Sweet N Sour Chicken

Sweet N Sour Chicken

8 bonelss, skinless, chicken breasts
1 (20 oz) pineapple chunks
3 tbls. brown sugar
3 tbls. ketchup
3 tbls. soy sauce
2 tbls. vinegar (we use red wine vinegar)
1 tbls. cornstarch
1 tbsl. ground ginger

Directions:

1.  Grill chicken or broil chicken 5 minutes on each side until chicken no longer pink in center.
2.  Combine pineapple chunks, brown sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, cornstarch and ginger in saucepan.
3.  Cook until sauce boils and thickens.
4.  Spoon sauce over broiled or grilled chicken before serving.

This only has 216 calories per serving.  It was wonderful and I plan on using the sauce (w/o) the pineapple chunks on other things like pork chops.  This was so easy and so tasty.  It's one of the Jenny Craig recipes.  I'm posting in my blog so I will always have it!  Hope you try it too.

Key Lime Cake with Buttercream Icing

This recipe was provided to me by a friend/coworker Heather. I love "key lime" and Heather brought me a slice to work one day back in 2009. I knew I had to have the recipe. The homemade icing is so good. It was easy to make and fun! We had it for company one evening and they loved it too.  Such a refreshing and fluffy cake.  Yum!  This was my cake above!

Key Lime Cake

1- (18.25 oz.) lemon or yellow cake mix

1- 3.5 oz. instant lemon pudding mix (dry)

4 large eggs

1/2 cup key lime juice (bottled)

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water


Directions for Key Lime Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Combine above ingredients and beat with electric mixer for 2-3 minutes.

3. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes or until done. Cool for 10 minutes and turn out from pans.


Key Lime Buttercream Icing:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup Crisco

2 teaspoons real vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 cups powdered sugar

6 tablespoons key lime juice

 
Directions for Key Lime Buttercream Icing:

Beat butter and shortening together for about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time alternating with the key lime juice.

Other: I happened to have a garnishing tool and so I garnished my cake with lime peel...and sliced the lime up into very thin slices and placed around the edge. You can be creative!

Beef Bourguignon made at Our House

BEEF BOURGUIGNON

Ingredients

 

1 tablespoon good olive oil

8 ounces dry cured center cut smoked bacon, diced

2 1/2 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally in 1-inch chunks

2 yellow onions, sliced

2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)

1/2 cup cognac or brandy

1 750 ml. bottle dry red wine

1 can (2 cups) beef broth

1 small can tomato paste

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon if dried)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 pound frozen whole onions

1 pound fresh mushrooms stems discarded

For serving:

Sour Dough bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic clove

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, optional 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven.  Add the bacon and cook on medium heat 

for about 10 minutes while stirring.  

The bacon should be lightly brown. 

Remove bacon with slotted spoon to a large plate. 

You might want to think about adding some music to the situation to enjoy while slicing, dicing, and dancing about the kitchen making this dish...

Next cube the beef.

Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

 In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 2 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. 

Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned.  Set aside.

Toss the carrots, and onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 teaspoons for pepper in the fat in the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, unil the onions are lightly browned.  

Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.  

 Add the Cognac, stand back and ignite with a match to burn off the alcohol. 

Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices. 

Add the bottle of wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat. 

You'll probably need to stop and clean your glasses at this point after all that sauteing!

Add the tomato paste and thyme.  Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and place it in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork.

Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew.  Add the frozen onions.  

Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew. 

Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Season to taste.  

To serve, toast the bread in the toaster or oven.  Rub each slice on 1 side with a cut clove of garlic. 

For each serving, spoon the stew over a slice of bread and sprinkle with parsley.    

This was a fun dish to make!  If you are making for just two people, I would cut it in half.  It's great to make for company.  Cook ahead of time, and heat up later!  Or fix the whole batch and freeze some!

Be prepared.  It takes about 3.5 hours to make.  Lots of chopping and lots of steps.  It goes by fast and it's fun and REALLY EASY!  

Momma Billie's Baked Beans

Momma's Baked Beans

Oh, this is one of those recipes you just "guess" on.  No exact measurements just sprinkles of this, and dashes of that, to taste. 

A while back, at Mom's she had these beans on the table and I thought they were remarkably good compared to a lot of other beans I've had - which is a LOT of beans over my lifetime.  

Mom recited her recipe/instructions as follows.

*4 cans of (preferably) ShowBoat Pork and Beans
*Brown Sugar
*Worcestershire sauce
*Molasses
*Dried Minced Onion Flakes

Put the beans in a long baking dish.  You may wish to drain beans (mine turned out runny since I didn't bake them very long - longer baking time will thicken them up!)
Sprinkle the brown sugar over the beans.
Splash on the worcestershire sauce.
Sprinkle some minced onion on the beans (I used onion powder today and it worked fine too).
Pour on some molasses (just guess- how sweet do you like it?)
Then stir.
And the old standby when there are no directions, bake at 350 for 45 minutes and check it!  I did this and it turned out wonderful!
Enjoy, and think of "Momma" when you eat it!

Coconut Rice

Note:  I altered this recipe a bit.  George and I like a lot of rice and we always cook our own rice (not pre-cooked).  So we substituted pre-cooked rice by making our own.  *We cooked 1.5 cups of rice in 3 cups of water.  Then I added a little extra of all the ingredients below in the recipe as we had a little more rice than the recipe called for, and it turned out great.  I also had a time finding cream of coconut so we used coconut milk instead.

Zest and juice of 2 limes
2 (8.8 oz) pouches of pre-cooked basmati rice*  (or cook your own)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup cream of coconut  (Note:  We used coconut milk instead)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt



1.  Prepare rice according to package instructions, IF you are not using pre-cooked rice.

2.  Zest (grate) lime peel   (Note: I used about 2 teaspoons)

3. Squeeze limes for juice ( about 2 tablespoons)

4. Combine in medium bowl:  lime juice, zest, coconut, cream of coconut, and salt.

5.  Stir in rice until well blended.  Serve.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

 8 potatoes, cubed (half peeled or half with skin).
2 teaspoons of salt
6 slices of bacon
6 green onions
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
16 oz. sour cream
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup Miracle Whip

Directions

1. Cube and boil potatoes with salt.
2.  Drain
3.  Crumble bacon and slice onions
4.  Combine sour cream, pepper and Miracle Whip.
5.  Add to potatoes
6.  Add bacon, onions, and cheese (reserve some of each for top). 
7.  Mix with potatoes.
8.  Top with reserved cheese, onions, and bacon.   You can actually bake this as well and make a casserole out of it, but we like it as a cold potato salad. 

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce and 1905 Salad

This meal goes down in the record books at our house.  It was soooo good.  The Chimichurri sauce adds a unique flavor and freshness to the beef kabobs, which were already marinated and grilled to perfection.  This dish was served last night by Hubby G with black beans and saffron rice and it become a flavorful and fun Cuban/South American meal.  Kate added one of our favorite salads, the 1905 salad from one of our favorite restaurants in St. Augustine, the Colombia restaurant.So I'm sharing our experience and recipe with you so you can enjoy it also. 

Beef

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

3/4 cup distilled white vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

3 lbs beef tenderloin cut into 1 inch cubes

Chimichurri sauce

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup minced onion

1/2 cup minced red bell pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley

4 fresh bay leaves

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Chimichurri Sauce:  Whisk all ingredients and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in medium bowl.  Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

Beef:  Whisk all ingredients except beef in large bowl.  Whisk in 1 tablespoon salt.  Add beef; toss to coat.  Cover and chill 1 hour turning occasionially.

Prepare barbecue (high heat): Thread beef with some marinade still clinging onto 8 skewers.  Grill skewers until beef is charred on all sides and cooked to desired doneness, about 5 minutes for medium-rare.  Place 1 skewer on each plate.  Pass chimichurri sauce alongside.  

Side note:  The chimichurri sauce can also be used on other meats and sausages, roasted potatoes, brushed on bread before grilling, or on fried eggs.  I have not tried any of that though.  But would be willing.  What an awesome dinner that was! 

Good to serve with Black Beans.