MOIST CHICKEN TRICK

I've learned a lot of techniques lately while trying new dishes. These techniques have made a big  improvement on some regular dishes. Here are a few I tricks I learned back in May when I started cooking authentic Chinese and Korean dishes.

For years, I have never liked cooking chicken on the stove top because it always turned out dry. I usually coat the chicken in bread crumbs and pop it in the oven to back but I learned a great way to keep chicken moist and tender when cooking it on the stove top. 

Coat your chicken breast with cornstarch before frying it. This keeps the moisture in the chicken so the chicken will be tender and moist when you're done.

Here I cut up two and a half chicken breasts and added seasonings to them before placing them in the bowl.  I then sprinkled between 2 and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch on top of the chicken breast and then mixed until the breasts pieces are coated. I used my hands for the mixing but you can use a spatula. Start out using only 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. You can always add more and you would be surprised how little you need to coat the chicken. 

Tip 1)  I added about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and then when it was hot, I placed the chicken breast in the pan. Place them in the pan like you place bacon strips in a pan for cooking. They can be next to each other but not on top of each other. Sometimes I need to cook more than one batch of chicken.  I cooked my chicken on medium heat.

Tip 2)  Another tip I learned recently is to NOT try to turn your meat (chicken or beef) for a few minutes. If you go to turn it and it sticks to the pan, that means it's still cooking on that side. Meat is easy to lift up and turn if it's totally cooked on one side.

I added more spices and a little salt along with fresh sliced green onions while the chicken was cooking. 

From the time I placed the chicken in the pan until it was finished cooking was about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Tip 3) I always take the biggest chunk of meat out when I cook and try to use a wooden spoon to break it in half. If the meat is done all the way through, it will break apart easily.

Here is the finished chicken breast and you can see how moist and tender it is.

I hope these hints help and thanks for stopping by today. If you try any of the recipes from my blog, let me know how it turned out. :)

PEANUT BUTTER PIE

This is a great easy dessert that only takes a few minutes to put together and is a hit with the family. You can ask mine if you don't believe me.

Ingredients: 

Ready made graham cracker pie crust

1 - 8 ounce cream cheese (softened)

1 cup creamy peanut butter (You can add extra 1/2 cup peanut butter if you want a more peanut buttery taste)

1 1/4 cup powder sugar

1 - 8 ounce container of Cool Whip (thawed)

Recipe:

In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, mix together the cream cheese and peanut butter.  

Add in the powder sugar and continue to mix

Finally, add the Cool Whip and continue to mix until blended and smooth

Pour mixture into the graham cracker pie crust and put into the refrigerator until chilled

To add an extra touch, shave dark chocolate on top or sprinkle dark chocolate chocolate chips on top.

Simple but Excellent Basic Crepe Recipe

This recipe is from allrecipes.com and submitted by Jennyc819
I have to say the first time I made this, I had clumps so I tried some different ways and this is the one that worked. I got this idea from the comments of others who had tried the recipe.

First time I made this recipe I used by stand mixer. I was getting the water and milk measured out while the mixer was mixing the eggs and flour mixture together. By the time I got back to the stand mixture, I had a clump of dough. The milk and water thinned it out but I had lots of little clumps in the final mixture.

A reviewer said to add the eggs to the milk and water and sift the flour mixture into it. This was what I did for my second attempt. It was perfect!



Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

TERIYAKI PINEAPPLE CHICKEN

I saw a teriyaki pineapple chicken recipe on line and thought it looked good, so I thought I would try it. The problem was that I couldn't find the exact recipe again. I thought I'll just give it a go on my own. This is what I came up with.

What you need:

2 to 3 boneless chicken breasts sliced into bite sized pieces

1- 8 ounce or bigger can of pineapple chunks with juice

1- 10 ounce bottle of  teriyaki marinade and sauce

1- bag of fresh stir fry vegetables

garlic powder to taste

pepper to taste

five spice to taste

cornstarch mixed with water 

Directions:

Cut chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and place them in a big bowl

Add pineapple juice from canned pineapples to bowl. Place pineapples chunks aside.

Add 1/2 bottle of teriyaki marinade and sauce to chicken

Add garlic powder, pepper, five spice to chicken and mix all well

Heat a skillet over medium low heat and add sesame oil

When the oil is hot, add the chicken and once it starts cooking add fresh vegetables and stir.

Pour in the rest of the bottle of teriyaki marinade and sauce (or you could use less if you like) and stir everything once again.

Put cover on top and let it cook until the chicken is cooked through - about 10 minutes.

Put the pineapple chunks in at the end and let them warm through.

Mix cornstarch with water

Push meat and veggies to the outer rim of the skillet and add the cornstarch to the sauce in the middle. 

Mix cornstarch with sauce until sauce thickens. If you need to add more cornstarch/water mixture to thicken sauce, do so until the sauce is the thickness you want it.

Mix chicken, veggies, pineapple and sauce together. 

Pour mixture over rice and serve.

Spaghetti Sauce

 A few years back I started making my own spaghetti sauce because I could add what I wanted and make it less sweet than jarred sauce.  Here is the simple recipe.

Recipe and directions:

1 pound hamburger

1 28 ounce canned crushed tomatoes (I use basil and garlic.)

1 6 ounce can tomato paste

1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce

1 container of mushrooms (I like portabella.)

3 cloves garlic or garlic powder to taste

1 tablespoon basil or Italian seasonings

pepper to taste

1/4 cup sugar (more or less to taste)

Brown the burger.

In a food processor, combine diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, mushrooms, garlic cloves, Italian seasons and pepper. Blend all ingredients. Slowly spread sugar over top of sauce and blend some more.

Poor sauce mixture over browned burger and let simmer for 20 minutes on medium low heat with cover on.

Cook your noodles while the sauce is simmering.