Curried Chicken with Couscous

I'm always up for couscous! This recipe was good - something different - not too spicy. Will definitely make again. Doug thought it had a great presentation. :) It's from Cooking Light, which I found on myrecipes.com


Ingredients
1 cup water
1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk, divided
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 pound skinned, boned chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch strips
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup julienne-cut carrot
1/3 cup raisins (* I used golden raisins)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
Combine the water, 3/4 cup coconut milk, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil; gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Combine 1/2 teaspoon salt, flour, and curry powder. Add the chicken, and toss gently to coat. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining coconut milk, carrot, and raisins; reduce heat, and simmer for 7 minutes or until the chicken is done, stirring occasionally. Serve over couscous. Sprinkle with cilantro.

* I made this "OAMC" by cutting the chicken up into strips and freezing it. If you buy the carrots already julienned, it's not a long preparation.

Serves 4

Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs

These were quite good - but this recipe makes a LOT. Next time I will break it into two bags to freeze. I just froze the chicken and cut the onions and peppers fresh when it was time to grill. We served this next to Jasmine rice with soy sauce. Yummy!


INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts - cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cloves garlic
3 onions, cut into 2 inch pieces
3 red bell peppers, cut into 2 inch pieces
skewers


DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, honey, soy sauce, and pepper. Before adding chicken, reserve a small amount of marinade to brush onto kabobs while cooking. Place the chicken, garlic, onions and peppers in the bowl, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours (or put into a freezer bag for OAMC).
2. Preheat the grill for high heat.
3. Drain marinade from the chicken and vegetables, and discard marinade. Thread chicken and vegetables alternately onto the skewers.
4. Lightly oil the grill grate. Place the skewers on the grill. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until chicken juices run clear. Turn and brush with reserved marinade frequently.

Serves: 12

Fresh Corn with Cilantro-Lime Butter

We had some friends over for a cookout the other night, and I wanted to try an herbed butter to go along with with our corn.  This one from Martha Stewart was soooooo good. It's addictive!


Ingredients
4 ears corn
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon grated zest of lime
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
pepper

Directions
Cook corn as desired. (We boiled ours for about 6 minutes.)
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together butter, cilantro, lime zest and juice, chili powder, salt, and a pinch of pepper until blended.

Serve corn with cilantro-lime butter.

Serves 4

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

I found this great recipe on allrecipes.com and pretty much copied it with only a couple minor changes. It was to die for! Perfect to bring to a summer picnic or party.

Ingredients
2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Fuji apples - peeled, cored and diced (plus dipped into lemon/lime soda to prevent browning)
1-2 mangoes
1 pound strawberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons strawberry preserves
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
cinnamon sugar (1 cup sugar + 1 tbsp cinnamon)

Directions:
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, mangoes, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and strawberry preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Coat one side of a flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Flip it over and spray the other side as well. Sprinkle evenly with cinnamon sugar. Set on a large baking sheet and cut into wedges with pizza cutter.

Bake in the preheated oven about 15 minutes. Make sure they are crisp and not chewy! Repeat with remaining tortillas. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

The Best Chicken Salad Ever

To me, nothing says "summer" quite like chicken salad. I love this chicken salad mix with the Marzetti dressing and lots of crunchy "add-ins" for texture.  This is really good served in a pita pocket, too.  Happy summer!


INGREDIENTS:
1 rotisserie chicken (colossal size)
1/2 cup Marzetti Slaw Dressing
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 bunch red grapes
1 red onion
1 Fuji apple
2 celery stalks
Cashew nuts

DIRECTIONS:
* Remove meat from cooled chicken and chop into bite sized pieces. Mix together with slaw dressing and mayo.
* Cut grapes in two.  Finely dice celery, red onion and Fuji apple.  (Dip apple pieces into lemon/lime soda before adding to salad, in order to keep them from browning.)
* Stir fruit and veggies into salad.
* Before eating, mix in cashew nuts.
* This recipe will fill 10 pita pocket halves.

Enjoy!

July 2010 OAMC Plan

It's been awhile since I've posted a cooking plan, so here's one for this month. I have a couple new recipes that I'm trying out this month:

• All Purpose Taco Blend
• Asian Orange Chicken
• Curried Chicken with Couscous *NEW*
• Garlic Beef Enchiladas
• Turkey Empanaditas *NEW*
• Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• Zucchini Garden Chowder