Sweet and Sour Chicken with Pineapple and Red Onion

This made it onto the site because I'm making it again! This is so delicious and I'm making it for company tonight. Originally from Cooks Illustrated, through Mel's Kitchen, and onto my favorite recipe list.

Ingredients:

• ¾ pound boneless, skinless, chicken breast, cut into uniform pieces
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into thin strips
• 1 20-ounce can pineapple tidbits or 2 cups fresh pineapple cut into wedges (I used canned pineapple)
• 3 medium scallions, green parts cut into ¼-inch lengths and white parts minced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (I omitted this since I didn’t have on hand and it still tasted great)
• 1 recipe sweet and sour stir-fry sauce (see below)

Directions:

1. Toss the chicken with the soy sauce and vinegar in a medium bowl; set aside for 15 minutes, tossing once or twice.
2. Heat a 12- or 14-inch skillet over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes (the pan should be so hot you can hold an outstretched hand 1 inch over the pan for only 3 seconds.) Add 1 tablespoon oil and swirl it so the oil evenly coats the bottom of the pan. Heat the oil until it just starts to shimmer and smoke. Check the heat with your hand as before.
3. Drain the chicken and add it to the pan. Stir-fry until seared and about three-quarters cooked, 2 ½ to 3 minutes. Scrape the cooked chicken and all of the liquid into a bowl. Cover and keep warm.
4. Let the pan come back up to temperature, 1 to 2 minutes. When it is hot, drizzle in 2 teaspoons oil. When the oil just starts to smoke, add the onions and stir-fry until just tender-crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the pineapple and cook 1 minute. Add the scallion greens and cook 15 to 30 seconds.
5. Clear the center of the pan and add the white parts of the scallions, garlic, and ginger. Drizzle with ½ teaspoon oil. Mash into the pan with the back of a spatula. Cook until fragrant but not colored, about 10 seconds. Remove the pan from heat and stir the scallions, garlic, and ginger into the vegetables for 20 seconds.
6. Return the pan to the heat and add the cooked chicken. Stir in the sauce and stir-fry until the ingredients are well coated with sauce and sizzling hot, about 1 minute. Serve immediately with rice.

Sweet and Sour Stir Fry Sauce**You can make it saucier by one and halving it

• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoons tomato sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoon pineapple or orange juice (I reserved the pineapple juice from the can of tidbits before I drained it completely)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
  

  Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

  
  

  
  

  Recipe Source: adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Complete Book of Poultry

Waffles

We had waffles this morning and I needed a healthy(ish) recipe. I found a couple I wanted to try. The first recipe we made this morning. I'll update later on the second recipe when I make it.

Recipe #1: Simple Wheat Waffles

yield: 6 servings

time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups nonfat buttermilk, (or 1T lemon juice or vinegar to 1c milk)
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1 tablespoon canola oil (I use grapeseed - healthier)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, (optional)
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Preparation

1. Stir whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, the egg yolk, oil and vanilla (if using) in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon just until moistened.
2. Beat the 3 egg whites in a grease-free mixing bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy. Whisk one-quarter of the beaten egg whites into the batter. Fold in the remaining beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula.
3. Preheat a waffle iron. Brush the surface lightly with oil. Fill the waffle iron two-thirds full of batter. Cook until the waffles are crisp and golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter, brushing the surface with oil before cooking each batch.

(adapted from http://www.eatingwell.com/)


Recipe #2: Whole Grain Waffles

yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 3/4 cups skim milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil (I use grapeseed)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup flax seed meal
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Beat in whole wheat pastry flour, flax seed meal, wheat germ, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt until batter is smooth.
2. Preheat a waffle iron, and coat with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron in batches, and cook until crisp and golden brown.

Vegetable Lasagna

I'm not gonna lie. Two things happened that were miracles: 1) I made vegetarian lasagna that wasn't soggy, 2) a meat-loving high school teen devoured it. Enough said? Enough said.

And that's why even though it'll take you 3 hours, you'll want to make this. You should. For the betterment of all that is good and tasty. Of course, I didn't design this recipe. No, far from it. It's an America's Test Kitchen recipe, and if they come make me take this recipe off (because of my whopping eight followers - thank you, btw), then so be it. Until then, come. Partake. Enjoy.

I'm not kidding - just a plea. Please make this and make this according to everything they say to do. We loved it so much. It was so fresh and tasty. Jared said this is even better than any meat lasagna he's ever had - except for Carol Jenkins. She makes really, really, really good lasagna.

Serves 8 to 10

We prefer the lasagna made with our favorite wholemilk, block-style mozzarella from Sorrento, but Kraft part-skim preshredded mozzarella is also fine. Our preferred brands of crushed tomato are Tuttorosso and Muir Glen.

Ingredients

No-Cook Tomato Sauce

• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (I used Muir Glen in the organic section)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

No-Cook Cream Sauce

• 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (2 cups) (don't scrimp - buy a block of Parm and shred it your Cuisinart or your handy hand-shredder)
• 1 cup whole-milkcottage cheese
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Vegetable Filling

• 1 1/2 pounds eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 7 cups)
•   Kosher salt and ground black pepper
• 1 pound zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
• 1 pound yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
• 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoonextra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 12 ounces baby spinach(about 12 cups)

• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles
• 1/2 cup minced pittedkalamata olives
• 12 ounces low-moisture whole-milk mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 3 cups)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Instructions

• 1. FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE: Whisk all ingredients together in bowl; set aside.
• 2. FOR THE CREAM SAUCE: Whisk all ingredients together in bowl; set aside.
• 3. FOR THE FILLING: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Toss eggplant with 1 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Line surface of large plate with double layer of coffee filters and lightly spray with vegetable oil spray. Spread eggplant in even layer over filters. Wipe out and reserve now-empty bowl. Microwave eggplant, uncovered, until dry to touch and slightly shriveled, about 10 minutes, tossing once halfway through to ensure that eggplant cooks evenly. Let cool slightly. Return eggplant to bowl and toss with zucchini and squash.
• 4. Combine 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, and thyme in small bowl. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half eggplant mixture, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Push vegetables to sides of skillet; add half of garlic mixture to clearing and cook, mashing with spatula, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir to combine garlic mixture with vegetables and transfer to medium bowl. Repeat with remaining eggplant mixture, 2 tablespoons oil, and remaining garlic mixture.
• 5. Return skillet to medium-high heat, add remaining teaspoon oil, and heat until shimmering. Add spinach and cook, stirring frequently, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Transfer spinach to paper towel–lined plate and drain 2 minutes. Stir into eggplant mixture.
• 6. TO ASSEMBLE: Spray 13 by 9-inch baking dish with vegetable oil spray. Spread 1 cup tomato sauce in bottom of baking dish; shingle 4 noodles on top of sauce. Spread half of vegetable mixture over noodles, followed by half of olives, half of cream sauce, and 1 cup of mozzarella. Repeat layering with 4 noodles, 1 cup tomato sauce, remaining vegetables, remaining olives, remaining cream sauce, and 1 cup mozzarella. Place remaining 4 noodles on top layer of cheese. Spread remaining 1 cup tomato sauce over noodles and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Lightly spray large sheet of aluminum foil with vegetable oil spray and cover lasagna. Bake until -bubbling, about 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack 25 minutes. Cut into pieces, sprinkle with basil, and serve.

Sauteed Kale

What happend was I had kale in my fridge that needed to be cooked, I ran out of time for dinner, and sauteed kale was all we ate instead. And then the next day I woke up energized! Like, not groggy, not sore, not confused as to who I was and how I got to be this middle-aged, worn out, wrinkled, mommie. I sprang out of bed an hour early, came downstairs, and be the time the family woke up, I had an hour of work under my belt and breakfast ready. I was so - for once - on top of it. 

I guess that's the advantage of kale over sugar for a night-time snack.

And that's how I came to post this recipe a few weeks later. Because I can't believe that miracle morning and I think I should retry it and see if it happens again.

Here's a few tips that you probably already know. Kale is a pretty rough, cruciferous vegetable and when eaten raw, it can feel like it goes down like a wet log. But, if you either massage it with oil (that's right, I said to massage the kale - be good to your kale and it will be good to you), that works, or sauteeing it both softens it and brings out all the nutrients for your body to digest better.

Here is a simple and healthy way to prepare kale:

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale, washed and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 yellow onion, sliced
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/4 lemon
1/2 cup of vegetable broth or water
Sea salt and pepper, to taste (optional)

Directions:
Warm olive oil over medium heat in a large pot or pan. Add onions and cook for 3-5 minutes or until slightly translucent. Be sure to stir the onions around once in a while so that they don't burn.

Add garlic and kale and mix them together with onions. Allow garlic, kale and onions to cook for one minute, then add vegetable broth and cover pot or pan for 4-6 minutes. Check kale from time to time starting at the 4 minute mark for tenderness.

Once kale is tender, add sea salt and just a few drops of lemon juice. Give it one last stir and serve.
Be sure to taste as you add lemon juice. Adding too much can turn the whole dish sour.
We enjoy this dish with avocado and a bowl of brown rice or quinoa.

Got this recipe from a random site. It was good and filling and if I were really feeling sassy and healthy, I'd even pair it with the Miracle Broth on this site too. Crazy, right?