TERIYAKI PINEAPPLE CHICKEN

I saw a teriyaki pineapple chicken recipe on line and thought it looked good, so I thought I would try it. The problem was that I couldn't find the exact recipe again. I thought I'll just give it a go on my own. This is what I came up with.

What you need:

2 to 3 boneless chicken breasts sliced into bite sized pieces

1- 8 ounce or bigger can of pineapple chunks with juice

1- 10 ounce bottle of  teriyaki marinade and sauce

1- bag of fresh stir fry vegetables

garlic powder to taste

pepper to taste

five spice to taste

cornstarch mixed with water 

Directions:

Cut chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and place them in a big bowl

Add pineapple juice from canned pineapples to bowl. Place pineapples chunks aside.

Add 1/2 bottle of teriyaki marinade and sauce to chicken

Add garlic powder, pepper, five spice to chicken and mix all well

Heat a skillet over medium low heat and add sesame oil

When the oil is hot, add the chicken and once it starts cooking add fresh vegetables and stir.

Pour in the rest of the bottle of teriyaki marinade and sauce (or you could use less if you like) and stir everything once again.

Put cover on top and let it cook until the chicken is cooked through - about 10 minutes.

Put the pineapple chunks in at the end and let them warm through.

Mix cornstarch with water

Push meat and veggies to the outer rim of the skillet and add the cornstarch to the sauce in the middle. 

Mix cornstarch with sauce until sauce thickens. If you need to add more cornstarch/water mixture to thicken sauce, do so until the sauce is the thickness you want it.

Mix chicken, veggies, pineapple and sauce together. 

Pour mixture over rice and serve.

Spaghetti Sauce

 A few years back I started making my own spaghetti sauce because I could add what I wanted and make it less sweet than jarred sauce.  Here is the simple recipe.

Recipe and directions:

1 pound hamburger

1 28 ounce canned crushed tomatoes (I use basil and garlic.)

1 6 ounce can tomato paste

1 8 ounce can of tomato sauce

1 container of mushrooms (I like portabella.)

3 cloves garlic or garlic powder to taste

1 tablespoon basil or Italian seasonings

pepper to taste

1/4 cup sugar (more or less to taste)

Brown the burger.

In a food processor, combine diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, mushrooms, garlic cloves, Italian seasons and pepper. Blend all ingredients. Slowly spread sugar over top of sauce and blend some more.

Poor sauce mixture over browned burger and let simmer for 20 minutes on medium low heat with cover on.

Cook your noodles while the sauce is simmering. 

Blueberry Pie

I've tried a few different recipes for fresh blueberry pie but the one out of the 1989 Betty Crocker cookbook is the best. 

Recipe...

Buy 2 ready made pie crusts for a 9 inch pie

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (if desired)
4 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice (store bought or fresh squeezed)
2 tablespoons margarine or butter (you can use salted or unsalted)

Heat oven to 425 degrees
Prepare your bottom pastry in the pie pan
Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon together and then stir in blueberries
Pour blueberry mixture into pie crust and sprinkle lemon juice on top
Cut up butter into small pieces and place all over top of blueberries
Cover with top crust and cut slits into top
Press edges of top and bottom pie crusts together
Cover edges of pie with 2 to 3 inch strip of aluminum foil. Remove foil last 15 minutes of baking

Bake until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust - 35 to 45 minutes

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I made an egg wash and added pink course sugar since I couldn't find my clear course sugar.

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think.

Thanks, Jearise

Crepe Recipes (easy verses regular recipe)

I tried two different recipes and I have to say it's best to take the long road instead of the easy road.

I made the easy recipe first and tried it twice with two different variations but it still made more like pancakes instead of crepes. I finally took the good things out of the Betty Crocker recipe and added them to the easy recipe and it made the crepes much better.  If you want a quick crepe recipe that only makes a enough crepes for four people, this will work but follow my variations of the recipe.


Easy Crepe Recipe: 

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs

Combine all dry ingredients and then mix in milk, vanilla and salt plus and 2 eggs.  Add all ingredients to your blender and blend until it's a thin runny consistency without lumps.

Heat a small round non stick pan over medium low heat. 

Pour a round amount of batter in the pan and then swirl the batter around in the pan to thinly coat the whole bottom of the pan.

When bubbles form, time to flip the crepe. Crepes cook fast so be ready!

Put your favorite filling in your crepes and serve. 

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Betty Crocker Crepe Recipe taken from the 1989 cookbook.

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons margarine or butter melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Mix all dry ingredients and add in milk and butter plus vanilla. Finally blend in eggs.  I have mixed this in a bowl and then added it to a blender and blend it to make sure there were no clumps. I also found it's easier to pour from the mixer carafe. 

Heat a small round non stick pan over medium low heat. 

Pour a round amount of batter in the pan and then swirl the batter around in the pan to thinly coat the whole bottom of the pan.

When bubbles form, time to flip the crepe. Crepes cook fast so be ready!

Put your favorite filling in your crepes and serve.

I found this Citron Tea at our local H Mart. It's a type of orange marmalade that is perfect for the inside of the crepes.

Fruit Pizza

I used packaged puff pastry to make this fruit pizza. It makes the fruit pizza taste like cream cheese strudel with fruit. The family LOVED it!

Recipe:

Crust...

cookie sheet sprayed with non stick spray
refrigerator puff pastry, rolled out out on a cookie sheet and bake according to package directions
*Leave rolled out pastry in the over for around 10 minutes. You'll need to check it so it doesn't over bake.

** The package directions on the brand I used were for filled puff pastry baking and I realized to late that leaving the pastry in the oven for the full 15 to 20 minutes was too much.

Let the pastry cool completely. It'll be easier to spread the cream cheese mix on and easier to get the pastry off the pan once cut into squares.

Cream Cheese Spread...

1 package cream cheese (8 oz package) softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Fruit Topping...

2 kiwi peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup halved or cubed strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries

**Stay away from fruits that turn brown like bananas and apples.

Spread the cream cheese mixture on the cooled puff pastry and then add cut up fruit.

Cut your fruit pizza into squares and serve.

NOTES...

You can use a sugar cookie recipe for the crust just follow the recipe and pat out in a round pizza pan and then bake according to recipe temperature and time.

You can also use the packaged sugar cookie recipe and just do as above.

As always, if you try this recipe or have tried another one, let me know how it went.

Deep Fried Shrimp

I love shrimp but always steam it because it's an easy peasy recipe for me but tonight I thought I would try deep frying it instead. I found the recipe I used in my Betty Crocker 1980's cookbook and thought I would give it a try.

I learned a few tips while making this so follow along and the recipe is at the end.

I had one pound fresh shrimp with shells on so the first thing I did was take the shells off. Trick to this is to pinch the tail until that comes off and then take the rest of the shell off.

The recipe says to get your oil heated as you are prepping. I was using a cast iron Dutch oven and discovered the oil got too hot way before I was done prepping the shrimp.

I found that the flour mixture that is used first in the recipe can be combined in a bowl and poured over the shrimp and then the flour mixture bowl can be used again at the end to put the fried shrimp in once you fried them.

Sorry the pictures blurred. I usually take multiple pictures to ensure a good one but didn't this time. Yikes!

I found it's easiest to put only a few shrimp in the egg mixture at a time and then the key to not having the bread crumbs clump on the shrimp is to shake the excess egg off before dredging the shrimp in the breadcrumbs.

I also found using a spoon to spoon the breadcrumbs over the shrimp was a lot easier then trying to move them around in the breadcrumbs.

Finally, make sure to use a thermometer that reaches at least 375 degrees. I couldn't find mine for the first batch and they were a little on the overdone side. I also discovered that my shrimp cooked in less than 2 minutes like the recipe calls for. That could be because of using the cast iron Dutch oven and because I only cooked small batches at a time. You'll know they're done when they break apart from the clump that they are in when you first submerge them and float to the top. You'll be able to see the brownness of the breadcrumbs.

Here is the recipe...

Deep Fried Shrimp

Vegetable oil for frying
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
1 pound shelled shrimp
2 eggs, beaten (the recipe says slightly beaten but I think it's better to beat them fully.)
1 cup dry bread crumbs (I used Progresso parmesan breadcrumbs.)

Get oil ready in deep fryer or dutch oven. Turn temperature on low to begin. Once shrimp are ready to fry, get oil temperature up to 375 degrees F.

Shell shrimp.

Mix flour, salt and pepper. Coat shrimp with flour mixture; dip into beaten eggs, and then coat with bread crumbs. 

Fry until golden brown around 2 minutes or less.

*Recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook revised edition 1989.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you try this recipe.

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