LEMON CHICKEN -- oh so good!

I'm so sorry there is not a picture of this. We gobbled it right up. And then I went to the grocery store and bought two cans of pineapple juice at full price because I couldn't wait for juice to be on sale.

LEMON CHICKEN
Lynne Snyder

4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 8 small, cut into 1/2 inch thick strips
1 c flour
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup olive oil(start w/less butter and oil and add as needed)

Sauce:
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup pineapple juice
3 T. cornstarch
1 cup sugar
Juice from 4 lemons

Combine flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a plastic bag. Shake chicken cutlets in flour mixture. In a large skillet, melt butter and olive oil together and cook chicken breasts slowly, until browned.

While chicken is cooking make the sauce by combining all ingredients in a medium sauce pan, heat, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly. Pour over cooked chicken in the skillet, making sure you get all the browned bits scraped into the sauce. Serve with white or brown rice.

Note: I left some of the chicken w/out the sauce for Phil because he says he doesn't like lemon chicken. He ate one of the plain ones and then ate one of the lemon ones and then he put the plain ones in the sauce and said, "Yours are better!"

ORANGE SAUCE FOR CHICKEN

Original recipe here. I tweaked it and thought it was perfect. Even Her Excellency of Mousehole said it was perfect. Then she threatened me. "Don't do anything more to it. You'll ruin it!" She knows me well. I'm a fiddler, can't resist the urge to just add one more thing. So I didn't fiddle and it was a good thing.

ORANGE SAUCE FOR CHICKEN

1 cup water
1 cup orange juice, fresh squeezed if possible
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup lemon juice
3 Tbs. soy sauce
2 to 3 Tbs. chopped green onion
1 Tbs. grated orange zest
½ to 1 tsp. grated ginger
½ to 1 tsp. pressed or grated garlic
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes or a healthy pinch of cayenne pepper--be careful. I put too much in my last batch!

2 Tbs. cornstarch
2 Tbs. water

Mix everything but cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water together and bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch and water together and stir into orange mixture. Boil one minute, stirring constantly. Serve over chicken fingers and rice or noodles.

THE MEATBALL THAT FELL OFF THE TABLE

The Meatball that Fell off the Table. This is where I got this meatball recipe.

This is the way I served them, with Barbecue sauce and egg noodles. Recipe for the barbecue sauce here.I don't cook with beef. Never. Well, now I will have to say almost never because the other day I picked up a four pound--yes four-pound--package of ground beef, put it in my cart and when I got home--I paid for it first--I said to Phil, "I don't know what possessed me to do this." He didn't know either.

So I went online and looked for recipes to use the stuff. If nothing else, I thought, I could make meatballs and take them to people who were sick. (I actually did this last night along with a batch of homemade barbecue sauce--I could see they didn't have any dinner started so it was a good decision.) I also served it Sunday with the barbecue sauce and it was good. I haven't tried the "soup" gravy recipe yet but will as I still have three packages of frozen meatballs in the freezer

THE MEATBALL THAT FELL OFF THE TABLE

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1 pound ground beef chuck
1 cup plain dry bread crumbs (I used Italian)
1 teaspoon garlic salt (I used ½ tsp. garlic powder and ½ tsp. salt)
1 teaspoon ground coriander (I left this out)
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 1 tsp. dried
ground black pepper to taste
2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 tablespoons water, or as needed

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook and stir until tender and lightly browned.

Whisk the egg in a large bowl. Add the onion, ground beef, bread crumbs, garlic salt (or garlic powder and salt), coriander, nutmeg, parsley and pepper; mix well using your hands. Shape into meatballs using your hands or an ice cream scoop. (I made tiny meatballs and liked them that size)

Place the meatballs into the skillet, and set over medium-high heat. Cover, and cook until browned on the bottom. Turn, and continue cooking covered, until meatballs are browned on all sides and no longer pink in the center, about 20 minutes. (I cooked mine in the oven. The beef I used was so very lean I didn't even put them on a rack but would have, otherwise. I baked them at 350° for 25 minutes.)

Drain on a paper towel, and pour excess grease out of the skillet. Pour the cream of mushroom soup into the skillet, and stir in enough water so that it is still a fairly thick gravy. Return the meatballs to the skillet, and stir until coated. Serve over potatoes or egg noodles. (I had made them the day before and refrigerated them so I added them to the barbecue sauce and simmered until they were hot.)

CHICKEN WITH DUCK SAUCE—Lynne Snyder

Duck Sauce is a Chinese sauce recipe--no ducks. This is one of my favorite dishes and my darling oldest boy--Kraut's--favorite too.

1 pint (2 cups) apricot jam
½ (24 oz bottle) bottle ketchup (about 1 ¼ cups)*
1 pkg. Lipton (dry) onion soup
2 Tbs. brown sugar*
1 Tbs. flour

Mix all ingredients together and pour over about 12—14 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Place into greased 9x13 pan, cover loosely with foil and bake in a 350° degree oven for 1½ to 2 hours or in a 400° oven for less time.

Serve with noodles. Eat lots of salad with this so you won’t get chicken overload and die right on the spot. Hot sourdough bread is nice too.

*Original recipe called for a bottle of Russian or Catalina dressing and if I have some on hand I use that instead of the ketchup and brown sugar. There is a recipe for Catalina dressing on this site.

YOSHIDA CHICKEN--Lynne Snyder

I haven't made this is ages! Guess I'll have to buy some Yoshida Sauce.

Bake chicken in Yoshida Sauce, either whole pieces or dice them.
When the chicken is done let it cool and cut into bit size pieces.
Sauté onion and a bit of garlic in oil or butter

Add crushed pineapple and Yoshida sauce to onions, thicken if necessary.

Add cream cheese.

Serve over noodles

HEY CURLY, WHERE'S MOE?--adapted from a recipe from the Chancery Restaurants in Wisconsin

My daughter-in-law, Michelle loves this. I haven't made it for a long time, I guess it's time because it really is good.

4 (3 oz.) pkgs. Ramen-style noodles (without seasoning packets)
vegetable oil
3 zucchini (6 inches each, with skins on), cut into half-moon slices
60 fresh pea pods, ends trimmed
3 cups broccoli florets
1 red bell pepper, seeded, cored and julienne-cut
2 large carrots, julienne-cut
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges or 2 bunches green onions, chopped, white part only
Sweet and spicy sauce (recipe following)
Boil noodles 3 to 4 minutes or until tender; drain. In large skillet, stir fry vegetables until they are tender yet still crisp. Add drained hot noodles and enough hot sweet and spicy sauce to coat well. Make 6 to 8 servings.

Sweet and Spicy Sauce:

2 cups water (divided)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon Chinese chili with garlic*, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine 1/2 cup water with cornstarch and mix until cornstarch is dissolved. Combine remaining ingredients, including 1 1/2 cups water, in a medium saucepan. Bring to a low boil. Add cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly until smooth. Bring to full boil. Refrigerate any unused sauce. Note from Lynne: I used about half to 3/4 recipe of the sauce. Leftovers make a nice sauce for any stir fry.

*I didn't have any Chinese chili with garlic but used a spicy Vietnamese garlic sauce I had in the fridge; it worked wonderfully.

SUNBURGERS--Doris and Dee Olsen and Lynne Snyder

These burgers have the best texture of any homemade burger I have tasted. I used to make them all the time. I probably should make them again and share them with my daughter's Vegan friends

Bring 10 cups water to a boil and add:
1 1/2 cups powdered imitation beef soup base (I used Frontier brand)
1 1/2 cups nutritional yeast
3/4 cups dry onion flakes
1 Tbs. garlic powder
1 Tbs. thyme
1 Tbs. basil
1 Tbs. dry parsley
Simmer about 3 minutes, remove from heat and add:
1 1/2 cups Braggs Liquid Aminos
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 Tbs. oil
1/4 cup A-1 Steak Sauce
1 Tbs. liquid smoke
Stir into:
15 to 20 cups oatmeal
1 cup sunflower seeds

Mixture should be virtually instantly stiff and almost too hard to stir, if not, add additional oats. Scoop out balls using ice cream scoop and place on lightly oiled cookie sheet. Flatten patties and bake in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes on each side. Patties can be placed in Tupperware containers or plastic bags and frozen. This
recipe makes 40-50 3-inch patties.

Note: Doris and Dee used a small Tupperware hamburger press to shape their patties and I bought one too. Humm. I wonder where it is? To re-heat frozen patties place in a fry pan sprayed with vegetable spray and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes on each side.

To make nuggets cut in one inch pieces, wet with water and shake in flour.
Fry in oil until brown.

To make sweet and sour chicken substitute chicken flavor soup base for the beef soup base. Cut burgers into one inch pieces, dip in tempura batter and fry in hot oil.
Serve with sweet and sour sauce.

CHILAKAS--Betty Helquies--a friend of Lynne's

This recipe has become a favorite of everyone who tries it; teenagers especially love it. It is similar to taco salad but is set up buffet style and everyone builds their own Chilaka.

Layer on individual plates:

lettuce, chopped
Fritos brand corn chips
hot chili
tomatoes, chopped
olives, chopped
green onions, chopped
ranch dressing or sour cream
salsa

VEGAN STROGANOFF--Lynne Snyder

Vegan Stroganoff--Lynne Snyder

Onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
mushrooms, sliced
garlic, minced or pressed
Superior Touch Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base
Olive oil
water
Fettuccine Noodles

Sauté onions in oil (or steam in water). Add mushrooms, garlic, some Bouillon and a bit of water; cover and steam until mushrooms are to your liking. Uncover, add white sauce, simmer a minute or two to blend flavors and serve over hot noodles.

White Sauce
flour
pepper
oil
soy milk
salt

Sauté flour and pepper (pepper is the secret ingredient in a good white sauce--it must be sautéd with the flour and oil) in oil for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Whisk in soy milk and salt to taste. Heat until it is thick.

SKI DAY SUPPER--Julie McKay--Lynne's friend

My friend makes this for her kids on ski day and doubles the recipe (she has hungry boys). She says it's great comfort food. When the kids come in the door after skiing and they smell this they are all smiles.

1 (8 ounce) pkg cream cheese
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 dry package Italian salad dressing mix (such as Good Season’s)
4 chicken breasts or equivalent chicken tenders

Mix the cream cheese, soups and salad dressing mix together; add chopped chicken (if you chop it while it’s still a bit frozen it is easy). Put into a crock pot (are they called slow cookers, now?); turn the dial to high and cook for 6-8 hours. Serve over hot egg noodles.

“My kids love this,” Julie says. “Everybody loves it.”