Friday, December 30, 2011

Hawaiian Chicken






I'm sure I have told you many times that my husband is a seriously picky eater.  I know you are NOT going to believe this, but this is one of his favorite meals!  I do not remember how I got him to try it.  But, we love it.  I realize there are no VEGETABLES on this plate.  This is my husband's ideal - white plate food (carbs). (My mother would croak.  She liked a colorful plate of food. LOL.)  But, I didn't have any broccoli, peppers, etc. and definitely I wasn't going to the store when I got home.  Also, we had leftover corn in the fridge from Christmas dinner so that was a re-heat.


The Hawaiian Chicken is a recipe I got from my sister-in-law.  Its really yummy!  This is how I do Hawaiian Chicken AT HOME MY WAY:


Hawaiian Chicken


Ingredients You Need to Make This:

  • (6-8) Boneless, Skinless Breast Chicken Tenders (or breasts) 
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cup (app) Pancake mix, flour, biscuit mix (I had some waffle mix I was needing to get rid of so I used that)
  • 2-3 T. Oil (just a little to keep the meat from sticking in the skillet)
  • 3 cans or 3 cups Pineapple Juice (I keep juice from cans of pineapple in my freezer and thaw, or buy the small cans)
  • 9 T. Teriyaki sauce or Soy Sauce (we like Teriyaki the best) (My guide is 3 T per can/ 1 cup juice)
  • 9 T. Honey (I love it when I have some from the girls in the hives outside, but we got no honey from them this year... sad) (again, my guide is 3 Tablespoons per can / 1 cup of pineapple juice)
Instructions

Put about 1 cup of pancake mix/biscuick/waffle mix/flour on a plate.  Dredge the chicken in it, making sure all sides are coated.

Put about 3 Tablespoons oil (brush around to coat) in a skillet.  Bring to medium heat.  Add coated chicken pieces.  Brown on both sides (chicken does not need to cook all the way - just brown both sides of the chicken).  

In a separate bowl (small/med) combine:

Pineapple juice, Honey, and Teriyaki Sauce.  To each can or one cup of pineapple juice I add 3 Tablespoons honey (spray spoon with cooking spray for easy release) plus 3 Tablespoons teriyaki / soy sauce.  Stir well to blend the honey completely (I heat my honey a little in the microwave to make it thinner).  Pour over the browned pieces of chicken in the skillet.  We like lots of sauce so I used 3 little cans (6 oz?) of pineapple juice, plus 9 Tablespoons honey and 9 Tablespoons Teriyaki (crazy... I know, that's just the way I do it).  

Cook 20-30 minutes, occasionally turning the chicken pieces until the sauce is thick and rich.

Serve with cooked rice and vegetables (normally peppers, broccoli & carrots)  / egg rolls.  

I made my favorite baked egg rolls.  I used a very easy method this time.  Pictures of cooking the Hawaiian Chicken and of making the Egg Rolls below:

Ingredients for making Hawaiian Chicken

Browning the chicken in a little bit of oil.

Mixing the pineapple juice/teriyaki/honey,

The juice cooking looks thin, but gets thick and rich!

I serve with rice.  Hubby likes EVERYTHING with mashed potatoes (eek!).


Below is how I made the easy Baked Egg Rolls:

Easy Baked Egg Rolls

  • Cabbage
  • Onion or Green Onion
  • Soy Sauce or Teriyaki Sauce
  • Stir Fry Sauce (optional)
I thinly sliced and chopped one-half head of green cabbage.
I chopped one green onion and grated about 3 carrots.

I added this to a skillet with 1 teaspoon soy sauce plus 1 teaspoon stir fry sauce.


As this was cooking, it got very dry on the bottom so I added about 1/8 cup of water to deglaze the pan before spooning into the eggroll wrappers.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Lay an eggroll wrapper on the cookie sheet.  Spoon on some filling.  With the wrapper shaped like a diamond fold over one corner.  Fold in the two sides and roll like for a burrito.  Place the egg roll on the cookie sheet seam side down.  Do the remaining egg rolls the same way.  

Spray them with cooking spray.

Bake in preheated 375 oven until golden brown (app. 15 minutes).

These keep well in the freezer for reheating.  They won't be crunchy but I love them for lunch or breakfast on the go.

Here they are: