Sweet and Sour Sauce

 Mom was pretty sick yesterday, so I offered to make dinner. I was in the mood for something different, and remembered we had the left over pork roast, so I tried to think of what would be good to do with the left overs... and this is what I came up with... but of course I changed the recipe.... here is the original, with changes at the end in italics. My goal was to find a recipe that did not use corn syrup or catsup in it, one that was relatively clean...

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup pineapple or orange juice
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

• 1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch blended with 2 tablespoons cold water

Directions

Heat a wok or saucepan over high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger and garlic. Stir-fry just until fragrant, and then add the juice, vinegar, brown sugar and soy sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the cornstarch and water mixture and cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Stir into any nearly completed stir-fry dish and bring to a boil until the sauce thickens, about 1 minute.
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* I more then doubled the recipe by adding and making the following changes:

• 2 T oil
• 2 T of fresh ginger
• 4 cloves of garlic (some about half were small, and half were bigger)
• 1 cup of pineapple juice
• 1 cup of pear juice (from canned pears in the refrigerator)
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 3+ T of soy sauce
• Instead of another cup of pineapple juice, I added 1 cup of juice from the pairs.
• 4 T vinegar -- mom did no have rice vinegar
• 2 T brown sugar

*I started as directed with the ginger and the garlic in the oil, then added my juices, brown sugar, 2 T of soy sauce, and vinegar.

*It tasted super sweet and vinegary , so I added more soy sauce and water (trying stretch the sauce anyways) and when I added the onion, it finally started to taste better. 

*After creating the sauce initially, I sliced some onions up, tossing them in and added the meat for a bit, letting them simmer together. 

 *Next I added a yellow & an orange pepper, but tried to not let them over cook. 

*I did thicken the sauce twice also, once after adding the normal proportions, but when I stretched it with water as I was adding the onions, it seemed to get too liquidy again, so made the cornstarch/water mixture again, and added it for a minute or two to the boiling sauce before taking it off the heat and serving it.

*Served over baked white rice.

Easy Lemon Pudding and Cream Puffs

My roommates and I had an International Holiday Part on 12/7.. with the next week was finals I was a bit stressed, so I opted to make cream puffs, but wanted to try something different... I began by making homemade Lemon Pudding to fill them with. I loved the recipe, although I should have waited longer for the Pudding to set up more before filling them. Sorry no pics of the cream puffs, but they looked great on the Blue Platter, all sprinkled with sifted powdered sugar over them. See italics at the end of the recipes for the changes I made to it.

Lemon Pudding

• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 2 ½ cups milk
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. In a saucepan whisk together sugar and cornstarch.
2. Over medium heat, slowly whisk in milk. And cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened.
3. Place one cup of hot pudding mixture into a small bowl with the egg yolks. Whisk together. You are tempering the eggs.
4. Return egg/pudding mixture to the pan and continuing cooking over med heat until thickened. You need to stir this consistently.
5. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and butter. Stir until butter is melted and mixture is combined.
6. Strain pudding to remove any lumps.
7. Serve warm or cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.  
8. *Knowing there would not be a lot of lemon pudding per cream puff, I bumped up the flavor at the end, by adding two cap-fulls of lemon extract after removing it from the heat. 
9. *I also did not strain the pudding. 
10. *I did the the egg/hot pudding mixture earlier, rather then later so they would not get stringy, and it worked really well.) 

Pastry Shell

1/2 cup butter

1 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1	Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2.	In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
3.	Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
4.	When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells. *I just used my kitchen aid, and it worked really well.*

Bigger than Chocolate Meringue pie

So I am doing a little catch up, and this was from about a week after thanksgiving. I still had the whole milk, so I made the following. It is basically a Chocolate Meringue pie, that I put in a pie 9 x 13 pan. 

Here is the recipe with what I did, but also thoughts on what I would change (in italics):

My cute new roommate, Jessie

Pie Crust: 
3 c flour
1 t salt 
1 c shortening
ice cold water

*do not use all of pie crust, just line the sides and bottom of pan, be sure to put fork holes in the crust * Bake until golden brown at a temp of 375 (for about) 

*This time, because I had it, I used the butter flavored shortening which gave the crust a little different flavor, that I kind of liked*

Chocolate Pudding 
4 c whole milk
1 C sugar
2/3 C + 2 T cocoa powder
8 t cornstarch  (I want to go down to at least 6 t next time) 
6 large egg yolks  (Save your egg whites for the meringue) 
3 t vanilla extract (increase to 5) 
2 t almond extract (leave out) 

½ t salt (bump up to ¾ t) 
Put 3 cups of the milk, the sugar, and the cocoa in a nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a simmer, over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, whisk the remaining 1-cup of the milk, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, and vanilla in a bowl. (I used the kitchen aid.) Gradually whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture. Return to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat whisking constantly, until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and continue whisking until thick, about 2 or 3 minutes more. Cover with saran wrap.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chocolate-pudding-recipe/index.html

Meringue

Beat 6 egg whites and ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar at high speed of mixer until foamy. Slowly add remaining 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves (2 to 4 minutes).

Pour pudding into cooled baked pie crust. Spoon meringue onto pudding and carefully spread making sure to completely cover pudding and edge of crust. Bake for about 25 minutes at 325 or until lightly golden brown.
http://www.food.com/recipe/chocolate-meringue-pie-119236

Gingerbread Men

   We made these for Emily's students for their end of semester party. Most of them had never been to the US before this past fall and many of them didn't know much about Christmas. For their party they talked about Christmas and sang some Christmas carols. We made each student a cookie with their initials and some type of individual decoration on it. I think we finished these around 1:30 in the morning, but it sounds like it was worth all the work we put into them.

½ cup shortening
2 ½ cups flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup molasses
1 egg
1 TBSP vinegar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves

Preheat the oven to 375. Beat the shortening with a mixer for 30 seconds. Then add ½ the flour plus the remaining ingredients. Beat until combined. Beat in the remaining flour. Roll the dough and chill it, or just roll it out. Cut out the dough with people-shaped cookie cutters. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes. Allow to cool. Decorate.

Reindeer Snack Mix

I saw this in the Taste of Home magazine on cookies Mom gave me last year. I made it for a Christmas party at a friends I went to this past weekend. It was pretty easy to make and surprisingly good. You have to be careful though, it can be pretty addictive!



4 1/2 C Puffed Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cereal
4 C Miniature Pretzels
12 oz Salted Peanuts
12 oz White Chocolate Chips

Combine cereal, pretzels and peanuts. Melt white chocolate chips in microwave. Pour over cereal mixture and toss to coat. Spread over wax paper. Let stand until set, about 20 minutes. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie

This recipe comes from the Kingsford cornstarch box. Mom made it for Thanksgiving. We'll see if it makes it  until tomorrow. It really is a mile high with the meringue
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
2 cups water
5 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
2 tablespoons butter OR margarine
1 (9-inch) baked deep dish pie crust
MERINGUE
5 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon corn starch

 Mix sugar and corn starch in a saucepan. Stir in water and beaten egg yolks. Cook over medium heat, stirring with a whisk until mixture reaches a boil. Reduce heat and continue stirring for 1 minute until very thick. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice, lemon peel and butter until smooth.
Pour hot filling into pie crust.
To make MERINGUE: Beat egg whites with electric mixer at high speed until soft peaks form; gradually add sugar and corn starch, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight), about 3 minutes.
Spoon meringue over hot lemon filling, sealing meringue to the edges of the crust. Use the back of a spoon to swirl meringue and draw up into peaks. Place oven rack in bottom third of preheated 375°F oven.
Bake 10 minutes, until peaks are lightly browned. Cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Chill for a minimum of 3 hours before serving

Chicken Florentine

Mom got this recipe from a cookbook created at her work for employee appreciation week last year. This recipe is from Susan Castanette. We had it last night and it was delicious! We served it with rice.


1/4 C butter
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
1/2 c half and half (or cream)
1/2 c grated parmesan
1 bag fresh spinach
8 oz sliced mushrooms
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or abt 8 tenders)
1-2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Melt butter in saucepan, and stir in garlic soup, seasoning, half and half, and parmesan.
Arrange spinach in 9x13 casserole. Cover with mushrooms and half the sauce. Arrange chicken on top and cover with remaining sauce. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until chicken is done. Top with mozzarella for last 10 minutes of baking. Serve!