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Ginger-Glazed Baked Chicken with Root Vegetables
by Jes Mostek
 
  ***For this date, you may want to make extra chicken, to ensure that you'll have left-overs for tomorrow's meal.

Peel and coarsely chop the carrots and rutabega. Add the chunks of root vegetables to the pan with the chicken. Top all of the chicken and vegetables with the ginger glaze.
In addition to the recipes, you will also need the following for this meal:
  4 lg.  carrots
  1/2   rutabega

Recipes:
Ginger Chicken
by Jes Mostek
serves: 8
  This recipe is best when the chicken is marinated overnight, but if you're short on time, stab the chicken pieces with a fork a few times to give the marinade a better shot at infiltrating the chicken and let it sit as long as you can.
Ingredients:
  1 whole (3.5 lb.)   cut-up chicken
  1 c.   soy sauce
  2 T.   fresh grated ginger root (or 1 tsp. dry powder for every 1 T. fresh)
  1/2 c.   honey
  2 cloves   garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp. powder for every clove)
Directions:
  Whisk together the soy sauce, honey, ginger and garlic. Pour over chicken in a gallon plastic bag or air-tight container and refrigerate overnight.

To cook, either in the oven at 350°F for 30-45 minutes, until juices run clear and there is no pink to be seen when you cut into the chicken.

You can also cook chicken in the crock pot on high for 3 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours. Be aware, that the chicken will be slightly pink, even when cooked through, when you cook it in the crock pot. To check for doneness, look for consistensy. The chicken should not be rubbery at all, and it should easily fall off the bone.
Rice
by Jes Mostek
serves: 4
  This is a recipe for simple cooked rice. Feel free to spice it up, literally, to suit your personal taste.

1 c. uncooked rice will yield about 2 1/2 c. cooked rice, that's 4 - 3/4 c. servings.

Brown rice has more health benefits than its white counterpart. But if your goal is to cook authentic Japanese or Chinese cuisine, sticky white rice is your objective.
Ingredients:
  1 c.   uncooked rice
  2 c.   water
  1/2 T.   butter, optional
    salt to taste
Directions:
  To cook the rice, you'll need either a rice cooker or a large, heavy-bottomed sauce pan with a tight-fitting lid (a clear lid works best so you can see into the pot without having to disturb the cooking process to check on your rice).

Check your rice and remove anything undesirable (i.e. black grains, etc.). Pre-rinsing your rice is recommended on most rice packages. This part is optional. Rinsing your rice will yield rice that is more fluffy, while cooking your rice without rinsing first will yield rice that is more sticky. This is your choice.

Combine uncooked rice with water and a pat of butter and/or seasonings, if desired. Give the rice and water a quick stir to ensure that all of the rice is submurged and evenly distributed in the pan.

If you're using the rice cooker, follow the manufacturer's instructions at this point, and you're done (usually just turn it on and walk away).

If you're using a sauce pan or stock pot, put the lid on the pot and heat over a high flame until it reaches a full boil, stirring once to ensure that the rice doesn't clump or stick (just like when you're cooking pasta).

Once the rice is cooking at a full boil, reduce the flame to low and cook on a slow simmer until the rice is done. Do not disturb the rice during this stage of cooking (no stirring).

Once you have brought the rice to a boil, it will take about 20 minutes for white rice to cook, and 30-40 minutes for brown rice to cook.

When the rice is done cooking, fluff with a fork and serve.