This is supposed to make eight servings ... let's just say it was so good, four of us pounded it in one sitting! HERE is where the original recipe came from, but I'll include some of the changes I made based on reviews.
Sweet & Sour Chicken
20 oz can pineapple chunks, drained (juice reserved)
1/4 C cornstarch
1 3/4 C water, divided
3/4 C white sugar
1/2 C distilled white vinegar
1/4 C Catalina salad dressing
4 chicken breasts - cut into 1" cubes
2 1/4 C self-rising flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1 egg
1 1/2 C water
1 quart vegetable oil for frying
2 green bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 1/2 C rice, cooked
Combine flour, 2 Tbsp oil, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, salt, white pepper and egg. Add 1 1/2 C water gradually to make a thick batter. Stir to blend thoroughly. Add chicken pieces and stir until chicken is well coated.
Heat oil in skillet or wok to 360° F (180° C). Fry chicken pieces in hot oil 10 minutes, or until golden. Remove chicken and drain on paper towels.
Saute green peppers, onion, pineapple chunks and carrot with a small amount of oil.
In a saucepan, combine 1 1/2 C water, sugar, vinegar, reserved pineapple juice and Catalina dressing. Heat to boiling. Turn off heat. Combine 1/4 C cornstarch and 1/4 C water; slowly stir into saucepan. Continue stirring until mixture thickens. Add chicken pieces and sauteed vegetables and stir to coat.
This one hails from foodnetwork.com and is soooooooooo good! I was a little skeptical about chili sans meat, but boy-oh-boy, we gobbled this up. HERE is where it came from. We ate this with the best cornbread in the world.
Vegetarian Chili
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp chili powder
1 green pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1 red pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
14.5 oz no sodium added diced tomatoes
11 oz can corn kernels, drained
15 oz can reduced sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp cumin
Accompaniments, optional: sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, avocado and cornbread.
Heat oil in 4-quart pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and chili powder; saute for 5 minutes. Add green and red peppers; saute 5 minutes. Add zucchini, squash, oregano and ground red pepper; saute for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes; cook 10 minutes. Stir in corn, black beans, bouillon and cumin; cook for 5 minutes.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm a fan of Allrecipes.com. The reason being that you can look at the reviews/ratings and have a pretty good idea about what you're getting into -- before getting into it. This is kind of a big deal when you're trying new things and you don't have a back-up plan. Every once in a while, I come across a recipe on Allrecipes.com that has unbelievable ratings/reviews; one where you don't have to alter anything based on what others have said. This is one of those. A.Maz.Ing. Dig in! We paired this with Vegetarian Chili and it was fabulous!
Preheat oven to 375° F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Another favorite from the Jorgensen Family Cookbook. The gravy for these Hawaiian Haystacks is phenomenal. It's delicious, easy and great for big families or groups.
Hawaiian Haystacks
4 chicken breasts
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp parsley
1 tsp basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Water to cover chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
3 C rice, cooked
Toppings:
Chow mein noodles
Tomatoes, chopped
Celery, chopped
Green onions, chopped
Pineapple chunks
Almonds, slivered or sliced
Dried coconut
Cheddar cheese, grated
Boil water, chicken, celery, carrots, onion, parsley, basil and salt and pepper together until chicken is done. Shred chicken. Reserve 3 C chicken broth and combine with the 2 cans cream of chicken soup. Add chicken to soup mixture. Heat gravy and serve over cooked rice. Pile on the toppings!
Another fantastic recipe from the excellent Russian cookbook, "Please to the Table."
Vegetarian Borscht (Вегетарианский борщ)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 large green bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into 1/4" dice
3 1/2 C shredded green cabbage
1 medium beet, peeled and grated
1 small rib celery, cut into 1/4" dice
1/2 Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into 1" dice
2 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2" cubes
6 oz tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 C chicken broth
Bouquet garni (1 bay leaf and 8 peppercorns tied in a cheesecloth bag)
1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Fresh parsley, chopped for garnish
Fresh dill, chopped for garnish
Sour cream
Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and bell pepper and saute until the onion and bell pepper are slightly softened, 5 minutes.
Stir in the cabbage, beet and celery and continue to saute, stirring and tossing occasionally, 10-15 minutes.
Stir in the apple, potatoes, tomato paste and garlic, then add the broth and bouquet garni and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
Add the paprika, salt and pepper, sugar and lemon juice to taste. Let stand at least 2-3 hours, or overnight. Remove the bouquet garni before serving. Serve garnished with parsley and dill, and under no circumstances should you EVER leave out the sour cream!
In addition, I'll favor you with a few of the last couple day's happenings =)
Dan has officially started both biochemistry and anatomy at UT Southwestern. Yesterday was the first day for anatomy dissections. Dan came home smelling like ... well ... dead, preserved bodies. Figures, right?
Back a little further in time, we went swimming on Saturday and as usual, Peyton had a blast! He love love LOVES to swim. He tries to swim in the bath too. Oh, and a new thing he likes to try: drinking the water. He's such a goof. He ducks his head in, mouth wide open, and tries to slurp up pool water ... bath water ... you name the yucky liquid -- he tries to slurp it.
Go back another day, and you get my angel food cake masterpiece -- homemade and completely from scratch. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself. It was soooooo good. Once I get around to updating the recipe blog, I'll put it up. Yummy!!
And now, a couple random pictures of my incredibly handsome and adorable little boy! Oh, I forgot to mention: Peyton caught his first cold this week. So sad. Boogies everywhere!
DISCLAIMER: I will not be held responsible for any brain hemorrhaging as a direct result of viewing the following material. I also will not be blamed for the incessant repetition of either song in your head for as little as one hour or as long as three weeks. Symptoms may vary. Viewer discretion advised. CLICK PLAY AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Currently, Peyton has two favorite songs:
-and-
Great taste in music? I think so!
Don't say I didn't warn you. It's in the fine-print up top! ^^ =) You may be tempted to think I am kidding ... tricking you into hearing/viewing horrible music with equally horrible music videos while I sit on my couch, maniacally laughing about my deceptive ways. I'm not. You wanna see my seven-month-old's face light up with a huge smile and start giggling? Sing one of these songs to him.
I really need to stop letting so much time elapse between posts. I'll give you the rundown as quickly as possible!
First things first, Peyton has four teeth. FOUR teeth. When did this happen? Well, all in one very short week. Yep, you read that right ... 3/4 teeth showed up while we were in El Paso.
Oh, did I forget to mention we were in El Paso from August 5-11? Yeah, well ... I forgot my camera, so what you missed you can't see and what you can't see you probably won't miss.
I do, however, have pictures of the bottom two teeth. You have to be super stealthy to catch a glimpse of those babies. It's pretty much impossible to get Peyton to show you the top two. Stick your finger in his mouth, though, and you'll know they're there.
In other news, Peyton is now an expert at pulling himself up to standing. And cruising around everywhere. Here's an older video of him standing up. He's about a bagillion times better at it now. He's speedy, sneaky and VERY curious. Deadly combination.
Peyton is also a pro walker now. Of course, he needs the assistance of a walker, but we won't hold that against him ... let's be fair now, he's only (almost) 7 months old.
Continuing on with the news, I woke up on the morning of July 31st to the delicious smell of pancakes. But these weren't just any old pancakes ... take a look:
Yes, that is a blueberry pancake and yes, it is shaped like a heart. Can you say, "Best husband EVER?!"
I sure can.
Moving right along. Do you remember those pictures early on in Peyton's life? The one's where he'd only scowl at the camera? (Refresh your memory HERE). Well, now he's a total ham. He's sees that camera and he starts smiling and performing and being his cute little self. Here are some pictures of me and him. Please ignore my sweaty, shiny, just-woke-up/just-finished-exercising face.
Oh, and he loves to eat. Especially with his daddy.
Okay, sorry for the overload. I just love this kid.
And I'm not that sorry, because there's still more ...
Dan, Peyton and I went to the Irving Arts Center. We walked around and looked at some of the art they have there. It was a pretty cool place!
They call this, "Cookie Monster Meets Lawn Mower." Well, they don't call it that, but I do.
Man, this kid is handsome!
Can you see the squirrel?
There he is! Or she ... I guess we didn't get close enough to tell.
Okay, last batch of pictures and text, I swear! Daniel and I were about to take Peyton on his usual morning walk (he loves bird watching and being out-of-doors), when a tragedy occurred. Peyton rubbed sunscreen in his eyes. We rinsed his eyes and hands with water, but the poor little guy was too red-eyed and uncomfortable to continue our excursion.
So to make up for it, we let him crawl around in the buff for a little while. I mean, is there anything better than crawling around free from the horrid restraints of clothing? He always wants us to let him crawl around nekkers, but I'm too afraid of accidents. We made an exception this time and got some cute pictures to blackmail him with later =)
Poor little red eyes!
The cheeks on his face aren't the only ones with dimples ...
Nothing like reading a book in the buff!
Daddy! Let me pull myself up using your leg hairs!
Crawling around.
Okay, so I lied. You knew I was gonna! I just think Peyton's various sleep positions are too funny!
All in all, we had a great time in El Paso (no camera = no pics) and a great time at Dan's med school retreat (no camera = no pics). Dan has now officially started medical school! That's about it.
