Kung Po Chicken

I inherited Betty Crocker's Chinese Cookbook from my mom, and until I made this dish, I'd never cooked anything out of it before. Aside from stir fries, I don't typically make a lot of Chinese food at home. The ingredients lists are always so long, and there always seem to be so many steps required. To be honest, I was sort of dreading cooking from this cookbook during the Year of the Cookbook, just because I thought the recipes would be too complicated -- and also too dated, since this was initially published in 1981. I let Joe pick the recipe, and he chose kung po chicken (I always thought it was kung pao, but maybe that's an entirely different dish? I don't know).

Imagine my surprise when I ended up really, really enjoying this meal! The sauce was really tasty, and I loved the crunch of the crispy peanuts on top of the dish. When I'm making something like this, with lots of different steps and things that need to be added at certain times, I find it's best to organize everything I'm going to need before I even start cooking. That's what I did with this meal, and it came together flawlessly. This was a great MYOTO meal, MSG free, and it didn't taste "dated" at all -- just yummy. I definitely think I'll be using this cookbook more in the future.

Kung Po Chicken
Source: adapted from Betty Crocker's Chinese Cookbook

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg white
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of white pepper

1 large green pepper
1 medium onion

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water
1 tablespoon dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
1/8 teaspoon salt

1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon finely chopped gingerroot
2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chicken broth

1. Cut chicken into thin strips. Mix egg white, 1 teaspoon corn starch, the soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the white pepper in a bowl; stir in chicken. Cover and refrigerate 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cut green pepper and onion into bite-size pieces.

3. Mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch, the water, wine, sugar, and sesame oil in a separate bowl.

4. Heat wok until 1 or 2 drops of water bubble and skitter when sprinkled in wok. Add 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Fry peanuts until light brown, about 30 seconds. Remove peanuts from wok; drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt.

5. Add onion, garlic and gingerroot to wok and stir-fry until onion is light brown, about 1 minute. Add chicken and green pepper; stir-fry until chicken turns white. Add Hoisin sauce and crushed red pepper flakes; cook and stir 30 seconds. Stir in chicken broth and heat to boiling. Stir in cornstarch mixture and cook and stir until thickened. Serve over rice or noodles.

New Orleans-Style Shrimp

Ahhh, spring. Ahhh, natural light for my photos. FINALLY.

I have to say, I'm currently loving the foil packet method of cooking. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be using it all summer long. This shrimp dish was cooked in the oven, not on the grill, but I think it's a dish that would work really well cooked outside. Either way, though, it's absolutely delicious -- perfectly spicy and a little bit sweet and wonderfully tangy. Joe and I both really liked this and wished we had more. I jazzed it up with some Zatarain's for soaking up the yummy broth, and we were both very happy. This is a wonderful spring supper!

New Orleans-Style Shrimp
Source: adapted from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008 (original recipe available on MyRecipes)

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound shrimp, peeled and de-veined
2 teaspoons butter, divided

1. Combine first 9 ingredients in a large bowl; toss well. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 425°.

3. Fold 2 sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil in half crosswise. Open foil. Remove shrimp mixture from bowl; reserve marinade. Place half of shrimp mixture on half of each foil sheet. Drizzle remaining marinade evenly over shrimp. Top each serving with 1 teaspoon butter.

4. Fold foil over shrimp; tightly seal edges.

5. Place packets on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Unfold packets carefully, and serve immediately. Serve over rice, if desired.

Foil Packet Potatoes

The Saga of the Broken Oven continues. But with the kind of weather we've been having here lately, I'm okay with that -- because it's perfect grilling weather. Last night, Joe and I grilled out for the first time this year. His contribution was two big, juicy steaks (no one can make a steak like he can, I prefer not to even try) and my contribution was these foil packet potatoes.

Probably some of you have been making potatoes this way for years, but this was the first time I'd ever tried. And now that I've tried this method, I want to eat potatoes like this every single day. Really. Every day. They were so, so delicious. There are tons of recipes out there, but I just threw together what I had on hand: baby red potatoes, green peppers, onions and bacon. When they came off the grill, I sprinkled them with cheese and topped them with some sour cream. So, so good. So good. I see many, many foil packets of potatoes in my future.

This recipe makes two healthy-sized portions -- but Joe and I both still wanted more!

Foil Packet Potatoes
source: Cassie

8 baby red potatoes
Half of a red onion, diced
Half of a green bell pepper, diced
6 slices of bacon, fried to desired crispness and chopped
4 tablespoons butter
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Shredded colby cheese
Sour cream

1. Cut each potato in half lengthwise, then slice into half-moons. Place half of the potatoes in the center of a piece of foil; repeat process with the second half of the potatoes and a second sheet of foil. Top potatoes with red onion, bell pepper, and bacon. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Top each serving with 2 tablespoons butter.

2. Close the foil packets, being sure to seal all openings.

3. Place on the hottest part of the grill and cook for 40 minutes, turning packets over halfway through cooking.

4. Let cool 10 minutes before opening. Top each serving with shredded cheese and sour cream, if desired. Serve in foil.

Turkey Reuben Wraps

Sunday morning, my oven stopped working. One minute it was working, and the next minute it just...wasn't. We don't know what the problem is. The repair man is coming on Wednesday. I am irritated with the whole situation. Moving on.

Although I'm frustrated that the oven's not working, I do love a challenge, and putting dinner on the table without an oven -- and without resorting to take-out -- definitely presents one. Thankfully, I have my trusty Griddler to help me out. Last night, I made us warm turkey reuben wraps with it, which were delicious. Joe and I are easy people to please, food-wise, so it should be no problem for us to subsist on paninis and grilled chicken and delicious warm wraps until Wednesday. Now, if the oven needs a part and that part needs to be ordered and shipped and it takes three weeks to get to us -- well, then I may need to get a little bit more creative.

Turkey Reuben Wraps
Source: my oven-deprived brain

1 package deli-sliced oven-roasted turkey breast
4 soft taco-sized flour tortillas
1 cup sauerkraut
8 slices baby Swiss cheese
Thousand Island dressing

1. Heat tortillas in microwave, about 15 seconds or until soft and warm.

2. On one edge of each tortilla, place 2 slices of cheese. Top with a quarter of the turkey, 1/4 cup of sauerkraut, and Thousand Island dressing. Roll tortilla tightly over filling, tucking in edges so the wrap is secure.

3. Place wraps on a preheated griddle (or in a skillet, if you're lucky enough to have a working oven) and warm over low heat until outsides of wrap are just beginning to brown.

Fluffy Waffles with Cinnamon Cream Syrup

Joe and I used to go out for breakfast every Sunday morning, but in an effort to be more frugal, lately I've been making breakfast at home on the weekends. I used to make breakfast for us a lot, but at some point I just got out of the habit. It's nice to be doing it again.

I found this recipe in one of my trusty Taste of Home cookbooks, and I thought it sounded intriguing. I'd never heard of anything remotely like cinnamon cream syrup before -- but it sounded delicious, and I knew I had to give it a try. Both the waffles and the syrup turned out so well. The waffles were light and fluffy, just as the recipe's name promised, no doubt because of the beaten egg whites. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this waffle recipe is going to be my go-to base from now on.

The cinnamon cream syrup was the real star of the show, though. I couldn't use my stovetop to make it (my oven is currently defunct, a nightmare which I'd rather not discuss at this moment), so I used the microwave to heat it up. While it probably wasn't as thick as it would have been otherwise, the flavor was absolutely delicious. I thought it made the waffles taste like cinnamon toast. Joe said it tasted like Christmas, which is absolutely true. I'll definitely be making this breakfast again!

Fluffy Waffles with Cinnamon Cream Syrup
Source: Taste of Home's Best of Country Breakfast and Brunch

For the waffles:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

For the syrup:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the egg yolks, milk, and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

2. In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Bake in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions.

3. Meanwhile, for syrup, combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 mintues or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in the milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Serve with waffles.