chicken with bok choy rice

Serves 4.

Slice boneless, skinless chicken breasts into long strips.

Place in large skillet.

Add water to a depth of about 2 inches.

Simmer until the chicken is cooked through. (No pink interior color. Replenish simmering water, if need be.)

While the chicken is simmering:


In a saucepan, place:
1 and 1/2 cups rice
3 cups water
1 baby bok choy, diced

Cover saucepan.

Simmer rice and bokchoy until all the water is absorbed.

Serve rice onto plates.

Arrange hot chicken strips on top.

Mandarin oranges make a good accompaniment.

***

Review:

3 forks
The diners ate and were satisfied, but menu did not elicit extraordinary enthusiasm. Maybe because bok choy is not a familiar vegetable in this setting . . . ?

cucumber wrap

Hooray for Boo!

She prepared this easy summer entree for us

the afternoon our air conditioning quit.

For each serving:

• Put large flour tortilla on plate.

• Cover with fresh spinach leaves.

• Layer a slice of chicken deli meat on top of spinach leaves. (Omit if preparing vegetarian version.)

• Cover chicken sliced meat with thick layer of diced cucumber.

• Season with Ranch salad dressing and Parmesan cheese

Guten Appetit!

***

Review

3.5 forks for presentation
3.5 forks for flavor

Stuffed chicken roll

An elegant chicken breast stuffed with Provolone cheese and pecans:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

For 4 servings:

• Buy 2 halves boneless, skinless chicken. (I bought fresh chicken breast from Hy-Vee grocery store which had been pre-seasoned with tomato, basil and garlic.)

• Slice each chicken breast half horizontally into thinner halves. I ended up with 4 thin halves of chicken breast.

• Flatten each thin piece further by placing it loosely inside a piece of Cling Wrap and rolling with a rolling pin.

• Take each flattened piece of chicken breast out of the Cling Wrap and place on plate.

• Put 1 piece of Provolone cheese on the chicken breast.

• Sprinkle a few pecans on top pf the cheese.

• Roll up the chicken breast with filling.

• Secure with a toothpick.

• Place the rolled chicken breasts in a shallow baking dish.

• Add about 1 cup water and 2 cups fresh celery.

• Cover with foil and cook in preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven 45 minutes or until done.

***

Review:

4 forks for unusual and enjoyable to make
3 forks for flavor (my diners aren't into unusual-looking cooking. They tended to not eat the filling because they didn't know what it was.)
4 forks for presentation

chicken Tchaikovsky sandwich

Chicken Tchaikovsky Sandwiches are the perfect complement to Asparagus Soup (see my last post).

Recipe:

Chop or shred:

cold, cooked skinless boneless chicken
(1/2 chicken breast per sandwich)

Mix with:
chopped dill pickles
mustard

chopped pecans

Serve on whole-grain sandwich bread.

Best appreciated with good company and Tchaikovsky playing in the background.

Enjoy!!

allspice cinnamon chicken

Faced with the necessity of cooking something in the kitchen while generating graphic designs in the basement, I opted for a throw-together-and-forget-about-it baked chicken.

Simple.

For 6 smallish summertime appetites (each serving = 1/2 chicken breast).

Put in a baking pan --

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

cover with

• orange juice

sprinkle generously with

• cinnamon and pumpkin pie seasoning (or allspice)
  

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit one hour or more.

Baked plum chicken delicious!

We just had our first meal of Baked plum chicken. It is really good!

I accidentally cooked it longer than I had intended -- about one and a half hours. Tasted great!

Everyone had seconds and there was concern that leftovers be available for snacking later.

***

Review:

5 forks for flavor

Baked plum chicken -- In the works*

*"In the works" recipes are dishes I just made up and am cooking right now--

even as I write this blog entry.

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Half the fun of cooking is that delightful feeling of not knowing (yet) if a newly devised dish will work!

I just assembled something that I think will be tasty. It is baking right now, so here is how it is made:

• In a 9 x 13" baking dish, place:

2 pounds chicken breast, boneless and skinless (They were on sale this week!)
1 1/2 cups white rice
3 cups water
1 boy choy stalk, finely sliced
6 or 8 prunes, sliced
1 tablespoon butter or oil (omit if the chicken breast has skin)


My dilemma with this concoction was how to season it. I got out the curry powder and rediscovered the good old poultry seasoning. Opened each container and reminded myself of the flavors. Hmmmmmmmm . . . They both smell good!

I opted for the poultry seasoning this time because I think it will go with the prunes/plums better than curry powder. Maybe I will try this recipe next time with curry powder instead.

• Sprinkle with poultry seasoning.

• Bake at 350 degrees F for about an hour.

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(You can tell it is done when the chicken is not
pink inside and the rice has absorbed all the liquid.)

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I will keep you posted when I find out if the resulting meal is a success or not!