Sesame Chicken

Okay Jenn, I thought I would give Sesame Chicken a try. This is actually my sister Jamie's recipe (maybe she should post something..right Jam). Shawn and I thought it was good.

Sauce:

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 T. soy sauce

1 T. toasted sesame oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 tsp. grated ginger root

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. sugar

Chicken:

1/2 cup flour

2 T. sesame sees

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup milk

cooking oil for frying

1 lb. skinless chicken thighs cut into small pieces (I used breasts)

Vegetables:

1 T. cooking oil

2 zucchini, cut into strips (I didn't have any zucchini and was so sad. This would have made a big difference)

1 green bell pepper, cut into strips

6 green onions, cut into strips

(or you can just use a frozen bag or oriental veggies)

Directions:

Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.

In large bowl combine flour, sesame sees, salt and cayenne. In a small bowl combine milk and egg. Add to dry ingredients and beat until smooth. In a wok heat 1/4 inch oil to 365 degrees. Dip chicken into coating and then add to oil. Fry until golden brown and cooked. Drain on paper towels. Cook all chicken and keep warm in oven.

Pour cooking oil for veggies in pan. Stir fry veggies for 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Stir in sauce and cook until thick and bubbly. Add chicken to mixture and stir. Serve with rice. ENJOY!

Mongolian Beef in a Crockpot!!

I got this recipe off http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/ and yes, it is good and even better that you cook it in the crockpot. We really liked the sauce!

--1 1/2 pounds flank steak
--3 cloves of garlic, minced
--4 sliced green onions--one is for garnish
--1 t dried minced onion (or 1/2 fresh onion, diced very small)
--1/2 cup gluten free soy sauce

--1/4 cup white wine
--1/4 cup cooking sherry

(but I didn't have either sherry or wine, so I just substituted 1/2 cup chicken broth and it tasted fine)
--1 T white wine vinegar

--1 t sesame oil
--1 t molasses
--1 t ginger
--1/4 t black pepper
--1 t red chili pepper flakes
--1/2 T peanut butter (if allergic, use black bean paste)
--3 T brown sugar
--1/4 cup cornstarch (to dredge meat--don't add to sauce mixture)

--slice your meat in thin strips and toss in a Ziploc bag with cornstarch.
--add all of the liquid and dried spices to your crockpot, and the peanut butter, and mix well. Add the garlic and three of the sliced green onions. If you are using fresh onion, add that now, too.
--put your meat on top, and toss gingerly to coat.

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. Flank steak is thin and have very little fat, and will cook quickly. There isn't a lot of liquid in this dish, so if your crock tends to cook hot, please check it after 3 hours.

The meat is done when it is no longer pink and has reached desired tenderness. I cooked our meat in a 6qt oval Smart Pot and it was done after 4 hours on low.
Serve over steamed rice and and garnish with freshly sliced green onion.

Sesame Chicken

I'm going to try this Sesame Chicken recipe this week because I love sesame chicken. The only thing that I will do differently, is that I won't deep fry it. I'm going to prepare the chicken just like the way it's prepared in the Tiny Spicy Chicken that Jenn posted, but then I'll do the sesame sauce. Does that make sense?

If it looks like this and tastes like take-out, I'm going to be pretty happy. I'll let you know how it turns out.

It was okay, it wasn't fabulous like it was hyped up to be. The sauce was more red than the brown sauce of sesame chicken. It didn't really even taste like good sesame chicken. It was more like sweet and sour.

I'll keep searching for a good one.

Mar-a-Lago Turkey Burger

A friend of mine made these and because they were so good, I decided to make them too. They were featured on Oprah. My friend's were a little different, but following the recipe produced an equally good, juicy, flavorful turkey burger balanced with tart apples and lemon, sweet chutney, and hot, smokey tabasco. I would definitely half the recipe, because I used about 2-1/2 lbs. of ground turkey and I got about 8 burgers. There's no way the full recipe would only make 8 patties. Oh, and I used half pure turkey breast, half regular ground turkey to keep the price of meat down.

1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
3 Granny Smith apples , peeled and diced
1/8 cup canola oil
4 pounds ground turkey breast
2 Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. black pepper
2 tsp. Tabasco® chipotle pepper sauce
1 lemon , juiced and grated zest
1/2 bunch parsley , finely chopped
1/4 cup Major Grey's Chutney , pureed

Sauté the scallions, celery and apples in the canola oil until tender. Let cool.

Place the ground turkey in a large mixing bowl. Add sautéed items and the remaining ingredients. Shape into eight 8-ounce burgers. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Season the turkey burgers with salt and pepper. Place on a preheated, lightly oiled grill. Grill each side for 7 minutes until meat is thoroughly cooked. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Serve with a side of Mar-a-Lago Pear Chutney and your favorite toasted bread, pita or hamburger roll. (I didn't make this, and the burgers were still good)