Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken - aka the BEST dinner ever.

I've raved about this recipe a few times already...here's the original link where I found this gem.

My family gobbles this up like no one's business - I don't blame them. I'm in on the shove-as-much-as-you-can-in-and-get-seconds-FAST game.

I normally double or TRIPLE the amount of chicken the original recipe calls for (remember, I said my family likes it??) - If I double my chicken I keep the sauce amount the same but if I triple it I will make more sauce....totally up to you. Joys of cooking!

The only CON of this recipe (which really isn't a con...it's just proof that I'm a tad lazy) is that it takes TIME. It takes time to coat the chicken, it takes time to sauté the chicken and then you babysit it in the oven for an hour (stirring every 15 min) - BUT it's TOTALLY worth it. Do it. You'll thank me. I accept chocolate and flowers. Or Caribou. Or all three. I digress. Here's the How-To....

BAKED SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN

Start with thawed chicken (I've done it with chicken breasts and a different time with chicken thighs - use what you want - or whatever's on sale) and cut into bite sized pieces.

Get your coating stations set: Cornstarch in one bowl and Eggs in another bowl...

Take your chicken (a few pieces at a time) and toss in cornstarch - then transfer to the eggs and swirl around...then set in a pan (with oil and heated at Med-High) to brown...repeat until your pan is full

Let your chicken hang out in your pan until each side is nice and browned (not cooking it all the way through)....you may have some stray pieces of egg that will fry - no worries. Just take them out when you transfer your chicken to the pan.

This step is the most time consuming for me....probably because I have a small-ish frying pan and I do SO much meat. I normally have to do this process three times (washing my pan in-between). Even though this is the longest (and therefore annoying) step it's a necessary step to create that 'take-out' taste and feel to this dish. DO IT.

Back to making dinner....

While your chicken is browning away on the stove (remember you're not cooking it all the way - just crisping the outside) make your sauce..

It's a super-easy sauce. If you're anti-ketchup (I'm personally cool with ketchup...I know some are not...) you could always make your own. 

Remember how I said this is a 'time consuming' recipe? Well, in my house, when I do a dinner that might require some extra time I normally get to re-organize my kitchen. AKA: my baby takes everything out of my cupboards and I get to put it away....TOTALLY worth it for this meal. Plus he's cute. And sitting on a mini-muffin tin.

So, once you're done browning your chicken put it in a GREASED dish. Since I do a ton of meat I use my 9x13 pan and my glass pie pan. Make sure you spray it. Pretty Please. You'll thank me later. 

POUR your sauce over the chicken (once you've browned ALL your chicken and it's ALL in your dishes) - I normally split it 50/50 between my pans. 

POP it into a pre-heated 325* oven, uncovered. 

Take it out every 15 minutes and STIR your chicken around. Do this FOUR times (grand total of 60 minutes cooking time). 

I have issues remembering to stir things if I don't set a timer. So, set a timer for 15 minutes and go about your business. 

THIS is what comes out after 60 minutes --- gorgeous!! 

See why I said to SPRAY your pans? Can you imagine what it'd look like without spray? Ugh. Spray those bad boys.

Oh this is so good. I don't know what does it...maybe it's the sauce? Maybe it's the coating? Maybe it's the fact that you worked in the kitchen for over an hour? Whatever it is...it's AWESOME.

Eat Up. And fast - go get seconds!

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken 
Adapted from life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com

Ingredients (as I do it):

3 lbs chicken (breast or thighs) *3-lbs will fill two pans - use 1.5-lb if you only want one pan* 
1 cup cornstarch
2-4 eggs (start with 2 and add more if you run out)
Vegetable Oil

Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tb ketchup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 Tb soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder

DO IT: 

1. Cut chicken into bite size pieces and toss in cornstarch and dip in beaten eggs.

2. Heat some oil over med-high heat and cook chicken till browned (not cooked all the way though).

3. Transfer chicken to SPRAYED dish (9x13 or glass pie pan).

4. Repeat steps 1-3 until all chicken is browned.

5. Make sauce - mix sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce and garlic powder.

6. Pour over chicken.

7. Bake in a 325* oven, uncovered, for an hour. STIRRING every 15 minutes (four sets of 15 minutes).

8. ENJOY!

**Let me know what you think when you try this! I know you'll love it. **

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas

I made these for dinner last night. Whenever I try something new I'm always a tad nervous incase it's a flop....well...this one is AWESOME!

I got the recipe from here and modified it a little to fit our liking.

To make the filling - start some oil in a pan and sauté some garlic till fragrant, then add in a can of green chilies, a can of white beans, 1/3 cup chicken broth and some cumin...

Turn the heat to low and move over to your sauce. 

In a medium sauce pan melt 1 Tb of butter....add in 2 Tb of flour and mix it up...add in a can of green chilies and 1 cup chicken broth...stir till thickened and remove from heat. 

Back to the filling...

Add in some cooked-shredded chicken (about a breast) and stir it in...

Your filling's done!

Back to the sauce....

With your pot off the heat stir in 1/2 cup of sour cream till incorporated...

Sauce is done! 

Now to assemble...

Pour about 1/2 cup of your sauce in the bottom of a SPRAYED 9x13 pan. 

Take a flour tortilla and lay about 1/3 cup of filling in the middle and wrap it up - and line it in your pan. 

Pour the rest of your sauce over your enchiladas and top with some shredded cheese...

Pop into a 350* oven, covered, for about 30 minutes...take foil off and broil the top if you want...looky what you get! 

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas

inspired by SkinnyTaste.com

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 tsp Olive Oil

2 Cloves Garlic - grated 

1 (4.5 oz) can Green Chilies

1 (15.5 oz) can White Beans 

8 oz cooked, shredded Chicken breast (about 1 breast) 

1/3 Cup Chicken Broth

1 tsp Cumin

Sauce: 

1 Tablespoon Butter

2 Tablespoon Flour

1 (4.5 oz) can Green Chilies 

1 Cup Chicken Broth

1/2 Cup Sour Cream

Shredded Cheese

Flour Tortillas (I used 8) 

DO IT: 

(preheat oven to 350*)

1. In a pan heat your oil and sauté garlic till fragrant. 

2. Add green chilies, white beans, broth and cumin - stir and lower heat to low. 

3. In a medium sauce pan melt your butter. 

4. Stir in flour and move around till paste-like. 

5. Add in can of green chilies and chicken broth and stir till smooth and starts to thicken then remove from heat. 

6. Add cooked chicken to filling pan and stir into beans/chilies. 

7. Stir in sour cream into sauce (away from the heat of stove) till nice and smooth. 

8. SPRAY your 9x13 pan and spread 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom. 

9. Assemble enchiladas: Lay about 1/3 cup of filling in the middle of a tortilla and wrap it up. Line up enchiladas in your pan (I was able to fill/fit 8 in mine). 

10. Pour sauce over the top of enchiladas and top with cheese. 

11. BAKE covered for about 30 minutes then uncover and broil for a few minutes. 

12. ENJOY! 

*This recipe was so good on so many levels! 

I loved that it had a homemade sauce - for some reason it makes me feel all susie-homemaker or something....plus it's really fun to do! 

I loved that it only used ONE chicken breast! I'm all about stretching my meat (and budget!) - thankfully my family will eat beans without blinking an eye. 

I love that it's an oven meal - this means I can prep everything in advance and have my pan hanging out in the fridge. Then when late afternoon rolls around all I have to do is pop it in the oven! Score. 

I love that it's tasty - there's lots of flavor from all those green chilies but not a lot of heat (which is good considering 3/5 of my crew are kids!) - of course my hubby doctored his up with lots of hot sauce and other spicy goods. 

TRY IT! YUM. 

One Pot Dinner - Pasta and Broccoli

We've established I like easy -- and healthy -- and most of all YUMMY.

Well, this little gem from Martha Stewart is all 3 of those!

Start with your boiling water...add some penne and set your timer....

While it's boiling away chop up a head of fresh broccoli....

When there's SIX minutes left for your pasta ADD in your broccoli to the same pot....

While that's boiling away whip up the super simple dressing - I like to GRATE my garlic and lemon zest....

Drain your pasta/broccoli and then toss with your dressing - throw in a handful (or two) of cheese and dinner's DONE!

Told ya it was easy. 

Here's the actual recipe if you need it....

Garlic/Lemon Penne with Broccoli
*from MarthaStewart.com

Ingredients
1 Box Penne Pasta
1 Head Broccoli
6 Tablespoons Olive Oil
5 Cloves Garlic - grated
1/4 Lemon - Zest and Juice
1-2 Handfuls Fresh Parmesan or Romano Cheese

DO IT: 

1. Bring a big pot of water to a boil - ADD penne and set timer according to directions for Al Dente (mine was 12 min).

2. While Penne is boiling, CUT up your broccoli into cut florets.

3. When there's SIX minutes left on your Penne timer ADD your broccoli to the same pot.

4. While Penne and Broccoli is boiling - MIX your Oil, Garlic, Lemon Zest and Lemon Juice in a bowl.

5. DRAIN Penne/Broccoli pot and return to big pot - POUR your Oil mixture and TOSS. ADD a few handfuls of cheese and mix gently.

This meal took me 12 minutes from when my water started boiling. Can't beat that for speed! It was the perfect quick and healthy meal for my family. I'm sure if you needed meat you could toss some cooked shredded chicken or ring sausage at the end.

Creamy Avocado Dip

I'm a dip kinda gal...I love salsa, sour cream, hummus, guacamole, ranch and the list goes on!

When I saw this dip I knew I'd love it.

*Greek Yogurt - YUM

*Avocado - YUM

*Garlic - YUM

*Lime - YUM

Seriously? How can you go wrong with those ingredients?

Here's where I got the idea: Link. 

We enjoyed our dip with black-bean/corn oven quesadillas

What I ended up doing was a tad different but still delicious - here's what I did....

Creamy Avocado Dip
inspired by TwoPeasAndTheirPod.com

Ingredients: 
1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt
2 Avocados, peeled and pitted
1 Clove Garlic, grated
2 Tablespoon fresh Lime Juice
1 teaspoon fresh Lime Zest
1/4 teaspoon Cumin

DO IT: 

1. Mix everything in your food processor (or blender) till almost smooth. I like to leave a little texture to mine.

2. ENJOY!

*Don't forget the lime juice - or your avocados beautiful green may turn to a non-appealing brown.
*Other add-in ideas: Jalapeños, Cilantro, Purple Onions

**I bought jalapeños specifically for this dip and guess what....I forgot them! So, if you're not a jalapeño person the dip is still AWESOME sans peppers. Next time I'm totally adding 'em in though.

Kid Plate - I wish my plate had little sections! 

This dip is perfect for chips, quesadillas, on tacos, burritos, or anything else that's dip-able! 

Breakfast Cookies

I love breakfast. Mmmmm. I'm all about easy-healthy-fast breakfast stuff (cause I'm most definitely NOT a morning person....)

I found this VeRy EaSy basic recipe on Pinterest - TWO ingredients? Could it get any easier?

Here's the LINK that I used as my base.

Here's what I did:

Breakfast Cookie
From TheBurlapBag.com

Ingredients:
2 Bananas (the riper the better! Non-ripe bananas still work though...just more effort to mash them)
1 Cup Oats (the recipe calls for Quick Cooking Oats - which I didn't have. I used a packet of flavored instant oats (1/2 cup) and 1/2 cup old fashioned oats)

*I added in a tad of vanilla so technically I used 3 ingredients* 

DO IT: 

1. Mash you bananas in a bowl.

2. Mix in your oats (and vanilla if want).

3. Stir in Add-Ins of choice (chocolate chips, nuts, etc..) I kept mine simple this time with no add-ins.

4. SPRAY cookie sheet. Don't forget this step. Can you imagine scrubbing off baked on oatmeal?? ick. SPRAY IT. 

5. BAKE at 350* for 15 min.

6. ENJOY!

Verdict: These were super EASY and really YUMMY! My kids liked them and I probably should've doubled it - they were gobbled up it 5 minutes.

I read (and agree) that using Old Fashioned Oats would probably yield a tougher cookie since the oats don't get cooked as quick. I wonder if you made the mix and let it sit for a while (overnight in the fridge maybe?) if the Old Fashioned Oats would soak up some of the liquid and cook better. Since I used half instant and half O.F. mine came out fine - not too tough. The flavor from the instant pack added a nice touch too! I used an Apple/Cinnamon packet which paired well with the bananas....Mmmm.

I will definitely be doing this one again and experimenting with different add-ins and types of oats! 

Food in Review (week 11)

Another week complete! Here's an abbreviated list of what we ate...

...I'll go in detail with some of them soon! I promise.

MONDAY: Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken 

Link: Here.

DO IT. This one ROCKS! 

TUESDAY: Tilapia/Rice/Broccoli 

Nothing special to it - I baked our fish with a little EVOO/Pepper/Lemon Zest.

Served with Rice and Broccoli - done!

WEDNESDAY: Turkey Wild Rice Casserole 

Link: Here. 

The recipe calls for chicken but I like to switch it up and used ground turkey this time - verdict? Yum. Totally works. Classic comfort food right here! It's like Wild Rice Soup in a pan.

THURSDAY: Ravioli Lasagna

I have plans to blog in detail the recipe for this soon....very soon! I'll give you a brief overview:

It's a lazyman (or lazyGirl in my case) lasagna layered with Cheese Ravioli, your fave Red Sauce, Italian Sausage and Cheese. Easy Peasy - and totally delicious! This is a perfect freezer meal or dish to bring to someone. Stay tuned for the complete recipe!

FRIDAY: Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers

Link: Here. 

Meh. I was underwhelmed by this one. I dig the idea of stuffed peppers in the slow cooker and the peppers themselves came out great - I just wasn't a fan of the stuffed part....I'll try it again with some tweaking (cause that's what I do!) and find the perfect filling. When I discover that - you better believe I'll share it!

**In the defense of the recipe website I didn't follow their recipe exactly...so perhaps the amounts and ingredients they have would be great!**

So, there's a quick overview of what was on our table last week - I'll share the complete Ravioli Lasagna recipe soon. It's an easy, fail-proof, yummy dish you'll want to check out!

Easy Oven Mac

Mmmmm Mac-n-Cheese. Classic comfort food. I've searched high and low for a recipe I like for homemade Mac and finally I combined all the basic concepts to make my own. I'll warn you: it's super SIMPLE. Cuz that's how I roll.

I personally don't like the box stuff -- too bright orange and saucy for me....plus who really knows what's in those powdered packets anyways?! 

Something magical happens when you put Mac-n-Cheese in the oven (ok..not magical but I still dig it) - it turns into a scoop-able dish that doesn't get all over your kids faces and isn't dripping with liquid-ey sauce. Magic? maybe not. Personal preference for eating and cleaning? Yep.

I'm rambling...here's the simple recipe. The wonderful thing about simple recipes is that YOU can personalize it however you please!

Oven Mac-n-Cheese

You Need: 
* Box of Elbow Macaroni (I try to use Whole Wheat so I don't feel so bad....)
* 4 Tbs Butter
* 4 Tbs Flour
* 2 Cups Chicken Broth
* 2 Cups Shredded Cheese (use what you like...this time I used part Cheddar and part Colby)
* Topping of choice (I'll list all the possibilities later)

DO IT: 

* Boil your noodles according to the box for Al Dente (they'll finish cooking in the oven) in a big pot and drain.

* Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan melt your 4 Tbs butter.

* Add in your 4 Tb of flour and stir-stir-stir! It should get to be peanut butter consistency in quick order.

* Pour in your 2 cups chicken broth and stir again...keep stirring to mix it thoroughly.

* Add in your 2 cups of cheese - keep stirring! Don't stop. I get all fancy and stir in a figure-8 for this. Don't get frustrated when all your cheese clumps...keep stirring! When you feel like it's a lost cause....keep stirring! I promise it'll come together....figure-8 that pot till you get a beautiful, creamy sauce. **Here you can add in whatever spices you please. Sometimes I do simple salt/pepper, other times I throw in some garlic powder, or whatever your little heart desires!**

* Put your cooked/drained noodles back in the big pot and pour your awesome sauce over 'em. Mix it up real well!

* SPRAY a 9x13 dish - pour your gorgeous pot of Mac in and spread it around.

* TOP with your desired toppings and either cover and store in the fridge/freezer till cooking time or pop in a 350* oven. I do 30 min from the fridge so if you're cooking it right from the hot pot I bet you could do 20 min. (Covered to start then uncovered to brown the yummy topping under the broiler for the last few minutes)

* Scoop out a big old serving and ENJOY!

TOPPING IDEAS: 

*Bacon/Cheese/French's Fried Onions (this is what I did tonight....Oh.My.Goodness.)
*Bread Crumbs
*Extra Cheese
*Crumbled Potato Chips
*Anything Salty!

If you enjoy the comfort food of Mac-n-Cheese you should give this homemade version a whirl! It's good. And simple. And it makes A LOT. Gotta love leftovers!