Cranberry Chicken - Because We Can Help!!!

BECAUSE WE CAN HELP

Cranberry Chicken

Tired of the same old chicken recipes. Bring a new taste sensation to your bird using cranberries!!!!!Cranberries are such a colourful and festive addition they will add pizazz to your dish. Not even Photoshop could solve the lighting problems of this delicious dish but here it humbly stands before you begging you to give it a try.

Bonnie Stern of Canadian Living Magazine and a winning cookbook author says, "This unusual dish is so delicious it is sure to be a big hit!!!! Serve it over steamed rice or couscous. If you are having a small holiday dinner or want something different this is perfect."

I would serve this satisfying holiday inspired chicken dish with Wild Rice, Pistachio and Cranberry Pilaf (recipe to follow), Steamed Sugar Snap Peas or Asparagus and an exceptional side salad with avocado perhaps. The tartness of the cranberries married well with the balsamic vinegar and honey to create a sweet and sour chicken perfect for the holidays.

I am submitting this recipe to Giz, of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, who is hosting our first fundraising event for our Social Network called Bloggeraid called: Because we can help!

Please bare in mind you don't need to raise funds or donate to submit a recipe!!!!!!

Your contribution could be as simple as raising awareness on your blog for world hunger by submitting a delicious recipe to Giz' event. Send a recipe you would be proud to serve guests in your home over the holidays.

The recipe and post you’re submitting to the event should appear on your blog between today and December 28th. Please include a link to this post as well as the BloggerAid ribbon near the top of this post. If you’d like to participate, just send :

Your name, a recipe and a photograph and email all to bloggeraid(at)gmail(dot)com

World Food Day in October brought to our attention the plight of 862 million undernourished people around the world ...even in our own cities!! Global warming and the biofuel boom are threatening to push the number of hungry even higher in the decades to come. We're hoping to take even more positive action!!! This event Because We Can Help is our first fundraising event and is the brainchild of Giz, of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, who has joined forces with myself Val of More Than Burnt Toast in continuing to raise awareness for the worldwide issue of hunger. We started in October 2008 with our events World Food Day and World Food Day - A Time to Be Thankful . With these two previous events I think we have enough virtual dishes submitted by each of you to reach the end of several city blocks if laid back to back in any city in the world. Each of you has brought a unique perspective to each dish generously submitted to raise awareness for the plight of so many.
The ultimate goal of Giz and I has been to move toward a more concrete way of helping those who are less fortunate than we are. Each of us brings a particular skill or passion to the table as do each of you. If you're looking to contribute in a more positive or more permanent basis visit our Social Network Bloggeraid-Changing the Face of Famine . This forum was founded as a place to chat with others and move towards a concrete initiative in raising awareness and helping others. JOIN this forum or another option would be to join in on the initiative at the end of this post!!!!! Hint...hint...With our new initiatives our goal is to work towards raising funds for the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations frontline agency..... starting with ,but not limited to, our first initiative you will find at the end of this recipe. We are looking forward to your ideas........keep reading......

**Sweet And Sour Cranberry Chicken**

adapted from Canadian Living

by Bonnie Stern and Fran Berkoff

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces, bone-in, skin on or off (I used 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

Rub

2 tablespoons (25mL) brown sugar
1 tablespoon (15mL) paprika
1 teaspoon (5mL) salt
1/2 teaspoon (2mL) dried thyme

Sauce
2 tablespoons (25mL) vegetable oil
2 large onions, sliced
1 tablespoon (15mL) chopped fresh ginger root
1/4 cup (50mL) balsamic vinegar
1 cup (250mL) chicken stock or water
1 300g pkg fresh or frozen cranberries (2 1/2 cups/625mL)
1/3 cup (75mL) honey
1 teaspoon (5mL) salt
1/4 teaspoon (1mL) pepper
2 tablespoons (25mL) chopped fresh parsley

Pat chicken dry. For rub combine brown sugar with paprika, salt and thyme. Pat into chicken. Cook immediately or marinate in the refrigerator a few hours.

Heat oil in a large deep skillet or Dutch oven. Brown chicken pieces well. Place chicken in a single layer, skin side up in a 9"x13" (3L) baking dish. Discard all but a thin layer of oil in the pan. (Clean out pan if sugar burns.)

Add onions and brown well. Add ginger and cook a minute longer.

Add vinegar and stir up any bits of onion or chicken from the bottom of the pan. Add stock and bring to a boil. Add cranberries, honey and salt and pepper. Cook gently 10 minutes.

Spoon sauce over chicken, cover and bake in a preheated 350F (180C) oven 30 minutes.
Uncover and bake 15 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reaches 160F (71C). (You can also make this with boneless, skinless chicken breasts but they cook faster than bone-in chicken pieces. Cook them 15 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered or until a meat thermometer registers 160F (71C) in a preheated 350F (180C).)
Sprinkle with parsley.

FUNDRAISING

So...our first fundraising initiative begins!!!!!!A thank you goes out to Giz for her creative line of bookmarks, key rings and cell phone charms with a foodie based theme. These "foodie" related items can be purchased and sent anywhere in the world. They would make perfect stocking stuffers or Christmas gifts for the special people in your life! With each purchase , a donation is being deposited to a bank account monitored by myself and Equal Opportunity Kitchen. These items will be updated regularly so keep checking to see what’s new here at Giz's site.

Giz and Psychgrad have put ADD TO CART buttons on their site for your safe and secure payment. A portion of the profit will go to the United Nations' frontline agency in the fight against global hunger.... the World Food Programme (WFP).



You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.