I've Got the Sweets (and Sours)

This week, based on a previous posting, I was asked for my current favorite recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken.

This recipe is very simple, but has so much flavor. This is the recipe that I found in my very first cookbook that I ever purchased: "Betty Crocker's: Everything You Need To Know To Cook." I first made this meal the first year I was married ... probably the first month! It has been a favorite ever since (but I would not deem this as the perfect Sweet and Sour Chicken).

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Serves 5 (1 cup servings) Calories 240 per serving

15 1/2 oz can of pineapple chunks in juice (reserving 1/3 cup juice)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
3 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil (yes, this is a repeat)
1 medium green pepper, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium carrots, coarsely shredded (approx. 1 1/4 cups)

Mix 1/3 cup pineapple juice, the cornstarch, vinegar and honey.

Heat wok over high. Add oil and stir-fry chicken until no longer pink. Remove chicken and keep warm. Add the remaining 1 Tablespoon of oil to the wok and stir-fry peppers and onion for about 1 minute. Add cornstarch mixture and carrots to wok. Cook and stir for about 1 minute until sauce thickens. (Tip, if you want your veggies softer, cook them all at the same time and cook until tender, then add the sauce mixture)

Stir in pineapple and chicken and heat thru.


*** I like to serve this over brown rice and with some mandarin oranges.


Enjoy!

What's for Supper? Menu 2

I am passionate about cooking well-balanced, healthy meals for my family. It is one way that I express my love for them. I love looking at recipes and planning menus that I think will appeal to them.

This week, I have planned 5 meals for our menu. I never assign a specific meal for a specific day of the week. I like to decide what sounds good that day, and also some meals take less prep time, and I like to save those for our busiest days.

Meal #1:
Breakfast for Supper~
French Toast with Sauteed Bananas
Bacon
Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits

Meal #2:
BBQ Bacon Cheeseburgers
Italian Seasoned Oven Fries
Garden Salad

Meal #3:
Three Meat Jambalaya
Garlicky Baked French Bread
Garden Salad

Meal #4:
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Garlicky Green Beans
Tomato Basil Salad

Meal #5:
Skinny Scampi (Matt's request)
Brown Rice
Oven Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan


Hope you all enjoy! Stay tuned for my Super Bowl Menu later.

Home-made is best.

I came home this week from work and entered the kitchen. My kitchen table had 4 large containers of oats on it. I looked at my husband, seeking an answer for this immense amount of grains that I did not purchase. He smiled and said he thought I should makes "something" with it.

Now, my family are cereal eaters. This may be the wrong term for their cereal eating behavior. My boys come by it honestly. My husband, in his bachelor years, used to consume 1-2 boxes of cereal in a 24 hour window of time. Just yesterday, my dear husband said that he and the boys had a cereal eating contest during breakfast. He proudly stated that Trevor consumed 6 bowls full of cereal. He said, Nicholas (my 4 year old) gave up after about 4 bowls of cereal. On a weekly basis, I can be found at the supermarket with a cart full of cereal.

When I am being sensible, I will make home-made granola for my family. This is just as easily consumed as the other cereals that I purchase for my guys (after all, I store all cereal out of the boxes in Tupperware cereal holders, so no one is the wiser!).

So, I believe that the four large containers of oats on the table may have been my husband trying to give me a subliminal message of "Please fix some granola for our family. We are in dire need of a healthier, more cost-effective breakfast." Do you think that is what he was trying to say?

A friend of mine asked me this week for a good, low-fat granola recipe. Since she specifically requested low-fat, I gave her one I got off of Cooking Light's website about a year ago. It is good ... but I have to say, I enjoy this recipe so much more. It is also the granola of choice of my family.

Goodness-Greatness Granola

1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup light brown sugar
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup of sliced almonds
1 cup of dried berries (your choice)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, combine honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt. Add the oats, wheat germ and stir until evenly blended.

Spread the granola out on the prepared sheets and bake about 20 minutes, stirring a few times to avoid burning and to achieve even baking. Remove pans from oven, stirring and then bake and additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Stir in the nuts and berries of your choice.


Enjoy!

Simply Soup

Simmering on the stove or served steaming hot in a bowl, I love soup! In the winter time, soup frequently appears on the menu. What I love about soup? I love the versatility of soup: You can take nearly any protein, any vegetable, any seasoning, any broth ... and when combined, results in the most delicious creation.

I am a firm believer in the healing powers of soup. There may be no medical studies supporting my theory ... but I know that whenever I feel like I have a cold or if I feel like I am getting sick, nothing is as good as a bowl of piping hot soup (especially my Mother's Chicken Rice Soup!)

The soup I made this week is my boys' favorite. It is Barley Vegetable Beef Stew (the title tells it all!). The good thing about this soup is that you can either use canned, fresh, or frozen vegetables, most of the ingredients can be found right in your pantry, and it is one of the simplest soups with the best flavor. I love to add corn, green beans, peas, and other vegetables to this recipe - pick your favorites. I have typed up the way I made the recipe this week. I hope you and your family will love it.

Barley Vegetable Beef Stew

Makes 8 servings at 203 calories per serving

1 1/2 to 2 pounds of beef stew meat or leftover beef roast

1 cup chopped celery (use the leaves too, as they really produce a wonderful flavor)

1 small onion, chopped

4-6 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

7 cups of beef broth (can substitute 7 cups of water with 4 beef bouillon cubes)

14 oz can of tomato sauce

1 1/2 tsp dried marjoram

3/4 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp black pepper

salt to taste

2/3 cup uncooked pearl barley

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

In a large non-stick skillet, brown the beef with the onion and garlic. When cooked thru, add remaining vegetables and all seasonings and cook and stir until they start to get tender. Add broth, tomato sauce, and barley and simmer over medium heat for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The longer it simmers, the more tender the beef will be. Before serving, add the chopped, fresh parsley to the stew and stir well.

***I like to serve this meal with my Crusty French Bread and a garden salad.

Enjoy!

A Little Bit of Spice.

Every week, I try to plan a salad supper into our meal plan. I love salads for supper. There is so much that you can do - so many tasty options.

I love Mexican food. I love going to restaurants and indulging in queso and salsa with those still fresh from the oven tortilla chips (I like to pretend they are fresh from the oven, and not fresh from a vat of oil...) I love squeezing a little fresh lime over a taco. I adore the incredible variety of flavors that attack your taste buds. Deliciousness!

So ... needless to say, this week, I prepared one of my favorite salads: Black Bean Taco Salad.

Here is the line-up of ingredients: Spicy Taco Meat, corn, black beans, green pepper, avocado, green onions, and reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese.

And here is the finished product!

My dressing consisted of one part light sour cream and one part salsa. It was perfect! I have also used a balsamic vinaigrette or just squeezed fresh lime juice over the top as my dressing. Whatever way you go, it is delicious. Another thing that is fun is to take spinach tortillas, slice them in thin strips and then toast them in the oven. They add a nice crunch to the salad, in case you are missing the carbs. The way I fixed it made enough salad for 6 servings at 279 calories per serving. My boys loved eating the meat, beans and corn on the side and I made cheesy quesadillas for them.

Here is the recipe for my Spicy Taco Meat that I used to make this salad:

Spicy Taco Meat
1 to 1 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 pint of grape tomatoes, quartered
2 tsp cumin
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup ketchup

Brown beef with jalapeno, garlic, and onion. Add seasonings. Cook until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and cook for another minute. Stir in ketchup and heat thru. Serve.

*** This meat makes wonderful tacos, enchiladas, or even nachos. The sky is the limit!


Enjoy!

Chicken Tonight...

I love chicken. I love using chicken in recipes. When I go to a restaurant, I love trying new and different creations with chicken. So, a very popular protein in the menus I create is chicken.

Tonight, I decided that we would have the Zesty Barbecue Chicken Breasts for supper. I made the sauce, poured it over my frozen (yes, FROZEN) chicken breasts and popped the whole mess into the oven in my stoneware casserole dish. Approximately 50 minutes later, supper was served. The boys just magically appeared from wherever they had previously been playing in the house and were very eager to have their supper (and SECONDS).

Zesty Barbecue Chicken Breasts (287 calories per serving)

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (I used frozen, because I did not have them thawed)

3/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup salsa

1/4 cup honey

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

Arrange chicken in a 9x13 casserole dish (sprayed with some non-stick cooking spray). Combine the remaining ingredients to make the sauce. Pour over the chicken, coating every piece. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 50 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear. Serve immediately, with the sauce poured over top of the chicken.

*** We served this with some sweet potato pan fries and corn.

I hope that your family enjoys this meal as much as my family did!

My Cuddle Bug...

My youngest. Blue eyes and blond hair. My Spiderman (this is who he compares himself to frequently). My cuddle bug. My slayer of dragons. My helper in the kitchen. My sweet talker... my second born is all of these things, and then some!



On the way home from work today, on the way to pick up big brother from school, my youngest son was definitely sweet talking his Momma. "Mommy, I love you. I love to buy you flowers. I love to cuddle with you. I love to buy you hamsters. (I am thinking, "What? We don't have any hamsters!)



After going on for about 5 minutes citing all of the things he loves to buy for and give to his Mommy, my sweet-talking child had a revelation. "Mommy, I know what you will love to buy for me ... a FERRET!"



Now, I am not sure exactly where he has seen a ferret ... or heard of a ferret ... or if he even knows exactly what a ferret is. However, one thing I am very certain of is that I am not buying him a ferret! I smiled and tactfully changed the subject, He soon forgot about the ferret and was ready to pick up big brother and have some clementines for an afternoon snack.



Simple pleasures .... I am blessed!