Yummy Asian Chicken Wing Marinade

Everyone needs a good chicken wing marinade and this is a family favorite.  I always try to keep chicken wings in the freezer for a quick dinner.  Obviously with any marinade the longer you leave your chicken in the better but this marinade is so flavorful that if it's a last minute thing, it's still yummy!

Asian Chicken Wing Marinade

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup chili garlic sauce
juice of 1 lime
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 lbs chicken wings

Mix in a large bowl, set aside 1/2 cup of mixture.  Add chicken wings, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 and place a wire rack if you have one over a baking sheet.  Remove wings from marinade and place on wire rack.  Bake until golden and crispy from 45-60 minutes, flipping wings halfway through.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, add reserved marinade.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until thickened, 10 minutes.

Turn oven on broil.  Brush sauce over wings and broil until caramelized, 2-3 minutes.

Dutch Oven Chicken and Dumplings

 

 We are a huge Boy Scout family and one of the things we love the most about being in Scouting for over a decade now is the opportunity we have had to learn how to cook in a dutch oven.  Kevin recently went on a road trip to Georgia and along the way stumbled across the huge Lodge Factory Store and called me giddy like a young school boy.  He came back with a few more cast iron pieces to add to our already growing collection and also the desire to cook more with the dutch ovens.  Since he's been back (two weeks) we have cooked a lot with dutch ovens.  It's so easy and fun and what's better than the smell of charcoal and amazing food on a crisp, fall evening?  Here is one of our favorite dishes to make.

 Dutch Oven Chicken & Dumplings


Ingredients

• 3 cans chicken broth (about 6 cups)
• 3 celery stalks
• 6 carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 2 tbsp dried parsley
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (sometimes I use rotisserie chicken you can buy at grocery stores, I just caution that you may need to use low sodium broth if you do, otherwise you may have a very salty dish).
• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Prepare your charcoal, you will need 18-25 depending on the size of your dutch oven.
2. Put the broth in the dutch oven.
3. Add the vegetables.
4. Add the chicken, parsley, and pepper.
5. Place the dutch oven on approximately15 charcoal brickets, placing 10 or so on the lid and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
6. Simmer for at least 30 minutes.
7. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
8. Add the milk and oil to the dry ingredients and stir until a stiff dough forms.
9. Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto the broth mixture. Don’t stir.
10. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Try not to peek too often!
11. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

Buffalo Chicken lettuce wraps with pineapple fried rice

This is seriously the easiest recipe ever!  It's probably why I never blogged it before.  All of my boys love this and so do many of their friends!


Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

1 bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or whatever other piece you want, my husband used chicken thighs in Korea)
1 bottle of Frank's RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce
2 T butter

Place breasts in crockpot (I usually just throw them in frozen), pour bottle of wing sauce over chicken, turn crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hours.  The chicken will be so tender it shouldn't take much to shred, we usually do it right in the crockpot.  During last 30 minutes to hour of cooking, throw in the butter to create creaminess. 

That's it!  Sometimes we serve on a bun and have chicken sandwiches.  Sometimes we just eat it alone or turn it in to lettuce wraps.  This can be eaten warm or cold. 

Enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

This recipe was a Pinterest find from months ago and I finally got around to making it today for lunch.  It was delicious!  We will definitely be making this again.  It didn't take much time at all and I love that I didn't have to double the recipe, it made plenty for the family and we still had leftovers.  The original recipe was posted here.

CHICKEN ENCHILADA PASTA

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1 {4 oz.} can diced green chiles

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

2 {10 oz.} cans green chili enchilada sauce

2/3 cups red enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded cheese (use whatever you like, mozzarella or cheddar & jack, whatever makes you happy!)

1 cup sour cream

Penne pasta

Cook chicken, drain, and shred.  Meanwhile boil pasta according to package and chop the veggies. Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet and cook onions for about 3-5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add cooked chicken, green chiles, cumin, chili powder, salt, & enchilada sauces.  Let sauce simmer for about 8-10 minutes.

Add cheese and stir until the cheese is melted and heated through.  Remove pan from heat and toss in the sour cream.  Stir until sour cream is well mixed and heated through (you do not need to put back on heat, the sauce is warm enough that it will heat up the sour cream without curdling and still stay warm enough to serve).

Drain pasta & return to pot.  Pour sauce over pasta and mix well.   

You can garnish it with whatever you want or eat it alone, it's still delicious!

The boys gave it a big thumbs up!

Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

This salad was so delicious!  This past summer on our visit home to Idaho we went and saw some friends who live in Utah who we had met when we were stationed at Fort Knox.  We kind of sprung our visit on them with real short notice but they were gracious enough to welcome us in their home and feed us a scrumptious dinner.  Daniel LOVED this salad.  Daniel has suddenly become our picky eater so when he asked me to please call my friend Dee to get the recipe, I figured I better do it and QUICK.  All the boys helped me put this together tonight and it was as good as we remembered. 

Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad

8 oz. linguine
1/2 medium cucumber, halved and sliced
4 cups shredded greens; any combo of Napa cabbage, romaine lettuce, or spinach
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups thinly sliced purple cabbage
3 cups diced grilled chiken
1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts (more if you like)
1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 recipe Thai Peanut Salad dressing

Thai Peanut Salad Dressing

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 c roughly chopped cilantro (stems and all)
2-3 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce (start with 2 tsp. and add more to taste)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2-4 tablespoons water

1.  Prepare dressing by combining all ingredients except oil and water in a blender.  Blend for 20-30 seconds.  Turn to low and slowly drizzle oil until combined  Add water to thin dressing to desired consistency.

2.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add pasta.  While the pasta is cooking chop the vegetables.

3.  Drain pasta and run some cold water over it until it's cool.  If not using it right away, add a drizzle of the salad dressing and stir to coat the noodles to prevent them from getting clumpy.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

4.  When you're ready to assemble the salad, place noodles, veggies, and chicken in a large bowl.  Pour the Thai Peanut Dressing over everything, stirring as you go, until all ingredients are coated.

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

This is a very versatile recipe. You can use the sauce on pretty much anything, beef, pork, jerky, whatever.


Baked Teriyaki Chicken

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon cold water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (I usually use low-sodium, just to cut the saltiness)
  
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I keep fresh ginger in my freezer so I already have it on hand and grate it into the sauce)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 12 skinless chicken thighs (if you don't like thigh meat you can use whatever makes you happy. I use it on chicken tenderloins or boneless, skinless chicken breasts).
  

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the cornstarch, cold water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger and ground black pepper. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. (You may need to adjust your temperature based on what you are baking. For smaller pieces of chicken like the tenderloins I'm using tonight, I use 325, when I bake thighs, I use a slightly higher temperature like 350 or 375).
3. Place chicken pieces in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish (for easy cleanup, I recommend lining your pan with foil). Brush chicken with the sauce. Turn pieces over, and brush again.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Turn pieces over, and bake for another 30 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Brush with sauce every 10 minutes during cooking. (Sometimes I just pour it all over and just let it bake, no basting)
   

Buffalo Chicken Rolls

So thanks to my new addiction, Pinterest...I have found even MORE recipes to try. This was one of those I knew my boys would love. They have quite the affection for buffalo wings AND egg rolls, how could I go wrong? I found a picture of the egg rolls on Pinterest linked to this site. I made a few changes.

As a side note...I am participating in a Pinterest Challenge over on Bohemian Transplant's blog. You can check it out here.

Buffalo Chicken Rolls

makes 12

12 egg roll wrappers (roughly 4 square inches) - I actually used lumpia wrappers, I don't like how thick egg roll wrappers are and always use lumpia wrappers when I make egg rolls of any type.

1 cup cooked and shredded chicken (6 ounces)

1/2- 2/3 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

1 cup crumbled blue cheese (4 ounces)

1 cup broccoli slaw or cole slaw (dry) - I used the cole slaw

Small bowl of water - I like to use a cornstarch slurry - 2 tbsp cornstarch with 1/4 water

Nonstick cooking spray

Blue cheese dressing, for serving - we also used Ranch since I can only handle so much blue cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay egg roll wrappers on a clean work surface. In a small bowl, stir chicken* (see note below) and hot sauce until well coated, using more or less sauce depending on your spice preference. The meat should be moist with sauce.

Begin by placing one tablespoon of the slaw on the diagonal of the bottom right corner of one of the wrappers. Next, place 2 tablespoons of shredded spicy chicken evenly on top of the slaw. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the blue cheese crumbles over the chicken. Do not overfill.

To fold: Fold the bottom right corner over the stuffing mixture so that it covers it completely, with the tip of the corner now pointing to the center of the egg roll wrapper. Fold in the bottom left corner, followed by the right, so that you now have formed an envelope. Roll the wrap upward one time, leaving the top left corner open. Wet your index finger in the small bowl of water and press to moisten the top left corner. Now fold that down on top of the filled roll, sealing it like you would an envelope.

Repeat with remaining rolls.

Place the rolls on a wire rack set on top of a cookie sheet (or just on a greased cookie sheet) coated with nonstick cooking spray. Spritz each roll evenly with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the rolls crisp and turn a light golden brown.

*Note: To make the chicken, place 1/2 lb of uncooked chicken breast in a small pot and fill with enough water just to cover it. Bring to a boil on your stovetop, reduce the heat slightly, then simmer for about 12 minutes, or until cooked through. Drain and let cool before shredding with two forks, pulling against the grain of the meat.

Chipolte Chicken Drumsticks/Drummettes

Not sure why blogger insists on rotating my picture.

My sweet 10 year old was flipping through some of my cookbooks and came across this recipe for chicken. All my boys like a little spice in their food and I think he thought this would be spicy. Chipolte Peppers are not spicy in the heat department but offer a wonderful smoky flavor. He was a little disappointed these didn't have much heat but enjoyed them overall. I'm not sure what was wrong with my reading skills because for some reason I thought it said drumsticks so that's what I bought. They still had a wonderful flavor, they probably just didn't have as much sauce pooling around them. We'll definitely be making these again.

Please ignore my applesauce that is in this pic, I did not put applesauce in the recipe...but it was a busy day in the kitchen!

Chipolte Chicken Drumsticks/Drummettes

2 (16 oz) pkg chicken wing drummettes (I used a large pack of drumsticks that had 14 in it)
3/4 cup chili sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped chipolte chiles in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
2 garlic gloves, minced

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange chicken in single layer on sheet.

In small microwave-safe bowl, combine all remaining ingredients; mix well. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved, stirring once halfway through cooking. Pour sauce over drummettes to cover.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn chicken over; bake an additional 20-30 minutes or until chicken are glazed, fork tender and no longer pink next to bone.

Super Easy Chicken Salad

I need to think of some more creative names but honestly this is what it is...Super Easy!

I love chicken salad but I'm weird about my food and often don't care for the store bought stuff. A few years ago I decided I could probably make chicken salad and enjoy it!

Whenever I see the rotisserie chicken on sale (a lot of times if they don't sell at the end of the day they will place them in one of the cold food areas at a discounted price). So I picked up a couple the other day and made Chicken Enchiladas with one and turned this one into Chicken Salad.

Here's my first note to you all. Make it how you want...this is how I make mine and it works for me but dare to be fun and adventurous!

I use the chicken, some pickles (sometimes I use celery, just depends on my mood) some mayo, Season All seasoning and some type of mustard. I tend to like the brown spicy or stone ground mustard over just the ordinary yellow mustard but add what you would like!
It makes your stuff lots better if you get a handsome helper to chop/food process your food. Now I like to use this handy little food processor to chop up my chicken because I like mine in very small pieces but you could dice or shred your chicken to whatever texture you like best! I also throw the pickles into the food processor to make my own relish.

There are no measurements for any of the ingredients it really falls all to taste. So add as much mayo, seasoning salt, mustard or whatever else you are going to add and mix it all up!

I love that I used my most ghetto tupperware plate but hey this is real life folks! I like to eat mine with Ritz crackers. The menfolk turn it into a sandwich but we all love it!

Salad Olvia

A friend of mine shared this recipe with me when I was stationed in Korea. I had just had Neil and was on maternity leave when she called and asked if she could come visit me and bring me lunch. I said sure. She came over with this very yummy cold potato/chicken type salad. Shirin was originally from Iran and she told me that this was a dish they would make to bless new friendships. She served it on a fresh baguette with tomatoes. It was so good and over a decade later it is still one of our favorite dishes (I say that a lot...what can I say we love food in this house). My boys love this, I make a huge bowl (I mean HUGE) and it never sticks around for long. I try to carry on the tradition and make it when I meet someone new.

I already had the recipe on a recipe card, so just click the image to make it bigger and you can actually just print it if you want.

Tater Tot Casserole

ALL of the boys in my family really enjoy Tater Tot Casserole. I have to admit it's not my favorite but I'll eat it. We cook it at home and when we go camping in our dutch oven. Tater Tot casserole is pretty versatile and so you can adjust it to your likes. I'm sharing the standard, easy recipe but you can swap out the soups, cheeses and veggies. Most kids love it.

Tator Tot Casserole

1 lb. or more hamburger
1 can green beans, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups of Cheddar Cheese (reserving about a quarter cup)
1/3 of pkg. tater tots

Brown the hamburger. Put in casserole or pan in the order given. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 375 degrees for about 50-60 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese after pulling out of oven.

We know a fellow Scouting family who loves to make a Chicken Tatertot Casserole in the dutch oven when camping out. It is so good! Here is a recipe for the oven but you can surely adjust for the dutch oven.

2 lb. tater tots
4 c. chicken or turkey, cut up
1/2 lb. American cheese
6 tbsp. flour
3 c. milk
6 tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 c. minced onion
1 chicken bouillon cube

Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. Put a layer of tater tots on bottom. Add layer of chicken, then top with grated cheese. Make a sauce of remaining ingredients by cooking flour, butter and milk together. When thick, add soup, onion and bouillon. Pour over contents in casserole. Bake 40 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Hawaiian Haystacks

I'm not going to lie, I never make Hawaiian Haystacks the same way. The fun thing about Hawaiian Haystacks is that they are fun, yup, just fun. I will bold the main ingredients. The rest you do as you want.

1 chicken (I use whatever chicken I have in my freezer, sometimes I have chicken breasts, whole fryers, chicken thighs, etc.; use what makes you happy)
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. parsley
1 tsp. oregano
Salt
1 carrot (chopped, diced, shredded; again, whatever makes you happy, today I cut mine in big chunks)
1 c. broth (make sure you only add a little at a time to make up the consistency you like)
1 large can cream of chicken soup
Rice, cooked (I cheat, I use a rice cooker, I love it!!!!!!)

*Toppings*
Cheese, shredded
Cashews
Chunk pineapple
Chinese noodles
Peanuts
Baby Corn
Olives
Celery
Green/Red/Yellow Peppers
Mandarin Oranges
Coconut
Soy sauce
Boil chicken with garlic, parsley, oregano, salt, and carrot until tender. Debone chicken if you used chicken with bones. Now you decide if you want to shred, dice, chop your chicken, whatever texture you like.

Mix chicken, broth (from boiled chicken (I strain mine) or you can use chicken stock/broth from a can), and soup. Heat thoroughly, I often put mine in a crock-pot on low for an afternoon. But it can be done just as easily on the stove.

On plate layer rice and whatever *toppings* you choose, (this is the fun part!), I added a list of suggested toppings but you can put whatever you like. Enjoy!

And just to show you the fun of this meal, I am posting pics of all our versions of our Haystacks from dinner tonight.

My husband's and mine, he likes everything, I like mine simple

Son 1, Son 2, Son 3 (one day he decided he didn't like the gravy, so now he eats his deconstructed...yup, learned that term on Top Chef)