Sweet and Sour Glazed Chicken and Thoughts

Happy Friday! I was at the store today, and so was able to pick up the things to try a new recipe I've been eying. This is an extremely easy and delicious recipe that can make 4 or 5 chicken breasts worth, and leftovers should be equally good. To make it, stir together ~10 fl oz French salad dressing, 1C of apricot preserves, 1 package dry onion soup mix and ground red pepper to taste; if you want, you can also add onion powder and Tabasco for added flavor. Pour over 3-5 chicken breasts and bake for about an hour at 350. Goes really well on a bed of Jasmine rice (1C rice to 1.5C water ratio: boil water, then add rice and cook for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed). Based on: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-And-Sour-Glazed-Chicken/Detail.aspx

On leftovers:

They are awesome. I was talking to someone the other day that said they didn't like leftovers, so I had to make a little note here on how nice it is to make a big dinner one night, and feast on the leftovers with no work for another couple nights.

On precision:

One thing that I have found as I cook is that amounts of various ingredients that recipes call for are not set in stone. While some recipes are really important to have precise amounts, it's really not that big of a deal. For example, in this recipe, I put in precisely one biggish squirt of dressing and a couple spoonfuls of preserve, and it turned out excellently. If you like something, add more of it; if you want more of a specific flavor, add it. Again, in this recipe, I wanted a little more kick and onion flavor, so I added a bit of onion powder, ground red pepper and a bit of Tabasco. Not necessary at all, but a modification I made to suit what my particular tastes were at the time. It is not the end of the world if you add too much or too little of something; those small differences are what makes home-cooked food amazing.

Interesting Video:

I found this interesting video from TED of Jamie Oliver discussing teaching kids about food. Quite interesting and recommended watch.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html