One of the things my ex and I used to love to order when we went to our favourite Diner was a Turkey Club Sandwich. It would come to the table so tall and stuffed you could barely finish it. Always with a side of fries and coleslaw to die for.
One thing I really miss over here in the UK are Chinese Food Buffets. I have not seen one yet that even comes close to what I was used to back home. My favourite one had probably about 25 different entrees to choose from, along with sides, etc. Plus a salad bar and a dessert bar.
I suppose that was to appease people who can't eat a meal out without chips or who have to bring their children and want their children to have something they will eat as well. I am not sure.
I miss Egg Rolls . . . there is no such thing here. They only have Spring Rolls. I think Egg Rolls are better. Its that filling with the cabbage and ground pork . . . yum . . . I also miss the Chinese Chicken Wings. I have yet to find a suitable substitute here in the UK. I did try Salt and Pepper Wings once, but they were not to my taste and not at all the same.
I think the Wings and fried Won Tons were always really popular back home because when the place was busy finding one or two left in the bin to have was difficult! People would load their plates up with them. You learnt not to go up to the buffet until you saw them bringing them out, or you wouldn't get any.
I love the Lemon Chicken, Beef and Broccoli and of course the Sweet and Sour. I also adore Fire Cracker Chicken. Fire Cracker Chicken is very similar to Sweet and Sour, except the sauce bites back!
I have never seen anything like it over here in the UK, and so I found a recipe for it online here, on a blog called Dinner at the Zoo.
It looked just like the real deal! The only thing I didn't like was the part about deep frying in my house. I hate the way my house smells after deep frying anything. If I can avoid it at all, I will . . .
Tell me I am not alone in that! It just makes the house stink like a chippy! I will do it if I absolutely have to, but if I can find a way around it, I will!
A year or so ago I discovered frozen packs of Battered Chicken Breast Chunks. They were a real game changer for me. I could have deep fried battered pieces of chicken breast without having that disgusting smell in the house!
And they are actual chunks of real chicken breast in a real batter! Plus they taste really good on their own. You can deep fry if you must, but if I can leave that step out and still have something which tastes really, really good, I am going to choose the latter.
In the original recipe, the sauce thickens in the oven on the battered chicken. In my adaptation, you make the sauce in the microwave and then pour it over the chicken breast chunks as they bake in the ovenwhen they are almost done.. Easy peasy.
This also helps the chicken to maintain its crispy coating without it going all soggy. In short . . . Fire Cracker Chicken perfection without all the fuss..
The sauce could also be thickened in a small saucepan on top of the hob. Just mix everything together, bring to the boil and cook at a low boil until it thickens.
This sauce was really spicy, but not to the point where I couldn't handle it. Normally I don't like things that bite me back. This was just nice. I think the rice wine vinegar kind of lightens the spicy whammy from the buffalo sauce a bit. In any case it was quite nice.
If you like it really spicy, amp up the red chili flakes. I am not overly fond of their heat so I was fairly judicious with my use of them. All-together, this was a win in my books!
Quick & Easy Firecracker Chicken
Yield: 4
Chunks of crispy chicken in a sweet and spicy glaze. This quick and easy dinner option is sure to be popular with the family! I served it with steamed rice and broccoli spears.
Ingredients:
- 1 (18 piece) package of frozen battered chicken breast chunks
- 80ml buffalo hot sauce (1/3 cup)
- 100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup)
- 1 TBS rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 tsp crushed chili flakes (red pepper flakes)
- 1 spring onion, trimmed washed and thinly sliced on the diagonal
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven according to the package directions for the chicken breast chunks. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil and spray lightly with some canola cooking spray.
- Scatter your chicken pieces over the baking sheet and bang into the oven. Bake for 10 minutes.
- While the chicken is baking mix the buffalo hot sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar and crushed chilies in a large microwave safe glass beaker. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, whisk, microwave for a further minute.
- Drizzle this mixture over the chicken pieces at the end of 10 minutes, stirring them to coat them in the sauce. Return to the oven and cook for a furthr 5 to 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked and nicely glazed. Sprinkle with spring onions and serve!
notes:
The cooking times will vary according to your package of chicken chunks. I cut the time in thirds. Two thirds of the time with out the sauce, apply the sauce and cook for the remaining cook time.
Do you know how to use chopsticks? I have never been able to get the hang of them myself. I can spear things with them, but not pick anything up. It is a skill I have just never been able to get my head around. I suppose with practice I would do better but I always just want to get in there and eat! I guess I am too impatient!
This is a cookie I used to bake for my children quite often when they were growing up. I used to try to have some kind of a treat waiting for them every day when they got home from school.
Funny enough I never saw myself as a baker, more of a savoury cook, but when I look back I can clearly see that I did both with an equal passion.
My original recipe for Amish Sugar Cookies makes a lot of cookies, which is great when you have five hungry children snapping at your heels, but not so great when you are staring at an empty nest.
Sigh . . . empty nests. Wish I lived closer to my grandchildren.
That doesn't mean however that we can't still enjoy these delicious treats that we used to bake for our families, and yes . . . I did enjoy them as well.
I am on a quest to try to small batch as many of my old favourites as I can. Smaller recipes to suit the smaller household.
It just makes sense and it means there is far less temptation laying around and actually a bit less waste as well.
This is a great recipe. I actually won a ribbon at the county fair back home one year with them, so you know these are really good cookies.
You can leave them plain, or you can glaze them if you like.
There used to be these cookies that we could get from Ben's Bakery back
home that were like a thick sugar cookie with jam in the centres. I used to love them.
They were my favourite, but I have never had a recipe to make my own. Today
I added some jam to the centres of some of these to see if they might be similar . . .
Although they were very good, they were not the same, so I am still on my quest.
I strongly suspect the difference is that those ones are made with shortening. These are all butter . . .
You can leave them plain of course, but a simple glaze is a great way to dress them up just a bit, with a few sprinkles.
There is no need to go crazy. Children love sprinkles, even the big children. 😉 Not naming any names.
If you do decide to do some with jam in the middle don't go crazy. You only need a tiny bit. I just pushed my index finger into each cookie I was adding jam to making a small identation . . . and then added about 1/3 tsp of my favourite strawberry jam . . . yes, Bonne Maman.
Not quite the traditional Amish Sugar Cookie, but then again I am quite fond of breaking barriers and stretching the realms of possibility . . .
I even glazed a few of the ones with jam in the middle just to see how it would work. It worked rather well actually . . .
In any case these worked out really well. You get about 2 1/2 dozen which is still a lot!
As with any cookie they go very well with an ice cold glass of milk, or a hot cuppa!
Petunia approves 100%!!
Small Batch Amish Sugar Cookies
Yield: Makes 2 1/2 Dozen
Easy to make, old fashioned and delicious. A smaller batch for the smaller family.
Ingredients:
For the Cookies:
- 120g butter softened (1/2 cup)
- 120ml vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
- 95g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 65g icing sugar (1/2 cup)
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
- 315g plain flour (2 1/4 cups all purpose flour)
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
For optional Glaze:
- 130g icing sugar, sifted (1 cup)
- few drops vanilla
- warm water to thin
- cake decorating sprinkles
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.
- Beat the butter, oil and both sugars together until well blended. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Sift the flour, soda and cream of tartar together and then stir this into the creamed mixture a bit at a time until well combined.
- Drop by walnut sized balls onto the prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly brown around the edges.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the glaze whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the glaze allowing any excess to run off. Sprinkle with the sprinkles and allow to set.
- For optional jam sugar cookies, using your forefinger make a dip in the centre of the cookies prior to baking and fill with 1/3 teaspoon of your favourite jam. Bake as above.
These cookies are simple to make and they literally melt in your mouth. I highly recommend!
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My best friend when I was in high school was a girl named Linda Wilson. We met in Grade 10. She lived across the back yard from myself in a house that backed onto ours.
We did everything together. We were in the same class at school.
There was only her and her younger brother and she had her own record player and got a generous allowance, which she used to buy 45 records.
She had just about every popular record on the Hit Parade. On Friday nights we would sit up in her bedroom listening to the records, talking about boys and dreaming about a time when a boy might finally ask us out on a date.
We would practice slow dancing with a hanger hooked onto the back of her closet door, with her bathrobe draped over it. (Embarassing but true.) I mean . . . God forbid we went to a dance and didn't know how to actually dance with a boy!
One time we even pooled our money to buy a book, "How to Get a Teenage Boy" (and what to do with him when you get him.) by Ellen Peck. For several weeks at least this was our Bible!
It didn't work. It would be another year or so before I managed to capture a teenage boy and Linda never did until she finished high school and was out working.
Linda's mother was this really short Acadian French woman. She worked at the Metropolitan store and was small just like a bird. Her name was Cecile. Swas an excellent cook and she used to make this chocolate cake called Wacky Cake.
It was a chocolate cake that you mixed right in the cake in. You mixed together all of the dry ingredients in the cake tin and made three dips in them. You added water to one dip, and oil to another dip and then vinegar to the third.
Then you beat it all together with a fork and baked it. There was a lush icing to spoon over top of the finished cake as well. Oh boy but it was some good.
Sadly Linda and I lost touch when I moved out to Winnipeg to begin my life with my ex husband. I looked for her for many years but couldn't find her.
It was about eight years or so ago now I found out that she had passed away from cancer when she was 55. It made me very sad to discover that.
I discovered this recipe the other day on the Land O Lakes webpage. It reminded me of Linda and our friendship.
And her mother's Wacky Cake. It, too, is mixed together right in the pan.
It asked for an 8 inch square baking tin, which I don't have, but the equivalent is a 9 inch round, which I do have, so I baked it in that.
Lemon and ginger are a beautiful flavour combination which I love.
My husband is not so fussed about lemon, but he does love ginger, so I thought he would enjoy it.
I used my nine-inch enamelware baking tin and the cake did not stick at all. It baked up beautifully light and moist.
The glaze is really nice. Not too thick and not too sweet . . . its basically butter, icing sugar and lemon juice whisked together.
I did toy with the idea of adding some of the syrup from my preserved ginger jar, but in the end didn't. Instead I settled for just sprinkling a bit of the preserved ginger over top.
This was a simple and moist ginger cake with just a slight lemon flavour in the batter. Most of the lemon flavour is in the glaze. You don't need to add the preserved ginger on top, but if you have it I highly recommend that you do. It adds a really nice touch!
Yield: 9
Lemon & Ginger Snack Cake
A deliciously moist snacking cake that is mixed together right in the pan prior to baking.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 210g plain flour (1 1/4 cups)
- 95g sugar (1/2 cup)
- 100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup, firmly packed)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 60g dairy sour cream (1/4 cup)
- 60ml milk (1/4 cup)
- 1 large free range egg, beaten
- 60g butter, melted (1/4 cup)
For the glaze and finish:
- 90g sifted icing sugar (3/4 cup)
- 1 TBS butter, melted
- 1 to 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
- chopped preserved ginger to garnish (Optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Have ready an 8 inch square baking tin, or a 9 inch round baking tin.
- Whisk the flour, both sugars, baking powder, ginger and lemon zest together in the cake tin, making sure it is completely combined.
- Whisk the milk, egg and sour cream together.
- Make two wells in the dry ingredients. Into one pour the milk mixture and in the other pour the melted butter.
- Using a fork or tiny whisk, mix everything together until well combined, smoothing the batter out when done.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely in the tin.
- For the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar, melted butter and lemon juice until you have a smooth mixture. Spread this over the top of the cooled cake. Sprinkle with chopped preserved ginger if desired.
This simple cake is pretty wonderful. I loved its flavours and I also loved that it wasn't overly huge. With just the two of us, we don't ever really get large cakes eaten. This was just perfect!
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