Cashew Chicken

Last summer my mom and I attended a Christian conference together.  While at the conference we ate at a Chinese restaurant with an amazing Cashew Chicken dish.  It was so good that I still day dream about it.  In hopes of making my Cashew Chicken dreams a reality, I ordered it at two of my regular Chinese places and was sorely disappointed both times.  I gave it a go on my own and while this isn't the exact recipe I've been dreaming of it definitely blew away the two places I had ordered from! 

Cashew Chicken  Source: Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons dry sherry (or cooking wine, or omit)
2 teaspoons minced, peeled fresh ginger (I didn't have fresh ginger so I substituted 1/8 tsp of ground ginger instead.  This was a little light on the ginger but we liked it)
3½ teaspoons cornstarch, divided
Coarse salt
½ cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 cup unsalted cashews
2 green onions, white and green parts divided and thinly sliced


Directions:


1. In a medium bowl, toss the chicken with the sherry, ginger, and 1½ teaspoons cornstarch; season with coarse salt. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the chicken broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and 2 teaspoons cornstarch. Set aside.
3. In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add half of the chicken and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover with foil. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to the skillet and cook the remaining chicken (reduce the heat if the chicken is over-browning). Transfer to the covered plate.
4. In the same skillet, add the remaining teaspoon of vegetable oil. Add the cashews, garlic, and green onion whites. Cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic begins to soften, about 30 seconds. Whisk the sauce again to combine and add to the skillet along with the chicken. Cook until the sauce thickens, about 30 seconds.
5. Serve over rice or noodles and top with the green onion greens.

Vanilla Wafer Babies

I've kept a little secret from you and just can't keep it any longer!  We are adding a GIRL to the family!!!  I am so excited :)  I kept this pregnancy a secret mainly because I was so unbelievably, terribly sick for nearly 4 months! Of course everyone who lives near me knew I was pregnant, I was too sick to go anywhere or even take care of my two boys. I started feeling better around 16-17 weeks and decided just to wait the additional 3.5 weeks until my 20 week sonogram so I could announce our baby on the blog as a boy or girl :)  I was shocked to find out that it was a girl, although everyone else guessed it ahead of time! 

Back in the days when I could barely eat anything I saw these adorable Vanilla Wafer Babies at Flexible Dreams and immediately book marked them for when I would get to make this announcement!  This are so super easy to make and would make great party favors for a baby shower or as a gift to friends to announce your pregnancy.

Vanilla Wafer Babies  Source: Flexible Dreams

Ingredients:

Vanilla Wafers

Icing (Your favorite for decorating sugar cookies) 

Blue or Pink food gel

Sprinkles for a hair bow if a girl

Black icing (I recommend store bought)

*Flexible Dreams used colored chocolate melts for hers.  Either way would be yummy!

Directions:

1. Make icing and dye to desired color.

2. Dip the top 1/4 or so of the Vanilla Wafer into the frosting to make a little hat.

3. Place on a drying rack.

4. Before the icing hardens add a little sprinkle for a hair bow.

5. Using a Wilton tip #4 carefully add two black eyes (or brown or blue or green :)

6. Draw on the mouth.  I used a toothpick, but if you are making a lot for a shower I would recommend an icing bag fitted with Wilton tip #4 for this too.

7. Allow to harden.

This post linked to:  Sweets for a Saturday #10 at Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Quick Sliders

I like the good 'ol basics.  Pizza is my favorite food, burgers and fries (you can't separate them!) are my second.  Usually we when have burgers Matt grills them for me.  This is great because I have a little break but can be inconvenient on those nights he comes home hungry.  One of the things that drew me to this recipe was that they are baked in the oven.  I was able to brown the ground beef and get the sliders oven-ready during the boy's nap time and just pop them in the oven before dinner.  Not only did these taste great but I still got to relax right before Matt got home. Perfect! 

Quick Sliders  Source: Indigo's Sugar Spectrum

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef

¾ of an envelope onion soup mix (I used the whole packet)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
24 dinner rolls, split

Directions:

1. Preheat an oven to 350 F. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. Mix together the ground beef and onion soup mix in a large skillet; cook and stir over medium-high heat until the beef is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain and discard any excess grease.

3. Remove ground beef from heat. The directions at Indigo's Sugar Spectrum indicate to let the meat cool completely before you stir the mayonnaise and Cheddar cheese into the ground beef mixture.  I am not sure why it says to do that if you are planning to bake it immediately after you mix everything up, but since I did the prep work earlier in the day it worked out perfectly for me.

4. Lay the bottoms of the dinner rolls on the prepared baking sheet. Distribute the hamburger mixture evenly over the bottom half of each roll. Replace the tops. Cover with another sheet of aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until the burgers are heated through and cheese melts, about 30 minutes.