Thai Peanut Chicken Salad

This is a good way to use up extra chicken from Thai Peanut Noodles.

What you need (I just cut up enough ingredients to make a large salad. There wasn't much measuring here): 
For the salad:
red bell pepper, diced
salad (I had a butter lettuce blend, so that's what I used)
peanuts, chopped
green onions, chopped
carrots, chopped
A bit of salt

For the chicken & peanut simmer sauce*:
cooking oil 
chicken (I used a pound), cut up into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp Thai sweet red chili sauce
2 tbsp water
*I only used about 1/2 pound of chicken for the salad, so using 1 pound will make a larger salad. Or, save the other 1/2 pound for Thai Peanut Noodles

Steps:
1. Heat the oil in a pan, and start to cook the chicken
2. Mix up all the simmer sauce ingredients
3. When the chicken is getting close to done, add the peanut sauce, saving just a little bit
4. Allow the chicken to simmer in the sauce for a bit, but keep the heat low
5. When the chicken is done, cool it in the fridge, along with the rest of the peanut sauce
6. When the chicken is cool, add it with all of the salad ingredients in a big bowl. 
7. Drizzle with the rest of the peanut sauce. 

Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Escapades.

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Spicy Thai Coconut Soup

I wouldn't want to eat this soup every day, but it was a good enough recipe to keep for another time.

What you need:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
• Some ginger...I have one of those bottles you keep in the fridge...so I just gave it a good squirt
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp sambal oelek (or thai red curry paste)
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 3 tsp soy sauce
• You'll see some green stuff in my photo. Yeah, I have no idea what that is. Probably spinach, maybe green onion.

The original recipe from Food Wanderings in Asia called for a few more ingredients (mushrooms, lemon grass, koriander), but I'm not that fancy, and someone in the house doesn't like mushrooms.

Steps:
1. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes.
2. Add the sambal oelek and cook for another minute.
3. Add the coconut milk, broth, sugar, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

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Italian One-Pan Wonderpot

Tastes great and involves minimal cleanup? This is a keeper!

What you need:
4 cups chicken (or vegetable)
2 tbsp olive oil
12 oz fettuccine
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
A bit of pepper

With this recipe, you cook the pasta in the broth.
1. Heat the olive oil in the pot. Add the garlic and cook just a minute or two until it turns white.
2. Add the broth and bring to a boil.
3. Break the noodles in half and add them to the pot. Also add the tomatoes, onion, basil, oregano, pepper flakes, and pepper. Make sure everything is covered by the broth.
5. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, then turn the heat down to medium.
6. Continue to boil over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Stir every few minutes to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom, but avoid over stirring.
7. It's done when the pasta is al dente and most of the liquid has been absorbed. If the liquid gets absorbed too quickly and the noodles are not yet done, turn the heat down a bit and add a little more broth.

Recipe adapted from BudgetBytes.com.

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Summer Sausage Salad

This is probably one of the easiest salads you can make.

What you need:
1 summer sausage
1 package of pre-cut, pre-washed salad (whatever kind you like best)
1 package of cherry tomatoes
1 block of cheddar cheese
A little salt
A little olive oil

1. Cut up the sausage into small pieces
2. Wash the tomatoes and cut each one in half
3. Cut half of the block of cheese into small cubes
4. Toss all of these with the salad, a pinch of salt, and a drizzle of olive oil

Yum! Just adjust the ingredient amounts to your liking. We also tried it with cold cheese tortellini, but we liked the blocks of cheese better.

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Crispy Chicken With Apricot Sauce

For the sauce, mix these together:
1/3 cup apricot jam
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of ketchup
1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

For the chicken:
2-3 chicken breasts, pounded to be thin
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup of flour
1 egg
1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
vegetable oil

Steps:
1. Beat the egg with a fork.
2. Put the egg, flour, and breadcrumbs on separate plates. Set up an assembly line order for these plates: flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.
3. Pound the chicken to make it thin, and season both sides with salt and pepper.
4. Dip the chicken in the flour, one breast at a time.
5. Dip the chicken in the egg.
6. Dip the chicken in the breadcrumbs.
7. Cook the chicken: Heat vegetable in a pan. Add the chicken breasts and reduce the head to medium. To get the chicken crispy brown, don't move the chicken until it starts looking cooked through. Adjust the heat if needed so it doesn't burn. Turn once during the cooking.
8. Serve with the dipping sauce!

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