Sweet and Sour Sauce

I received this recipe for Sweet and Sour Sauce a long time ago from a co-worker. I absolutely love a good sweet and sour sauce with chicken or egg rolls and I love being able to whip it up whenever I feel like it. It is so simple. You can experiment with the other things you like to add to your sauce, or you can keep it simple and eat it plain with an egg roll. This is a great way to throw in more vegetables in your dinner because the sweetness of the sauce covers up the veggies!

Click here for printable recipe. 

The Ingredients:
1/2 c water
1/2 c vinegar
3/4 c sugar (or less depending on your taste)
1/3 c ketchup
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1-2 Tbsp corn starch
1/4 c cold water

Additional ingredients that you'd like to add. For example: chicken, pineapple chunks, red or green peppers, mushrooms, pea pods, mushrooms, etc. (If you use pineapple you can use some of the juice. Just cut down on the sugar you add)

Don't forget the rice

The Directions:
Stir water, vinegar, and sugar in pan until well mixed. Add ketchup and soy sauce. Stir occasionally.
Heat over med-high heat until bubbly. Meanwhile, make a corn starch slurry.In order to thicken the sauce you'll need to add a corn starch slurry; a mixture of corn starch and water. Mix the corn starch and water together until it's all dissolved. Pour a little at a time over the bubbling mixture and it will start to thicken up. If you want it thicker, add more of the corn starch mixture. If it gets too thick, just add a little water to the sauce.
Yes, I added chicken nuggets. It's so much easier than cutting and cooking chicken to make sweet and sour chicken. This also makes a great dipping sauce for chicken nuggets. I'm working on a post on lots of ideas to use chicken nuggets. Cause let's just say that I'm getting pretty tired of plain old chicken nuggets. Stay tuned.

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Panda Express Orange Chicken

One of my go-to meals on the craziest of the crazy nights is the orange chicken from the freezer section of Trader Joes.   It takes just 10 minutes to whip together and my kids gobble it up like it's candy.    It was with this in mind when I found this knock-off recipe for Panda Express' Orange Chicken in a church cookbook, that it was one of the first ones I bookmarked to try.  The box of frozen popcorn chicken was a bit of pain to find, so the second time I made it I just used regular cooked and diced boneless skinless chicken breasts instead.   The kids devoured both versions no problem and were asking within the week when I would make it again.   This one's definitely staying on the keeper list!

this version was made with the frozen popcorn chicken as listed in the recipe

Click here for printable recipe. 

The ingredients:

2 packages (12-oz. each) frozen, precooked popcorn chicken (or cooked and diced chicken breasts)

2 Tbs. cornstarch

1 tsp. minced ginger root

1-2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 Tbs. rice wine (I omitted this)

3/4 cup water

1-1/2 tsp. sesame oil

3 Tbs. soy sauce

3/4 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup white vinegar

zest and juice of one orange

crushed red pepper, to taste

hot cooked rice

Put desired amount of chicken on baking sheet and cook according to package directions. Meanwhile combine above ingredients in a saucepan. I blended my sauce ingredients together in a blender before heating to make the sauce nice and smooth. Mix and stir until heated through. Toss warm chicken with sauce and serve over warm rice. Makes 6 servings.

 This version was made with the boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I did not think it turned out as pretty as 
with the popcorn chicken, but the kids sure didn't complain about the taste!

Enjoy!

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Sausage Egg Rolls

I had never tried anything like homemade eggrolls before, but after seeing how easy it really is and how much everyone liked them, I'll definitely be making these again soon.
The ingredients: 1/2 lb. pork sausage
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
3 Tbs. chopped onion
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3-3/4 cups coleslaw mix
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
16 egg roll wrappers
Oil for frying
Sweet and sour sauce

In a large skillet, cook the sausage, green pepper, onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. In a large bowl, combine the coleslaw, pepper, and salt; stir in sausage mixture.Place 1/4 cupful in the center of each egg roll wrapper. Fold bottom corner over filling. Fold sides toward center over filling. Moisten remaining corner with water; roll up tightly to seal.

Heat 1 inch of oil. Fry egg rolls, a few at a time on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve with sweet and sour sauce. Makes 16 egg rolls.
Enjoy!

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Warm Peanut-Sesame Noodles

I made these noodles to accompany the Peanut-Sesame Chicken** and my oh my were they delicious! My kids gobbled them up like they were candy.
















The ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 cup water
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. peanut or sesame oil
8 oz. spaghetti, cooked and drained
1 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds
Chopped green onion (optional)
Crushed red pepper (optional)

Combine peanut butter, brown sugar, ginger, water, vinegar, soy sauce, and peanut oil in a saucepan. Bring to a boil on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 1 minute, stirring frequently. Immediately toss with hot spaghetti. Garnish with chopped green onions, crushed red pepper, and toasted sesame seeds.

**To save time I just made a big double batch of the peanut sesame sauce and used it for both the chicken and the noodles. There is only a slight variation between them.

Enjoy!

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Peanut Sesame Chicken

I'm the laughingstock among family and friends for taking pictures everywhere....especially at mealtimes. People see me with my camera and either run for the hills or start posing, usually it's running for the hills. But this recipe right here is why they put up with it. Since I started this recipe blog, I've started branching out and trying new things we've never had before...all in the name of a good blog post. This recipe makes a peanutty, tender chicken that made me feel like I was eating in a fancy Chinese restaurant!

















The ingredients:















1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. peanut oil (I used sesame oil instead)
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves*

In saucepan, combine all ingredients except chicken. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently for 1 minute.















Grill or broil chicken, turning and brushing occasionally with 1/2 cup peanut/sesame sauce, for 12 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.















Serve with remaining sauce and with Warm Peanut-Sesame Noodles. I topped with another tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds. Serves 4.















*My chicken breasts were really thick, so I sliced each one in half so it would cook more evenly and quickly.

Enjoy!

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Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

Need something nutritious and delicious after all that candy? This is the recipe from my friend Karen is the one for you. I tried this at a luncheon and LOVED the unique flavor, the crispness of the vegetables, and the moist, tender chicken. When I tried it out at home, I knew Glen would love it, but imagine my delight when my kids also really enjoyed it!

Here are the ingredients for the salad (the dressing ingredients are listed below).

6 split Chicken breasts

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pound asparagus, ends removed, cut into thirds diagonally (I used two bundles)

2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded

4 scallions (white and green parts) slice diagonally

Dressing:

1 C. vegetable oil

¼ C. apple cider vinegar

1/3 C. soy sauce

3 T. sesame oil

1 T. honey

2 garlic cloves minced

1 t. grated fresh ginger

1 T. sesame seeds, toasted

½ C. peanut butter

1 t. salt

1 t. freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350

Place chicken breasts on sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil, sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35-40 minutes until cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Remove the meat from the bones, discard skin and shred chicken into bite size pieces.

Don't cheat and use boneless, skinless breasts. The flavor, moistness, and tenderness just can't be replicated without the bones and skins.

Blanch the asparagus in a pot of boiling salted water for 3-5 minutes, until crisp tender. Plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. Drain. Cut the peppers into strips about the size of the asparagus pieces. Combine the shredded chicken, asparagus and peppers in a large bowl.

Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing and pour over the chicken and vegetables. Add the scallions and season to taste. Serve cold or at room temperature with fresh bread. This keeps well in the fridge and is just as good the next day!

(We used honey roasted cashews instead of sesame seeds,
only because we didn't have any sesame seeds in the house.)

Enjoy!

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