Chicken sawarma is all about the spices and the paper thin cut chicken. I didn't feel like going through the process of cutting up chicken breast, the overnight marination, and trying to roast them correctly, so I decided to make this dish into meatballs and go from there. The process was quite simple and the great flavors of the dish come out in every bite.
Pita Bread Tzatziki Sauce (video on this site) Lettuce Onion Tomato
Add the minced chicken to a large bowl. Squeeze in the lemon, and add the yogurt and spices. Mix everything together until well incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap, and let sit in the firdge for at least an hour (a few hours would be better). With moist hands, take a heaping tablespoon of the chicken mixture and roll into a ball (about the size of the golf ball). Place on a cooking sheet a few inches apart. Place the cooking sheet under the broiler for 10 minutes. Remove and turn the meatballs over and place under the broiler for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest under a foil tent for 10 minutes. To build your sandwich - put down the pita bread and spread on some tzatziki sauce, add 4/5 of your chicken shawarma meatballs, then lettuce, tomato, and onion. Eat & Enjoy!
This is a dish so easy even my dad can make it (and that's saying a lot!). The thing I like most about white chicken chili is that it's so light. It's rich and filling but not as heavy as regular chili...
1 LB Chicken, diced 1 tsp oil 1 Box Chicken broth 2 Garlic cloves, minced Chili powder Cumin powder Adobo Seasoning 2 16oz can Cannelloni beans, rinsed and drained 1 can Hatch Chilies, diced 1 Avocado, diced Cilantro Salt Pepper, fresh ground Tortilla strips
Heat the oil in a stock pot and heat to a medium high. Add a few tablespoons of chili powder, 1 tablespoon of the cumin and adobo seasoning and mix (you can adjust for taste later) to the chicken mix well and add to the pot - cook for 5 min or until done. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the Hatch chilies and Cannelloni beans - mix well. Add the stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Ladel into bowls, add some tortilla strips, avocado, and cilantro. Eat & Enjoy...
This is a nice lite version of a Chicken Pot Pie... It's very easy to make and you won't miss one bit of the fat!
2 Cups Chicken - Cooked and shredded (I used a rotisserie chicken from the store) 2 Tbsp Butter 2 Cups Mushrooms - Chopped 1/4 Cup Flour 2 Carrots - Chopped 1 Cup Celery - Chopped (Optional) 1 Onion - Diced 2 Cups Chicken Broth 1/2 Cup Fat Free Half & Half 1 Cup Frozen Peas 1 tsp Thyme - Dried Fresh Parsley - Chopped (just a bit) 2 Cloves Garlic - minced 1 Peppridge Farms Puff Pastry Sheet - Thaw out before using Salt Pepper
Start by preheating the oven to 375.
In a large heavy pan or Dutch oven melt the butter over medium head. Add the carrots, onions and garlic - cook until soft. Add the mushrooms, celery (if used), chicken and flour, mix all together well and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the broth and half & half and cook uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Add the seasoning and frozen peas, cook for about 5 minutes. Pour the mixture into a rectangular baking dish. unfold the pastry and stretch to fit and cover the entire baking dish. Cut 2 small vents into the pastry to allow steam to escape. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
It was just me eating tonight - I didn't want cereal, and I didn't want to go to the store - So I set out to see what I could find... I found pasta, a chicken breast, broccoli, red onion, and some garlic - I had dinner!
1 Chicken breast, cubed 1/4 Red Onion, chopped 2 Garlic cloves, bashed (skin removed) 1 Cup Broccoli 1 Cup Pasta, or more if you're really hungry 2 Tbsp Olive oil 2 tsp Herbs de Provence Salt Pepper
Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package. Heat a saute pan to a medium heat and add the olive oil. Let the olive oil come to temperature then add the garlic. Fry the garlic for two minutes to flavor the oil, then remove and discard. Add the onion to the pan with a pinch of salt. Cook for 1 minute. Mix the chicken with the Herbs de Provence then add to the pan. Cook until the chicken is cooked all the way through - about 5 minutes or so. Once the chicken is done cooking add the broccoli and cook until it is tender. If you wish you can add a bit of fresh grated parm. Plate, Eat & Enjoy!
Wraps... They are one flexible food group. I've used a wrap to make simple sandwich, hold salads, baked for desserts, breakfast, lasagna, and I've even made a really good chicken wellington. When they are available I always use Tumaro's Tortillas - they're simply the best I've ever had. If your market doesn't have them - ask them to order some in. I did at my local store and they now carry them all the time. Anyhoo, here is a video with two different ways to do a chicken finger wrap.
2 Tumaro's wraps 4 Chicken Fingers .25 Cup Cilantro .25 Cup Tomato .25 Cup Red onion .25 Cup Lettuce .25 Cup Cheese Sour Cream, to taste
You can use as little or as much of the ingredients as you want.
The first part of the video shows putting it all inside the wrap and the second is an outside version - the outside looks better but it's a knife and fork deal...
I was looking on Twitter a few weeks back and ran across this product called Tandoori Red. It's a Tandoori sauce that I must say works really well with chicken wings! You can use the sauce as a marinade, a sauce or a condiment. Again, it's great for Chicken BBQ.
Here's how I made my Tandoori Red Chicken Wings:
1 Jar Tandoori Red Sauce 1 Large container yogurt Chicken Wings
You will want marinate your chicken wings for at least 2 hours but 24 would be better! Clean your chicken wings then put in a large container. Add the yogurt and half the bottle of the Tandoori Red sauce. Mix this together well so that all the chicken wings are coated. Store in the refer until ready to use. Once the chicken has marinated to your liking you will want to remove as much of the marinade as you can - just use your hands and see what you can get off - put the cleaned chicken wings in another bowl. Once finished add a quarter of the Tandoori Red Sauce to your bowl and mix around the chicken wings. Heat your grill to a medium high and put on the chicken wings. Cook for 10-15 minutes then rotate the wings - if you have any hot spots move the wings around. Half way through cooking brush on the rest of the Tandoori Red Sauce and continue cooking. Cook the wings until they are completely cooked - we are talking about chicken here and raw chicken is not so good for you... Plate, Eat & Enjoy!
I've made different versions of this dish for a while now, but I think this simple version is my favorite. The dish takes little effort on your part. It's rather flexable what you serve it with - most veggies will go with it, and it's good with rice or pasta...
2 Chicken breasts 3-4 Shallots, small dice 1/2 Lb mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 2 Tbsp butter, unsalted only please 1 Tbsp olive oil 2 Cups chicken stock 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard 1 tsp thyme, dried - or 2 tsp fresh Salt Pepper, fresh ground please
Heat a medium sized saute pan to a medium heat, and add the butter and olive oil.. Once the butter has melted, add the shallots and a pinch of salt; let cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Once the shallots are happy add the mushrooms, thyme, and another small pinch of salt - stir will. Let the mushrooms cook for about 5 minutes or until they start to brown. When the mushrooms have browned add the Dijon and the chicken stock, stir well. Add the chicken and cook covered until the chicken is 75% done - turn the chicken over half way through the cooking. Remove the cover and reduce the liquid to about a half cup. Serve - Eat - Enjoy...
A good chicken salad doesn't have to be time consuming. Once nice thing about making chicken salad is that you can put a wide variety of items into the mixture (think broccoli and shredded zucchini).
One evening chicken salad just sounded good. I went to the market and picked up a roasted chicken (the easiest place to start), and apple, celery, some spicy mustard, and arugula for the base.
1 Roasted chicken, white meat removed and chopped fine - will give you a few cups 1 Cup celery diced 1 Cup apple diced .5 Cup red onion diced Mayo 1 tsp spicy mustard Arugula Salt Pepper
Start by removing the white meat from the chicken. You can use the dark meat if you want - that's up to you. Dice up the celery and apple. Put all into a bowl and add a few tablespoons of mayo at a time. You can put in as much mayo as you like - I prefer my chick salad to be somewhat on the dryer side. Add the spicy mustard and mix all together well. You can add some nice red onion to the mix - I just forgot it and didn't have any in the house - I did not let that stop me it was still really good! This is good on a salad like I did here or in a sandwich...
If you didn't know, the second Tuesday of the month is 'Taco Tuesday'. No, it's not a real thing, but why not - it sounds good... My earliest memories of tacos comes from being at "Taco Joe's" up in East Chicago. They had the best soft tacos. Every time we would go up to see my grandmother we would go by there and chow down. I was probably 4 or 5 the first time I had one, and I'll never forget how good it was. They were simple - flour tortilla, luscious port taco meat, a spot of cheese, hot sauce and that was about it. No frills either - oblong white plate stacked with 6 or 8 of the things and there you go... From what I can recall they had a very short menu and you got enough food on your plate to make you hurt if you ate it all. My mom was somehow able to get the recipe from them and one of these days I'll put it up.
Anyhow, back to yesterday's tacos - They were simple but oh so very good. I started out wanting to grill a strip steak tacos but just didn't have the energy to get into all of that so chicken inside it was...
Chicken - I had about a pound of chicken breast that I cut into chunks - a bit smaller than your normal bite size piece. I dusted them with Penzeys Adobo seasoning and sauted them to a yummy goodness. It took about 5 minutes over medium heat. There is a good Mexican spice mixture recipe twards the bottom of the page you can use if you don't have theis spice blend. Tomatillo salsa - was made for chicken - If you haven't tried it I suggest you give it a shot. Jut a tablespoon or so on your taco will do the trick. It's very easy to make but you can find pre-made in the market. It gives a really fresh flavor to just about anything. I made mine last night - roasted a few tomatillos, jalapeno, and garlic cloves, blitzed it with some onion and cilantro - yum! Will be doing a video on making it soon. It's really good with corn chips as well... Cilantro - I hate to admit that there was a time in my life that I didn't like cilantro. I'm not sure what I was thinking but I'm all about it now! I think cilantro adds a nice freshness to tacos... Tomatoes - For the first time this year I was able to use a tomato off one of my mater plants. It seemed to take them forever to produce this year... Anyhoo, they're not a must but I like them on my tacos. Green Onion - Usually I use red onion for my tacos but I didn't have any. I did have some green onion in the fridge and it was a good stand in. It tasted great on the tacos... Queso fresco - If you use a Mexican blend cheese for your tacos (which I'll admit I often do) that you get from Kraft or whomever, queso fresco will take your taco to another level. I've been using it a lot more lately and I have to say it's a really good addition. So good in fact that my usage of the other is dwindling rapidly. Avocado - Really do I need to go into this? Mexicanish food and Avocados go together without saying a word... I love avocados and it's not unusual for me to eat one as a snack with just a pinch of salt. Besides all that they look really great on top of a taco...
1 Lb chicken cut into small bite sized pieces 1 Tb Penzeys Adobo seasoning (or use the recipe below) Tomatoes cut to your liking Cilantro, cut to your liking Tomatillo salsa - 2 Tb per taco or so Queso Fresco - A little goes a long way Avocado - 2 - 3 slices per taco Green onion - 2 -4 stalks finely sliced into rounds
Heat a saute pan to medium. Mix the cut up chicken with the adobo seasoning and add to the pan. Cook chicken until fully cooked. Prepare the tomatoes, cilantro, green onions, and avocado and put into bowls. Heat the tortillas and let everyone have at it. I personally think it's best to let everyone make their own so they get what they want. Plus it's fun to make your own taco...
If you don't have any Penzeys Adobo seasoning I suggest you go get you some (www.penzeys.com)! If that's not an option give this mixture a try...
I use the term Mexican food loosely - I've been to Mexico quite a few times and well lets just say there's a big difference between Tex-Mex and Mexican cuisine. They aint got no nachos and everything they make is NOT smothered in a simple Kraft Mexican blend cheese... I'm working on a nice entry called Mexican vs. Tex-Mex - make sure you read it - that is if there really is anyone actually reading these things...
What better to eat on the 4th than smoked chicken wings. I decided on wings and it was a good idea to throw them on the smoker. This was a very easy process. I went to the market and bought some wings. I washed them and cut off the nubs off the end of the wings. I created the rub for these and they turned out really dang good. I go to Fast Boys and have their grilled wings every once and a while - they're really dang good - mine turned out better! It's a nice change to have them in the smoker - it really brings out a nice flavor.
Rub: Paprika chipotle pepper powder jalapeno pepper powder cayenne pepper powder granulated garlic shallot salt white pepper black pepper
So mix up the spices - coat the wings well and smoke for about 2 hours or so - or until done to your liking.
I love chicken wings. I'm not one who strays off the reservation with wing sauce - I want a nice straight forward hot sauce. You can have you're BBQ, Jerk, etc - I'll take just plain set your mouth afire hot sauce...
During football season you can find me at the local Buffalo Wild Wings watching Ohio State play almost every Saturday - Good football and good wings (and beer). I do like to have them at home every once and a while and they're easy to make. The only thing I don't like about making them at home is dealing with the oil after cooking the wings - but I don't let that stop me...
2 Tb butter 1/2 Cup Texas Pete's (or Frank's Hot Sauce) 1 tsp Penzeys Black & Red pepper
12 Chicken wings Peanut oil for frying
In a small saute pan melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted add the hot sauce and bring to temperature. Add the pepper and mix well. Take off the heat and set aside.
Cook the chicken wings in the preheated oil at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until fully cooked. Toss with the hot sauce and plate.
Serve with blue cheese or ranch and celery. Eat & Enjoy...
Well I'm Greek and I love Greek food - not a stretch there right? The odd thing is that I cannot ever remember having anyone in the family ever roast a chicken. It was made 100 other ways but never roasted whole. My Yia Yia Sofia (off the boat from Greece great grandmother) would break down the chicken then roast it but never whole.
Anyway, I wanted to make a special dinner and I decided on a nice roasted Chicken.
I started the meal with a quick and easy appetizer plate with Kalamata Olives, ajavar (a spicy red pepper dip), hummus, feta, and some, baked pita strips (pita, a dash of olive oil, & Penzeys Greek seasoning baked in the oven).
The chicken was quite simple - I took a roaster, washed it out and trimmed all the excess skin/fat off. I coated it well under the skin of the breasts, thighs, and legs with Penzeys Greek seasoning, salt, pepper, and a bit of extra oregano. I squeezed the juice from 2 lemons over the top of the bird and shoved as many halved lemons, and a handful of garlic cloves up it's bum as I could. I wash and slice the taters and placed them in the bottom of the roasting pan. I drizzled them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, Greek seasoning, and mixed them well so they were all coated well.
Preheat the oven to 400F - Roast for 2 - 2.5 hours
There was some Greek salad as well but the photo of it didn't turn out so well... Simple salad greens, thinly sliced red onion, olives, feta, oil and white balsamic vinegar.
Dessert consisted of some greek treets I picked up at the store (Hala here in Jacksonville). They were good and rounded out the meal...
There was enough food to feed 4 hungry people so we had plenty of leftovers. The next day we made Greek chicken and potato hash - but that's another story...
If Christopher Walkens had his own cooking show I'd watch every episode... This looks like a really good recipe - I might try and recreate it using my best Walkens voice...
Chicken fried rice should not be something you only eat out of a box that was delivered to your door. With a few shortcuts it's uber simple to make at home.
1 lb chicken cut into bite sized pieces 6 cups of cold cooked rice - must be cold 1/2 cup diced onions 1/2 cup diced carrots 1/2 cup peas 2 eggs stir fry sauce to taste
I personally think it's nice to brown your chicken when preparing it for fried rice. That way it stands up to the rest of the dish. Most of the local place around here do not and I find the chicken gets lost in all the other tastes. With that said start by browning your chicken. When the chicken is about 85% done add the onion and carrots. Cook these for a few minutes. Add the eggs to the pan and scramble them. Once the eggs are done mix them in with the rest of the ingredients. Add the peas then add the cold rice and the stir fry sauce. You can add a much or as little of the stir fry sauce as you like. Mix everything together and bring it to temperature. Eat & Enjoy!
You might be asking yourself, why green curry again? The answer is quite simple - I love it!
Now I prefer fresh green curry when I have the time to make it, but when that's not the case the CurrySimple green curry is a really easy alternative. At the market you can find pre-diced just about anything you need to make this dish. The chicken, cilantro, and the lime are the only things you really need to cut yourself if you want it that way. When I need a quick meal that's not from a fast food place - I'm all good with using pre-cut items to speed up dinner...
1 pound chicken tenders (or any type of chicken you like 1 medium red onion diced 1 cup bell pepper (green, yellow, and red) diced 1 cup squash and zucchini sliced 1 package CurrySimple green curry 1 lime cilantro
Brown chicken in a spot of oil. Half way through add the onion. Cook until the chicken is done. Add the bell peppers, squash, and zucchini - cook for a few minutes. Add the CurrySimple green curry and bring to heat. Serve with rice, cilantro, and a nice squeeze of lime... Eat & Enjoy...
When you have someone who is not feeling well chicken noodle soup is the best thing to make for them. This is my almost homemade chicken noodle soup. It's almost homemade because I went to the store and bought a roasted chicken and used canned stock. Even with that it turned out really good...
1 roasted chicken - meat taken off the bone 2 large cans chicken stock 1/2 red onion diced 1 cup carrots diced 1 cup celery diced 1 bag of egg noodles (I used about 2/3 of a bag) salt pepper a dash of love
prep the veg and put them into a stock pot heated to medium high. Add a few good pinches of salt and sweat for about 5 minutes. Remove all the chicken meat from the bones and add the meat to the pot once the veg is done. Add your stock, and egg noodles and bring to a boil. Once the egg noodles are cooked to your liking the dish is done. Eat & Enjoy...
Pad Thai literally means "Thai-style stir-fried noodles". I think it really means "Rice noodles of love...".
If you are using a Pad Thai sauce (like the one I used from CurrySimple www.currysimple.com) this is a very easy dish to make. Without using a pre-made sauce it's a bit more involved.
You would think we were getting paid from them to use their stuff but that's just not true - It's just that good of a product so we like using it!
Anyway - This couldn't be any more simple. Soak your rice noodles in water until they soften. This should take about 20 minutes or so. They will soften in cold water and they won't be starchy like they are when you use hot water. Once your noodles are ready, stir fry up your tofu, chicken, scramble your egg, add the green onions. Add the rice noodles and pour on your Pad Thai sauce (I used about a quarter of a cup but you can use more if you like). Mix all of this well and bring it to temperature. Add your bean sprouts and mix through. Plate up your dish and add chopped roasted and salted peanuts, cilantro, and a wedge of lime. Eat and Enjoy!
1 package rice noodles softened in cold water 1/2 brick of firm tofu cut to your liking 1/2 pound of chicken cut to your liking 3 green onions sliced into bite sized pieces (you can use more if you like) 1 egg - scrambled in the pan 1/4 cup pad thai sauce (from CurrySimple www.currysimple.com) cilantro roasted salted peanuts lime wedges
There are thousands of Pad Thai recipes out there - This one came out really dang good! It was super simple and very tasty without the hassle of making your own Pad Thai sauce...
I love Thai Curry and I can't get over how easy the CurrySimple products are to use. The only thing I can find that you need to do to them is adjust the heat to your liking. I like HOT Thai food. Don't get me wrong there is a little zing in the package, but I like to add some head to bring it up to my liking. This was a last minute recipe that I came up with and it turned out really good!
1 Lb Chicken cubed (to your liking) .5 Red onion diced 1 Cup Red, Yellow, & Green peppers diced 1 Cup Snap peas 1 Package CurrySimple Red Curry Vegetable oil 1 Lb Pasta cooked
Boil pasta according to package, drain and set aside. In a hot pan add a spot of the vegetable oil and work it around the pan. Add the diced chicken and brown. Add the onions and cook for 2 min or so until they start to sweat. Add the diced peppers and warm them through. Add the snap peas and the Curry Simple Red Curry. Cook to temperature. Combine chicken mixture to pasta and toss. Eat & Enjoy!
Chicken sawarma is all about the spices and the paper thin cut chicken. I didn't feel like going through the process of cutting up chicken breast, the overnight marination, and trying to roast them correctly, so I decided to make this dish into meatballs and go from there. The process was quite simple and the great flavors of the dish come out in every bite.
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