Sweet & Sour Chicken

Ordinarily, when Sweet & Sour Chicken is on the menu, it's a la jar, or a la can.  A long time ago I found a recipe for Sweet & Sour Chicken made from scratch, and got the can of pineapple ready to make it, since it's one of my favourites!  I went through a phase of wanting to try and make from scratch that which we normally make from a ready made sauce.

However, the can of pineapple sat in the pantry unused until now.  Due to lack of time and motivation to make it.  Jars and cans are just way faster and easier right??  Laziness.

Well actually, in spite of all the steps, this recipe is really easy!!  And do you want to know a bonus??  ALL the other ingredients are ones that are usually in the pantry!  Super convenient.  Apart from the pineapple... obviously not something we ordinarily have. ;)

INGREDIENTS
450g boneless skinless chicken breast
1 egg white
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cornflour

1 400g can crushed pineapple (save the juice!)
1/4 cup juice from crushed pineapple
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup tomato sauce (aka ketchup)
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp and 1 tsp cooking oil

2 small-medium onions (cut into chunks)
1 carrot (cut into small sticks)
1 tsp crushed ginger (or 1 tsp fresh grated)

METHOD

• Combine chicken with egg white, 1/4 tsp salt, and cornflour
• Stir to coat chicken evenly
• Let sit for 15 mins at room temp, or up to overnight in fridge
• Whisk together pineapple juice, vinegar, tomato sauce, 1/4 tsp salt, and brown sugar
• Heat large frying pan over high heat
• Pour 1 tbsp oil into pan and swirl to coat
• Make sure the pan is very hot, and then put the chicken in in one layer to fry untouched for 1 min
• Flip and fry other side the same for 1 min.  Chicken should still be pink-ish in the middle
• Put chicken to the side on a clean plate
• Turn heat to medium
• Add remaining oil, and add the ginger, onion and carrots
• Cook 5 mins or until soft
• Add pineapple chunks and the sauce mixture
• Turn the heat to high until the sauce simmers
• Add the chicken back in when it does
• Cook until the chicken is cooked through.
• Taste the sauce and add some more brown sugar if you like
• Don't forget to season with salt, and if you feel like something is missing, toss in some sweet chilli sauce!

Well.  I thought it smelled a bit weird.  But OH MY GOODNESS does it taste amazing!!!!!!!!!!! The excessive use of exclamation marks is definitely justified.  Seriously the BEST Sweet & Sour Chicken sauce I've ever had.  Even better than bought ones!!!  I'm not even kidding.  We will never buy ready made jar/can sauces for it again.  And SO easy!!

A few adjustments I made were adding some Sweet Chilli Sauce, and about 1/4 cup water to just water down the sauce a little bit.  Also, the original recipe called for 2 capsicums as the vegetables (not onions and carrot) but we didn't have any of them so I improvised and it was still amazing.  I think in future, if we have capsicum, I will definitely use only one small onion, carrot, and capsicum.  A good balance of veges!!  Oh, and I also chucked in some peas towards the end.  Gotta have some green hehe :)

Another thing is that the step with the egg and cornflour on the chicken... seems like a bit of a waste of time and a bit messy.  Not sure what it's supposed to achieve so will skip it next time, but still pre-cook the chicken.   :)

Recipe Inspiration: www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sweet_and_sour_chicken/

Macaroni Cheese

Tonight was a lazy night.  I wanted macaroni cheese for some reason (perhaps because I almost had it for lunch the other day but ended up having sushi...thus my craving was left unsatisfied haha).  

I had never made it before, and I googled a recipe.  Generally when I do this, I open 3 or 4 of the top recipes that come up, pick one, then see what different ingredients the others include, and then put that in the recipe I've chosen as well.  If that makes sense.  So, for example, in this one, the original recipe did not call for salt or paprika, but I added both, since they were in fact common in the other mac and cheese recipes I opened.

I also didn't follow the instructions exactly (to my own detriment... I will explain in my evaluation!), trying to do a Rachael Ray and add "starchy cooking water" from the pasta to the sauce to make the sauce and pasta "marry" as Rachael says.  I shall tell you what happened after the recipe.  :)

INGREDIENTS

500g macaroni

50g butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

2 cups (250g) grated cheese

parsley

1/2 tsp salt

paprika

METHOD

• Put macaroni on to cook as per packet instructions
• Melt butter in a medium saucepan
• Cook, stirring, for 1 minute over medium-low heat
• Stir in flour, cooking until it has thickened a bit
• Gradually add milk, stirring until smooth
• Stir until mix comes to a boil
• Reduce heat
• Add salt, and a pinch of paprika and parsley (to taste!)
• Stir well
• Simmer for 2 min
• Add cheese slowly, stirring continuously over a low heat
• Turn off heat, and either mix drained pasta thru sauce, or sauce all over drained pasta (whichever dish is big enough!)

So yes, my minor indiscretion was the addition of "starchy cooking water".  Note to self, this makes the sauce go all granulated, gritty and curdled (as Mum said).  I will NOT be doing that in future haha!

Other than the funny texture, it was actually really delicious.  I can imagine it would be better with bacon (or ham) chopped up in it, and some fresh peas... but hey, I like my meals colourful, and I've never understood the whole mac and cheese thing - it seems too plain to me haha!  But I did like this, and will make it again!  So easy and quick! 

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/13955/classic+macaroni+cheese

Tuna Pasta Bake

Well hello lovely blog readers!  I'm ever so sorry it has been a while since I posted a new recipe!  What can I say, I've been incredibly busy with uni and work and trying to have a life :)  I've still been cooking and such, but not really any new recipes until tonight! 

I've had this little baby tucked away in the back of my recipe book, in the 'to try' pile, and finally tonight, I did!  It was very easy, and I felt like it was *almost* made from scratch so probably better for you?  But I think the cheese might ruin that theory haha!

INGREDIENTS

230g dry pasta shells (I used a mixture of different ones)

1 small red capsicum (not in season & too expensive right now, so I didn't put this in)

1 can (305g) condensed cream of mushroom soup

2 tsp dried parsley flakes (or fresh if you have it!)

1 cup milk

pinch of chilli powder (optional)

1 can (170g) tuna in springwater, drained and flaked

1 cup frozen corn, thawed and drained

1 cup grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1 onion, finely chopped

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 220 deg C (and butter an ovenproof casserole dish - I forgot to do this...  it didn't stick though, so it's ok)
• Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil over high heat
• Add pasta, stir and cook until it's about 2 minutes before being done
• Drain pasta and set aside
• In the same pan, whisk mushroom soup and milk together
• Bring to a simmer over a low heat
• Stir in tuna, corn, onion, capsicum, parsley, chilli powder, and half of the cheese
• Add the cooked pasta and stir
• Season with salt and pepper
• Spread the mixture in the casserole dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese
• Bake for about 30 mins, or until the top is golden brown

I have an admission to make.  I *may* have burnt the top.  Kind of.  Well cooked.  It was very brown.  BUT still delicious!!  I don't normally like mushrooms, either as a vege or a flavour, but it worked, and it wasn't over powering.  The cheese and milk helped water down the flavour, and of course, pasta was nom nom nom as always.

Definitely will make it again!!!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.ivillage.com/tuna-and-pasta-bake/3-r-63970#ixzz1oCUrJvwy

Feijoa Loaf

Feijoa is a fruit that is abundant particularly in Autumn, and is most common in New Zealand.  It's quite unusual, an acquired taste... acquired in so far as it helps having grown up with them.  Many people have feijoa trees in their gardens and our friend (she's British) doesn't like them, and so she gave us a bagful from the tree in her garden.  

This recipe inspiration came from a website which exclaimed it was the "easiest feijoa loaf ever".  I disagree.  Easy usually means quick, but the whole steps of boiling the feijoa and sugar and butter, then waiting for the mixture to cool down... what a pain in the butt!!! 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup feijoas (the fleshy bit, not the skin)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
50 g butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, beaten

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180 C
• Put feijoas, sugar, butter & water in a saucepan
• Bring to the boil, cook gently for 5 minutes
• Remove from heat and allow to cool
• Carefully stir in the dry ingredients & egg. Don’t overmix!
• Pour into loaf tin, and sprinkle over a mixture of raw sugar and cinnamon (about 2tbsp and 1/2 tsp) - this is optional
• Bake in a loaf tin for 50 minutes

This loaf was a slight fail in my opinion.  It came out quite dry, I think I may have overcooked it, cos I forgot the oven was on fan-bake, rather than normal bake.  The sugar and cinnamon on top gave it a nice crunch though, and I think this was my favourite part of it.  

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.mividacontigo.com/food/the-easiest-feijoa-loaf-ever

Banana Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

Time for another new recipe I tried!  This time, it came about not through browsing Pinterest, like most of my other recipes, but instead, me wanting a twist on plain old banana muffins/loaf/cake.  I didn't want to make a cake, and every time I use cake batter in muffin tins, it comes out too dry.  So I decided to google a recipe for banana muffins, but not plain old boring ones either.  I wanted something different.

So I found a recipe for cranberry banana muffins.  And it sounded yum.  Only issue was, I had no idea what "flaked bran cereal" was, yet I had seen recipes for oatmeal banana muffins.  I figured oatmeal and banana went together ok having read that, so I substituted oatmeal (aka dry porridge/rolled oats) for that.  

INGREDIENTS

1 & 1/4 cups flour (you can also use wholemeal)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar (or 1/3 cup if you prefer it not so sweet)
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 & 1/4 cups oatmeal (aka rolled oats/dry uncooked porridge)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180ºC
• If not using a silicone muffin tray, then lightly grease a muffin tin, or line with cupcake liners
• In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt
• In another bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, oil, milk and bananas
• Stir in oatmeal
• Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just blended
• Stir in cranberries
• Divide evenly among prepared muffin cups
• Sprinkle with a little raw sugar on top - gives a nice crunch, but this is optional
• Bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean
• Leave muffins in tin to cool, then remove to a rack to cool completely (or serve warm)

This recipe with these measurements made (for me) 12 ordinary size muffins and 12 mini muffins.  However, since I was hesitant to overfill the muffins, they were quite small and dense, and didn't rise much.  Next time I will fill up the muffin cups a bit higher.  :)  

As for the flavour, it was amazeballs!  The cranberries soaked up the liquid, they became sweet and juicy, the banana was good, and the raw sugar I had sprinkled on top gave a delicious crunch to it.  The oatmeal and banana made the muffin nice and dense, which will be great for lunches/morning tea.  Definitely a keeper!!!

Recipe Inspiration:  http://www.sevenspoons.net/blog/2006/1/13/plain-january-jane.html?lastPage=true#comment18152293

Pinterest

Ok so I admit, this blog post is not about a recipe per-say, but it's about where I find a lot of my recipes.  

I used to use www.pinterest.com a LOT.  

I'd spend my days trawling the pages looking for yummy things I wanted to try and make.  Then if I spotted one (like a needle in a haystack... I'm very fussy you see...), I'd pin it to my board called "Recipes to Try".  Once I had tried the recipe, I would change it and pin it to "Tried and Tested".  I'm a very organised person.  I can't help it, it's in my nature!

So I thought I'd just post a quick blog with links to both my boards, in case you were interested (you'll see a lot of double ups, in so far as the recipes that I've tried, I've probably written about on this blog anyways).  

I warn you though, if you set up an account, it can develop into a serious addiction.

I was addicted for a good couple of months, over Christmas/New Years/Jan/Feb.  But once I got back to uni in March, I didn't have as much time to trawl through the pictures and such.  One would think this would mean I would go and make all the recipes waiting to be tried... but as such, not yet.  Maybe soon.  :)

Recipes to Try:  http://pinterest.com/hannabaorange/recipes-to-try/

Tried and Tested: http://pinterest.com/hannabaorange/tried-tested/

Couscous

Well, couscous is something I've wanted to try for a long time, and bought some a while ago, yet never got around to cooking it.  Tonight I decided to give it a go.  We were having lamb chops for dinner, and steamed veges, so I thought couscous would be nice instead of potato.  Here's what I did:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup couscous (dry)

1 & 1/4 cup vegetable stock (made up with boiling water)

1/2 tsp salt

couple of pinches of dried thyme

1/2 tsp onion salt (optional)

METHOD

• Put couscous, salt and thyme in a bowl that has a lid
• Make up the vegetable stock with boiling water
• Add the onion salt to the stock
• Pour the stock over the couscous, and stir with a fork briefly
• Place the lid over the couscous, and DO NOT remove! 
• Ignore and leave for 5 minutes
• Remove lid
• Fluff with a fork
• Serve immediately!

This was remarkably tasty, and not in the least as bland as I originally thought.  Thyme always goes beautifully with lamb, so it was a great compliment to the chops, and it wasn't heavy.  1 cup of dry couscous made enough for the three of us to have on the side, with plenty left over!  Certainly don't need to use 2 cups of dry couscous like the recipe I referred to said to (altho, I ended up experimenting and doing my own thing instead!)

I was worried it would be gluggy and unappetising, as I have heard couscous can go horribly wrong.  However, this came out well, fluffy and light.  Will definitely make this again!  (It's SO CHEAP too!!!  WIN!)