I am a true lover of Chinese food. However, I am not a big fan of takeout. I used to love going to dinner at the local Chinese buffet, but since making my own homemade takeout at home, I much prefer that over the high priced and fat laden foods I eat when I go out to eat.
I recently started making General Tso’s Chicken to compliment our Chinese mealtime. My son loves this chicken and will break the bank to pick some up anytime we are at the grocery store. To satisfy his palette, I decided to try my hand at making it homemade. I have to say that it is definitely a 100% spot on recipe.
- 1bag of frozen popcorn chicken
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp corn startch
- ¼ cup of cold water
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp honey
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- scallions, sliced
- 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp dried thai chilies
- Preheat oven to 375
- On a cookie sheet, spread popcorn chicken chunks into a single layer and place in the oven until the chicken is cooked through. Once the chicken is done cooking, turn the oven off and leave chicken inside to keep it warm.
- In a medium saucepan, combine garlic, ginger and sesame oil, and saute for 2 minutes
- Add soy sauce, broth, vinegar, honey, tomato paste and hoisin sauce. Simmer mixture on medium heat for 4-5 minutes
- Dissolve 1 tsp of cornstarch in ¼ cup of cold water.
- Add cornstarch to sauce mixture, stirring.
- Continue to simmer sauce for another 3-4 minutes, until it begins to thicken
- Toss cooked chicken with sauce, coating thoroughly. Serve chicken with 1 tbsp sesame seeds and scallions.
This is one of the best Chinese meals — hands down — that I have ever made in my life.
So what yummy meals have you been making lately?
The other day I was browsing my cookbooks and came across a new recipe for a soup that tastes like a Chicken Taco and a Fajita — but in soup form. It was SO good. I mean, I have had Chicken Tortilla Soup before at a restaurant, but now that I have made it homemade — I will always choose this first.
The thing that I love about this soup, is that it is chocked full of veggies! Normally I tend to leave those out, but since I am trying to eat more healthier, I decided to give it a try. The. best. soup. I. have. ever. eaten.
Here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy it!
- 2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1-1/2 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 cup Diced Onion
- 1 cup Red Bell Pepper, diced
- 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
- 1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel Tomatoes And Green Chilies
- 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
- 3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- 4 cups Hot Water
- shredded pepper jack cheese
- 5 whole Corn Tortillas, Cut Into Uniform Strips Around 2 To 3 Inches
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cumin, chili pepper, garlic powder, and salt. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil on chicken breasts, then sprinkle a small amount of spice mix on both sides. Set aside the rest of the spice mix.
- Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done. Use two forks to shred chicken. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add onions, red pepper, and minced garlic. Stir and begin cooking, then add the rest of the spice mix. Stir to combine, then add shredded chicken and stir.
- Pour in Rotel, chicken stock, tomato paste, tortilla strips, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered.
- Turn off heat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes before serving.
- Serve garnished with pepper jack cheese, cilantro, homemade crispy tortilla strips, sour cream, or avocado.
What is your favorite “go-to” soup?
With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, I decided to find some recipes that I haven’t tried yet that say Irish to me. For me, that starts with Beer Battered Fish and Fries. The Irish are known for their pubs where they serve up delicious pieces of cod covered in a gorgeous golden batter. There is only a few places where I will eat the fish, but making it at home is so much better. My son loves cod, so this meal was right up his alley.
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg, separated
- ¼ cup dark beer, flat and at room temperature
- ¼ water
- 2 pounds russet potatoes
- oil for deep-frying
- 2 lbs cod filets
- In a dutch oven, heat your oil to 375 degrees.
- While the oil is heating, make your batter for the fish. Combine flour, salt, egg yolk, beer and water. Stir to combine with a whisk. Set aside.
- Scrub the potatoes and cut into strips, then rinse them with water and pat them dry.
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. This will be used to keep your food warm during the cooking process.
- Once the oil is heated through, fry your french fries in batches. As they come out, lay them on a baking sheet lined with a paper towel. Place them in the oven to stay warm while the next batch is cooking.
- Once the fries are all cooked and being kept warm in the oven, beat the egg white until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the batter.
- Pat the fish filets dry with a paper towel and dip, one at a time, into the batter. Coat it well and carefully drop into the hot oil and allow to cook until golden and crispy, about 5-6 minutes.
- Don’t do more than 2-3 pieces at a time as you do not want to crowd the pot.
- Remove from pot and lay on a baking sheet lined with paper towel for draining. Place in the oven while you finish the cooking process.
- Serve fries and fish together with a side of slaw and tartar sauce.
What types of Irish food do you like to cook?
The crockpot is like my BEST friend, especially anytime I am on a writing deadline and have a lot of posts to get done. I whip out the crockpot, throw some meat and sauce in there and turn that dude on for a quick and delicious dinner meal 
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1½ cup bbq sauce
- ½ cup zesty italian salad dressing
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- Arrange chicken in slow cooker.
- Blend together BBQ sauce, italian dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over chicken in the crockpot.
- Cover and cook on low setting for 6-8 hours. Once the chicken comes out, take two forks and shred it. Place the chicken back into the crockpot to absorb more of the bbq sauce and flavor.
- Place on the top of sandwiches and serve with coleslaw and homemade potato chips.
BBQ Chicken in a crockpot is really one of those meals that you just cannot mess up. The crockpot does the cooking for you and the chicken always comes out juicy and tender.
What have you made in your crockpot recently?
Check out what all the other bloggers in this group have made!
Anytime I am at the grocery store and I can find a pork tenderloin on sale, I snatch it up. It is a pretty expensive cut of meat, but it tastes SO wonderful when paired with things like apricot or orange marmalade. The truth is –I love pork tenderloin. You can cook it so many different ways and this one below for Apricot Flavored Pork Loin Roast has become my favorite way.
- 1 3 pound pork loin
- 1 jar of apricot perserves
- ½ cup of apple juice
- lemon and pepper seasoning
- Place the pork loin in a casserole style baking dish.
- Top with the apricot preserves.
- Pour the apple juice over the loin.
- Sprinkle with lemon and pepper seasoning.
- Bake at 350 degrees until roast is tender and cooked through.
I like to serve this meal with fingerling potatoes, a side of my homemade focciacia, and a hearty spinach and strawberry salad.
So — which preserve or marmalade would you use to make this delicious meal?
We recently visited a new Chinese restaurant in our little town and we were floored by the different varieties of chicken dishes that they offered. In our home town, the Chinese restaurant only offered a couple of choices, but at this one they had honey chicken, Chinese chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Terriyaki Chicken, and my husband’s new favorite — Coconut Chicken.
My husband really loved it so much that I decided to see if I could recreate it at home. It really wasn’t that hard at all. In fact -I made it just like my sweet and sour chicken, but used coconut milk instead of sweet and sour sauce and it was super delicious!
- 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 pint of coconut milk from the refrigerator section
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tsp cider vinegar
- Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium high heat and also preheat your oven to 325˚. While the oil in your pa is heating, season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then cornstarch, and fry in the oil until lightly golden brown, but not cooked through (just about 1-2 minutes per side. Be sure not to overcrowd your chicken in the pan or it will steam instead of fry.
- Remove chicken from pan and place on paper towel-lined plate so that it can drain and then place in a single layer in a baking dish.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, sugar, and vinegar. Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake for about an hour, stirring the chicken every 15 minutes. Once cooked through, let stand for at least 5 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken. Serve immediately with your favorite Chinese rice.
We love creating our own Chinese meal here and have made things like Teriyaki Noodles, Terriyaki Chicken, Sweet Biscuits, Chinese potatoes, Cream Cheese Won Tons and Crockpot Beef and Broccoli. Why go out for Chinese when you can recreate your own meal at home?
What is your favorite Chinese dish?
This month for the Improv Cooking Challenge, we were given the challenge of creating a dish that deals with hearts and flours. Well, I knew exactly what I was going to fix and deliver to our wonderful homeschool Valentine party earlier this month — cute little heart shaped pizzas!
It became a really fun activity for the kids because we let them make their own pizzas — with the exception of the dough. I had to make it ahead of time so I could cut them out into heart shapes.
Here is how you can make your own heart shaped pizzas.
First you will need your own homemade pizza dough recipe. Mine is very simple and easy to use. Once you roll it out, then use about a 3 or 4 inch heart cookie cutter and cut out your heart shaped pizza doughs. Bake them for just about 5 minutes on 400 degrees.
Once you do that, pull them out and let them rest and cool and then you can transport them to anywhere!
Top them with your favorite pizza toppings such as homemade pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, and all your favorite veggies. It will definitely turn out to be a favorite and fun meal to remember!
- Heart shaped pizza dough
- homemade pizza sauce
- pizza toppings of your choice
- First you will need your own homemade pizza dough recipe. Mine is very simple and easy to use. Once you roll it out, then use about a 3 or 4 inch heart cookie cutter and cut out your heart shaped pizza doughs. Bake them for just about 5 minutes on 400 degrees.
- Once you do that, pull them out and let them rest and cool and then you can transport them to anywhere!
- Top them with your favorite pizza toppings such as homemade pizza sauce, cheese, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, and all your favorite veggies.
- It will definitely turn out to be a favorite and fun meal to remember!
You can also use this recipe to make shamrocks for Saint Patrick’s Day, bunnies for Easter, and more! The possibilities are endless.
Check out what the other bloggers are making
I am not a lover of broccoli at all. I can’t eat it raw or in big chunks, but you dice it up super fine and I will get my fill of this wonderful green veggie. I found a yummy Broccoli and Cheese Soup recipe this month for our Secret Recipe Club Reveal. I had the wonderful blog of Smells Like Brownies and it was SO hard to choose just one recipe. There were so many to choose from, but because it is still really cold here in Kentucky, I knew this would be the recipe I wanted to try.
The thing I love about broccoli and cheese soup is that you can do the broccoli any way you like. If you don’t like great, big, huge chunks like me, you can simply puree your soup in a blender to give it a more smoother texture. If you like it chunkier, just chop your broccoli in a rough chop and add it to your soup.
Here is the recipe. I omitted the carrots and just made it a regular broccoli and cheese soup, but you can always add them back in. I have crossed out what I did not use.
- Ingredients:
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, plus extra as needed
- pinch of nutmeg
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and black pepper
- 4 cups finely chopped broccoli florets
- 2 large carrots, grated (DID NOT USE)
- 8 oz. sharp cheddar, cubed
- In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent, about 4–5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large Dutch oven or sauce pot over medium heat, whisk together the flour and milk. The mixture will be lumpy at first, but it will smooth out eventually with the heat.
- Once the mixture is smooth, add the vegetable broth, whisking continuously until it becomes smooth again. Add the nutmeg, bay leaves, and seasonings. Let the mixture simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes. Whisk occasionally to prevent the bottom from burning.
- Add the cooked onions, broccoli, and carrots, mixing well. Simmer for another 20 minutes, whisking occasionally.
- Add the cheese and stir until completely melted, adding more broth if necessary.
Check out what the other bloggers are making!
Today is a National holiday if you didn’t know It’s National Spaghetti Day! I used to only eat the red sauce spaghetti, but the Pioneer Woman opened my eyes last year when she made her yummy Lemon Spaghetti, and then a friend of mine shared her delicious Chicken Scampi with me, and then Kayla and I started making our own basic Olive Oil, Lemon and Garlic Spaghetti as well. Now, I have a new one to add to the collection — Pesto Spaghetti!
This pasta is SO good and delicious. You don’t need heavy sauces. You can make your own pesto and then create this delicious and quick dinner.
- 2 tablespoons chopped pine nuts
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 cups basil leaves
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 pinches of pepper
- your favorite spaghetti noodles (fettuccine, angel hair, thin spaghetti, regular spaghetti)
- Add to your food processor the pine nuts and garlic through the feed chute while the motor is on. Process until finely minced.
- Add the olive oil and pulse three times. Add basil, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to the processor bowl.
- Process until finely minced, scraping down sides.
- Set the pesto aside.
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and then add pesto to hot pasta.
- Serve hot, cold, or room temperature
So — what is your favorite pasta dish?
There is a one pot meal that my husband loves more than anything. He has grown up eating this stuff since he was a little guy. That one pot wonder is Goulash. There are many ways to make this delicious meal, but an older family friend who I found out is now 84 years old — her recipe is the best one BY FAR that I have ever tasted.
It took me like 5 years to get her to give me the recipe because she kept forgetting, and finally my own mother in law tracked her down one day and got it from here
My husband is now a very happy man because I make this meal for him!
- 1 pound of ground beef
- ½ of a large onion, diced
- 2 cups of elbow macaroni (uncooked)
- 1 (10 ounce) can of tomato soup
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
- 1 (6 ounce) can of tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Fry the onion and ground beef together in the skillet. Remove from heat and drain. Set aside.
- Grab a large spaghetti pot and cook the elbow macaroni until al dente. Drain and leave in the big pot.
- Add the ground beef to the macaroni.
- Add the soup, diced tomatoes, and paste to the mixture.
- Add the salt and garlic powder.
- Heat for about 30 minutes or until heated all the way through.
Yes– it does taste a bit like spaghetti, but it is really a mixture of spaghetti, lasagna, tacos, soups, stews and more — all in one pot. This will be a dish that you and your family will absolutely love if you decide to fix it.
In fact, it would be great to serve at a Christmas Church dinner.
What is your favorite one pot wonder meal?
Hi! I am Jen--a wife to the most amazing man ever and a homeschool mom to one teenager. I just graduated my oldest.
I have been blogging since 2007. I love to watch movies, spend time in the kitchen, crochet, dance, drink coffee, and lay on the beach. Between recipes, reviews, and hilarious life story moments you'll find many helpful posts on this blog. Welcome, pull up a chair and stay for a while!
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