Chinese Take Out from Your Kitchen

  I absolutely love Chinese food, but where I live in downtown Miami they don't deliver past 10pm. Sad, but true. I can order pizza, groceries & now even Burger King, but no Chinese food. So I told myself how hard could it be to make my favorite sweet & sour chicken. As I experimented with some recipes & a bottle of wine, I found that it was quite simple & more tasty! Below I have provided a fabulous recipe for sweet & sour chicken, this recipe you can substitute the chicken for any meat that you would like, even for pan seared duck.



Sweet & Sour Chicken        
                                  
 1 pkg  skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 Tbsp Chinese 5 spice seasoning
2           eggs (slightly beaten)
2 cups   flour
1 jar     Sweet & Sour Sauce
1 can    pineapple chunks in heavy syrup
2 cups  white rice


Rinse chicken thighs ( I like to use thighs instead of breast, because thighs will not dry out during frying)off & dry off. Cut thighs into cubes & season with salt, pepper & Chinese 5 spice. Place thighs in a bowl, then next to that place two beaten eggs in a bowl, then next to that place 2 cups of flour in a Ziplock bag. Follow normal directions for making white rice. Next heat up some oil in a pan, peanut oil if you have any. Now, with your assembly line that is lined up, take a hand full of thighs & place them in the bowl of eggs, then place in Ziplock bag. Make sure thighs a re covered in flour, then place in frying oil. repeat steps till all of thighs are in the oil. Brown all the pieces &set aside. On medium heat place sweet & sour sauce, pineapple chunks & heavy syrup in a sauce pan. Mix together & finally add thighs in the pan. Cook for 20 minutes. Serve over white rice & with a nice bottle of sake. Enjoy.

Cranberry Chutney That Saved Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving is that time of year that kicks of the holiday season and the one that starts the stress level. You have wrought down about two grocery list, cut coupons for weeks, went to the grocery store a total of three times and still on Thanksgiving morning you will always be in the middle of a recipe, when you realize that you forgot something! This year when you realize that you forgot the cranberry sauce, then have no fear. Don't scramble for some sweatpants, a baseball cap and sneakers to run out to a store that you happen to find open. I will share with you my show stopping cranberry chutney, that will sure to save the day. From me and my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy.

Cranberry Chutney
1 bag        frozen cranberries
2 c            orange juice with pulp
1c             water
1/2 c         sugar
2 TBSP    of vanilla extract
Zest          of 2 oranges
A splash of Brandy or a cranberry liqueur


Combine all ingredients in a saucepan on medium heat and allow to reduce by half. Take off heat once you get the desired thickness and let cool.

How To Create Your Own Flavored Wine

    I absolutely love wine & going wine tasting, but I hate the cost of buying expensive flavored wine. My main objective was to create a wine flavored drink, that was reminiscent of a cocktail & one that would impress my friends at a dinner party. I tried everything from flavored extracts, flavored syrups & pure flavored extract oils. Nothing & I mean nothing worked. Feeling a little tipsy & it still being 3pm in the afternoon, I decided to sober up buy drinking some Crystal Light flavored water. Then it hit me. Why don't I try Crystal Light flavored water packets in my wine. It worked & the fabulous thing about using Crystal Light flavored packets is that Crystal Light has no calories & it does change the consistency of the wine.

     You can buy a low costing wine or Champaign & pick out your favorite flavor of Crystal Light flavored water packet. I would suggest trying the line of cocktail flavored ones. My choice was a bottle of Mezzacorona's Pinot Grigio & Crystal Light Apple Martini flavored packet. For a 1.5 Liter bottle of wine, I used half a packet of Crystal Light. You can adjust the level of flavor by adding as much or as little of the Crystal Light to the wine. Start off with half a packet of Crystal Light & a cold/chilled bottle of wine. If the flavor is too light, then add a little more Crystal Light.