlic peeled
  • 2 tsp ginger, fresh
  • 2 green onions
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • **********
  • sesame oil
  • parchment or wax paper
  • black sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
  1. On a sheet of parchment or wax paper mix together your chicken, Chinese five spice powder and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Put a second piece on top and whack (I use a rolling pin) to flatten chicken on thicker areas. Keep it around ½-3/4 inches thick. Set aside.
  2. On a place add your corn. Pour a little olive over top and pinch of salt and pepper. Roll corn on plate to cover corn with oil. Put right on grill and cook over medium high heat for approximately 10 minutes turning every 2 minutes or until a nice char starts to form. Once the corn cooled cut corn kernels off and discard cob. Set aside.
  3. Take your asparagus and roll on the plate the corn was on to scoop up leftover oil, salt and pepper. Add a little more if needed. Place on grill crosswise (so they don't fall through grate) and grill for 5-10 minutes depending on thickness of asparagus. Brown spots are good but don't let them char. Set aside.
  4. On grill over medium high heat cook chicken thighs for about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
  5. To make the dressing add cilantro, tamari, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, fish sauce, ¼ of jalapeno to start, juice of two limes, garlic cloves, ginger, green onions, sesame oil, 2 tbsp olive oil into a blender or cup. Whiz until smooth. Taste. If not spicy add the rest of the jalapeno pepper and a small pinch of salt and pepper.
  6. In a frypan over medium high heat mix together sweet red chili sauce, 1 tsp soy sauce and ½ tsp fish sauce. Add chicken to warm up and turn to cover with glaze. Remove to cutting board to slice thin or serve whole.
  7. Add lettuce to serving platter, sprinkle on the corn, asparagus, radishes and parsley. Add your chopped chicken (or serve it on the side). We topped it with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds. Serve dressing on the side or pour over chicken.

 

Grilled Garlic Chicken

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Since about mid January we’ve had mild weather here in Calgary. It’s very unusual for this time of the year as we typically have tons of snow on the ground. I kid you not. In my world we would have 2-3 months of cold winter and snow with the rest of the year sunny and green.

With warm weather comes serious spring fever. Last weekend we did yard work and cleaned up the yard in preparation for planting and Spring. My rhubarb is popping up and I’m ready to start seeding the lawn and eager to start planting. The kids have already advised they will each be having their own pepper and tomatoe(s) plants again this year. Sun and warmth feels so good. With this warmer weather we find we want to grill all the time. Fish and soy sauce are always on hand here and since we are die hard grillers (we will grill in any weather unless it hits -20), it’s not the first time we fired up the BBQ this year. We served up this chicken with our Green Rice.

I prep the food, my husband tends the grill. We make a good team. The longer this chicken can marinate, the more flavour you get.

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Grilled Garlic Chicken
Serves: 4
 
The flavours in this chicken shine when allowed to marinate up to four hours or overnight. If you do not have the time, give the chicken at least 30 minutes to get cozy with the marinade.
Ingredients
  • 6 bone in/skin on chicken thighs
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro
  • 2 tbsp garlic
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp water
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Loosen the skin on your chicken thighs with your hand keeping skin intact. Put into plastic storage bag & set aside.
  2. In a small food processor or blender, combine cilantro, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper. Puree until you have a smooth liquidy paste.
  3. Pour marinade into storage bag with chicken and smooshie the bag to combine. Close and store in refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
  4. When ready to cook ,preheat your grill to medium high. Cook thighs over high heat until brown then move over to indirect heat and continue to cook 20-25 minutes or until cooked through (juices run clear).
  5. Remove to plate and set aside to rest.

 

Grilled Garlic Chicken
Grilled Garlic Chicken

Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Sauce

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Inspired by BC Blueberries, a bottle of bourbon I was recently given, a bottle of Guy Fieri Bourbon/Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce, and a Crosby Molasses contest, I decided to try and create a Blueberry BBQ Sauce. With molasses. I’ve never made a BBQ sauce with molasses before but I know it’s been done. The bourbon was honestly an afterthought but it works. In fact I have received 4 thumbs up from the in-laws on this BBQ Sauce. Yahoo!

If you don’t like bourbon, leave the bourbon out. The first night we had it we slathered it on a pork tenderloin. Next we mixed it into turkey burgers (with blueberries) and used it as a sauce for the top.

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Blueberry Bourbon BBQ Sauce
Recipe type: BBQ sauce,
Serves: 2 cups
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • ⅓ cup red onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • ¼ cup bourbon
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup Crosby's Molasses
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar + 1 tsp
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp prepared mustard
  • 1 tsp chipotles in adobo
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • ¼ cup water
  • salt & pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes.
  2. Stir in garlic cooking for an additional minute. Pour in bourbon and cook off for 1 minute.
  3. Reduce the heat to low. Add the ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, chipotle, blueberries, water and a pinch of salt & pepper.
  4. Simmer 30 minutes.
  5. Taste after simmering and adjust salt & pepper as needed.

 

Blueberry BBQ Sauce
Blueberry BBQ Sauce

 

 

Grilled Citrus Chicken

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My kid watches me in the kitchen and has been doing so since she was little. She’s 9, almost 10 going on 14. She’s a true Leo as she was so stubborn during her birth, that after 64 hours of labour, she ended up being escorted out of my belly via emergency C-section. She brings this stubbornness into the kitchen when she bakes. Always wanting to race ahead, and do things her way without reading instructions properly or sitting back to listen & learn. I do love this about her, but it can be challenging.

A couple weeks ago I gave my kids a chicken challenge. Cook any kind of (simple) chicken dish you wanted for supper. Think about it, go through recipe books, or make up a recipe. Hailey’s first idea was to make up a watermelon marinade for the chicken. Since we don’t care for grilled watermelon, and watermelon logged chicken didn’t seem to appeal, I talked her out of it (maybe a mistake?). I could have googled ideas, but I wanted this to be hers. So I suggested she think up something different. She decided on this citrus chicken. Created it entirely on her own. I directed her to the fresh herbs, she smelled & tasted and decided which she wanted to add to the marinade. She loves grilled halloom cheese (from Superstore) and knew she wanted grilled this cheese as part of her meal (she calls it the squeaky cheese), with the grilled chicken placed on top. And her favourite Tabbouleh Salad. I helped with suggesting grilled lemon or lime on top. Her dad did all the grilling.

For the first time we worked together in the kitchen (I helped with the chopping) without any battles. It was flawless and so much fun to watch her follow her vision. And she did an amazing job. While it may not happen again anytime soon, this mom is super proud.

To assemble plate place a little salad on bottom of plate in a circle. Add a slice of grilled halloom cheese. Top with a piece of grilled chicken and if using, grilled lemons or limes.

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Grilled Citrus Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 8-10 boneless/skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 orange
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 lime
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 2 tbsp fresh mint & fresh oregano, chopped
  • 1 pckge Halloom Cheese
  • Additional lemons or limes for grilling
Instructions
  1. Zest the orange, lemon and lime until you get about 1 tsp of each.
  2. After zesting, juice each fruit pouring all juice and zest into Ziploc bag.
  3. Add oil, a pinch of both salt and pepper, mint, oregano and chicken.
  4. Marinate for 1-2 hours in refrigerator.
  5. Preheat BBQ to medium high. Slice halloom cheese lengthwise into 8 pieces.
  6. Grill for about 2-3 minutes or until golden. Carefully flip (some cheese may stick to grill) and grill other side for an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove & set aside.
  7. Grill chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.
  8. Assemble plates as suggested above
Notes
Slice extra lemons or limes and place right on preheated grill. Grill for 2-3 minutes per side or until you get a nice char.

 

Grilled Citrus Chicken
Grilled Citrus Chicken

 

 

Planning dinner & making a list
Planning dinner & making a list

 

Asian Pulled Chicken

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Asian Puled Chicken
Asian Puled Chicken

Summer is coming, grilling has ramped up, camping is around the corner and I’m all about the grill this year. And pulled meat. With Canadian Beef prices here in Canada skyrocketing, there won’t be much beef in our house this year. It’s a sad state of affairs when you can actually buy lobster cheaper than Alberta beef. Here’s hoping things change and we get back to some better prices.

In light of watching our beef intake, we came up with this Asian Pulled Chicken recipe cooked in our slow cooker. I’ve played with these flavours many times before and decided with a broken stove I needed to get creative with dinners. So I pulled out the slow cooker, added all my favourite ingredients and success! Asian Pulled Chicken was born.

Since my chicken breasts were boneless it’s important to note they will cook quickly. I gave them 1.5 – 2 hours tops in the slow cooker before I pulled them out avoiding dry chicken. Wrapped them in foil and set them aside until ready. Boneless chicken breasts will take a little longer and hold the moisture. I pulled the chicken apart with my fingers and put the leftover liquid into a saucepan to reduce and intensify flavours.

I topped this chicken with some sliced green onions and served with buns. Feel free to add a slaw or dressed green salad as a topper.

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Asian Pulled Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, slowcooker
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 4 boneless chicken breasts
  • 1 white onion, sliced
  • ½ cup honey
  • ½ cup soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sherry
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • ¼ cup oyster sauce
  • ½ tsp sambel oelek
  • 3 green onions, sliced
Instructions
  1. Place chicken breasts in slowcooker and cover with onions.
  2. Whisk together honey, soy sauce, sherry, garlic cloves, sesame oil, oyster sauce and sambel oelek.
  3. Pour over chicken & onions, stirring to ensure all of chicken coated.
  4. Cover slowcooker and cook on low for 1.5-2 hours.
  5. Remove chicken, cover and set aside.
  6. Pour remaining liquid into saucepan. Bring to a boil and drop heat to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes to reduce slightly.
  7. Shred chicken with a fork or your fingers. Place in a bowl and pour liquid over chicken stirring to combine.
  8. Serve with buns.

 

Chicken Milanese with Spinach & Arugula

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A quick and easy meal your family will love cause it’s simple. The kids think these are just “big” chicken fingers and one eats it with plum sauce. The other BBQ sauce (not complaining). The dressing on the salad is so simple and light. The whole meal cooks up quickly and is perfect for a busy activity night or night where you just don’t feel like cooking much.

Chicken Milanese has variations. Some fry the chicken and the salad is more basic than what I’ve made. I like to bake the chicken in the oven. It still crisps up and tastes great. Add a few extras to the salad and it’s just as delicious.

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Chicken Milanese with Spinach
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, lunch
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (total of 6)
  • 1½ cups toasted bread crumbs
  • ½ cup all purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • ½ lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4 cups arugula and spinach
  • Half a small spanish onion sliced thin
  • ¼ cup cherry tomatoes halved
  • lemon wedges for plate
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. Place chicken breasts between 2 sheets of wax paper and pound with a mallet or rolling pin to about ½ inch thick. Set aside.
  3. You will need 3 pie plates or similar size vessels. In first add flour and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix. Second add your beaten eggs. Third is your bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.
  4. Dredge chicken in flour coating all over. Dip in eggs and finally in bread crumbs. Place on rack on baking sheet.
  5. Bake (no need to flip) for about 10-15 minutes until browned and cooked through.
  6. While chicken is cooking whisk together olive oil and lemon juice. Add in a pinch of salt and pepper. Add arugula & spinach, red onion and cherry tomatoes. Toss until mixed.
  7. Serve salad over chicken with a lemon wedge.

 

Chicken Salad with Crackling

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This chicken salad with crackling (crispy chicken skin) is a spinoff or variation of coronation chicken, a dish created and served at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on June 2, 1953. She became monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon. To this day we still sing God Save The Queen.

As I was researching this recipe I came across a recipe by Jamie Oliver. This recipe in fact. Remade in his style with flair and whimsy. I’ve always loved Jamie’s rustic approach to food. He is one chef I would most definitely like to meet in this lifetime.

After looking at his recipe, I made a few modifications to the salad to suit my family. You could easily add in some curry paste to the greek yogurt for an extra hit of curry love. A good curry paste just makes things taste better. I was thrilled the by the response I received from the family, it was a hit. I was even told this is the best supper ever. Cool Mom over here. *Waving

The first time I prepared this dish for my family I served all the bits in separate bowls, allowing everyone to scoop up what they wanted and assemble their own chicken salad. I also served it with noodles. The second time I tossed the whole lot on a platter and served it with rice. Scoop it up and if you don’t like something, pick it out, is my new motto.

In the end this dish takes just over an hour to make. And I let the chicken marinade for about 30 minutes before it goes into the oven.

 

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Chicken Royale
Recipe type: Main, Dinner, Entree
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • 5-6 chicken thighs, bone-in & skin-on
  • 1 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 2 tsp ginger, grated
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ lemon, juiced
  • ¼ cup almonds or cashews, rough chop
  • 1-2 tbsp sesame seeds
  • ½ fresh pineapple, peeled, cored & chopped
  • ½ cucumber, chopped
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1 fresh red chile or ½ jalapeno, sliced thin
  • 2-3 red onion slices
  • ¾ cup greek yogurt
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1 cup lettuce, torn
  • fresh cilantro
  • cooked noodles or basmati rice as a side
Instructions
  1. In a bowl mix together garam masala, cumin, chili powder, a good drizzle of olive oil, ginger, garlic, lemon and a pinch of salt & pepper. Drop in your chicken and massage spices all over. Let marinate for 30 minutes if you have the time.
  2. Preheat oven to 375.
  3. Place chicken in a roasting pan, skin side up. Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until meat pulls away from the bone. You will be left with liquid. Remove chicken from pan and let liquid cool slightly.
  4. Peel off all pieces of chicken skin from chicken and put skin on a lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and sesame seeds. Place chicken skin back in oven for 8-10 minutes and bake until skin is crispy. Once crispy remove from oven and set aside.
  5. While your skin is crisping remove & shred chicken from it's bones. Garbage bones and inedible bits. Mix chicken with some of the reserved liquid and set aside.
  6. Remove the crispy chicken skin from pan and break up into smaller pieces. Set aside.
  7. Spoon away as much fat as you can and try to scrape aside any bits that are left in the liquid. You can reduce this down a little more in a pot on the stove, and drizzle over the salad before serving, or mix into your cooked noodles to add a flavour burst.
  8. On your platter sprinkle on your lettuce, chicken, cucumber, red onion, pineapple, green onions, chile and crispy chicken skin. Add some additional sesame seeds and your almonds or cashews and some more cilantro.
  9. In a small bowl mix together yogurt, lime juice, pinch of salt and about ⅓ cup chopped cilantro. Drizzle over salad or serve as a dressing on the side.

 

Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken

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My 3rd and final entry into the Great Cream Challenge 2014 was this really tasty Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken. For those that don’t know, this cross Canada recipe challenge pairs 3 Canadian Food Bloggers against each other in a special monthly cooking challenge. At the beginning of the year you pick three challenges (one per month) to participate in using real cream, and then start recipe testing until you find a winner.

One of the themes I picked was Grilling, perhaps cause the rest looked easy?! (honestly no idea why I choose grilling lol) When it came time to create and submit the recipe, I panicked for a few minutes thinking about how to use real cream on the grill. But once I settled down, I was able to brain storm and realize there are many options when it comes to grilling with cream.

And so enters a stuffed chicken breast (with cream cheese, cream and other goodies), wrapped in bacon, slapped on the grill and finished with a sage cream sauce. It was very good and of course you can use anything you like to stuff the chicken breast. I used what I could find in my fridge/pantry.

Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken

I enjoyed being part of the challenge, and got to know several of the food bloggers better through this friendly competition. Here is how I made the Grilled Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken.

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Grilled Rustic Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 1 bunch asparagus
  • 2 tbsp butter, softened, divided
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • Cooking spray
  • 4 oz Canadian Cream Cheese, softened
  • 1 tbsp 35% cream
  • 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes (not in oil), finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp artichoke hearts (canned), finely chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh sage, chopped
  • 3 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, pounded to ¼” thickness
  • 6-10 thin slices of bacon
  • Wooden toothpicks
  • Sage Cream Sauce:
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • ¾ cup chicken stock, room temperature
  • ½ cup 35% cream
  • Salt & pepper
  • ½ tsp fresh sage, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Canadian Parmesan , grated
Instructions
  1. Trim asparagus ends. In microwave melt 1 tbsp of butter. Toss asparagus with butter and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Spray grill pan with cooking spray and add asparagus. Grill over medium high heat for 5 minutes or until desired tenderness. Remove from grill and set aside.
  2. With electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, remaining butter and cream until blended and smooth. Chop two of your grilled asparagus stalks into thin slices. Add to bowl along with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and sage. Mix well.
  3. Lay out chicken breasts. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Take approximately 2 tablespoons of your cream cheese mixture and spread over each piece of chicken.
  4. Carefully roll up each chicken breast. Wrap each chicken breast with two pieces of bacon. If your breasts are large use three pieces of bacon. Secure bacon and ends of chicken roll ups with toothpicks.
  5. Grill over medium high heat, turning frequently until bacon is browned, approximately 5-6 minutes. Continue to grill over indirect heat for another 10 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Remove to platter and let sit for 10 minutes.
  6. Slice and serve with remaining grilled asparagus and sage cream sauce.
Notes
Sage Cream Sauce: In a saucepan over medium heat melt butter. Whisk in flour and let cook for two minutes. Slowly whisk in a little of the chicken stock. As it thickens pour in the rest of the chicken stock stirring as you go. Whisk in your cream until sauce is smooth. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and pepper.
Remove from heat and toss in sage and Parmesan cheese. Stir until cheese has melted and serve immediately over chicken on or on the side.

 

 

Honey Ginger Chicken

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Chicken recipes are always enjoyed in our house. The kids loved this honey ginger chicken I made the other night, enhanced with garlic, oyster sauce and fish sauce. A sweet and savory combination that required no marinating. Brushing the sauce on during cooking did the trick. And since we busy parents don’t always have time to marinate meat before we cook it, it’s the perfect quick meal to make after a busy day.

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Honey Ginger Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp grated ginger, fresh
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ¼ cup honey
  • ⅓ cup oyster sauce
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ tsp hot sauce
  • pinch of salt & pepper
  • 10 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Instructions
  1. Preheat grill to medium high.
  2. Mix ginger through hot sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
  3. Lay chicken thighs out on a platter or tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle on a little of the honey ginger sauce.
  4. Over medium high heat grill chicken for about 10-15 minutes turning at least once. Baste regularly with honey ginger sauce.
  5. Remove from grill and let rest. Serve immediately.

 

 

 

Kung Pao Chicken

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This recipe has been kicking around for over 20 years. Back in the day, there always used to be the people that would come to the office and leave a stack of books and an order sheet. A week later they would return to see if anyone wanted to buy the books. There were always cookbooks in the mix and that is typically how I spent my lunch hours, pouring through the cookbooks and either photo copying the recipes or eventually buying the books. Because you know, back in the day, we used photocopiers and didn’t spend hours surfing the net.

I got this recipe from one of those books and unfortunately I do not know which cookbook it came from as it was photocopied with no legible reference besides my scribbling notes. The recipe has faded and been modified over the years. Once the kidlets came along, well it became a family favourite. So much so I now have to double the recipe to ensure there is enough for my family of four. We rarely have leftovers with this meal.

Kung Pao Chicken
Kung Pao Chicken with brown rice

I like to serve it with brown rice or even noodles of some sort. Yes the kids pick out the green onions, but that’s kids. If you like things spicy add more chili flakes or even cut up a red chili and toss it in. I keep it simply spiced for the kids sake.

Let’s do it.

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Kung Pao Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch, leftovers
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 tbsp + 4 tsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp + 4 tsp sherry
  • 5 tsp cornstarch
  • 4 tbsp chicken broth or water
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 3 tsp sugar
  • canola oil
  • ¾ cup peanuts
  • ½ tsp chili flakes
  • 2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
  • 3 green onions, sliced into 1 inch pieces
Instructions
  1. In a bowl combine 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp sherry and 2 tsp cornstarch. Mix well and add chicken stirring to coat. Let marinate for 30 minutes.
  2. In second bowl or measuring cup add 4 tsp soy sauce, 4 tsp sherry, chicken broth, red wine vinegar, sugar and 3 tsp cornstarch. Mix well. Set aside.
  3. In wok or stir fry pan heat 1 tbsp oil over medium high heat.
  4. Add peanuts and cook until golden. This will only take a minute or two so keep your eyes on the pan. Remove when golden and set aside.
  5. Add 2 tbsp oil and your chili flakes cooking for about 1 minute. Drop in your chicken and stir fry for about 2 minutes.
  6. Add in ginger and cook for another minute.
  7. Next in is onions and the golden peanuts.
  8. Stir cornstarch mixture and add to wok. Gently mix and cook another minute or until mixture thickens.
  9. Serve over rice or noodles.

 

Antipasto Salad from Just A Pinch of Ginger

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You will probably hear me talk a lot about how much I love the world of Food Blogging. While I’ve been blogging since 2006, I’ve only really honed in on the Food Blogging World the past 3 or so years. And with it I’ve met and made some wonderful friends from all over the world, who share my passion for Food.

Deidre over at Just A Pinch of Ginger, is one of them. Deidre and I started chatting last year, and connected immediately. She’s originally from Northern British Columbia and so am I, although we never lived there at the same time. Even though we have yet to meet in person, I can honestly say it feels like I’ve known Deidre forever. You know that feeling when you meet someone and it’s just comfortable. You feel like you can talk about anything? Ya that. Deidre and I will be seeing each other at a couple of Food Blogger Conferences later this year and I can’t wait to enjoy some good food, beverages and laughs with her.

I love her inspiration for this salad that includes “Heaven at the top of Spanish Steps”, so make sure you get to know this month’s Guest Blogger, Deidre over at Just A Pinch of Ginger.

I was delighted to be invited to share a recipe with Bakersbeans because the most rewarding aspect of blogging is becoming part of such an inclusive community, and I am thrilled to have made a friend in Wanda through our shared passion. I began this journey as ‘Just A Pinch Of Ginger’ just over a year ago. A wonderful friend convinced me to blog instead of writing a family cookbook, and it simply evolved from there. It has been quite the wild ride. I must admit I’ve been shocked by the response, who knew people would actually want to hear about my recipes and crazy family?! My previous careers have included teacher, interior designer, florist and dance studio owner…eclectic, I realize. That’s me! Although I have no formal training as a cook, I have always been fascinated with ‘playing’ with my food and over the last couple of decades I’ve been experimenting on my six children. Yup, I said six. Nineteen all the way down to almost nine year old twins. It’s never boring, let’s put it that way. We traveled a lot as a family and I’m thankful for the opportunities to have my taste buds pushed to their very limits. Many of my own food adventures have started with trying to replicate some delectable dish gobbled down in a foreign country.

The recipe I’m sharing here was inspired by a day in Italy, Rome to be exact. We had been visiting the sights all morning…hitting some big ones; Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Boboli Gardens and we were all exhausted! Not only from the walking and map reading and heat, but also the non-stop ‘posing’. Yes, that’s correct…posing. When you visit a country that adores families as much as Italia, with many, very blonde little kids in tow, you become somewhat of a celebrity. Every time we tried to take a quick shot as a family, we’d have several people…uhm…add their kids to our pictures and begin snapping away. The photo sessions inevitably ended with warm compliments, enquiring about each name and enthusiastic cheek pinching. Much to the chagrin of my offspring. Ahhh well…’bella, bella famiglia’…what can I say?

Our frazzled tribe were caught in a sudden downpour and ducked into a restaurant that we would not have sought out otherwise. Too pricey. Too frou-frou. We quickly ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, an antipasto platter. I was just thinking easy, finger food. What they served up was instead, a little sample of heaven! This was well before the current ‘I Must take a photo of every meal’ craze, so I have no photo evidence. You’ll just have to trust me…Heaven at the top of the Spanish Steps. I’ve combined my favourite elements of that platter into this salad, with a few adjustments to keep the minions happy. Hope you enjoy…buon appetito!

Just A Pinch Of Ginger can be found here & there & everywhere! Follow her here:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Justapinchofginger13
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Antipasto Salad from Just A Pinch of Ginger
Author: 
Recipe type: dinner, lunch, salad, potluck
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 4 chicken breasts
  • 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbs garlic, dried
  • 1 tbs sea salt
  • 1 tbs oregano, dried
  • 1 tbs basil, dried
  • 1 tsp marjoram, dried
  • 1 tsp, thyme, dried
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese, dried & grated
  • 3 heads of romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bite-size pieces
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
  • 1 cup kalamata olives, pitted
  • 1 cup caper berries
  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
  • ¾ cup parmesan cheese, shaved thinly
  • ½ cup pistachios, shelled
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 400.
  2. Combine garlic, salt, oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme, pepper and parmesan in a small bowl, mix well
  3. Use olive oil to grease a small pan, rub chicken breasts with spice mixture and arrange in pan.
  4. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until inside of chicken is white. Set aside to cool.
  5. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add the lettuce, tomatoes, olives and caper berries, slowly add in about a cup of the dressing, toss until covered.
  6. Sliced the chilled chicken breasts into thin strips.
  7. On a large platter gently toss the salad with the chicken strips.
  8. Use the basil leaves, shaved parmesan and pistachios to garnish...sprinkle on more dressing if you so desire.
Notes
To make salad dressing combine: 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, ¾ cup red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp balsamic reduction, 2 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 2 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tbsp sea salt, 1 tbsp dried oregano, 1 tbsp dried basil, 1 tbsp caper berry brine, 1 tsp dried marjoram, 1 tsp, dried thyme, 1 tsp black pepper. Whisk or shake well and store in refrigerator until needed. Can also be used as marinade.

 

Chili Lime No Tequila Chicken

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This recipe is simple with simple flavours. I created it while doing the wild rose d-tox. It was satisfying, tasty and filling. You could easily add half a cup of tequila to the recipe for some added flavour and even toss in some chopped jalapenos. But it’s not necessary.

Chicken kabobs can be made in the winter, by broiling them. The one thing about broiling meat in the oven, is there will always be smoke when you open your oven door. But they cook quickly. Fortunately when I made them I was able to open the windows as we were having a Chinook here in Calgary. As always grilling them while camping or on the deck is just as tasty.

The first time I made these kabobs I used one chicken breast. It made two kabobs which gave me two meals. The second time I prepared 2 chicken breasts and ended up with four kabobs or four meals. This recipe is for 2 chicken breasts. You could easily substitute turkey breast. I’d say it’s a keeper since the minions were picking the chicken off my plate hence prompting me to make more the second time around.

Serve it on a salad, on top of  grains or brown rice.

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Chili Lime No Tequila Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, Lunch,
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless cut into cubes
  • 1½ cup zucchini, sliced into thicker chunks
  • ½ red onion, cut into chunks
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • Juice from ½ lime
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • salt & pepper
  • skewers
Instructions
  1. In a plastic ziplock style bag, add your olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, chili powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Squishy bag to combine flavours.
  2. Drop in your chicken, zucchini and red onion. Give bag a shake and set aside for 30 minutes.
  3. If using bamboo/wooden skewers soak for a minimum of 30 minutes before cooking.
  4. Turn oven on to Broil.
  5. Alternating chicken, zucchini and red onion, start building your kabob.
  6. Place on parchment or foil lined rimmed baking sheet and place in oven. Make sure your oven rack is as high as it can go. Broil for 5 minutes. Turn kabobs over and broil another 5 minutes. You are now ready to eat.

 

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with Red Chili

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Growing up my mom used to make stuffed peppers. She used ground meat, rice, tomato sauce or soup and a few other simple flavours. It was quite good and I always looked forward to it.

Fast forward to the present. I am married to a man who does not like peppers. Lord give me strength. Fortunately the kids do like them raw. Well really they prefer most of their vegetables raw. But it does make cooking challenging at times since I have to miss out on adding the peppers to stews, soups, chili’s, etc. This is why I try to introduce my kids to a variety of foods constantly so they are more open to foods as they get older and not as fussy as my husband.

I’ve made a quinoa stuffed pepper before, but like so many other dishes I make, I’ve never documented it. Now that I’m doing a cleanse and wanting to keep better track of the recipes I use on this cleanse, I am adding it to the blog.

Things to note: I added in some leftover roasted chicken….you can leave the chicken out and keep it strictly vegetarian if you prefer. This recipe makes enough for one person, so if you are cooking for more than one, double it. I like my peppers on the crispier side vs softened when stuffed, so if you like a softer stuffed pepper, bake it for an additional 5 minutes or so. If you love heat, add more chopped chili pepper. The quinoa mixture could also be eaten as a salad. If you are not doing a D-Tox that requires no dairy, a small scoop of shredded cheese mixed in is equally delicious or even sprinkled on top.

Hope you love it as much as I do!

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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with Red Chili
Author: 
Recipe type: lunch, dinner, side
Serves: 1
 
Ingredients
  • 1 whole pepper
  • ¾ cup quinoa, precooked & cooled
  • 1 cup spinach, chopped thin
  • ⅓ cup cooked chicken, diced
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • 1 tbsp red chili, diced
  • ¼ tsp oregano
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 7-8 whole almonds, rough chopped
  • salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Cut pepper in half and carefully remove seeds and membrane. Set aside.
  3. In a bowl add your quinoa, spinach, chicken, green onion and red chili.
  4. In a second bowl or measuring cup whisk together olive oil, oregano, chili powder, lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Pour over quinoa, toss in almonds and stir to combine.
  5. Carefully spoon quinoa mixture into each pepper half. There should be enough to fill each one to just slightly heaping with a few bites leftover for the cook.
  6. Place in baking dish and in oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy.

 

 

Chicken & Sausage Soup

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Tis the Season. For colds and flu. Always amazes me how one can get sick and the other one can miss it entirely. It was a day where one of the minions was under the weather. When this happens I always make a big batch of chicken soup. Sometimes with noodles. Sometimes with rice. This soup had sausage.

The last time I was in the store I picked up a couple fresh links of Spolumbo’s Chicken & Apple Sausage. I had the intention of making a soup or stew with it one day and this was going to be the day. Just so happens we had leftover roasted chicken in the fridge and so the union was meant to be. Rummaged around for some chicken soup vegetables, grabbed some broth and a Chicken & Sausage Soup was born. I always use some form of broth in my soup since it adds so much flavour.

Everyone loved it and it didn’t take very long to make. It was so comforting to have a bowl of hot steaming soup on a cold Calgary day and a pimped up version of chicken soup. Here are the particulars.

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Chicken & Sausage Soup
Author: 
Recipe type: Soup, Dinner, Entree, Lunch, Main,
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 2 (300kg) chicken sausage links
  • 1 cup roasted chicken, cut up
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 cup carrots, diced
  • 1 cup celery, diced
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 8 cups chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil
Instructions
  1. In a saucepan over medium heat add a small glugg of olive oil.
  2. Remove sausage from casing and drop in to hot pan. Use a potato masher to break up sausage into smaller pieces. Cook until pink is gone.
  3. Add onions, carrots and celery into pan with sausage. Drop heat to low and cook for 5-10 minutes or until vegetables start to soften slightly. Add in thyme.
  4. Pour in stock, add chicken and bring soup to a boil. Drop down to a simmer. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and pepper and parsley.
  5. Simmer for another 15-20 minutes to ensure vegetables soft.
  6. Serve with fresh buns or crusty rolls.

 

Chicken, Apple & Halloom Skewers

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It was about a year and a half ago I first discovered Halloom cheese in one of our local stores. I was curious, and as such the cheese came home with me. This became the beginning of a beautiful love affair. Since then we’ve enjoyed the salty, yet mild grilled halloom cheese on skewers with fruit or meat, in salads, as a desert with a balsamic drizzle, as an appetizer/on a canape or on a baguette in a sammy. So many ways to eat this delicious cheese, but it must be grilled first to fully enjoy the cheese in it’s entirety. The smokey but light flavour adds impact to whatever you serve it with.

For the past couple of weeks Ambrosia apples have been everywhere in the stores and so I picked some up. I had been throwing the idea around of grilling up some skewers for lunch on my indoor grill/panini pan but kept putting it off as the amount of smoke that comes from the grill pan is almost to much to handle at times, especially in the winter months. Finally a warm day came along which meant windows open and grill pan pulled out for lunch time fun.

I placed some chicken, halloom and ambrosia apple pieces, in no particular order, on small skewers. They needed a quick marinade so I poured some Maille Old Style Mustard into a bowl, added a few other ingredients and whisked it all together. This became the marinade and dip when all was said and done.

Quick and easy, it was the perfect lunch for the minions and leftovers were served up and devoured for dinner.

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Chicken, Apple & Halloom Skewers
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, Lunch, snack, appetizer, game day
 
Ingredients
  • 2 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 2 ambrosia apples, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 package halloom cheese, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp Maille Old Style Mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • ½ tsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp greek yogurt
  • salt and pepper
  • skewers
Instructions
  1. If using bamboo or wood skewers, soak in water for 30 minutes before assembling.
  2. Preheat grill or grill pan to medium heat
  3. In a bowl mix together apple cider vinegar, mustard, honey, oil, greek yogurt and a pinch of salt and pepper. Separate mixture into two bowls. This is your dip/marinade. Set aside.
  4. Alternate your apple, chicken and halloom cheese on the skewer. Don't put too many pieces on the skewers. 4 - 6 is good measure to start for longer skewers, 2-4 for shorter ones. Once all skewers are prepared, brush on some of the reserved marinade from one of the bowls you set aside. Save the other bowl for a dipping sauce for later.
  5. Grill skewers about 10 minutes, turning regularly. Chicken is done when there is no more pink inside. If you are not sure, check for doneness by cutting open a piece of the cooked chicken.
  6. Serve with reserved bowl of dipping sauce.
  7. Makes about 16-20 smaller kabobs.

 

Buffalo Chicken & Bacon Dip

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Grey Cup to Canadians is like Super Bowl to Americans. As luck would have it, our Calgary Stampeders didn’t win the Canadian Football League’s Western Division Final over the weekend, it was the melon heads who took the win to advance to the Grey Cup. I can of course affectionately call the Saskatchewan Roughriders and their fans melon heads because most of my family lives in Regina, including my brothers, and they are loud and proud Riders fans who openly admit to wearing watermelons on their heads. All in good fun.

This means the Roughriders advance to the Grey Cup and will play against the Eastern Division Final winners, the Hamilton Tiger Cats. This year Regina is hosting the Grey Cup and I predict a whole lot of frozen melons at that game cause it’s gonna be cold. And since we are in the West, we will root for the West, cause West is Best! Go Roughriders Go!

This recipe came about as I had some leftover buffalo chicken from the Salad in Toast Cups recipe I am testing (to be posted soon). We roasted two whole chickens this weekend so we would have leftovers for a busy week. Plus leftovers of this kind always mean a new recipe or two must be attempted.

I didn’t have any blue cheese but I would definitely sprinkle some on top prior to putting this dish in the oven to melt a little….or after it comes out. Cut avocado sprinkled on top before serving would also be a nice touch. Baking this dip not only blends the flavours but it mellows out the buffalo sauce a little. I also sprinkled on a little extra cheddar before baking.

I served the dip with a variety of chips and crackers, but celery, carrots and fresh veggies would be just as delicious.

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Buffalo Chicken & Bacon Dip
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, appetizer, game day food,
 
Ingredients
  • 8 oz brick cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup cooked chicken, cut up
  • ½ cup greek yogurt
  • 4 pieces bacon
  • ¾ cup grated old cheddar cheese
  • ¼ cup hot sauce
  • 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
  1. In a pan over medium heat cook your bacon until nice and crispy. Set bacon aside to drain. Pour out all but 1 tbsp of the bacon fat.
  2. In microwaveable bowl melt butter with hot sauce. Stir until combined. This is your buffalo sauce.
  3. Heat pan you cooked bacon in to medium and drop your cooked chicken in. Stir chicken to get some of that yummy bacon fat on and warm it through. Pour in about half of the buffalo sauce and stir.
  4. Lower heat and cook for 3- 5 minutes. Take off heat and set aside to cool slightly.
  5. Preheat oven to 350.
  6. In a medium size bowl mix cream cheese, greek yogurt, 3 pieces of the bacon broken up, cheddar cheese and cooked chicken. Add the remainder of the buffalo sauce. Pour into an oven proof bowl and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbling.
  7. Break up and sprinkle the last piece of bacon on top and serve with a mixture of chips, crackers or fresh vegetables.
  8. Yields about 3-4 cups.

 

 

Slow Cooker Five Spice Chicken

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So many recipes, so little time. There are many ways to make chicken in a crockpot, the options are virtually endless. I want to get back to experimenting again with my crockpot now that Fall, and soon to be Winter, are upon us. Not to mention all the evening activities that have us rushing out the door and shoving a sammy down our throats, once work is done for the day. Slowcooker meals are perfect for busy nights. Hearty and healthy they can even become 2 meals in one. This dish is currently smelling up my house with flavours of comfort food, driving both me and the cats nutty. I can’t wait to dish this up this evening with a side of rice and a robust glass of wine.

I always brown my chicken before I put it into the slowcooker. I recommend you do the same. Browning imparts bits of goodness and flavour into the chicken that you won’t get if you just drop it raw into the crockpot dish.

If there are leftovers (and I say if because it’s so yummy you may have to fight for the last bits), remove the chicken meat from the bones and use the next day to make soup, quesadillas, chicken salad or a sandwich. This is your two meals (or more) in one.

My mom first introduced me to a bok choy salad in the 90’s. I loved it back in my single Vancouver days and so this became a one dish meal for me on many occasions. Happy to share the wealth, I also introduced it to my husband. As it turns out, he loves it as much as I do…in fact scrapping for the last bowl full of this salad when it comes to the table, is common.

I keep the salad for this meal simple. Bok Choy, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. The flavours combine so nicely with the chicken, broth and rice. It’s definitely a keeper. Slice or rip up some crusty bread to dip in the broth. And you to will be hooked.

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Slow Cooker Five Spice Chicken
Author: 
Recipe type: Dinner, Supper, Main, Entree, Slowcooker
Serves: 5
 
Ingredients
  • 2-3 lbs chicken pieces (we had 5 bone in thighs & 5 drumsticks)
  • ⅔ cup chicken stock
  • ½ tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp 5 spice powder + more
  • 1 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped with leaves
  • 1 can (398 ml) whole young corn
  • canola oil
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Pour some oil into a pan and turn to medium high. Season chicken pieces with salt, pepper and a sprinkle of 5 spice powder on both sides. Brown chicken on both sides and remove to slowcooker.
  2. Toss chopped celery and green onion into slowcooker on top of chicken.
  3. In a bowl whisk together chicken stock, sesame oil, soy sauce, 1 tsp 5 spice powder and oyster sauce. Pour over slowcooker ingredients.
  4. Turn on low and let cook 6-8 hours, or high for 3-5 hours.
  5. The last hour of cooking add your whole young corn and nestle it in around the chicken pieces.
  6. Remove chicken pieces from broth and serve with rice, egg noodles or cheesy mashed potatoes. Ladle on some of your delicious broth and add a little of your bok choy salad on the top before serving.