Chicken Recipes, Please?

I had such fun compiling my list of favorite childhood foods (see “Food Memories: My Favorite Foods as a Child”) that I’ve decided to list my least favorite childhood foods to see whether or not they are still on my list of all-time most disliked foods.

• Least Favorite Breakfast: Boxed dry cereal with milk poured over it. Yes, let’s start with the absolute worst food item on my list. I hated it then and I hate it now. As a child, I liked to eat many different cereals right out of the box—I just didn’t like it submerged in a disgusting bowlful of milk. There’s nothing more repulsive or nauseating to me (concerning food) as boxed dry cereal becoming soggy and lifeless, depositing all kinds of gunk into the milk. I used to gag whenever I was near somebody who was eating it. When my mother ate it, I’d have to leave the room before she was finished, because I knew she would be lifting the bowl to drink the milk that was leftover—the milk that was full of particles and slop and…just the thought of it still makes me queasy. Yuck!
• Least Favorite Lunch: Grandma’s home-canned mystery meat, a slice of bread, and her home-canned peaches. Whenever we stayed with Grandma, she would serve us this horrible lunch. With her questionable canning techniques (it’s amazing that we weren’t all poisoned), her canned meat had the flavor of a damp cellar and the color of road kill. I hate to pick on Grandma, but that lunch was enough for anyone to lose their appetite. I usually stuck with the bread—it was the only thing that I considered safe since it was commercially made and came from the supermarket. Remember, if you’ve read my other posts about Grandma’s cooking, she did not fit into that stereotype of all grandmothers being good cooks (unfortunately). Since I am no longer forced to experience the misery of her canned lunch, I can’t think of a lunch that I would now consider being among my least favorites, but if Grandma were still here, her infamous home-canned lunch would still take the prize, hands down.
• Least Favorite Dinner: Sauerkraut and spare ribs. Dad insisted on having this once a week (his favorite meal), but I hated it, especially the sauerkraut. Today, I’m still not a fan of sauerkraut, but I like spare ribs very much—just not covered in mounds of sauerkraut. I much prefer the ribs covered in barbecue sauce.
• Least Favorite Side Dish: Canned creamed corn. Why wreck perfectly good corn with all of that milky horribleness? That’s what I’ve always thought about canned cream corn. Since corn was the only vegetable I would eat as a child, it was a real disappointment when it was ruined by that awful milk bath. I still hate canned creamed corn with a passion.
• Least Favorite Fresh Vegetable: All vegetables, except corn. I still like corn, but today, I like most vegetables and actually prefer them over several types of meat (except chicken, of course).
• Least Favorite Fresh Fruit: Peaches. I think my hatred of peaches as a child was definitely because of Grandma’s home-canned peaches that she served at lunchtime. They looked old and rusty and most unappetizing. Today, I like peaches very much as long as the peaches are not home-canned.
• Least Favorite Dessert: Chocolate cream pie. When I was a kid, I happened to get violently ill after eating chocolate cream pie, so I never ate it again. More than likely, I got sick because of something else—a germ or virus or, perhaps it was because of Grandma’s infamous home-canned mystery meat. Now, whenever I see chocolate cream pie, I continue to associate it with being ill, so I still can’t make myself eat it.
• Least Favorite Candies: None. If it contained sugar, I loved it, and I still do.
• Least Favorite Between Meal Snack: Raisins. Mom was determined that her children were going to eat healthy for as long as she was able to force it upon us. She managed this very well until we were about twelve or thirteen years old. Raisins were another of the healthy between meal snack choices that she offered, but I couldn’t stand them. As a kid, I thought raisins looked like wrinkly dead bugs. Today, raisins are among my favorite snacks.
• Least Favorite Beverage: Milk—still is. As a child, I had to hold my nose to force it down. I could tolerate it when I added chocolate syrup to it, but it was a rare occasion when we were allowed to do that. When I was about fourteen or fifteen, my mother no longer forced milk on me (Hallelujah!), and I haven’t touched it since.
• Least Favorite Childhood Foods—Period: Cereal with milk, canned creamed corn, and plain milk. I have never budged in my intense dislike of this terrible trio.

Conclusion: Some of the foods that I hated as a child, I now like very much: spare ribs, vegetables, peaches, and raisins, but the three foods I most disliked—cereal with milk, canned creamed corn, and plain milk—are still tops on my list of foods that I can’t do. And, of the three, boxed dry cereal with milk is still the champion—I can’t even look at it without feeling sick.

Mustard sauces and dressings are among my favorites, so I was eager to try this intriguing grilled chicken recipe that features a really tasty sauce of mustard, lemon, shallots, garlic, oregano, and olive oil. “Grilled Chicken and Vegetables with Lemon Dijon Sauce,” featured on RecipeTips.com, was simply terrific. I mean what’s not to like about this complete dish that includes grilled red potatoes and one of my favorite vegetables: asparagus? Grilling makes asparagus irresistible—the flavor is so much better than asparagus that has been steamed.

Grilled Chicken and Vegetables with Lemon Dijon Sauce

There is one thing I’d like to clarify: If you’re wondering why most of my entries during the past couple of months are about grilled chicken recipes more than anything else, it’s because grilling is my favorite cooking method. This probably comes as no surprise. Grilling provides such terrific flavor to any type of food. The fact is that during the summer months, you won’t find me writing about too many chicken recipes that are not grilled, except when the weather doesn’t cooperate. Besides, here in Minnesota, after suffering through a long winter, most of us like to take advantage of every outdoor moment that summertime has to offer, which includes cooking our meals outdoors on the grill and dining alfresco. So, give “Grilled Chicken and Vegetables with Lemon Dijon Sauce” a try and you’ll agree that it’s one of the best meals for summertime outdoor dining—no matter where you live.

When I found this recipe, I couldn’t wait to try it. The combination of a homemade barbecue sauce with apricot jam sounded intriguing. I thought it would be good and it was. The apricot jam gave the barbecue sauce a distinctive flavor—a bit on the sweet side, which may not appeal to a number of people, but it’s the way I prefer my barbecue sauce.

Barbecued Apricot Chicken

The only change I made to the recipe was that I didn’t parboil the chicken pieces before marinating as was suggested: I simply marinated the raw chicken in the sauce prior to grilling. As is my usual practice, I made extra marinade (for basting) so that I had some that had not been in contact with the raw chicken. As I have stated before, I never reuse marinade after it has been in contact with raw meat. I know that some of you are saying that when you brush the used marinade on the chicken, the heat of the grill will kill any harmful bacteria that may be in the marinade, but I still don’t risk it.

The author of this recipe, featured on GroupRecipes.com, states that this dish is a “tried and true recipe that promises to please your taste buds,” and I would certainly agree with that assessment. “Barbecued Apricot Chicken” is excellent, and I’m sure that you’ll agree.

Assumption: Many of the foods we enjoyed as children are no longer among our favorites, while only a few have remained staples throughout our lives. This may not be such an earth-shattering statement. It is, I suspect, true for most of us; nevertheless, I compiled a list of the foods that were among my favorites as a child to find out just how many of those foods are still among my top favorites.

• Favorite Breakfast: Lucky Charms cereal without milk. I would eat every one of the marshmallow “Charms” and avoid most of the healthy grain goodness of the “Lucky.” I haven’t touched Lucky Charms since I was about twelve years old, so I can safely say that it is no longer on my greatest hits list; however, if somebody place a bowl of it before me, I’m sure I would still gobble up all the “Charms.”
• Favorite Lunch (called “Dinner” when I was growing up): Grilled cheese sandwiches and canned cream of tomato soup. A grilled cheese sandwich is still one of my favorites for lunch, but it isn’t my top favorite, and I have developed an intense dislike of canned cream of tomato soup.
• Favorite Dinner (or, as we called it, “Supper”): Chicken hot dish (Minnesotan for casserole), buttery rolls, and canned fruit cocktail. Mom’s chicken casserole was the best (see “Food Memories: Birthdays”), and I loved any type of dinner roll made from that precut dough that popped out of the cardboard container when you banged it against the edge of the countertop. Fruit cocktail was my favorite canned fruit. I always hoped that I would get one of the red maraschino cherries in my serving. I never understood why there were so few of them in the can. While this meal is no longer the ultimate dinnertime experience for me, I still like it very much.
• Favorite Side Dish: Mashed potatoes with lots of butter. I still like mashed potatoes occasionally, but it is no longer one of my favorites. When given a choice, I always select something else.
• Favorite Fresh Vegetable: Corn, and only corn, especially corn on the cob. Corn is no longer my number one favorite vegetable, but it is still like it very much (especially grilled corn on the cob). Since I now like most vegetables, it’s very difficult to choose an absolute favorite, but I suppose if pinned down, I would select asparagus. Note: check out the nifty instructions for grilling corn that I found on RecipeTips.com.
• Favorite Fresh Fruit: Seedless green grapes. I considered them to be a real treat—the next best thing to candy. Today, I still like them very much, but I would say that fresh pineapple is probably the ultimate.
• Favorite Dessert: Ice cream, especially chocolate chip, vanilla, and cherry nut. Ice cream is still my favorite dessert, but it’s difficult to choose one favorite flavor. Vanilla would still definitely be on my short list, but chocolate chip and cherry nut would not. Among my other current favorites are maple nut and blueberry.
• Favorite Candies (in order of preference): Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Boston Baked Beans, Maple Nut Goodies, Mars Bars, and Starbursts. I still love candy and I still like all of the candies I enjoyed as a child; however, I stay away from Starbursts. After experiencing a number of dental mishaps while chewing them, such as pulling out two fillings, part of a cracked tooth, and even a crown, I felt it best to give them up a few years ago.
• Favorite Between Meal Snack that Mom Would Allow Me to Have: Fruit. I always chose seedless green grapes or when they weren’t on hand, I would choose a tangerine or a banana.
• Favorite Between Meal Snack that Mom Didn’t Know I Had Purchased at the Stop-n-Go While Walking Home From School: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or Hostess Twinkies. Sometimes I ate them as soon as I left the store, but most of the time, I smuggled them into my bedroom and ate them leisurely as I did my homework. I still have an occasional peanut butter cup (maybe once a month), but I haven’t had a Twinkie for so long that I can’t remember when I last savored the whipped cream sugariness and the golden sponge cake goodness. Although I try to eat healthy (most of the time I succeed), if somebody offered me a Twinkie today, I don’t think I would turn it down, and I think, perhaps, I’ve just talked myself into going to the store and getting one or two or….
• Favorite Beverage: Black Cherry Kool-Aid. As a kid, I loved it—I could have lived on it—but now, it sounds rather nauseating.
• Favorite Childhood Foods—Period: Ice cream, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Hostess Twinkies. They were sweet and they were sugary, so what’s not to like? I still love ice cream and I enjoy it often. Although I still like peanut butter cups and I’m sure I would still enjoy a Hostess Twinkie, I can’t say that either one would make my current short list of top favorites.

Conclusion: I was surprised to discover that I still like so many of the foods I favored as a child. I’m somewhat embarrassed that since I have given up a number of unhealthy foods loaded with sodium, fat, and cholesterol, I haven’t been able to kick my sweet tooth. It’s a bit shocking to realize that ice cream and candy are still among my absolute favorite foods, but I suppose each of us has something we never get tired of, even when we know that it isn’t good for us. This was a fun exercise. Make your own list and see how your tastes have evolved.

Now that it’s finally summer in southern Minnesota (climatologically speaking), it has become difficult for me to do any cooking that isn’t done outside on the grill. After all, who wants to be stuck inside using the stovetop or the oven, heating up the kitchen on a sunny, warm Sunday afternoon? Not me. Furthermore, after such a gruesome winter this year, folks around here believe in taking full advantage of every nice day that we are fortunate enough to receive. Of course, on rainy days I don’t hesitate to return to the kitchen, because as I have stated before, I have an aversion to grilling food outdoors while holding an umbrella—and no, during bad weather I NEVER push the grill into the garage or up next the house under the overhang of the roof. There have been too many reports of mishaps and serious accidents and houses burning to the ground as a result of using outdoor grills in such risky places. Besides, I don’t want my grill or the metal tip of my umbrella (or myself, for that matter), to become a lightning rod during a thunderstorm, resulting in much more being grilled than just the chicken.

With that said (my somewhat indirect way of reminding you to follow common sense safety procedures when using your outdoor grill), let me tell you about the wonderful chicken entrée I prepared on the grill last evening. “California Grilled Chicken,” a dish I found on BetterRecipes.com, features honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, ginger, pureed nectarine, and ground toasted walnuts that are used as a marinade for boneless chicken tenders prior to grilling. The marinade gives the chicken an incredible flavor.

Of course, as I often do with recipes, I found it necessary to make some minor changes to conform to my tastes or the tastes of my guests. In this case, I followed the ingredients exactly, except that I doubled the amount of the marinade called for in the recipe. I used the suggested amount to marinate the chicken, and as the recipe called for, I discarded the marinade afterward. I used the other half of the marinade (which was not used to marinate the chicken) to generously baste the chicken during the cooking process. (I never reuse a marinade for any purpose once it has been in contact with the raw chicken, thus the reason I made a double batch.) I also couldn’t resist throwing a few legs and thighs onto the grill with the skin on. The sauce made the crispy grilled skin irresistible. You will not be disappointed with this superb chicken recipe.

Outdoor grilling has been nearly impossible the past few days, as we have been experiencing the worst weather imaginable. Monsoonal rains, huge thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, and floods have kept everyone in southern Minnesota inside, either ducking for cover when the tornado sirens sound or mopping up waterlogged basements; however, none of this prevented me from making some great chicken dishes.

One of the dishes I prepared was a fantastic chicken recipe from RecipeTips.com. “Chicken Enchiladas” is an oven-baked dish that I would classify as a comfort food—warm and satisfying, full of flavor, and so easy to make. It’s difficult to get any easier than combining shredded cooked chicken with five other ingredients, and two of the ingredients are canned: cream of chicken soup and chopped green chilies. The other three ingredients also come ready made: sour cream, packaged flour tortillas, and packaged pre-shredded cheese. That’s it! No, it doesn’t sound like much, but the result is excellent. As I’ve said before, I’ve never been fond of using canned soups in recipes, but I think I might have to change my mind after tasting this great dish. I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Once upon a time, when my brother and sister and I were children and Grandma came for a visit, Mom made her delicious fried chicken for dinner—the first time she had ever made it for Grandma. We all loved it—all of us, that is, except Grandma. My late grandmother, who had always been critical of Mom’s cooking (even though Mom was an infinitely better cook than Grandma), said, “It’s too peppery,” but then she said that about almost everything that wasn’t white, bland, and boring. And, Grandma always said it with such flair, enunciating the word, peppery, distinctly, with particular emphasis on the p’s and highlighting the word with a short pause beforehand. “It’s too—Peppery.” A spicy meatball was not spicy; it was “Peppery.” A hot chili pepper wasn’t hot; it was “Peppery.” During any meal (that she hadn’t prepared), you could always count on her saying at least once, in her unique style, “It’s too—peppery,” and we all found humor in the way she said it.

At one point during the infamous fried chicken dinner, my young sister asked her to repeat it, but Grandma said, “What for?”

“Because it was funny.”

“Funny? What’s so funny about something being too—peppery?”

Sis began a laughing fit.

“Well, I don’t think it’s funny,” said Grandma. “Would you like me to dump the whole pepper shaker all over your food and see how you like it?”

Sis continued to laugh, giggling behind one hand while pointing at Grandma with the other. Grandma was not amused. She unscrewed the top of the pepper shaker and carried out her threat. “There! Now your food is too—peppery!”

As Grandma began her own fit of laughter, Sis sobered up immediately; on her face were definite signs that she was about to cry, her lower lip jutting forward. But, as Sis let out her first whimper, Mom grabbed Grandma’s plate and dumped the whole works, plate and all, into the garbage. Sis immediately resumed her laughter, which exploded like a dam break. Mom stood there with her hands on her hips, looking at Grandma with a most satisfied expression.

“What in the world? Have you lost your mind?” Grandma was flabbergasted. “Why did you do that?”

“Because it was too—peppery!” Mom exclaimed.

At that point, with all of us howling, Grandma appeared to be quite irritated, but soon, she joined in the laughter, as she was always one to appreciate a good joke. After that experience, she rarely criticized Mom’s cooking, because one icy look from Mom was enough for Grandma to understand that she could either refrain from her criticism or go dumpster diving to retrieve her meal.