Sweet and Sour Chicken

Okay Rachelle, here is CJ's sweet and sour recipe. I don't know about you guys, but we love American Chinese food, but are too cheap to order takeout. So, we make it ourselves. CJ found this recipe online when I was sick pregnant with Ellie and not cooking. I didn't try it the first few times he made it (for obvious reasons of not wanting to be trying it again a few hours later), but now it is a favorite of the whole family. I love to serve it with alot of steamed broccoli (I steam it with the rice) and this time I made the fried rice to go with it. One of these days I will go all out and make my mother-in-laws spring rolls too. I will have to do that in the summer, however, when we are really active and can burn of all that oil.

Notes on the recipe. Don't add all the soy sauce at once, do a little at a time in case you don't like it too strong. For the pineapple juice, just buy a can of pineapple, use that juice, and then I like to put chunks of pineapple in the sauce. I also cut my meat pretty small to make sure it cooks all the way. Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Batter:

1 egg

1/3 c. milk

1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

mix well and then add pork or chicken, cut to bite size pieces.

(this amount of batter will do about 2 chicken breasts, depending on the size)

Using fork to take pieces out, put in pan of hot oil to fry til golden brown. Take out and put on plate with paper towel.

Sauce:

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. white vinegar

1/4 c. pineapple juice (I use more)

2 Tbs soy sauce

1/4 c. water

2 Tbs cornstarch (or more, just mix with a little water, and add to boiling sauce til thickens)
Simmer sauce while you cook meat.

Apple Craisen Cashew Salad w/ Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing

1 head romaine lettuce
1 cup swiss cheese
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup craisins
1 apple cubed

Dressing:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. green onion chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 tsp. dry mustard
2/3 cup canola oil

All the credit for this yummy recipe has to go to my good friend Michelle! Thanks so much! I made this for the Valentine's party at the Cannon's. So the dressing is not exactly healthy, but you don't use much to cover whole salad. I think Michelle dumped out 3/4 of the leftover salad dressing. Enjoy!

Curried Chicken

This is a family favorite. It is my grandma's recipe. I usually add less lemon juice and more curry, because I like a strong curry taste. I will post her original recipe and you can shake it up as you like.


Curried Chicken

2 chicken breasts (again, I used just one ginormous one)
1 bay leaf
6 whole allspice
3 TBS butter
1/4 c. flour (heaping)
3 c. chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp curry
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt to taste

Boil chicken breasts with bay leaf and allspice for 20 min. Cool. Cut up or shred meat to bite-size pieces. Strain the broth and keep 3 c. In sauce pan, melt butter and add flour. Add the broth while using a whisk to keep from forming lumps. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir til thickened. Add chicken. Serve over rice.

Oatmeal Muffins

This recipe was really for oatmeal coffee cake, and it involved raisins, but after reading a few reviews, I decided to switch it up. Like so many new recipes I try, I got it from Allrecipes.com. I served them at our Joy School meeting this week, and Jackie made me promise to post them on here. They were a big hit, especially with Ches, who would have eaten the whole batch if I let him.


Oatmeal Muffins

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Crumb topping: <1/4 c. flour, 1/4 butter softened, 1/4 sugar (white or brown, I did some of both). I think I will throw some nuts on next time as well.

DIRECTIONS
Pour the boiling water over the quick oats and let stand for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease muffin tin or use paper liners .
Cream the shortening with the sugar until light. Beat in the eggs. Then add the oats and vanilla, mixing well.
Combine the baking soda, salt , cinnamon and flour. Mix until combined.
Add the flour mixture to the oatmeal mixture and stir to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
Crumble topping over batter.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean.

Chicken Soup

Tuesday I woke up with a cold, and I remembered my sister once telling me that whenever anyone in her family gets sick she makes this chicken soup. So I called her, got the recipe and here it is. Tasty!


Chicken Soup

2 chicken breasts (I just used one huge one-musta been a big chicken)
6-9 c. water (depending on how much broth you want)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 tsp salt
1 tbs chicken bouillon (or more if more water)
1 bay leaf
chopped carrots
chopped celery (as much as you want of both)
1 tbs parsley
1/4 tsp black pepper

Throw everything in a pot, bring to boil then simmer. ( I did it all day to bring out the flavors)
Take out cooked chicken, shred, then put back in.
Before you are ready to eat add noodles, let them cook til tender, and serve.
You can use whatever noodles you want, I used broken spaghetti.

Minestrone, Olive Garden Copy-cat

I really enjoyed this one and like Tiana, I love Italian food! I think I'll try to remember to plan on making this the same week as Lasagna (Tiana's spinach recipe : ) or Ratatouille because it uses a lot of the same vegetables and herbs.

A couple of improvisations I made to this recipe: I used chicken broth that I had boiled off of a couple of chicken breasts and added two cubes of chicken boullion. I thought about broiling the chicken with Italian salad dressing, because it's easy and spent all my energy making soup. But just ended up drizzling the chicken with salad dressing! : ) I added yellow squash, because I like it and had it on hand. It tastes a lot like zucchini to me. I didn't have green beans, which would have been yummy!

How does everyone measure their veggies? I'll just add on my eye-ball equivalant.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup white onions, minced or one small yellow onion
1/2 cup zucchini, or one small zucchini
1/2 cup frozen green beans, Italian-cut (a handful)
1/4 cup celery, minced (two small celery sticks)
4 teaspoons garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth
30 ounces canned red kidney beans, drained
30 ounces canned white beans, drained
14 ounces diced tomatoes, canned
1/2 cup carrots, julienned or shredded (one carrot stick)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups hot water
4 cups fresh spinach, small leaves (or four handfuls)
1/2 cup shell pasta

Directions:1. Heat three tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot.
2. Sauté onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes or until onions begin to turn translucent.
3. Add vegetable broth to pot, plus drained tomatoes, beans, carrot, hot water, and spices.
4. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. 5. Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes or until desired consistency. Makes about eight 1 1/2 cup servings.

Enjoy!

Spinach Lasagna

I don't know about you guys, but I love Italian cuisine. My favorite combination is spinach and tomato sauce. I love lasagna, and have been looking for a good recipe. I found this one, and was excited, because it didn't have expensive ingredients, and was healthier then most other recipes. So, today I gave it a shot.

My impressions: We loved it.
Things that I will do different next time:
Cut down the spinach. I love spinach, but it was a bit too much. I will probably do 1 to 1 1/2 pkgs next time. Also, I will thaw it first, and do a quick squeeze to get out some excess liquid. Not all, but most. Also, this makes A TON! We barely made a dent in it. I would either cut the recipe in half, or just make two smaller pans and freeze one (before cooking it). I ended up freezing a large portion of it, to have another day. Also, a good tip would be to not fall asleep while it's in the oven, and be so dead tired that when your husband tells you the timer rang you apparently acknowledge him before falling back asleep, but then wake up 15 minutes later, having no recollection of the conversation. It still tasted good.

Spinach Lasagna

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped
spinach
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (32 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups non-fat cottage cheese
1 (8 ounce) package part skim mozzarella
cheese, shredded
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 egg
8 ounces lasagna noodles

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large pot over medium heat saute spinach, onion, oregano, basil and garlic in the olive oil. Pour in spaghetti sauce and water; simmer 20 minutes. In a large bowl mix cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, pepper and egg.
3. Place a small amount of sauce in the bottom of a lasagna pan. Place 4 uncooked noodles on top of sauce and top with layer of sauce. Add 4 more noodles and layer with 1/2 sauce and 1/2 cheese mixture, noodles and repeat until all is layered, finishing with sauce.
4. Cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven for 55 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

So, my biggest fear about this blog is that I am going to post too many not incredibly healthy recipes and get kicked off. But, hey, everyone needs a special treat every once and awhile, right? For CJs birthday he decided he wanted real fudgy brownies instead of a cake, so I found this recipe and tried it out. It was a big hit, and I am sure they will be made again in the future. Even Ches liked them so much he was asking for them for breakfast. So, when you are in need of a special chocolate treat...make these!
p.s. we didn't have walnuts so I put in chocolate chips instead, then I frosted them. I also baked them for the minimum time.



Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Estimated Times: Preparation - 15 min | Cooking - 15 min | Yields - 24 brownies (2 dozen)

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2 tablespoons water
4 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate Baking Bars, broken into pieces
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

MICROWAVE sugar, butter and water in a large microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 4 to 5 minutes or until mixture bubbles, stirring once. Remove from heat. Add baking bars; stir until melted.

STIR in eggs one at a time until incorporated. Stir in vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda and salt; stir well. Stir in nuts. Pour into prepared baking pan.

BAKE for 15 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

FOR SAUCEPAN METHOD:
HEAT sugar, butter and water in a medium saucepan just to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add baking bars; stir until melted. Proceed as above.

CREAM CHEESE BROWNIE VARIATION:
PREPARE brownie batter; do not pour into pan. Beat 8 ounces softened cream cheese, ½ cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Beat in 1 egg. Pour brownie batter into pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture over top; swirl with spoon. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIE VARIATION:
PREPARE brownie batter without nuts; do not pour into pan. Combine ½ cup peanut butter, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons milk in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH (100 %) power for 45 seconds; stir until smooth. Pour brownie batter into pan. Spoon peanut butter mixture over top; swirl with spoon. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

ROCKY ROAD BROWNIE VARIATION:
PREPARE brownie batter without nuts; bake as directed. While still hot, sprinkle with 1½ cups miniature marshmallows, 1/3 cup chopped nuts and ¾ cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. Bake for 2 to 3 minutes or until marshmallows are puffed and morsels are shiny.