Fried Rice

To go along with the theme of Asian cuisine, I made fried rice for the first time today. I kept it simple, but this dish is versatile and you can easily add any type of vegetable or meat that you want. This rice would be a great side dish to homemade General Tso's chicken (see my last blog post for the recipe!)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. Vegetable oil
1 tbsp. Oyster flavored sauce
1 tbsp. Sesame oil
2 cups white rice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. Soy sauce
1 large carrot
1 small onion

Instructions:

Boil the rice as usual. Set aside when it is cooked. Now, dice the carrot and onion into tiny pieces and then add two tbsp. of vegetable oil to a pan, along with the sesame oil and oyster sauce, and cook the vegetables for about five minutes. Then, in a separate pan add the rest of the vegetable oil with the garlic. Let it cook for a few minutes and then turn to high heat and add the rice and the soy sauce. This will cook fast so stir continuously and don't let it burn. Now, add the vegetables into the pan of rice and stir it all around. It is ready to  serve. Enjoy!

Homemade General Tso's Chicken

Like most people, I love Chinese food.  But usually, two meals from the Chinese restaurant costs nearly $20, and I'm all about sticking to a budget and making low cost meals.  So I decided to get creative and see if I could recreate one of our favorite take-out dinners at home.  And there's another twist to this meal - it's a crock pot recipe!  This is an easy and inexpensive way to eat Chinese food that tastes just like the real thing.  In fact, my boyfriend told me that this tasted like the General Tso's from our absolute favorite Chinese restaurant, and that's quite the compliment!

This recipe yields two large servings.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp. of salt
Dash of pepper 
1 tsp. garlic powder
4 tbsp. hoisin sauce (find this in the international foods aisle at the grocery store)
4 tbsp. soy sauce
4 tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 cloves minced garlic
4 tbsp. water
1 tsp. of red pepper flakes 


Instructions:

First, dice the chicken into small bite-sized pieces.  Mix together the corn starch, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl and then pour it into a large ziploc bag.  Add the chicken pieces to the bag and shake around so that they are all coated.  Now, heat the canola oil in a pan on medium heat.  When it's heated, add the chicken to the pan and cook for about 1 minute on each side.  You want the outside of the chicken pieces to be browned, but the chicken will not be fully cooked at this point.  When that is done, add the chicken pieces to your crockpot.  Next, mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, minced garlic, water, and red pepper flakes.  Whisk this together until it is combined.  Add approximately three quarters of this mixture to the crockpot.  Set the other bit aside in the fridge.  Give the crockpot a quick stir, and then cover it and cook on high for about one and a half hours. 

About 15 minutes before the chicken is done in the crockpot, cook some rice to be served alongside the chicken.  I made white rice to keep it simple (but I'd like to tackle fried rice as my next homemade Chinese food item!)  Then, you are going to open up the crockpot and pour in the rest of the sauce mixture.  Stir it around, and then serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

This is the chicken being cooked after being coated with the corn starch mixture.  The corn starch gives the chicken that crispy breading that makes the General Tso's so good!

This is what the sauce mixture should look like.

 

The finished product!  It looks and tastes just like the real thing!

Check out the breading on the chicken - perfection!

Greek Dressing

I got a great deal on crumbled feta cheese at the grocery store today, so I was inspired to make  Greek salad. I came up with a homemade Greed salad dressing recipe, which was simple but tasty. Here it is:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. Dried oregano

Instructions:
Mix all the spices in a bowl, and add crushed garlic. Now add the olive oil and lemon juice. Stir thoroughly until all of it is mixed and the oil is not separated. Serve immediately on a Green salad. Mine included romaine, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and croutons since that's what I had on hand.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Despite the many different recipes that I've tried for chocolate chip cookies, which were all good, I looked today for a different recipe that would make the ultimate cookies. I think I've found just the recipe.

Here it is...

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 stick butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips, semi sweet

Instructions:

Mix together dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. Stir together until cookie dough is formed. Form balls out of the dough and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

*yields 2 dozen*

Now tell me these aren't the best chocolate chip cookies you've ever had!

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

Mother's Day is this weekend so I have decided to make my Mom a special dessert.  This peanut butter chocolate cheesecake seemed like the right way to celebrate!

If you've tried my recipe for a regular  "New York style" cheesecake, this one isn't too different.  It just incorporates many more toppings.  I've seen this same recipe made with Snickers instead of Reese's peanut butter cups, so feel free to experiment with your cheesecake flavors!

Ingredients:

Crust:
30 Oreo cookies (1 pkg.)
6 tablespoons melted butter

Filling:
32 oz. cream cheese, at room temp.
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 oz. mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Instructions:

Several hours before you start making this, you will need to take the cream cheese out of the fridge and let it get to room temperature. If you don't do this, you will have a lumpy cheesecake rather than a smooth, creamy one.

First, you will make the crust of the cheesecake. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, mix up all of the Oreo cookies until they are finely ground into crumbs. Now, add the melted butter and mix again. Press this mixture into the bottom of a springform pan.  Bake for ten minutes.

Now, in an electric mixer, mix all the cream cheese together on a low speed until it is all creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, letting the mixer stir the entire time, and then add the brown sugar, peanut butter, and heavy cream.  Add in the splash of vanilla extract. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined and creamy.

Pour this mixture into the springform pan which has the crust in it. Bake this at 450 degrees for ten minutes, and then turn the heat down to 250 degrees and bake for one more hour. The edges should look fully cooked, while the center may still look a bit wobbly - this is normal.

Let this cool in the fridge for at least four hours.

Once cooled, we will put the toppings on. Heat the heavy cream in the microwave for about 1 minute - you want it hot, but not boiling!  Stir the chocolate chips into the heavy cream, and allow them to melt. Keep stirring this for a few minutes until it thickens. Now, drizzle this over the top of the cheesecake. Sprinkle the mini Reese's on top of this.

Now that is a Mother's Day gift!  Enjoy!

Perfect Buttermilk Pancakes

This is the perfect recipe for buttermilk pancakes, made from scratch! This recipe is quick and easy. It gives me a reason to use up the extra buttermilk I have in the fridge so it doesn't spoil.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups buttermilk
3 tbsp. Sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Baking soda

Instructions:
Mix all dry ingredients in medium sized mixing bowl. Separately, mix butter, buttermilk, and the egg in a bowl. Whisk together until thoroughly mixed.

Now, pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients slowly. Stir together until it forms a thick batter.

Ladel onto the griddle and cook as usual. Serve with extra butter and syrup!

Enjoy!

*yields 10 pancakes

Special Easter Cake

Easter is here, and this year I decided to make a cute Easter-themed cake for the occasion.

I found the idea for this cake on Pinterest and adapted it a little to make it my own.  There is nothing difficult about the actual cake recipe,  but the fun is in the decorating!

Ingredients:

Store-bought cake mix to make a 2-layer cake (I chose to make a Funfetti cake)
1 container of white frosting
Green food coloring
1 cup of shredded coconut
6-8 "Robin's Egg" malted milk balls (alternately, you could use large colored jelly beans)
Small-medium sized chocolate bunny

Instructions:

Bake the cake according the to recipe and instructions included on the packaging, if using a store-bought cake mix.  Be sure to divide the cake batter into two, and use circular baking pans so that you will end up with the "cakes" to be layered.

When the cake is baked and then fully cooked, you are going to mix a few drops of the green food coloring into the white frosting and stir until fully mixed. Now, frost the cake as usual, stacking the two layers.

In a small bowl, add the shredded coconut and a few more drops of the food coloring.  When the coconut absorbs the green color, gently press the coconut pieces around the whole cake and on top of it.  Now for the final touches - place the chocolate bunny on top of the cake, in the center, and around the bunny, place the "Robin's eggs" or jelly beans on top of the cake.

This cute cake will impress your guests - enjoy!