Sweet n Sour Chicken-- Di

Brown up them tenders!
Pour the sauce over them tenders!
Eat them sticky, sweet n sour tenders!!

By the way, I tag Beth, Cami, and Maggie! Tell us your favorite chicken recipe!!
Here is my favorite chicken recipe to add to the collection. I got this recipe from my friend Karen and sort of made it my own. Enjoy!

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks (I just use a bag of the frozen boneless, skinless chicken tenders--thawed of course.)
one egg
a lot of cornstarch
Enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan.

Preheat the oven to 325. Heat the oil in the pan on medium high heat, then what you do is you crack the egg into a shallow bowl and beat it. Add a little salt and pepper to it. Dredge (meaning to gently dump) the chicken in the egg and then coat the chicken with corn starch. Throw the chicken into the frying pan. Brown both sides of the chicken. Put the chicken in a baking dish.

Then mix:
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c vinegar
4 T ketchup or catsup, whatever you prefer.
1 T soy sauce
1/2 t garlic powder
Whisk it together then pour it over the chicken.
Cook it for 45 min. stirring to coat the chicken with the sauce every 15 minutes. I'll be honest, your house will smell like vinegar for the first half hour, but then, like magic, it will turn into a sweet, pleasant aroma that will have the neighbors beating down your door. Don't let them in because you will not want to share!!

Tag, Di's IT!!!

Since Emily tagged me, I have to share my favorite recipe that my mom made. Well, the thing is, my mom rarely uses a recipe for dinner. She's like the Swedish Chef on Sesame Street. "A little of this, a little of that, and ner ner ner ner..." It's a masterpiece!! Therefore, I don't have any dinner recipes from her, but I have a lot of dessert ones. She has given me her recipe for her pumpkin cake, which I think is the most divine thing in all the world. Here goes:
1 1/2 c pumpkin
1 c oil
4 eggs
2 c sugar
2 c flour
1 t soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon

Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, and sugar. Add remaining ingredients and mix until combined. Pour into greased and floured 9x13" pan. Bake 25 min. Cool and then freeze it! You must freeze it in order to maintain moistness. Spread cream cheese frosting on top.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 c margarine (make sure it's 100% pure margarine without water!)
3-4 oz cream cheese softened
1 lb powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
Mix with mixer until fluffy.

French Chicken

Okay...I have a confession.  I could eat a whole carton of cool whip.  I absolutely loved whipped cream (about as much as this guy!).  I think it is one of the most fabulous inventions in all the world.  Cool whip is definitely my condiment of choice.  How excited do you think I was to find out that you could make a delicious chicken dinner with cool whip!?  Oh, SO thrilled!  Our friends had us over for Sunday dinner and this is what she made us.  She served it with Herb Roasted potatoes and a little salad.  It was heavenly.  I made it again the other day and it is seriously so easy and if you get the sugar free cool whip and reduced soup it's pretty healthy (yay for weight watchers and trying to lose stubborn baby weight)!

Happy Cooking!

French Chicken

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 pint cool whip

salt

pepper

paprika

Place chicken in a baking dish.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Mix soup and cool whip and pour over chicken.  Cover with foil and cook for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.  Serve over rice or egg noodles or with roasted potatoes.

-Starving in Seattle 

(Emily)

Also...I have just discovered that our delicious blog is not just bringing joy and full stomachs to the few of us who post.  I have heard rantings and ravings about Di's Curry and Beth's Pork from friends in California, Florida, and Washington DC!  People are trying these recipes and loving them people!  Therefore...I am going to tag a few people to get few more posts going.  The rules are this: If you are tagged, you MUST post a new recipe in a timely manner (we'll be watching) and then you must tag someone else to post a new recipe of your choice.  Everyone should still be posting whatever recipes they want as well.

So here we go...I TAG JERICA, DI, and LAURA GOODRICH.  I would like you to post your favorite dish that your mom made when you were growing up!

Beth's Brownies

Okay, I hope you all feel loved because I am now giving to you my ultimate brownie recipe! This is the first recipe I ever came up with and my mom still makes it better than me! She reminded me the other day that the secret to these awesome brownies is that you MUST mix it by hand-NO MIXERS!!! I made these the other night for my Young Women and they wolfed down the whole pan! Apparently I've still got it! Here it is.........are you ready to be the most popular woman on the block?!?!?!?!??

Melt 2 squares butter or margarine with 1/2 cup cocoa and a tablespoon of oil. Let cool

Mix in 2 cups of sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

Is your arm tired yet?

1 1/3 cup flour

Stir until the flour is all incorporated. The batter should be very thick by now!

Pour into a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes

My mom only cooks them for 20 minutes and then lets them sit for a day. She then swirls melted white chocolate on top. Like I said, she still makes these better than I do.

Boston Creme Pie

I made this for my mom's birthday because it is her favorite! It's not really a pie, more like a cake. I totally cheated and made it the very, very easy way!

Take a regular yellow cake mix, bake it in 2 rounds, follow the instructions on the box. Let them cool and then cut them both in half. Now you have 4 layers of cake! Mix up a package (the small package) of french vanilla instant pudding and spread that between the layers of cake. Then pour some ganauche over the top! Ganauche is made with equal parts heavy cream and chocolate. I used 8 oz. Hershey's special dark chocolate and 8 oz. heavy cream. You heat the cream until it is very hot, don't let it boil-maybe just until it has little bubbles on the sides. Then pour it over the chopped up chocolate and just stir to melt the chocolate in. I let it sit a little to thicken up and then just pour over the cake!

It would also be so yummy if you used some of the thicken ganauche between one of the layers-I think I might have done that!

Make it your own!

Beth

Rice Sausage Casserole

I got this recipe idea from my mom's sister and have played with it over the years.  This is my favorite version of it to date!  Enjoy!

Rice Sausage Casserole - Emily Bohman

1 medium onion - very finely diced

1 c celery - very finely diced

1 medium green pepper - diced

1 sm jar pimentos

1 package Lipton Onion Soup mix

2 1/2 c minute rice

1 lb Jimmy Dean regular ground pork sausage

(I like regular but HOT is good if you like a little kick in your head)

Bring 4 cups water to a rolling boil and add Lipton soup mix.  Stir in rice, remove from heat, and let sit.  Brown sausage on stove.  Add diced vegetables and pimentos and let simmer until the vegetables reduce down and it starts smelling fabulous!  (I accidentally left the onions and celery in my food chopper thingy a little too long.  They were almost liquified!  I put them in anyway and actually liked the way it all cooked up!  So dice to your own discretion!).  Mix sausage mixture and rice together in a casserole dish.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees until heated through (about 20 minutes).  If you use regular rice, make some extra soup to add while it's baking in the oven so it doesn't dry out.

Happy cooking!

-Starving in Seattle (Emily)

We tried your curry, Di...

And this is what we did afterwards! It was really good!
love mags and adge

Chicken Curry-- Di

This is what you will do after you eat this meal.

Things you will need to buy:

4 pices of chicken, boneless, skinless, dead

2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped in perfect little pieces

4 potatoes, peeled and diced haphazardly because you spent too much time on the carrots

1 onion, cut quickly so you don't cry

Curry powder

one box of Golden Curry mix (found in the Asian foods section of every grocery store)

Cooked Rice

Things you can buy if you have enough money:

2 stalks of celery

some fresh mushrooms

1/2 a red and/or green bell pepper

In a big pot, place potatoes in 2 1/2 cups of water, bring to a boil and simmer. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a skillet, add the chicken, season with pepper and curry powder, and let it brown on both sides for 2-3 minutes (it won't be done), remove the chicken and cut into chunks. Add a little more oil to the skillet and saute the onions and carrots (and celery, bell peppers, and mushrooms) until soft. Add all the vegetables and the chicken to the pot of simmering potatoes. Bring to a simmer for 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Break up the Golden Curry mix into the pot and stir until it has dissolved. Cook another five minutes until it thickens. Let stand for five minutes. Serve over rice. Try not to die from pure pleasure.

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce (Beth)

1 pkg. (8oz.) cream cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic salt
pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in saucepan on medium low heat and stir until smooth. You will probably have to add more milk. It gets very thick!!!!
You can serve this with chicken, ham, shrimp, mushrooms, broccoli, green onions, tomatoes, bacon, shredded parmesan cheese, red and green peppers, spinich, whatever sounds good.
Jaclyn and I made this yesterday for my mom's birthday and it was awesome! We called it our "Alfredo Bar!" We had all the topping in a lazy susan and everyone just picked what they wanted.
This sauce is also good as a dipping sauce for bread.