Hot, Sweet, AND Sour Chicken

Jake loves chicken, but hates "Chinese" food. Well, I like both and we both loved this dish. It's super easy (well, unless you're used to "cooking" frozen pizzas). Just fry the chicken quickly, then toss them in the oven with the super quick sauce and wah-lah! Delicious!

Breading:
3-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 cup of corn starch
2-3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup canola oil

Extras:
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat canola oil over medium heat. Cut the chicken into small bite-sized cubes and toss into the cornstarch and spice mixture. After coating the chicken, coat in eggs. Cook the chicken for a couple minutes on one side, then flip and drain on paper towels. Place in 9x9 baking dish with vegetables.

Sauce:
1 cup sugar or honey
6 T ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
2 T soy sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1 T sesame oil
1 T sambal sauce (or some spicy sauce)

Whisk sauce and pour over chicken. Stir baking dish contents until combined. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, turn chicken, then cook again for another 15 minutes. Serve with rice or greens.

Chunky Baked Potato Soup

It's been awhile since my last post, sorry! I have definitely been cooking, but for a while there it was hard to look at food or think about food, much less describe it and post pictures of it without getting sick to my stomach.... pregnancy was definitely not fun for a while there. So now I've decided I need to catch up with the posts before baby Kai comes and I have less time to do so.

It was super cold here over the weekend, hanging around freezing temperatures, and I finally understood why people like hot soup on a cold day. I'm pretty sure I never really felt the need for hot soup in the south where it never really got cold (well, with the exception of a month or so and even then I had electric heat that didn't cost an arm and a leg like oil up here).  This soup was perfect not just because it was delicious, but because we had just gotten potatoes from a friend's farm in New Jersey. I adapted this recipe from Southern Living Magazine.

4 large baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup GF flour
6 cups milk
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/3 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
4 green onions, chopped and divided
12 sliced of bacon, cooked, diced, and divided
5 oz sharp cheddar cheese, divided
8 oz sour cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash the potatoes and poke with a fork. Bake at 400 for 1 hours. Cut potatoes in half and scoop out the pulp.

Melt the butter in a large pan over low heat, add flour and stir until smooth for about 1 minute. Add 6 cups of milk gradually over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thickened and bubbly.

Add potato pulp, spices, half of the green onions, bacon, and 1 cup of the cheese. Cook until cheese is melted, then add sour cream. Add more milk to reach desired consistency. Top with remaining ingredients and serve hot.

We enjoyed this with some gluten free spicy bread from Eva Ruth's Bakery, which is phenomenal.