General Tso's Chicken

I have to say, The flavor of the dish is right up there with my bourbon chicken.  I pretty much followed the directions & the sauce was very gelatinous.  Hopefully the way I have it posted will fix that problem.  Unfortunately, I wont know until I make it again.  So, if you do make it, report back to me.  Serve over rice & with some stir fry veggies to balance out the meal.  Egg rolls would have been a nice addition too!

Servings 5

Ingredients

 

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

Cornstarch for dredging the chicken about 1/2-3/4 cup

1 cup green onions, sliced

4 small dried chilies, seeds removed (thai chilies are good, I used serrano peppers)

Sauce

1/8 cup cornstarch

1/8 cup water

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/8 cup white vinegar

1/8 cup white wine

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

 8 ounces chicken broth

 

Instructions

 

Place all the sauce ingredients in a bowl, mix well & set aside

Chop chicken into bite size pieces.  Place cornstarch for dredging chicken in a zip lock bag or in a bow.  Add chicken and toss to coat chicken in cornstarch.  Place a little oil in a pan & heat until hot.  Add chicken and cook until brown on all sides. I had to do this in batches, set the chicken aside once cooked.  Add green onions and peppers into the pan and cook for 30 seconds. Add sauce and stir until thick, if your pan is still hot from cooking the chicken & onions, the sauce should thicken right up.  Add in chicken into the sauce. Cook till the sauce starts to bubble (to ensure you don't get a yucky corn starch taste). 

Bacon Explosion

I had you at bacon didn't I?  I know that's what caught my attention.  While, I have to say, this is not the most budget friendly recipe, it is pretty darn tasty.  Being tasty is definitely a pro on this recipe, the con...I had to run a clean cycle on my oven because of all the grease.  The house got pretty smokey for a while.  Now, I hope my instructions, with the pictures make sense.

Servings 8

Ingredients

Ingredients

1 pound bacon 
1 pound ground beef
1/2 a roll of sausage  
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

Cooking Directions

1. Layout 3X3 bacon weave, bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until near crisp
2. Create meat mixture by mixing the beef and sausage together
3. Layout meat in a rectangle the same size as the first bacon weave
4. Season meat and then place bacon weave on meat
5. Place cheese in center of bacon
6. Roll meat into a tight roll, then refrigerate
7. Make 5x5 bacon weave
8. Roll bacon weave over meat at a diagonal pattern
9. Bake at 400 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees
10. Let set for 10 minutes and then slice and enjoy!

The first step is to foil line a pan and make the internal bacon weave.  This weave will be a 3×3.  Line up three slices and cut 3 slices in half, then start weaving bacon in until you get a three by three.  Bake this weave in the oven @ 400 degrees until mostly done.

 The next step is to lay some saran wrap or foil on a board and using your hands form a rectangle.  At this point you can season the meat with some seasoning if you would like.  I forgot to get  picture of my seasoning, but I ended up seasoning with some bbq rub.  At this point your 3×3 weave should be ready. You don’t want it to be completely hard because this one needs to be flexible. Carefully move the bacon on top of the meat.  I used my flexible spatula, but anything will work.

Now, put your favorite cheese in the center, I used cheddar cheese.

At this point, you need to roll the meat up.  Try and have as clean a roll as possible.  That way your cheese doesn't squirt out the ends.  Mush your ends up tight.  At this point, it is easier to work with if it is a little cold.  So, I wrapped it in foil and put it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or so.  Also, during the process I tried to compress it as much as possible with the foil.

Now, that you had practice on the first bacon weave, now it's time to do another.  I made a 5X5 because that's how much bacon I had.   Now, take the meat out of the refrigerator and place it approximately as shown.  Then wrap the weave over top and tuck it in on the other side.  A lot of the other wraps shown on the internet wrap horizontally.  This is not nearly as cool, wrapping on a diagonal makes a much nicer final product.  It also works better when you cut it.

 Here is what it looks like before the oven, looks tasty, doesn't it??!!  I used the same pan as before for the first weave hence why it is dirty (and probably the smokey kitchen).  I put it on a rack so the bottom cooks as well.

 And there you have it!  I baked it for around 60 minutes on 400 degrees.  But I mainly checked it until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees.  I served it with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Crockpot Chipotle Pulled Pork/Chicken

The name of this recipes says it all!  Can you say yummy deliciousness?  The avocado on top of the sandwich, really pulled the sandwich together & balanced the heat.  One of the things I liked about this recipe is that the sauce is added at the end.  So, before I poured the sauce over the pork, I pulled out some pork for my girls, since they don't like spicy foods.  This is definitely going to make my top 10 recipes.  I am ready to try is with some chicken! 

Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 boneless pork shoulder (3 lb), trimmed of fat
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
2 canned chipotle chiles, finely chopped(seeds removed)-I used a food processor for this.
1 tablespoon adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles
8-10 burger buns, split
2 medium avocados, pitted, peeled and thinly sliced

Directions

Spray 4- to 5-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In small bowl, mix brown sugar, salt, garlic powder, mustard and chili powder. Rub seasoning mixture over pork. Place pork in cooker. Sprinkle any remaining seasoning mixture that doesn't stick to pork over top of pork in cooker.
Cover; cook on Low heat setting 7 to 8 hours.
Remove pork from cooker; place on cutting board. Remove liquid from cooker; skim fat from liquid and reserve liquid. Cool pork slightly. With 2 forks, shred pork. Return to cooker. Stir tomato sauce, chipotle chiles and adobo sauce into shredded pork. If desired, stir in some of the reserved cooking liquid for desired moistness. 
Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook 15 to 30 minutes longer or until hot. Spoon about 1/3 cup pork mixture into each bun. Place a few slices of avocado over pork in each bun. Pork mixture can be kept warm on Low heat setting up to 2 hours; stir occasionally.