Healthier General Tso's Chicken

I am craving Chinese food again and I found this recipe for a healthier version for General Tso's Chicken on pinterest.com (where else?!) and made it last week.  There is a thin coating on the chicken for some crunch and the sauce is sweet and tangy with brown sugar and red pepper.  There is also fresh ginger, which I love. 

I added water chestnuts and bean sprouts but next time I think I will only add carrots as additional vegetables. 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Today we met at Carol's house and Jen shared hosting duties.  Also present were baby Vivi and Carol's friend, Vicki.

The theme was Valentine's Day!

Appetizer:  Janet, Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Palmier

Salad:  Angie, Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Salad with Maple Syrup Vinaigrette

Bread:  Angie, Basil, Feta and Roasted Pepper Muffins

Soup:  Jen, Parsnip and Apple

Side:  Mary, Carrot Souffle

Main Dish:  Carol and Jen, Pork Chops and Cipollini  Onions with Madeira Sauce

Dessert:  Carol and Jen, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Pink Salad and Chocolate Souffles

 

 

As always, Carol set a beautiful table full of reds, flowers and hearts.

We started off with Janet's Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Palmier.  These featured pesto wrapped in puff pastry.  By rolling the pastry in towards the center on both sides, you end up with a heart shape or elephant ears (palmier).  These were very tasty and perfectly fit the theme!  

Substitutions to the recipe are as follows:

• use 1/4 tsp garlic powder rather than garlic cloves
• use 3/4 tsp of Hebes de Provence rather than 1 1/2 tsp
• use 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 2 tbsp white wine vinegar rather than red wine vinegar

For the bread, I picked Basil, Feta and Roasted Pepper Muffins because of the red color from the peppers AND I could use my heart shaped muffin tins.  The muffins puff up so much you can only see the heart shape on the bottom.  I thought the muffins had a nice texture but not enough flavor.  Next time I would add some more salt and maybe garlic powder and more basil.  These should be served warm and you can re-heat in the microwave.

The salad recipe was found on pinterest.com  I LOVE THAT WEBSITE.  The recipe says to use lettuce, pears, walnuts and blue cheese and then mix up the vinaigrette.  I used spring mix greens and anjou pears.  The vinaigrette is so simple and it will be my go to recipe from now on.  I really liked this salad and the combination of sweet pears and tangy, salty blue cheese and crunchy walnuts.

The soup was lovely and delicately flavored.  Jen had us put apple slices in our bowls, add the soup and then dollop whipped cream and the chives.  Yum!

Parsnip and Apple Soup with Parmesan Chive Foam 
Chef  Darren McGrady " The Royal Chef" to H.M. the Queen of England and Diana Princess of Wales

Serves 4

For the soup

2 Tbs butter

1 lb parsnips - peeled and chopped

1 granny smith apple - peeled and chopped

1 medium onion - peeled and chopped

1 tsp ground coriander

3 cups water

1 chicken  broth cube -  (Knorr)

1/2 cup heavy cream

salt and  white pepper 

For the garnish

1/4 cup heavy cream - whipped stiff

1 Tbs freshly grated Parmesan

3 Tbs chives - finely chopped

1 granny smith apple - peeled 

1.  Melt the butter in a heavy based pan.  Add the parsnips, onion, and  apple.  Saute for about 5 minutes and then add the coriander, followed by the water and broth cube.  Cook until the parsnips are tender and remove from the heat.

2.  Carefully blend the soup mix and strain. (We've made this soup twice. Once we blended the soup with a blender and another time with an immersion blender.  Both work well).  Stir in the cream and season with salt and pepper.Return to the heat, but do not boil.  Adjust the consistency with a little water if needed.

3.  Prepare the garnish by folding the Parmesan and one tablespoon of the chives into the whipped cream.  Grate some of the apple into the bottom of the warm soup bowls and ladle the soup on top. (I chopped the apple into small cubes) .  Spoon the Parmesan cream on top of the soup and garnish with the remaining chives.

For a side dish, Mary made us individual carrot souffles.  They were delicious with a bit of a kick from cayenne pepper.  I have made carrot souffles before and they were sweet whereas these were savory. 

 Pork Chops and Cipollini Onions with Madeira Sauce was the main dish, along with sauteed apples.  The sauce was slightly sweet and the caramelized onions also sweet.  The apples were crisp and their sweetness compliments the pork chops and onions.  Everyone loves pork chops and apple (sauce - Brady Bunch reference).

Pork Chops and Cipollini Onions with Madeira Sauce

4 - 4oz boneless, center cut pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)

Olive oil

12 Cippollini onions or small boiling onions, peeled (about 3/4 lb)

1 tsp. Vanilla Bean Paste

3/4 cup Madeira wine

1 T brown sugar

2T balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. cornstarch

Sprinkle pork chops with salt and black pepper.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add chops and onions and cook for 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned.  Add vanilla and wine to pan, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits.

 

Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until pork and onions are tender.  Remove pork and onions from pan with a slotted spoon.  Keep warm.  

Combine the brown sugar, vinegar, and cornstarch in  a small bowl; add to wine mixture in pan.  Bring mixture to a boil; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Serve sauce with chops and onions.

Dessert was a trio.  Chocolate covered strawberries, cherry chiffon salad and chocolate souffles. All were delicious and how awesome is having THREE desserts?!

For the strawberries:

1 lb. strawberries with green tops.

1 Dolci frutta  - chocolate shell

1 Dolci frutta -white shell

Wash strawberries and let dry on paper towels.  

Melt Dolci frutta in the microwave according to package directions.

Holding strawberries by green tops, dip into chocolate shell.  

Place on waxed paper or parchment paper until chocolate shell hardens.

Melt white chocolate shell.  Drizzle over chocolate covered strawberries for garnish.

Modifications for the cherry chiffon salad are using crushed pineapple instead of pineapple tidbits.

Spoon into shot glasses, mini parfait dishes or other glass serving dishes.

Garnish with maraschino cherries dipped in the Dolci frutta.

Cashew Chicken

This recipe for Cashew Chicken was found on Pinterest and is on my "main dishes to be made" board.  I prefer Chinese food with vegetables so I added snow peas and because I love them, a can of water chestnuts.  This turned out very tasty and once all the preparations are complete it comes together very quickly.  I started brown rice in my steamer an hour before eating.  Then I made the sauce and prepped the chicken tenders and put those in the ginger marinade for half an hour.  During the marinading time I trimmed up the snow peas and cut the garlic and green onions.  I took the chicken out of the refrigerator and let it come close to room temperature and cooked it in two batches.  I put the snow peas and water chestnuts in with the garlic and followed the recipe as written from there.

Coconut Cake

I found this recipe for the BEST COCONUT CAKE and I had to try it.  It was delicious, maybe the best coconut cake ever and looks like a happy snowball.  My parents and I thought pineapple would have gone well with this cake and next time I will add some crushed pineapple in the filling.

The recipe calls for 2 bags of frozen coconut.  Frozen coconut?  Huh?  I had never heard of such a thing.   I found it in the freezer case within seconds, near the frozen fruit.  You defrost it and it is easy to work with and does not clump like the bagged coconut.  I enjoyed pressing it into the frosting though I did miss a spot or  two as my picture (unfortunately) shows.

Start the cake two days in advance as the filing needs to set up for a day, then you put the cake together and let it set up for another day.  I was not sure that the sweetened whipped cream would be a good frosting but it turned out nicely.  The cake is very moist and I will definitely make it again.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

I recently joined Pinterest and tonight I made the first recipe that I found on there.  It was for sopapilla cheesecake.  It was very, very easy and will feed a crowd because the richness means you just need a small portion.  You simply spread crescent rolls on the bottom of the pan, spread the cream cheese filling, put more crescents on top, a little butter and cinnamon and sugar and voila, cream cheese pastries!  I think these are best for dessert rather than breakfast.  I will definitely make these again and I think next time some diced apples or berries would be nice in the cream cheese layer.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

We met at my place and Lauren and Mary were unable to join us.  Jen, Carol's daughter and frequent guest, was in attendance and the good news is that she is moving back to Houston and can join us in the future!

The theme was Kelsey's Essentials (Cooking Channel) and for a favor I gave the essential spice; salt.  I found black lava sea salt from My Spice Sage. I really like the website as it has every spice you can think of!  And with my order I received two free samples and I chose vanilla beans and fried chicken spice. Yum.

Carol and Jen - appetizer of Three Cheese Crostini with Honey and Roasted Asparagus as the side.

Tonya - Smoky Panzanella with Market Vegetables as the salad.

Angie - Chicken Cacciatore as the main dish with brown rice.

Janet - Individual Orange and Chocolate Cheesecakes for dessert.

The Three Cheese Crostini were delicious and addictive!  The flavor was mild with a touch of sweetness.  Carol and Jen left out the salt and pepper because they did not think it "fit" with the other ingredients. 

Tonya made a bread salad and it was delicious!  I have never had one before and I really liked this one.  Plus, all the colors on the plate were beautiful.  Smoky Panzanella with Market Vegetables is a serve right away salad as the bread will get overly soggy if you wait.  The dressing was very tasty as well.

For the main dish we had Chicken Cacciatore and this was a homey, one-pot meal.  I loved the mushrooms and the cremini (which look like slightly larger button mushrooms) held their texture despite over an hour of stewing.  I used thighs and breasts rather than an entire chicken.

Roasted Vegetables was the perfect compliment to the chicken.  Jen just used asparagus and cooked to crisp tender.

Last but not least was dessert!  Janet made Individual Orange and Chocolate Cheesecakes which she adorned with whipped cream and a sprinkle of Mardis Gras colored sugars.  YUM.  I had two and I am not ashamed to admit it.  Rather than the chocolate wafers in the crust Janet used the traditional graham crackers. 

Enchilada Casserole

I had some left over corn tortillas and I found this recipe for Enchilada Casserole in my "to-be-made" recipe pile.  This recipe is based on Wanda of The Happy Cooker and below is how I prepared it.  Note that if you are not careful this casserole can have a lot of heat.  Do not choose hot enchilada sauce and hot taco seasoning unless you want a lot of heat.  I used medium for everything and there was a lot of spice.  Next time I will use at least 1 mild.  Even still, I loved this casserole.  It is healthy with all the veggies (beans and tomatoes) yet still very satisfying.  I used less cheese than the original recipe called for (FIVE CUPS) so you can add per your taste.  I think this casserole will re-heat and freeze well.

Enchilada Casserole

12 corn tortillas, cut in half

1 pound ground beef

2 - 10 oz cans enchilada sauce

1 package taco seasoning

1/2 cup water

1 small can diced tomatoes

1 - 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 onion, small dice, divided

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, divided

Cilantro and/or green onions for garnish

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground beef.  When browned, drain (if necessary - I found that 90% lean did not need to be drained) and add 1/2 cup water, taco seasoning, tomatoes and juice and 1/2 of the onion. Cook to reduce some of the liquid while you get the rest of the casserole ready.

Lightly spray cooking spray in 13 x 9 pan.  Pour 1 can enchilada sauce on bottom of pan.  Layer half of the tortillas, all the ground beef (I used a slotted spoon to leave behind the remaining liquid), all of the black beans, the remaining 1/2 of the diced onions and 1 cup of the cheese.  For the next layer put the remaining 1/2 of the tortillas, 1 can enchilada sauce and the remaining 1 cup of cheese.  Bake uncovered for 40 minutes until cheese is melted and lightly browned on top.  Garnish with cilantro or green onions, if desired.