Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

                                          Baked Sweet and Sour
                                  Chicken 

This is one of our favorite meals.
I don't make it very often, but when I do its a hit :)

Does it taste like takeout food? NO!
But it does taste good!

You have to be careful not to over cook this.
Because its pretty much a throw it in the oven and leave it
Well you leave it until half way through the cooking time and then give it a little stir.


What you'll need

Chicken breast, cut in cubes
corn starch ~ 1 cup
eggs, beaten ~ 2
oil ~ 1/4 cup
salt and pepper

What you'll need for the sauce

sugar ~ 3/4 cup
apple cider vinegar ~ 1/2 cup ( you can use plain white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar)
ketchup/tomato sauce ~ 4 tablespoons
soya sauce ~ 1 tablespoon
garlic powder ~ 1 teaspoon
pinch of pepper

Preheat the oven to 350/180 degrees

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Coat the chicken with the corn starch, I find throwing all in a bowl the easiest
When all the chicken is covered, dip the chicken into the beaten egg, or do what I do  just throw it all in.
Making sure the chicken is all coated

Heat the oil in a pan, add the chicken and cook about a minute or so each side
YOUR NOT LOOKING TO COOKING THE CHICKEN RIGHT THE WAY THROUGH AT THIS STAGE.

Line a plate with kitchen paper and remove  the chicken  from the pan onto the paper.

In a bowl mix the sugar, apple cider, ketchup, soya sauce, garlic powder and pepper
Mix well

Add the chicken to an oven proof.
Pour the sauce over and stir well, coating all the chicken

cook for 50~55 minutes , stirring half way through

I serve this with plain boiled white rice

Enjoy :)

Pasta e Fagioli Soup, my way

                                             Pasta e Fagioli soup 
                                                                        my way

As you might have figured out we love soup.
This soup is wonderful. It's a hearty, filling soup with a great flavour.

Olive garden is good, but I think this one is better :)

What you'll need

minced/ground beef ~ 250gr
celery chopped ~ 1/2 cup
carrot chopped ~ 1 cup
onion chopped ~ 1 cup
garlic cloves finely chopped ~ 2 cloves
bayleaves ~ 2
dried basil ~ 1 teaspoon
oregano ~ 1 teaspoon
thyme ~ 1 teaspoon
chili flakes ~ 1/2 teaspoon
salt ~ 1/2 teaspoon
pepper ~ 1/2 teaspoon
white beans ~ 2 x 400g cans
diced tin tomatoes ~ 1 x 400g can
Beef stock ~ 2 cups + more if needed  ( I use an extra cup )

small pasta ~ 1 1/4 cups  (I used mini penne)

In a soup pan, brown your minced/ground beef. I DON'T add any oil Keep stirring so it doesn't stick
When cooked push to one side and add the onions, carrots, celery and minced garlic
cook until the onions start changing colour
mixed the herbs and then add to the pot
mix well and cook for a few more minutes
add the beans and tomatoes and mix well
add the bay leaves and beef stock, mix well.
cover the pan with a lid and leave to cook really low for about 1 hour

cook the mini pasta

When the pasta is cooked
and the soup has simmered for at least 1 hour add the pasta

stir well


You might find you have very little liquid
 I add 1 more cup of beef stock

Enjoy

                                                 

Homemade Italian Sausage

This time of year I find so many recipes which need Italian sausage.

Trying to find this in the store used to bad enough

Then if I do find it I find it can be expensive.

Also like I said lots of recipes need this, so I now make my own

I normally season and leave for minimum of 12 hours. Then I separate the mixture in half and then freeze half and the other half I make meatballs, cook and freeze and add to a quick pasta dinner when time is short.

When you make this leave for at least 12 hours

1 kg minced/ground pork

ground anise ~ 1 teaspoon

ground fennel ~ 2 1/2 teaspoons

ground white pepper ~ 1/2 teaspoon

garlic powder ~ 3/4 teaspoon

onion powder ~ 1 teaspoon

chili powder ~ 1 teaspoon

salt ~ 1/2 teaspoon

dried parsley ~ 1 teaspoon

paprika ~ 1 teaspoon

red wine vinegar ~ 2 tablespoons

add all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well

cover and leave in the fridge for at least 12 hours

Apple Bread

                                  Apple Bread 

I'm not the biggest fan of apples unless they come in their original form.

I do like a blackberry and apple pie. I like the blackberry bit a lot more than the apple bit.

I had some apples to use up and as I had no blackberries to pair with them .....Apple bread it was :)

We liked this :)

So I now have another dessert to add to my growing list of dessert that I can make and that actually taste good!
The list is now 3 items long!

What you'll need

light brown sugar ~ 1/2 cup
cinnamon powder ~ 1 1/2 teaspoons
butter/room temp ~ 1/2 cup
sugar ~ 2/3 cup
Eggs ~ 2
vanilla extract ~ 1 tablespoon (mine had the villa seeds in :)
all purpose/plain flour ~ 1 1/2 cup
baking powder ~ 1 1/2 teaspoons
milk ~ 1/2 cup
Apple, peeled chopped finely ~ 1 apple


Preheat the oven to 180/350 degrees

Grease 9x5 loaf pan or use a silicone pan.

Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside

In a mixing bowl add the sugar and butter and mix until smooth
add the eggs and vanilla and mix well until all mixed
add the flour and baking powder and mix well
add the milk and milk well.

pour 1/2 the batter into the loaf pan.
add 1/2 the chopped apples and push them into the batter
sprinkle 2/4 the brown sugar and cinnamon mix over the batter and apples until pretty much all covered.
add the rest of the batter covering the cinnamon sugar
sprinkle the remaining apples over the batter, pressing the apple into the batter
sprinkle the remaining sugar over the batter

bake for 50 minutes

Remove from oven and leave for a about 5 minutes before removing from loaf and pan

Enjoy :)