Honey Orange Mango Chicken Breast

I hate when I have my mind set on a recipe just to find I am out of or don’t have enough of an ingredient. This was going to be a honey lime chicken recipe. Unfortunately the lime I thought was in the refrigerator turned out to be a lemon. So plan B is what I present to you. This recipe takes longer to marinade than it does to cook. So for all you busy people out there, marinade before you go out and come home and bake for 25 minutes and you are done.  You can substitute the breasts with any part of the chicken you like, and of course with skin on and bone-in chicken as well. Just be sure to adjust your cooking time.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 1/4 cup orange juice (from orange you just zested)
• 1/4 cup mango nectar
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add chicken breasts to a 9 x 13 baking dish.
2. In a small bowl add garlic, honey, soy sauce, orange zest, orange juice, mango nectar and red pepper flakes. Whisk to combine marinade.
3. Add marinade to chicken. Make sure the marinade is distributed equally among the pieces. Cover in plastic wrap. Let marinade at least 1 hour. Be sure to turn chicken breasts over after 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5. Remove plastic wrap cover from baking dish.
6. Place chicken in oven, baking for 23-25 minutes.
7. Serve with sides of your choice.

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

My daughter is allergic to peanuts and my son out of solidarity and/or convincing from his older sister always thought he was too. Even to this day he will not eat peanuts. So I was deprived of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them when they were younger. This also meant I never made peanut butter cookies back then either. Now that my kids are young adults and can fend for themselves, I find myself craving foods from my long lost childhood. Tonight, I caved in. Once in a while I find I need to treat myself to something sweet. I hope you treat yourself too.

This recipe yielded 32 cookies for me.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus additional for rolling
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• jam or jelly flavor of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Set bowl aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl add butter and both granulated and brown sugar. Mix until fluffy. About 1-2 minutes.
3. Add peanut butter and mix another minute.
4. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to mixing bowl until just combined.
6. Cover cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
8. Use a 1 tablespoon sized cookie scoop. Shape the dough into a ball and roll it into a shallow dish with some granulated sugar. Place the cookies about two inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Discard any leftover sugar used for rolling the cookies.
9. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes and the cookies are golden brown. Right after the cookies come out of the oven, make an indent in the center of each cookie using a clean 1 teaspoon measuring spoon. Use caution as the cookies will be very hot. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to fully cool.
10. Once the cookies have cooled fill the center with 1/4 teaspoon of your favorite jam or jelly.

Shrimp and Vegetable Stir Fry

If you are wondering why I don’t post very many seafood recipes it’s because I’m allergic to seafood. But there are two types of seafood I will eat and later pay the price of itchy hives for: shrimp and crab. So, Benadryl and anti-itch skin cream I’ll be seeing you soon.

Feel free to change up the vegetables and protein to your tastes. I had these on hand, so it is what I used.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
• 1 small carrot, julienne sliced
• 1/4 of large red onion, sliced into half moons
• 20 sugar snap peas
• 20 snow peas
• 4 large shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1 can, 8 ounces sliced water chestnuts
• 1 pound peeled and deveined uncooked shrimp

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha, optional if you want a little spice

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl combine all the sauce ingredients. Whisk until cornstarch is dissolved. Set aside.
2. Add oil to a wok or large skillet over medium high heat.
3. Add carrots, onions, and sugar snap peas and stir and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Next add snow peas, mushrooms and water chestnuts and stir and cook for 1-2 minutes or until mushrooms become tender.
5. Move vegetables to edge of wok or skillet and add shrimp to center of pan. Stirring occasionally, cook shrimp for 2-3 minutes until pink.
6. Add sauce to shrimp and vegetables and stir until all the shrimp and vegetables are coated with sauce, cooking for another minute until sauce is heated through.
7. Serve immediately with jasmine rice.

 

Bacon, Chicken and Spinach Linguine

So one of the ways I get my son to eat things he normally says he doesn’t like to eat is to disguise them. Well more like hide them by mixing them with other foods he really likes. For instances, bacon. By adding bacon to this dish he doesn’t seem to notice the spinach or tomatoes or the cream sauce. But at least he gets one of his favorites in this dish. I remember when I was little and my mom tried to pass of cooked daikon radishes as potatoes. She straight up lied and said they were potatoes! Right then and there I told myself if I ever had kids I wouldn’t lie to them about food. Disguise maybe.

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 ounces linguine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• garlic powder
• 6 slices cooked bacon, cut up in pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) Italian style diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups reserved pasta water
• grated Parmesan cheese for garnish
• Italian parsley or basil for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook linguine noodles according to package until al dente. Drain and reserve 2 cups of pasta water.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium high heat, add the olive oil. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with kosher salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook chicken until cooked through. Depending on thickness, 4-5 minutes per side.  Set chicken aside on a cutting board and cut into bite size pieces or strips.
3. To the skillet, add garlic, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning and spinach. Stir well.  Add heavy cream and the reserved pasta water. (Use 1 1/2 cups pasta water to start. Add more if needed.) Combine and season with kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Lower heat to simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add linguine and toss until noodles are fully coated.
5. Add chicken and bacon to skillet and toss.
6. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and Italian parsley or basil.