chinese supper ideas | 4 little Fergusons

Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps

(click title for easy printable)

Ingredients

FOR THE GLAZE:

½ cups Soy Sauce

¼ cups Brown Sugar

¼ cups Honey

½ cups Red Wine Vinegar

½ teaspoons Garlic Powder

¼ teaspoons Onion Powder

¼ teaspoons Ginger

2-½ Tablespoons Cornstarch

FOR THE FILLING:

1 pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, Diced Into Bite Size Pieces

½ teaspoons Pepper

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

½ cups Onion, Diced

1 Tablespoon Garlic, Minced

½ teaspoons Dried Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

½ whole Lime Juiced, (about 1 1 /2 Tablespoons)

1 whole Red Bell Pepper, Diced

4 sprigs Green Onions, Sliced

2 whole carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

½ cups Dry Roasted Peanuts Or Cashews

12 whole Lettuce Leaves, Boston or Romaine Hearts work best because they are a stiffer leaf {not pictured}

1 box Fried Rice, made according to package directions

FOR GARNISH:

Cilantro

Soy Sauce

In a medium saucepan, mix all the glaze ingredients together, except the cornstarch, and bring to a slow boil. Take 1/3 cup of sauce and put in a small bowl. Mix with the cornstarch and whisk together. Add back into the sauce and simmer until it thickens to desired consistency, about 5 minutes. If it gets too thick, you can thin with a little water. Set aside.

Season the diced chicken with pepper. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat and add the sesame oil. Sautee the onion and garlic for a few minutes until beginning to soften. Add the chicken and continue cooking until chicken is cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the red pepper flakes, if using; cook another minute. Pour the glaze into the skillet with the chicken. Add the lime juice, red bell pepper, carrots green onions, peanuts or cashews and sautee a few more minutes. Remove from heat for a few minutes before serving so you don’t wilt your lettuce “shell”.

Spoon a few Tablespoons of fried rice, followed by 1/4 cup of the mixture into a lettuce leaf and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Enjoy!

It has been unseasonably warm here, and on Tuesday, it finally snowed! YAY!

It was the kind that falls really slow with REALLY big flakes. We didn’t get much, but it was just beautiful!

We had some special visitors tonight. Dale thought they’d look good in the freezer. Thankfully it’s not deer season, or that just might have been what occurred!!!!!

Back to supper, and it’s not Venison. It’s Chicken and it’s Chinese!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

(click title for easy printable)

Ingredients

12 whole Raw Chicken Strips, Or 4-6 Boneless, Skinless Breasts, Cut In Strips
1 cup Flour
12 ounces, weight Jar Apricot Preserves
1 envelope Dry Onion Soup Mix (about 1 Oz. Packet)
1 bottle (10-12 Oz. Bottle) Russian Dressing

Preheat oven to 350F. If using chicken breasts, cut into strips. Flour each strip and lay them in a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Mix apricot preserves with onion soup and spread over chicken. Pour dressing over all and bake for 1 hour.

Sticky and delicious!!!!

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I have always struggled with pasty rice, not matter how much I rinse the rice, watch the pot, carefully fluff with a fork….my rice is sticky. YUCK!

But, that was before I found this recipe for Brown Rice that you bake in the oven. It turns out perfect every time!!!!! YAY!

{If you are making this to go with the Sweet and Sour Chicken above, you will want to double this.}

Brown Rice Bake

1-½ cup Brown Basamati Rice

2 cups Chicken Broth

½ cups Water

½ teaspoons Salt

Preheat oven to 340*. Combine brown rice, chicken broth, water and salt in a 8×11 baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes before removing foil and fluffing with fork.

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When you are done with this you can turn it into fried rice if you’d like, or just serve as is, with Teriyaki sautéed vegetables.

Here is how I do fried rice:

Cut up 4-5 cups of fresh veggies: broccoli, baby carrots, mushrooms, snow peas, thinly sliced garlic and onion.

In a large electric skillet, pour several Tablespoons of Olive Oil and heat up. Add onions and garlic, then other veggies, stir frying for about 10 minutes. Add mushrooms last, they don’t need as much time. Then, stir in a double batch of the Brown Rice Bake. Add 4 T. soy sauce. Stir and fry for a few more minutes before clearing a spot and adding 2 eggs. Scramble, then stir in the rest of the mixture. Cook off any remaining raw egg, then serve on a plate with Sweet and Sour Chicken on top and Egg Rolls on the side.

Who needs Chinese Take Out when you can make a meal like this?!?!?!