Sweet & Sour Chicken and Fried Rice

Just made this for supper tonight and it was SO GOOD. Took a while, but it was worth it. I got the recipe from pinterest, which took me to someone's blog. So there are even a couple of pictures, too. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to reproduce those, but I'll post the link below to give the original author/photographer credit. I've tried to make fried rice before, but it was never as good as when I tried this recipe.

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

The chicken coating:

3-4 boneless chicken breasts

salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

The sweet and sour sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

       Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.  

                                 Below is the greatness you will get when it's all cooked:

Fried Rice                                                                                             

3 cups cooked white rice (day old or leftover rice works best!)

3 tbs sesame oil

1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed) I didn't have this, so I used fresh carrots and it was great

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 cup soy sauce

      On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok.  Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated!  

     

SO good!

Here is the link to the blog where I got it. 

http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html

Oriental Chicken w/ rice

1 cup of Soy Sauce
1/3 cup of rice vinegar
1 tsp of sesame oil (or vegetable if you prefer a less oriental flavor)
garlic powder to taste

3 lbs of chicken breast (if you use more chicken you will need to increase the sauce)

Mix the first ingredients together and pour over raw chicken. Let marinade a few hours (or all day for even more flavor.) Grill on your outside grill. Eat over white, brown or fried rice. This is SO simple and SO flavorful and good!

Ms. Martha's Chicken

This blog was a great idea, Rachel! This will be lots of fun and a great resource, too! I am reminded of a great cooking night we shared back in 2001, when we were both living in the Dallas area. Obviously, neither of us had much cooking experience, since when the recipe for our Stuffed Chicken Breasts called for 10 cloves of garlic, we both agreed at the grocery store that it had to mean 10 bunches of garlic. We quickly learned that the cloves were part of the bunches. It just proves you learn best from your mistakes, and hey, we had plenty of garlic left over to last us both years! What a fun memory!

Ms. Martha's Chicken (I got this recipe from my best friend's mom, Ms. Martha)

Ingredients:
4-6 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup Real Bacon Bits Pieces (not the hard, crunchy ones)
16 oz. Sour Cream
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and put in baking dish with the bacon pieces. Add salt and pepper.
Cook at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked throughout.
In in a bowl, combine the sour cream and soup.
When chicken is cooked, pour sour cream/soup mixture over the chicken and return to the oven for another 15 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling.

Tastes great served over steamed rice.

This is a very easy recipe, and I think it tastes great and makes me feel like I've cooked a good homemade meal.

My Mom's Chicken and Rice

Ok, cooking is not really my game either, but I love it. When I have time.... Anyways, I have tons of recipes I will share, but I'll start with something easy and yummy... something that can be cooked for 2 or for a bunch.

Needed:
chicken (thawed breasts, pieces, etc.)
flour
minute rice
can(s) of Chicken&Rice soup
margarine
salt and pepper

Melt margarine in a flat baking dish, dip chicken in melted butter, then in flour. Then lay it back in butter dish, turn piece over, then salt and pepper each piece. Bake about 30 minutes at 400. Take chicken out of dish, cover bottom of dish in minute rice, stir to mix up the butter drippings, pour in can of soup and add maybe half a can of water, put chicken back. Bake about 30 minutes more. (If cooking for more than 2, using a bigger dish like a 9X13, then probably use more than one can of soup.)

This is one of David's favorites. And it's easy! I'll use green beans or broccoli or something green for a side dish and that is it!