Thai-Peanut Chicken

25 June, 201424 June, 2014Marissa

This recipe starts out just like the Mushroom-Herb chicken I posted last week, but the end result is very different. We all loved the flavor. I thought it might be similar to my other rice noodle dish, but this one is stronger and more tangy. The final sauce looks so reddish it appears tomato based, and the carrots almost seem to disappear.

Thai-Peanut Chicken

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Thai-Peanut Chicken receipe by marissabaker.wordpress.com

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

Place each chicken breast in a zip-lock back or between two sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap. Pound to 1/3-inch thickness. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper. Thai-Peanut Chicken receipe by marissabaker.wordpress.com Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan and cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until browned with no pink in the center.

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

3 green onions

1 large carrot

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons rice vinegar

2 Tablespoons rice wine Thai-Peanut Chicken receipe by marissabaker.wordpress.com

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

While chicken cooks, thinly green onions and shred carrot. Remove chicken from pan and add sesame oil. Add carrots, green onions, garlic, and ginger to the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Simmer for2 minute and then return chicken to the pan.

Serve immediately, over Asian rice noodles.

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Thai-Peanut Chicken receipe by marissabaker.wordpress.com

Mushroom-Herb Chicken

18 June, 201417 June, 2014Marissa

This is the first of two recipes I make that begins with lightly seasoned chicken breasts and a cast-iron skillet. Here’s a link to the original recipe: Mushroom-Herb Chicken at myrecipes.com. I’ll post the other one, a Thai-inspired recipe, next week. For now, though, enjoy what might very well be the first thing I’ve posted here that goes well with potatoes.

Mushroom-Herb Chicken

print this recipe Mushroom-Herb Chicken receipe marissabaker.wordpress.com

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

Place each chicken breast in a zip-lock back or between two sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap. Pound to 1/3-inch thickness. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper.

Mushroom-Herb Chicken receipe marissabaker.wordpress.com Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan and cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until browned with no pink in the center.

Mushroom-Herb Chicken receipe marissabaker.wordpress.com 1 (8-ounce) package mushrooms

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/3 cup rice wine or dry sherry

1 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves

3 green onions

While chicken cooks, thinly slice mushrooms and green onions. Remove chicken from pan and add more oil. Add mushrooms to pan and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Add sherry and marjoram, then return chicken to pan. Cover and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and chicken is done.

Serve immediately, over herbed mashed potatoes

Steak Marinade

11 June, 201410 June, 2014Marissa

This recipe came about because I didn’t have any Worcestershire sauce in the house and wanted to marinade a steak. Apparently most people who marinade steaks consider it an essential ingredient, so I had to come up with something of my own. This is such a big hit at our house, we haven’t tried any other recipe since.

Steak Marinade

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Tablespoon honey

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon chili powder

Steak marinade made without Worcestershire sauce. marissabaker.wordpress.com

Add all ingredients to a container large enough to hold 4 to 6 steaks. Whisk ingredients until thoroughly combined. Add steaks and marinade in the refrigerator for 2 to 6 hours. If not all the steaks are covered with marinade, turn them in the container several times while marinading.

Remove steaks from marinade. Broil or grill steaks until they’re cooked how you like them. Bush with the left-over marinade once or twice while cooking.

Italian Tuna Melt

4 June, 20143 June, 2014Marissa

This is an Italian version of the Tuna and Pasta Cheddar Melt that I posted several weeks ago. These are quick and easy meals that take me about 20 minutes from start to finish, so they are a popular choice for lunch around here.

Italian Tuna Melt recipe by marissabaker.wordpress.com — tastes great with chicken, too

I had a bit more time a couple days ago and tried this with chicken, which had an excellent flavor. It’s not as fast of a meal option, but if you want to try that variation all you have to to is cook about 1 pound of cubed chicken in olive oil and then remove it from the skillet before cooking the pasta. Add the cooked chicken at the same time as you would the tuna.

Oh, one more thing. The recipe says to crush croutons over the pasta, but I was out so I just seasoned some breadcrumbs like I did for the Cottage Cheese Chicken Bake.

Italian Tuna Melt

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

3 cups uncooked rotini pasta

1 can cream of chicken soup or substitute

1 cup milk

2, 5-ounce cans of tuna

1 teaspoon parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon basil

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

6 garlic and cheese croutons

Heat the broth and water in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat to a boil. Stir in the pasta. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the pasta is tender, stirring often. Do not drain. Stir the thickened soup, 1 cup milk and tuna into the skillet with the pasta.

Stir in spices and Parmesan cheese, then sprinkle the mozzarella over the top. Crush croutons. Sprinkle over the tuna mixture and cook until the cheese has melted and mixture is hot and bubbling.

Cottage Cheese Chicken Bake

28 May, 201427 May, 2014Marissa

“If you could do something with 2 cups of cottage cheese, that would be great.”

Lunch making challenge accepted. And it actually was a challenge — searches for recipes online either didn’t take enough cottage cheese or didn’t sound like they’d taste very good. So I made something up. It actually worked and tasted good on the first try, too, which was a pleasant surprise. We’ll probably make it again.

Cottage Cheese Chicken Bake

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2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

3 cups uncooked rotini pasta

2 cups cottage cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup or one batch “cream of …” soup substitute

1/3 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 slice of bread, toasted

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasonings

1 Tablespoon butter, melted

Slice or pound chicken breast to 1/3-inch thickness. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet, and cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side or until browned. Slice chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Bring large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente, according to package directions. Put cooked pasta into lightly oiled 13x9x2-inch baking dish.

Meanwhile, place cottage cheese, soup, milk, and dried seasonings in a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer the blended mixture to a saucepan. Add chicken and cook over medium heat until heated through.

While chicken mixture is cooking, crumble the toasted bread into the melted butter, then stir in Italian seasoning. Once chicken mixture is done, pour it over the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake in at 350°F for 15 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 5 minutes more or until heated through and bubbling.

Berry Swirl Cheesecake (Updated Recipe)

21 May, 201420 May, 2014Marissa

I tried out an almond raspberry cheesecake a few weeks ago, which tasted great but I wasn’t quite happy with how it cooked up. Fortunately, this time I ran out of raspberry jam and substituted black raspberry jelly. Oh. My. Goodness. Black raspberries and cheesecake belong together.

The basic recipe is much the same as the last one, but I used dough hooks to make the crust instead of hand-kneading it and that worked well. I also didn’t swirl extra jelly into the top, hoping the cake would crack less. It was less, but still not perfect.

Berry Swirl Cheesecake

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Crust

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup ground almonds

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325° F. Line a 9-inch spring-form pan with aluminum foil. Using the dough hooks on an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add ground almonds and 1/2 cup of flour, and mix well. Flour hands and press dough into the spring-form pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Filling

3 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring

3 eggs

1/4 cup berry preserves

Berry Swirl Cheesecake recipe by marissabaker.wordpress.com Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing at low speed after each addition.

Mix 3/4 cup of batter with 1/4 cup raspberry preserves. Spoon 1/3 of the raspberry mixture over the crust. Pour the remainder of the cheesecake batter into the pan. Drop the remaining raspberry/cream cheese mixture by spoon fulls over the top of the cheesecake and smooth into the batter. Use a knife or spatula to swirl the berry mixture.

Bake cheesecake for 1 hour at 325° F or until center is almost set. Run a knife along the inside edge of the pan ring when it comes out of the oven. Cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.