Homemade Chinese Food

Last night we decided to take a go at making our own Chinese food. We made egg drop soup, fried rice, and orange chicken. Everything turned out really good and was delicious! The only thing I would have changed was our orange chicken. We let the sauce get a little too thick, but the flavor was still excellent. Here are the recipes:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/asian-orange-chicken/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/asian-egg-drop-soup-recipe/index.html

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fried-rice-with-ham/

Mini Fruit Tarts

I found this recipe from pinterest via Banner Boutique. It was really easy and they turned out great!

FYI: I used low-fat cream cheese and light Cool Whip to make it a little lower in fat. I used a regular size muffin tin. DO NOT press the dough down into the tin. When the dough cooks it will form to the shape that you want. I tried pressing them down the first time and they were too thin and got ruined.


Here is the recipe:

1 small package Pillsbury sugar cookie dough

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

1 large container cool whip

4 cups of any kind of fruit

Cook sugar cookie dough either as 1 large pizza, small cups or small cookies at 350- cooking time will depend on what type of cookie you are making (generally 6-7 minutes for small cookies, longer for one large cookie), do not over cook.  Whip softened cream cheese, then add in cool whip until nice and smooth.  Place in Ziploc bag, cut off tip, pipe frosting onto cookies.  Decorate with fruit.

 

 

Chicken Gyro's and Caprese Salad!

Jayden and I have been trying to find healthier recipes lately, and I found a recipe for Greek Chicken with Feta Tzatziki via rachaelray.com . They are basically Chicken Gyros and are really healthy. I haven't made much Greek food, but wanted to try something different. They were delicious and tasted light and healthy. They are really easy and not very expensive to make. We will be definitely making them again soon. We also made Caprese salad to go on the side. 

• 4 pieces chicken breast
• Poultry seasoning
• Salt and pepper
• 3 lemons, 1 sliced, 2 halved for juicing
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, 2 chopped, 1 clove pasted or grated
  
• 1 red chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 sprigs oregano, finely chopped
• 2 sprigs rosemary, chopped
• 1/3 cup EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 seedless cucumber, peeled and grated or shredded
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup Greek feta crumbles
• A small handful of dill
• A small handful of parsley
• 
  
• Greek vegetable salad: (use a combo of all or some!) diced seeded tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, bell peppers, light green small Greek pickled hot peppers, parsley tops
• 
  
• Flat bread, pita or Naan bread 

Preparation

Season chicken with dried poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Add to a bag with sliced lemon, chopped garlic, chili pepper, oregano and rosemary. Marinate several hours or overnight. Bring to room temp then cook on a hot grill or grill pan over medium-high heat 12-15 minutes. Let rest then slice on angle, douse with juice of 1 lemon.

For sauce, salt shredded cucumber and drain in strainer for 20-30 minutes. Press out all the liquid you can and transfer to food processor with yogurt, feta, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, juice of remaining halved lemon and grated or pasted garlic, and process until smooth.

Grill bread.

Slather grilled bread with sauce, top with sliced chicken and some diced vegetable salad.

Gingersnaps

This weekend I was craving gingersnaps so I found a new recipe and baked a batch. Gingersnaps are a perfect fall/winter cookie, and have a lot less fat then other types of cookies. Here is a good recipe that I found.

from http://www.sugarandspiceandallthingsiced.com

Soft and Chewy Gingersnaps
Sugar & Spice & All Things Iced

2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (may use shortening or margarine)
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4-5 cups flour*
4 teaspoons baking soda
1-2 teaspoons ginger*
1-2 teaspoons cloves*
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
granulated sugar (to roll the cookies in prior to baking)

Cream together brown sugar and butter. Then add eggs and molasses; beat well. Combine dry ingredients and mix together. Chill dough. Then form into 1″ balls and roll in sugar. Bake at 350°F for 12-15 min. Do not over bake, the cookies will harden as they cool. Makes 5-8 dozen. (I used a 1 1/2 inch cookie scoop and made about 5 dozen cookies)

Best ever peanut butter cookie recipe

I think I am a pretty good baker, if I do say so myself. I have learned a lot over the years about baking, but I have always struggled with cookies for some reason. I have gotten a lot better recently at making good quality cookies and have learned a couple tricks that really help! Last week, Jayden had some friends over for a study group. I like to bake treats when we have visitors, so I decided to make peanut butter cookies. I found the perfect recipe. They were fluffy & soft, but crispy on the outside,  there was the perfect amount of peanut butter, and they did not go flat. I found the recipe here: http://www.two-tarts.com/2011/09/peanut-butter-cookies.html.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c brown sugar (packed)
• 1/2 c softened butter
• 1/2 c peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 c flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Cream together the sugars and butter until creamy (about a minute). Add in the egg and peanut butter and beat thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients on top of the blended wet ingredients, then stir together until fully incorporated.  Use a large tablespoon to scoop out walnut-sized balls of cookie dough, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. 

One thing I learned when making cookies is that you should roll the cookie dough into balls and put them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. If the dough is too warm, then they will flatten out too much, which I hate! Also, bake at a lower temperature. Instead of baking them at 375 for 8-10 minutes, I baked them at 325 for 15 minutes, and they turned out perfect. They were fluffy and chewy like a cookie should be. 

Lowfat Banana Oatmeal Bread

I found a recipe for low-fat banana oatmeal bread a while back. Jayden and I love banana bread and were skeptical, because this recipe came from weight watchers. It does not taste like low-fat at all and is so delicious! We have made it so many times in the last couple of months. It is great for a quick breakfast on the go, or a healthy snack. I suggest you try the recipe pronto!

Ingredients

	1 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
	1/2 cup(s) unpacked brown sugar
	1/2 tsp table salt
	1/2 tsp baking soda
	1/4 tsp baking powder
	3 tsp canola oil
	1 large egg(s), beaten
	2 large egg white(s), beaten
	3 large banana(s), ripe
	1 cup(s) uncooked old fashioned oats

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Add oil and eggs; mix thoroughly.
  
• In a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. Add bananas and oatmeal to batter.
  
• Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes.