Bourbon Chicken

I made this a couple months ago, and while planning my menu this week remembered it and then remember I hadn't blogged about it. Then while cleaning out my email, I realized I had taken pictures (which is rare for me) so I figured it was a good time to share this.

Don't be scared by the title, this is Bourbon-less Bourbon Chicken. No alcohol. But super duper good. I was really impressed by it. You can find the original recipe here that includes cooking pictures, but I changed the recipe a little, so here is my recipe of it.

Bourbon Chicken
2 lbs. B.S. chicken breasts - Cooked and shredded
1 garlic clove, minced (fresh or dehydrated)
1/2 tsp. ginger
3/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup brown sugar (the recipe called for light, but I only had dark, so either works)
2 TBS. ketchup
1 TBS. cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce

Cook chicken how ever you prefer - cut into pieces and fry in olive oil. Bake. Crock pot. Boil. Just cook and shred. (I prefer to boil it, and then shred it, then I continued the recipe in the crock pot, I thought that way it would really soak up the flavor - I ALSO doubled the sauce recipe for extra juicy flavor. I would suggest if you are using more than 2-3 chicken breasts that you double the sauce.)

The fast was to cook this is to combine remaining ingredients. Heat and stir over medium heat until well mixed. Add chicken and bring to a hard boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes. Serve over hot rice, in a lettuce wrap, on a salad, etc.

You can also cook your chicken in the crock pot, shred it...put it back in. On the stove, make the sauce and pour it in the crock pot over the chicken. Leave the crock pot on to keep everything warm.

No matter which way you cook it, it turns out great. The recipe made enough for our small family to enjoy it a couple of different times. We decided to try different stuff each time. The first night we served it over rice:

The second night we had lettuce wraps with the left over rice. Green leaf lettuce, rice, chicken and avocado (cuz I love them) and a splash of soy sauce. My husband likes his food spicy so he added cayenne pepper to his.

The third night we used the remaining chicken for salads. Green leaf & ice berg lettuce, carrots, chicken, avocado, and cubed cheese. No dressing needed! Super yummy!

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Like my last post, I mentioned that crusts just don't work for me. There are 3 things in the cooking world that I don't do very well. Crusts, yeast for breads, and corn starch. For some reason, those things hate me when I cook with them. The cornstarch is a big reason I've never attempted Sweet & Sour Chicken before. Most of the recipes I've looked at call for it in the sauce, so I never made them. I did some digging and found some recipes, then made up my own recipe from those. Now, I know what you're thinking, you're not going to try this recipe because it's an experiment; experiments in my house growing up were always a little scary. But I promise this one is good. I didn't make up everything, I combined about 5 different recipes, and added my own flare. Try it, it's now become a staple in our house!

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Chicken Breast (usually one per person that you are serving)
Olive Oil
1 can Pineapple chunks
Veggies (Carrots, Onion, Bell pepper, celery, water chestnuts, garlic - anything you want)
Minced garlic - optional
Minced onion - optional

Sauce:
1 cup sugar
pineapple juice from can
1/8 - 1/4 cup white or rice vinegar
1 cup ketchup
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey - optional

Cut up veggies into bite size pieces (not minced, good size: bell pepper or onion 1 inch x 1 inch squares, carrots sliced about the thickness of two quarters together) and set aside. Cut up chicken into bite size pieces. Cook chicken in skillet with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil until done. Remove from pan. Cook veggies in the pan with remaining olive oil or add a small amount of oil to coat veggies, cook for about 5minutes covered, until just tender (don't over cook, you want them a little crunchy). Remove from pan. While cooking chicken and veggies, combine sauce ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a low boil, then reduce heat to keep warm. (**Add vinegar slowly, it can over power the sauce - so if you tend to like vinegar add the full amount, if not add less. Although, tasting the sauce doesn't give an accurate taste because baking it changes the flavor. Trust the recipe, it will turn out good.) Place cooked chicken, cooked veggies, and pineapple in a 9x9 or 9x13 pan (depending on the amount of chicken cooked) and pour sweet and sour sauce over the top. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Serve over rice.

*I know there aren't measurements for the chicken and veggies, but it's all about what you like. The last time I made this, I used 3 chicken breasts, 4 carrots and a small bell pepper. After I cooked it, I thought it could've used a few more veggies. Next time, more carrots, celery, and a little more pepper, maybe red and orange for more color. I didn't use raw onion because I don't care for it, so I did a tbsp of the minced onion along with a tbsp of minced garlic. Go wild!

**A lot of the recipes I found called for coating in the chicken in egg (or milk) and then dredging it in flour followed by deep frying it. I cut out that step to save on calories, but feel free to add in that step. With keeping leftovers in mind though, flour coated chicken doesn’t warm up well the next day, it tends to be mushy. As where pan cooked chicken with a little olive oil warms up great. We had this for leftovers twice and each time it was fantastic!

Spam, Eggs & Rice

This is one of Bo's favorite things that I make. I learned it from my friend Shawna. She laughed when she heard that we make it frequently. It's a nice, quick meal, that's relatively cheap for those times when you are straped by your budget.

Spam, Eggs & Rice
1 Can of Spam
2 cups of uncooked minute Rice
6-9 eggs (depending on how "eggy" you want it)
3-4 tbsp. Oil (I use olive oil)

Cook rice according to instructions on the box. Set aside. Cube Spam.

Crack eggs & beat. Heat oil in a large pan and scramble eggs. When the eggs are still soft and semi runny add spam to heat it. When eggs are cooked add cooked rice and mix well breaking up any large pieces of egg. Serve with Soy sauce.

*This really is just a version of fried rice, except the rice isn't fried. Healthier, maybe? Okay, maybe not with how unhealthy spam is... :)

**If you don't like spam, you could use cubed ham.

Bo likes his with soy sauce and a little cayenne pepper, I stick with just soy sauce. My 3-year old even likes it.