Monday, January 28, 2013

Crispy Honey Chicken

Adjusting to this new semester is taking some time, hopefully soon I will get into more of a routine so I can post more regularly. My little sister, Alex, came into town last week to surprise me for my birthday, which was awesome. Best. Present. Ever. She is the real chef in the family, so we took a night and made dinner for the boys. This Crispy Honey Chicken was (mostly) my dish, and she made fried rice to go with it.

I was trying to find a vegetarian recipe (that I would want to eat) for a family friend, and thought fried rice would be good.... but then I realized it has eggs in it so it might not actually be vegetarian... oops... so back to the drawing board on that one.

I have gotten some positive feedback about the recipe index I finally figured out how to put up (thanks Coach K's Sister :] ). Hopefully it helps you navigate around the site a little bit easier.


Crispy Honey Chicken

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound thinly sliced, boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 4 breasts to feed 4 people with rice on the side)
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch (or flour – for dredging, I ended up using a bit more than this, but it was a good amount to start)
  • 1 cup broccoli florets
  • 1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
  • a handful of sugar snap peas (about 3/4 cup)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Prepare and slice all of the vegetables. I used what I had, and what I like, so bell peppers and onions, but I left the broccoli and snap peas in from the original recipe in case you are more adventurous than me.

Prepare the chicken by cutting it into 1-inch pieces (I used scissors) and season with salt and pepper.

In separate bowls, add the egg whites (lightly beaten) and the cornstarch or flour. (The cornstarch will yield a “crispier” chicken).

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add veggies with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add in soy sauce and garlic and stir so veggies are coated, about 60 seconds. Remove from skillet and set aside in a bowl.

Now here is the trickier part:
Heat the same skillet (or you can use a different one, but lets think about doing the dishes later people--Cough Alex Cough) over medium-high heat and add remaining olive oil. Dip chicken pieces in egg whites and then lightly dredge in cornstarch. Add to the skillet and let brown for 2-3 minutes, then flip. Continue with remaining chicken pieces, and do so in batches if needed.

Once chicken is cooked, add veggies back in the skillet. Add honey and thoroughly mix to combine. Taste and season with salt, pepper, additional honey or soy sauce.

It was really good with fried rice, but plain rice would be just as awesome. Mine didn't turn out all that crunchy necessarily, but the honey gave it just enough sweetness... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

And the boys loved it, so that is a plus :)


In other news:
I am super excited for the Superbowl next weekend (go Niners!) and we are having our second annual "dish-off" party, so stay tuned because whoever brings the best dish will be featured with their recipe on the blog!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Recipes

Breakfast
Pasta
Sweet Treats
Kitchen Tricks

Homemade Applesauce

I am finally back at school which means I am in my own kitchen and in my own routine.  As much as I love being home with the family, it is nice being back in my apartment.  After a regrettably long absence, I am finally getting back into the blogging world with this really cool and surprisingly easy recipe my friend Stryker taught me last night.  It is honestly the most incredible applesauce I've ever tasted, and it made the whole house smell awesome (it almost covered up the burnt toast smell I got from accidentally forgetting I was broiling a sandwich earlier that night).  Trust me, this recipe is definitely worth a try.

Meet Stryker!

Ostafew Family Homemade Applesauce Recipe

Ingredients:


  • A bag of apples (I googled "best apples for applesauce" while I was in the grocery store and found this site with a chart of best types of apples for different things.  Stryker said his mom usually used Cortland apples because that is what is available around where he grew up, but the Fuji apples we used smelled really good and really sweet, and a big bag was like $6.. I wish I had gotten more than one!)
  • Cinnamon
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Sugar
  • Water
Directions:

Peel and chop the apples. It is ok if they aren't super fresh, ours had a few dark brown marks, but we just cut those parts out.

Rinse the apple chunks off and place them in a big pot. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the pot, maybe 1/4 inch deep. 

Stryker kind of eye-balled the ingredients, so I don't have exact measurements, but according to him, "worst case scenario, if you over-season it, it just ends up tasting like apple pie..... which really isn't that bad of a scenario"

Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, 1 to 2 tablespoons cinnamon, and 2 to 3 tablespoons vanilla extract 

You can always add more seasoning as the apples begin to boil down.

Place the pot on medium to medium-low heat and cover with a lid. Let simmer for an hour or two, stirring occasionally. When the apples start getting soft you can take the lid off and let everything keep cooking. Keep stirring and checking on it every once in a while.  It will seem like there is a lot of water in the pot, but everything will cook down and turn into applesauce (I was pretty impressed by the process)

Stryker left halfway through the process, but I was able to finish on my own. I just let the apples keep cooking down until the sauce was the consistency I wanted it.  The whole process took about three hours. I personally enjoy it a little chunkier, but he recommended smooshing up the apples, or even putting everything into the blender if you want it a little more smooth.

It was pretty irresistible when it was done.  The only thing that kept me from eating the whole batch at once was Stryker's assurance that even though it was so good warm, it was even better once it cooled down....... well..... that and I got a stomach ache after my second helping.

He stores his in mason jars and stores it in the fridge.  I had to make due with tupperware, but overall I was pretty impressed with the process (cough ** myself ** cough)