Mandarin Chicken

This is a copycat recipe I found a long time ago on Recipezaar.com. I was actually looking for Panda Express's Orange Chicken which I found and found this recipe too. Mandarin chicken is soooo good. We've made it quite a bit. I have never grilled the chicken though. I sauté the chicken in sesame oil in my wok instead and then add the sauce. The sauce tends to be sweet, so if you don't want to use the full 2/3 cup of sugar, use ½ cup instead.

Yumminess!

40 min | 10 min prep

SERVES 8

• 2-3 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
  
• 2 or 3 tablespoons sesame oil
  
• 2/3 cup sugar (or less, according to taste) (I double this.)
  
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
  
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
  
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
  
• 1/2 cup water
  
• 8 teaspoons cornstarch
  

1. Add sesame oil to wok or large skillet and heat on high.
   
2. Add chicken to wok and reduce heat to medium-high.
   
3. While chicken is cooking in wok, combine sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, oil, garlic and ginger in a small saucepan.
   
4. Heat over medium until sugar is dissolved, stirring often.
   
5. Bring to boil.
   
6. Combine cornstarch and water.
   
7. Add to sauce pan, stirring often.
   
8. Reduce heat and simmer 4-6 minutes or until sauce thickens.
   
9. Pour sauce over the chicken and stir thoroughly to make sure all the chicken gets coated.
   
10. Reduce temperature to low and heat through until sauce is nice and thick.
    
11. Serve over white rice.
    

Skillet Tacos from Real Mom Kitchen

So a while ago, Jolene told me about Real Mom Kitchen (www.realmomkitchen.com). Laura Whittemore, the Real Mom, runs a great website. Her recipes are simple, delicious, and easy to make. I've made probably half a dozen of her recipes and found nary a dud so far. My whole family really liked her Skillet Tacos which we had for lunch yesterday and today. You could substitute chicken, pork, or shrimp for the ground beef, and the recipe would turn out just fine. I used canned corn instead of frozen corn because I didn't have frozen corn. I think the recipe still worked great. Thanks Jolene for turning me onto Real Mom Kitchen.

Bon Appetit!

JillJ

• 1 pound ground beef
  
• 1 small red onion, chopped
  
• 1 1/2 cup frozen corn
  
• 10 corn tortillas (6 inches), cut into 1-inch pieces (I use my pizza cutter to do this)
  
• 1 bottle (8 ounces) taco sauce (I used mild)
  
• 1-1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
  

1. In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
   
2. Rinse frozen corn in a colander with warm water and drain.
   
3. Add the drained corn, taco sauce, and 1 cup cheese to meat until well mixed.
   
4. Mix in tortilla pieces and heat through.
   
5. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Serves 5-6
   

Chocolate Hazelnut Coco Krispie Treats

We love Rice Krispie treats at our house. We don't make them very often, but when I found this recipe at Peabody's www.culinaryconcoctions.com, I knew this was what I wanted to make for my Mother's day treat. It is a fairly straight forward, easy recipe that really makes the good, old-fashioned Rice Krispie treat seem sophisticated and elegant. We ate the pan between us in two days. I made a few tweaks to Peabody's original recipe. I added more marshmallows (from 16 ounces to 18 ounces) because the treats came out a little too crispy and not gooey enough, and I also don't wait for the butter to completely melt to start adding in the marshmallows. Her tip on keeping the heat low and even is very important too. Don't even be tempted to raise the heat to get the butter to melt or marshmallows to blend more quickly. We loved this recipe.

Bon Appetit and once again, Happy Mother's Day!

6 TBSP unsalted butter
18 ounces mini marshmallows (fresh, not the stale ones hiding in the back of your pantry that you forgot about)
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp hazelnut extract
½ cup Nutella
7 cups Cocoa Krispies Cereal
3 cups roughly crushed but not pulverized Pirouette Rolled Wafer Cookie (Chocolate Hazelnut flavor)

Butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan. Or be lazy like me and spray it with non-stick baking spray. Set aside.

Over low heat melt 6 TBSP in a large pot (I like to use my stock pot because I am a messy person).

Once butter starts to melt, add marshmallows. Continue to cook over low heat while they melt. It may take a little time. Don't turn up the heat to try and make it go quicker, you could end up with burned marshmallows or your treats could end up too hard once they firm up. Stir in the Nutella and extracts until fully combined. May take a little bit of time for the Nutella to melt in.

When most of the marshmallows have melted and they resemble marshmallow crème with a few lumps, remove from heat and add the cereal and cookies.

Using a wooden spoon, stir, stir, stir some more, until all the cereal is fully coated and other parts of the pot are not hogging all the marshmallows (so evenly coated).

Pour into prepared baking pan. Take a rubber spatula and either spray it with non-stick spray or simply get some water on it (I just put mine under the faucet real quick). Using the spatula, press the cereal/marshmallow mixture down into the pan, attempting to create a flat, even surface.

Cover with foil and let sit for a few hours to firm up.

Take foil off. Place wax paper down that is a little bit longer than the baking pan. Flip the pan over onto the wax paper. Cut into squares. Some would say 2-inch. But whatever size you would like works. You can also use cookie cutters to make them fun shaped.

 

Classic Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie is one of my top three favorite desserts, and my favorite pie. I have this recipe memorized. It's creamy, citrusy, and classic. You can't mess it up. Well you can if you add two cups of key lime juice instead of 1/2 cup which I've done. You have to use key lime juice and not regular lime juice. The taste is not the same. Albertsons' used to carry it, but I believe the only store in Tooele that carries key lime juice is Macey's. Anyway, I use a 9" pre-baked graham cracker crust. I think the Keebler crusts taste just as good and are a lot less work. Call me Sandra Lee! If you ever visit Key West Florida, you have to visit a little place called The Blonde Giraffe where they make this thing called Key Lime Pie on a Stick. It's Key Lime Pie dipped in dark chocolate. You can also top this with meringue or whipped cream, but we like it as is. So worth the calories...

Bon Appetit!
Jill:)

Ingredients:
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks
4 oz. key lime juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine milk and eggs yolks at low speed. Slowly add juice, mixing until well blended. Pour into 9" graham cracker pie shell and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool in refrigerator. Serve and enjoy.

Chicken Corn Chowder with Sweet Potatoes

Jolene is sharing this recipe she adapted from Sisters' Cafe blog. Note***The original recipe calls for sweet potatoes, but Jolene used regular potatoes. The chowder was just as yummy.

Bon Appetit!

3 cups 2% milk
1 (8.5 oz) box Jiffy corn muffin mix
2 T. butter
1 onion, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 quarts chicken broth
2 small chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 " cubes
2 large sweet potatoes or yams, or regular potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
3 cups frozen corn (not thawed)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (or 2 Tb dried parsley)
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix milk and muffin mix in bowl until well combined. Meanwhile, heat butter in large pot over medium heat until foaming. Add onion and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add broth, chicken (raw) and sweet potatoes. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until chicken is cooked and sweet potatoes are just tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in milk and muffin mixture and simmer until soup thickens (can take up to 10 minutes although mine thickens immediately) Add cheese and corn and cook until cheese begins to melt, about 2 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper.