Lovin' From the Oven

Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

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Back to regular programming! I took a mini break from blogging to celebrate with my family for Chinese New Year. Being Vietnamese, my family doesn’t really celebrate any holidays except for Christmas. That’s right, there’s no such thing as Thanksgiving dinner in my family. We do, however, do a little something for Chinese New Year. My whole dad’s side of the family comes down for the weekend and we eat ALL. DAY. LONG.

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Seriously, I’m pretty sure I ate from 3PM-9PM. I’m still recovering from this past weekend. Do you guys celebrate Chinese New Year? Do you still get little red envelopes? I may be in my mid twenties, but my parents still give us li xi (red envelopes). I think our cut off point from that is when we’re married. Or maybe I’ll get little red envelopes until I die. Who knows.

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My pops made his usual banh chung for the occasion and they were devoured. He gave most of them away, but we kept a good amount at home for us to nibble on.

Family gatherings are always a bit hectic and every bit entertaining. I was able to see some of my aunts and uncles that I haven’t seen in years! Our family gatherings now have the next generation of kids. We were the “babies” for so long that it’s about time we’ve been replaced. Although we’re only at three kiddos right now, I’m sure that number will be increasing over the next couple of years.

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This chicken is an easy recipe to throw together for dinner. With only a couple of ingredients, I’m sure you have everything in your pantry ready to go. Even though it’s baked uncovered, the inside stays plump and juicy.

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The result was a sweet, garlic-y chicken from Daydream Kitchen. Try this recipe if you’re tired of bland, boring, and tasteless chicken. I served it over a bed of white rice, but it’d also be great over some pasta!

 

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Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 3 teaspoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F and lightly grease a casserole dish.
  2. In small pan, sauté garlic with the oil until tender. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar.
  3. Place chicken breasts in a prepared baking dish and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture.
  4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes.
https://lovintheoven.com/baked-garlic-brown-sugar-chicken/

Skinny Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

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Are there a lot of football fans out there? Over the past couple of years, I’ve tried (and I mean really tried) to understand the sport of football. I sat down and watched games with multiple people, all of whom have tried to explain the sport to me. I just don’t get all the first down, second down, gibberish. How many plays can you really run?

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Don’t even get me started on the scoring system. You’re telling me that if you can kick the ball into the the fork thing at the end, you can get three points no matter what? Why not just get a really good kicker and kick that thing from far away? Rack up those three points. It’s not like football games are high scoring.

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As you can tell, I’m not very into football verbiage.  I don’t know what anything means. You’d think that since I played volleyball for ten years, I’d be less inept when it comes to learning other sports. Why is football so hard for me to understand?

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I have a point to this topic. I promise.

You see, yesterday, I actually sat through two whole games of football. Not just one… two! That’s really hard for me to do since all I see is people run two feet, stop, and then take a time out. Repeat that whole process numerous times and that’s what I’m envisioning in my head during a game.

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Boring, right? But yesterday, the games were amazing! Here you are, thinking one team was going to blow another out of the water and then the complete opposite happens. There were eventful things happening at every minute: people getting physically aggressive, amazing plays, and points were actually being scored.

I even got a little emotionally attached to Ray Lewis. Just a smidgen. He’s one heck of an athlete to watch play.

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Who are you rooting for in the Superbowl? I’m rooting for Ray Lewis. Not the Ravens.. just Ray Lewis. I can do that, right?

This recipe is a lighter version of alfredo and uses greek yogurt and skim milk in place of the usual heavy cream. As in every “lighter” plate, you can definitely taste the difference. There’s no heart stopping ingredients. I’m a lover for the full fat dish, but I guess since we’re starting out the new year, we should probably cut back on the fat. Here’s a good way to do it.

Recipe from Celebrations.

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Skinny Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Ingredients

  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled and cut into chunks (about 2 cups)
  • 2 cups roasted broccoli florets
  • 8 ounces fettuccine
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 cup fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup plain FAGE Total 0% greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup skim milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

  1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Once that is warm, add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, until golden.
  3. Whisk in the flour until smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth, greek yogurt, milk, and pepper.
  4. Bring the mixture to a low boil, stirring constantly. Turn the heat down to low and gently stir until thick, about 3 minutes.
  5. Add in 3/4 cup parmesan, cooked chicken and broccoli to sauce mixture, followed by the cooked pasta. Toss until evenly coated.
https://lovintheoven.com/skinny-chicken-broccoli-alfredo/

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

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Hey look, this isn’t a crockpot recipe. Hooray! Honestly, this is probably my best meal (aside from my chicken carbonara). I haven’t had too many successes in the cooking department, so when this came out tasting better than okay, I was ecstatic!

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The prep was a bit tedious, but I guess I’m just not used to using more than one mixing bowl and a pan to make something. So you have to dirty your kitchen a bit more for cooking… that’s not something I’m fond of.

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But I guess having dinner is a tad more important than having dessert. People say it’s more nutritious or something. Or something.

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The ingredients are fairly standard and you probably have most of it your pantry waiting to be used up. I’ve made this recipe multiple times since my DB loves it. No veggies, no crazy ingredients, just straight up chicken– A real man’s meal.

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The only downside to this dish is that you have to let it bake in the oven for an hour. That’s not necessarily a downside if you like getting your dinner started so you can do something else. You’ll have time to focus on making a side dish, watching a TV show, or prepping yourself to look fancy for your dinner date that’s coming over.

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I served this with plain ol’ white rice, which can do no wrong. A side of veggies would have been nice, though.

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Here’s a couple more pictures just to test your hunger. Seriously guy, baked sweet and sour chicken. No deep frying necessary.

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Recipe from Life as a Lofthouse.

Print
Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients

    The chicken coating:
  • 3-4 boneless chicken breasts
  • salt + pepper
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
    • The sweet and sour sauce:
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 tbs ketchup
  • 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
  • 1 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tsp garlic salt

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with desired amount of salt and pepper.
  3. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.
  4. In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook the 1/4 cup of oil and brown all the chicken. Don't cook it all the way through.
  5. Place the chicken in a lined 9x13 pan. Stir all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl until evenly mixed and pour evenly over the chicken.
  6. Bake for one hour, turning the chicken pieces every 15 minutes.
https://lovintheoven.com/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken/

PS. I’m totally doing good so far on my New Years resolution because I just updated A Pile of Style.

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