Thai Chicken Wraps with Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:

For the Chicken:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

For the Veggie Saute:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup finely shredded green cabbage
• 1 cup finely shredded carrots
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely minced

To Wrap:

• 6 12-inch tortillas
• 3 cups warm, cooked Jasmine rice
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• Chopped roasted, salted peanuts

For the Peanut Sauce:

• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Combine garlic, pepper, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Rub the mixture onto both sides of the chicken. Preheat the broiler to high (or use a gas or charcoal grill) and broil (or grill) the chicken about 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through. Remove to a plate and tent with foil. Let the chicken rest 5-10 minutes before slicing into thin strips.
2. Combine all the peanut sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend/process until smooth. Set aside.
3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onion, cabbage, carrots, ginger and garlic. Sauté the mixture, stirring often, for 4-5 minutes, until the vegetables are crisp tender. Place a scoop of warm rice on a tortilla. Top with sliced chicken, sauteed vegetables and sprinkle the roasted peanuts and green onions on top. Drizzle peanut sauce over the top. Roll up tightly and serve immediately.

Easy Sweet and Sour Catalina Chicken

Easy Catalina Chicken
Adapted by Our Best Bites
1 cup Apricot or Apricot-Pineapple Jam (Peach is yummy too)
1 cup Catalina Salad Dressing (Russian works too)
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 envelope dry onion soup mix (like Lipton)
3-5 lbs chicken (breasts, bone-in/boneless, thighs, tenders, whatever)*
olive oil


*The amount of chicken you use is very flexible.  If you use less, you’ll just have lots of sauce, and if you use more- you’ll have less sauce to spoon over rice, but there’s plenty to cook that much chicken.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat a large oven proof skillet or dutch oven to medium-high heat on the stove top.  If you don’t have an oven proof one, you can use any skillet and just transfer your chicken to a baking dish after searing.
While pan is heating, place jam, Catalina dressing, cider vinegar, and 1/2 of the onion soup packet (just eyeball it) in a bowl and stir to combine.  Set sauce aside.  Sprinkle remaining onion soup mix onto chicken pieces and pat on all sides with clean hands.
Drizzle olive oil into hot pan to coat bottom of pan.  Place chicken pieces in and cook without moving for 2 minutes.  Flip chicken to other side and cook for 2 more minutes.  Pour sauce over chicken and spread out evenly over chicken pieces.
Place pan in oven, uncovered and cook until chicken registers 165 on a meat thermometer.  Different parts of the chicken will vary in time so gauge according to what you are using.  boneless skinless breasts usually take about 20-30 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool at least 10 minutes.  Serve chicken and sauce over hot white rice.  Serving size varies according to how much chicken you make, but serves a bunch!

Rich Cream Scones

• 1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling and cutting
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Salt
• 1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream, plus more for brushing
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract   

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers. (The largest pieces should be the size of small peas.) With your fingertips, flatten butter pieces into small disks. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until butter is very firm, about 20 minutes.
2. Combine cream and vanilla in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture with a wooden spoon until almost absorbed and dough just comes together. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface; roll out into an 8-by-10-inch rectangle. With a short side facing you, fold rectangle into thirds, as you would a letter. Rotate dough a quarter turn clockwise. Repeat rolling out, folding, and rotating dough 2 more times. With floured hands, pat out dough to a 1 1/4-inch thickness, and cut out as many rounds as possible with a floured 2 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter. Gather scraps, reroll once, and cut out more rounds (you should have a total of 12).
3. Place scones 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush tops with cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on sheets. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Rolls -- 13x9

Serves 24

Ingredients

• 2 c. whole milk (if you're in a pinch, you can use 2%, but whole is best. Don't use 1% or skim)
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
• 1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 packages active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp.), preferably bread machine yeast
• 2/3 cup warm (105-115-degree) water
• 8-9 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 beaten eggs

Instructions

1. Combine milk, 1/2 c. sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down because this step can take forever. This step is really important because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.
2. While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn’t bubbled, you’ll need to repeat this step–moving on with yeast that hasn’t been activated properly will only end in heartache for you and hate mail for us.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 c. flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes.
4. Add beaten eggs. Why should you beat your eggs first? Same reason you should combine your dry ingredients before adding them to moist ingredients when making cookies and cakes–it ensures everything is well-mixed and can be evenly-distributed through your dough or batter. If you add the whole eggs, your dough may not be as consistent.
5. Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft–it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Don’t worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they’re so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.
6. Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.
7. Spray 2 9×13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side, so it cuts right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.
8. Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your oven), preheat oven to 375.
9. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown.
10. When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls.
11. Then pop the rest into a bowl and no one will ever know that you cheated.

One Pot Creamy White Bean Tortellini Soup

Instructions

1. Melt butter in olive oil in Dutch oven/large soup pot over medium high heat. Add onions and saute for 2 minutes. Add carrots and celery and cook, while stirring, for 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Sprinkle in flour then cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes (it will be thick).
2. Turn heat to low and gradually stir in 5 1/2 cups chicken broth. Whisk 2 tablespoons cornstarch with remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth and add to soup. Stir in ham, beans, Dijon mustard, bay leaves, bouillon and all remaining herbs and spices.
3. Bring to a boil; cover, and reduce to a gentle simmer for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
4. Add tortellini and boil for 1-2 minutes or until cooked al dente.
5. Stir in half and half, adding additional half and half or broth if desired for a less “chunky” soup and warm through.
6. Garnish individual servings with fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese if desired.

Ingredients 3 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 large onion, chopped 2 carrots, thinly sliced 2 stalks celery, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 1/3 cup flour 6 cups low sodium chicken broth, divided 2 tablespoons cornstarch 2 cups cooked and cubed ham 1 15 oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed and rained 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 2 bay leaves 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon 1 teaspoon dried parsley (or 1 tablespoon fresh) 1/2 tsp EACH dried oregano, dried thyme, ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional) 4 cups (1 pound) uncooked refrigerated cheese tortellini 2-3 cups half and half * Garnish (optional) fresh parsley Parmesan cheese