Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice

I have had some SERIOUS happy cooking mojo lately.

This is another pinterest recipe gone good.

And other than being a little time consuming, it was SO easy. I'm definitely putting it on my "recipe staples" list.

We've been updating our laundry room this week...

And by updating I mean we poured concrete counter tops, ripped out and patched, mudded, and sanded drywall, painting, etc. etc.... bla bla bla.

And by WE I mean my husband did almost all of that by himself... (I'm pregnant...I have excuses.)



So needless to say I have been NOT cleaning. And NOT doing laundry.

Other than playing with my adorable baby kid all day, I'm starting to get kind of bored.



Solution: Make everything I want from Pinterest.
You should do it too.

But first, make everything from my blog. :)

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice

Ingredients:
3 chicken breast, cubed
salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup olive oil

Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
4 TBS ketchup
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1 TBS soy sauce
1large garlic clove, minced or grated

Fried Rice:
2-3 cups cooked brown rice
3 TBS olive oil
1 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce

Directions:
For the Chicken:
Preheat oven to 350.

Season the cubed chicken with salt and pepper. Coat completely with cornstarch and then dip in the eggs. Heat the oil in a skillet and cook the chicken until browned but not COMPLETELY cooked through.

Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Pour the chicken in a greased 9x13 dish and pour the sauce mix evenly over the top of the chicken

Bake for an hour, flipping the chicken every 15 minutes. (This is the relatively time consuming part.)

For the Fried Rice:

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium/high heat. Saute the peas, carrots, onions, and garlic until softened. Lower the heat to medium, push the vegetable mixture to one side and scramble the egg in the center of the pan. Once the egg is cooked add the rice and soy sauce and mix everything together. Fry until completely heated through. 

This is the first time that I actually made fried rice successfully. And by successfully I mean it tasted like the kind you get at a restaurant. 

Recipe by: Life as a Lofthouse



I paired this with baked egg rolls....YUM-O.

Summer Salad

I warned you that summer was here and therefore I am busy.



You haven't seen many blog posts this season, but don't worry. I have about a billion lined up just waiting for text.

This summer has been a mixture of crazy and fun. Let me just cue you in on a few points.

My sister is pregnant.
My sister in law is pregnant.
My OTHER sister in law is pregnant.
I'M PREGNANT! (6 weeks...)

My parents took on a new church in a new area.
They're moving.

We vacationed, put on a conference with 1000 teenagers, updated multiple areas of our house. We went to the beach, traveled, had multiple sets of company.

I planned two elaborate baby showers...and am currently making plans for a wedding I'm in this fall.
AND I HAVE A CHILD UNDER THE AGE OF 1. That right there tops everything.

Those are just a FEW of the major things we took part in this summer, but here's something to know: during all of those previously mentioned fun and crazy things, we ate food! I know... you're surprised.

So I have many recipes, some crappy pictures, and about 20 blog posts waiting to be published. Over the next few weeks I'll share some of the things I made this summer.



Starting with this salad.

I don't even know what to say about this salad other than OOHHH EMMMM GEEEEE!

It is SO good.

I called it a "Summer Salad" because I don't know where the recipe originally came from; therefore, I don't know what it's originally called. Plus I made it this summer...and it has so many delicious things in it that I couldn't call it a chicken salad, or even a berry salad. So it's a summer salad.

If this isn't summery, then I don't know what is.

Summer Salad

Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
Mixture of romaine lettuce and spring mix
1 lb strawberries, sliced
1 cup blueberries
2/3 cup blue cheese
1 cup honey roasted peanuts
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:
I personally don't think you can wreck salad...so that's why I don't have real quantity measurements for the lettuce. Start with as much lettuce as you think appropriate (I probably did 6 or 7 cups) in a large serving bowl (this is a large salad.) Place the shredded chicken in the center of the lettuce. Spread the berries around the outside of the chicken. Sprinkle the blue cheese over the whole thing. Spread the peanuts in the center and drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over the entire salad. Finish with salt and pepper.

If you are skeptical of the dressing, you could leave it out and serve something else on the side. But know this: every time I've had this or made this people wonder what in the world is in the dressing...and NO ONE has ever said they didn't like it.



Recipe from: I'm not sure, but I wish I had made it up.

Chicken Stuffed Croissants

I wish you could taste test through the internet.

I just don't think that anything I can say will do this recipe the justice it deserves. So you should be able to taste test. 

Someone get on that already.

These are seriously SOOOO good. Warm, gooey cheese mixed with chicken chunks, onion, and garlic stuffed inside a buttery, flakey croissant... You know you want a taste test.

Actually, just go in your kitchen and make them. 

Now. 

And then eat them all. 

This is one of those recipes that I'm pretty sure you just can't mess up. You really can't go wrong with stuffing delicious cheese mixtures into bread. 

And they are actually quite filling so I usually serve these as our main dish. However, I have made mini versions for a party once and everyone thought I was cool.

Or they were cool. 

I can't quite remember...

Serve these hot. 

Or cold. 

For lunch.

Or dinner.

In sickness. 

And in...Ok ok. I'm not going to say these are so good you should marry them. 

I mean, that would be crazy...

But seriously. 

Go. Make. Them. Now.

Chicken Stuffed Croissants

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into chunks

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 tbsp butter

1 8oz. package cream cheese

2 cans buttery crescent rolls (regular size)

1 egg white mixed with 1 tsp water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a skillet, melt butter and sautée onion and garlic until translucent and kind of caramely. Pour the onion, garlic, butter, and cooked chicken chunks over the cream cheese and mix. It is a lot easier to mix if you do it while it's hot. 

On a greased cookie sheet, spread the crescent rolls out. Pinch and seal two triangles together to create a rectangle. Repeat with remaining rolls. (Each package should make four large rectangles.)

Place a large spoonful on each dough square. Pull each corner to the top and seal. 

Once all the rolls are stuffed and sealed, brush a thin layer of the egg white mixture on each top. (I always sprinkle a little garlic salt and shredded parmesan on each one before baking, but that is completely optional.)

Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Recipe adapted from: Allrecipes.com

Just say "I do" already.

Roasted Garlic and Chicken Pizza

Everything about this pizza is my favorite.


Thing #1: It has cheese. A lot of cheese. If you know me at all, you know I have a serious thing for cheese. When I was a kid I used to take handfuls of cheese, melt it on a plate in the microwave, and eat it with a fork.

Extreme cheese love.


Thing #2: It has garlic. Ask the man in my house... I "garlicify" EVERYTHING. I'm one of those people that would rather have something garlicky for breakfast over pancakes. Or french toast.

I probably smell great all the time.


Thing #3: Well it has a bunch of other good stuff too. Like chicken. And homemade dough. And cheese.

Okay, so now that we've established this is my perfect pizza I should probably tell you how to make it. I'm proud to say that this particular recipe is completely my own creation...aside from the fact that there are probably a million other garlic and chicken pizza recipes... I didn't read those. I made this one up.


The star ingredient on this pizza is the roasted garlic. If you've never had it before, it's not as potent as fresh garlic... so you have an excuse to use a lot of it.

ROAST YOUR GARLIC. It is amazing. And super easy.


Ok I guess I lied. I didn't make up the dough. I totally use the recipe off the back of the yeast packet, but I swear it's the best. I like to let the dough rise even though it isn't required. The garlic roasts for 30 minutes anyway, so you have time.

I make a quick white sauce with cream cheese, parmesan, and italian seasoning. This sauce really is customizable. Honestly the inspiration behind the sauce is Philadelphia Cooking Creme. I saw a recipe online one day that called for the cooking creme, but I didn't have any and had no intentions of driving all the way into town for it. So I made my own. I won't claim its as easy as the creme, but its tasty. Thats the whole point anyway.

Layer everything on your incredible homemade dough. Top with tons of cheese. Bake.

And no that is not too much garlic.



Roasted Garlic and Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 3/4 - 2 1/4 cups flour
1 envelope Fleischmann's Pizza Yeast
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup warm water
3 tbsp olive oil
Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
4 oz cream cheese
2 cups of milk
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp oregano
(you can use 1-2 tsp italian seasoning in place of previous 4 ingredients)
salt and pepper to taste
Toppings:
1-2 heads of roasted garlic, cut into small chunks
1/2 onion, sliced
2 chicken breasts, cubed and cooked
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For the dough: Combine 1 cup of flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil and mix until well blended. Gradually add the remaining flour until a soft dough ball is formed. The dough will be slightly sticky. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Allow dough to rise in a covered bowl for 1/2 - 1 hour.

For the sauce: Melt the butter in a sauce pan and the whisk in the flour until well combined. Slowly add the milk stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Add cream cheese and parmesan and stir until melted. Add the remaining seasonings. Watch the consistency of the sauce and add more milk as desired. Depending on the heat of my stove and the consistency of the cheese, I sometimes add a little more milk so it's not too thick.

Spread your dough onto a cookie sheet or pizza stone. Top with sauce, garlic, chicken, onions, and cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is browned.


No one has ever not liked this.