A The Squirrel Can Cook Classic – Baked Sesame Chicken & Fried Rice

(Today's The Squirrel Can Cook is a classic repeat recipe from May 2009. It also happens to be what I'm fixing for dinner tonight. Happy New Year, everyone!)

Where last week’s recipe was all about the Hot & Spicy, this week we’ve got Subtle & Savory in store. This is my take on a recipe that Mom has made for years. She fixes it with white wine, were I use chicken broth, and I added the sesame oil, for that subtle Asian flavor.

Note: All photographs (Here you go, Fred!) show a half-recipe that I fixed for Mrs. Squirrel and me last Saturday. I guess, if I’m going to include pictures, that Friday’s recipe will usually reflect the prior Saturday’s dinner. This means that you may get the occasional frozen pizza recipe!

Our ingredients today are:

4 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
2 cups of rice (regular white rice – don’t use “minute” type rice --- ever! For anything! Blech!)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
4 tablespoons of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

First we have to fry our rice. Heat your stainless steel or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the 4 cups of rice. Mix thoroughly so that all rice is coated with oil, add another tablespoon of oil, if needed. Then stir slowly until the rice is a nice toasty brown color (close to the color of a brown paper shopping bag.)

In a large covered baking dish, mix the chicken broth, sesame oil, soy sauce. Now, the fun part! Spoon the fried rice into the chicken broth mixture… ah, nice hiss and a cloud of steam! Add the sesame seeds, and give it a stir. Then arrange the chicken breast on top of the rice. Everything will be mostly submerged under the chicken broth, with sesame seeds floating on top.




Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove the cover and bake another 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is nicely browned.

Serve with the veggie of your choice, and enjoy.



The Squirrel shall not live by nuts alone!

The Squirrel's Nut Cache - 12/30/2010

The Nut Cache - a collection of recent things I found interesting, or amusing, or nutworthy.

This story is quite shocking and all too sad. No one knows what drove him to take this action. He must have been a tortured soul... tormented by things nobody around him could see. Was there no one to ask him, "Are you all right?" So, next time you see a squirrel, offer him a nut. Tell him he's got something to live for. Show him that you care.

Okay, this is embarrassing. It seems that, since 1922, the Utah state flag has broken the law. No, really. It seems that the design is laid out in state law, but that a 1922 hand-sewn flag got it wrong. All flags since then have copied the incorrect flag. Well, State Representative Julie Fisher has vowed to put it right! Fight on, Rep. Fisher! Heaven forbid that you actually take on something tough...

We've all laughed at some of the warning labels and legal disclaimers we find on certain products. Things like, "Do not drive with sunshield in place." (On a cardboard sunshield that keeps the sun off the dashboard) Or, "Caution: The contents of this bottle should not be fed to fish." (On a bottle of shampoo for dogs) Or, "May irritate eyes." (On a can of self-defense pepper spray) Or, "Warning: has been found to cause cancer in laboratory mice." (On a box of rat poison (Really wondering who paid for that study... and why?)) Now, just when you think they've covered everything, it looks like we'll have to go back and put "Do not try this at home" on certain 1980's video games...

Have you ever had those haunting thoughts that you've forgotten something important? Or woken up in a panic, sure that you were supposed to be somewhere? Have you ever actually overslept and missed an important meeting or event? Pastor Stefan Widman has. In fact, he missed Christmas services at his church. Really. This is really the stuff of pastoral nightmares...

And the Nuttiness goes on and on...

The Squirrel's Nut Cache - 12/24/2010

The Nut Cache - a collection of recent things I found interesting, or amusing, or nutworthy.

In the "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" file, we find this headline: Men rescue trapped deer, get fined. One of the brightest things about humanity is the risks that people are willing to take for others, even for animals. I would never require public safety officials to put themselves at risk to save an animal, but when private individuals freely choose to put themselves at risk, I don't think they should be punished for it. Liberty must include the freedom to take risks, or it is not liberty at all.

Weather delays last weekend caused many passengers to become stranded in airports across Europe. German transportation officials chose to send in the clowns to help folks pass the time. I have two observations: First, while clowns are creepy, I applaud the Germans for taking steps to keep folks entertained. It has a practical side, since, by keeping folks busy, they probably cut down on incidents brought on by people's frustrations with the travel delays. Second, I don't think it would work here, as American airports have too many clowns working in them already...

Most of the time, one-car accidents don't make the national news. But, when you crash your car in the front yard of a former president, you're going to make the news. The driver claims that his accelerator became stuck. As far as I've been able to discover, there is no truth to the rumors that there was a Gore/Liberman2000 sticker on the bumper of the 1970's Cougar, but witnesses claim that "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac was blaring from the car's sound system...

Pareidolia strikes again. Not a grilled-cheese sandwich this time, but melted wax on a candle. Many shapes can be perceived in the random patterns caused by clouds in the sky, ripples on water, etc. People really need to be a lot less gullible, I think. (That applies to a lot more than just this issue...)

In the 1970's, the Soviets introduced the Zhiguli, a car that would come to typify the industrial backwardness of Soviet Russia for the next 20+ years. Known as the Lada in export markets, the Zhiguli was a knock-off of a 1970 Fiat design, but without the Fiat's... refinements (not that Fiat was known for fine automobiles in the 1970. Indeed, Mercedes and Lexus aren't looking over their shoulders today because of Fiat, either.) To give you some idea about people's attitude towards the Zhiguli, I recount to you these jokes that I heard in high school in the early 1980's: Q: Do you know what Zhiguli owners dream about? A: Getting a speeding ticket. || A man walks into an auto part store, and can't find what he's looking for, and goes up to the clerk, "Could I get a pair of wiper blades for my Zhiguli?" The clerk thinks a minute, then says, "Okay, it's a deal." || Q: What do you call a Zhiguli at the top of a hill? A: A miracle. Well, it seems like things have changed in the world of Russian automobiles! I think this car will set you back a bit more than a pair of wiper blades!

And the Nuttiness goes on and on...

The Squirrel's Nut Cache - 12/18/2010

A Saturday Nut Special

The Nut Cache - a collection of recent things I found interesting, or amusing, or nutworthy.

I can't tell you how many people sent me links to this story! (Rachael Starke was the first, that much I'm sure of, but hat tips all 'round!) Now, honestly, can anyone really blame the squirrel for his reaction? I mean, who likes to get barged in on while they are in the bathroom? How rude! (And then there's the fact that the cop needed backup to deal with a squirrel... I'm seeing new required courses at police academies in every state except Hawaii) (Hawaii has no squirrels, so it isn't an issue there... just FYI...)

It is Christmas time, and, around our land, the scenes of Christmas are everywhere: Children building snowmen in the yard; Christmas trees at city halls and county courthouses; and, on the streets of Santa Maria, California, cowboys lassoing reindeer... It seems that a reindeer (name withheld for privacy reasons) escaped from the Hopper Brothers' Christmas tree lot in the early morning hours of December 9th. Unlike certain police officers, the cowboy who responded didn't call for backup, he just roped that reindeer and tied her up to a lamp post. After saving the day, he rode off into the sunset. Bystanders were heard to say, "Who was that masked man?"

"...it was the huge, unblinking eyes that made a Washington state trooper suspicious..." Yes, it is true, using your kids doll in an attempt to use the carpool lane while driving by yourself is a bad idea, as an unidentified Seattle driver recently discovered. I ask you, what does this man's actions teach his children about obeying the laws? "The driver was cited for the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane violation." Well, at least he can show his kids what happens to people who break the law...

In the Advice to Weirdos category: be sure to check the cemetery for security cameras before getting naked. (Better yet, just please keep your clothes on...) Turns out the weirdo photographed naked by security cameras in a Mississippi grave yard was just trying to take pictures of spirits. I'm wondering, myself, about the type and quantity of spirits involved...

A few weeks ago, I decried the costs involved in the modern wedding. Now, from Illinois, comes the story of a woman who laid out $95,942 in wedding preparations. Her fiancée called off the wedding, and she wants her money back. So she's suing him for reimbursement of her expenses ($30,000 for a banquet center rental, $12,000 for flowers, $10,000 for the orchestra and nearly $5,400 for wedding dress, etc. (An orchestra? Really?)) The lawsuit paperwork delivered to the ex-groom also included a note which said, "Please be advised that I am not still willing to marry you." Dude, even if you lose, I think you might just be better off without this one... (Oh, and, yeah, she's a lawyer...)

I've done weddings in churches and in rented halls. I've been to weddings in parks and in private homes. Never heard of a wedding in a diner before, but I like it. I like it for many reasons: 1) the diner is the bride and grooms favorite hang-out, and they have spent a lot of time learning about each other there; 2) the wedding certainly cost a lot less than $95,942; and 3) everything goes well with bacon and eggs!

And the Nuttiness goes on and on...