Ginger-Lime Marinade

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Since we live so close to Ranch 99, Greg & I walk there to get our vegetables/produce because we feel it is of better quality and cheaper than grocery stores. A win-win for us! Last time we were there, they had lime and ginger on sale. Since we try to use ingredients we have on hand, Greg found this yummy recipe for a marinade that used ginger and lime which we used for chicken.

Ingredients:

Servings Size

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 lime zest

Mix all together and marinate chicken for 2 hours (so says the recipe). Greg cut the chicken breasts in half and pounded them flat so they would cook more evenly in the skillet. We let the chicken marinate for an hour because we were hungry. We added cayenne pepper to add a little kick and it wasn't overpowering.

It turned out really well! We had a side of homemade mac & cheese with broccoli. Was a wonderful meal and the marinade is definitely worth a try! Simple yet delicious.

Greek Chicken Salad

I was at work one day and got the hankering for Greek Salad. I know it isn't traditional, but I wanted to make it a little heartier so I added chicken to the mix and I do not care for bell peppers so I left it out. An aunt has an abundance of tomatoes from her backyard, so this was a good way to use them. The beauty of salads is that you can add as much or as little of what you like.

Ingredients

• Whole rotisseried chicken
• 1/4 of a red onion
• 1 can of olives (we have black on hand so that's what I used. You can use any kind as Kalamata is traditional)
• 3 large tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 4 ounces feta cheese
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  
• 1 clove grated garlic
• black pepper
  

Take all the meat off the chicken and place bite size pieces into a large bowl.
Dice the red onion into small pieces.
Cut up the olives.
Dice the tomatoes.
Peel and chop the cucumber.
Place feta cheese on the top.


In a separate bowl, mix olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic and pepper until emulsified. Pour dressing over salad and toss.

I decided to put the salad into a pita and it tasted great! Definitely hit the spot.

Crock-Pot Chicken Adobo

Erika's cousin Rick made Adobo with chicken while I was at their apartment a few months back. It was so good, I tried to recreate it at home. Needless-to-say, I am still trying to perfect it.

What is Adobo you ask? According to Wikipedia, it is a Filipino cooking process which involves stewing in vinegar but is a term with Spanish origin which means to marinate or season. Typically, pork or chicken, or a combination of both, is slowly cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic, bay leaf, and black peppercorns.

In my first try to recreate it I used pork. I don't think I let it boil long enough for the meat was a tad tough. For try #2 I used chicken. Most recipes I saw online (and what her cousin did) call for using the whole chicken cut up with the skin still in tact. I was trying to make it healthier so I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts. It wasn't bad but still not what I had experienced at Erika's.

Since the meat in previous tries have been a little dry, I decided to try my luck with the crock-pot. I mean seriously, what doesn't cook well in a crock-pot, right? Once again, I used skinless, boneless chicken breasts and added some veggies into the mix.

Crock-Pot Chicken Adobo

• 2 zucchinis
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 4 crushed cloves of garlic

1. I washed and cut up the zucchinis and carrots and placed them on the bottom of the crock-pot. (If you have onion, throw some onion into the mix. I used vegetables I had on hand.)
   
2. Next I cut the chicken breasts into inch sized cubes and placed on top of the vegetables. (Chicken thighs or legs would work beautifully.)
   
3. I mixed all the remaining ingredients and poured it over the chicken. (Some recipes recommended marinating the chicken in the soy sauce/vinegar concoction over night.)
   
4. Cover with the lid. At this point you can set the crock-pot on low (6-8 hours cooking time) or high (4 hours cooking time). I set mine to high as I put it all together in the afternoon and wanted it for dinner.
5. An hour and a half into the cooking time I stirred the contents of the crock-pot as to ensure the chicken didn't cook into one huge mass and to help the liquid incorporate into the chicken.

As side dishes, I cooked some rice and oven roasted some corn on the cob. The corn was quite simple. I poured some olive oil onto husked cobs and sprinkled on some salt, Italian seasoning and garlic powder. You can add whatever seasoning you like. I put it in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. At this point I rotated the corn and cooked for another 20 minutes.

I am pleased with my third attempt. Greg mentioned the liquid was a little strong for his liking if eaten by itself, but complimented the rice nicely. As for myself, I like vinegary things so the liquid tasted great.

Trying to recall what Rick had done and referencing a basic recipe online, I always try to make recipes my own. This time I did that by adding ginger, mustard and pepper flakes and veggies to the recipe. If you notice, the spices are about half the ingredients needed for a pickling spice mix. Looking at a pickling mix recipe, cloves might make a nice addition for next time to this recipe...

When I finally figure out how to make it in a regular pot, I'll post my success. :-)

Chicken Cordon Bleu a la Greg

Holy moly, did we eat good tonight! I helped Greg make Chicken Cordon Bleu this evening. He started prepping last night by making the most amazing bread crumbs you will ever try.

He got this bread crumb recipe from the American Test Kitchen book that goes along with a pork chops recipe. (Thank you Rachel for letting us borrow your book!)

Ingredients for bread crumbs
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs shallot
2 cloves of garlic
4 pieces of bread
2 tbs thyme
2 oz Parmesan cheese

First you heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a pan. Then add a tablespoon of shallot and 2 cloves of chopped garlic. When these have cooked in the oil, turn off the heat and let cool. While the oil cools, put 4 pieces of bread into a food processor. We used wheat bread because that is what we have on hand. Combine the oil and bread and place into a baking pan. Heat in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes. The smell is absolutely amazing while it is crisping up. When you are ready to use the bread crumbs, mix in the thyme and the Parmesan cheese. And wa la! Deliciously crunchy bread crumbs.



Chicken Cordon Bleu ingredients
4 chicken breasts
8 pieces of ham
8 pieces of Swiss cheese
7 tbs flour for dredging + 1tbs ground black pepper (in shallow pan or bowl)
6 tbs flour + 3 egg whites + 3 tbs Dijon mustard (mixed together in shallow pan or bowl)
bread crumbs (in shallow pan or bowl)
toothpicks (if needed)

Preheat oven to 350.

We used huge chicken breasts we got from Costco. He butterflied 4 breasts and then I smashed them flat with a frying pan. Nothing says team work like trying to keep raw chunks of chicken from flying off in the kitchen.

Assembly Station. It is important to have everything you need ready to go when you are handling raw chicken. You will be less likely to cross-contaminate this way.

I laid one flattened chicken breast onto a plate and layered the Swiss cheese and ham. I rolled it up and placed toothpicks on the ends to help it from oozing all the cheese while it cooked.

Next Greg put the rolled up chicken into the flour and pepper. (Picture was taken before pepper was mixed into flour).

He shook off the excess flour and placed it in the flour/egg white/mustard concoction. [This came from the same recipe as the bread crumbs for the pork chops. I'm not gonna lie, this was a little weird to make. It took a few minutes for all the ingredients to incorporate. When you're making it and you don't think it will ever come together, mix a little more and it will work out.]

After smothering it in the concoction, roll chicken into the bread crumbs. Place into a greased baking pan and repeat with the remaining 3 chicken breasts. It cooks up in about 35-45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breast and also the oven.

As a side dish, we steamed asparagus and served it with Hollandaise sauce. We bought a Hollandaise sauce package from the grocery store and made half the bag. What ever happened to the 3 egg yolks you ask? Let me tell you! We added it into the Hollandaise sauce. Of course we tempered it before putting 3 raw egg yolks into the sauce toward the end. It turned out great. Remember to take out the toothpicks! Dean calls it extra fiber, but I wouldn't want to bite into one.

How beautiful is that spiral!

Greg certainly knows how to pick these recipes that take awhile, but they are always worth the wait!