California Chicken (Chicken Marinade)

1 C. canola oil
3/4 C. soy sauce
1/2 C. lemon juice
1/4 C. worcestershire sauce
1/4 C. prepared mustard
2 tsp. pepper
6 garlic cloves, smashed through a garlic press (or 3 tsp. minced garlic from a bottle)

Mix all ingredients.  Place 6-8 trimmed boneless skinless chicken breasts in marinade.  Place marinade and chicken in a gallon size ziploc (or cover top of bowl with saran).  Refrigerate overnight (I did mine for about 10 hours and it was great, but you could do a full 24 hours).  Grill on the BBQ on low or medium.  Turn every 5 minutes until cooked through.  Throw the marinade out.  The chicken had good flavor and was really moist.

Teriyaki Sauce

This is a nice thick teriyaki sauce. 

1/4 C. soy sauce
1 c. water
1/2 tsp ground ginger (I used the dried spice kind...not fresh)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
5 Tablespoons packed brown sugar (I reduced it to 1/4 C. which is 4 T just to lower the sugar content and it tasted great)
1-2 T. honey (I missed this when I was reading the recipe---So I didn't add this either)
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 C. cold water

Mix all but cornstarch and 1/4 C. cold water.  Heat until boiling.  Reduce heat.  Mix cornstarch and water separately.  Add corstarch to 1st mixture and heat until thick.

Ham

This is a quick and easy way to make ham.

Buy ham that is already cut up (like John Morrell or the like). Or buy some cut thicker from the deli. Either way it is already cooked and cut up, you just have to warm it. You can do this same process for a chunk of ham (not sliced) but sliced is easier.

Spread the ham out in a pan.

Make a sauce one of the following two ways:

Option #1) Mix brown sugar and water. Make it thicker than you think (it will get thinner as it cooks). Pour over the ham. Sprinkle the top of ham with whole cloves. (Remove cloves before eating).

Option #2) Brown sugar, water, mustard, ketchup. Make it thicker than you think (it will get thinner as it cooks). Pour over the ham. Sprinkle the top of ham with whole cloves. (Remove cloves before eating).

You can also put pineapple chunks or rings on top before baking.

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

You really cannot mess this up...it turns out no matter how you make it and what proportions of ingredients you use.

I used 1 pkg of John Morrell and it was about $7.99 at Smiths. I could have split it and made two meals from it for my family of 5 eaters.

Lemonade Pork Chops

So Shannon...I have been dreaming about your lemonade chicken since you posted it.  So finally yesterday I made a special trip to the store to buy the frozen lemonade concentrate... I came home...got ready to start it...and discovered I had no chicken!!!!!

So I looked up a lemonade recipe for pork chops (which I did have in the freezer).  Here is the one I used.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemonade-pork-chops/detail.aspx

It got 4 out of 5 stars and I would give it the same.  It was good.  Not my favorite meal ever.  But very good.

I didn't have celery salt so I just skipped it.  And I didn't let it marinate overnight (only for 2 hours).  Here are the directions the way I did it...

• 1 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed (I thawed mine in the mocrowave for 30 seconds)  (I bought yellow because that was the only kind they had at Target)
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt (I didn't use)
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 pounds thick cut pork chops or steaks

I doubled the sauce because that was the whole can of lemonade...but I had tons of sauce...so I probably didn't need to double it.  I let it marinate for 2 hours (24 hours would be better).  Sear on high heat to brown outside.  Bake covered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until no longer pink in center (mine took a  little longer).  

I was going to make rice as suggested on the original recipe.  But I forgot.  So I made cornbread muffins, peas, cooked carrots and sliced oranges.  My family and I love cornbread (we like bread better than muffins---but that's not what I made yesterday).  I have made all kinds of recipes for cornbread and just keep coming back to Marie Calendars mix.  It is just add water.  (But the cornbread kind, not the corn muffin mix).  It is moist and delicious.  It is not quite as good as at the restaurant...but almost!


I am still going to make the lemonade chicken though someday Shannon.