Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

Winner, winner chicken dinner!  

I just made the best chicken dinner EVER!  It is now going to be a staple and I will forever make chicken this way.  It really is amazing.  It tastes better than takeout!  

Enough talking...here is the recipe.

      

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

3-4 Chicken Breasts, cubed

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 Cup Cornstarch

2 Eggs, beaten

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Sweet & Sour Sauce

3/4 Cup sugar 

4 Tbsp Ketchup

1/2 Cup Vinegar

1 Tbsp Soy sauce (low sodium)

1 tsp Garlic Salt or Powder

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Place your chicken in a bowl, use a spoon and cover with cornstarch and mix until all chicken is covered.  Then dredge with eggs until the chicken is covered.  In a saucepan heat the oil and brown your chicken. Place the chicken in a baking dish.  Mix together the sweet and sour sauce and pour over the chicken in the baking dish. Place in the oven and cook for one hour and every 15 minutes stir the sauce.  

Enjoy eating the best chicken ever!

Cake Bites

So...a week ago I my very first The Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcake.  I know...I know...how can I have just barely had something from this amazing bakery.  I had the Strawberry Shortcake cupcake, wow...that is all I can say.  I have now had their cake bites too.  Wow again.  I know I am really late to the game about the cake bites/cake balls thing...but I really want to make some, they seem very simple.  

So I went onto Pinterest to see if anyone had any copycat things with The Sweet Tooth Fairy.  I found some and I believe that I may have an original recipe for their cupcakes. Don't worry, I will do another post.  I wanted to try and make cake bites.

First - make your cake according to the box directions or if you have an original cake recipe you can use that too.  I went the easy way and used a Devil's Food box cake.  I baked it last night, let it cool and then covered it overnight.  

I then dumped the cake into a bowl and used my fingers and a spoon to crumble it into pieces.

I found this amazing Almond Joy frosting at Walmart.  I thought about making my own chocolate frosting but after finding this I knew it would make amazing cake bites.  Find it.  Buy it.  And the best thing is that you only use about 2/3 of the jar so you can eat the rest of it, I mean...save the rest of it. :)

Mix the frosting with your cake crumbles.

You can just make balls using your hands, but I decided to try and use my mini muffin pan.  Stick them in the freezer or fridge.  The process of dipping is much easier if they are frozen or cold.

Dip them in chocolate.  I used Almond Bark and sprinkled coconut on top.  

And I must say they are very good.  Almond Joy Cake Bites.  Enjoy! :)

Texas Roadhouse Rolls

*Amended on February 23, 2014 - after making these multiple times I have some changes to make to the recipe and believe me, totally worth it and they are ten times better.  
(All changes to the recipe will be italicized)
Texas Roadhouse...if anyone mentions this restaurant, I guarantee that they will mention their rolls.  And they should, they are epic.  I don't know what they do but they are amazing and no other rolls are as good as theirs.  And the cinnamon honey butter is the other thing that makes them amazing.  I have tried many copycat recipes for their rolls.  They are good, but not even close to the real thing.  I didn't think it was possible to find a recipe that is the actual, real thing.  I have found it.  Of course, it was a Pinterest find, but I worked my magic, and tried them and they are good.  So...I guess I will just say, your welcome and enjoy some very amazing, yummy rolls! :)

Texas Roadhouse Rolls

4 tsp Active Dry Yeast

1 tsp Sugar

½ Cup Warm Water

2 Cup Milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

3 Tbsp Melted Butter, slightly cooled

½ Cup Sugar

2 quarts All Purpose Flour (7-8 Cups)

2 Eggs

2 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Honey

Dissolve yeast in warm water with a tsp of sugar; let the yeast do its magic and let it sit until frothy.  Scald your milk while waiting.  Combine yeast mixture, milk, sugar and enough flour to make a medium batter (it has the consistency of pancake batter). Beat thoroughly.  Add melted butter, eggs and salt and honey.  Beat again.  Add enough flour to form a soft dough.  Sprinkle a small amount of flour onto counter and let the dough rest.  Meanwhile, grease a large bowl.  Knead the dough until smooth and satiny and put in the greased bowl.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk.  Punch down.  Turn onto floured board.  and let rest 10 minutes.  Roll the dough out to about 1/2" thick.  Then fold over and seal the dough so it is 1" thick.  Cut into rectangles or squares.   Place on a greased baking sheet.  Let rise until doubled.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Immediately smother the rolls with Cinnamon Honey Butter.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

2 sticks Buttter, softened

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Honey

2 tsp Cinnamon                         

Whip the butter (make sure it’s soft and room temp).  Add the powdered sugar, then the honey, then the cinnamon. Whip it good. Scrape the sides. Whip it again.  

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of the many dangers for me is Nutella.  I try and avoid buying it at all costs...mostly because I will eat the whole jar.  It is very hard for me not to.  But then I walk into Smith's and see the Kroger brand of Nutella and it is much les $$$ that I cannot resist.  And then Picky Palate posts about these cookies...

...and I HAVE TO make them.  Simple.  Chocolate Chip Cookies and Nutella...and they are soooo good!  They are soft and the perfect...ooey...gooey...and one is enough unless you are a crazy Nutella person...then two or three will do.

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks softened butter

3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar

1 Cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla

3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

10 oz bag chocolate chips

1 jar Nutella 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.  In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.  Flatten the top of the dough and make a little depression and spoon in some Nutella. However much you want...a lot of a little. :) 
Take another scoop of dough and place on top. Seal edges together by pressing until Nutella is enclosed with dough. Bake cookies for 9-13 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Enjoy!!!

TOP SECRET: Super soft hair

I hate drying my hair after a shower. HATE. Here I am freshly clean and smelling great then I have to stick my head under the torture of an appliance that's sole purpose is to blow hot air. Sure, it dries my hair but it also makes my head sweat and didn't I just get out of the friggin' shower???
Enter: my bedroom fan. One day I'm frying my hair with the blow dryer and hating my sweaty head so I decide to stand in front of my big bedroom stand fan as I'm blow-drying. (setting:high)
*ZING*
Sweat-head gone. Hair is drying. And as a bonus to resolving my conundrum...ta-da...the final result was luxuriously soft hair. "Like, seriously" soft hair.
I figured it was a fluke. Maybe I had left conditioner on for a longer or something.
Next day I hot/cold my hair again with the bedroom fan and hair dryer.
Butter-soft hair again.
Me. Likey.
So there you have it; Amy's secret to uber-soft hair - obnoxious hair dryer and bedroom fan set on high.
You're welcome :)

Make Caramel using ?

I found this recipe for some no bake Twix Bars and the most awesome thing (I think) is how you make the caramel.  Graham Crackers...yep...you heard me right you use sugar, butter and graham crackers.  It is amazing and tastes good too.  And because we are low sodium in my house, I used Unsalted Tops Saltine Crackers instead of Club crackers, and Unsalted Butter instead of margarine.  They are so easy, and surprise they do taste like a Twix candy bar.  If you decide to try the low sodium I don't think you would even notice. :)

Twix Bars

2 pkgs Unsalted Top Saltines {or cracker of choice}

Caramel Filling

1 cup Graham Crackers, crushed

3/4 cup Brown Sugar,packed

1/3 cup White Sugar

1/3 cup Milk

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

Icing

2/3 cup Peanut Butter

1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Bars

Begin my putting a layer of Unsalted Tops Saltine Crackers in a pan.

In a saucepan on the stove, combine the caramel filling ingredients.

Bring to a boil, continue to stir and boil for approximately 5 minutes.  

The mixture will be caramel like and pull away from the sides of the pan.

Pour over the crackers, being very careful, the mixture is extremely hot.

Immediately top with another layer of crackers, pressing down slightly

Place in fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

Combine peanut butter and chocolate chips in small bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes, stir well and frost crackers.

DIY Shaving Cream

Hives...they were everywhere.  They were itchy and soooo annoying!

I could not figure out what I was allergic to.  I tried my body wash, laundry soap and then a thought...I should check my shaving cream.  Tada...I am allergic to shaving cream....really!

How annoying is that!

So I perused Pinterest in search of a DIY shaving cream.  Found it...and it is awesome!

You should have everything in your house or just go buy some cheap shampoo, conditioner and lotion/hand cream that all has similar scent.

Shampoo, conditioner, lotion/hand cream and baby oil.   Mix them all together and put in a container.  

I put it in my empty conditioner container that has a pump on top.  One of the things I have found with this shaving cream is how smooth my legs are after shaving with it.  I also don't have to shave as often, which is another added plus.  Hopefully, you won't have to make your own shaving cream because you are allergic to it, but it really is cheaper and I think it is better than the store shaving cream.  Enjoy!

DIY Shaving Cream

1 Cup Shampoo

1 Cup Conditioner

5 Tbsp Lotion/Hand Cream

5 Tbsp Baby Oil

Mix together and store in container.

Baked Tacos

I have discovered a new favorite for dinner.  Of course, I found this on Pinterest.

I tried it out on my family and they LOVED it!  It is so easy and so good.

Try it out for your family and they will enjoy it too.

The original recipe is from One Good Thing By Jillee.  I love her website, she has lots of fun things.

You can make your own hard shell tacos.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Spray the corn tortillas with cooking oil spray on both sides and drape over two bars in your oven.  Bake for 5-7 minutes.  

In a pan, brown the hamburger and add one can of refried beans, tomato sauce or taco sauce and taco seasoning.  Fill your taco shells with the meat mixture and top with lots of shredded cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees for 5-10  minutes.

Cover with additional toppings of choice and enjoy a marvelous meal. :)

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

This last weekend Amy and I had Lotsa Motsa's Chicken Bacon Ranch pizza. If you have never experienced Lotsa Motsa before, then you need to go. Now. :)

Yummy! I was trying to describe it to my husband and thought I should just make it for him. It is pretty close and really easy to make.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza
Pizza Dough:
1 pkg Active Dry Yeast (2 tsp)
2 tsp Sugar
1 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Shortening
3-4 Cups Flour
2 tsp Salt
Olive Oil

In a bowl whisk the yeast, sugar, water and shortening to make a paste. Add the flour and salt. Using a dough hook, mix until the dough crawls up the hook. Remove from that bowl and place in a bowl greased with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size. Turn onto a floured surface and divide in half. Roll into balls and let rest for 15-20 minutes.

Ranch Dressing
Mozzarella Cheese
Chicken, grilled and chopped
Bacon pieces

Roll out the dough onto a pizza pan or stone. Spread lots of ranch dressing over the dough. Cover with lots of cheese. Add the chicken and bacon pieces. Then cover again with lots of cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Honey Jalepeno Shrimp Stir Fry w/Tofu Noodles

Hola!  Erin here!  So I am on this amazing diet and wanted to share a dish I made tonight that was excellent!  Fairly low carb and satisfied the pasta craving I was having without ruining my diet.

1/2 lb. honey jalepeno shrimp (I bought it from Harmon's)
broccoli
cauliflower
mushrooms
red peppers
orange peppers
onion
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 package tofu fettucine noodles

Drain and rinse the tofu noodles and set out to dry for a bit.Heat tablespoon of olive oil in fryer and add vegetables.  Stir vegetables til they are to your content.  Add shrimp and stir.  Add noodles and stir, let noodles get hot and you're done!!

It was so easy to make and very tasty.  You can add seasoning as you would like but I'm limiting all that so I just ate it as is.  The tofu noodles are actually really good because they just absorb the flavor of what you cook with them.  I know it's not all that fun to eat good, but thought I would share!