Chicken Thighs, 3 Ways (Whole 30)

I am so excited!!  I finished my new scarf today and just in time for cold weather too.  Yeah, I make my own scarves.  I have to. I don’t drive and learned very early on that those fashion scarves that are barely long enough to reach your boobs are cute but not very warm.  I need warm.

Since I couldn’t find it to buy it, I decided to make it myself.  I have crocheted since I was 12, so I decided to put the skill to  use and make myself a warm scarf.  I have made several over the years.  Whenever I get a new jacket or  just feel like a change I make a new one and give a way the  old one to the first person who admires the new one. That way nothing goes to waste.

Do you  have any old-fashioned skills you put to use today?

Chicken Thighs, 3 Ways

• Difficulty: Easy
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If you aren’t doing a Whole 30 you can find my original non compliant adaptions here.

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything

Ingredients
salt and ground black pepper
2 bone-in chicken thighs

Ginger “Soy”
1 ½ tsp minced fresh ginger
1 TBS plus 1 ½ tsp coconut aminos
1 TBS dark sesame oil

Chili Lime
1 TBS plus 1 ½ tsp olive oil
1 TBS fresh lime juice
1 ½ tsp chili powder
¾ tsp smoked paprika

Thai Sauce
1 TBS coconut milk
1 TBS smooth almond butter
¼ tsp curry powder

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Move the oven rack to the middle, if it isn’t already there. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small  bowl. Put the chicken in the roasting pan, skin side up, sprinkle with salt and pepper and brush with your sauce.  After the chicken has cooked for 10 minutes, baste again with the sauce and turn the pieces; brush the other side and roast for another 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over, brush again with the sauce, and roast for another 5 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Indian Inspired Chicken and Rice

It seems like every curry I choose to make from either one of my Indian cookbooks, 660 Curries or Recipes from My Indian Kitchen, comes with its own unique spice blend. I am willing to make each and everyone to further my culinary explorations of Indian food. What I am not willing to do is waste the spice blends I have already have one hand so I am starting to look at incorporating the spice blends into my everyday cooking.

One of my favorite quick and easy recipes is Mark Bittman’s Chicken and Rice. With just 5 ingredients and 25 minutes I can have a yummy dinner on my plate. Well, tonight I decided to try and incorporate the Bengali 5 Spice blend into my chicken and rice. I just added three additional ingredients and totally changed the direction of this dish without adding a minute more to the prep or cooking times.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
4 chicken thighs
1 tsp olive oil
½ cup uncooked white rice
1 cup chicken broth or water (I always use water)
1 cup onion, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 dried red chili, broken up
1 1/2 tsp Bengali 5 Spice blend
In a small skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot add the onion and saute 5 minutes. Add the turmeric, spice blend and dried red chili. Saute until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 more minutes. When the onion is done add the rice and stir until glossy with oil and spices. Nestle the chicken pieces into the rice. Add the stock or water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so the broth barely bubbles. Cover and cook for 20 – 25 minutes.

Ramen Chicken Dinner

Random Ramen fact: A package of ramen noodles is equal to two servings. Now the question is who eats half a package of ramen noodles and feels full and satisfied? When I was in college I could eat 2 or 3 packages of ramen at a time before I was satisfied. Sometimes I wonder how I ever made it out of my twenties.

I still like ramen noodles However, I try to make them a little more substantial by adding some chicken and fresh or frozen vegetables. This recipe has a high salt content. If that is an issue for you feel free to use reduced sodium soy sauce and only part of the seasoning packet.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
1 package chicken flavored ramen noodles
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup water stirring once
8 oz cooked chicken, cut into strips
2 TBS soy sauce
2 TBS canola oil
1/4 – 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Set aside the seasoning packet from the noodles. In a two quart microwave safe dish, combine the noodles, vegetables and water. Cook in the microwave on high for 4-5 minutes or until the vegetables and noodles are tender; stirring once. Meanwhile in a separate bowl, combine the soy sauce, canola oil and the contents of the seasoning packet, mix well. Stir the sauce into the noodle and vegetable mixture. Serve immediately.

From A Taste of Home

Chicken Thighs with Soy Sauce and Lemon

Chicken thighs frequently show up on my table. Chicken thighs are cheaper than chicken breasts. Chicken thighs are dark meat so they are juicer and tougher to overcook then chicken breasts. Even though chicken thighs have a lot of good things going for them, if you aren’t careful chicken thighs can also be very, very boring.

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to make chicken thighs not boring. You can marinate, use a rub or, in the case of this recipe, make a glaze. This recipe doesn’t appear to make enough sauce but if you drag your thighs through it when you flip them there will easily be enough sauce to glaze two chicken thighs.

Chicken with Soy Sauce and Lemon

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
1 ½ tsp olive oil
1-2 bone in chicken thigh, rinsed and patted dry
½ tsp minced garlic
1 ½ tsp minced or grated lemon zest
1/8 tsp cayenne or to taste
1 TBS soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the oil to the skillet and swirl and add the chicken. Brown quickly on both sides. Turn off the heat and remove the chicken and all but one tablespoon of fat from the skillet. Let the pan cool for a minute or so then turn the heat to medium and add the garlic. Cook, stirring, until the garlic softens, about a minute or two. Add the remaining ingredients except the lemon juice; stir. Return the chicken to the skillet and turn it once or twice in the liquid. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, then simmer, turning once or twice until the chicken is done, 20-30 minutes.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything

Chicken Thighs, 4 Ways

My foodie love for Mark Bittman is well known. My friends will clip his recipes for me and I always get a phone call or two to let me know when he is going to be on the Today Show. A meal with Mark Bittman is on my bucket list.

I love Mark Bittman for a lot of reasons but the biggest reason is he is the first cookbook author whose food philosophy is the same as mine, which is fancy food is great but food doesn’t have to be fancy to be great.

I like that I can open his cookbooks to just about any page and find a recipe that uses things I have in my pantry right now. If for some reason I am missing an ingredient from the initial recipe, chances are I have every ingredient for one of the variations.

Mark Bittman is the one who turned me onto chicken thighs, a seriously underrated part of the chicken. Chicken thighs are cheaper than chicken breasts. Chicken thighs are dark meat so they are moister than chicken breasts so they are much more forgiving if they are overcooked, they don’t dry out as fast as chicken breasts.

If you have never tried chicken thighs before this recipe is a good place to start. The sauces are easy and result in a tasty chicken dinner.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
salt and ground black pepper
2 bone-in chicken thighs

Honey Mustard Sauce
1 TBS melted butter or canola oil
1 TBS Dijon mustard
1 ½ tsp honey

Ginger Soy
1 ½ tsp minced fresh ginger
1 TBS plus 1 ½ tsp soy sauce
1 TBS dark sesame oil

Chili Lime
1 TBS plus 1 ½ tsp olive oil
1 TBS fresh lime juice
1 ½ tsp chili powder
¾ tsp smoked paprika

Thai Sauce
1 TBS coconut milk
1 TBS smooth peanutbutter
¼ tsp curry powder

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Move the oven rack to the middle, if it isn’t already there. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small  bowl. Put the chicken in the roasting pan, skin side up, sprinkle with salt and pepper and brush with your sauce.  After the chicken has cooked for 10 minutes, baste again with the sauce and turn the pieces; brush the other side and roast for another 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over, brush again with the sauce, and roast for another 5 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything