Sweet... Sour... and Salty

Tonight's dinner was lovely. We invited our dear friends Bridget and Melissa this evening as our tasters. Suzanne was doing some traveling and adopting a new dog, Jesse. He is the cutest dog and he and Luke took quite well to each other. Luke is not showing me much love this evening. I think he's a little bitter about how it all went down... well how he went downstairs that is and Jesse got all the cuddle time.



Jesse the Dog



Dinner tonight overall was comforting and it was so nice to have guests.



Our pre-dinner snack... We would show you a picture, but it was gone before we knew it. 6 cups of popcorn simply vanished. I made this entire thing during my daughters morning nap. I put it in a mixing bowl with a lid and it kept all day like the recipe states in the magazine. It says it will keep for up to two days (but seriously, it won't last that long!).

Spicy Maple-Cashew Popcorn

from Cooking Light Magazine December 2010



The empty bowl, after we all scarfed down the popcorn!



1 tablespoon Canola oil

1/4 cup  unpopped popcorn kernels (about 6 cups popped)

1/4 cup dry-roasted cashews

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon of butter

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of ground red pepper



1. Heat canola oil in a medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. While saucepan heats, line a jelly-roll pan with parchment paper (a large cookie sheet is fine....) Set pan aside.

Add popcorn to oil in saucepan; cover and cook 2 minutes or until kernels begin to pop, shaking pan frequently. Continue cooking for 2 minutes shaking it constantly.  When popping slows down, remove pan from heat. Let stand 1 minute or until all popping stops. Stir in cashews.

2. Combine sugar and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Removed from heat; cool 1 minute.

3. Pour hot syrup mixture over popcorn mixture; toss well to coat. Immediately spread popcorn mixture out onto prepared jelly-roll pan. Cool 3 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings (1 cup per serving)

Cooking tips from April: Jelly-Roll pan process. reminded me of smooshing down rice crispy treats. It has that kind of texture. I thought the canola oil wouldn't be enough but it was... I carefully timed what the recipe said and it came out perfectly... no burnt. dry. or funky popcorn. Follow this recipe strictly in it's directions and it will turn out great.

 April, Bridget, Melissa, and Suzanne: "OH MY GOD!" Then the bowl was empty. We didn't even offer it to the children. Everyone agreed that the sweetness of the maple, the salt and then the kick of cayenne at the end of the taste of popcorn was perfect! Suzanne was irritated (April's words, not mine!) however because she was on baby duty and was not able to reach the bowl as well as others :O)


The Main Course was sweet and sour chicken. I doubled the recipe and measured the weight out to make sure I had it right and halved the chicken breast myself. I'm a busy mom so I cut the chicken breasts and peppers during the early morning nap of my youngest and the oldest played with play-do. Lovely way to start the day in the kitchen.

Sweet 'n' Sour Chicken
from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking December 2010

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4oz each)
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1 medium sweet red pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces .
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
3 tablespoons of cold water
Hot cooked brown rice

1. Place chicken in an 11 X 7 baking dish; set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the water, sugar, vinegar and soy sauce to a boil, stirring constantly. Add peppers; return to a boil. Combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; gradually stir into pepper mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Pour over chicken.
2. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 10-13 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reaches 170. Serve with rice.

Cooking Tips from April: Suzanne brought the rice which was tasty. I placed the chicken in a 9 by 13 since I double the recipe and it worked fine. I thought I should butter the dish, but didn't since the recipe didn't call for it... I thought it was quiet odd just placing the breasts in the dish and pouring the sweet and sour mix on top to bake it. Very simple recipe but make sure you follow it closely with the time. It cooked exactly 26 minutes in the oven.

April: I think next time I will cut the breast in fourths because the halves just seemed quite large and did not soak up the seasoning as much as I would have liked. Great simple recipe that besides having the pay close attention to making the sweet and sour mixture was easy enough to do even with all the kids running around. I will be making this one again for sure.

Bridget: Chicken is moist and the pepper and sweet and sour mix over the rice is quite tasty.

Melissa: The seasoning is good and the right amount of sweet and sour. Unlike other recipes it didn't have too much sweet.

Suz: I saw this recipe when I first got the magazine over Christmas, and have been itching to try it.  I thought the cooking method was interesting, and was quite frankly surprised that it didn't need to be sauteed or anything first.  I thought the chicken was delicious, and the sauce was perfect.  I think thinner chicken breasts would be good, or maybe chicken tenderloins - it would give the sauce a chance to get soaked in a little better to the chicken. 

Suzanne brought over some wild and brown rice that she had in the house - one of those 90 second bags.  It wasn't anything special, but it went well with the chicken.  One of the things that makes cooking rice a pain is the time it takes - I don't mind the shortcut with bagged rice or minute rice at all.  She also made some roasted brussel sprouts, which were yum!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
from Suzanne's head

2 bags frozen brussel sprouts (use fresh if you can find them!)
1 shallot, sliced
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar (or regular, whatever you have is fine)
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the brussel sprouts with the rest of the ingredients.  Put in a single layer on a large cookie sheet or roasting pan.  Bake 20-25 minutes, stirring twice, or until sprouts are cooked through and browned. 

Suz: I usually chop up some canadian bacon and add that in, which gives it an extra salty-meaty flavor.  I tossed in about a tablespoon of bacon bits that April had at her house. The first time I had these, there was lots of olive oil and pancetta.  It was great, but I like this lighter version a whole lot more (so does my figure!)  I'm not normally a brussel sprouts fan, but any vegetable is about 10x better when you roast it!

April: I think I might have been the only true fan of brussel sprouts at the table and I absolutely loved them. I will be making these in this house. Now if I can just figure out how to hide the leftovers from my husband. I'm not sure I want to share them.

Melissa: I like the chicken, don't get me wrong, but the brussel sprouts are good.

Bridget: We don't get to eat these in my house, but these I could have all the time.

Next week, we're having dinner at Suz's house with Alice and Rena M. Due to health restrictions, our challenge is to make an entirely dairy-free meal (no milk, no butter, no cheese).  Check us out to see how it all comes together!  Have a great week!