Chicken in Cilantro Sauce

Looking for a way to use  cilantro, I discovered this simple, tasty recipe.

Ingredients
About 1 1/2 lbs. chicken pieces, skinned
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
3/4 to 1 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic or about 2 tsps chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 bell pepper

What to Do
Place chicken in baking dish. In blender, mix tomato sauce, salt and pepper, cilantro, onion, and garlic. Leave it a little chunky.  Pour over chicken and top with green bell pepper rings. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I sprinkled cheese over the top for the last 10 minutes of baking.  This has a fresh taste, and worked well with brown rice cooked in chicken stock.

Crock Pot Chicken Stew

I love Lawry's Seasoning Salt.  This is an easy and delicious recipe from the Lawry's website. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds baby red potatoes, halved

2 cups baby carrots  

1 medium onion, cut into wedges

3 pounds bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks, skin removed

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon Lawry's® Seasoned Salt

2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup milk

What to Do
Place potatoes, carrots and onion in slow cooker. Place chicken on top of vegetables. Mix water, seasoned salt, parsley and pepper in small bowl until well blended. Pour over chicken and vegetables. Cover and cook 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. Mix cornstarch and milk in small bowl until smooth. Stir into sauce in slow cooker. Cover. Cook 15 minutes longer on HIGH or until sauce is thickened. Serve with biscuits, if desired.

Tips:

For a quick start in the morning, cut the vegetables into pieces the night before, then refrigerate until you're ready to start cooking. Just remember to cover the potatoes with water to prevent discoloration; drain before adding to the slow cooker.  For best results, do not remove cover during cooking.

Click HERE to go to the Lawry's website.

Cranberry-Walnut Chicken Salad

The tarragon gives this crunchy-sweet chicken salad an interesting flavor.  Nice to make ahead for sandwich filling for a picnic.  Also a good way to use up some leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

 Ingredients

4 cups cubed, cooked chicken

1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1 cup diced celery

2 Tbs. finally chopped shallot

1 cup dried cranberries

1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise

3 Tbs. white wine vinegar, or red is okay too if that's what you have

3 Tbs. finely chopped, fresh ttarragon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

What to do:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Serve over lettuce or on pita bread, croissants, or toasted ciabatta bread.

Chicken Curry in Coconut Milk

Here's another delicious and easy curry recipe.

Ingredients

About four cups chicken, cut into chunks
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. curry powder
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 carrot, sliced (and microwaved for about 1 minute so it's a bit cooked already)
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped, or one can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp. oil
1 bay leaf
1 lb. potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (not too big)
1 12 oz. can coconut milk
1 cup water or chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

What to Do

Heat oil in big pot and cook chicken for about 3 minutes.  Add onion and garlic and sautee for about 2 minutes. Add all the spices and stir together well. Add remaining ingredients (except tomatoes) and cook until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Add tomatoes and heat through.  Adjust seasoning and serve with rice.

Corn Chowder with Chicken and Curry

This delicious chowder is from "Reverent Irreverance" -- a Rev Gal Blog Pal Blog from a priest and Pampered Chef consultant. How can you beat that combo? ;-)

½ cup chopped bacon
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped green pepper,
seeds and membrane removed
2-3 teaspoons curry powder
1 cup diced pared raw potatoes
2 cups water
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon paprika
½ bay leaf
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk, divided
2 cups whole-kernel corn
2 cups diced cooked chicken
Chopped parsley (optional)

Sauté bacon pieces slowly until lightly browned. Add onion, celery and green pepper and sauté until lightly brown. Stir in curry (add more to taste). Add potatoes, water, salt, paprika and bay leaf and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 45 minutes. In a small saucepan blend flour and ½ cup milk. Bring to the boiling point and blend with soup mixture, removing any lumps. Heat about five minutes. Heat 1½ cups milk until hot. Add milk, corn and chicken and heat through. Do not boil soup. Serve and garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.


Makes about 8-9 cups.

Crock Pot Chicken Curry

New Rev Gal blogging friend, Sandy, who blogs at THE TABLE, shared this and I tried it and it was sooo yummy I'm putting it here too.

Sandy says: "This is a super-simple crock-pot curry recipe I got from my step-mom. It was absolutely delicious and perfect for this time of year when things are just starting to get a little cooler. It's not too hot but has a wonderful flavor. I'm guessing you could very easily use the same basic formula to make it with veggies if that's your thing."

10-12 pieces of chicken (or 2-3 lbs vegetables)
2 onions and 1 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic
1 c. chicken stock (or vegetable if you're going that direction)
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp Madras curry powder (depending on how spicy you like it)
1 1/2 tsp. Paprika
1 Tbsp thyme
1 can diced tomatoes
5 Tbsp tomato paste
1 jar mango chutney

Sandy continues, "The directions to this one originally said to saute the peppers and onion, but I'm lazy and I was cooking this a lot longer than what was originally instructed, so I figured no harm would be done. I was right. Everything was great just as it was! Basically, like most of my crock pot recipes, there are no steps or techniques here. Just throw it all in and let it do its thing.
The originally recommended time was about 8 hours on low. I did about 9, BUT I also took it to work with me. I put it on "warm" for about 4 hours because I knew it was already cooked. Then, in the last 45 minutes (while the rice was cooking) I cranked it up on high to let the sauce thicken a little. I'm guessing the last little bit wasn't entirely necessary, but this is one of those things that the longer it cooks, the better it gets!"

Chicken and Rice

This easy recipe is a favorite at our house because it is so easy to fix and so tasty. Just plan for an hour or more of oven time. You can assemble the ingredients ahead of time and put into the oven later.

Ingredients
one frying chicken, cut up, or a similar amount of chicken using whatever pieces you like
one can cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom if that is what you have)
one soup can of water
one envelope dried onion soup mix
1/2 stick butter
1 cup rice
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced (optional)

What to do
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a 9" x 13" pan, or a similar sized casserole dish, melt the butter and add rice. Add the mushrooms if you use them. Arrange chicken pieces on top of the rice. Add soup and water. Sprinkle dried onion soup over the top. Cover and cook for about 1/2 hour. Remove foil (or lid) and continue cooking till rice is tender (at least another 1/2 hour). If necessary, brown slightly under broiler.

Notes
If I am making this for a larger group, I double the ingredients and use cut up chunks of chicken breast. You may need to remove the chicken after cooking so you can mix up the rice with the sauce ingredients a bit. You can also add sliced or slivered almonds and some parsley to the top when you remove the lid for the second half of the cooking time. If you like wild rice, cook some ahead of time and then add to the other rice before serving.

Curried Chicken Salad

I needed a way to use up some leftover chicken and experimented with what I had on hand. It turned out to be delicious!

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken, diced
1 cup mayonaise or 1/2 cup mayo and 1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sliced almonds, or chopped pecans, or sunflower seeds
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 green onions, sliced
3/4 cup craisins or raisins
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. lemon juice and 1 tsp. sugar or 1 tbls. orange juice
1 small can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. ginger (opt.)
salt and pepper to taste

What to do

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Iro's Chicken and Potatoes

Iro was a neighbor in Marine Corps housing at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Her husband met her in Greece and after a whirlwind romance married her and brought her to the USA. Unable to conceive, she adored our toddler daughter, who we called Kristi in those days, always calling her Kistiniki. I never make this simple but tasty dish without thinking of Iro and wondering where she is now. You will have to guess as far as amounts go. Iro never measured anything. Err on the generous side, because the water will dilute everything.

Ingredients

One chicken, cut up
(I usually use chicken breasts instead.)
sliced potatoes
Lemon juice
Garlic salt, or if you use fresh chopped garlic, add salt
black pepper
oregano
parsley flakes
olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chicken pieces and sliced potatoes in a 9" x 13" pan, or casserole dish of similar size. Add garlic salt, pepper, oregano, parsley flakes and juice of two lemons. If you use reconstituted lemon juice, start with about 1/3 cup. Pour some olive oil over the top. Add some water till not quite covered. Cover with aluminum foil or lid and bake for about 45 min. and then uncover and bake till potatoes are done. Nice served with spinach.

Chicken or Turkey Quiche

This is nice for after Thanksgiving, of course, but I had turkey to use up so made this for company last night. I couldn't find my usual recipe, so I invented this one. Ken and I decided we liked it better than the one I used to make. As for the company, judging by their comments and the amount they ate, I think it was a hit. We served it with a tossed green salad and dessert. I would like to serve it as a breakfast sometime as well. Two of us thought it needed salt, and two did not. I would add some salt to the egg mixture. Perhaps this would depend on the cheese you use.

2 1/2 to 3 c. left over stuffing or one 6 oz. pkg. chicken or turkey flavored Stove Top or similar stuffing mix
5 1/3 oz. can evaporated skim milk or 5 oz half and half
1 c. chopped cooked turkey or chicken
1/2 c. chopped onion that has been sauteed in a little butter till soft
1/2 c. chopped mushrooms (I like to saute them with the onions.)
1 c. shredded Swiss or Cheddar cheese
1 clove minced garlic, or about 2 tsp. of the minced garlic that comes in a small jar
Chopped parsley, optional
4 beaten eggs
tomato wedges for garnish, optional

If using stuffing mix, prepare according to package directions. Press stuffing into 9 or 10 inch pie plate or quiche dish, forming a crust. I used a "deep dish" pie pate and it was perfect. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine meat, cheese, onions and garlic. In another bowl beat together eggs, milk, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle meat-cheese mixture into hot crust. Pour egg milk mixture atop. Add parsley.

Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Bake quiche 30-35 minutes or until center is set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with tomato wedges, if desired. Makes 6 servings (we cut it into eight pieces, since there were four of us, and everyone had two).

My Mama's Texas Fried Chicken

Yes, I know.  Fried food is bad for us.  But once in a while fried chicken is just a necessity, don't you think? 

My mother made the best fried chicken ever. She learned it from her mother, and I learned it from my mother, and my daughter learned it from me, and we always get compliments.   It is easy, and it can't be beat.  Here's the secret.  Remove the skin.  That bumpy skin adds neither flavor nor crispiness to fried chicken.  It just adds fat and calories.  So buy skinless breasts and cut them into somewhat smaller pieces, or skin the chicken before you go any further.  If you leave that nasty chicken skin on--well it won't be mama's chicken.

Season the chicken pieces generously with Lawry's Seasoning Salt, and pepper. Do not use a cheaper brand of seasoning salt.  It matters.  Use Lawrys.

Dip the pieces into flour.  You can put them in a bag of flour and shake if you like--works great--but watch out that the bag is really closed.  That's the voice of bitter experience talking.  Now dip the floured pieces into milk. Buttermilk works even better. They'll be messy.  And, once more, dip them in flour.  Let the pieces sit for about five minutes.
 
Fry in hot oil (I use an electric skillet at about 350 degrees) till nicely golden and cooked through.  The Lawry's salt adds wonderful color.  Do not cover.  The hardest part is to cook the chicken slowly enough to ensure it is done, but also to cook fast enough that the coated outsides get nicely brown.

Are you thinking that such a simple recipe can't be anything all that good?  Try it.  You'll like it.  It is even better if you make a batch of biscuits, pack the chicken and biscuits in the same container, and head out for a picnic.  Mmmmmm!  

For the gravy, add flour to the pan drippings and brown over medium heat.  Then slowly add milk, stirring well, till the consistency seems right.  Add salt and pepper if needed.  I can't give you amounts.  It may take a little experimentation.