Thursday, March 11, 2010

Hard Boiled Eggs

To be honest I have really never paid attention on how to cook hard boiled eggs. My Mom always did it or now Chris. He LOVES hard boiled eggs so they seem to always be around and I never have to do it.

Do you put them in before the water starts boiling? Do you start with cold or hot water? Do you put the eggs in after they start boiling? How long do you boil them? Seriously I don't know the right answer.

I decided I wanted to make a Chicken Caesar Salad tonight with hard boiled eggs. So I guess since Chris is working I have to figure it out.

Here is where we are thankful for the World Wide Web. http://www.google.com/ How do you cook hard boiled eggs? Wah Lah 1,760,000 result. I think I found my answer, well kind of.

Do you put them in cold water and bring to a boil? You can.
Do you wait for the water to start boiling and then add eggs? You can. Good thing cause by the time I start to look up instructions water was boiling and eggs were sitting next to the boiling water.
Now how long do I cook them? 15-20 minutes.
How long do I let cool? 10-15 minutes...Now I wait.

Not bad...Now on to the Caesar Salad and *dressing.

*To the web I went again, man I love the internet. Below is the recipe for dressing I am going to try. We will see how yummy it is, I have everything and it looks REALLY easy.

Caesar Dressing

1 Cup Mayonnaise
ont>1 Tsbp lemon juice
1 Tsp Worcestershire
1 Clove Garlic Minced
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/8 Tsp pepper
1/2 Cup Parmesean Cheese
1 Tbsp of Milk or Half & Half

Mix all together shake or whisk

I'll let you know how good it is.

**Update Caesar Dressing suprisingly YUMMY! I was impressed with it, why I am not sure but who knew it would be so good. Oh wait it had a cup of Mayo of course it was good. ;-)

Also last minute I decided to make blacken chicken to throw in the salad.

1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp dried tyme
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp onion powder (I didn't have this so I just left it out)
2 Skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet. Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat for 5 minutes until it is smoking hot.

2. Mix together the paprika, salt, cayenne, cumin, thyme, white pepper, and onion powder. Oil the chicken breasts with cooking spray on both sides, then coat the chicken breasts evenly with the spice mixture. (I put it in a sandwich bag and shook it together.)

3. Place the chicken in the hot pan, and cook for 1 minute. Turn, and cook 1 minute on other side. Place the breasts on the prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 5 minutes.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Thai Chicken with Baby Corn

OK I want to blog more. I love it and have been so busy lately but should have at least 30 mintues to blog something about life, my life, Chris' life, Kona's life or the grass outside. ;-)

For tonight I tried something new for dinner. I LOVE Thai food. Ok I LOVE Asian food and I love to try new things. I love chicken with baby corn and found a recipe similar to something I usually get when we get Thai.

Oil -- 3 tablespoons
Chicken breast or thighs, boneless, skinless and thinly sliced -- 1 pound
Onion, thinly sliced -- 1/2
Garlic, minced -- 3-4 cloves
Baby corn, cut into rounds -- 1 cup
Straw mushrooms -- 1 cup
Oyster sauce --3 tablespoons
Fish sauce -- 3 tablespoons
Sugar -- 3 tablespoons
Pepper -- 2 teaspoons

Method
1. Heat the oil in a wok or large pot over medium-high flame. Add the chicken and stir fry until halfway cooked through, 2-3 minutes. Add the onions and garlic and continue stir frying until the chicken is cooked through and the onions are lightly translucent, another 2-3 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to low and add the corn, mushrooms, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar and pepper. Simmer for another 5 minutes to cook through and serve with rice.

Variations
Add some julienned red peppers along with the onions if you like.
One half bunch of chopped scallions can be substituted for the onion.

Now I am going to go watch The Real Housewives of Orange County reunion. Don't judge you know you watch too.