Recipe: Oven Roasted Teriyaki Chicken Legs

I'm not sure this chicken recipe qualifies as "high fat" but it was so darn good and pretty easy that I had to share it.

Photo courtesy of AllRecipes.com

Photo and recipe borrowed and modified from AllRecipes.com. It's rare that my cooking actually comes out looking like the photo - this one did!

Another bonus was this recipe calls for oven baking, a sad necessity for us since our grill has been broken for two years (hint hint hubbie!).

Ingredients

5-6 chicken legs, skin left on

1 ½ teaspoons of cornstarch

1 ½ teaspoons of cold water

¼ cup brown sugar (or sub in Splenda)

¼ cup soy sauce – we used La Choy Lite Low Sodium soy sauce – still 23% of DRV of sodium!

1/8 cup cider vinegar

½ clove garlic

1/8 tsp of black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place chicken legs in a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish.

2. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine all ingredients except the chicken legs. Simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles. This didn’t take too long – only a few minutes. Be sure to watch carefully so it doesn’t start to stick to the pot and burn.

3. Let the sauce cool for a few moments, then brush the chicken on both sides.

4. Bake for an hour uncovered, turning the pieces over and re-basting every 10-20 minutes.

Tips:
The initial recipe called for double the ingredients so would work well for 12 chicken legs.
I always forget to take the chicken legs out of the freezer in the morning. So I put them in a bowl of very hot water for about 15 minutes and that did the trick - they tasted great!

Recipe: Stupidly Easy French Dip Sandwiches

I love this sandwich recipe because it's so darn easy to adjust for CFers and non-CFers! One can of beef consommé has 34% of the daily recommended value of sodium. Plus there's always the option to add more cheese if preferred.

It's also a great all-season option. In the spring, you can add a side salad with high-fat ranch dressing. For summer we pair with corn on the cob (with lots of butter and salt of course). In the fall it's great with roasted red bliss or au gratin potatoes. And in the winter it goes well with baked beans.

Credit has to go to the original cook at AllRecipes.com, where I often find great menu options. I made a few alterations based on some of the reviews. This recipe makes four sandwiches.

Ingredients:
1 10.5 ounce can of beef consommé
(make sure to get consommé and not beef broth)1 cup water
1 pound thinly sliced rare roast beef (we like Sara Lee's rare roast beef)
8-12 slices of high quality provolone cheese (swiss or white cheddar can also work)
4 french rolls (we prefer the french rolls over the Italian rolls but any hoagie roll will do)
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp onion powder
garlic powder and butter for the bread

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Open the hoagie rolls and lay out on a baking sheet. Spread soft butter on each side of the roll, sprinkle with garlic powder and warm for a few minutes in the oven.
2. Heat the beef consommé, water, rosemary and onion powder in a medium saucepan over medium-heat heat to make rich beef broth. Then place the roast beef in the broth and warm for 3 minutes - do not overcook!
3. Remove the buns from the oven. Arrange the meat on the rolls and top each with 2-3 slices of cheese.
4. Return the sandwiches to the preheated oven for 5 minutes, or until the cheese just beings to melt. We like to use the convection feature when baking. Serve the sandwiches with small bowls of the warm broth for dipping.