d's delights- cooking and crafts

Blue Ribbon Blackberry BBQ Sauce Here is a sauce that’s great for grilled chicken.   Rob liked this, as it wasn’t spicy and had just enough sweet tang to it.   I put aside 3 small ½ cup baggies to freeze and use again later. 2 tsp oil ¼ Cup finely chopped onion 1 1/2 C ketchup  1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons orange juice 12 oz blackberry jam (seedless) 1 tsp Dijon mustard 2 tsp orange zest Cook the onion on the oil for a few minutes.   Add in the other ingredients.   Bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes.   Brush the sauce on the chicken after it has been browned on each side.

Lemon Chicken with Cucumber Salsa This is a great meal for Spring or Summer.  My husband even likes to eat the cucumber salsa!!!  Chicken Breasts ___ 2 lemons (zest about a tablespoon and juice 1/2 C) 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped or minced 2 Tablespoons olive oil (or canola) 2 Tsp Dried Oregano 1Tsp Paprika 1/2 Tsp Salt 1/4 Tsp Black Pepper ___ 1/2 Medium cucumber (I use the English kind) 2 Tbs Chopped Red Onion 1/4 C Chopped Red Bell Pepper Marinade/Dressing Mix lemon zest, juice, garlic, oil and spices. Reserve 2 Tbs for the vegetables. Marinade Chicken in dressing. Grill chicken, mix vegetables with reserved marinade.

Here's a quick and easy marinade for kebabs. You can use pork or chicken tenderloins. You can put whatever else you like in your kebabs. We like red, orange and yellow peppers, but you could use green peppers, onions, pineapple... You don't have to let it marinade for very long. The time it would take you to prep the other ingredients is sufficient. 1/4 Cup Honey 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce 1/2 Tsp Parlic Powder 1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger 1/2 Tsp Ground Mustard This is good for 1-2 lbs of meat. Cut your meat into desired chunks and mix the chunks in the marinade.  Put on a skewer as desired, grill on the grill. Serve with rice!

Curried Chicken Salad 1 ½ C Mayonnaise 1 Tbs Curry Powder ½ Tsp Ground Ginger 3 Chicken Breasts, cooked, shredded* 3 stalks celery, chopped ½ small red onion, chopped ¼ C (A handful) chopped fresh cilantro   Mix mayo, curry and ginger in a small bowl. Put chicken, celery, onion and cilantro in a big bowl. Add mayo mixture and mix until evenly spread.   This is definitely not your momma’s chicken salad! I found this in a South Beach Diet cookbook.   Instead of the mayo, it had yogurt. I remember trying it that way, and thinking it was ok, but not what I wanted.   So, I thought I would reboot it with mayonnaise instead.   I love the nutty flavor of the curry and celery!   It might be nice to add some crunchy almond on top.   I could even see adding some dried apricot…or cherries? *I cooked my chicken in the crock pot with a little salt and pepper so it would cook while I was away.   You could also boil or bake...

Family Holiday Favorites- Part One: Stuffing and Chicken Casserole Around this time of year, many people ask what some of your family’s favorite go-to holiday dishes are.   Well, here’s the first of two that it seems my family can’t do without this time of year. Stuffing and Chicken Casserole 2 Boxes of Stove Stop Stuffing- Chicken Flavor 2 Sticks of Butter/Margarine 6-8 Boneless Chicken Breasts 2 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup 16 oz. Sour Cream 2 Cups of Chicken Broth 1 Medium Chopped Onion Boil chicken in water.   Shred the chicken and add the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and chopped onion. Melt one stuck of butter/margarine and mix with one box of the stuffing and seasonings.   Put on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Put the chicken mixture on top of bottom layer. Melt the other stick of butter/margarine and mix with second stuffing box.   Put on top of the chicken mixture layer.   Pour the chicken broth over casserole.   L...

Chicken on a Stick Here is a little recipe for a  kebab -style chicken.  I first made this in May of 2004- 10 years ago!  I remember making it for guests, and it being well received.  My husband liked it too. Marinade: 2 Tbs Canola Oil 2 Tbs Lemon Juice (or Juice of one lemon) 2 Tbs Soy Sauce 4 Garlic Cloves, minced 2 Teaspoons Honey 1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin 1 Teaspoon Ground Coriander 1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger 1 Pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut in strips or Chicken Tenderloins Marinate chicken 3-4 hours.  Put the chicken on a skewer, either with vegetables or without, and grill until done. Note-  I made this without the coriander because I  didn't  have any and it was still good.  So, if you don’t have any of that, don’t worry.  You could probably use orange juice or lime juice of you didn't have lemon juice.  Just “eyeball” the ingredients.   

  Dijon Chicken Salad A friend of mine, Amy Beach, started a Facebook status asking where she could get a good chicken salad. That made me want to dig up this recipe... Tomato and Red Pepper Soup and Dijon Chicken Salad on Toast  My recipe record keeping started in 2002, when I was a fledgling single girl trying to learn how to actually cook- and not buy and eat stuff from a box!  This recipe was marked May 30. 2003 and was in my very first recipe journal! Ingredients: 4 Cups Cubed Cooked Chicken (You can bake or boil and you can shred instead) 1 Cup Chopped Celery (3 Ribs-ish) 1 Cup Green Seedless Grapes, halved (This is a little tedious, I’ll admit) 1 Cup Red Seedless Grapes, halved ¼ C Dried Apricots, chopped (also tedious…) ¼ C Green Onions, Chopped ¾ C Mayonnaise 2 Tbs Honey 1 Tbs Dijon Mustard ½ Tsp Salt 1/8 Tsp Pepper Optional: ½ C Sliced Almonds- or another of your favorite nut. Add the chicken, celery, grapes, apr...

My Husband’s A Lot Like Popeye… or “How I got my husband to eat some vegetables” Rob has always said that he liked spinach-   like the kind Popeye ate, you know slopped straight from the can.   So, I figured there HAD to be a way for me to get him to eat spinach that was well, really good.   I found this recipe in my Taste of Home cookbook (which my husband DID get for me as a Christmas present one year)   I thought that this couldn’t be too bad because he does like red peppers and onions too.   I also made a new chicken recipe to pair with this.   Of course, I let him have his favorite kind of rice too. (Well, it’s actually a rice and pasta blend)   Sautéed Spinach and Peppers Ingredients:                1 Large Pepper, coarsely chopped                1 Tbs olive oil     ...

Memorial Day Grilling! We got a new grill!   Our old one had paid its dues and had worked quite hard for me since 2003…   This one has a side burner and a rack, which is cool. Aside from the frozen hamburgers we can throw on the grill at a whim, (we found our favorite at GFS) we can also grill veggies and toast the buns AND cook up the rice on the burner! One of my favorite things to do on the grill is to make kabobs!   So, here is my recipe for a marinade.   You can use pork medallions or chicken.   I use red, yellow, orange, green peppers, onions, tomatoes on the skewer as well.   Whatever you’ve got or whatever you like.   ¼ C Honey ¼ C Brown Sugar ¼ C Soy Sauce ½ tsp garlic powder ½ tsp ground ginger ½ tsp ground mustard Marinate meat in the mixture, then put on skewers, alternating the meat and veggies as you please.   (You may want to brush the veggies with some oil.) Grill, serve with rice!

Tis the season …for crock pot meals! It’s definitely that time of year when it gets to be time to stay inside and make those dinners in the crock pot! A few weeks back, I found a pin about making pre-made frozen meals to throw in the crock pot.   I decided to try a couple.   The ones that I thought my husband would find the most palatable were:   teriyaki chicken and bbq chicken (which, btw imho tasted nothing like bbq and would, in the future, call it “Italian”) I made them both and they were quite easy and good.   I also made another crock pot meal that the hubby liked.   Here are my recipes: Teryaki Chicken Split between 2 bags: 4-6 Carrots (you can use a bag of baby carrots, but I don’t like the way they taste when cooked.) Red Onion, cut into chunks 1 20 oz can Pineapple chunks 4 garlic cloves, chopped 4 chicken breasts 1 C teriyaki sauce (1/2 C per bag) Freeze the bags, and when you are ready to use them, thaw them out a bit by gettin...

One of the challenges that have faced me since getting married has been trying to make healthy meals for myself and my husband.   Because a lot of the core of my work is done in the evenings, it leaves little time to give some good thought to making nutritious and delicious meals that we will both eat.   You see, my husband is somewhat of a finicky eater… and it is hard to put a finger on what he will and will not eat!   For instance,he won’t eat soups or stews, but he will eat beef and noodles and mushrooms.   He won’t eat cheese on his hamburger, but he will eat pizza… And the big one that all of his friends and family like to give him a hard time about… he will not pour milk over his cereal.   He has a glass of milk beside his dry Cheerios.   I tell you this not to make my husband feel bad about his weird eating preferences (He could survive a week on ham sandwiches, chicken patties and frozen pizza) but to give you an idea of what I am dealing with. ...

Today’s recipe comes from Friend, and D’s Delights Blog Follower, Mandy Valentine.   I was going to make chicken tonight, so I decided to try her recipe! Here is what she wrote: “I use a marinade of 1/2 c balsamic, 1/4 c Dijon mustard,1/4 c olive oil, 1/2 t garlic powder & the juice of one lemon, salt 7pepper. Put it all in a bi gbaggie with the chicken breasts. Let breasts marinade at least 3 hrs. Dump thewhole thing in a baking dish - reduce leftover marinade and use it as a sauce on the chicken. Yum. ” She said toheat the oven to 350 and cook for 30-40 minutes. It was pretty easy to put together, and I do like baking meat because it’s the kind of thing you can put in and go do something else for a while.   I wound up cooking it for about 40minutes.   Husband says it’s “Excellent!”   He took the last piece, which is always agood sign! I have to confess, my taste buds are a little weak lately from allergies and being all stuffy and runny… From what I ca...

Foolproof Balsamic Chicken Here is another basic recipe that if you like chicken, youshould be able to do!   I don’t even use any sort of recipe or measurements with this.   The balsamic vinegar makes it very tender and gives it a rich caramel color. Take your chicken breasts… butterfly them.   (cut them in half so they are not as thick) Put a little salt and pepper on them. Sprinkle some balsamic vinegar on them. Put a little olive oil in the pan (“twice around the pan” in  Rachael Ray Speak ) Put them in the pan (cut side down) medium high Brown on each side for a few minutes (3-4) Add a little water to the pan (maybe ¼ C –ish) Cover, lower temp and let it cook down.   Add a little more water if you don’t think it’sdone… you can check by cutting into it to see if it’s still pink or use a meatthermometer. When the water cooks down,    start to rub the chicken around the pan.   It will pick up the glaze from the pan.   This...

Yep, it’s getting to be that time of year… Chili Time !   I love Chili- as long as it’s not overly spicy.   Unfortunately, my husband will not eat anything with beans in it, so I’m on my own here.   Here are a couple of chili/"stoup" recipes that you can make up and freeze for later if you like.   White Chili Crock Pot Meal! 1 lb Great Northern Beans (I used 2 cans) 1 Medium Onion, chopped 3 Cloves og Garlic, minced 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp dried oregano ½ tsp cayenne pepper (use more if you like it spicy) ½ tsp Salt 2 lb Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts 1 14 Oz Can Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth 1 C Water Cut up chicken in small pieces and brown in a pan. Add all ingredients into the crock pot. Cook on Low 10-12 hrs, High 6-8 hrs ____________________________________________________________ Taco Stoup (This is from Rachael Ray) 1 ½ Lb Ground Sirloin 1 Tbs Cumin 1 Tbs Ground Coriander 1 Tbs Chili Powder (I ALWAYS use less… more like...

For some people who might be beginning cooks-or for those who have never really taken the time to cook anything that doesn’t come from a box and with instructions, I will be glad to show you some simple and yummy basics- stuff that you won’t even need to have a recipe for. Some people are afraid of cooking meat-   I know I was at first.   I started off only cooking ground beef!   Here is something easy and fairly quick that you can do with chicken. I buy chicken breasts.   That way, I don’t have to mess with bones etc.   It is also the healthier part of the meat.   You can get them in big bags, frozen, or in smaller packages in the meat section not frozen.   If you have frozen ones, you should thaw them out a bit.   These days, you can do it in a microwave!   Check your settings. After you thaw them, if they are thick, cut them in half.   You can leave them partially connected, and just flay them out.   I don’t k...