Baked Coconut Chicken

Here’s an easy one that will actually be part 1 of 3. I’m crazy right now at work which has spiraled into the rest of my life. I’ve been saying that for awhile but the end is near. Think of all you stress at work, and condense that to 3 months. I’m not at all stressed 9 months of the year, then the insanity ensues. It is worth it…I think.

People ask all the time where I get inspiration. Everywhere! This time it was partially from pinterest when I saw some coconut shrimp. I ended up making them around Christmas. The coconut chicken idea was also from the appetizers at my wedding. I wish I had remembered that the coconut chicken at the wedding came with this really silky raspberry dipping sauce. Ohh well, next time!
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This was such an easy one to whip up. I had plans for the rest of the chicken but again, like I’m obsessed with, you could make a ton and freeze it. I baked these so they would be healthier and not as messy.

Ingredients:

4 chicken tenders or breasts cut into strips
1 egg + 1 tbs water
1 cup shredded coconut
¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ cup cornstarch

Directions:

Set up your trio of dredges: 1st cornstarch, 2nd eggwash, 3rd breadcrumbs & coconut mixed.

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Dredge each chicken strip and put onto a cookie sheet with a cooling rack on top of it.
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Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping once.
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I loved the coconut flavor. It had a great crunch without being greasy. I served these coconut chicken strips with lemon risotto which felt super summery and some steamed broccoli.
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Stay tuned for part 2: the risotto and part 3: leftovers turned into a treat!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Wraps, aka Everything Good In a Sandwich

We don’t eat a ton of sandwiches at our house but I’m working on changing that. I know, I know, I’ve said I don’t love sandwiches. I actually love them when they’re made-to-order. I adore breakfast sandwiches too. I only dislike sandwiches that have been sitting around sogging all day inside a high school locker or if I can’t tell what’s inside the sandwich.

I had a lengthy discussion at work about hummus on a sandwich…or hummus in general. Did you know the USA has a dried bean and lentil council? This is my worklife. Anywho, back to the sandwich subject at hand.

I made Chicken Bacon Ranch Wraps and they were really tasty.
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Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup milk
¼ cup ranch dressing
1 tbs dried ranch dressing powder mix
1/3 cup panko & 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg + 1 tbs water, whisked
Wheat tortillas
Lettuce
Tomato
Shredded cheddar
¼ cup ranch dressing
4 strips of bacon

Directions:

Marinate the chicken in the milk, ¼ cup of the ranch dressing, and dried ranch powder for a few hours.
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Remove from the marinade and dredge in eggwash then breadcrumbs and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
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Cook the bacon, then crumble it.
Assemble the wraps with lettuce, tomato, chicken, bacon, cheddar, and ranch.
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You don’t really need a recipe for this but I thought the marinade and breading was spot-on so I wanted to share it. I liked that these were filling and fresh but not fried. I have an aversion to frying foods. The wheat wrap and real lettuce (iceburg = not real) make this slightly healthier than your local pizza place’s version of the same thing since my chicken isn’t fried either.

Like most things I cook, the chicken could be prepped in advance and popped in to speed up the dinner, or prepped and frozen for next time.

If you’re lucky like me, when your sis comes to have these for dinner she’ll also bring treats from her favorite bakery!
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Greek Meatball Wraps

On one of those beautiful pre-spring days I wanted to put something together for dinner that was filling but lighter. This hit the spot. These Greek meatball wraps were warm, cool, crispy, meaty, and crunchy. I was really happy with these and will definitely make these again.
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Ingredients:

16 oz ground chicken
1 tsp ground garlic
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp cinnamon
1 egg
½ cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup oatmeal
1 shallot, chopped

Directions:

Mix meatball mix together and let sit for 5 minutes before baking.
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll into balls and bake for 30 minutes.
greek_meatball_formed_590_390I use a cooling rack ontop of a baking sheet. It helps keep the meatballs crispy and not soggy from the grease (there’s not much grease since I used ground chicken rather than beef).
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I served them on wheat naan wraps with tzatziki, veggies, hummus, and feta. Check out whose nose was a bit too close for comfort!
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These were really good. The meatballs were crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. I don’t fry my meatballs since a) I hate frying for the mess & the oil and b) it’s much easier and healthier in the oven.

I liked the wraps. The naan was perfect. Since it’s more pricy, leftovers were in wheat pitas. The pitas worked fine. I liked how doughy the naan was.
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Crockpot Sesame Chicken

My crock-pot really doesn’t get as much action as I’d like. I really want it to get out more.

Most slowcooker meals need to cook 4-6 hours. There’s an occasional 8 hours but when I’m gone about 11 hours it just seems like if it has to “keep warm” so long after the cook time that it won’t be that great. I decided to do something with chicken on a Sunday since I’d be able to cook it just the required 4 or 5 hours. I’d be home for the wonderful smells in those hours too!
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It wasn’t fantastic. I guess you can judge this one on your own. Mr. J wasn’t crazy about it, but he’s just really crazy about sesame chicken at his hometown restaurant and it couldn’t compete with that. This is a good one to switch things up if you’re eating the same things over and over again.
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Slowcooker Sesame Chicken

(adapted from Keeping Up With the Joneses)

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts
1 bag of baby carrots
1 cup chicken broth
¼ cup honey
2 tbs garlic, minced
2 tbs ginger, minced
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs sesame oil (optional)
4 tbs cornstarch (with 3 tsp water)
2 tbs sesame seeds

Directions:

Cut chicken into cube chunks and add to the slow cooker with carrots.
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Mix chicken broth, honey, garlic, giner, soy sauce, sesame oil and add to the slow cooker.
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Cook on high for 4-5 hours.
Remove chicken and keep warm while mixing the rest of the sauce in the slow cooker itself or in a pot on the stove.
Mix the cornstarch and water and whisk into the sauce.
Let it cook on medium high for about 5 minutes as it thickens.
Serve it all together and top with sesame seeds.
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We had this over rice (his = white, hers = brown). I liked that it had some different flavors than we’d had recently, but it really couldn’t beat the deep fried version of Mr. J’s favorite Chinese restaurant.

The leftovers were pretty good the next day for lunch too! I just felt like it didn’t add anything for this to cook that long. I think I could have pretty easily made the same thing, if not better, by adapting the recipe and cooking it to serve, rather than in the crock-pot.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Made Easy

Chicken Cordon Bleu sounds tricky but my way is very simple and could easily be tweaked into anything else! (Isn’t my new serving plate awesome??)
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I don’t exactly have “knife skills”, or great butterflying technique so I cut a pocket and filled it. It is much easier than trying to roll it back up and keep the good stuff inside.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
2 slices of deli ham, sliced thick and chopped
1 egg
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ cup panko breadcrumbs
¼ cup breadcrumbs

Directions:

Cut a pocket into the side of the chicken breast carefully not cutting through the top, bottom, or all the way through.
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Stuff it with the cheese, then the ham.
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Whisk the egg with mustard and 1 tsp water.
Combine the breadcrumbs and add salt & pepper to taste.
Dip each stuffed chicken breast into the egg mixture then into the breadcrumbs.
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Bake 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

I was really happy with these! I think I did well cutting the pockets to get almost all the way to each end so the filling was well spread out.
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I mixed up a little roux with more cheese and more mustard to put on top. It wasn’t the most perfect cheese sauce I’ve ever made but wasn’t too bad.

This would be a great meal to impress guests because you could have it pretty prepped before they even came. It isn’t even many ingredients.

I think I might see what I could to making this into a casserole. Each chicken breast is a lot of food for one person and when you add ham and cheese it’s not a light meal.

I served this with a sliced potato bake thing. It really was an excuse to use my new le creuset and I wanted to make something in it that would be appropriate for the gifter.
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I was trying to just par-boil the potatoes a bit but they went further than I planned on while the chicken was coming together. The potatoes were too soft to mandolin so I did thicker slices and topped them with butter, sour cream, and rosemary fleur de sel.