Beer Can Chicken

Don’t drink all the beer, save one can for the chicken. When a friend bragged that the best chicken she ever cooked was “Beer Can Chicken,” I was a little sceptical. She seemed just a little too enthusiastic. The concept is simple enough. Season a chicken with lots of Cajun spices, impale the whole chicken on a partially filled can of beer and roast it in the oven. Actually, successfully roasting a chicken is not always easy to accomplish. The goal is tender and juicy meat, yet cooked thoughout. It is so easy to overcook the chicken and end up with dry, tough pieces. How did my friend’s recipe turn out? My taste-tester husband devoured this chicken before I had a chance to snap all my photos. It was a success; and I now strongly recommend this novel method of roasting a chicken, too.

Continue reading

Pan Fried Chicken Livers with Bacon, Garlic and Mushrooms

Here’s a good old-fashioned Southern recipe. Once upon a time, my favorite menu item to order when dining at a Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen fast food restaurant was “Fried Chicken Livers.” The chicken livers were tender, crispy and seasoned with just the right amount of Cajun seasonings. Typically, we’d get the chicken livers when traveling and needed a quick, drive-by window meal. Alas, this southern delicacy has quietly disappeared from Popeye’s menus. And perhaps that is a good thing, as these chicken livers were loaded with salt and fat from the frying. But, I love chcken livers and have set out to make a somewhat healtier version at home. I’m following a recipe which I am trying hard to recollect from my food service days; those chicken livers were delicious. The flavors of garlic, bacon and mushrooms complimented the crispy chicken livers perfectly.

Continue reading

It’s a Wrap — Kale and Chicken Burritos with Instant Pot Sous Vide

Do you want to add some kale to your diet? We all know that kale is full of nutritonal value, but how do you incorporate it into meals. These “Kale and Chicken Burrito Wraps” are absoutely delicious and make a very tasty and nutritious way to accomplish this goal. My chicken breast is tender because I used an Instant Pot set on Sous Vide mode to cook the lean breasts. I added a tangy dressing to the kale which, actually, makes a pretty good salad by itself. This burrito wrap makes a healthy and tasty lunch. I could eat this every day.

Continue reading

Pluck, Pluck, Fried Chicken Fingers a.k.a. Raising Cane’s Chicken Tenders

It is January and we’re into football bowl season. What televised bowl game can proceed without fried chicken fingers at the watch party. Here in Louisiana, every mom & pop grocery store lunch counter claims bragging rights to the “Best Fried Chicken.” We love fried chicken here — Popeye’s Fried Chicken is from New Orleans as well as newcomer, Raising Cane’s. I have my own “favorite” fried chicken fingers recipe and bragging rights, too. My chicken fingers are incredibly tender and flavorful. My recipe is based on the one from Raising Cane’s fast food restaurant chain. Although I’m sure their recipe is a secret, my chicken fingers are a pretty close match. I am proud of this recipe; I worked long and hard to get it perfected. And my team-player husband had to sample all those chicken batches!

Continue reading

Easy Cook: Chicken Taco Soup

“Chicken Taco Soup” is a hearty and satisfying soup to cook for a hurry-up lunch or supper meal. It is a quick recipe and doesn’t require much of effort — just open several cans — which is very nice once in awhile. I used left-over rotisserie chicken in the soup along with several canned and frozen vegetable ingredients and a packet of dry taco seasoning. That’s it; this recipe made a very tasty soup–entrée. Sometimes I will purchase a rotisserie chicken for a meal and find that about half of the chicken is left-over after we eat. Rather than let the chicken go to waste (which can easily happen), I have several recipes which make good use of the chicken. This is one such recipe. Plus, by reading the labels, I have found ways to cut down on the sodium in the soup.

Continue reading

Kansas City PlowBoys Dry Rub Roast Chicken

My blog post this week is about a delicious Oven Roast Chicken recipe inspired by a cross-country road trip. Several weeks ago my daughter and I took a marathon auto trip — driving from Boston, Massachusetts, to Aspen, Colorado, where she was going to live for the summer. Let us just say, it was a long — and boring — drive! We listened to lots of murder-mystery podcasts and watched the scenery go by. Kansas was interesting — this state must have the record for most windmills; a sight that you don’t see in Louisiana. The huge, silent and futuristic windmills filled the countryside and provided lots of photo opportunities for the passenger. Clean energy and our future, I presume!

Continue reading

Steamed Oriental-Style Chicken with Kale and Sticky Rice

I sent my husband to the grocery market to purchase rice and he returned home with a bamboo steamer. I certainly don’t need another “kitchen appliance.” However, since my husband was kind enough to run an errand for me, how could I ask him to return the bamboo steamer? Steaming vegetables and other foods is such a healthy way to cook things; I decided to give the bamboo steamer a trial run. Today I cooked “Steamed Oriental-Style Chicken with Kale” in the two layer steamer. I served it with sticky rice (also cooked in the steamer) and a simple dressing. It was an interesting experiment, really a meal-in-one, and my husband liked the resulting dish!

Continue reading

Instant Pot Magic: Coconut Curry Chicken with Potatoes & Carrots

Can you cook oriental cuisine in an Instant Pot? I decided to find out by cooking “Coconut Curry Chicken with Potatoes & Carrots” in my new kitchen appliance. And I was pleased with the results of my “Americanized” dish. The flavors of coconut milk, yellow curry and chicken combine to make a nicely seasoned main dish. The recipe comes from a college roommate and is one of my favorite oriental-inspired dishes. Typically potatoes are included in this recipe. My roommate, Lucy, also added carrots and onions. Serve the chicken with rice — even though it contains potatoes. Had I known that cooking with an Instant Pot was so incredibly easy, I might have purchased this kitchen appliance several years ago.

Continue reading

Instant Pot Magic: Chicken Marsala with Bow Tie Pasta

I am excited that I received an Instant Pot as a Christmas present this past December. I love new kitchen gadgets and this gives me a great opportunity (or excuse) to test out new recipes. The Instant Pot fad has been around for several years now, so I’ll admit that I’m a little behind the trend. But rather late than never at all. “One-pot meals” seem like the perfect dish to make in an Instant Pot and so I initiated this little this pressure cooker by making “Chicken Marsala with Bow Tie Pasta.” The marsala cooking wine gave a nice flavor to this classic dish.

Continue reading

Nathan’s Mini Chicken Pot Pies and Variations

What does a Google software specialist do in his spare time when he is working from home close Palo Alto, California, during the pandemic? Well, this Google employee creates and cooks. My nephew, Nathan, has been making pot pies in his kitchen as his group of Google employees continue their jobs from home. He baked the pies in mini-muffin tins so that the pot pies could easily be frozen and reheated as a single serving snack. I liked the idea and found a unique mini-pie tin which made twelve very small chicken pot pies. I made slightly larger individual pot pies, too, which were perfect for a dinner. And I loved the idea of freezing the pot pies; they made a tasty and quick homemade meal when I was was too busy to cook. Now I’m hooked on pot pies!

Continue reading