BBQ Chicken Legs

A while back I made a Mexican Casserole and I had used leg quarters, but just used the thighs. I had these legs left over so thought I'd BBQ them in the oven. I find that trying to get the meat off the legs is a real pain and it's just easier to cook them separately. There's nothing to this recipe, quick and easy and a nice salad and maybe some rice or some sort of pasta salad would be  good sides.   In the listed ingredients is the chilli sauce but on these I used the Asian Sweet Chilli Sauce.
400 degree oven for about 30 minutes
6-9 chicken legs (par boiled for about 12 minutes)


BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup catchup
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2- 3 tsp dark molasses
1 1/2 - 2 TBL Chilli Sauce *use can also use the Asian Sweet Chilli Sauce*
juice from 1/2 a lemon
couple shakes of onion powder
couple shakes of garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all together and chill for about 30 minutes (but really you can use it right away)
Preheat oven 400.
Put chicken legs on parchment lined cookie sheet (way less mess ) Cook for about 10 minutes then after 10 minutes start basting the chicken with the sauce. About every 8 minutes baste again making sure to turn them. They will get a nice yummy look to them.
Remove and Enjoy.
Thanks for taking time from your busy day to stop by. Always Remember to Find the Time to do all the Things You Love.
Donna

Kung Pao Pork

This is the other dish I made for our weekly Catan Game. My friends said it was really good. I didn't even taste this one because I don't like things that are too spicy and maybe hot. I know as a cook you're always suppose to taste your food, but I would hate to ruin my taste bubs, so I just let my friends taste it and tell if me I need to add anything.

Kung Pao Pork (but you can also do chicken , which is the recipe done most)

Adapted from here
my changes in red

Printable
Ingredients

3 - 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks
3 - 4 bonless pieces of pork
2 tablespoons white wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil, divided ( 1 TBL )
2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water (about 1/2 cup used later when you are cooking the sauce)
1 ounce hot chile paste
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
4 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic

4 ounces chopped peanuts
Added red peppers, mushrooms and onions

Directions

To Make Marinade: Combine 1 tablespoon wine, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon cornstarch/water mixture and mix together. Place chicken pieces in a glass dish or bowl and add marinade. Toss to coat. Cover dish and place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
To Make Sauce: In a small bowl combine 1 tablespoon wine, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon cornstarch/water mixture, chili paste, vinegar and sugar. Mix together. In a medium skillet, heat sauce slowly until aromatic.
Meanwhile, add about 3 - 4 TBL flour to the pork and mix, this will help give the meat a crunch. Fry meat in some oil in a large skillet until meat is white and juices run clear. When sauce is aromatic, this is when you may need to add the additional water if it gets to thick. After frying the meat drain fry pan of oil and leave just enough to saute the onion, mushrooms and red pepper. When they are aldente add the peanuts and quickly stir pour over pork and then pour the sauce over that. Add additional peanuts. Stir on platter. Serve
Thanks for taking the time from you busy day to stop by. Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to do All the Things You Love.
Donna

Sesame Chicken

Adapted from here
Sesame chicken is a very popular restaurant dish. This week for our weekly game of Cantan I made this for our lunch. I also made Kung Pao Pork which I will post soon. This dish was really good, not to sweet and when I make it again, which I will, I will add more carrots.

Printable
Ingredients:

3 whole boneless chicken breasts
Marinade:
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon white wine
a few drops of sesame oil
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water (you will need more water as this cooks)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Sauce for Sesame Chicken:
1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 TB soy sauce
2 TB sesame oil
1 tsp chili paste, or more if desired
1 clove garlic (minced)
Other:
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (see below how to toast)
1 carrot sliced thin
1/2 onion sliced
about 1/2 - 1 cup oil for frying

*To toast the sesame seeds place in a dry fry pan over medium heat and cook until golden brown, stirring to be sure they don't over cook.*

Preparation:
Directions for Sesame Chicken: Toast the sesame seeds and set aside.

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients and marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.

To prepare the sauce: mix together all of the sauce ingredients. Pour them into a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Turn the heat down to low and keep warm while you are deep-frying the chicken.
To deep-fry the chicken: add the marinated chicken pieces a few at a time, and deep-fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remainder of the chicken.
Saute the onion and carrots in a bit of the leftover oil and then put atop the chicken.

Just before you are finished deep-frying, bring the sauce back up to a boil.
Place the chicken on a large platter and pour the sauce over. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve the Sesame Chicken with rice. Enjoy
Thanks for stopping by. Have wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to do ALL the Things YOU love.
Donna

BBQ Ribs with Asian Flavor

I made these when I made the tomato macaroni and cheese and the Maple Walnut cake. I usually make my own BBQ sauce and this time instead of adding the Hunts Chilli sauce I added the Asian Sweet Chilli Sauce. WOW what a great flavor it gave the ribs. This is such an easy recipe and I would think would be wonderful on chicken too.
Doesn't the picture make your mouth water. Oh these were so YUMMY, even if I must compliment myself. :)

Ingredients:
1/2 to 3/4 cup catchup
1 - 2 TBL Worcestershire sauce
2 - 3 TBL Asian Sweet Chilli sauce
1 TBL lemon juice (fresh)
1 TBL dark molasses
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 - 1 tsp. dried minced onion
*the reason I put a varied amount is because you may want to add a little of certain spices or go with the minimum, all your choice.
Mix all ingredients and then baste the meat every 10 minutes or so. They won't take very long, maybe 25-30 minutes because they are more than half way cooked.
Thanks for taking the time from you busy day to stop by. Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do all the Things YOU love.
Donna

Orange Pound Cake

As always I am searching for new ways to use fruit....cake, cupcakes and chocolate are always good. :) I had some oranges I need to use, besides just eating them that is. So thought an orange pound cake sounded good. So web searching I went. I found this site, you must take the time to look around her blog, she has some really yummy looking recipes. I have added her to my blog list. Hope you'll give her a visit and please tell her I sent you. :)

The recipe was adapted from here . I don't always have the ingredients on hand that some people use so I improvise, that's what I did here. You can either try my version or hers, I'm sure they are both just wonderful. Mine I can tell you came out nice and moist and downright yummy! :) As I'm sure her's did too.
Printable
Pound Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup pureed oranges
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup orange puree plus 3 TBL water
6 oz plain yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Orange Syrup:

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

For the Orange Glaze:

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

4 to 6 tablespoons fresh orange juice (I used the puree I had made about 3 TBL)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess. Line the bottoms with parchment paper.

In a blender, puree 2 oranges peel and all, with about 2 TBL water.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer still running, beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the orange puree.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another small bowl, combine orange puree, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the flour and yogurt mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes.

While the loaf is cooling, make the orange syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the orange juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat. Remove loaves to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the loaves. Brush the tops and sides of the loaves with the orange syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cakes cool completely. (I omitted this step) but know it would be good with it.

To make the orange glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and 4 tablespoons of the orange juice or puree. The mixture should be thick but pourable. Add up to another tablespoon of orange juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the orange glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. Let the orange glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.

Yields: 2 loaves

Soft Rye

I made this bread because my friend in Maine....(hi Orm..waving) wrote me and said he had trouble with the recipe. I told him I would try it and see how mine came out.
We did discover, however, that he had used both whole wheat and rye flour and more than likely that is why is bread didn't rise.
The recipe is adapted from here. I used everything except the gluten additive. And I decided to make I larger loaf.

Ingredients:
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups white rye, medium rye or pumpernickel flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup sour cream (low-fat is fine)
2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups All-Purpose Flour

Directions:
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the water, sugar, rye flour and yeast, mixing to form a shaggy dough. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, and mix and knead the dough together -- by hand, mixer or bread machine -- till it's fairly smooth. (Remember, the nature of rye dough is to be sticky, so don't be tempted to add too much flour.) Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Gently deflate the dough, knead it briefly, and shape it into two smooth oval loaves. Place the loaves on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover them, and let them rise until they're almost doubled, about 1 hour. Gently slash the tops of the loaves in two or three places just before baking.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reads 190 to 200. Remove the bread from the oven, and allow it to cool on a wire rack. Yield: 2 loaves.This is a nice soft tasty bread. Give it a try. Thanks for stopping by and Remember to Find the time to Do All the things You love.
Donna

Potato Roll (new recipe)

Last month a one of the weekly get together' s with my friends (we play a game called Settlers of Catan) my friend Patsy made a turkey..YUM I always try to bring bread of some kind and a dessert. Well I tried these new pototao rolls and all I can say is "Just Wonderful". They are so easy and will freeze well. I think I will experiment with one cooked and one just the dough. Will let you know the outcome. The sandwich above I had the next day with some turkey Pasty sent home with me. I had some dough in the refrigerator that I had not taken to her house so I made these three rolls. So you see you could leave the dough in the refrigerator more than 24 hours, don't think I would go much past 2 days. But that in itself is good to know. Around the holidays you could make these ahead of time, what a time saver. Or if you're a working person you could do them on the weekend and have nice fresh rolls during the week. Food for thought.

adapted from here
Printable
Ingredients:

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 (¼ ounce) package active dry yeast
1 ½ cups water ( 105 to 115 F)
½ cup mashed potatoes
¹⁄₃ cup butter, melted
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In large bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast. In small mixing bowl combine warm water, potatoes, butter, sugar and salt. Add to dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer for 30 seconds on low, scraping side of bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour with a dough hook (or knead by hand), as needed (with most bread recipes the actual amount of flour required depends on humidity, etc. so add slowly until dough pulls away from sides of pan and forms a ball). Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours. Punch dough down. Turn out on lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Grease 13x9-inch baking pan. Shape dough into 24 rolls. Make balls by holding dough in both hands and gently smoothing by pushing the edges towards the back. Place rolls in prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size (about 40 minutes) Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes (until golden brown).

Here are the rolls before they were baked. As you can see I had made them fairly good size so they would be good for a sandwich.
The ones I made at Patsy's were more a dinner size roll.

Finished just came out of the oven.

Sliced and ready to make my sandwich.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to do ALL the things You Love.
Donna