orange chicken

I love chinese/oriental food, and especially orange chicken.

One night I was needing a quick dinner so I grabbed my almost-ready orange chicken box and egg rolls from the freezer and I thought I was in business. Sadly, I found out I'd used the sauce packet on a previous batch of orange chicken, so I had no ORANGE flavoring to add to my chicken.

Thank heavens for technology, cooking websites, pictures, and people's reviews. I found this sauce recipe. It had great flavor and really hit the spot. I hope to try the FULL version of this recipe very soon! The sauce was wonderful!

Spicy Orange Chicken
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Description

My Spicy Orange Chicken has the same flavor profile as its take-out counterpart, Orange Chicken: the sweet orange, the spicy chilies, and the Asian condiments. I make this without oil, making something much lighter and very tasty.

Ingredients

Sauce: 

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce didn't have any to use this time
  
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, grated (or 1/2 t. ground ginger)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (modified from 1 t.)

Chicken & veggies:

• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced, white parts and tops separated
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, sliced into rings
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup sugar snap peas
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons grated orange zest
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions

1. Whisk orange juice, brown sugar, rice vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce, ginger, and crushed red pepper flakes in a large bowl.
2. Mix in chicken pieces and toss to evenly coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Remove chicken from refrigerator and drain thoroughly in colander, reserving marinade.
4. Heat a large non-stick skillet over high heat. Cook and stir chicken for 2 minutes; spoon out any excess liquid.
5. Continue to cook and stir until chicken caramelizes, 6 to 7 minutes.
6. Stir in white portions of green onions, garlic, and orange zest; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Pour in half of reserved marinade. Simmer until reduced and thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.
8. Stir in jalapeno pepper, bell pepper, and sugar snap peas; cook and stir until vegetables are warmed, about 2 minutes.
9. Stir in green portions of green onions; cook and stir 1 minute.
10. Remove from heat. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

{our best bites} everyday cinnamon rolls

I love cinnamon rolls, and I think I always have. My mom made orange rolls & cinnamon rolls for our Christmas morning breakfasts for as long as I can remember; I continue to carry this tradition on with my family. :) I remember getting a Cinnabon at the mall as a special treat on our way home from the mall. Sometimes we'd take a WHOLE box home and I loved seeing Dad's face light up as we showed them to him. Anyway, I love cinnamon rolls and the happiness they bring to everyone!

My sweet mother-in-law celebrated her birthday and we kids, and grandkids met up at her house for a birthday breakfast. I tested out this new cinnamon roll recipe and IT.WAS.A.HUGE.HIT! They were fantastic! The birthday girl even commented that she hadn't had a GOOD cinnamon roll in a LONG time and it tasted so good! I guess that means I should write this recipe down and USE it some more!

{our best bites} Everyday Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted by Our Best Bites from Allrecipes
Yield: 12 rolls- which means you at least need to double this recipe ;)

Ingredients:
Dough

1 cup milk

4 Tbs butter, cut into chunks

3 1/4 – 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1 (.25 ounce) package instant or ‘rapid rise’ yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp)

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg 

 

Filling

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, softened 

 

Icing (or use this cream cheese frosting recipe for your heavenly icing)
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
2 T melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbs milk 

 

Directions:

Dough: 

1.   Place milk and 4 Tbs butter in a microwave safe bowl. Heat on high for 1 minute 30 seconds. Butter should be at least partially melted. Stir and set aside. 
2. In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 C flour, yeast, white sugar, and salt. When milk mixture has cooled to warm (not hot) add it to the flour mixture along with the egg while the beater (paddle attachment for those using a stand mixer) is running. Beat until well combined, about 1 minute. 
3. (Switch to the dough hook now) Add remaining flour only until dough barely leaves the sides of the bowl. It should be very soft and slightly sticky. Continue to let the dough knead for 5 minutes. If you are not using a stand mixer, turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 5 minutes by hand.  
4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and let rest for about 10 minutes while you make the filling.

Filling: make sure butter is softened well. Mix with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Assembly:

1. Roll dough into a rectangle about 12 x 14 inches. Spread brown sugar mixture (it will be slightly thick, you might have to “crumble” it) over the surface and use your fingers or the back of a spoon to gently spread around. 
2. Roll up from the longer side of the rectangle and pinch edges closed. Score the roll into 12 equal pieces and then cut into rolls. Place in a 9 x 13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. 
3. Cover pan with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. In the mean time, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When rolls have finished rising bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. If desired spread with icing while still warm. Makes 12 rolls.

{cinnabon's frosting clone} cream cheese frosting

Thank you Pinterest! for helping me find this recipe! I LOVE cream cheese frosting and this is delicious! This recipe comes from allrecipes.com

Cream Cheese Frosting - for cinnamon rolls
Yield: frosting for 12 rolls, or a single batch

3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/8. t salt

Directions:
1. Beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. 
2. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

*Note: When I make cinnamon rolls, which is possibly 2-3 times per year, I make them in large quantities, so I usually 2-3xs this recipe to have enough frosting. I even had some leftover- good thing I know where the spoons are. ;) YUMMY!

{family recipe} aunt karen's potato rolls

My Aunt Karen has always been a great baker. I fondly remember her family bringing in multiple trays of rolls as they'd walk into our house for our Christmas Eve celebration. Her rolls are wonderful, heavenly almost (much like her pear crumb pie). Somehow, my Mom got a hold of her roll recipe and she shared it with me! Hooray! (I love that it uses powdered milk and potato flakes from our food storage.) 

Ingredients:
2 c. warm water
2/3 c. powdered milk
1/2 c. instant potato flakes
1/4 c. shortening, melted or softened
1/4 c. butter, melted or softened
1/2 T. salt
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 T. instant yeast (or other with warm water)
5 - 5 1/2 c. flour

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients & half the flour in mixer bowl until well mixed. 
2. Use dough hook and add other flour until soft dough (until a wooden spoon just stands up in center of dough).
3. Knead by hand or in mixer. Let rise until double. 
4. Punch down. Shape into rolls- crescents (2 circles, 16" each) or balls (32) or parker house style. 
5. Raise again until double.
6. Bake @ 375* for 15 minutes or 'til browned.

pb banana bread

I made this Reese's pb banana bread before, and it was good, but needed better overall flavor. (Don't get me wrong- the mini pb cups are wonderful! The bread was a little lacking, I thought.) 

So I set out to find another pb banana bread recipe. I found this one and it turned out delicious!

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Description

Classic banana bread with a generous helping of peanut butter makes this easy loaf a delicious breakfast treat or snack.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 cup mashed very ripe banana
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1-2 c. chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 4x8-inch loaf pan.
2. Beat peanut butter and shortening in a bowl. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Beat one egg into peanut butter mixture until completely blended before beating in the second egg. Stir in mashed banana.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Stir flour mixture into banana mixture alternately with buttermilk, mixing until batter is just blended. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

reese's pb banana bread

This recipe was flying around Pinterest when I first came into the Pinterest world, possibly 2+ years ago (?). It looked like it'd be an instant sucess, and it WAS very good, but the overall flavor of the bread was not all I'd hoped it'd be, and it kind of crumbled and fell apart.

But, it was in fact delicious so it earns a spot here on my blog.

Reese's pb banana bread

Recipe from cookiesandcups.com

Ingredients

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup Canola or Vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 oz bag of Reese’s Mini cups

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease your loaf pan (I used an 8 x 4 pan) with butter or shortening.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.
4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars.
5. Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy. DO NOT OVER-STIR.
6. Fold in your Reese’s Mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and remove from loaf pan, transferring bread to a cooling rack.

Author's Notes:

*I bake my breads in a stone loaf pan, but certainly you don’t have to. BUT if you notice the bread browning too fast, lower the temperature down to 325° and loosely tent it with foil.

**Also, some readers have noticed that if you over-stir the batter the texture will be crumbly, so make sure not to over-stir!

{our best bites} spaghetti & meatballs

I've been trying some new recipes in the cookbooks I love looking through here at my house. They always look so delicious and pretty.  I decided I'd try this spaghetti & meatballs recipe and see how it holds up to my old stand-by of Ultimate Spaghetti & Meatballs. This recipe was yummy and I think it had a few less ingredients than my other recipe. I'll definitely put this on on our list. ;)

Recipe & Pictures from Our Best Bites

Italian Meatballs:
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. Italian sausage
1/4 c. dry bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. dehydrated onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. parsley
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt*
*If you want, you could substitute all the Italicized ingredients with 3 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning found here.

Directions: 

1. Gently combine meatball ingredients in a medium bowl. Shape into balls, whatever size you like, but I prefer using my standard cookie scoop (about 1 Tbsp.) to shape meat into balls and then rolling it between my hands to make them even more round. 
2. Place on a broiler pan and broil until the meatballs start to brown–I actually use my toaster oven. Just because I can. ;) Remove from oven and set aside until ready to use (or freeze for later use).

Recipe & Picture from Our Best Bites

Spaghetti and Meatballs
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 italian meatballs recipe, see above
 
Sauce
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
Olive oil
2 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes
16 oz. tomato sauce
1-2 Tbsp. sugar (to taste)
2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of baking soda (to help neutralize the acid)

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant. 
2. Add remaining sauce ingredients and combine well. Bring to a simmer and add meatballs. 
3. Simmer on low, uncovered, until desired consistency is reached–about 25-30 minutes for a sauce that’s of medium consistency.
4. Serve over hot spaghetti (shhhhh…I used linguine!), maybe with some breadsticks and some freshly grated Parmesan on top. Serves a lot–like probably 12 regular people or 2 teenage boys.

FREEZER MEAL INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Prepare meatballs as directed, but divide the meatballs among two freezer-safe containers. 
2. Prepare sauce through adding all ingredients to the pan, but don’t simmer; rather, divide the sauce among the two containers. Freeze until ready to use. 
3. When ready to use, place in slow cooker and cook on low for about 5-6 hours, although you’ll want to keep an eye on the sauce and make sure it’s not burning if you go for the whole 6 hours.