3-2-1 Chicken

3-2-1 Chicken is a recipe handed down from six generations of the Sunshine family...just kidding. Some woman in a grocery store told this recipe to my mom when she was buying Montreal Steak Seasoning one day. :) It is ridiculously simple, but crazy flavorful. Best of all, no oven. It is crazy, sticky hot here and I refuse to turn on my oven. Which means I have not been baking and have had to look for other stress relievers...like playing Lego Star Wars with Tinker Bell.

For this ludicrously easy recipe you will need:

3T mayo (I use Miracle Whip, which is called mayo in the South)
2T Italian dressing (I make my own)
1T Montreal Steak Seasoning (lower sodium if you are watching your salt intake)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 3 strips each

(I usually double all of the ingredients so that we have lots of leftovers. I love to feast on cold chicken out of the fridge.)




I make my own Italian dressing using the Good Seasons dressing mix. Two mixes come with a free cruet, which I use for my homemade vanilla. Works perfectly and then I just mix up the dressing in a bowl. But any Italian dressing will work.




After I clean and cut my chicken I put it all into a plastic bag. I mix up the mayo, dressing, seasoning in a bowl and then pour it over the chicken and let it marinade for at least a few hours, overnight is not necessary.



I used to make this on my George Foreman grill, but it started smelling like burning plastic every time I turned it on so I threw it out. I miss it, tho. Now I make the chicken in an electric skillet on medium high heat, about 5 minutes on each side.



You can make this in the oven (350 for 20 minutes) or on the grill outside. So easy, so quick, and SO tasty no matter how you cook it.



Enjoy!

Mandarin Chicken Salad

When the weather takes a turn for the unbearably, beastly, suffocatingly hot here in Florida (right around the end of June) I start making a lot of salads, soups, stews, and sandwiches--anything to give the oven a break and not heat up the house. You think I left out grilling, right? Because this is the season when America collectively lights up their grills and throws on their hot dogs, ribs, hamburgers, and marinated chicken. Not here. The very last thing you want to do outside when it is 93 with a 104 heat index is stand over an open flame. Okay, we are going to have some BBQ this week, but that's just smoking and poor Bubba can close the lid and walk away for a while.



This recipe for mandarin chicken salad is super quick, easy, and extremely tasty. Best of all, it is also super filling. We didn't even want dessert afterward. Shocking, I know.

You will need:

lettuce (you choice of variety, I use a mix of iceberg and Romaine)
sweet and sour sauce/marinade
1 can mandarin oranges
slivered almonds
chow mein noodles
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts



I cleaned and cut up the chicken breasts into three pieces each (I used 6 breasts) and put them all in a Ziploc bag. I added 1/2 - 3/4 of the bottle of sweet and sour sauce. Chuck the bag into the fridge and leave it alone for at least 3 hours, overnight is best. **Store the leftover bottle of sauce in the fridge if you are leaving the chicken overnight**

I use a sweet and sour sauce that is much thinner than a traditional dipping sauce. It is more of a marinade than a sauce, really. I would not try using that ultra thick dipping sauce...I don't think it would coat the chicken properly and would probably burn when cooking owing to the high sugar content. My favorite marinade for this recipe is:



Your choice on how to prepare the marinated chicken. I sprayed a frying pan with cooking spray and cooked the chicken on medium high heat for 4 minutes on each side. But you could definitely grill them or even bake them (350 degrees for 20-25 minutes). It really won't make too much of a difference, unless you love that grilled flavor. :)



After the chicken is cooked, grilled, baked it is just a matter of putting together the ingredients on a bed of lettuce. I add about a handful of chow mein noodles per plate, about a tablespoon of almonds, a handful of oranges, and at least 3 pieces of chicken (equaling one chicken breast). For the dressing, I thin out some of the sauce with a bit of white vinegar. The bite of the vinegar cuts the mild sweetness of the sauce perfectly. For all four of us I used 1/4 cup of sauce and 1 tsp of vinegar total. You need very little dressing on this salad, just a drizzle.





How crazy tasty are those chow mein noodles. I could eat them like potato chips...and did. The whole family loves, loves, loves this salad. Make a little extra chicken so you will have leftovers. This chicken is amazing when eaten right out of the fridge, cold with a little bit of salt. Even better when standing in the kitchen eating it with your fingers. Enjoy!

Strawberry Lemonade

I had a request to post summer recipes and strawberry lemonade, for me, epitomizes summertime. Tart, refreshing, ice cold...nothing tastes better on a hot summer afternoon. Especially when paired with a hot dog, burger, or a big plate of barbecue.



You will need:

a large pitcher
6 cups water
6-12 lemons (enough to make 1 1/2 cups juice)
10 oz. frozen strawberries, thawed and pureed
sugar to taste



I started with 12 lemons, but ended up only using 6. The number of lemons depends entirely on how juicy they are. Your lemons should be room temperature then give them a roll between your hands or on the counter. I used a juicer, but you can juice the lemons by hand--it will just take longer.



The juicer does a great job of getting every last bit of lemon and strains the bigger pieces of lemon meat and all the seeds. I don't strain all of it, though, because I love pulpy lemonade. (With orange juice I like the pulp so heavy you can practically chew the juice.)



Six lemons gave me just shy of 1 3/4 cups of juice.



While I was juicing the lemons I added 1/2 cup of sugar to the water to let it dissolve. Add your lemon juice to the sugar water.



I thought the plate full of juiced lemons made such a pretty picture...I couldn't
resist. :)



I used a mini food processor to puree the strawberries.



I used half of a 16oz bag of frozen strawberries and got just a little more than 9oz of puree. This recipe is not an exact science.



Mix into your lemonade and stir. If you don't like bits of strawberry and strawberry seeds you can strain your puree before adding. But I love all of the bits of fruit. Keep tasting and adding sugar until it's as sweet as you like. I ended up adding maybe another 1/4 of a cup or so, for a total of 3/4 of a cup of sugar. I like tart lemonade and the strawberries added quite a bit of sweet flavor. (If you like artificial sweeteners, like Splenda, then you will need to add a lot less than 3/4 cup. Just keep tasting and adding in small amounts.)



The flavors ripen the longer it sits, so if you can wait put the lemonade in the fridge and let leave it alone for a few hours. Stir and enjoy!!