15 min sweet and sour chicken

This is my go to recipe when I need dinner in 15 min or less. It's perfect for the end of the payday week. It seems that when the cupboards are empty there's always the ingredients available for this meal. 

 Mel's original recipe bakes hers for an hour to create this thick amazing sticky chicken. I cut that out and just pour the whole thing in the skillet and add a slurry to make it thick. We've discovered a new technique to make it even faster. Mix the corn starch and egg together to make a frying batter. Totally skips an extra step. Love it. 

Recipe is from melskitchencafe.com 

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup canola, vegetable or coconut oil
Sauce:
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 
  

1. Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Place the cornstarch in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Put the chicken into the bag with the cornstarch and seal, tossing to coat the chicken.
2. Whisk the eggs together in a shallow pie plate. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until very hot and rippling. Dip the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces in the egg and place them carefully in a single layer in the hot skillet.
3. Cook for 20-30 seconds on each side until the crust is golden but the chicken is not all the way cooked through (this is where it's really important to have a hot skillet. 
4. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and pour over the chicken. Simmer in the frying pan until the chicken in cooked through. If you like a thicker sauce add a cornstarch water slurry. 

Tex-mex casserole

This recipe is from melskitchencafe.com

My changes are: 

-Used only 1 tsp chili powder (it's not my favorite flavor and I felt like 2T was tons. It was perfect. 

-used flour tortillas and just left them whole. 

-halfed the entire recipe and only used 4 tortillas. Fit perfectly in an 8x8. 

-used the juice of an entire lime (we love lime)

-left out the oil and butter a non stick skillet worked great and after draining the ground beef there was a little bit of grease residue to be nonstick. 

Tex mex casserole 

• 14 corn tortillas cut into thirds
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef or turkey
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium red or green bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
• 1 large poblano chile, diced
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons chile powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
• 8 ounces Monterey jack cheese, shredded
• Chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9X13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.
2. Arrange the cut tortillas in a single layer on two large, rimmed baking sheets. Bake the tortillas until slightly crisp, about 15 minutes.
3. In a large 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef or turkey with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper breaking the meat up into bite-sized pieces. Cook until the meat is no longer pink, 5-7 minutes. Scrape the meat onto a plate and wipe the skillet clean (you may need to drain off excess grease from the meat depending on the fat content).
4. In the same skillet over medium heat, add the butter and olive oil and stir in the onion, bell pepper, poblano, corn and garlic. Cook until the veggies are softened, 3-4 minutes. Stir the flour, chile powder, cumin and coriander into the vegetable mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth, whisking constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until thick, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in the beans, lime juice and season with salt and pepper.
5. Line the bottom of the greased baking pan with 1/3 of the baked tortillas. Layer with 1/3 of the meat and then 1/3 of the veggie/sauce mixture and then sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheeses. Repeat that process again twice more ending with the cheeses.
6. Bake the casserole until hot and bubbly, about 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes or so before serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

S'more Bars

I got assigned to make these for our New Beginnings for Young Womens. (We had a camping/hunting theme) They turned out so much better than I thought. I kinda like s'mores depending on my mood, but I loved these. They mix all the flavors so much better than a regular s'more. 

Easy No-Bake Milk Chocolate S’More Bars

Prep:

10 mins

Cooking:

5 mins

Cooling:

120 mins

Yields:

16 bars

With only five ingredients, these no-bake s’more bars will quickly become a family favorite. Kids will love the ooey-gooey goodness of the marshmallows, graham crackers and melted milk chocolate morsels. Moms will love how quick and easy these are to make.

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 8 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 3/4 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Milk Chocolate Morsels, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 (about 2 cups) whole graham crackers, broken into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions

LINE 8- or 9-inch-square baking pan with foil leaving an overhang on two sides. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray.

HEAT 6 cups marshmallows, butter and salt in large, heavy-duty saucepan over medium- low heat, stirring frequently, for 5 to 10 minutes, until smooth. Remove from heat. Add 1 cup morsels; stir until melted.

WORKING QUICKLY, stir in graham cracker pieces, remaining 2 cups marshmallows and 3/4 cup morsels. Spread mixture into prepared baking pan with greased spatula, pressing down lightly. Cool for 2 hours or until set. Lift from pan; peel off foil. Cut into squares with serrated knife.

Wingers sauce copycat

I make this on a weekly basic. We inhale it with everything. This is only enough for the 2 of us. 1/2 c brown sugar 2-3 T Franks Hot Sauce: has to be franks 1 t apple cider vinegar 1 T corn syrup Bring to a boil and only boil for 1 min. If it cools it sort of sets up in a thick gel mess. Which is fine but we usually eat it fresh and soft. Doesn't make good leftovers. I've made it without corn syrup before and it's fine. Slightly runnier texture.

Oreo Hello Dolly Bars

I had a bunch of random little bits of sweet treats I wanted to use up and make something yummy. Here's what I came up with. 

1/2 c butter, melted

2 sleeves Oreos, crushed

1 c white chocolate chips 

1 c milk chocolate chips OR almond toffee symphony bar, chopped 

1/4 c toffee bits

7 oz coconut

1 can sweetened condensed milk 

Layer each item in an 11x7 or 9x13 pan. Do not mix!! 

Bake 350 for 25 min. Or until the milk turns a light brown Carmel color. Let cool

Before serving. 

The toffee bar and bits went really well

Together. You could always just add in any nut you like for a good crunch. The symphony was just something I wanted to get rid of. A cookies and cream symphony would be delicious in lieu of the chips as well. Get creative. It's yummy!!  

Honey Parmesan Pork Roast

This was Fantastic!! Try it right now! 

Last time my sauce got burnt. Next time I'll cook the pork for half and then add the sauce at the end half see if that helps. 

1 (2-3 pound) boneless pork roast
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp dried basil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place roast in slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, honey, soy sauce, basil, garlic,and oil; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160°.
Remove meat to a serving platter; keep warm. Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a small saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice roast; serve with gravy (I also made mashed potatoes and the gravy was delicious on them!).

Sweet Potato Tots

We had these with homemade wingers chicken. Recipe from Food Network. 

2 sweet potatoes

2 T flour

2 slices of bacon minced (optional) or

Not! Yummy!! Out of this world! 

S&P

Bring a pot of water to boil. Boil the sweet potatoes skins and all whole for 15 minutes. 

Remove, let cool, peel, and grate over some paper towels. Cover with more paper towels and lightly dab the potatoes. Remove all excess moisture. If they're too moist they won't form a tot. 

Stir in the bacon bits. 

Add s&p and flour. Lightly toss all together. 

Scoop into a ball and roll into a tot shape. 

Fry in a skillet with hot oil until crispy. Couple minutes each side.