Sweet and Sour Chicken

From: Made It. Ate It. Loved It.

Ingredients:
Chicken Breading:
3-5 chicken breast
salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup canola oil

Rinse chicken, trim off fat or extras and then cut into 1 inch cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken into cornstarch and coat all the way. Dip into eggs. Heat oil in large skillet. Cook chicken until browned. Place in baking dish. Three chicken breasts can be in a 9x9 dish  but five chicken breasts fit better in a 9x13 pan.

Sauce:
3/4 cups sugar
4 Tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup white distilled vinegar

1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Whisk until smooth. Then pour evenly over chicken. Turn chicken so the sauce gets on both sides and then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn chicken and then cook for 15 more minutes. 

Verdict: Thumbs up!! Oh my goodness, sweet and sour chicken is one thing I can go crazy over at Chinese buffets. But now that I can make my own (and it tastes just as good!) I will eat more sushi and wontons at my next buffet!

Look - I have tried other varieties of sweet and sour chicken (Here and Here) but I will never make another kind again. I am obsessed with this recipe.

Also, the best part of this recipe! Only myself and Hunter really like the chicken with sauce. Stephen and Brianna would rather just have the chicken nuggets. So what I can do is go ahead and make the chicken nuggets - either using this recipe with the cornstarch, or using my faithful recipe I've used for years. Then I just set out 12-15 nuggets, spread this sauce over them and cook them for 10-15 minutes (even after I've already fried them in the skillet) just to let the sauce caramelize. Then two people can have regular chicken nuggets, and two can have the sweet and sour, and it doesn't take any extra time.

And the sauce is delicious over rice, too!

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

From: Here

Ingredients:
Cake Ingredients:
2 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
4 Tbsp pineapple juice
2/3 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Topping:
1/4 cup stick butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 can pineapple rings
6 maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray your muffin tins with nonstick spray.

In a mixing bowl, add eggs, white sugar, and pineapple juice. Beat for two minutes. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and turn mixer back on for two minutes.

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and add the brown sugar. Stir on low heat for one minute.

Spoon a layer of the brown sugar mixture into the bottom of each muffin tin, then place a pineapple ring on top. (I sliced my pineapple slices into little chunks.) Add a cherry in the middle of each pineapple. Pour cake mixture over and fill the muffin tin to about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven. Let cool in pan for 3 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each cake to help loosen in case it sticks a little. (I didn't need to do this at all.) Place a wire cooling rack on top, and quickly flip over. You may want to place something underneath the wire rack to catch any drippings... although I will tell you I do NOT recommend using wax paper. It made my wire rack slip and I had to eat all four of the mini cakes that fell on the floor. I was devastated.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! Ohhhh my goodness. Bite-size pineapple upside down cake? Life is good. That's all I have to say about this. HIGHLY recommend you make these!

Cherry Swirl Coffee Cake

From: Betty Crocker

Ingredients:
4 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
3 eggs
1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 Tbsp milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of 1 (15x10x1-inch) pan or 2 (9-inch) square pans with shortening or cooking spray. In large bowl, stir all coffee cake ingredients except pie filling; beat vigorously with spoon 30 seconds.

Spread two-thirds of the batter (about 2 1/2 cups) in 15x10-inch pan or one-third of the batter (about 1 1/4 cups) in each square pan. Spread pie filling over batter (filling may not cover batter completely). Drop remaining batter by tablespoonfuls onto pie filling.  

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown. Meanwhile, in small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over warm coffee cake. Serve warm or cool. 

Verdict:
Thumbs up. This was yummy and really easy to make, but isn't going to be a regular dessert around here. I have similar recipes I prefer over this one. It was good though, and I wouldn't tell you not to at least try it.