Sweet and Sour Chicken

You need to plan ahead when you make this. With 45 minutes cooking time and at least 15 minutes of preparation, it's best to get started early. It's worth it, though. Serve it with rice and maybe some steamed carrots. Yummy.

2 lb. chicken, cut up to nugget size

1 c. vinegar

8 Tbsp. ketchup

2 tsp. soy sauce

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. pineapple juice

2 tsp. Accent

Combine all ingredients, except chicken, in a saucepan and bring to boil. Shake chicken pieces in flour, salt, and pepper and fry until brown on outsides. Put chicken in casserole dish and cover with sauce. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Stir and uncover halfway through.

The Potato Secret

Our bishop's wife makes the best rolls. Her secret is the potatoes. She says you can't get rolls that soft any other way. The trouble is that her recipe looks very intimidating. So, I did some reading and found that adding potato flour or even dehydrated potato flakes to bread recipes results in softer bread. Ultimately, my rolls are very good. But, they're not even in the same league as Marianna's. But, as Jeff says, "If it wasn't hard, every one would do it." Or was that Tom Hanks?

Here is my recipe and Marianna's recipe. If anybody is brave enough to try her's, let me know how they turn out.

Basic White Rolls

1/2 cup low-fat milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

3 packages active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water (105 to 115°F)

1/4 c potato flakes or potato flour

5-6 cups all-purpose flour

Place milk, sugar, salt, and butter in small saucepan. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 1/2 c flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix about 1 1/2 minutes, or until dough starts to clean sides of bowl. Knead on Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough will be slightly sticky to the touch.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, for 10 minutes.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Shape as desired. Cover. Let rise for about 15-30 minutes. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.

Marianna's Dinner Rolls

1 medium potato (for best results, use a freshly cooked potato)

3/4 c. warm water

1 Tbsp. yeast

1 Tbsp. sugar

3/4 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. salt

1/2 c. butter (in dough)

1/2 c. butter (to spread on dough)

2 eggs

4 to 5 c. unbleached flour (I use only unbleached flour - you will be amazed how much more tender any baked product will turn out)

Peel and boil potato in water until tender. Drain water and whip the potato; set aside.

Dissolve yeast in 3/4 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar. Mix yeast mixture, eggs, one cup flour, sugar, salt, 1/2 cup butter, then the potatoes. Add the flour, one cup at a time, until dough is cookie dough thickness. It is a soft dough unlike bread dough which is firm. Knead for five minutes.

Place dough in a buttered bowl; cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 5 to 6 hours.

Roll dough out onto a floured counter into the shape of an extra large pizza. Spread 1/2 cup softened butter onto dough. Cut like pizza slices. Roll each crescent shape into croissants, rolling from the fat side to the skinny side. Place on greased pan. Let raise until 50 bigger. Do not over-rise! Bake in 400° oven for 12 to 14 minutes.

Note: You can use instant potatoes or leftover mashed potatoes in this recipe. I use leftovers all the time but I get the best results with a freshly cooked potato. Potatoes are very yeast friendly. They help the yeast work better. Potatoes make rolls lighter and more tender. Potatoes also keep the finished roll from drying out. They are moist even the next day.

Note: Yes I really use 1 tablespoon salt. I personally like the combination of a lot of salt with a sweet batter.

Mongolian Beef

Mongolian Beef is a standard dish we order almost every time we go to a Chinese restaurant. So we decided we'd better just figure out how to make it ourselves. Thanks to my friend Google, we figured it out. We tried this on Tuesday. We found a store that sold the beef pre-sliced, which made the preparation easier. It turned out great.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• ½ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup water
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup)
• 1 lb flank steak
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 2 large green onions, cut into 2 inch sections
• ½ cup sliced white onion

Directions

Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Don't get the oil too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

Slice the flank steak into ¼-inch thick bite-size slices. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.

While the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges. You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly. After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet.

Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green and white onions. Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate. Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.

Serves 4