Quick Chicken Cacciatore

This is a great, quick dinner that you can make in 20 minutes. Use pre-cooked, cubed chicken or you can saute your own. If you use your own, cut up the chicken while still a little frozen; it's easier that way. Cook it for about 10 minutes, until it's not pink. You can substitute any vegetable that you like in this recipe; be flexible.

Chicken Cacciatore

1/3 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 pound chicken meat, cooked and cubed
1 can peeled tomatoes
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (I use broccoli stir fry)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Grated Parmesan to taste



In a large skillet, saute onion, garlic and bell pepper until soft. Add chicken, then stir in tomatoes, vegetables, and oregano.
Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and serve hot. Top with grated Parmesan and serve over noodles or rice if you prefer.

Quick Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry

This is a great meal when you're too tired to cook for long and you don't want to order take-out. Substitute tofu, pork, beef, or fish for the chicken if you wish. It's great either way.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Black pepper to taste
2 cups white or brown rice, cooked


Stir-fry onions with broccoli in olive oil. Add chicken along with the minced garlic and ginger. When almost done, add half cup of water, two tablespoons soy sauce and plenty of black pepper. Heat through and serve over the rice.

Ten Minute Meals - Honeyed Chicken Salad

I've come home from work many a night, exhausted, not wanting to cook, so I've come up with the ten minute meal. I can't abide terrible food, so it must taste good, and be quick. This Honeyed Chicken Salad is terrific on a whole grain roll, or to top a spinach salad. It's got a little zip to it -- the balsamic vinegar is a wonderful counterpoint to the sweetness of the honey.

Use leftover chicken breast for this, or buy and keep on hand cubed chicken. I add pecans, and grapes to this, but have been known to substitute chopped apples on occasion. Experiment. It's your recipe, do it the way you want to.

Try to use local honey if you can; if you have allergies, it's a good way to desensitize yourself to the local pollens. And by the way, babies under one year of age should never eat honey. Although honey is a natural, healthy food that cannot support bacterial life, it's important to note that it can carry C. botulinum spores which may be harmful to the undeveloped immune systems of infants.

Honeyed Chicken Salad

2 chicken breast, cut in bite-sized pieces
1 rib celery, chopped very fine
2 tbsp. onion, chopped very fine
2 tbsp. chopped pecans
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
1 cup sliced seedless grapes
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Mix it well. It's even better the next day.

Enjoy!

Roast Chicken or Turkey

Perfect Roast Chicken or Turkey
One chicken or turkey, any size (if you have brined your fowl, no salt is required in the seasoning of your bird. If you salt it after brining, it will be too much)
Olive oil
Onion, quartered
Carrot, unpeeled, chopped roughly
2 or 3 garlic cloves, whole
Dried parsley or fresh, chopped roughly
Dried thyme or fresh, chopped roughly
Butter, room temperature




Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Add thyme and parsley to room temperature butter and stir together.

Rub fowl with olive oil all over and place herbed butter under the skin, especially on breast area.

Season the cavity with herbed butter or just herbs, and stuff with onion, garlic and carrots.

Place breast side down in a large roasting pan. I know most people will tell you breast up, but this will result in a much juicier breast. The last twenty minutes of roasting you can turn it over to crisp up the breast skin. Alternatively, you can use one of those roasting bags, and there will be no turning required.

Roast for 20 minutes per pound, or until fowl is golden brown and tender and juices run clear.

That's it. It's that simple, and it's good.

Brining Chicken or Turkey Before Roasting for more flavorful, juicier meat

Brining will provide juicier and more flavorful meat. Chickens or turkeys you buy in the store don't have the flavor those old barnyard chickens used to have, so brining is a perfect way to add in the flavor.

The brining process forces water into the muscle tissues of the meat by a process known as diffusion and osmosis. The additional moisture causes the muscle tissues to swell and hold more water, and will make the meat more moist and tender. Any spices, herbs, or other flavorings you add to the brine solution will get taken deep into the meat along with the water.

The brining mixture and the chicken are placed in a large pot and stored in the refrigerator during the brining process, or alternatively, you can put it in a cooler and close the lid. Leave the chicken or turkey to soak for approximately one hour per pound. If your chicken or turkey is large and needs to soak a while and you're using the cooler, you can add ice periodically or use those blue ice thingies in the water. But I recommend using the pan in the refrigerator. Keep the fowl down in the water by weighting it with a brick or a plate or anything heavy in a freezer bag (or just turn it over once in a while).

Be sure to rinse well before cooking.


Perfect Brining Recipe

1 gallon water

3/4 cup kosher salt

2/3 cup sugar (only if grilling, frying, or broiling the chicken or turkey, not if you're roasting. See note below.)

3/4 cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon each of dried tarragon, thyme, black pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

Start by boiling the water and then adding the salt and sugar, so that it will dissolve easier. Then add the spices to the hot liquid so that the flavors are extracted. Cool the brine solution.


**If you're going to broil, grill, or fry the turkey or chicken, you can add sugar in amounts equal to the salt. Sugar, in the brining solution, will add flavor to the chicken and will improve the natural caramelized flavor that occurs when the meat is grilled or fried. Don't use it if you're roasting, if the pan drippings are going to be used for making gravy, or if you're cooking any vegetables in with the fowl, adding sugar to the brining solution may result in gravy and vegetables that are too sweet.