Sweet and Sour Chicken

If this was the kind of blog that people actually followed I suppose I’d be in trouble for all these months of not writing up any new recipes. It’s certainly not that I haven’t been cooking during this time frame and not even that I’ve not made anything new. For the most part, however, my meals have tended to be the tried and true recipes that I know Martin will eat. Perhaps my life has had so many new challenges since we moved to the midwest that I’ve just not been as anxious to get creative in the kitchen. I absolutely love my kitchen in Parkville and look forward to making lots of new and old seasonal favorites as we move into autumn and winter, so maybe the coming months bring the promise of a whole slew of new recipes. 

As I get used to life here in the San Diego condo, I’m actually cooking more than I thought I would. Before beginning this stint of second home living, I pictured lots of evenings out and/or simple Trader Joe prepared meals. Neither of those predictions have been borne out. While my kitchen here isn’t as big or well laid out as in Missouri, it’s certainly functional enough to cook in. The two kitchens present an interesting contrast. Whereas the Missouri kitchen is made up of dark granite counter tops and deep wood cabinetry, this kitchen is a white-on-cream kind of light and airy. I love the way the sun comes into the room on bright mornings. Other than the back patio, this might be my favorite place to sit and look out over the houses and hills outside my window.  

What do I cook here? Tacos, hamburgers, BBQ ribs, lasagna, spaghetti, paninis, breakfast for dinner, and chicken are the staples. I’ve made many of the tried and true recipes Martin likes, from chicken pot pie to steak, and what we haven’t eaten in one meal has been carefully wrapped and frozen for future consumption.  Last night, however, I did break away from the usual menus to try Cindy’s recipe (or maybe it is actually Cali’s via Cindy?) for sweet and sour chicken. When we go to Chinese restaurants Martin will often order orange chicken so I figured this was a dish he might eat. 

I thought of Cindy while I was preparing the chicken. Specifically, I remembered that she’d made this same recipe for her family. I found myself making a huge mess while I was dipping the chicken pieces in egg and corn starch and, as I watched gloppy messes forming on my hands and the counters, I wondered if Master Chef Cindy had encountered the same problem. I had memories of being in my kitchen on Riverhead once when Virginia was watching the two of us make some kind of recipe. I was probably my usual sloppy self while Cindy tidily cleaned as she went, leaving no trail of cooking clutter behind. Virginia was dutifully impressed. 

Back to this recipe...after getting the coating on each piece, I put all the chicken bites in the skillet together and then had a bit of trouble separating them for turning when they began sticking together via that same gloppy batter messing up my counters. In some cases, the chicken would separate from it’s coating as I tried to turn the pieces. I began to wonder if the final result of my cooking efforts was going to be a big disappointing batch of cooked but naked chicken pieces. 

The directions also mentioned turning the chicken every fifteen minutes during the baking time, in order to ensure full coating of the sweet and sour sauce. I tried this technique at the first fifteen minute interval but found that it took too long to turn all those pieces. My baster went to the Parkville kitchen but, if it had been here in San Diego, I think that might’ve been an easier method of drawing up the sauce and basting it over the chicken pieces. 

Even with all my worries during the prep period, this recipe turned out great. It's a funny thing about making something you normally only order in a restaurant. The point of home cooking is that it should NOT taste like what you go out and eat, right? Instead, each bite should sing out the superiority of home-made goodness, cooked with love over your own kitchen stove. And yet, sometimes the very mark of excellence seems to be in how much you can make your efforts taste like what you'd get if you weren't indulging in all that home-baked goodness. That's how it is with this recipe. Instead of boasting how much better this version turned out, I proudly proclaim that my sweet and sour chicken tasted just like what you'd get in a restaurant! Martin loved  the recipe enough that I’ll definitely go through the mess of making this sweet and sour chicken again. And I’ll add a baster to the never-ending list of things I need to complete my condo kitchen. 

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups cornstarch

3 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup granulated sugar

4 tablespoons ketchup

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon garlic salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper. 

2. In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture

3. Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. 

4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine sugar, ketchup, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, soy sauce and garlic salt. Pour over the chicken and bake for 1 hour. 

5. I stirred the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated the pieces in the sauce. (This is the part where I'd use a baster instead.)

Potato Soup

I've decided Wednesday evenings are going to be a time to make the foods I like since Martin will be golfing with his weekly men's group that night. Or I'll just eat cereal because, if you’re not going to cook, is there anything better than a bowl of cereal for dinner? Definitely not on the PH approved list of evening fare but most certainly one of my favorite silly indulgences.  Whether future Wednesdays find me cooking or spooning up Cheerios, I did spend this Wednesday night making my mom's potato soup. No one made this dish better than Mom. In typical fashion, she barely had a recipe, preferring to do her usual routine of winging ingredients and amounts, depending on her mood and what was available in the kitchen. Since I don’t have her exact version I decided the one in a “Best of the Best West Virginia” cookbook would be a close enough facsimile. A way to feel connected to both my mom and my much-loved birth state, all at once.

The whole time this soup was being prepared, I could hardly wait to be done and sitting down to eat that simple dinner fare. For each step of the process, I’d find myself looking at my soup in the making and wondering if it would bring back memories of Mom’s fabulous version. Wednesday was one of those wistful “homesick” days and I think a part of me was longing to have any kind of connection with the comfort of familiarity.

Not that I made what should have been a fairly simple process of preparing the soup easy! In fact, before getting to the stage of sitting down to the table with my fiestaware bowl full of dinner, there would be a few mishaps worthy of slapstick comedy.

One of the design components of my kitchen that I love is the abundance of work space on the island counter, coupled with an ideal placement of trash receptacles in one of the “drawers” below. I consider myself a messy cook but, with this perfect location of trash cans, I notice it’s a whole lot easier to clean as I go. Maybe I was getting too prideful of my newly acquired efficient tidiness while cooking and needed to be brought back to the humble reality of who I am as a cook. If that’s the case, I’d say I got a good dose of humble (potato) soup...all over the counters and the floor. Not once but twice! The first mishap came when I was trying to strain potato water out of my huge, heavy pot. Of course, I knew to use a pot holder on the hot handle but, without thinking, I put my other hand on the small loop on the other side of the pot. Imagine how quickly that big ole’ pot came crashing down out of my hands onto the granite counter! Soup broth and potato, onion, and bacon bits everywhere! Then, in my frantic haste to get the pot onto a trivet (because everyone knows you can’t put hot stuff on granite...unlike my San Diego quartz countertops which could withstand any kind of extreme temperatures), I somehow managed to lose hold on the pan again! Funston figured she’d died and gone to heaven as potato laden manna rained down from on high. It wasn’t pretty. The mess I managed to create took quite a few minutes and more than a few paper towels to finally sop up but, eventually, I was able to complete the soup recipe, with one suddenly fatter and hopeful dog right by my side, no doubt wondering when the third course would be falling on her head.

So was this soup worth the mess I created? Yes. For each of the two big bowls I ate in that one sitting, I could taste the past and memories of how much I loved my mom’s recipe. Mine came out a bit thicker...(two bouts of losing liquid via spillage might have something to do with that difference) but, taste-wise, this soup delivered exactly what I craved on a chilly evening calling out for the enveloping comfort of something familiar.

Potato Soup
from "Best of the Best from West Virginia" cookbook

Ingredients:
Soup -
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp salt
2  16 oz cans chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
3-4 strips bacon, fried, drained and crumbled
Thin White Sauce (recipe below)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 stick butter

White Sauce -
1 tbs. butter
1 tbs. flour
1 cup milk (you can use evaporated milk here)

Directions:
Soup-
In a pot of water to cover (and spill, if you happen to be really klutzy!) add potatoes and salt. Cook until tender. Drain all but 3/4 cup. Add chicken broth, chopped onion, and bacon bits. Cook for 1/2 hour, boiling. Add white sauce and salt and pepper, to taste. Boil for an additional half hour. Add butter. Serve hot.

White Sauce-
Heat 1 tbs. butter until melted. Add 1 tbs. flour. Stir in 1 cup milk. Heat and stir until thickened and smooth.

Butterscotch Pudding

(I decided no picture at all was just too severe so you're getting a shot of the Pioneer Woman's version of butterscotch pudding.) 

I am on a search for a butterscotch pudding that will fill the void of not being able to drop in at Claire's On Cedros for their creamy to perfection version of this treat. Oddly enough, I wasn't even a big fan of butterscotch until I took my first bite of Claire's pudding. Words can't begin to describe the subtle, smooth, and absolutely sublime taste of each delicious mouthful of that pudding!

Needless to say, it's going to be a little difficult to run by Solana Beach every time I get a craving for butterscotch pudding. Nothing to do but work on finding a suitable replacement for those times when the world stops spinning on its axis until my pudding craving has been satisfied.

With this blog entry, I'm submitting two different recipes and no pictures! Don't ask me why I failed to get documenting photos of either version - maybe I was still too much into unpacking, or maybe the camera hadn't been located yet (haha..made that one up! Like I would ever not have at least one camera within my immediate vicinity), or maybe the finished products just didn't look like anything I'd want to look at later????

I first made Deb's Smitten Kitchen version. It went together pretty easily and tasted fine, though I thought it leaned a bit more toward the vanilla taste, rather than butterscotch. I will admit, however, that I might not be judging Deb's pudding fairly as I had to substitute lighter brown sugar, since I didn't have any of the dark on hand when the absolute need to make pudding hit late enough one evening to negate going to the store. The consistency was just as smooth and creamy as what I'd buy at Claire's so I'm tempted to try this one again, using the recommended dark brown sugar to see if that elusive west coast butterscotch flavor can be replicated.

The Pioneer Woman version didn't have quite the same subtle depth of flavor but, rather, boldly boasted of a strong butterscotch influence. That should be a good thing, right? Where the flavor excelled, I thought the texture seemed almost more like a flan than pudding. Not that I don't like flan, just that I needed my pudding to be more richly pudding-y. If I wanted flan, I'd have looked up a recipe for it!

So, here are the two recipes. Again, both were good and, for the Smitten Kitchen one, I'll definitely do a second attempt.  Or maybe I'll just write to Claire's on Cedros and beg them for their signature recipe!

Pioneer Woman Butterscotch Pudding

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup Brown Sugar, Light Or Dark Is Fine
1/4 cup Cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3 cups Whole Milk
4 whole Large Egg Yolks (discard Or Save Whites For Another Use)
2 Tablespoons Butter
Unsweetened Whipped Cream

Preparation Instructions
Gently whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium nonstick pan.
In a separate pitcher or bowl, whisk together the milk and egg yolks. Pour it into the pan with the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine.
Turn on the heat to medium and cook, stirring gently, until the mixture just starts to bubble up/get very thick. (This can take a good 10 minutes or so.) When it reaches pudding consistency, stir in the butter until melted, then remove it from the heat and spoon it into bowls, glasses (be careful; mixture is hot), demitasse cups, etc. Chill the pudding for at least 1 hour or until very cold.
Top with unsweetened whipped cream and serve!

Smitten Kitchen Butterscotch Pudding

Cook time: 10 minutes plus 1 to 2 hours to set in the fridge
Yield: 6 1/2-cup servings or 8 petite ones

Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
Several pinches of sea salt (I use a scant 1/2 teaspoon of flaky Maldon salt)
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 cups whole milk (you can make this pudding even more rich by swapping 1/2 cup of the milk with heavy cream)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and reduce heat to medium-low. Let it heat and bubble for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Don’t let it smoke or burn, which brown sugar is always very eager to do. Reduce heat to low. Add salt and cornstarch, stirring until combined — it’s going to look like a thick paste. Switch to a whisk and add the milk in a thin drizzle, whisking the whole time, so that no lumps form. Once all of the milk is added, you can switch back to a spoon. Cook over low to medium-low, stirring frequently, until the mixture comes to a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for a full minute, stirring, it should clearly thicken at this stage, although it will finish thickening in the fridge. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla extract. Divide into glasses or pudding cups and let chill in fridge for 1 to 2 hours, until set.

Gingerbread Biscotti

I'm not a natural cook who can just whip up marvelous creations, no recipe needed. For me, it's all about finding a dish that looks good, executing the steps given to bring it about, and then seeing if I like what comes out. Someone else has figured out the "magic" of how to go from a random series of ingredients to the creation of something people will actually want to eat.

Sometimes, however, cooking can still feel a little like magic, even when I'm only following what someone else figured out. This biscotti recipe comes under that heading of "whoa! did I just make something that came out looking and tasting like that??" I think I secretly harbored doubts that such an ordinary list of cooking components could actually wind up as biscotti just like what you'd buy in a bakery. Except better, of course, because it came right from your own kitchen!

I loved this recipe so much that I ended up making two batches. One for me and one to give out in gift bags. My sweet and sassy neighbor is battling cancer, with chemo treatments that leave her nauseous and zapped. Who better to receive a baggie full of biscotti and tea bags? And the gal who has been so helpful since we moved in, making sure I was OK on a daily basis during the weeks while Martin was gone - shouldn't she also get a bag?

The ginger taste is subtle, yet definite, if you can understand that seeming paradox. Mornings are made better with a few of these biscotti to dip into your choice of tea or coffee. Deb, from the Smitten Kitchen site, also says they taste fabulous with hot chocolate but that's something I've yet to try. Maybe today....right now.


Gingerbread Biscotti
from Smitten Ktichen

Yield: 30 to 34
Time: About 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring hands
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
A few grinds of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups toasted, chopped nuts or white or dark chocolate chunks (optional, I kept mine plain)
1 large egg white

Cinnamon-sugar (optional)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line one large or two small baking sheets (if yours are small you’ll probably prefer using two, as the logs will spread a lot) with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients — 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, baking powder, spices, pepper and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugars, butter, 2 large eggs and vanilla. Add wet ingredients along with any optional additions (nuts or chocolate) to dry mixture and stir to combine. It’s going to seem a bit soft and sticky; it’s a-okay.

Divide dough in half. Using floured hands, transfer first half to the prepared baking sheet(s) and form it into a slightly flatted log about 11 inches (28 cm) by 2 1/2 (6 1/2 cm) inches, going down one side of a baking sheet intended for two logs, or the center of a baking sheet intended for one log. Repeat with second half of dough. Whisk egg white in a small bowl until a little foamy and loose. Brush over top and sides of each log.

Bake logs until golden brown all over, about 25 minutes. Transfer tray to cooling rack; let cool about 25 minutes, until lukewarm. Gently transfer each log to a cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife and gently sawing motion, cut logs on the diagonal into 1/2-inch wide slices. If using cinnamon-sugar, stir the two together and dip both cut sides in the mixture.
Arrange slices, a cut side down, on baking sheet(s). Bake for another 10 to 12 minutes, until golden underneath. Turn each biscotti over and bake for a final 6 to 8 minutes, until lightly bronzed all over. Let cool on rack.

Do ahead: Baked biscotti should keep in airtight containers at room temperature for weeks.

Blueberry Croissant Puff

One day recently, after I'd been on a pinning spree at the Pinterest site, I got a text from my cousin Becky letting me know that one of the dishes I'd selected is a tried and true recipe among the St. Albans Becketts. Aunt Janet had particularly loved the dish and often requested it for breakfast. (Presumably to accompany her other morning favorite - cheetos!) Anything with the Janet seal of approval definitely goes on my "got to try" baking list. So I did.

I made this for breakfast one morning when Brian was here, having helped Martin drive back to the area after a trip to take care of family business in California. Both the menfolk approved. As for me - I could've probably eaten the whole pan-full on my own. Since, I was able to restrain my gluttonous tendencies, I found out that you can reheat this dish the next day and it will still taste almost as perfect as when it is fresh out of the oven.

Blueberry Croissant Puff
from The-girl-who-ate-everything.com

Ingredients
3 large croissants, cut up (about 5 to 5 1/2 cups)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (I used fresh. You don't move to the midwest to buy frozen fruit!)
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place croissant pieces in a 9 inch square pan. Sprinkle with blueberries. (Note: I used up all my blueberries in this dish and it probably came to about 1 1/2 cups.)
Beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a medium bowl with the electric mixer, until well blended. Gradually add milk, beating well after each addition. Pour evenly over croissant pieces. Let stand 20 minutes.
Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until set in the center and golden brown. You may want to cover it with foil for the last 10 minutes if the tops are getting too browned.
Serve warm sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Tomato Corn and Avocado Salad

Last night we had guests for dinner, for the first time since we moved into the new house. It was a great evening in so many ways. For all these weeks of gradually watching our home come together with old belongings unpacked and new furniture coming in week by week, I think my heart has been longing to use the house as I've dreamed since I first saw it - as a place to welcome family and friends. At one point in the evening, I sat laughing with the adults while looking out to the yard and watching the three little C. girls running around in the back yard and playing on the swing...and the world seemed good.

Apparently delivery pizza hasn't been invented yet for Parkville, so I used a "take and bake" place called Papa Murphys, based on a recommendation from my friend Millie. I'm sold on the concept! I was able to choose the crust and toppings I wanted and then go home and bake them when I wanted. The dough is made on the premise, fresh every day. I ordered the obligatory simple cheese pizza for the little girls, added a plain sausage for the picky husband, and then threw in two "gourmet" varieties with all kinds of lovely ingredients.  The veggie pie was particularly fabulous, with a white sauce and every kind of delicious topping conceivable. One of my guests ate 4 or 5 slices and declared it the best pizza she'd ever eaten in her life. 

With the main dish taken care of so easily, all I had to come up with was salad and dessert. PH (Picky Husband) got his favorite Caesar salad, straight from one of those bags you buy at the grocery store,. but, assuming other people might be game for a little more choice, I decided to try this tomato, corn and avocado salad. It felt like a perfect day to be making such a summery dish as our temperatures shot all the way up to 80. After the very cold to somewhat cold to delightfully cool weather we've experienced since moving here, everything about the weather yesterday seemed to herald the promise of coming summer. As did this yummy salad. 

Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad

from Rawfoodhomerecipes.com

Ingredients 

2 ears of corn, husk and silk removed

1 pound cherry or heirloom tomatoes (I used the grape sized variety and then sliced them in half)

1/2 red onion, sliced thinly

1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and diced

2 T. fresh lime juice

1 cup fresh basil 

kosher salt and pepper (I had to use regular salt when I realized the large box of kosher salt I have is apparently back in the condo kitchen.)

Directions

Stand the corn in a large bowl and with a sharp knife carefully slice downward to remove the kernels.  Discard the cob. Slice the tomatoes into bite sized pieces and add to the bowl, along with the onion, avocado, basil, lime juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss gently to combine. 

Oreo Snowmen Truffles

I've been eating and loving Candice R’s Oreo cookie balls for years, as they generally show up at every church event and often when you eat at the R’s home. One holiday season, Emily and I even helped Candice make a batch so I knew this is a pretty easy to create treat. Even so, I had this feeling that there was probably some magic step Candice used to make her truffles turn out perfectly every single time. My suspicions were fueled by the contrast between what Candice creates versus another church member’s attempt that was...well, less than perfect. Way, less than perfect. Downright misshapen and awful looking less than perfect. You get the idea.

Even in a kitchen laden with the usual assortment of gingerbread boys and sugar cookies this December, I decided it might be fun to try a darling version of the truffles for the senior choir Christmas party. The picture online showed absolutely adorable white chocolate dipped snowmen, complete with jaunty mini-oreo hats. Best of all, the melting aspect of the snowmen meant no need to form perfect round ball shapes! In fact, messy globs on the bottom were encouraged to help create the illusion of a melting snowman. Can it get any better than using a recipe that actually asks you to strive for messy imperfection - something I happen to be very good at!

While the recipe itself is very simple, Candice gave me a tip that made all the difference in turning out uniform snowmen heads with a smooth white chocolate coating. I already knew it was very necessary to freeze the oreo/cream cheese balls before the dipping process. This is particularly important when coating a very dark cookie ball with the snow white chocolate, because who wants to have a snowman head littered with random black globs of snowman guts? Nothing cheerful about that image! Once my balls were properly frozen, Candice revealed the easiest method is to insert a toothpick into the ball before the dip. I love it when great cooks are willing to reveal their secrets and all the better when the techniques actually work!

I’ve always loved Candice’s totally yummy Oreo balls for their smooth chocolatey goodness, tasting surprisingly like a creamy truffle. Taking that recipe and lifting it up a level in downright cuteness turned out to be great fun and a real crowd pleaser among the seniors. In fact, I just might have created a third treat that will become an annual addition to my holiday baking list.

Melting Snowman Oreo Balls
from thegirlwhoateeverything.com

 Ingredients:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) brick cream cheese, softened
36 OREO Cookies (regular size), finely crushed
16 oz. vanilla candy wafers or melts, melted (these can be found at Walmart, target, Michaels or other craft stores)  (*Because of the notes below, I used Ghirardelli white chocolate melts.)
48 Mini OREO Bite Size Cookies
decorations: decorating icing or gel; multi-colored sprinkles

Directions:
Mix cream cheese and cookie crumbs until well blended. I like to crush the Oreos in a food processor and then add the cream cheese and process it together. It can also be done by hand though.
Shape into 48 (1-inch) balls; place in single layer in shallow pan. Freeze for at least 20 minutes. They can be frozen for longer. Dip balls in melted coating (see note); I do this by using a fork and tapping the fork on the bowl of my candy coating to remove some of the extra coating. Place in shallow waxed paper-lined pan, allowing excess coating to pool at bottom of each ball. Decorate with remaining ingredients as shown in photo. You can use the candy coating to adhere the hat to the head.
Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Keep refrigerated.

Notes
I have used almond bark before to dip these but found that the candy wafers work better. Sometimes when you dip the balls the Oreos can leave some crumbs in the coating but the wafers tend to do this way less.
I like to divide my coating into half or fourths so that if for some reason dark oreo bits get in one bowl you have others as back up. You can even dip them twice. Once in a layer and if it has oreo bits, oh well. The second time dip them in a fresh melting coating bowl and then there are no crumbs to worry about. I only had to dip these once but in the past I've had oreo bits sneak in my white coating.