Curry Chicken Tenders

So, my posts have been kind of sparse lately. There’s a few reasons for that.

1. Work has picked up and I’ve been getting home later, 8pm is no time to start cooking dinner.
2. Gary’s home now, so I’ve been leaving the cooking up to him. I rather enjoy coming home with dinner ready for me.
3. I’ve been in a cooking and baking rut, and have no new ideas of what to cook; although I keep flagging recipes to make.
4. My baking itch is pretty much dormant right now.

So, with Gary cooking almost every night, we’ve been eating meals we’ve made before with a few new ones mixed in. Gary saw this recipe for satay chicken tenders and decided to try it. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but one of the few spicy things I can tolerate is curry. I love curry chicken, so this was a good choice any day of the week.



The original recipe called for chicken tenders, but any part of the chicken will do. We used a chicken breast for this and pounded it with a meat mallet to tenderize. He also used half the amount of curry powder stated, but I recommend using the full amount (as written below) because it could have used that extra kick. Martin Yan heats the remaining marinade to pour over the chicken, but I didn’t have any excess left.

Grilled Curry Chicken Tenders
adapted from: Martin Yan Quick and Easy
printable recipe

ingredients:
2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
2 TBSP curry powder
1 TBSP packed brown sugar
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp Chinese five spice powder
1 lb chicken breast

directions:
In a bowl, combine all the ingredients except chicken. Set aside.

Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a cutting board. Place chicken on top and cover with another piece of plastic wrap. Pound with a meat mallet with the flat side. Remove plastic wrap. Cut into 1 inch wide strips against the grain at an angle. Add chicken into the marinade, mixing well to coat evenly. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat up the grill (foreman, grill pan, etc). Place chicken on the George Foreman grill, cook for 2-3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.

If you do have reserved marinade left over, you can heat it up in a saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a simmer. Pour the sauce over the chicken before serving.

Serves 4

Spinach and Tofu Stuffed Chicken

Spinach stuffed chicken is one of the recipes Gary requests frequently. I’ve made it before, and it was very simple and tasty. I’ve since then modified the recipe slightly to reflect his new diet.

I’ve used tofu before with success, and this was another successful recipe using it. It mimicked the consistency and taste of cheese quite well. Like before, I made this on my George Foreman grill.

Spinach and Tofu Stuffed Chicken Breast

Ingredients:
1 lb skinless chicken breast
cooking spray
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup water
1 10 oz frozen leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
salt
red pepper flakes
6 oz firm tofu (half a pack of Mori Nu tofu)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray. Set to medium heat and add garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add spinach and water. Loosen the spinach, cover and cook for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, uncover, stir to loosen the spinach. Add big pinches of salt and red pepper flakes. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, butterfly the chicken. Cover with saran wrap and pound thin with a meat mallet. Sprinkle salt on both sides.

In a small food processor, mix tofu until smooth, about 10 seconds. Add dashes of salt and pepper. Mix in with the spinach at the last 2 minutes of cooking.

Fill the inside of half the chicken with the spinach mixture. Fold over other side of chicken over the spinach. Transfer to the George Foreman grill and cook for 7-9 minutes depending on the thickness of your chicken.

Remove from grill, let sit for 5 minutes, slice and serve.

 

This recipe is being submitted to:

Garlic Herb Grilled Chicken and Pasta

During the weeknights (or lazy weekends), I try to make something simple, so I don’t spend hours in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being in the kitchen, but not when it’s yucky and hot outside.

One of my favorite spices to use is Mrs. Dash. I love it because all the herbs and spices have been mixed into a convenient bottle for me. Of course, I can mix a bunch of herbs together to make this, but this is a great shortcut to take once in a while. I used the garlic and herb spice mix. I also used my George Foreman grill for this.

I had some leftover chicken while making this, so I used the leftover chicken for a salad for lunch.

Garlic and Herb Grilled Chicken and Pasta

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast (mine was a little under a lb.)
Mrs. Dash garlic and herb spice
8 oz. thin spaghetti
salt
1 head broccoli florets
olive oil

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt to water, and boil pasta until al dente. Add broccoli during last 4 minutes of boiling.

Meanwhile, butterfly the chicken breast, cover with saran wrap, and pound thin. Coat both sides of the chicken with the spice mix.

Grill on the George Foreman grill for 7 minutes. Cut into slices.

Drain the pasta. Drizzle with 2 TBSP olive oil and toss to coat. Transfer pasta to bowl, add chicken, and serve.

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

I’m used to eating veggie burgers, I’ve done so for many years. However, I’ve never tried to make my own. I’ve always bought the packaged frozen burgers and ate them at my leisure. It wasn’t until I saw the recipe on allrecipes.com that I saw how easy it was to make these.

After I made it and took a bite, I thought to myself, I like this, but I’m not sure if Gary will. To my surprise, he liked it also! When I told him I was making this for dinner, of course he responded, “What, no meat?”.

I had a few alterations to this recipe. Instead of onion, I used dried shallots because I had none on hand. I used the whole bell pepper, added a carrot, added celery, used cayenne instead of hot sauce, and added extra panko. It came out wonderful. We don’t normally eat spicy food, and this wasn’t spicy at all. It had the nice kick to it without it being overpowering.

Black Bean Veggie Burgers
Adapted from: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 carrot, peeled and cut into pieces
2 celery stalks, cut into pieces
1/2 onion, cut into wedges (I didn’t have on hand. I used 1 tsp dried shallots)
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 egg
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2  teaspoon cayenne pepper 
1 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)

Directions:
1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.

2. In a food processor, grind up the black beans until thick and pasty. Transfer to a medium bowl.

3. Add the pepper, carrot, celery, onion and garlic into the processor and finely chop. Add the beans back in and pulse until combined. Transfer back to the bowl.

4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper.

5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.

6. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.
(I grilled this on my George Foreman grill for 5 minutes.)

Serve as you would beef burgers with all the fixings. We’re sort of minimalists with our burgers (meaning we didn’t have anything). We ate them on whole wheat pita bread with ketchup.

Shrimp and Steak Skewers

Made by: Cathy

Part 2 of our anniversary dinner. I made shrimp and beef skewers with pineapples.

Using a fresh pineapple and juice, I created this.

Ingredients:
1 dozen shrimp
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce and marinade
1 teaspoon sliced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
pineapple wedges
juice from fresh pineapple
1/2 lb steak cut into cubes
Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Peel and devein the shrimp. Combine the shrimp with the teriyaki sauce, pineapple juice, ginger, sugar. Marinate in the fridge for half hour.
2. Cut the steak into cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Add a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Mix well.
3. Soak some wooden skewers with water. Assemble with pineapple, steak and shrimp.


4. Grill on the George Foreman Grill for 3-4 min depending on the desired doneness of the steak. You can also grill under the broiler.


The steak and pineapple were good. The shrimp was so so. I may have to marinate a little longer to get a better flavor next time.

Spinach Stuffed Chicken

Made by: Cathy

Happy Black Friday!

So for Black Friday, we decided to sleep in. There weren't that many great deals this year. We ended up leaving the house around 2:30 to look around for deals. We went to a few stores and drooled over the HDTVs. It was making us go crazy! We ended up buying a new TV. We were in the market for one, and it was time we got one. We didn't get home until after 8pm.

Last night, we gave a lot of the leftovers away. We also ate some leftovers for lunch before leaving the house, so we didn't have too much left. My sister made stuffed mushrooms. I defrosted the spinach in the microwave for her, but in the midst of craziness, we both forgot about the spinach in the microwave. I noticed it in the end when I put a bowl of cranberry sauce in there to heat up. I also forgot to make a rice casserole dish with chicken. I already defrosted the chicken the night before in the fridge.

So, chicken and spinach it was for dinner tonight. Here it is, spinach stuffed chicken. This was also made on my George Foreman grill.


Ingredients:
4 chicken breast tenderloins
1 10oz box frozen leaf spinach, defrosted
15 ritz crackers
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt
pepper

Directions:
1. Place chicken in a plastic bag. Using the flat side of a meat tenderizer, pound the chicken until is is flat. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a small food processor, grind the cracker into fine crumbs.
3. Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray. On medium heat, saute the spinach for 2-3 minutes. Add the cracker crumbs, red pepper flakes, garlic, cheese and salt to taste. Mix well until combined, about 3 minutes.
4. Divide the spinach mixture evenly for each piece of chicken. Spread the spinach on the chicken. Wrap and stick a toothpick through to keep it together. Repeat with remaining chicken.
5. Grill on the George foreman for 4-5 minutes.



I only had 3 pieces of chicken, so I had a lot of spinach in each piece of chicken. It was a pretty simple dinner, but still tasted good.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi

Adapted from: Recipezaar
Made by: Cathy

In the midst of cooking for Thanksgiving, we still needed to eat dinner. We had some frozen mahi mahi we bought in bulk from BJs. Mahi Mahi is a pretty good fish. It doesn't smell, it has a nice texture, and it tastes good.

I remember seeing a recipe for macadamia nut crust fish before. I wanted to try it out. I had the nuts on hand because I bought that in bulk at Amazon.

I used my George Foreman grill for this.


Ingredients:
2 mahi mahi filets
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk


Directions:
1. In a small food processor, grind together nuts and coconut flakes. Pour into a bowl, set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
3. Whisk together egg and milk.
4. Dip in this order: flour, egg, nuts. Coat evenly.
5. Grill for 4 minutes on the George Foreman grill.

The recipe posted is adjusted from the recipe I used to minimize waste. I used up all the nuts, but there was still egg (I used 2) and flour left (I used 1/4 cup). This recipe should work.

I liked the taste. It had a nice golden crust. I think it could use a little more salt. It totally reminded both Gary and I of Hawaii.

Easy Grilled Sesame Ginger Salmon

Recipe from: Lawry's
Made by: Cathy

This has got to be the easiest salmon recipe ever! I had some marinade in the fridge as well as some salmon we got from Trader Joe's. I went to the Lawry's site and used their recipe. I wouldn't call it a real recipe with only 2 ingredients though!


Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups Lawry's® Sesame Ginger Marinade With Mandarin Orange Juice
1-1/2 lbs. salmon fillets

Directions:
1. Pour 1 cup Lawry's® Sesame Ginger Marinade With Mandarin Orange Juice over salmon in a large non-aluminum baking dish or resealable plastic bag and turn to coat. Cover, or close bag, and marinate in refrigerator about 30 minutes. Remove salmon from Marinade, discarding Marinade.
2. Grill or broil salmon until fish flakes with a fork, brushing often with remaining marinade and turning once.

I used my George Foreman grill and grilled it for 3 minutes! That's right, 3 minutes! Record time for dinner on the table. Whoo hoo!