Recipe of the Week

While rumaging through what I call my Recipe Binder, I noticed I have a horrible habit. I LOVE new recipes. I am especially in love with insanely difficult, master-chef, types of recipes. And what do I do? I print out all of these delicious recipes and stuff them into a binder, never to be seen again (unless I pin it on Pinterest, or it happens to make its rounds again on the internet and I print it for a second time. This happens a lot)

So, in an effort to spend more time with family, and to extend my cooking expertise (and have a sense of feeling accomplished all at the same time!) I have instigated Recipe of the Week. I will strive (try, do, or not do..depends how I feel and stuff) to make one new recipe a week. Granted, they will not be completely new and exotic (maybe sometime I WILL try to make Beef Wellington or a Souffle), they will be new to what I am used to. I will be doing more than just heating up some spaghetti, or having Chipotle for the third night this week (or Del Taco, because there's never such a thing as too many chicken soft tacos).

I hope this will inspire some of you to pull out your recipe books,boxes or whatever you use to hold recipes (pinterest boards are so eco-friendly!). The lack of kitchen knowledge is dimishing in our youth. Get your family involved, let them make a mess with you (then have them clean it up! Kidding...team effort!). And post pictures! Give us your take on your recipes. Let us know where you failed, and where you triumphed. There is nothing more infuriating as trying a new recipe, and it ending in disaster. Let's help each other people.

So now, I give you my take on "Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken" found here from Six Sisters
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/03/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-recipe.html

Note: This picture was taken by me (unfortunately). I own all rights to this (not that that is an accomplishment or anything).

Sounds delish right? Where can you go wrong with homemade Chinese food? Well...aside from the fact that it seems impossibly hard, it wasn't so bad. But I always forget kitchen rule #1 Always read the recipe ALL the way through. I don't know what it is about me. I must think I am some kitchen genius because I always get halfway through the recipe and either find out "oh crap...this recipe needs a red pineapple grown in the depths of the amazon jungle? " or another classic "If I had known you had to go to the woods, find the chicken, create a shrine for it then massage it to the perfect tenderness I wouldn't have chosen this recipe".  But I am usually able to wing it (ha..I said "wing" it...) and furthermore, provide this valuable knowledge (that can be found on the recipe..in case you want to save yourself) to all of you.

So, my disaster of the day was that not only was the title of this recipe false advertising (because before baking it, you get to coat it with cornstarch and eggs then fry it for a bit), it also calls for an extended amount of baking time. I am sorry, but if I had known it was going to take an hour just in baking time, I would have bought some China House down the street and repented of all my food sins later.

On a much more positive side, it was pretty freaking delicious. I felt unstoppable being able to cook some homemade Chinese. And I will admit, it did seem healthier with less coating than you would find on the Orange Chicken at Panda Express. So I would consider this a success!

Now, to get you in the mood to want to make something I will let you know what is in store for us next week. This tasty concoction. Where can you go wrong with bacon, ranch and chicken. YUM!

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/03/baked-chicken-bacon-ranch-taquitos.html

Note: This picture was taken from the Six Sister's website at the link about. They did a great job don't you think? :)

Uvas Apple Cake

At a past job of mine, it wasn't unusual for us to bring in sweets and treats to share with everyone in the office. And because it was a small, tight knit group we were able to uphold this tradition pretty frequently. One recipe that grew to be a favorite of mine was "Uvas Apple Cake". Now, I don't know any Uvas (I will have to ask the friend who gave me the recipe the story behind where she found it), but she makes one heckuv-an apple cake. Also, if you are looking to be more health conscience, you can substitute the 1/2 cup of oil for 1/2 of applesauce instead! It still comes out perfectly delicious and moist :)


Uvas Apple Cake

Ingredients:
- 2 Cups of White Sugar (when using sugar, I almost always go less than the norm. I will either halve it entirely or bring it down to 3/4 cup at least...depending on if the recipe is forgiving enough)
- 4 Large Apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (I used Fiji)
- 1/2 Cup of oil (or applesauce)
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tsp. Vanilla
- 2 Cups of Flour
- 2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 2 tsp. Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar and apples that have been peeled, cored, and sliced.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together oil, eggs and vanilla. Add this to the apple mixture and stir well.

Add flour, baking soda, and cinnamon to the apple mixture (I would reccomend combining these ingredients in a seperate bowl beforehand, just to make sure the ingredients get combined together). Mix until flour is incorporated and moist.

Pour the batter into a well greased bunt pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes - do not under bake!

Let cool for 1/2 hour before inverting onto a plate.

S'more Pie Please!

Nothing is more exciting than the knowledge that summer is coming; bring on the beach, camping, BBQ's and road trips! I got this recipe from the wife of a fellow Mason member. I like this even better than the old-fashioned burnt marshmallow, solid chocolate S'more.

Smore's Pie

Ingredients:
 
6oz dark chocolate (or milk if you prefer, I used 6 oz of milk chocolate chips)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 Tablespoon corn syrup
2-2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4oz mascarpone cheese (you can use cream cheese)-make sure room temp 1 cup whipping cream
1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup mini marshmallows
Mini chocolate chips (I just used some of the chocolate chips I already had)
graham crackers (crushed)-about 1/2 cup
1 graham cracker pie crust (can make from scratch or pre-made)
 1 jar of marshmallow creme
1 Tablespoon milk
1 cup mini marshmallows

For filling: in small saucepan, mix the 6oz chocolate, water, 1/4 cup whipping cream and corn syrup.  Heat and stir constantly over medium heat.  Once mixture is smooth and melted remove from heat.  Then stir in vanilla.  Let that cool for about 20 minutes; stir occasionally while making whip cream.

For whip cream: In a chilled metal mixing bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream and powdered sugar on medium until peaks form (this takes about  minutes).  It should look like whip cream out of a can.  While making whip cream, in another bowl add the mascarpone (or cream cheese if you prefer) to the melted chocolate mixture.  Mix that thoroughly and set aside.  Once whip cream is ready, fold the chocolate mixture into the whip cream until thoroughly mixed. 

Crust: layer bottom of crust w/mini marshmallows.  Spoon the filling over the top.  Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours (or overnight).

Marshmallow creme topping: mix jar of marshmallow creme w/1-2 tablespoon of milk and 1 cup of mini marshmallows. Save in refrigerator until you serve pie. (2 TB of milk made it super watery/goopey/etc. I would suggest only 1 TB of milk and if you're using a premade pie crust you are going to have a mess on your hands. This pie makes a little of "filling")

Serve: before serving spread marshmallow creme spread you make on top of pie.  Then crush graham crackers and sprinkle on top of pie, then add mini chocolate chips on top of that.

Mmmmm....πππππ....

Here is my Aunt's recipe for homemade chicken pot pie. It is adapted slightly because my mom haphazardly wrote the recipe down so I kind of winged it. CAUTION: Crisco sells convenient sticks of shortening. BUT, they are not like sticks of butter. One stick=one cup.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

·         3 Cups Flour

·         1 Cup Crisco

·         1 Tablespoon Vinegar

·         1-2 teaspoon Salt

·         ½ C. Ice Water

·         1-10 oz bag of frozen mixed veggies (I used peas and carrots)

·         1 Cup of cooked, cubed chicken

·         1 12 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup

·         1-12 oz can Cream of Mushroom Soup (I used two cans of chicken because Bryan hates mushrooms)

·         Salt and Pepper

Cook your chicken according to preference; I baked mine in the oven at 350 for 20-30 minutes. I only used one large chicken breast, and it was plenty for this pie.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the pie crust. In a medium sized bowl, measure out your flour and mix in salt, then cut in 1 Cup of Crisco/shortening. Add vinegar and water slowly, mixing to incorporate. Once the dough forms, divide in half for two pie crusts; top and bottom. Roll out one half and place in an ungreased pie plate. Prick the bottom with a fork.

In a bowl, combine your veggies, cooked/cubed chicken, soups, and seasonings. Pour onto unbaked pie crust. Roll out your second pie crust, and lay over the top of the pie. Crimp edge and if you have pie crust scraps feel free to roll them out and cut into shapes to put on top J

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until crust is golden.