Easy Chicken Teriyaki

I've been trying to decide what recipe I would show you all next, and it was a toughy.

On Sunday, I found myself stuck in bed for the better part of the day. I had an excuse. I was glued to a new book I was reading, "The Faults in Our Stars" by John Green. Once I finished the book, cleaned up the mess that was my snot and tears, and composed myself, I decided I needed an easy, no-brainer dinner plan.

With some frozen chicken thighs and all the ingredients in the kitchen, this was it! Chicken Teriyaki, with some rice and veggies (I picked up some Baby Bak Choy, but I'll leave that part up to you). This is an adapted recipe.

Here's what you'll need.

*NOTE: If you don't care for any leftover sauce, I'd suggest half-ing the sauce portion of this recipe.

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 chicken thighs

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, ginger, and black pepper.

2. On low to medium heat in a saucepan, mix the soy sauce, cornstarch, water, and vinegar. Once they are blended, add the garlic and mixture of dry ingredients.

3. Bring to a light boil.

4. While you wait for the sauce to boil/thicken (5 minutes or so), grease your oven dish with oil and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

5. Place chicken thighs in oven dish. Remove the sauce from the heat and brush both sides of the chicken thighs generously.

6. Bake for 50 minutes, brushing the sauce on the chicken every 10 minutes. Flip chicken halfway through the baking time. *baking time could easily vary 5-10 minutes, depending on your oven.

7. Serve with a side of rice and veggies!

This is such a quick and tasty meal, so I hope you enjoy. Plus, if you chose to make the full recipe, you'll get some extra/leftover sauce you can use for another meal. You can easily use the sauce with other meats as well (I've tried it with shrimp skewers, and it is absolutely delicious).

Thai Shrimp Curry (in a hurry)

While my mom was visiting from overseas, a friend of my husband and I came over and cooked an incredible meal. When he first mentioned it, I thought it would be ridiculously complicated and therefore would not ever attempt to make it. Of course, I was proven wrong and it turned out to be one of the easiest dishes to make (and super delicious)!


Here's what you'll need.

1 Tomato, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
1 can Aroy-D Green Curry
1 can Coconut Milk
1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced
Bak Choy, chopped into thirds - as much as you want!
12 pieces raw Shrimp, peeled - quantity really is up to you

Instructions

1. Start up a saucepan on Medium heat with some oil (I use EVO). When hot, saute the onions and tomatoes until soft.

2. Pour coconut milk and green curry into the mix. Mix and cook for 3 minutes.

3. Add red peppers and bak choy. Cook for 5 minutes.

4. Finally, mix in the shrimp. They cook quickly, so be sure to watch the pan. You don't want to over-cook your shrimp!

Like most Thai curry dishes, I like to serve this with a hot bowl of rice.

You can definitely switch the veggies up, if you'd like! As a side note, I'd recommend not substituting the shrimp for any other type of meat unless you are willing to add sugar (and possibly more) to make up for the flavour of the shrimp. I made this mistake once, and I ended up having to add brown sugar to substitute for the sweetness that generally comes with the shrimp. Originally, this was going to be made with crab legs when our friend made it, but the grocery store was sold out. So, that's definitely a variation I'll have to try.

Serve hot. Eat it up before the cats get to it!