Chicken Kebabs...YUMMY!!

These Grilled Chicken Kebabs are awesome! The marinade is perfect and I love that you marinate the veggies too. It really adds some amazing flavor:) I got this recipe here from The Crepes of Wrath. I made these in April and then again for company this weekend and they were a hit!

Chicken Kebabs
from Vanilla Sugar

Marinade
½ cup orange juice
½ cup pineapple juice
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, (about 3 – 4 limes)
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

For the kebabs
4 – 6 skewers, 10- to 12-inch
2 chicken breasts (at least 1 pound), cut into bite-sized pieces (remember, they still need to be big enough to put on skewers!)
2 zucchini squash (cubed, but big enough to put on the skewers)
1 yellow or white or red onion (chopped into large-ish pieces)
1 red bell pepper (chopped into large-ish pieces)

• To prepare the marinade, whisk together the orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, cumin and pepper in a large bowl until well blended. Set aside.
• Use heavy duty plastic bags for marinating. Place all of the chopped up vegetables into one or two bags, depending on how big the bags are. Marinate your chicken in a separate bag. Divide the marinade equally among the bags, seal, and marinate in the refrigerator, turning the bag occasionally, for about 3 hours, or overnight (you can do as little as 30 minutes if you’re really in a pinch).
• Soak wooden skewers in water to cover for at least one hour before grilling.
• Assemble the skewers as you like. I did a piece of chicken, 2 or 3 pieces of vegetables, then chicken, then 3 vegetables, etc.
• Throw away the marinade.
• Preheat the grill to 375 degrees F (a medium-hot fire). Grill the chicken until just cooked through and slightly charred, turning often, about 8 – 10 minutes.

Super Yummy Aussie Chicken

I made this for the second time last night...Dave calls it "The best chicken he has ever had" :) I found the recipe on Happy to be at Home website. I followed it exactly as written, except I added a little more mayo to the honey mustard sauce than it calls for. I also didn't have onion flakes so I used a little onion powder. Other than that no modifications and it was awesome!

Here is the recipe with my slight modifications:

Aussie Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

2 teaspoons seasoning salt

6 slices bacon, cut in half

1/4 cup prepared mustard

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon reserved bacon grease

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

Directions

1. Rub the chicken breasts with the seasoning salt, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet.
4. Cook over medium high heat until crisp; set aside.
5. In a medium bowl, combine the mustard, honey, mayonnaise and dried onion flakes.
6. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
7. Place the breasts in the skillet and saute for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until browned.
8. Remove from skillet and place the breasts into a 9×13 inch baking dish.
9. Apply the honey mustard sauce to each breast, then layer each breast with mushrooms and bacon.
10. Sprinkle top with shredded cheese.
11. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and chicken is done.

On the side I made some Garlic and Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes. I was inspired by this recipe on Andrea's Recipes blog but I made a few changes. See the recipe I followed below:

Garlic and Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes
2-3 pounds Russet potatoes peeled, and cut into quarters
5 cloves garlic, peeled
water
1 teaspoon sea salt salt
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
½ teaspoon dried parsley

¼ teaspoon pepper

Preparation

1. In the 3-quart pot, cover the potatoes and garlic with water, add salt, and bring to a boil. Boil for about 30-35 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain.

2. Pour potatoes and garlic back into 3-quart pot. Put burner on low and whip potatoes and garlic briefly with the hand mixer.

3. Next use a spoon to stir in the, then add the sour cream and Parmesan cheese. Whip until desired consistency with the hand mixer; lastly stir in the thyme, parsley, and pepper.

And I leave you today with a picture of Winston snuggling with my How to Cook Everything cookbook. I hope he is learning by Osmosis and coming up with a good recipe! ;)

Chicken and Dumplings

Well here is my first post on this good old (well new) blog. Last night I made Rachel Ray's Recipe for Chicken and Dumplings (with a few slight modifications). I persevered through Dave's attempts to convince me to switch up the weekly menu and make a different item that was listed. I was really in the mood for this comfort food classic so I made the authoritative decision that we were sticking with the original plan! I mean who doesn't like Chicken and Dumplings anyway!!!??

When I read the recipe I was unsure as to whether or not you were supposed to cook the diced chicken first or add it raw. I decided to be risky and just go ahead and add it raw since the mixture I was pouring it into was boiling. I diced the chicken first before chopping any vegetables. I cut it up into very small pieces so they would could quickly. I then put all of the pieces in a bowl and sprinkled the raw meat with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder mixing it all together with a spoon to disperse over the meat. Another modification was that I used the Bisquick biscuit mix (adding in dried parsley and garlic powder) rather than the Jiffy box mix. They were just as tasty! Lastly I poured in about half a cup of half and half at the very very end...because you know, why not! :) It was super yummy and will be added to my file of super yummy recipes (as opposed to my other files which contain "not so yummy" and "kinda yummy" recipes...although I'm not even sure why I'm keeping a "not so yummy" file...hmm I may need to eliminate that one!) Here is a picture (I didn't take any last night!) I took with my iphone of the leftovers I ate for lunch today -- They reheated VERY nicely...even if the picture isn't quite so nice:)

So without further ado...the recipe (with my modifications)

Chicken and Dumplings

• 1 and 1/2 pounds chicken breasts (you could get away with just 1 pound, there was A LOT of chicken)--sprinkled with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablesppons butter
• 1 russet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 rib celery, diced
• 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 2 tablesppons flour
• 1 quart chicken broth or stock (I used Kitchen Basics and it was good)
• Bisquick mix (follow directions on box and add some dried or fresh parsley flakes and garlic powder
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup half and half

Directions

• Dice chicken into very small bite size pieces, sprinkle with seasonings and set aside. Wash hands
• Place a large pot on stove over medium high heat. Add oil, butter, vegetables and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently
• Season mixture with salt, pepper and poutry seasoning. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Stir broth or stock into the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir
• Place biscuit mix in bowl and complete as directed on box (add in parsley and garlic powder too). Drop tablespponfuls (or smaller-I like my dumplings more bite sized) of prepared mix into the pot, spacing dumplings evenly. Cover pot tightly and reduce heat to medium low. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to think sauce a bit. Stir peas into the pan and then add the half and half. Remove from heat and serve in shallow bowls