Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken

    Oh it's been a busy month. With helping my mom out and school starting again I haven't had time for much of anything. I'm even having a hard time fitting the gym in these days. I am, however, hopeful that things will start being less hectic and I can get to some real cooking and baking not to mention sewing and quilting.

     I love the fall months for making those home cooked meals. There is something about a nice hot meal when you get home from work or a good hearty Sunday supper. I also don't mind a sweet treat every now and then either.

     Well I happen to make some time yesterday to make one of my favorites,sweet and sour chicken. It is fairly quick to make and doesn't require a lot of ingredients. I could just gorge myself on this stuff. I did have self control this time and saved some to take for lunch the next day.

     This recipe makes enough for a family of four with perhaps a little left over for those that would take some for their lunch the next day. I always serve it with rice, which I make in my rice cooker. Usually I cut the green pepper into smaller pieces, but I was in a super rush so they got a little chunky. Oh well, it still tasted great!

     Hope you enjoy this one and hope to be posting a little more regularly.

Sweet and Sour Chicken
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 T oil
1 can (20oz) pineapple chunks
1/3 C water
3 T vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1/2 C brown sugar
3 T corn starch
1 large green pepper, cut into small chunks
Hot cooked rice

Cut chicken into bite size pieces and cook in oil. Set chicken aside. Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Set pineapple aside. Add water to juice to measure 1 cup; pour into a large skillet. Add 1/3 c water, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and cornstarch; stir until smooth. Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add pineapple, chicken and green pepper. Simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes or until heated through. Serve over rice.

Peach Pie

 

Peach Pie

   It's peach season! If you haven't been to your local farmers market or the nearby grocer you better get there soon. Peaches are in full swing right now and they don't last long.

     I went to Bob's Produce Ranch to get my peaches. Bob's Produce ranch is a little grocer in my town that sells some of the best produce around. They also have a fabulous meat market too. But this time my mission was to get some peaches.

     Colorado peaches sell for about $40.00 a crate. That is so expensive and if you're going to buy a crate you better make something with them because you'll never be able to eat them all before they start to go bad.

     I did not, however, buy a crate this year. Instead I bought about 6 peaches that was going for $3.49 a pound and then I bought a crate of bruised peaches for $5.49. These bumped and bruised peaches were great for making peach pie. In fact I ended up making 2 peach pies in less than one week.

     I've never made a peach pie before, but I thought it couldn't be too hard. My guess was completely right. It was super easy to make the crust and peeling and cutting up the peaches was very easy too.

     The recipe that I used was from my handy dandy Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. It is my trusted cookbook when I'm not sure how to go about making something. It also has some very good pictures for you to look at so you have an idea of what to do and how it should look.

     So why not make yourself a peach pie while it's peach season. It's easy and it tastes amazing!!!

Pastry Crust for Two-Crust Pies
For an 8"pie
1/2 C sifted flour
3/4 t salt
1/2 C shortening
3 T water

Mix together the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender until it looks like course particles the size of peas. Sprinkle with water a tablespoon at a time mixing lightly with a fork until the flour mixture is moistened. gather dough together with the fingers so it cleans the bowl. Press into a ball. Roll out or keep in waxed paper in refrigerator until needed. (I put in refrigerator and roll out once the peach mixture is ready. I cut the dough in half and roll the dough ball in between wax paper.)

Peach Filling
For an 8" pie
3 C peaches peeled and sliced
2/3 C sugar
1/3 t cinnamon
1 T flour
1 T butter

Mix the peaches, sugar, cinnamon, and flour together. Pour into pie shell. Dot with butter. Put top crust on and cut slits on top. Bake at 425 for 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Cool pie on wire rack. Serve slightly warm. This pie should be refrigerated once cooled.

Carmel Nut Brownie Bars

Carmel Nut Brownie Bars

     If you know anything about me you know that I love brownies. Quoting the famous Dr. Seuss,
"I will eat them in a boat. I will eat them with a goat. I will eat them here or there. I will eat them anywhere."  I'm always up for the challenge of trying a new brownie recipe.

     Today I'm reviving an old tried, but true brownie recipe. This recipe is a very old recipe that I acquired from a dear friend many years ago. We lost contact with each other over the years, but I still love making these bars.

     The nice thing about these bars is that you start with a box cake mix. About the most difficult part of the recipe is not eating the carmels as you unwrap them. I used the microwave to melt the carmels. I just stirred the mixture about every 30 seconds until it was melted.

     Hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Carmel Nut Brownie Bars
1package German Chocolate cake mix
1 can evaporated milk (small can)
6 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

nuts ( I used pecans)
1 1/2 stick butter,  melted
1 package of carmels
1/3 C milk

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9X13 pan. Combine cake mix, evaporated milk and butter. Put 1/2 of the batter in the pan and bake 6 minutes. In the meantime, combine milk and caramels in a microwavable bowl and melt in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Remove pan from oven and put chocolate chips and melted carmel mixture on top. Put the rest of the batter on top and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let them cool before cutting. Store in an airtight container.