Category: Sauce

Berry · Pancakes · Sauce

Berry Syrup

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On Saturday morning I wanted to make pancakes and I’ve had frozen berries in the freezer for a while that I’ve really needed to use up.  My first idea was to put the berries in the pancake batter, but that just didn’t sound that great.  Growing up we used to use berry syrup on our pancakes, not maple syrup, so I got the idea to make my own with the berries.

It wasn’t very syrupy, but it was delicious! Plus it was super easy and I was able to throw it together while my pancakes were cooking on the griddle.

I used frozen berries, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work with fresh berries. Or cherries!

Berry Syrup

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup berries
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • juice from 1/2 a lemon

Directions:

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
  2. Crush berries to release juices.
  3. Cook for 5 minutes and serve warm over pancakes.

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In my usual fashion, I made a huge mess while making something incredibly simple. Oh well.

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Try this the next time you make pancakes!

Chicken · Food Network · Sauce · Snacks

Buffalo Chicken Bites with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce

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The Super Bowl is obviously not complete without lots of yummy food and even though I didn’t have any real interest in either team playing I was still on board to watch the game and enjoy some snacks! Sunday afternoon I put these together and took them to the Super Bowl party I attended and by the time I left they were all gone.  If you like buffalo sauce, you have to try these at some point, they are so delicious!

I bought the Pioneer Woman’s A Year of Holiday’s cookbook before Christmas and she has a section for the Super Bowl in it!  I found this recipe there but tweaked it a bit because a) I wasn’t going to fry chicken on my electric stove and b) I wasn’t going to fry them anyways.  So I baked them.  Obviously these would be really good fried (because who doesn’t like popcorn chicken) but they were also really great baked! It’s really the buffalo sauce that makes it.

Buffalo Chicken Bites with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

BLUE CHEESE DIPPING SAUCE

  • 1 cup low fat mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 5 oz blue cheese crumbles
  • 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk

CHICKEN BITES

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 12-ounce bottle beer
  • 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

SAUCE

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 12-ounce bottle cayenne pepper sauce (such as Frank’s Red Hot)
  • 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce

Direction

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. Make the blue cheese dip by combining mayonnaise, sour cream, blue cheese, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and buttermilk in a bowl.  Stir together until well combined.  Add a little more buttermilk to get the desired consistency, if desired, and then cover and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready for it.
  3. Combine the flour, cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl.
  4. Pour in the beer, whisking as you go.  Keep adding until the batter is somewhat thin but still thick enough to stick to the chicken.
  5. Cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces.  Add them to the batter and then toss them around.
  6. Arrange coated chicken pieces on a baking sheet lined with foil.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven, rotate, and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
  7. To make the sauce, combine the butter, cayenne pepper sauce, and Worcestershire sauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt it together, whisking to combine.
  8. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and pour on the sauce, tossing the chicken to coat it well.
  9. Arrange chicken back on the baking sheet, with new foil, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes to seal in the sauce.
  10. Serve them with celery stick and the dipping sauce!

Hope you’re all staying safe in this crazy weather!

Asian Inspirations · Chicken · Eggs · Quinoa · Sauce

Thai Quinoa Bowls

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I absolutely love dishes that have a whole bunch of textures mixed together so when I saw this recipe I knew I needed to try it, it seemed right up my alley.  I also conveniently had almost all of the ingredients already which was extra incentive to try it.

This makes a lot, so you the biggest skillet you have or use a wok.  You want to make sure you have lots of room!

The quinoa is very filling and the leftovers were great for a quick dinner after they were warmed up.

Thai Quinoa Bowls

Original recipe here

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

FOR PEANUT SAUCE

  • 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon peanut butter
  • 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

FOR QUINOA BOWLS

  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  • 1-3/4 cups chicken broth
  • 2 teaspoons peanut oil, divided
  • 1 large chicken breast, thinly sliced
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup broccoli slaw
  • 1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:

  1. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan then add rinsed quinoa. Place a lid on top then lower heat and cook until quinoa has absorbed chicken broth, about 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork then set aside. (Can be done ahead of time.)
  2. Combine all sauce ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl then microwave for 20 seconds.  Stir until smooth then set aside. Whisk together egg and sesame oil in a small bowl then set aside.
  3. Heat 1 teaspoon peanut oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper then add to wok and stir fry until no longer pink. Remove to a plate then set aside.
  4. Heat remaining teaspoon peanut oil in wok then add broccoli slaw, frozen edamame, and green onions. Stir fry until tender, 2-3 minutes, then push to outsides of wok, creating a clear space in the center. Add egg whisked with sesame oil to center of wok then stir fry until soft scrambled.
  5. Add cooked chicken, quinoa and sauce to wok then toss to combine. Divide into bowls and serve.
Asian Inspirations · Chicken · Sauce

Homemade Red Curry

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I’ve got quite the collection of Asian condiments in my refrigerator, including red curry paste that I haven’t used in forever.  In fact, I think the last time I used it was for these Red Curry Lentils that I made eons ago.  And by eons ago I mean August.

I tried take out curry a few times after that and even tried to make my own once.  It was really simple but for some reason it just didn’t stick as something I was going to make again.  That is, until I saw this post from The Real Life RD about making veggie curry and I was reminded of how simple it really could be.

So I decided I would try it again but this time I would take her ideas and use frozen veggies!  Things are so much easier when you don’t have to chop a million veggies before using them.

I made this over the weekend and although it still took about 30 minutes total, there was really minimal effort and it turned out delicious!

Chicken Red Curry

Inspiration found here

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1 small chicken breast, sliced
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup frozen green beans
  • 1 heaping cup of frozen or fresh broccoli
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 1 can of lite coconut milk
  • 2-3 tablespoons red curry paste
  • green onions for garnish

Directions:

  1. Cook rice according to package directions.  Set aside.
  2. Heat ~1 teaspoon of coconut oil in a pan over medium heat.
  3. Add chicken breast and cook until just cooked through.  Set aside.
  4. Add another tablespoon coconut oil to hot pan.
  5. Add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes until the onion is translucent.
  6. Add the rest of your vegetables and cook for 10 minutes or until they are tender.
  7. Add in the red curry paste and chicken and stir until the paste coats everything.
  8. Add in can of coconut milk.
  9. Season with salt and pepper to taste, turn the heat to high to bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes until the sauce thickens a bit and everything is heated through.
  10. Serve over brown rice. Garnish with green onions and enjoy!

If you’re veggie you could omit the chicken and add some chickpeas or tofu in the place of chicken.  You could also serve it over quinoa to add a little extra protein.  Of course, you can add whatever kind of vegetables you want or use green or yellow curry paste instead.  It really is a forgiving recipe, you can’t go wrong with whatever you put in it!

Now go make yourself some homemade curry!

 

Sauce · Tofu · Vegetarian

Homemade Yumm! Sauce

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This is the yummy recipe I promised you!

If you have never lived in Oregon or visited Oregon, you may not be familiar with the chain of restaurants called Cafe Yumm!  They have a wide variety of menu items, including Yumm! Bowls, my favorite, and a lot of them are topped with their signature Yumm! Sauce.  This stuff is really unique, I wasn’t totally sold my first time (but I think that was also because I was really turned off by their red salsa and now I order my bowls without that).

Anyways, the summer that I lived back in California I craved these ALL THE TIME and they were no where in sight.  I wish I would have found this recipe sooner because it would have alleviated all of my cravings!

This sauce took approximately 5 minutes to make and left me wondering WHY I have waited so long to try this recipe!  I have seen some Yumm! Sauce copy cat recipes floating around for a while now but I have yet to take the time to actually try one.  My bad.

This one is actually from the cook book More Peas, Thank You, that I have made a handful of recipes out of.

Best thing about this recipe, I can make the Yumm! Bowls at home and not spend around $7 on a meal. Woohoo!

Homemade Yumm! Sauce

Recipe adapted from this one

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 c. olive oil
  • 1/4 c. cashews
  • 1/3 c. water
  • 1/4 c. chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 c. nutritional yeast
  • 2 1/2 T. lemon juice
  • 1 t. minced garlic
  • 1/4 t. salt
  • 3/4 t. curry powder
  • 1/2 t. dried oregano

Directions:

  1. In a high speed blender or food processor, combine oil, almonds, water and chickpeas. Blend until relatively smooth.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
  3. Transfer to a jar and refrigerate until serving.

This recipe has the disclaimer to use within 7-10 days, so I think that would be a good idea.  I don’t know what happens after that amount of time, but I have a feeling I might find out since I likely won’t use all of mine up before then.

I’ll let you know if anything funky happens.

To make the bowls, layer rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, olives, and cilantro and top with Yumm! Sauce.  You could also add some chicken or tofu.

When I first made this sauce it was super runny (see picture above) but it has thickened with its time in the refrigerator.

Hope you enjoy 🙂