How to Make a Perfect Grilled Chicken

Grilling can be a fun, family activity during weekends. Spend your lazy afternoons in your backyard, and take out those grillers for a grilled chicken for your dinner.

Learning how to grill is not as hard as you would see on television. All you need is the proper temperature for your griller especially if you are using an electric grill. Nevertheless, if you have the conventional griller, try to find some dried wood or charcoal. Ignite the coals or wood by placing crumpled papers below each coal and then set the papers on fire. Do not pour gasoline on the coals or dried wood. The smoke coming from the coals will give a gasoline-like aroma to your grilled meat. These are your best weapons in grilling.

Choose the best part of the chicken. I usually use chicken thighs and legs since they are the fattiest parts of the chicken. These parts will yield a juicy, barbecued chicken. Although these may sound unhealthy, the taste is incredibly delicious. Some would still prefer grilling chicken breasts with the skins on.

Before you start grilling your chicken, do not forget to marinate them at least overnight. Yes, overnight. This is because the longer you marinade your meat, the better absorption of flavors happens. I prefer to use store-bought marinades as these save much preparation time in the kitchen. The downside of most ready-made marinades is their high sodium content. But if you have time, you can make your own marinade from scratch. In the recipe below, the marinade and the chicken were simmered together to speed up the process of grilling and also to let the flavors marry together. I like Asian-style marinades such as this:

For every kilo of chicken:

½ cup light soy sauce (available in the Asian section of grocery stores)

2-3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 medium stalk of lemon grass (pounded)

3 cloves crushed garlic

1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)

Combine all the above ingredients in a heavy skillet and let it boil for two minutes. Add in the chicken and simmer for another five minutes. Drain the chicken in a colander and reserve the marinade for basting during grilling. Basting is necessary so that the chicken won’t dry out. The marinade can also be made as a sauce by making a basic roux. This is simply done by placing a tablespoon of butter on a non-stick pan and let it cook for minutes. Pour over the marinade and whisk until the sauce thickens. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings accordingly.

You can also opt to make a dry, rub marinade. This dry rub is comprised of herbs and spices and a little oil. For chicken, dried or fresh tarragon and rosemary blends together very well. If you want a spicier, grilled chicken, add a pinch of chili powder and cayenne pepper. There are limitless marinades for grilled chicken. A little imagination and creativity are the keys. Make sure that when grilling the chicken, never let the flame flare up. This will result in burnt chicken. This does not appeal both to the eyes and to the palate. If this occurs, sprinkle a little water over the flame. Some also like their grillers to be covered during the grilling process.

Personally, I liked mine uncovered. There is just something about the smoke which is, for me, the essence of grilling. Grilled foods are best served warm, right off the grill with some salads or other vegetables of your choice.

Orange Chicken with Rice

1 tablespoon canola or olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cut in 1/2 inch strips

Lemon pepper seasoning

1/4 cup low−fat or fat−free ranch salad dressing

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup low−fat mayonnaise

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup instant rice

1 green pepper; julienned

1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges; drained

In a large skillet that has a lid, heat oil over medium heat.

Add chicken, cook and stir about 5 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle

liberally with lemon pepper while cooking. In a medium bowl,

combine mayonnaise, ranch dressing, orange juice, and brown

sugar. Stir mixture into chicken, mix well. Add rice and green

pepper; bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat and

add mandarin oranges. Cover and let stand 5 minutes.

Grilled Key Lime Chicken

3 pounds Chicken breasts; boneless, skinless

1 cup Key lime juice

1 tablespoon Honey

3/4 cup Water

1/2 teaspoon Fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Ground thyme

2 tablespoons Vegetable oil

1 tablespoon Fresh ginger; peel, grated

Combine all ingredients except chicken in blender or food processor.

Process until combined well. Pour over chicken. Cover and let

marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Grill over hot coals, turning

once, until done. Garnish with cilantro and lime slices.

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad

 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered
• 1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons minced onion
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and let cool.
2. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almonds and cranberries.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach just before serving.

Bulalo - Filipino Beef Soup

When you go to different parts of the Philippines, you’ll see variations of foods and recipes that you haven’t seen before. Many provinces have their own proud recipe, their unique trademark when it comes to food. One province that I know is Batangas. Famous as the cattle raising region of the Philippines, Batangeños found their own unique way of cooking their specialty – Bulalo. Bulalo or beef bone marrow soup in English, has win hearts of many Filipinos over the years, and has been a Filipino soup favourite. The hotter this soup is the better. So now, let’s discover how this soup is cooked. A unique Philippine food cooked the Filipino way!

Estimated preparation time is 10 minutes, cooking time is two hours and 30 minutes. Here are the ingredients:

• 2 kg beef bone marrow, have your butcher chop it into small pieces

• 1 kg boneless beef shank or stewing beef

• 1 onion, peeled and sliced

• 3 liters water

• 2-3 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered

• 2-3 saba (plantain) bananas, each cut into two pieces

• 1 whole medium cabbage, quartered

• 3-4 tablespoons fish sauce (patis)

• Salt and pepper to taste

Now, that you have all the ingredients ready, let’s start cooking. First, blanch bone marrow and boneless beef shank or stewing beef in hot boiling water for a while and rinse in cold running tap water to get rid of scum and blood. Next, place bone marrow and onion in a stockpot, pour in the 3 liters of water and bring to the boil. Then, lower heat and simmer for about 40 minutes. Add the boneless beef shank or stewing beef and return to the boil. When it boils, lower heat and simmer until beef is tender, about 1 to 1½ hours. A good tip to do when tenderizing beef is to use jackfruit leaves, it helps on tenderizing the beef faster. Now, add the potatoes and bananas. Let it simmer until potatoes and bananas are tender, this may take about 10 to 15 minutes. Afterwards, add the cabbage and stir in fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste. And finally, cook the whole mixture until cabbage is tender-crisp, this would be about 2 minutes. Serve with rice. And that’s it!

Beef, the primary ingredient of bulalo, is a good source of minerals, such as zinc, selenium, phosphorus and iron, and B vitamins. See, bulalo is not just a good soup; it’s a healthy soup as well.

Cooking this beef recipe might take time, because of the beef. The beef should be tender enough for you to chew; it’s hard to eat beef when it’s not tender enough (remember that!). Another good thing to add in this recipe is to use bouillon cubes, there are many commercial products who sell this cubes in beef flavour. This would add taste to your bulalo.

Preparing dishes for your family is always fun, because you know that what you are cooking is safe, delicious, and healthy. So, why not try this Filipino recipe, Bulalo, for your next dish? It’s not just delicious, but also good for the health. Happy eating!

I'm a student and I love cooking!

For more delicious recipes check out: http://www.recipe-tv.ph/category/beef-recipes/

Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

"There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love chocolate, and communists." - Leslie Moak Murray

I can't help but love that quote. When I was a kid, my grandpa always called any store bought cookies that somehow made it into the house "Commie cookies." For him, it was Grandma's homemade cookies or none at all.

There's just something special about homemade cookies, especially chocolate chip cookies, so far as I'm concerned. It's a great family activity, something even children can help with, and everyone loves eating the results.

Here's an easy recipe for chocolate chip cookies I think you'll enjoy:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 package butter pecan, chocolate chip, chocolate fudge, devil's food, German, chocolate or yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine -- softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1 (6 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

Heat oven to 350°. Combine half of the dry cake mix , butter, vanilla and eggs in large bowl and mix until smooth. Stir in remaining cake mix, nuts and chocolate chips.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are set (centers will be soft). Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Author Bio
Stephanie Foster is the owner of Gimme Chocolate and offers a range of gourmet chocolate products as well as chocolate recipes on the site. For more recipes, please visit www.gimmechocolate.com/recipes/
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3 Tips for Easy Meal Planning

Where has the family dinner hour gone? There once was a time when we would all come home from a long day and sit down with our family for a nice home-cooked meal. In today's fast paced world, we need more bonding time with the family. One might say that in today's day where people pile way too much on the plate of life, that it is impossible to have a family dinner everyday. I disagree. Wouldn't you like to get back to the way it used to be?

One way to make family dinners easier to prepare is by planning ahead. Often times I find myself going to the grocery store every other day to pick up needed items, and this is how family time gets lost. Spend a little time planning out dinner ideas for the coming week. Pick meals that are quick and easy for your dinners during the week and save the more time consuming recipes for the weekend. Did you know that software has been developed that makes meal planning a breeze? With a click of the mouse you can organize your recipe collection into daily meal plans complete with nutrition facts and shopping lists. With the computer generated shopping list you won't have to worry about forgetting a needed item when you go grocery shopping.

Another great way to ensure that your family eats together most nights of the week is to share the responsibility of preparing dinner. It can be difficult for one family member to be responsible for cooking everyday. Each member of the family can take turns cooking each night. This is also a good way to add some new flavors to your meals since each member may have a different cooking technique. For those family members who don't cook often, this can prove to be a great learning experience. Review each family member's weekly schedule and delegate the meal preparation tasks such as grocery shopping, cooking, and clean up. Working as a team is a great way to build strength as a family.

"Not meatloaf again!" I'm sure everyone has heard the complaints from that same meal being served week after week. Keep your family dinners exciting by trying different variations of your favorite recipes. An even better idea would be to test out some new recipes. Surprise your family with a delicious new dinner tonight and they will be sure to come back to the dinner table tomorrow.

Nothing is more important than your family. It's worth the effort to make sure that your family eats together daily. Besides the needed nutrition, this time spent together will help open the lines of communication and make your family bond stronger.

I recently discovered an online service that saves time and money while providing you with new dinner ideas daily. Get access to powerful recipe management software, daily meal plans, money saving coupons and more at SendMeRecipes.
Author Bio
Do you enjoy cooking and trying new recipes? Learn more about how SendMeRecipes can help you save both time and money in the kitchen. Try the 7 Day Free Trial.
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More Southern Cooking Techniques

I know this first technique may sound unrelated to Southern Cooking , but you will see the connection as we proceed. Here's the first tip, which should be applied to all your recipes, not just Southern Cooking.

The Chinese figured this out long ago. Combine sweet and sour in your cooking. That is, in a dish that is intended to be sweet (deserts), add a pinch of salt, vinegar or hot spice. In a dish that is intended to be sour (not sweet), such as vegetables, chili, meats, add sweet. I prefer syrup or molasses rather than regular sugar to add sweetness.

As an example, in Southern Recipes, I add a teaspoon of molasses to greens (turnip, collards, mustard), green beans and breakfast gravy. One exception to the adding sweet to sour is in cornbread. If you want real Southern cornbread, never put sugar in it. Sorry, that's not cornbread, it's cake (or Yankee cornbread.) I also add a teaspoon of regular sugar to my cole slaw and chili.

Likewise, in all deserts I cook I add a pinch of salt. You are probably aware that most desert recipes call for this anyway.

I have discussed the next technique at length in my other articles and on my websites, but it is so important I want to repeat it here. You must use cast iron cookware for most Southern dishes, especially cornbread. First, it is the traditional way to cook Southern. Additionally, the cast iron transfers heat unlike any other material, making it uniquely suited for Southern dishes. So, please use cast iron.

This next technique is employed in many Southern recipes. Southerners use cornmeal in many fried dishes to coat the food. This produces a crunchy texture and adds flavor. When frying chicken, coat (batter) the chicken in flour, but add cornmeal to the flour mix at a 3 to 1 ration. In other words 1/4 cup cornmeal to 1 cup flour. Also, fried okra should be coated in a pure cornmeal mix (with salt and pepper, no flour.) Here's the point...experiment a little. When a recipe calls for flour or just because you have always cooked it that way, try substituting cornmeal for flour.

Here's something I remember from my grandmother's kitchen. She was a great cook of traditional Southern food. She made the best biscuits I ever tasted. At first, I thought it was her recipe, until I found out there was nothing unusual about it (I think she got it off a bag of flour.) It wasn't the ingredients that made them so good. It was the size of the biscuits. I always knew she made bigger biscuits than I was use to but I didn't make the connection until after I found out her secret was not the ingredients. Larger biscuits will have more of the soft insides and a larger area outside for the brown crust. They are especially good with gravy or anytime you will be using a sauce. Here's what she did. She rolled out the biscuit dough to about 3/4 inch thickness. Then she used a biscuit cutter that was a little over 3 inches in diameter (who knows where she got it...it was probably a hundred years old.) A word of caution if you use this technique for your biscuits, do not make the dough over 3/4 inch thick. You may think that if 3/4 inch is good, then 1 1/2 inches should be better. Not so. The 3/4 inch rule seems to be the optimum for Fat Biscuits. If you make them much thicker the tops will crack and they will have a doughy flour taste. So, if you are one that has always made slim 2 inch biscuits, give these a try. And, try out the other techniques mentioned for real Southern Cooking

Top Asian Malaysian Chicken Noodle Soup Food Recipe with Tips Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/soups-articles/top-asian-malaysian-chicken-noodle-soup-food-recipe-with-tips-5015377.html#ixzz1YoEQBXFZ Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives

Chicken Noodle Soup Ingredients

Ingredients A
Chinese cabbage (bok choy) [1/2 bunch]
Noodles [450g]
Chinese chicken stock [7 cups]
Soy sauce [2 tablespoon]
Ginger [1 tablespoon]
Oyster sauce [3 teaspoon]
Sesame oil [1 teasponn]
White sugar [1 teaspoon]
Chicken breast [400g]
Spring onion [few stalks]
Large red chilies [2]
Ingredients B (Chinese chicken stock)
Chicken meat [1kg]
Water [2 litres]
Spring onions [6 stalks]
Red onion [1/2]
Ginger [6 slices]
Garlic cloves [6]

How to Make Chicken Noodles Soup

1. Prepare all the ingredients in the chicken noodle soup recipe.
2. Make the Chinese chicken stock by using ingredients B since it will be used in making chicken noodles soup.
3. First, rinse the chicken with running water.
4. Make sure trim away excess fat from inside and outside cavity.
5. Cut the chicken into pieces and place in a large stockpot.
6. Put all other ingredients into the stockpot.
7. Boil it and then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Remove any impurities.
8. Turn down heat until the surface of the stock is barely moving.
9. Cooks for about 2 hours.
10. Remove stock and discard the chicken pieces. Strain stock and keep covered and warm.
11. For ingredients A, remove core from Chinese cabbage, cut it and washing with clean water.
12. Cut the chicken meat into pieces. Slices the spring onion and red chilies.
13. Place noodles in a colander and rinse it with hot water.
14. Boil the stock in a large pot. While cut the ginger in julienne ginger.
15. Add in ginger, soy sauce, and sugar and oyster sauce. Mix it thoroughly.
16. Pour in noodles and simmering for a while.
17. Add in Chinese cabbage and chicken pieces until the chicken meat is cook through.
18. Stir in the sesame oil.
19. Reduce the heat to keep warm the soup.
20. Ladle soup into large bowl.
21. Spring onion and red chilies can be served alongside with soup.
22. Serve the chicken noodles soup hot. Enjoy it!

Recipe Tips

- Rinse noodles under hot water are used to wash away any excess starch.
- Stocks influence many dishes. So, to make a good stock, having the best quality ingredients is necessary. For chicken stock, it is recommend using whole chicken as it will create a deep, rich flavor and textured stock.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/soups-articles/top-asian-malaysian-chicken-noodle-soup-food-recipe-with-tips-5015377.html#ixzz1YoEdFh9D
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives

Soups On With These Quick Recipes: Orzo Veggie Chicken, Creamy Zucchini Celery, 1950s Corn Chowder

Soup is one of my favorite food types.  I love it and could eat it year round with or without a salad or sandwich, as a meal or an appetizer.  Soups can cook for hours or they can go together quickly. Today's article features soups that are quick and easy and offers a wide variety from which to choose.  Options are Orzo Veggie Chicken Soup, Creamy Zucchini Celery Soup and 1950s Supper Corn Chowder.
ORZO VEGGIE CHICKEN SOUP
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp butter
3 cans (14 1/2-oz each) reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
1/2 cup sliced carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup cubed or shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cup uncooked orzo
1/4 tsp pepper
minced fresh parsley*
Melt the butter in a large saucepan; add onion and saute until tender. Add one can of the chicken broth, celery and carrot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chicken, orzo, pepper, and the other two cans of chicken broth; return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes or until orzo and veggies are tender. Sprinkle with the parsley.

*Substitute cilantro if you want a little spice.
CREAMY ZUCCHINI CELERY SOUP
3 green onions, sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp butter
4 ribs of celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 cups water
3 vegetable bouillon cubes
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp dried thyme
1 lb red potatoes, diced
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
In a large saucepan melt the butter. Add the onions and garlic to the saucepan and saute until tender. Add the celery and carrots; cook while stirring for about four minutes. Stir in the 2 cups of water, bouillon, salt, and thyme. Add the potatoes and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for around 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the milk and add the zucchini. Return the mixture to a boil. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and the 1/4 cup of cold water until smooth. Using a whisk, gradually add the cornstarch mixture to the soup. Return to a boil and cook for two minutes or until slightly thickened.
Yield: 6 servings.
1950s SUPPER CORN CHOWDER
3 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups milk
1 pint cooked or canned whole kernel corn
1 1/2 cups chopped or diced cooked potatoes
1 can undiluted cream of mushroom soup
1/2 tsp dried thyme, optional
dash of pepper
In a large heavy saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove bacon leaving a tablespoon of the drippings. Drain the bacon well and crumble; set aside. Cook the onion in the saucepan in the reserved drippings until tender. Stir in the milk, corn, potatoes, mushroom soup, thyme - if using, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes, uncovered. Ladle into serving bowls and sprinkle with the crumbled bacon.
Enjoy!

Read more: http://lindawilson.articlesbase.com/soups-articles/soups-on-with-these-quick-recipes-orzo-veggie-chicken-creamy-zucchini-celery-1950s-corn-chowder-5187790.html#ixzz1YoEJOsay
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List of Popular Filipino Day to Day Recipe

or Filipino culture, it is our culture that the father has a responsibility to provide the material needs of the family, he is also the main disclipinarian that makes him the pillar of the family and it is the mother’s responsibility to take care by doing the house hold chores, cooking, supervising kids from their study and assisting the father for giving discipline by closely monitoring kids daily activity. Typical Filipina mother usually spends a lot of her in the kitchen making sure that a nutritious and a palatable meal has prepared as eating together especially for dinner is the best time for the family to get together. Here is some list of an all time favorite Filipino recipe that we always share together.

Chicken and Pork Recipe:
Adobo Recipe : It is a stew recipe from pork or chicken, slowly cook with soysauce, ground peppercorn, vinegar and other Filipino spices. It can be cook with a little with a little sauce left as a broth or continuously cooking to braise. This recipe is easy to cook, flavorful and affordable. Aside from pork and chicken, vegetable (can be also use alternately with just a little changes on procedure of cooking)

Sinigang Recipe : I just read read an online survey about the most popular food among Filipino, according to said survey Filipino preferred sinigang as the most popular recipe for them. Sinigang is braised recipe cook from beef, pork, fish with a tamarind or tamarind seasoning to gather a sour taste for the broth. Aside from tamarind , kamias, raw mango, guava, or even santol can be also use alternately. There is also a variation of sinigang known as sinigang sa miso.

Sauteed Vegetable : Sauteed vegetable is also a favorite day to day recipe especially for average Filipino because for being affordable, Any kind of vegetable can be cook as a guisadong (sautéed) gulay(vegetable) but the most common kind of vegetable that I usually cook for sautéed vegetable is ampalaya , chayote and mongo. Sauteed vegetable usually compliments dry recipe such as fried fish.

Tinolang Manok Recipe : Tinolang manok is another well known Filipino chicken recipe, when it comes to chicken recipe with a broth I think majority of Filipino will agree that this could be the most popular among them.

Pinakbet Recipe: It is a mixture of different vegetable (Ampalaya, eggplant, Ocra, Sigarilyas and a lots more)sautéed with a small piece of pork and salted using shrimp paste (bagoong). I usually include fried fish leftover when cooking pinakbet to recycle.

Sweet and Sour Recipe : Sweet and sour recipe originally is a chinese cuisine recipe, but I prefer to include this recipe on my menu scheduling for the reason that it is easy to prepare and so delicious, for some people think that it is an expensive kind of recipe because in chinese restaurant they usually use Grouper as the main fish ingredient which is very expensive in our country, but instead of grouper we can always use Tilapia as a replacement to make this recipe affordable. Anyway the sauce and sauce is the one that gives flavo to the fish.

Paksiw na Isda : Paksiw na isda is another popular fish recipe for Filipino, the fish here cook with vinegar and water with eggplant or ampalaya as vegetable ingredient. It is my family favorite viand for breakfast along with fried rice.


I am Daisy Garcia, a Filipina housewife. My blog is all about different Filipino food and this is just my partial list for some of well known
href="http://originalfilipinorecipes.blogspot.com/">Filipino
Recipe.

You are welcome to visit my blog about about a popular Filipino food

known as
href="http://originalfilipinorecipes.blogspot.com/2011/02/mechado-filipino-beef-recipe.html">mechado
recipe and
href="http://originalfilipinorecipes.blogspot.com/2011/02/filipino-christmas-recipe-morcon.html">morcon
recipe



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