Roasted Cashew Chicken Salad

This is one of those recipes that just evolved over time.  I’m not sure where the dressing recipe came from, just a note a jotted down, I think it is adapted from some recipe I had written down, altered to what I like. And the filling is just what I thought would be good. And it is. REALLY good, that is. I use dried thyme and omit the chives when not available, but when I have fresh chives in the summer it just increases how much I love this recipe. I make this for my tea parties, served on bread or in an empty eclair shell or cream puff. Now, go make it! You’ll thank me later.  After you’ve eaten.

Oh, and this is a quite large batch, so half it if needed, and you can substitute cooked shredded chicken breast.

ROASTED CASHEW CHICKEN SALAD

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1/2 to 1 cup toasted cashews* (depending how much you like)
2 T chopped chives
2 T chopped thyme

Dressing:
1 cup mayonaise
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup olive oil
2 T honey
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all the dressing ingredients together, then toss with salad ingredients. (Use as little or as much dressing as you like.

*I buy raw, unsalted cashews alot of the time, and toast them myself. Just spread them out on a large cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees until fragrant and toasted. About 10-15 minutes or so.

Chicken Wraps

I think I’m going to request these for my last meal…. Well…maybe sooner : ) I LOVE this meal.  I actually prefer them over authentic “chicken gyros”.  It’s simple, easy , and the flavors are fresh and delicious.  If you have to, use tortillas or pita bread, but it really is best with the soft wrap bread .  And the bread is SO simple and easy to make. Trust me, you’ll thank me.  The chicken marinade and lemon dressing was adapted from a Cook’s Country Magazine recipe. You skewer the marinated chicken with red onion and grill, then drizzle with the dressing. It’s wonderful that way too, but it makes for a great chicken wrap as well.  And the lemon dressing is totally optional, it’s taste great without it too.  And sorry if the picture is slightly blurry, I was in a hurry to eat dinner. : )

CHICKEN WRAPS

CHICKEN:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ cubes
6 oz plain yogurt (fat free or low fat is fine)
3 T olive oil
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
salt & pepper

Combine everything but chicken in a bowl, stir together until combined.
Stir in chicken until well coated. Cover and refrigerate for about 3 hours.  Remove chicken from marinade and grill (saute in pan if you don’t have an indoor or outdoor grill).

LEMON DRESSING: (optional)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced
4 leaves fresh basil, cut in chiffonade (thin strips)
3 T lemon juice

Combine all together. Drizzle over cooked chicken.

FOR SERVING:
Cucumbers, sliced
red onion, cut in thin slices
sour cream
feta cheese, crumbled
tomato wedges or halved grape or cherry tomatoes
soft wrap bread

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is a great meal when you’re busy or when you’re having company over, because it bakes for an hour while you can be doing other things. But I mostly make it because my husband and I both love it!  Great with stir-fried veggies and rice.  I’ve tried a few variations on it, like adding pineapple chunks and bell peppers, but it’s so good just as is.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced – about 6-8 minutes.

Recipe source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Crock Pot Turkey (or Chicken)

This is so easy AND good. Two things I love.  I used a bone-in Turkey breast, but this is wonderful to do with a whole chicken as well. and you can rest the bird on thick slices of onion just like I do when I roast poultry, but the turkey breast wouldn’t have fit.


CROCK-POT TURKEY (OR CHICKEN)

Bone-in turkey breast or whole chicken (up to 6 lbs or so)
3 T no-salt seasoning
1 T kosher salt
2 lemons

Rinse your bird inside & out and pat dry with paper towels.
Mix salt & seasoning and rub all over bird, inside and out.
Pierce lemons with sharp knife all over and put inside the cavity.

Place in crock-pot and put on low for about 8 hours. If you have less time, you could probably put on high for about 4 or 5 hours.

Chicken Kiev

Okay, so this isn’t chicken kiev. But it’s not chicken cordon bleu either. It’s…really good. And I’ve for some reason always called it Chicken Kiev. So that’s what we’ll call it. And you won’t care about the technicallity of the name once you try it. And it’s multi-purpose! You can use the breading to do Chicken Strips or Nuggets at the same time, in case you have kiddos who want it simple.

This is something we make for special occasions, as it is very rich.

CHICKEN KIEV


3 chicken breasts, boneless skinless
Buttermilk
6 T garden vegetable cream cheese (or make your own with herbs & cream cheese)
6 slices Ham, thinly sliced
mozzarella or swiss cheese-cut into matchsticks
about 1/2 cup melted butter or milk, for dipping
*coating mix: 1 1/2 cups cornflake crumbs
3/4 cup flour
dash salt & pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder

All right, let’s get to it! You can do the chicken breasts one of two ways.

1. with chicken breast flat on a cutting board, Lay your hand on top, holding it flat down. Pierce a large knife in at the fattest end and cut in half horizontally.
2. Don’t cut all the way through, just butterfly it open.
(Way #1 will give you 3 larger portions, #2 gives you 6 smaller)

Now cover the chicken with wax paper or a couple layers of plastic wrap and using a mallet, pound them out thin, trying not to break through. (A good tip-put the skin side down-pounding on the non-skin side- or where the skin would be if it was chicken with skin left on)
Now soak in buttermilk for a couple of hours. You can skip this step if you want-I don’t notice a huge difference when I do.

Now get organized. Get everything you’ll need ready:
Butter or milk for dipping, coating all mixed together, all your ham and cheeses ready. I like to use a bread loaf pan for baking since it holds the ends of the chicken rolls tight so not so much can ooze out. 3 of the smaller rolls fit perfect in a loaf pan. So spray your loaf pan with PAM and set aside.

Lay out all your chicken flat. Spread each one with about 1 T of cream cheese.

Next, lay 1-2 pieces of ham on top. I use the really thin budding ham usually, but this last time I had some ham leftover from Christmas, and even though it was thicker, it still rolled fine-and was REALLY good!

Next, top in the middle with 1-2 cheese matchsticks.
Now, get ready to get messy!
Roll each one up, tucking the cheese inside as you go.

Now, we could secure with toothpicks, but I find that it’s fine to just put it straight in the loaf pan after breading, so I don’t.

Next, dip in the melted butter or milk, then in the coating. I told you it would be messy!

Now, place in loaf pan and repeat.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until cheese is oozy and chicken is cooked through.
If it looks dry on top, you can always brush with melted butter or spray with PAM before it’s done cooking.
*You can play around with the seasonings in the coating mix, sometimes I use a garlic seasoning mix. Have some fun with it!



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