Savory Sweet and Sour Chicken

Okay, girlies, so my digital camera is broken and I couldn't figure out how to insert a borrowed photo of this one, so you will either have to take my word on how great it looks AND tastes, or log onto allrecipes.com and check out "Sweet and Sour Chicken III." It was just what I was craving today and it was so easy to make!

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast meat cubed (I used 3 big Costco chicken breasts)
2 TBS vegetable oil (I actually just used non-stick cooking spray and it was fine...)
1/2 cup sliced green bell pepper
1/2 cup sliced red bell pepper
1 cup carrot strips
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TBS cornstarch
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 (8 oz) can pineapple chunks, juice reserved
1 TBS vinegar
1 TBS brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground giner

Directions:
Brown chick in oil (or cooking spray) over medium high heat. Add peppers, carrot, and garlic and stir fry for a couple of minutes. I actually diced my peppers and carrots and liked eating them better this way...Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine cornstarch and soy sauce and mix together; pour this mixture over the vegetables and meat in skillet and add pineapple with juice, vinegar, sugar, and ginger. Stir together and bring to a full boil. Ta-da! You're done! Serve it up over rice (we used brown rice, and it was mmmm, mmm, good!). Hope you try and enjoy it!

Yummy (and Messy!) Blueberry Cobbler

I was excited to discover this recipe because you can use frozen blueberries. It turned out so yummy, you can see Jack enjoyed it . . . We're a little spoiled in New England, they sell wild blueberries at Costco here, but you can use any frozen blueberries you have. -Becky

BLUEBERRY COBBLER

Fruit filling:

2 lbs frozen blueberries

2 T cornstarch

1/2 c sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

2 T fresh lemon juice

Topping:

1 c all-purpose flour

1/4 c sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 c buttermilk

4 T (1/2 stick) butter, melted and cooled

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp cinnamon + 2 tsp sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix ingredients for fruit filling and place in a 9" deep-dish pie plate. Place pie plate on foil-lined rimmed cookie sheet. Bake 45-60 minutes, until fruit begins to release liquid. While fruit is baking, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. In seperate bowl, whisk buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla. Toss cinnamon and sugar together for sprinkling. Once fruit filling has baked, gently stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture with rubber spatula just until dough is combined and no dry spots remain. Remove fruit from oven and stir. Divide biscuit dough into 8 pieces and drop onto fruit, spaced evenly about 1/2" apart. Sprinkle dough with cinnamon sugar. Return to oven and bake until filling is bubbling and biscuits are golden on top, 15-20 minutes. Remove and let cool on wire rack 15 minutes before serving. We discovered it's best to put ice cream in a bowl FIRST, then put the cobbler on top (it kind of oozes down the ice cream and makes a yummy mess). A little taste of summer in wintertime . . . :)

Fondue Night!

We had our very first one the other night. LOVED IT! Here are the yummy recipes we used.

DIPPING SAUCES:
Rouille
PREP TIME: About 5 minutes

MAKES: About 1 cup

In a small bowl, mix:

1 cup reduced-fat or regular mayonnaise

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Combine and Chill! Can be made a day ahead of time. This is a great dip for chicken and veggies cooked in Coq au Vin.

Sour Cream Mustard Sauce

1/2 pint sour cream

1/2 mayonnaise

1/4 cup prepared mustard

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

Dash of Hot Pepper Sauce, such as Tabasco

Combine all the ingredients, mix well and chill.

Horseradish Cream Sauce

A good accompaniment to beef fondue

1 cup sour cream

3 tablespoon prepared horseradish

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 scallions, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.

This sauce is best if prepared at least an hour in advance. Cover and chill.

Other dipping sauces we used were: Spicy Peanut Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, A1 Steak Sauce, Barbecue Sauce (straight from Salt Lick in TX!), Honey Mustard, Garlic Aoili Sauce...

Creamy Veggie Fondue

WOW! Even if you don't have a fondue pot, cook this up on the stove and serve it up with dinner for veggies or crusty bread. YUM!

1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup white wine (substitute grape juice or broth)
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 teaspoon ground dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix together milk, white wine, Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese and cream cheese. Cook, stirring frequently, until melted, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in green onions, spinach, dry mustard, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and black pepper. Continue cooking until all ingredients are well blended, about 10 minutes.
3. Transfer mixture to a double boiler or fondue pot to keep warm while serving.

NOTE: The wine keeps the cheese from seperating and becoming grainy, so if you choose not to add wine, you will have to add some lemon juice to whatever you are subsituting. Squeeze a few teaspoons of juice into the broth or grape juice and this should keep it from seperating!

Coq Au Vin Fondue

(from The Melting Pot)
15 min 15 min prep
SERVES 2 -4
· 3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
· 1/2 cup burgandy wine (I added grape juice)
· 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
· 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
· 2 green onions, sliced
Heat vegetable stock in fondue pot until it begins to simmer.
Add all other ingredients, bring to simmer.
Place individual pieces of desired meat or veggies on fondue fork and put in pot until correct temperature has been reached. Lobster and shrimp may take under a minute to cook while beef and pork will take slightly longer. Take the necessary precautions so you don't eat raw meat.

Chocolate Fondue
32 ounces milk chocolate, grated
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/3 cup hot water

DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the chocolate with the heavy cream. Mix in the vanilla extract, sugar, and hot water. Continue to heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth. (I halfed this recipe since it makes so much! This is another recipe that is easy to make without a fondue pot and would make a great FHE treat!)

Caramel Fondue

• 1 14 oz package carmels
• 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (i used Lowfat)
• Optional: 1 cup coconut or 1/2 c chopped nuts

Place unwrapped caramels into slow cooker or fondue pot and add condensed milk and coconut or pecan pieces if you choose. Cook on low for 1 hour, stirring occassionally. Serve with sliced apples, bananas, mini marshmellows, pound cake cubed, nuts, pretzels, rice krispy treats, brownie bites, etc. You can also have chopped nuts and toffee bits on the side to dip items into, after they have been dipped in caramel.

Smothered pork chops

I can't take credit for the image-I keep forgetting to take pictures when I cook! The recipe is from CooksIllustrated.com, where I copied the picture from. It's one of our new favorite recipes. We love to serve the pork chops with mashed potatoes because it makes a yummy gravy. Enjoy!

SMOTHERED PORK CHOPS
3 oz bacon (about 3 slices) cut into 1/4 inch pieces

2 T flour
1 3/4 c low-sodium chicken broth
vegetable oil
4 pork chops, about 1/2-3/4" thick

ground black pepper
2 medium yellow onions, cut in half and sliced thinly

salt
2 T water
2 medium garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves (optional)
1 T minced fresh parsley (optional)

Heat 1 T oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Pat dry pork chops with paper towels and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Place pork chops in skillet and fry until browned, flip over and brown on second side. Remove pork chops to plate and set aside. Add another 1 T oil to skillet, turn heat to medium or medium-low (if your stove runs hot), and heat to shimmering. Add onions and fry, stirring frequently, until browned, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add 2 T water and scrape bottom of pan to get any crispy bits. Remove onions to bowl and set aside. Add bacon to pan and fry until crispy. Remove bacon, but leave grease in pan (should have a tablespoon or two of grease in pan from bacon--if not, add some vegetable oil). Add flour to bacon grease and cook, stirring frequently, until flour is golden, just a few minutes. Whisk in chicken broth and let simmer just a couple of minutes, until gravy begins to thicken a little. Add bay leaves if desired. Put pork chops back in pan in gravy mixture and set onions on top of each pork chop. Simmer until pork chops register 135 on instant-read thermometer (DON'T overcook the pork--it will be dry and chewy! 135 is a safe temperature to remove from pan, and pork will continue to cook on plate while resting--pork will be rosy inside, which is OK). Remove pork chops to plate and tent with foil. Simmer gravy a little longer, until thickened, then serve alongside pork chops. Sprinkle chops with fresh parsley if desired. Serves 4 (unless your 7-year-old eats 2 pork chops!).

Blueberry muffins...

These were super easy and so tasty!

Blueberry Cream Muffins

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 (16 ounce) cups sour cream
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

Directions

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs.

Gradually add sugar.

While beating, slowly pour in oil; add vanilla.

Combine dry ingredients; add alternately with the sour cream to the egg mixture.

Gently fold in blueberries

Spoon into greased muffin tins or muffin cups.

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

After baking, let cool.

Melt butter, and get some brown sugar.

Dip the muffin top in butter and then sprinkle the top with brown sugar so it looks pretty, and tastes better too!

Gooey Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes!!

YUMMY!! Filling turned out awesome, you can even add pecans to the filling and make them turtle cupcakes!

Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Measure out everything but the eggs directly into your mixer bowl.
2. Mix on low speed just until incorporated.
3. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs, beat on high speed again for 2 minutes.

Measure out into cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers. A 2″ ice cream scoop works great for this. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Caramel Filling

1 or more cans of Sweetened condensed milk

In large stock pot, submerse your can or cans of milk in water by at least 2 inches. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and simmer for 3-5 hours. (Please, please, please ensure that the cans stay covered in water, if they aren't there is a chance they could explode from what I hear)

3 hours will give you a beautiful and thick caramel sauce. 5 hours will give you a very firm, sliceable filling for pies or tarts.

Vanilla Buttercream

1/2 lb. unsalted butter (softened)

1 stick salted butter (softened)

1/2 pkg. french vanilla instant pudding mix

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup (or more to suit your tastes) powdered sugar

In mixer set on medium speed, beat the butter until smooth and silky. Turn the speed to low and add the pudding mix, when it is all incorporated, slowly add the cream, a little at a time. When fully incorporated bring speed up to high and beat for 5-7 minutes. Turn speed back down to low and add powdered sugar by Tbsp., tasting along the way. When it is sweet to your taste, beat again at high speed for a good 5 minutes to really break down any graininess that you might get from the powdered sugar. Bring back down to low speed and beat for a while that way to get rid of air bubbles.

Caramel Ganache:

1 pkg. chewy Werthers caramels unwrapped and chopped into thirds

1 Cup cream

8 ounces dark chocolate chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

4 Tbsp. butter

Heat cream in medium heavy bottomed saucepan until boiling, turn heat to medium, add caramels and stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat, add chocolate and carefully stir until smooth, add butter in 4 additions stirring until smooth.

To Assemble:
Cut the tops off the cupcakes and scoop small pocket out of the middle, fill this with the sweetened condensed caramel and then put the top back on, then pour some of the caramel ganache on the top of that, then frost, then you can pour more ganache on top of that. Let me know if you have any questions

AWESOME HOMEMADE GRANOLA

Awesome Homemade Granola
I adapted this from a recipe on USAWeekend.com and couldn't stop eating it...
Took two tries to get it right, but it was worth it!

2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 TBS brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup sweetened flake coconut (optional--I omitted)
1/3-2/3 cup Craisins (I added 2/3 since I omitted coconut) or raisins
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
3 TBS canola oil
1 TBS water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla (if adding honey instead of maple syrup)
1/8-1/4 tsp maple extract (if adding honey instead of maple syrup)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 275 F. Spray a 9x13 metal pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside. Mix together oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, salt, and chopped walnuts. Bring honey or syrup, oil, water, cinnamon, and vanilla and maple (if using honey) to low simmer. Drizzle this over oat mixture and stir well. Pour into greased pan and work with hands to "clump" cereal (don't worry if it doesn't clump much--it will after it cooks and cools). Bake for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle dried fruit and coconut flakes (if desired) over the top and mix lightly. Bake for 5-10 more minutes (until golden-brown) and then let cool. I actually enjoyed it a little warm, but it clusters better as it cools! David thought it was really good with milk. There are a lot of other fruit-type and trail-mix variations depending on what you like to add. Store in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.