Crock Pot Sunday: Orange Chicken EDITED (with pictures.)

This week I am excited to try another Crock Pot recipe, Orange Chicken using the dark meat.   I forgot about a Philoptochos luncheon and community play after church, which makes me very happy to know dinner will be cooking while I am gone and a good meal will be waiting for me when I get home.  Well at least a cooked meal.  A few minutes to make rice and thicken the sauce and then dinner is ready!   Woohoo! 

The recipe reads:


Place 8-10 pieces of dark meat in the slow cooker.  I removed the skins. 

Add 1 c of strips of green and red peppers.  I sliced them thin because I'm not a big fan of the pepper... but it turned out great because the pieces disintegrated. 

Here's a tip I learned from watching Simply Ming, on late night PBS...

Cut around the pepper and leave the seed in a core.  It's easier to clean up the mess. 

Combine: 1/2 c chicken broth, 1/2 c orange juice, 1/2 c ketchup, 2 T soy sauce, 1T light molasses, 1 T prepared mustard (I suppose this is opposed to mustard seed or dried mustard) 1/2 t garlic salt.  I used more chopped garlic, and should have added more salt. 

Pour over the chicken, cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. 

I didn't realize the musical was 3 hours long... here's what I found when I got home.

Remove chicken and vegetables and keep warm.

Measure 1 c of cooking sauce. I measured more... and I strained it.

  Put in saucepan and bring to a boil.

Drain 11 oz mandarin oranges and dilute 2 t cornstarch into 1 T reserved juice.  I added more of each of these since I was using more of the cooking sauce.

To make sure it diluted well, I used a small container with a lid, and shook the liquid/cornstarch until it dissolved.

Add to boiling sauce in pan.

Cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens.  Stir in oranges. The orange pieces broke apart in the sauce.  It was nice, but I might use a marmalade next time for a stronger flavor. 

Arrange chicken pieces on a platter of cooked rice. The rice didn't turn out so good... cheap rice.   Pour sauce over chicken and top with sliced green onions

We might try this again with white meat and better rice.  We all decided that the recipe is a keeper and it passed my son's ketchup test... no ketchup needed.

Celebrate Summer Feast Days with a Chilled Rice Pudding.

I love Summer.  It is a season of ease and reflection; closure and anticipation.  Remember the wonderful feeling summer vacations offered as a buffer from life... no schedules, no home work, no school?  Remember the gratifying feeling of finishing one grade and spending the summer in anticipation of the one to come?


As we age, summer songs on the radio bring flashes of memories to the forefront and we smile as we drive with the windows down remembering the past.  We remember days of waiting, bored out of our minds, for something to do and when we finally had something to do our days were blissful. If we were lucky (blessed) we were able to attend camps year after year. Counselors and friends reconnected with us and reminded us of experiences we all shared; the things no one else could possibly understand, and they stood as a mark to reveal how we have grown. As we revisited these places we were reminded of who we once were and show how we've changed.  Cyclical experiences like summer vacations and annual events excite me because they become a Post It (a red flag; a notch on the door frame) on our memory and reveal who we are becoming. 
 
The Orthodox Church knows about cyclical experiences.  As we celebrate the Liturgical Calendar's feasts and fasts year after year, we grow in our understanding and experiences. Look at the blessings Great Lent had for us to refocus our lives to God's will and now, having recently celebrated Pentecost, we are about to close the season of movable feasts of the Triodion.  After we celebrate All Saints with a fast-free week (this year on June 30th) and when we reach the Synaxis of the Apostles (every year on June 30th) we continue with our regularly scheduled fixed calendar. 
 
Summer feasts and celebrations unfortunately are often forgotten by our schedule shift of summer ease.  During the summer we remember many strong and faithful women of the church: Sts. Paraskevi, Makrina, Markella, Mary Magdalene, Christina, Euphemia and Olga.  More importantly, we celebrate minor fasts and feasts: Apostles Fast (following All Saints till the Synaxis of the Apostles) which is non-existent this year because it was squeezed out by a late Pascha; Panagia's Fast (August 1-14th) encompasses Transfiguration, (August 6th) a Great Feast of Our Lord and Dormition of the Theotokos (August 15th) closes the Liturgical Year.
 

This summer celebrate the Feasts of the Church with a delicious summer treat of chilled rice pudding with a side of fresh peaches and whipped cream or celebrate the Fasts by following this recipe using Almond Milk (and skip the topping.)  Either way, you will be pleased. 

 

RICE PUDDING

• In a small sauce pan simmer, after boil, 1 c long-grain rice in 2 c water for 10 minutes or till liquid is absorbed.  

• In a larger pot warm 6 c milk (2%, skim or almond) with 1 c sugar and 1 t vanilla extract.  Be careful not to scorch milk.   When rice is cooked and milk is warm, combine the two. 

•  Continue cooking milk and rice over medium heat until rice is fully cooked and mixture has thickened, which should take another 40 minutes.  STIR OFTEN!!

• After 40 minutes whisk 1 T softened butter and 3 beaten egg yolks in a separate bowl.  Do not add the egg mixture to the pudding until you temper it by slowly whisking it with 1/2 c of warm pudding. 

• Add the tempered egg mixture to the pot of rice pudding.

 

 

 

• Simmer another 2 minutes over medium heat.
• Pour into individual serving bowls or a serving platter.  Be sure to let the pudding cool to room temperature before you chill in the fridge or a film will form.  You don't want that. 

• When you are ready to serve, sprinkle with ground cinnamon.  

• Scoop out a portion and garnish with peach slices and home made whipped cream.  Yumm!!

The Five Steps to Baked Tofu

Recipe called for:

• 2 tofu cakes, vacuumed packed. (10-12 oz)
• 2 T soy sauce
• 2 T cider vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2T chopped onions
• 1/2 c water
• 1/2 t minced, pealed, fresh ginger
• 1 t packed light brown sugar

I didn't pay attention and used one block of tofu. Grrr.  But I added 6 medium sized mushrooms and quartered them. The mushrooms kept it from being too salty but a second block would have been better.

I also did t have ginger so I used mint. Wish I had ginger.  Ginger is a great root to cook with.

Step One

Weigh down tofu to release liquid- 30 minutes.

Step Two

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Step Three

 

Combine remaining ingredients in a 9X13 or 9X9 baking dish. Set aside.

Step Four

 
Cut tofu in 3 horizontal slices and then cut into squares (or triangles) and place in baking dish.  Turn to coat tofu with ginger sauce.

Step Five

 

Bake 35-45 minutes and turn several time.  Tofu is done when ginger sauce is absorbed and ginger sauce is gone. 

Step Five

Serve over rice. 

 

 

Lenten Meal Plan, Week #5

SUN- Briani

 

MON- L/O Spinach and Rice 

TUES- Potato Fritters

WED- Baked Tofu and Rice

 

THURS- Pasta Shells and Clam Sauce

FRI- Cincinnati Style Chili and Pasta

SAT- Shrimp and Rice 

 

I never did make Lenten Dolmathes.  I'll just wait till the real thing after Lent. 

Tuna Like Lamb, Yes, I Said "Tuna Like Lamb."

Tuna like Lamb is a great sauce you can make with potatoes, like I am featuring below, or to serve over rice or even pasta.  I've done all three and love it every time.

 

 

I start with a large pan I can also put in the oven.  You can use any pan and transfer to a baking dish.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Sauté sliced onions (cut onion in half and then slice), chopped celery and 4 garlic cloves in olive oil, salt, and cook till transparent.

• Add
• 1c red or white wine,
• 1 can tomato sauce, 
• 2c vegetable broth,
• 1 large can of chunk white ALBACORE tuna,
• a dash of balsamic vinegar,
• 1 bay leaf,
• lemon juice,
• salt and pepper to taste. 

• Heat to a boil.

 

• Add 8 potatoes, cut in half and then in large chunks and bake covered for 40 min at 375 degrees  (You can use a smaller can of tuna, 1 c vegetable broth and 5 potatoes.)

Instead of potatoes, you can also simmer for 20 minutes and serve over pasta or rice.

Just sauce

 

 

Shrimp and Rice is Oh So Nice!



 

Shrimp and Rice is a great Lenten meal.  The key is to make a broth with the shrimp shells, this gives it a great flavor. 



TO MAKE THE BROTH:

• Start with easy peel shrimp.
• Clean shrimp- put shells in a pot and shrimp in a bowl.
• Put bowl in fridge.
• Add @ 4.5 C water and a bay leaf in the pot of shrimp shells and boil shells for @30 minutes to make a broth.
• Strain broth into a large glass measuring cup and discarded cooked shells.

• Finely Chop 1 onion, 3 celery stalks, 3 cloves of garlic, and saute in pot till tender. 
• Add 1/4 c white wine.

 

COOK THE RICE:

• Add 4 c of shrimp broth (supplement with water or vegetable broth if there isn't enough,) 1/2 c tomato sauce and add 2 c rice.  Cover pot with a lid.  Bring to a boil.

• Cook rice for 10 minutes. Stir so it won’t stick and simmer so it won’t spill over.

•  Add cleaned shrimp and 1/4 c chopped parsley to pot and stir. (I forgot to add parsley but it adds great color and flavor.) Replace lid. Simmer another 10 minutes.
• Add lemon to taste (a very Greek thing to do.)
• Serve!

Spinach and Rice and Fasting

We are starting our third week of fasting and I can feel it. I'm not as tired and hungry as you'd think. Actually I am sleeping better and have more mental energy. It's a great feeling! I am sure that in a few more weeks I'll be tormented by the late night restaurant commercials and coupons that are delivered to my front door, but for now I am thankful for the fast and that I am healthy enough to participate in this ancient offering. I'd like to reaffirm that this is an offering. Truth remains true today as it did before time... if you want to mature spiritually, you need to be obedient (referring to Adam and Eve and an apple.) In the centuries since, we practice obedience through fasting, prayer and giving.  And since I trust the saints that lived before me I will follow their lead and be obedient to Christ. 

 

 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. (Matthew 17:20, 21) 

 

 We aren't born with "Faith as a mustard seed."  Faith is cultivated, it matures and it is nourished.  Faith isn't belief in your will, we all know what we want, and rarely get it just by desiring it hard enough.  Faith is being aware of God's will and desiring to act upon it even when we don't understand it.

 

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;  for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  Hebrews 11:8-10

 

Fasting, a "foreign country" for many of us who don't like being told what to do,  when joined with prayer and giving, has its rewards.  It places us in obedience to God's will and returns us to paradise.

 

Now, Back to our scheduled blog post...

  

On the roster of Lenten staples, you can't go wrong with Spinach and Rice. It's loaded with vegetables and you feel like you've actually eaten something. I prefer to serve it with something crunchy like a side of Tarama Salata (which is more of a spread than a salad) on toast.  You could also add a few cut raw veggies. 

• You will first need to wash and chop 1 pound of fresh spinach.  Set aside.
• Saute 3 garlic cloves, a few chopped green onions a few stalks of celery heart including the leaves and 2 chopped onions in a large skillet.
• When the onions are soft and translucent, add a can of diced tomatoes, the chopped spinach, a fist full of chopped parsley, a tablespoon of dill and a tablespoon of chopped mint.   I like to add tons of herbs to spinach to mellow its strong flavor. 
•  When the spinach is wilted, add a can of tomato sauce and 2 c water.  If you didn't add a ton of herbs, vegetable broth is a good substitute. 

• When the sauce begins to boil, add 1 1/2 c rice.  I use Uncle Ben's.  You can use any long grain rice. 
•  Simmer and cook rice for 20 minutes.  Be sure to stir the sauce often so it doesn't overcook and stick to the bottom. 
• Add Salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice to taste and let it sit uncovered till it's time to serve.  



You Can't Win Them All - Sausage in Tomato Sauce

A few weeks ago I made dinner for a guest.  I don't usually like cooking for other people.  My biggest mistake tonight was not being sure what I wanted to cook.  I had all the right ingredients but too many questions.  Do I want the onions sliced thick or thin?  Should I cut the sausage or cook it whole?  Do I want tomato paste or sauce? Do I pair it with pasta or rice?  I had too many questions and it seems I chose wrong on all counts. 

• I sliced one onion, chopped 3 celery stalks and minced 3 cloves of garlic and sauteed them in olive oil. 
• I sliced the sausage in half and then cut pieces.  I should have probably left the sausage whole to contain the sausage flavor and juices.

 

 

 

Once I committed to rice I chose to use tomato paste thinking a thicker sauce would be better.  I forgot the sausage would itself be a rich flavor and the intense flavor of the paste overpowered the dish.  I tried to save it with a 1/2 c white wine, but I really just needed to add water, which I did later. 

The flavor was too strong, the pieces of meat were too small and by the end of the meal I was unsatisfied.  Unfortunately for our guest, you can't win them all!