Sweet and Sour Chicken

I had green and red peppers, and even a fresh pineapple that need to be eaten, so I tweaked our menu a bit and decided to make sweet and sour chicken with white rice and egg rolls.  The egg rolls were some I had previously made, froze and then reheated tonight.  The dish I made was adapted from a recipe I found on Food Network.  The picture they posted showed a typical red sauce that you normally find at an Asian restaurant, but the sauce that I ended up with was nothing like that at all.  However, it was very delicious and had such a good flavor.  I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

*note: As written, this recipe Serves 2-4.  If you have a large family like I do, you will need to double!
PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 boneless chicken breasts cut into chunks 
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup chopped red pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with 4 teaspoons water
• 1 cup pineapple cut into chunks with 1/2 cup reserved juice
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper

How to make it!

In a large non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt, pepper and ginger and add to pan. Brown chicken and remove to plate.  Next add the onion, red and green peppers and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in pineapple chunks, juice, sugar, vinegar and chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Simmer until sauce begins to reduce.  Stir in cornstarch mixture and bring the liquid to a simmer.  Stir in chicken and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Serve over white rice with a side of egg rolls and enjoy!

Sauteing veggies and pineapple

A delicious dinner !

Red Velvet Chip Cookies!

Tonight I am baking Red Velvet Chip Cookies for my boys' teachers, friends and of course for my own little Valentines.  I wanted a red cookie, something festive, something a little unique and of course something ridiculously delicious!  I stumbled upon this cookie recipe posted by Sweet Dreaming and knew this was the cookie I had been looking for.  I just finished my first batch, and not only are they a beautiful red cookie, they are moist and absolutely delicious!  I am so pleased with how these turned out, I wanted to immediately share with all of you, just in time for your own Valentine's Day celebrations!  Happy Heart Day dear friends!  Much love!

What you need:

1 box Red Velvet cake mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine cake mix, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until a dough forms.  Dough will be thick!  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Roll into balls and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Let cookies stand on pan for about 3 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 30 cookies.

the dough...

Roll them into balls...

Yumtastic!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Eats for the Week!

Menu Board by Oh So Chichi!

Today, I have done nothing.  There is snow on the ground, it is cold outside, and I have become a permanent fixture on my sofa surrounded by the comforts of my blanket and pillow.  We all need a movie marathon day every now and then, don't you think?  After many hours of debate, I finally came to the conclusion that I should at least find my lap top and plan our meals while I lay here, as I am assuming my family will want to eat this week. They're pretty demanding like that.

Above is a cute menu board created by Oh So Chichi!  Isn't this the cutest thing!  Go here to be taken to the tutorial and learn how to create this menu board for your own home!

Breakfasts and lunches will be fairly basic this week and everything I need for those meal I already have in the pantry, so meal planning this week will consist only of dinners. Yes, is seems as if my laziness is going to be a week long event!

Dinners this week:
Penne with roasted asparagus, red lobster biscuits, spicy roasted cauliflower
Beef with Broccoli , white steamed rice, sauteed mushrooms
BBQ drumsticks, steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce, garlic potatoes
Game night foods: Chicken wings, queso and chips, crescent wrapped lil smokies, carrot sticks
Spaghetti, asparagus, garlic bread
Green salad tossed with roasted chicken breast, carrots, red peppers and tomatoes
Valentine's Dinner Out 

Caramel Apple Bites

Since the hubby and I are going out to dinner and a movie tonight, I thought I would do a little dessert for the boys to have after their dinner of baked pork chops, roasted asparagus and steamed carrots. Now that I realize how delish their dinner sounds I may be second guessing going out to dinner...roasted asparagus, yum! I had an apple that looked a little bruised, so after slicing it I dipped each piece into some melted caramel and made my sweet darlings some Caramel Apple Bites! Cute, easier to eat and a lot less messy than an entire Caramel Apple!

Freezing Brussels Sprouts

Plunging into water.

For the past few weeks I have been ordering a basket of veggies and fruits for $15.00 from bountiful baskets, and about a week and a half ago I had a freezer day and frozen some of those veggies.  For the next few days I will be sharing my home freezing successes.  I was nervous at first, because I really didn't know what I was doing, but once I got my home freezing book out and started doing it, it was really easy and actually kind of fun!

This is what I received this week in my bountiful basket!

Freezing Brussels Sprouts!

Brussels Spouts actually freeze very well!  To prepare them for the freezer you first have to wash them and trim off any outer leaves and stems that remain.  I sorted them into small, medium and large sizes.  After sorting then you water blanch small sprouts for three minutes, medium sprouts for four minutes and then large sprouts for five minutes.  If you choose to steam blanch your sprouts, small ones should be blanched for four minutes, medium-sized for five minutes and large sprouts for six minutes.  Immediately following blanching, plunge into ice water until completely cooled and then drain thoroughly.  After they are thoroughly dried, you can transfer to freezer bags or containers and place in the freezer.  

My sprouts before the blanching process.

Freezing Q&A:

Why the ice water plunge?

This was a question I had when I first started reading up on freezing veggies.  Little did I know how important this step actually is.  If you don't cool down your vegetables as soon as they emerge from the boiling water or steam, they will get soggy.  So, it is very important not to skip this step!

The sprouts ready to be put in the freezer!