Day 334 - A yummy dinner...finally

This whole no dairy thing is kind of hard. Because I can't eat anything with milk or butter or cheese, it really limits what we can have for dinner. Needless to say, we've been eating a lot of chicken with pasta, or chicken with potatoes, etc. Mexican dishes are out - they have cheese. A lot of soups are out because they have milk in them. Don't get me wrong, there is stuff out there - however, they call for weird ingredients, or they require time. Which I don't have much of. I wish I could just make a bunch of casseroles and then they'd be easy to throw in the oven. But casseroles have milk in them, or some type of "creamy" soup. Creamy just means there's milk in it. I avoid anything "creamy".

Anyways, so I called my mom, and she gave me a recipe. It was really easy, not too much preparation, and tasty. It's sesame chicken. We didn't have sesame seeds, but really they are just a garnish. Usually "chinese" recipes take time, but this one wasn't too bad. Especially since a rice cooker is a life saver. So here's to a yummy dinner, that wasn't our usually pasta and chicken.

 So the recipe says to put it in a crock pot, but our crock pot lid shattered a week or so ago. Crazy, I know. So we don't have a crock pot currently - which also is making it hard to have a variety of dinners. Crock pot dinners are easy! But I just cooked the meat in a pan, then threw in the sauce and simmered it until it thickened. Easy. I don't know where my mom got this recipe, but it's a good one!


Sesame Chicken

1 1/2 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts 
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried onion
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes for a kick
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 3 Tablespoons water
Sesame seeds

Put chicken into crock pot. Combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, and garlic. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 2 teaspoons of cornstarch in 3 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. Cut chicken into bite size pieces and return to crock pot - can leave chicken in and simmer on low or serve. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice.