Peach Crisp for Two

I've been making peach and apple crisps for a while so it's probably time to give them a little space on the blog.

Peach Crisp

1 peach
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons instant oatmeal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 - 1 tablespoon butter, softened
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease bottom of loaf pan.
2. Thinly slice peach and put on bottom of pan.
3. Mix flour, brown sugar, oatmeal, cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl. Mix with hands to get a nice crumble. Sprinkle over top of sliced peaches.
4. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. It's best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or cool whip!

My apple crisp is very similar. Sub out the one peach for one apple and add a dash of nutmeg to make it  a little warmer and homier and to make the house smell delicious!

AEM

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I used to make a sweet & sour/Hawaiian chicken back in the day that was baked with some chunky onion, pepper, and pineapple and a different sauce. The idea was right, the dinner was really good, but the sauce was more hawaiian than sweet & sour. The sauce below really does the trick. This one was all over Pinterest and after a few "failed" attempts at Chinese food and a decent Hawaiian chicken thing, we finally found a winner. The previous attempts weren't actually failed, it's just that some weren't even blogable and some were just decent and then there's still a few we've made again and again like the Pad Thai and the Peanut Chicken.  This is another one of those recipes that's been put into the regular rotation. It's easy and delicious. The original recipes are below but here's how I did it.

Sweet and Sour Chicken & Fried Rice

Chicken:
1lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup cornstarch
salt and pepper
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
cooking spray

3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Cube chicken breasts. Combine cornstarch and salt and pepper to taste in a plastic bag. Toss cubed chicken into bag and coat with cornstarch.
3. In a medium/large bowl, beat egg with water. Remove chicken from bag and put into egg mixture. Do this with your hand, shaking off excess cornstarch because the cornstarch + egg will make a paste.
4. In large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add egged/cornstarched chicken to hot pan. Cook chicken until browned but not cooked fully or chicken will get too dry.
5. Lightly grease glass baking dish. Put cooked chicken into dish.
6. In a bowl, whisk sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce and garlic salt. Pour over chicken mixture.
7. Bake for about an hour (it'll take about 45 mins before the sauce starts to thicken). Stir/turn chicken every 15-20 minutes.

Rice:
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 small onion, diced
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce

1. Heat oil in large pan on medium or medium-high heat. Add peas/carrots, onion, and garlic. Cook until onions are tender.
2. Push veggies to one side of the pan and add beaten egg. Scramble eggs on other side of the pan. Mix with pea/carrot/onion mixture when done.
3. Add rice and soy sauce. Mix and heat until warm.

Original Chicken Recipe: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2008/07/sweet-and-sour-chicken-updated.html
Original Rice Recipe: http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html

AEM

More Breakfast Sandwiches

Well once wasn't enough so we had to push our luck and try a second and third time on the ol' Breakfast Sandwiches. I must say, the subsequent tries did not disappoint!

Round 1: Originally we made egg white with turkey bacon and sausage on Thomas' Light Multi-Grain English Muffins.
Round 2: Same english muffins but this time we tried egg white + crumbled turkey bacon + spinach + diced tomatoes, egg white + crumbled turkey sausage + spinach + diced tomatoes, and finally egg, crumbled turkey sausage and spinach.
Round 3: More simple this time, bagels with egg whites

AEM

Sesame Crusted Tuna

There's a restaurant nearby that has the best sesame crusted ahi tuna with an amazing ponzu sauce. I went to the grocery store for artichokes and chicken tonight and as I walked by the seafood department, I spotted tuna and couldn't resist trying this out. It was the first time I've made ahi tuna because I really do NOT like fish at all. This was good!

Sesame Crusted Tuna

2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ahi tuna steaks
1 tablespoon oil

1. Mix sesame seeds and salt in a bowl or plate.
2. Coat steaks in seed mixture. It really helps to use tongs to make sure it's all coated and you're not making a bigger mess than you need!
3. Heat oil in large pan over medium heat.
4. Cook steaks about 45 secs - 1 min or so on each side. Again, using the tops helps with the flipping!
5. Slice!

AEM

Nana's Scones

Made a double-batch of Nana's scones tonight! Chocolate Chip, Mikey's favorite! Can't share the recipe though, it's a family secret :)

AEM

Green Bean Chicken Casserole

I had some leftover chicken and really wanted to find a use for it. I've been getting good at using leftovers but wanted to try something new but easy so I gave Green Bean Chicken Casserole a go.

Green Bean Chicken Casserole

2 chicken breasts - leftover or raw (probably better raw)
1 cup green beans (frozen, canned, fresh)
1 package sliced mushrooms
1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
1/5 cups Stovetop Stuffing
cooking spray
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray glass baking dish lightly with cooking spray.
2. Prepare stuffing according to directions. I omit the butter. Sautee the mushrooms*
3. Cube chicken and place on bottom of pan. Top with green beans. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with mushrooms.
4. Mix soup with about 2 tablespoons of water and pour over the top of the mushrooms.
5. Layer on the prepared stuffing
6. Bake for about 20 minutes if the chicken is pre-cooked. If chicken is raw, bake for about 30-40 minutes.

*I had a little bit of liquid at the bottom of my dish when it was done. I did not pre-cook my mushrooms before adding them so I think that may have been the problem. Next time I will pre-cook the mushrooms.

AEM

Smore's Martini

We like to go to a restaurant nearby that has an amazing Smore's Martini on the menu. One night after dinner, I was staring down that martini on the menu but I was just not quite in the mood for it yet. We decided to take matters into our own hands and make them ourselves.

Smore's Martini

Vanilla Absolut
Frangelico
Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
Creme de Cocoa
2 Graham Crackers
2 large marshmallows
water

1. Crush graham crackers and put graham cracker dust into a bowl. Put about 1/2 inch of water into a bowl. Dip the rim of your martini glass into the water and then the graham cracker to create a nice graham cracker rim on the glass
2. In a martini shaker, Add ice and equal parts of Vanilla Absolut, Frangelico, Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur, Creme de Cocoa. Shake
3. Pour into cracker-rimmed glasses (straining out the ice) and top with a marshmallow.

AEM