Primal Chinese Orange Chicken

From Mark's Daily Apple

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup tapioca flour  (120 g)
¾ teaspoon kosher salt (3.7 ml)
2 egg whites
2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons coconut aminos, divided (10 ml plus 30 ml)
¼ teaspoon toasted sesame oil (1.2 ml)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 teaspoons finely chopped ginger (15 ml)
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (120 ml)
3 teaspoons unseasoned rice vinegar (15 ml)
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (1.2 ml)
1 tablespoon orange zest (15 ml)
2 cups cold-pressed sunflower oil  (for frying – depending on the size of the pot, you may need more or less than 2 cups)
2 green onions, chopped (475 ml)

Instructions:

Mix flour and salt.  Whisk egg whites and 2 teaspoons of the coconut amines, then soak the chicken in the egg whites.  Dip the chicken in the flour mixture, then fry in the sunflower oil.

Salute the garlic and ginger; add the orange juice, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons coconut aminos and allow sauce to thicken.  Strain out the garlic and ginger; mix in the orange zest.  

Drizzle sauce over chicken then toss with green onions.

Instead of chicken thighs, we ended up using chicken breast (it was on sale), and some gluten free soy sauce for the coconut amino.  We also didn't have fresh ginger, so we used some powdered ginger.  

The chicken turned out well - nice and crispy - but the sauce was a little salty.  The coconut amino has about half the salt as the GF soy sauce, so that would help.  I'm also thinking of doubling the amount of orange juice to make a little more sauce and cut down on the salt a little.

A few random links

DIY Scratch Off tickets
Basically two parts paint to one part dish soap.

Where to of find local grass fed milk and butter:

Links to tasty Super Bowl themed snacks:
A Dozen Snacks with links to:
Buffalo Chicken Bread
Zucchini Fritters

Pizza Cheeseball

Pizza Monkey Bread
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken (used in the recipe above)
3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 12 oz bottle Hot Sauce 

1 oz Ranch dressing powder (recipe calls for Hidden Valley, but can use this recipe)

½ stick of butter

General Mau's Chicken
1 lb chicken breasts (cut into 1" pieces)
1/2 c. cornstarch, 1/2 tsp. salt, pepper to taste
vegetable oil
1/4 c. each: sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, cider vinegar
1 - 2 crushed cloves garlic, 1 tsp. fresh ginger


Gluten Free Focaccia

Buttermilk Fried Chicken from TDS

From The Evening Edge . . . this is one of my favorite dishes at TDS!

Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Green Chile-Horseradish Sauce - from Taqueria del Sol

Ingredients:

3/4 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed

1 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper

1 pounds chicken breast cutlets

½ - ¾ cups buttermilk

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

Oil for frying

4 T unsalted butter

1 (2-ounce) can mild green chiles

¾ teaspoons prepared horseradish

¼ cup sweet pickle relish

¾ cups heavy cream

Salt

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the beans and cook 3 to 4 minutes, remove and cool in a bath of ice water.   Prepare the Green Chile-Horseradish Sauce and the Buttermilk Fried Chicken. As chicken cooks, heat 2 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan, add the green beans and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

To serve, spoon 1/4 cup Green Chile-Horseradish Sauce onto each plate. Top each plate with 1/8 of green beans and 1/8 of cutlets.

FOR THE CHICKEN: Soak the cutlets in the buttermilk for 2 hours. On a plate or in a shallow bowl, combine the flour, pepper and salt. Heat oil to 350 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the buttermilk and dredge in the flour. Fry until golden brown and crispy on the outside, about 5-10 minutes (depending on size of cutlets). Drain on paper towels.

FOR THE SAUCE: In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter and add chiles, horseradish and pickle relish. Cook 3 minutes and add heavy cream. Turn heat to medium high, cook 3 minutes, then puree in a food processor or blender (be very careful with hot liquids in the blender, as they can overflow suddenly). Strain the mixture and return to the saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining butter and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced to about 2 cups (it should be fairly thin). Keep warm.

Nutrition:

Per serving: 723 calories (percent of calories from fat, 62), 39 grams protein, 29 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams fiber, 50 grams fat (26 grams saturated), 207 milligrams cholesterol, 445 milligrams sodium.

Per serving, green beans only: 63 calories (percent of calories from fat, 43), 2 grams protein, 7 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 3 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 8 milligrams cholesterol, 35 milligrams sodium, 3 grams dietary fiber.

Per serving, sauce only: 344 calories (percent of calories from fat, 89), 2 grams protein, 8 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 35 grams fat (22 grams saturated), 116 milligrams cholesterol, 152 milligrams sodium.

Per serving, chicken only: 316 calories (percent of calories from fat, 36), 35 grams protein, 14 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 12 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 83 milligrams cholesterol, 258 milligrams sodium.

Pineapple Orange Chicken

Based on a recipe in an ad. . . . .

Pineapple Orange Chicken
Makes 4 servings

20 oz pineapple chunks, drained; reserve juice
uncooked rice (1 - 2 cups, depending on how much rice you want)
chicken breasts, cut into half-inch pieces (3/4 lb - 1 1/4 lb)
1 tablespoon seame oil or other oil
4 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
veggies - red bell pepper, sugar snap peas, bok choy, etc.
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 - 1/2 cup orange juice

optional toppings: red chilies, cashews, sliced green onions. . .

Cook rice using pineapple juice plus additional water as needed (an uncooked serving of rice is 1/4 cup; for four servings, use a cup of rice and two cups of the water - juice mixture).

Toss chicken with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, then brown in oil.  Add in pineapple and veggies and cook until softened.

Mix together remaining cornstarch in 1/4 cup water, then add rice vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, and orange juice to it.  Stir into chicken - veggie mixture until sauce starts to thicken.  Add red chilies if using.

Serve over rice, topped with cashews and green onions.

Books. . . .

I recently subscribed to eReaderIQ which advertises itself as " The Easier, Faster and Smarter Way to Kindle!"  You specify the type of books you're interested, and they will send you an email of ebooks in that category that are low price (even free!).

Yesterday's free deals included The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A lifestyle of Healthy Foods by Stacy Michaels.  The first recipe I looked at was for Margherita Lasagna.  Seems like a pretty typical lasagna recipe - layers of sauce, noodles, ricotta, and mozzarella.  The sauce sounded interesting:

2 pounds of Roma tomatoes
2 pounds Campari or cherry tomatoes
3 cups chopped onion
4 cloves smashed garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup minced fresh basil

I only made half the recipe - a pound of plum tomatoes and a pound of beefsteak tomatoes. And half of an onion, diced plus 5 cloves of garlic.  Less oil - just a little to coat the bottom of the pan.  No red pepper flakes, and dried herbs instead of fresh.  But I more or less followed the directions: quarter the tomatoes, then toss everything in a pan and roast for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.  After it's roasted, puree in a food processor.

I don't know if I've ever made tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes, but this turned out fairly well.  Going to use it make lasagna tomorrow.

And I also made some Onion Soup - onions caramelized in a browned butter, then a little sherry and chicken broth.  Then served with homemade croutons and a salad made with hydroponic lettuce (I've been getting a co-op basket each week, and it routinely has the best lettuce.)

Other new recipes to try this week:
Breakfast Tostadas from www.amuse-your-bouche.com (I found this site looking for a recipe for mushrooms.  This week's co-op basket also included mushrooms, and while this recipe doesn't have mushrooms, it is gluten free).
Baby Gem Salad also from www.amuse-your-bouche.com
Cheese and Walnut Salad also from www.amuse-your-bouche.com

King Ranch Casserole from Found Recipes on npr.org (I heard about this while listening to NPR; I thought it sounded interested, and potentially easy to reduce the fat, etc. to make it healthier, including making mushroom soup from the co-op basket mushrooms.)
KFC-Inspired Chicken (gluten free; made in a slow cooker) also from Found Recipes on npr.org (I found this while browsing the Found Recipes; sounds like a good fit with the King Ranch Casserole which calls for cooked chicken).

I also need to start my tomato plants!  I usually wait until mid-February, but then they never seem big enough when it's time to plant them.

Cashew Chicken

From Foodess.com:

Cashew Chicken

1 cup chicken stock or water
1 tbsp + 2 tbsp cornstarch (divided)
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
6 cloves garlic, minced
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut in bite-sized pieces
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 baby bok choy, quartered
5 green onions, chopped, green and white parts separated
1 cup raw or roasted cashews

Instructions
For the sauce, mix stock with cornstarch, then add soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and garlic.

In a medium bowl, toss chicken with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
Heat the oil in a large skillet or a wok over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook in a single layer until golden on both sides and no longer pink inside (may need to do multiple batches).  Remove from pan, then add bok choy and white part of green onions to the same skillet; cook until the stem of the bok choy is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Add cooked chicken, sauce, green onion tops, and cashews.  Cook until sauce thickens and everything is heated.

Foodess.com is a lovely site with lots of beautiful pictures.  

Caribbean Chicken Recipe

This morning, I decided to find a nice Caribbean chicken recipe that I'll enjoy as well as the kids.

This one sounds promising with the pineapple and banana:
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=59

The image doesn't match the recipe, and I'd have to drop the green pepper, probably the brown sugar, as well.  And then use fresh ginger and garlic.  Not sure brown rice would be ready in 20 minutes, however. . . .

1 pound skinned and boned chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
2 cups pineapple tidbits, drained, reserve ¼ cup pineapple juice
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
garlic, ginger
1 medium diced banana
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 cup uncooked brown rice

6 servings, 34 carbs per serving including 1/3 cup rice or about 11 without the rice.

This one looks great:
http://castletonbanquet.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/castletons-caribbean-chicken-receipe/

The chicken looks pretty standard - marinade of lemon juice, lime juice, Jerk seasoning, salt, pepper, curry powder and olive oil.  But Lemon Basil Rice Pilaf and Pineapple-Mango Salsa sound lovely!

Pineapple-Mango Salsa 
1 each fresh mango, peeled and cored, cubed ½”
½ ea fresh golden pineapple, peeled and cored, cubed ½”
2 each vine ripened tomatoes, cored and cubed ½”
1 each green bell pepper, cored, seeded, cubed ½”
3 each scallions, stemmed and sliced thin on an angle
1 each cored and seeded jalapeño, fine dice ( more if you like hot )

3 tbsp chopped cilantro, no stems
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
juice from 2 limes

Mix everything together and place in refrigerator overnight. Drain liquid and bring to boil in saucepan. Thicken with a small amount of cornstarch mixed with enough cold water to dissolve. Blend well and let come to boil. Remove from heat and pour over salsa ingredients. Mix well. Serve room temperature over grilled chicken, fish or beef.

I think I'll try replacing the brown rice in the first recipe with the Lemon Basil Rice Pilaf in the second (or the Pilaf recipe below that I pieced together from three others), and then serve the Pineapple-Mango Salsa over some coho salmon.  


Rice and Orzo Pilaf
1/2 cup silvered almonds

Celery, Onions (green?), diced

1 Tbsp browned butter

1/2 cup orzo

3/4 cup rice

2 cups chicken stock

1 tsp lemon zest (?)


Sauté vegetables in a heavy bottomed saucepan in 1 tbsp browned butter. When just starting to become translucent, add the orzo and rice and stir for about 30 seconds.   Add two cups chicken stock and lemon zest.

Cover, turn heat to low, and cook 20 minutes.

Fluff with fresh ground pepper, one tbsp fresh parsley and the toasted almonds.

Memorial Day

A few recipes for Memorial Day week:

Hawaiian Chicken
http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/healthy-chicken-breast-recipes-00412000070045/page5.html

Chicken sauted in sage browned butter
http://www.cookinglight.com/food/recipe-finder/healthy-chicken-breast-recipes-00412000070045/page6.html

Meatloaf (a request from #1)with carrots and veggies (a request from #2)

Follow up from last week:
I didn't make the chicken divan, and the pizzas were merely okay. The chicken for the taco pizza was good, and the garlicky fries were wonderful. Panini would have been better with different veggies, but the goat cheese was good.