Island Ranch Chicken with Coconut Rice

Island Ranch Chicken is a prettier name than what this recipe was called when my mom found it.  It was named "Carl's Chicken."

Who is Carl?

I have no idea, but I love his chicken!


A lovely woman who used to be my neighbor, gave this recipe its new, improved name. And I'm keeping that name.


My mom used to serve this with plain rice, but I love the sweet taste of coconut rice.  Do whatever suits your tastes!


Yields 4 servings

Island Ranch Chicken
3-4 chicken breasts, frozen*
1 small jar apricot jam
1 packet onion soup mix
1 cup prepared ranch dressing**

Mix the apricot jam, onion soup, and ranch dressing together in a bowl.  Place the chicken on the bottom of 9X13 casserole dish, and pour the sauce over top.  Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 1 hour.

This can be done in the crock pot, which is how my mom used to cook it.  I don't really like cooking chicken in the crock pot as it tends to always be overcooked. I get much juicier results when I use the oven.

Sweet Coconut Rice
1 cup long grain, brown rice
1 12 oz can coconut water (I think it's more like 11.8 oz)***
4.2 oz water****
Salt, to taste
1 TB butter
1 green onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced

Combine everything in a rice cooker and let it do its magic!


*You can use fresh chicken if you prefer, but do not add extra water if you do. Decrease cooking time to 45 minutes.

**I make ranch dressing using dry ranch dressing mix, mayonnaise, and milk. Combine the ingredients together before adding to the other sauce ingredients.

***You can use coconut water with pulp or without pulp. It's all about preference.

****To get the right amount of liquid, I pour the can of coconut water into a measuring up, and then add water to make 2 cups. You want 2 cups of liquid for 1 cup of rice.

One Dish Chicken, Potatoes, and Vegetables

This is my go-to meal for a busy day when I don't feel like trying something new or putting a lot of work into dinner.

The chicken is juicy and flavorful. The potatoes soak up all the butter, seasoning, and chicken fat and they are delicious. The green beans are buttery and have the perfect texture.  It is delicious and simple, and it only takes about 5 minutes to throw together!

You could do this in the crock pot, but I think the chicken turns out better when it's done in the oven.  I hate overcooked chicken. Chicken jerky, yuck!

Yields 4 servings


Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts, frozen*
2-3 red skinned potatoes, washed
1 bag prepacked fresh green beans**
1 pkg Italian dressing seasoning packet, unprepared***
1 stick butter
Salt and pepper, to taste


Directions:
Slice the red potatoes thinly, or dice them into chunks. I prefer to run them through a mandolin on my thickest setting, giving me about 1/4 inch slices.  Place the potatoes on the bottom of a 9X13 casserole dish.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little bit of the Italian dressing packet.

Open the fresh green beans, sprinkle all of them on top of the potatoes.  Add salt, pepper, and a little more Italian dressing seasoning.

Place frozen chicken breasts on top of the green beans. Add more salt, pepper, and the rest of the Italian dressing seasoning packet. It may seem like a lot of seasoning, but remember that chicken is bland and potatoes are bland, and this is NOT too much seasoning. Trust me!

Cut the stick of butter into small cubes, and dot all over the pan.

Cover the pan with foil, and bake at 375 for 1 hour. Check to make sure chicken is cooked all the way through and the juices are clear before serving.



*You can also use fresh chicken breasts, and you do NOT need to add water. Simply decrease your cooking time by about 15 minutes.

**Other vegetables I have tried: broccoli, carrots. Any root vegetable will do!

***You can use a ranch dressing packet instead of Italian. It's still delicious, but Italian dressing adds a little more zest and interest to the flavors.

Orange Chicken

Hi friends!  I've been cooking a lot lately, I promise.  I just haven't been very good at taking pictures and posting the recipes.

Not that anyone really uses this website besides myself.

Anyway, today I want to share a treasure with you.  This was so delicious!  It's not comparable to the Orange Chicken at Panda Express, it has a completely different flavor.  But personally, I like this one better.  Goodbye, Panda Express!

Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken pieces (cut into 1-1/2” cubes). You can use whatever part of the chicken you like, I like chicken breast tenderloins or cutlets.
1 ½ cups flour
1 egg, beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Oil (for frying)
1 cup water
2 tablespoons FRESH orange juice (I used Simply Orange)
¼ cup FRESH lemon juice (I actually used Lime Juice Concentrate, since that's what I had on hand)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon orange zest (grated)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ginger root (minced)  (I used about 1/4 tsp ginger)
½ teaspoon garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons green onion (chopped)
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (I used 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 c. water

Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dip chicken in egg mixture and toss around in the flour mixture to coat. Deep fry chicken in batches until completely cooked.  I don't have a deep fryer, so I put about a half inch of oil in the bottom of a saute pan or a skillet and let it get hot.  Then I add the chicken pieces, turning when they're done on one side, using tongs, and removing when completely done.  It takes about 7-10 minutes for the first side, then 3-5 for the second.  Just watch it.  When it turns a golden brown color, it's right.

In a large saucepan combine 1 cup water, lemon juice, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes. Add brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic, and onion. Bring to a boil.

Combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. If you're using cayenne pepper, add it now.  If not, pour the sauce over the breaded chicken, and add red pepper flakes.  Throw on some green onions for a delicious garnish!

I served some brown rice on the side to soak up the extra sauce.  It was so delicious!  Seriously, make this tonight!

Glazed Chicken

This recipe was originally for Salmon, which is what I used when I tried it for the first time.  It was delicious!  But we hate fish.  So... chicken it is!

1/4 cup juice concentrate - any flavor will do.  I used cranberry-raspberry.
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons fruit preserves - I used plum!  Yummy!
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
Grapefruit slices (you could also use lemon or orange)

Preheat broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil and place in broiler.

In a small saucepan, over medium-high heat, combine juice concentrate, preserves, and balsamic vinegar. Simmer until preserves melt, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, season each chicken breast with 1 teaspoon lemon pepper. Remove the baking sheet from broiler and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken on baking sheet. Broil for 6 minutes. Spoon glaze over each piece, top each with a grapefruit slice and broil for another 2 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked.

I would recommend doubling the sauce, and serving it over rice on the side.  It's like candy!!  Sooo good!

Chicken in Coca-Cola Sauce

We bought a Coke recipe book from the Coke store in Vegas about a year ago.  Here's one of my favorite recipes from it... altered to my taste, of course :)

8 chicken tenders
salt and pepper to taste
2 TB olive oil
2 TB butter
1 lb FRESH mushrooms (cut up if large)
1/4 c chopped spring onions
2 cloves garlic, diced very fine
4-5 T flour
2 c Coca Cola
3/4 c chicken broth
1 tsp dry parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp rosemary

Dry chicken with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet. Add the chicken pieces and cook until golden on one side. Turn over and cook the other side until golden. Place on separate plate and set aside.

In the same pan, add mushrooms.  Cook over medium heat until golden. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring until softened. Sprinkle flour into pan and cook, while stirring, until a light color (1-2 minutes). Add Coca-Cola, broth and herbs. Stir to blend. The smell is a little intense at this point... but don't worry!  It gets better!  Cook for 4-5 minutes.  Return the chicken pieces to the pan. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer gently for 25-30 minutes or until tender.

Discard bay leaf before serving!

Serves 4.


The mushrooms in the Coke sauce is the BEST part about this!  So do not skimp on the mushrooms!!

Chicken Enchiladas

I make these different every time... but this past time that I made them, they turned out perfect!

4 chicken tenders
Herbs De Provence
Lemon pepper
Garlic salt
1 large can of enchilada sauce
2 cups cheese (any kind will do)
1 small can sliced olives
1 small can green chilies
Few sprigs of cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup sour cream (sometimes I add a bit of cream cheese)
6 medium sized tortillas

Put chicken tenders in a skillet on medium heat.  Cover them in herbs de provence, lemon pepper, and garlic salt.

When they are done cooking take them out of the pan and let them rest for a couple minutes, then cut them into small pieces.

Cover the bottom of a 9X9 pan with enchilada sauce (any kind will do, you could also use salsa, it's delicious!  But, because of certain tastes in my house... enchilada sauce is what we use).  Put a thin layer of cheese over the enchilada sauce. 

Return the chicken to the skillet, and add sliced olives, green chilies, part of the chopped cilantro, enchilada sauce, sour cream and some more of the cheese.  Mix all that together.

Place a small amount of the filling on a tortilla, and roll up, place in the pan that has enchilada suce on the bottom. Do this until your pan is filled (usually about 6 medium sized enchiladas).  Cover those with the rest of the enchilada sauce and good layer of cheese.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

When done baking, sprinkle remaining cilantro on top.

Delicioso!!