Sweet Orange Chicken - Part Two

Monday, Monday, Monday.. it least my kitchen was happy to see me,

So as I unpacked my groceries my kitchen greeted me with a sense of optimism and hope.  After 28 years my kitchen is now home to flour and brown sugar.  I felt very proud that I finally have these two staples in my cupboards.

The recipe was pretty easy to follow but a little finicky. My electric skillet was little small for stir frying and wok purposes.  I had to improvise when combining the sauce vegetables and chicken and put them into a pot on the stove.

Improvised Stir Fry

One Handy Skillet

Sizzle Sizzle

The chicken and the sauce was very tasty. Not my favorite but it wasn't to bad.    I did however have some issues with the Uncle Ben's instant rice.  That was a "Kerri" moment.  So what's the trick to cooking Uncle Ben's in the microwave? I missed the memo on that one. 

Rice or Rice Soup?

Here's my next question to the experts: When cooking with raw chicken and washing the dish in the sink how do ensure that the water is hot enough to kill the bacteria?

Degree of Difficulty 4
Execution 3 (I'm not counting the rice)

Bon Appetit, till next time :)
Kerri

Sweet Orange Chicken - Part One

"Just another Manic Monday" and I have to cook at the end of the day...hmpf

Edmonton has officially fallen back into the hands of old man winter and it is once again a crisp -30.  After a long day at work I came home had a nap and then remembered that I had to attempt a new recipe.  As tired and lazy as I was I dragged myself to Superstore so I could create the "Sweet Orange Chicken Stir Fry"

I got this one from the internet as nothing in the B of B book was appealing to me. The recipe was as follows:

1 tbsp of water
2 tsp of cornstarch ( I used flour and also learned from a work mate that it is used to thicken things, COOL)
1 tsp cooking oil
Boneless chicken thighs
3/4 Cup Carrot ( I used frozen stir fry veggies)
3/4 Cup of Orange Juice
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp Hoisin sauce
A dash of salt and pepper

Stir water into flour and in small cup and set aside.  Heat frying pan or wok on medium high until very hot.  Add cooking oil.  Add chicken.  Stir fry for about 5 minutes until until browned.  Add carrot. 
Combine remaining 6 ingredients in small bowl. Add to chicken mixture.  Stir bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low.  Simmer cover for about 6 minutes until chicken is no longer pink inside and carrot is tender crisp.  Stir flour mixture.  Add to chicken mixture.  Heat and stir for about 1 minute until boiling and thickened.  Serve with rice.

 To see how I executed this recipe see part two. 


Bon Appetit!
KB :) 

A Fun Frosted Day with Family

Greeting from Chef Kerri,

I am a day behind on my weekly Sunday lesson/ blog.  I didn't get into the kitchen yesterday as I spent a day out at the farm with Jason, Tracy, Marian, Tyler and their delightful children.   There is nothing quite like spending quality time with your cousins in the chill of January.  Although I didn't cook there was plenty of great food and excellent lessons to learn.

Owen was very helpful and Swiffered right under the table.

The day started bright and early at 8:30am as I headed out to the farm from the city.  I had to give up my sleep in day but it was worth it.  The brunch featured great coffee, waffles, eggs, toast, fresh fruit and an elk steak.  I didn't eat the Elk Steak but it certainly made me appreciate how awesome my cousins are.  My kitchen lesson from breakfast is as follows: food brings people together, creates warmth and inspires communication. 

The highlight other than the farm hospitality and exceptional food was Jason and Tyler's signature beer and orange juice.  Now that is a breakfast drink of champions!

A busy kitchen full of clever Ward's

I was lucky enough to get to spend the entire day with the family.  
We went to Zumba, went skating on the pond in the back yard and exchanged recipes.  I have several of Tracey's that I am eager to try.  They include her butter chicken, and her stuffed chicken breasts.

We all enjoyed a great  2008  Cab Sav called Fat Bastard with dinner.  Red Wine always makes me feel nostalgic and it was great to have the opportunity to share all my fond memories with Ty and Jay.  I managed to remember all  kinds of stories from our days in Walsh Acres.  Sadly 24 hours later I can't remember much about are discussions from last night.  Basically when I was little I thought they were both pretty darn cool, they are still pretty darn cool and have amazing wives. 

The night ended with a game of Rummi (that was a lesson all in it's self)  The movieVampires Suck and a  lonely chilly drive back to Edmonton.  It was awesome to share such a wonderful Sunday with my family. 

Ethan enjoying some of Auntie Tracey's yummy batter

 Owen is a charming  little chatter box, he takes after me :)

 

Touched by "An Angel Food Cake"

Happy Wednesday
 It was a slippery and rainy day here in Edmonton.   So after work I decided to lighten things up with some baking.

My new baking tools. 

 The extension cord for my block heater had gone missing so I had to take a trip to Canadian Tire.  I used the trip to Canadian Tire as an excuse to buy some new baking equipment.  I invested in a new mixer, mixing bowls and measuring cups.  

Baking has always been a challenge for me.  Past attempts have resulted in minor cupcake fires and flour facials. It almost seems like it might take divine intervention for my baking attempts to be successful.  So I had a little faith and decided to bake an Angel Food Cake.

Will Angels will prevent this cake from falling!

 Let the Baking Begin
The batter formed nicely with the use of my new 250 watt mixer.  It was light and fluffy.  I was challenged as I poured the batter into the Angel Food Pan as it wanted to seep out the bottom.  I called my Angel Network (My Mom) for support and she walked me through it.  The timer on my microwave decided to stop working about 10 minutes after I put the cake in the oven.  So I had to watch the cake and use my intuition. After a very tense 45 minutes and cooling time I had a beautiful cake!

Degree of Difficulty 3
Execution 2 ( Some of the sides of the cake collapsed a little)

Batter Up

Rise Rise Rise

Presenting My Angel Food Cake!

                                                                          

 Bon Appetit
KW

Chicken Parmigiana

It's a sunny Sunday here in Edmonton and a great day to try a new recipe.  My mom suggested that I make the Chicken Parmigiana on page 170.  I was a little nervous as this required the use of both my stove as well as my electric skillet.   After watching an episode of the next great baker and a quick trip to Superstore to pick up a glass baking dish I felt confident and ready to cook!

Turning on the Oven

I followed the recipe pretty closely but didn't use the whipping cream and added Mrs. Dash seasoning to the chicken.  The recipe had several steps but was easy to follow.  Step one, preheat the oven! This was groundbreaking as it was the first time I have turned on the stove since moving to this apartment.

I was excited to beat up the chicken.

The next step was preparing the chicken and the breading.  I enjoyed this, because I got to beat the chicken with a skillet! It was fun. The egg wash and the bread crumb mixture seemed to work well. I didn't quite have the dip in the egg wash and roll in the bread crumb motion down.  I am sure it can been done flawlessly, my experience was a little messy and spazzy.

 Within the final product tasting  I wasn't sure if the chicken had a breaded consistency.  It tasted good, I'm just not sure if it seemed breaded.  I will work on my dip and roll skills for next time.

After dipping and rolling the chicken I moved it to the skillet and it browned beautifully.  My little kitchen was a sauna but I was feeling good about my soon to be chicken dish.  The last step before baking was placing the chicken in the sauce and covering with mozzarella cheese.  I completed this and it was off to the stove.  

After twenty minutes, my chicken parmigiana was complete! It looked appetizing and it tasted great. I think this would be a great dish to serve at a dinner party or to impress a date.  Bon Appetit!!

The most challenging part was the dip in the egg wash and the roll in the bread crumbs.

Bubbling Cheese in the stove.

The most rewarding part was smashing the chicken with my frying pan.

Degree of difficulty 6, Execution 4
:) KB 

 

 It's not even burnt, Hurray!

 

The final product complete with green salad.

Spinach and Feta Quesadillas

I started with the spinach and feta quesadilla on page 25, it sounded tasty and seemed pretty basic.
It was a nice easy recipe to follow.  It had seven ingredients which were tortillas, tomato pesto, mozza and feta cheese, spinach, tomato and olive oil.  I basically just had to stuff all of they above into the tortilla and cook it in my electric skillet.  

Very easy and super yummy!

The most challenging part of this recipe was cutting the tortilla into triangles.  As you will see in the pictures, they look a little more like rectangles. 

Any advice on cutting tortillas into triangles?

In conclusion the degree of difficulty was a 4 out of 10, the execution was a 6 out of 10 :)

 Till the next challenge
Bon Appetit
KW

The tortilla in my electric skillet!

                                                     
"TaDa, they look good enough to eat"

My work surface!

In the beginning there was a cookbook!

Hello Friends,
  On New Year's Day I decided that I would set out on a conquest to finally learn how to cook.  The time has come for me to move beyond burnt toast and Campbell's Turkey Vegetable soup.  This blog will act as my journal as I teach myself the art of cooking, food preparation and everything else that comes with mastering the art of the kitchen.

The Bravo! Best of Bridge Cookbook will be my text book as I start this journey in cooking.  Wish me luck!

"Bon Appetite "

KB