Sweet & Sour Chicken

I made this the other night and it was surprisingly easy and quick, not to mention unbelievably good. I am trying to really simplify my cooking lately and it is difficult for me since I love to try new things even if they are difficult. However, this was an easy fulfillment of my missing hobby lately. And you know it's good when my husband said, "So where did you buy the chicken?" I'll take that as a compliment, thank you!

Sweet and Sour Chicken
from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

*Note: if you like extra sauce, double the sauce ingredients – pour half over the chicken and follow the baking directions in the recipe and pour the other half in a small saucepan. Cook the sauce on the stovetop at a simmer for 8-10 minutes until it reduces and thickens. Serve it on the side of the chicken.

*Serves 4-6

Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes so it is evenly coated with the sauce. Serve over rice.

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I'm not a huge fan of Asian Cuisine, but this is a FAVORITE at our house. I keep forgetting to take pictures, so I use that excuse to not post, but I will try and do better!

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

1 head iceberg lettuce

3 TBSP hoisin sauce

2 TBSP soy sauce

2 TBSP water

5 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp grated fresh ginger (optional)

2 tsp plus 2 TBSP peanut or vegetable oil

1 LB chicken (about 2 -3 chicken breasts)

Salt and pepper

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped fine

5 scallions, chopped

1 can mushrooms

1 zucchini, diced

Remove 8 large, bowl-shaped leaves from head of lettuce; reserve remaining lettuce for another use. Whisk hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and water together in measuring cup. Combine garlic, ginger, and 2 teaspoons oil in small bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chicken, stirring to break up clumps, until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to bowl.

Add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet and heat until just smoking. Add bell pepper, water chestnuts, and scallions and cook until peppers soften, about 3 minutes. Clear center of skillet, add garlic mixture, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chicken and sauce and stir until thickened, about 30 seconds. Spoon mixture into lettuce leaves and serve.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Doug loved these the best and I did not have rice vinegar so I put a little salt and sugar and white vinegar instead and it was still delicious! The dipping sauce really was the best part :)

Asian Lettuce Wraps

2 t vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 lb ground chicken (about 2 boneless, skinless breasts(yeah the author of this recipe ground her own chicken! It makes me want to try sometime))
3/4 C minced mushrooms
1/2 t kosher salt
4 C minced cabbage (about 1/2 a head)
1 8oz can water chestnuts, minced
1/2 C minced green onions
1/4 C soy sauce
2 t sesame oil
1 lemon, zested, then juiced
1 t hot sauce
1/3 C chopped cilantro
1 head iceberg lettuce
*Dipping Sauce recipe to follow

Heat up a large skillet. Really, a large one, this makes a lot. Put in vegetable oil and when it's hot add minced garlic and ginger. Saute for a minute just until it's fragrant and then add in the ground chicken, minced mushrooms, and salt. Cook until chicken is cooked through.

Then add in the cabbage, water chestnuts, and green onions. Cook for a few minutes until cabbage starts to wilt. Add in the soy sauce, sesame oil, juice and zest from the lemon, and hot sauce. When everything is cooked through, remove from heat and stir in the cilantro.

To serve, carefully separate the whole leaves from the lettuce. Wash and dry them and keep them in the fridge so they're nice and cold. Spoon chicken filling onto the lettuce leaf and then roll it up and serve with dipping sauce below- or any other favorite Asian dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce
¼ C Soy Sauce
¼ C Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 T Fresh Minced Ginger
2 T chopped green onions

*This makes quite a bit. It's enough to feed my small family for a couple meals, so I use half and freeze the other half for later use! You'll get about 6 cups total of filling.

Asian Night

Dinner menus at my house are planned with three things in mind usually:
1. What have I made before that sounds good?
2. What can I make using only ingredients that I have? (This is the main one usually and this week it is potatoes :))
3. Experimenting and trying something new.

So I tried 2 new recipes yesterday for dinner, which is always a little frightening on a Sunday dinner, but it was delicious so enjoy!!

Both recipes were from here.

The first was fried rice, which cooking the rice actually took the longest in this meal. (Use your food processor if you can both these recipes!)

Fried Rice
Recipe from Disneyworld's Ohana Restaurant

2 c. white rice + 4 c. water (OR 4 c. cold, leftover rice, which is actually better)
3 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. minced red onion
2 Tbsp. chopped green onions
1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 c. chopped carrots
1/2 c. chopped mushrooms
8 oz. (1/2 bag) of coleslaw mix
3-4 generous Tbsp. soy sauce

SEASONING:
1 Tbsp. dried onion
1 Tbsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 ½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. celery salt
1 ½ tsp. sugar


Boil water and add rice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. This step can be done even up to 2-3 days in advance (and for some reason, fried rice tastes better when the rice is cold). Heat butter over medium heat and saute onions, carrots, and cabbage until carrots are tender. Add cooked rice, soy sauce, and seasoning to taste (you won't even come close to using all of it; save the rest for future fried rice or use as you would seasoning salt.)

OPTIONAL ADD-INS:

--Peas, snap peas, or pea pods
--Ham
--Shrimp