Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I purchased a bag of chicken tenders from Trader Joe's. I freakin love those things, They are so easy to prepare in different dishes, but I mostly eat them when I'm doing the healthy eating kick. You can just grab 3, season and throw them in the oven and bake or roast for a quick easy lowfat meal.

Well this particular day I was tired of baked chicken. I wanted some good ole regular home cooked FRIED chicken, but all I had was strips. So like the kiddie plate on the kiddie menu I fried me up a batch of chicken strips!

To make the meal a tad more grown up I accompanied the strips with garlic peppered green beans with potatoes, regular buttered white rice (tired of brown) and cornbread with brown sugar cinnamon butter. As you can see I was rebelling against dieting and have lots of butter on this plate. *shrugs* This meal was prepared in my early withdrawal days of my Coke fast. not shown Heinz Ketchup and Banana Sauce for dipping.

Chicken Strips:

• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper
• Flour
• 8 boneless skinless chicken strips
• Canola oil for frying

Season all strips in a bowl cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours or over night.
Dredge strips in flour and add to hot oil fry until done.
Garlic Pepper Green Beans

Green Beans:

• 1 16 oz can of no salt green beans 
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• In lieu of 1 clove garlic 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or regular
• a little sugar to taste
• 1 small potato peeled and cut into cubes

 Bring all ingredients to boil in sauce pan cook until done.

White Rice
I used Mahatma rice
Recipe on the bag

Cornbread
Recipe on back of cornmeal box

Brown sugar cinnamon butter
On this I winged it. It was all to taste
Half stick of softened butter
Cinnamon
Brown sugar

 

BANANA SAUCE

 

 

Okay so this guy I met...

...asked me out on a date.


I met him on my college tour.
He was my tour buddy.
He was funny.
He didn't have on a ring.
We exchanged numbers.
He called.
He was funny still.
I laughed so much.
He asked me on a date.
I'm trying to be more open.
I said okay.
He said how about dinner.
I said okay.

Alice Springs Chicken entree, Coconut shrimp appetizers, bread and salad not shown.

We went to...Outback.
He LOVES Outback!
I like Outback.
He said next time I can pick.
I said okay. 
It was fun.

Green Bean Chicken Stir Fry Over Fried Rice

I've been contemplating taking an Asian cooking class for awhile now and just haven't gotten around to it. In the meantime, I've been playing around with Asian flavors and I came across this recipe and decided to try it.
Recipe found at Chinese Grandma


Chicken and green bean stir fry

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 pound green beans
• Cooking oil

Marinade:

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sherry (I did not use this)
• 1 clove garlic

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sherry
• 1 clove garlic

Optional

• Dash sesame oil (did not have, will use next time)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated ( did not have, will use next time)
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste ( used this)

Directions

1. If starting with frozen chicken breasts, set in bowl of cold water to defrost.
2. Take end off green beans and wash.
3. Rinse rice in several changes of water until water is mostly clear. Add fresh water for cooking and set aside.
4. Dice chicken into bite-sized pieces (approx 1/2″ cubes). Place diced chicken in bowl.
5. Add marinade ingredients to chicken – soy sauce, sherry, garlic chopped. (Stir well to distribute marinade.)
6. Refrigerate chicken.
7. Start rice to cook before starting stir fry.
8. Prepare stir fry sauce. Add brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, sherry and garlic chopped in a small bowl. 
9. Add cornstarch and stir well, pressing out any lumps until sauce has a consistent milky brown color.
10. Heat two tablespoons of oil in an large skillet over medium-high heat. 
11. Add green beans. If green beans don’t fit in one batch, cook half at a time. Use long tongs to turn beans over while cooking so that they do not burn.
12. If beans are particularly thick, add two tablespoons of water to pan and cover skillet for a couple of minutes to steam-cook beans to desired tenderness. Do not overcook, as beans will go back in the pan briefly later.
13. Remove beans from pan.
14. Add two more tablespoons of oil to pan. Add chicken and stir to separate pieces.
15. When chicken is cooked (turns from pink to white), add prepared stir fry sauce and stir. Sauce will quickly turn from milky light brown to glossy dark brown as it cooks.
16. Add string beans and stir to combine. Add dash of sesame oil if desired.
17. Remove chicken and string beans to serving dish.
18. Serve over rice.

 Served 2

I wanted to try for the whole Asian experience and decided to make a quick fried rice instead of serving over plain white rice. I just fried the rice in a wok with soy sauce and egg.

This meal was actually pretty tasty!! I plan to make this again with the ginger and the sesame oil! Looked great on my Asian style plates.