Category: PROTEINS

PORK FRIED RICE

This dish is best prepared in advance, there are lots of parts to prepare.

PORK FRIED RICE & ORANGE HONEY CHICKEN
4 cups cooked rice, cold
1 1/2 cups cooked pork, diced
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 red pepper, diced
3 green onions, sliced thin
2 tablespooons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 tablespoons butter
  • Bring a 12 inch skillet to a medium high heat.
  • Melt butter.
  • Add peppers, carrots and onions.
  • Add the pork pieces and heat through.
  • Add the rice and stir fry until well coated.
  • Arrange the rice mixture around the outer edges of the pan.
  • Add eggs into the center quickly frying up the pieces and mixing with the rice mixture.
  • Add the soy sauce and sesame oil, blending well.
I served it with ORANGE HONEY CHICKEN and it was an awesome combo – everyone had seconds!

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Stuffed Bell Peppers Italiano

It’s Fire Day Friday but you can make this one in your oven too. It’s just not as fun.

I was sitting at my desk at work reading government guidance about performing IT risk assessments (exciting stuff, really) when the idea of this dish popped into my head. I love stuffed bell peppers but they have always been the traditional ones stuffed with a rice and beef/chorizo mixture.

But before I get into that, check out the giveaway package that Robyn is running over at Grill Grrrl. As if the autographed Michael Symon book isn’t good enough, she’s throwing in all of this other great stuff! So get over there and enter.

Okay, back to my idea. I thought that I would make stuffed peppers but make them with an Italian influence. Kind of like a lasagna inside of a bell pepper. Since this was a total off the wall idea, I only made two of them in case they sucked and made our Italian Skillet Slop for the boys.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Italiano
Source: NibbleMeThis

2 ea green bell peppers
5 oz Italian sausage
½ cup ditalini pasta
3-4 oz cream cheese
½ cup shredded mozzarella
1 tsp basil, dried
¾ cup marinara sauce

Cut the tops of the peppers off and remove the seeds. Parboil them for 3 minutes, remove and drain.

Cook the pasta and drain. Ditalini is a small pasta (see pic below) which works perfect for this dish.


Brown the sausage.

Mix the cream cheese, mozzarella, and basil together. I would have used ricotta cheese instead if I had it but the cream cheese worked.

Now assemble your stuffed peppers in layers like this.

A few tablespoons of pasta, about 1/4th of the cheese mixture in each of the two peppers, the sausage, and a few tablespoons of the marinara sauce. Feel free to use your favorite marinara or jarred marinara. I made a quick one.

Quick Pseudo Marinara
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp kosher salt
1 tsp oregano, dried
¼ cup marsala wine (I was out of red)

Sauté the garlic for 1-2 minutes in the butter and oil. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for 30-45 minutes. I hit them with the immersion blender about 30 minutes in.

Set your grill up for an indirect heat cook at 350f (or put in a 350f oven). Put the peppers in a casserole dish or individual baking dishes. I wasn’t sure how this would turn out so I put some of the cheese mixture on one of them and was going to add the other one later.

I baked them on the Big Green Egg for about 20 minutes. Then I added the cheese mix to the other one, put the rest of the marinara sauce in the boats, and tossed in the last of the cheese mix on that.

Meanwhile, Alexis was cooking another garlic bread roll on her Egg. We got this recipe from Rex at Savory Reviews. We had to bend it because it was too big to fit on the pizza stone. That didn’t affect taste at all.


I cooked the peppers for about another 15-20 minutes and then took them off to serve.

These worked great as a concept and was a very good dish. But this is more of a technique than a recipe. You could do the same idea with any of your favorite pasta and sauces and it would come out wonderful. Just doing this technique with leftover spaghetti would be great too.

BEEF VEGETABLE STEW revisited

BEEF STEW

1 pound lean beef stew eat, cut into cubes
1/2 pound baby carrots, halved
1 large Vidalia onion, peeled and quartered
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Knorr Spring Vegetable Recipe Mix
1 cup V8 juice*
1/4 cup white zinfandel wine*
2 tablespoons brown sugar*
1 tablespoons tapioca*

  • Spray bottom of slow cooker lightly with PURE!
  • Place the beef cubes in the bottom of the slow cooker.
  • Layer onions over top of beef.
  • In a mortar and pestle, grind all the seasonings together to reactivate their properties.
  • Add to Knorr Spring vegetable mix and blend well.
  • Sprinkle over the meat and onions.
  • Add carrots.
  • Whisk together the wine, V8 juice, brown sugar and tapioca until sugar and tapioca is completely dissolved.
  • Pour this over meat and vegetables.
  • Cover and cook on low 5 hours, undisturbed.
  • DO NOT CHECK ON IT!
  • Serve Immediately over mashed potatoes.
*The tapioca, wine and brown sugar make a really nice thick gravy consistency with robust flavor when mixed with the V8.

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TEXAS RED CHICKEN

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 medium Vidalia onion, diced
2 cups homemade chicken broth
1/2 cup Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce

  • Whisk together the ketchup, BBQ sauce vinegar, soy sauce, broth and sugar.
  • Place chicken pieces in slow cooker.
  • Add onion pieces.
  • Pour ketchup mixture over top.
  • Cook on low 6-8 hours.
  • Remove chicken and shred – add back to sauce.
  • Serve over Rice or on buns.

CRAB PUFFS for TAILGATING TIME

Last week Martha posted her puffs recipe with her shrimp filling and it made me think of my crab salad and it was a good thought!  The crab salad was an awesome filling!

PUFFS recipe from Martha at Seaside Simplicity
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
  • Heat oven to 425 degrees. 
  • In a medium saucepan heat water and butter until boiling. 
  • Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup and level off. 
  • Stir in flour and salt. 
  • Cook over medium heat until mixture leaves sides of pan in a smooth compact ball, about 2 minutes, stirring vigorously. 
  • Remove from heat. 
  • Add eggs one at the time, beating vigorously until smooth and glossy. Do not under-beat! Drop by teaspoons full onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. 
  • Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.
  • Once puffs are cooled completely split and stuff with crab salad when ready to serve.
This recipe makes about 20 puffs.
CRAB SALAD
8 ounces Louis Kemp Crab, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/3 cup minced red onion
salt and pepper
mayo (about 1/4 cup)
  • Mix crab, celery, onion, salt and pepper together until well blended using enough mayonnaise for desired consistency.
  • Place a large scoop of crab salad in each puff.

Shredded Chicken Sandwiches with Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

I love to make my own BBQ sauce.  You can make it sweet, tangy, spicy, whatever. Most importantly, you KNOW what’s in there.
I’ve made several different kinds of barbecue sauces.  All sorts of ways.

This one is a bit different.

It’s made with Dr. Pepper.
Pop isn’t healthy. I know this.  This is why I stopped drinking it. Yup. Cold turkey. Stopped.  I don’t let my kids drink it either, unless they are at a party or something. 
Dr. Pepper USED to be one of my favorites.

But when I saw this recipe, it looked so intriguing, I just HAD to try it.  So forgive me, but I used Dr. Pepper in this. Get over it and try it, it’s really good.  It was quite sweet but that’s okay.  Go easier on the honey if you want.    
You don’ taste Dr. Pepper.  If I didn’t tell you that there was Dr. Pepper in this, you wouldn’t know. Seriously.  That’s what I thought was so intriguing about it!

I’ve seen a recipe with barbecue sauce made with rootbeer too!  Shhh. Don’t tell the Dr. Pepper.
We ate this meal on Arnold Select Sandwich Thins for dinner.  We also had some delicious roasted cauliflower. The next couple of days, I ate it on tortillas like a wrap. Very tasty!
Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce Recipe
Adapted from Simply Recipes
1 cups minced onion
1 tbsp. oil
3 cups Dr. Pepper (I used diet)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup orange juice
1 cup honey
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt to taste

Heat the oil in pan. Add onions and saute for 5 – 6 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir well.  Simmer for 30 minutes.

Pour the sauce carefully into a blender and puree until smooth.  It’s best to work in batches and don’t fill the blender more than 1/3 full. 

Put the sauce into pan and simmer, uncovered for 1 – 2 hours.  Stirring occasionally. Yield 4 1/2 cups.

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches
Boneless chicken breasts (I had 2 – 20 oz. packages)

Cook chicken until done and shred.  Add BBQ sauce and mix together. I used 2 1/2 cups of this BBQ sauce and I froze the other 2 cups of sauce.
 
2 Chicken Sandwiches + Roasted Cauliflower  = Very Tasty Meal!


Check out Debbi Does Dinner Healthy for more (mostly) healthy recipes!

SWEET & SOUR GLAZED PORK CHOPS

We normally grill these outside, but it was really windy the day I planned these so I decided to try them on the stove and was pleasantly surprised.  The taste was similar but unique without the smoke flavor.
SWEET & SOUR PORK CHOPS
4 thick boneless pork chops
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and white pepper
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
3 + 2 tablespoons butter
fresh rosemary
  • Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil on a plate.
  • Salt and pepper pork chops and lay in olive oil seasoned side down.
  • Salt and pepper tops and drizzle with remaining olive oil.
  • Let sit for 30 minutes.
  • In a small saucepan combine vinegar and honey, blending well. Cook until reduced to about 1/4 cup.  Add butter and rosemary. Set aside.
  • Melt remaining butter in sizzling skillet.
  • Add pork chops and brown on both sides.
  • Brush on glaze and cook through.
  • Enjoy.

VOODOO MELTS aka HOT WING MELTS

1 large Heirloom tomato,sliced
1 small red onion, sliced thin
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper 
Hidden valley ranch dressing mix (DRY) OR Good Seasons Italian dressing mix (DRY)
1/2 cup crumbled Bleu Cheese or Havarti slices
Thick Bread of Choice
3-4 tablespoons butter 


1 batch  Bleu Cheese Dressing for dipping

I prepare the chicken breasts the same as you would HOT WINGS except that I flatten the chicken breasts first.

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Wash and dry the chicken pieces.
  • Mix together the flour and seasonings in a plastic ziploc bag. Using a ziploc bag makes it easy to throw away the whole mess after dredging all the chicken pieces and it helps you coat every possible spot of the chicken pieces.
  • Add chicken a few pieces at a time and coat them well. Set chicken pieces aside.
  • While you’re doing this, have the butter melting in the pan. Start with 2 tablespoons and add as necessary, but make sure you don’t run dry.
  • Once all the chicken has been dredged, start frying. 
  • After you have the pan full, pepper the pieces again. You only need to turn the chicken one time. Brown evenly and then drain on paper towels.
  • As the last batch is frying, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a flat bowl. To that add 1/2 cup of Frank’s hot sauce.  Whisk them together well.
  • Spray a cookie sheet with PURE.
  • Dip each piece of chicken into the hot sauce mixture and put on cookie sheet.
  • After you’re all done and if you have hot sauce and butter mixture left, pour a little over the top of each wing.
  • Bake for 30 minutes.
  • Melt 2 tablespoons butter on griddle over medium high heat. Add more as necessary to keep from burning.
  • After butter begins to sizzle lay bread slices on top of butter.
  • On one side lay chicken breast or shredded it into smaller pieces. Today I thinly shaved some and shredded some so you could see the difference.
  • If using Havarti lay it on the other slice of bread, otherwise sprinkle bleu cheese crumbles over the chicken breast.
  • After bread begins to toast golden, close up the sandwiches. 
  • Continue cooking until golden on all sides and heated through.

SUBMITTED TO:
HEARTH and SOUL

TEMPT MY TUMMY TUESDAYS
TUESDAYS AT THE TABLE

COUNTRY FRIED STEAK

A favorite of ours is “chicken fried” anything.  Chicken-fried steak (also known as pan-fried steak country-fried steak or CFS) is a piece of steak (tenderized cube steak) coated with seasoned flour and pan-fried. It is generally associated with the South and their hospitality. Its name is thought to be likely due to chicken-fried steak’s similarity in preparation to fried chicken, though the dish is also similar to the classic Austrian dish,  Wiener Schnitzel, a tenderized veal or beef cutlet, coated with flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs and then pan fried.  It is truly a comfort food.

The precise origins of Chicken Fried Steak are unclear, but many sources attribute its development to Germans and Austrians who immigrated to Texas in the nineteenth century and brought recipes for Wiener Schnitzel from Europe to the USA. Lamesa, the seat of Dawson County on the Texas South Plains, claims to be the birthplace of chicken-fried steak, as does Bandera, Texas’ favorite son, John “White Gravy” Neutzling.

The Virginia Housewife, published in 1838 by Mary Randolph has a recipe for veal cutlets that is one of the earliest known recipes for a food like chicken-fried steak. The recipe for what we now know as chicken-fried steak was included in many regional cookbooks by the late nineteenth century. The actual term “chicken-fried steak” was probably developed in the 1930s. It is thought that the  name change was due to the war with Germany.  Chicken-fried steak is among numerous popular dishes which make up the official state meal of Oklahoma, added to the list in 1988.

All that said, even being a Texan, I grew up with it being called Country Fried Steak which makes so much more sense to me!  There is nothing chicken about this meal.  I have over the years played with the flavor and this is how we like it.
COUNTRY FRIED STEAK
1 cube steak or thin top sirloin steak per person
Marsala wine
green onions, thinly sliced
1 egg per 2 steak, beaten
flour
salt and pepper
butter
  • Generously salt and pepper the steaks.
  • Slice your onions and marinate the steaks in just enough Marsala wine to cover.  Layer the steaks and onions into a tupperware and refrigerate for several hours.
  • Drain steaks on paper towels.
  • Heat large skillet with enough butter to evenly coat the bottom.
  • Dipped drained steaks in beaten egg and then flour.
  • Lay each steak in sizzling butter and salt and pepper again.
  • Turn steaks and season again.
  • Serve with Parmesan Potatoes and Peppered Gravy.

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Grilled Garlic Chicken with Sherry Butter Sauce

Noooooooooooooooooooo!

Did you just hear that?

Fall just fell.

Don’t get me wrong, one of the benefits of moving to East Tennessee from Florida was finally getting to enjoy a real Fall. You don’t get them in Florida. I love watching the leaves turn colors across the Great Smoky Mountains and feeling a crisp Autumn breeze. But since I like to do my cooking outdoors, I already miss having sun light until 8 or 9 in the evening.

That just means I have to start taking steps to make cooking quicker. For example, using chicken tenderloins in this recipe for a quick grill. They are also inexpensive.


Grilled Garlic Chicken with Sherry Butter Sauce
Inspired by The Fresh Market & Friends Cookbook

6 ea chicken tenderloins

Dry rub
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon turbinado sugar

Sherry Butter Sauce
1/4 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sherry
3 Tbsp water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon coarse ground Dijon mustard

Set up your grill for direct heat at 350f (or you could do this on the stove top over medium heat).

Season the chicken tenderloins on both sides with the dry rub. Set aside.

Put a sauce pan on the grill and after it is warm, melt the butter. Add the garlic and simmer for about 5 minutes. Whisk in the remaining ingredients and reduce to half. Remove and set aside.

Turn your grill up to 450 degrees. Place the chicken on the grill and cook for 3 minutes.

Flip and cook another 3 minutes.

Flip, brush with some of the sauce and cook 1 minute.

Flip, brush with some of the sauce and cook 1 last minute or until 165f internal temp.

Plate and drizzle some of the sauce on the chicken. We served ours with a side of angel hair and sun-dried tomatoes and some of Alexis’ home made bread that I toasted.

So tell me….
1) What is the one summer dish that you are sorry to see sneaking out of the door and/or
2) What Fall dish are glad to welcome?

PLANTAIN FUFU FRIED CHICKEN

I found a recipe recently for Japanese Fried Chicken that I was going to try for dinner tonight.  Then I tried to accumulate all the ingredients.  Long story short, I rewrote the recipe to work around the ingredients I did find.  The first change I made was the potato starch the recipe called for.  I did do research and found that you could substitute corn starch, but that seemed too plain so I went to a local market that has several aisles of international foods and started searching.  I found two things of interest: Fufu Flour and Corn Flour.  Fufu flour is from Africa and this particular one is made from Plantains so I guess I could call this Banana Fried Chicken.  Both of these flours are very fine and resemble regular corn starch in texture and coat very well.

PLANTAIN  FUFU FRIED CHICKEN  aka BANANA FRIED CHICKEN
1 1/2 pound chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Marsala wine
1 large green onion, sliced thin
salt and pepper
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup FUFU flour
1/2 cup corn flour
Chinese hot mustard for dipping

  • In a large bowl combine the soy sauce, Marsala wine and green onions.
  • Place chicken in bowl and toss to coat.  Refrigerate for several hours.
  • Drain chicken pieces.
  • In a large bag combine the FUFU flour, corn flour, salt and pepper.
  • In a large skillet melt butter.
  • Place chicken pieces in bag and shake to coat.
  • Add chicken pieces to  hot butter.  When brown and crusty, turn the pieces.
  • Drain on paper towels.
  • Serve with hot Chinese hot mustard and lemon slices.
By the way, it was really good!
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REDNECK CUPCAKE WARS~BBQ CHICKEN CHILE CORNBREAD REDNECK CUPCAKES

Recently my buddy Dave over at My Year on the Grill “invented” the Redneck Cupcake.  Pure genius I tell you!  He is also trying to win Project food blog.  Go check it out and vote for him.
I do like the “cake” part on the bottom – so much easier to eat!  The “cake” envelops the meat and the cheese oozes and goozes down into the meat.   It was also my birthday last week and my mom sent me a box full of “goodies”.  Among those goodies were these awesome muffin tart baking cups that require no muffin tin and are larger and flatter than the average so once again they are easier to eat. I may try those next time, but this time I think in order to qualify as a “redneck” cupcake they must be made in leftover birthday wrappers.
Dave and I are both believers in using all your leftovers as he demonstrates with his Redneck Cupcakes.   My recipe uses all the small tidbits from when you skin your Rotisserie chicken.  I use absolutely everything from my rotisserie chickens including the bones!

BBQ CHICKEN CHILE CORNBREAD REDNECK CUPCAKES makes 15-18 cupcakes

2-3 cups Rotisserie Chicken pieces
1/4 cup favorite BBQ sauce
Havarti cheese slices or Vermont White Cheddar, quartered
  • Toss chicken pieces with BBQ sauce and set aside for an hour before preparing muffins.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Prepare the cornbread and fill baking cups 2/3 full.
  • Drain chicken pieces of excess sauce.
  • Top with a layer of meat.
  • Top with a very thin slice of cheese.
  •  Bake 20 minutes or until cornbread tests JUST done with a toothpick or until cheese oozes and goozes into the chicken pieces.
Wouldn’t these make awesome football food?  Don’t forget to join us Sunday for 
Tailgating Time will be posted every Sunday at noon and open all week for you to add your football favorites. We’ll play each and every week until Superbowl Sunday. I can’t wait to see what you’ll be bringing!
It’s Tailgating Time!
HOSTED BY:
Martha at Seaside Simplicity 
Tamy at 3 sides of Crazy 
Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet

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