Thursday, May 11, 2017

What's For Dinner?

We make chicken at our house A LOT!
Chicken and rice, chicken and baked potatoes, chicken on a salad, chicken quesadillas or chicken sandwiches for lunch. 
We use the same recipe for all of the above, which makes things easy.

I like easy.
and of course, I like what I like.

I start with Balsamic Vinegar and Olive oil. Depending on how much marinade you want to make, just put in double the olive oil to the vinegar. So, if you use 1/4 cup vinegar, use 1/2 cup olive oil. I put these together in a bowl.


Next, I add about 1/4 teaspoon of Himalayan salt. (any salt will do, that's just what we like)
I don't measure the other spices, (but it's about 1/4 tsp each), I add garlic powder, basil and Trader Joe's 21 Season Salute, which is a combination of spices.




I  add the spices until it looks right. In this bowl, I used less of the oil and vinegar because I'm only cooking 8 chicken tenders. You can use this "recipe" for salad dressing, as well.



Add the chicken to either a bowl, or the marinade mixture to the chicken in a Ziploc bag. Marinate for 15 to 30 minutes.


We haven't gotten around to getting a grill at our new house, so we cook the chicken in a cast iron pan. I think it tastes just as good. 
If you're using a cast iron pan, set the burner on medium heat and let the pan warm up. I let the pan heat up until the handle is almost too hot to touch at about 1" from the pan ( on the handle).The chicken should sizzle a bit when you put it in the pan, but the pan is too hot if it smokes.

For these small chicken tenders, I cook them 4- 5 minutes on each side. You will have to cook them longer if the pieces of chicken are larger or if the chicken still has the bones in it. They're done when there's no pink in the middle.


When they turn a golden brown and not pink in the middle,  they're done!
If we cook enough for 2 nights, we have either chicken and rice and a vegetable the first night, and the next night we make either chicken quesadillas or a big salad with chicken on top. During the Winter, I use the leftovers to make chicken stew. Grilled or pan fried chicken also makes great chicken sandwiches for lunch the next day.

There you have it, our tasty (and easy) chicken recipe. 


What's your go to recipe that you make a lot and your family loves?

Pam

4 comments:

  1. I think I am cooking my tenders too long! Thanks Pam! I'm glad we aren't the only family that eats a lot of chicken! Laura

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They're done when there's no pink in the middle. Cast iron pans cook pretty quickly- other pans may take longer.

      Delete

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