Monday, July 27, 2009

Mona's Teriyaki Chicken

We usually halve this recipe for our family!

6 lbs chicken thighs (try to get the boneless skinless ones, they're so much easier)
1/2 cup cornstarch
6 cups Mr. Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce (usually by the ketchup and BBQ sauces)
chicken broth
Water

Marinate chicken in 5 cups of Mr. Yoshida sauce for at least 2 to 8 hours. Make sure chicken is well coated with sauce. For best flavor, marinate overnight in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator.
Remove chicken from marinade and place in baking pans. Discard marinade.
Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Remove chicken from pan(s) and cut into strips and put onto a serving dish or into a crock pot if not serving till later. Save drippings from pan
Sauce: Strain drippings from baked chicken into a saucepan. Add water or chicken broth to make 2 cups. Bring to boil. In a mason jar, put 1 cup Mr. Yoshida sauce then add 3 cups water and 1/2 c. cornstarch. Cover tightly with lid and shake well. After drippings in saucepan have come to a boil, add contents of jar. Bring to a boil and pour over chicken and serve.

*When I make this I usually serve it with rice and steamed broccoli and carrots, but you can do whatever you want!:)

Apple Snickers Salad

Mom got this recipe from a neighbor and it is delish. I figured I better post it or you'll never get the recipe from her.

Ingredients:
3-4 lg. or 5-6 sm. granny smith apples ( I use more when I make it)
4 lg. (not king size, unless you want more snickers than apples :)) Snickers bars (I think I use 5)
1 (12 oz.) container or cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 lg. Cool Whip, thawed

Instructions:
Chop apples (you can peel if you prefer but I don't) and snickers bars.

Beat sugar and cream cheese until combined. Fold in Cool Whip.

Mix everything together and chill for at least an hour before serving.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Strawberry lemonade bars

What says summer better than strawberry lemonade? How about strawberry lemonade bars? Yum!

Crust
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar & salt until light & fluffy. Add flour & mix until just combined. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper that hangs over the long sides. Spray parchment paper & sides with non-stick cooking spray.
Press crust into the bottom of pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until just starting to turn golden. (my modification. I doubled the crust and put into a jelly roll sheet, but I didn't double the rest of the recipe)

lemon curd layer
8 egg yolks
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice

In a medium bowl whisk together all ingredients & pour over hot crust. Return to oven & cook for an additional 25-30 minutes. Chill in the fridge while making the next layer. (if you use the jelly roll pan you don't need to cook as long because it is a thinner layer)
~
lemon cream layer
2- 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
grated zest from 1 lemon
1 pint strawberries, hulled & sliced

In a medium bowl, whip together all ingredients until thick & fluffy. Spread over cooled lemon curd layer. Arrange the sliced strawberries over the top of the cream layer. Place in the fridge to chill while making strawberry glaze.

strawberry glaze
1 pint strawberries, pureed in blender or food processor
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 TBSP corn starch

In a medium pot, over medium heat, combine strawberries & water. In a small bowl, combine sugar & corn starch. Whisk sugar into strawberry mixture. Bring just to a boil, whisking constantly. Spread over sliced strawberries. Return to fridge to chill completely.
Enjoy!

These took me a long time to make. It may just be that I was trying to make them in a small kitchen with feedings for baby in between. But they were worth it.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Fresh Lime

Okay so this recipe is really a no-brainer but we love it. We drank fresh limes or limonadas like crazy on our honeymoon in Mexico and this is my re-creation of that. This drink is light and refreshing. You could really use any citrus fruit that you like.


Makes about 8-12 servings (could easily be halved)

Ingredients:
1 recipe sugar syrup (recipe follows)
6 limes, juiced or about 1 cup
2 liters club soda
sugar rimmed glasses with a lime twist (dip glass in lime juice then in sugar finish off with a lime slice)
ice

Sugar Syrup Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
2 limes, zested

Directions:
First make the syrup by boiling sugar and water until sugar is dissolved about 1 minute. Immediately add in lime zest to infuse flavor. Cool completely before using. (Once mixture is cool you could strain out lime zest...but I never do.)

Now just mix everything together (except for the glasses of course) and enjoy!