Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetables

Well kids, it’s been a while since my last post, I have a great excuse though and that is that I just got married!!! I did lots of DIY projects and planned the whole thing by myself. I will definitely be posting DIY how to’s in the next week or two so stay tuned!!

Asian food is one of my favorites, and this teriyaki sauce is outstanding! Way better than the bottle you can buy at the store. Once you make this homemade, you will never want to buy a pre-made bottle of teriyaki sauce again!

Start while making your rice, I would use long grain white rice. If you don’t have a rice maker you can use the stove top. Follow the package directions.

To make the sauce, you whisk soy sauce, honey, garlic, and ginger in a large bowl. I make two separate batches and pour one in a large baggy with the cubed chicken to marinate for a few hours. The other batch you put in the saucepan to warm while the chicken is being fried on the skillet. I found the marinating the chicken prior makes it taste so moist and flavorful verses just using the sauce on top.

After the marinating and the sauce is being warmed on the stove top, start frying the chicken. Take a flat skillet and coat the bottom with either Vegetable or Peanut Oil. Get the pan nice and hot before placing any chicken on it. Take a flat plate or curved plate and pour your flour, salt and pepper and mix well. Take your eggs and beat well, then place on another flat or edged plate.

Dip your chicken in the egg then the flour mixture, (make sure to coat the chicken all over with the flour then pat excess flour off before placing in the skillet); place carefully on the skillet. I like to use tongs for this because the oil will be very hot and you don’t want to get burnt! Believe me, it’s happened to me before!

Take the chicken out once it has a nice brown color to it. Place the cooked chicken on a few paper towels on a plate to the side. Keep dipping the chicken in the egg then flour and placing on the skillet, and aside once cooked. Once all of the chicken is done, oil a small skillet and place your vegetables and cook for 5-7 minutes.

Turn your oven on 450. Place 1/4 cup of your warmed sauce on the bottom of a baking dish. Take your chicken and pour into the baking dish, pour the rest of the sauce on top of the chicken evenly. Place in the oven for 5 minutes and after those 5 minutes turn the pan around and leave in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Place in a bowl your rice, vegetables, chicken and then pour the sauce over top. All that’s left is to enjoy with a nice glass of wine or SAKI!

Beauty is in the Eye of it’s Beholder.

So ya’ll are used to my recipe’s, but today I am going to post something different! I love to cook, but I also love to photograph. And healthypassions is not only about cooking, but it’s also about doing what you love. Doing what you love brings a smile to anyone’s face, and that’s just plain healthy (ergo healthypassions).

I took these pictures at Jacksonville Arbortoreum & Gardens. I was hoping to see a wider variety of flowers, but it was still a very beautiful place to walk around and take in the surrounding nature. I am definitely going to wear some bug spray the next time I go though, I came home with about 20 mosquito bites!!

These trees are over 100 years old

Beautiful Spanish Moss

Bumble Bee

These are Purple Salvia’s!

View of the beautiful pond!

Reflections in the water

Wildflower mania!

These are Black Eyed Susan’s

So cool, I don’t know what this is, but it is not growing on the ground, but up in the trees! Almost in a heart shape!

Mushroom!

I love this picture, you cannot hate the amazing details in this photo!

Pretty Wildflowers

Make a Wish!!

Southwest Burgers

I hardly ever eat burgers. But every once in a while I will get a craving for one. They are undoubtedly the picture of American food. And the best part is, there are endless options to make them! Burgers are too boring to me when they have meet, cheese, and a bun. You can make California burgers with avocado and bacon, or Mexican burgers with Nacho cheese, salsa, and sour cream! So many options, and so much creativity! My favorite thing about cooking is that it gives everyone an opportunity to be creative and explore the amazing quality of flavors!

Our grill wasn’t working too well at this time, it was small and old and left at our house when we moved in. So with the help of my sister, we ended up making these tasty burgers on the skillet! And you wouldn’t have known the difference!

To start, take a small bowl and make the corn relish. I added a few extras to mine from the recipe I found, and it added the best flavor! If you have a grill, I suggest grilling corn on the cob and then cutting the corn off for this relish. Since we didn’t have one, I turned the oven on 425 and placed the corn and chopped bell pepper on a baking sheet, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Take it out every 15 minutes and stir on the sheet until the corn and pepper are fully roasted. Mix the corn, chopped bell pepper, and red onions with the juice of one lemon, a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. I also added a few dashes of red wine vinegar, chopped cilantro and chopped tomato. Mix lightly and set aside.

Next make your ground beef patties! In a medium bowl, mix your ground beef, garlic salt, pepper, onion powder, cajun seasoning, and cumin. Handle into patty shapes, generally about 1 inch in thickness. Place in the skillet or on the grill. If using a skillet, place on medium high. Cook for about 4 minutes on each side. Same goes for the grill. This will be for a medium well burger, just a little pink in the middle is what it should look like when it’s done cooking. Make sure not to press down on the burgers while cooking because the burger will dry out very easily and all of the juices and flavors will go into the skillet or on the bottom of the grill and it will lose its flavors.

While your burgers are cooking, make the sauce. Take a small bowl and add mayonnaise, lemon juice, and minced chipotles. Take out your buns and brush the inside with either butter or olive oil. Place on the grill for a few minutes, or in the already preheated oven on a baking sheet.

When your burgers are done, assemble!! Serve on buns with chipotle mayo, and corn salsa!

What you’ll need:

Corn salsa:
Cup of roasted/grilled corn
Cup of roasted/grilled chopped red bell pepper
Chopped tomato (about half of one)
Chopped red onion (about 1/4 of one)
Chopped Cilantro
Juice of one lemon
Drizzle of olive oil
2 Dashes red wine vinegar
Salt & Pepper

Burger meat:
1 1/2-2 lbs ground beef
A few dashes each of:
Onion powder
Garlic salt
Cajun seasoning
Cumin
Pepper

Chipotle Mayo:
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 tbsp minced chipotles in adobo sauce
Juice of one lemon

Burger buns of your liking!