That Sugary Sweet and Sour Sauce They Serve with Wontons

Crouton Crackerjacks

Learn how to make Chinese restaurant sweet and sour sauce! This recipe is super easy and quick and uses what you already have in your pantry. No special ingredients required! What you'll need: 1/2 cup white sugar (100g) 4 tsp cornstarch (or tapioca, arrowroot, etc.) 4 tsp white vinegar 1 tsp soy sauce pinch salt 3/4 cup water (180ml) 2 drops red gel food coloring (I use Americolor) Mix everything in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once to a boil and thickened, remove from heat and serve. Makes about 1 cup of sauce. Use for dipping sauce, on top of fried rice or to make sweet and sour chicken or pork. Enjoy!

Andrew and Beth loved it. How could they not, it's like liquid jello for your rice and chicken.

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Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies

Salty Oat Cookies, Gluten-Free http://artofglutenfreebaking.com   These are similar to the Teaism Salty Oat Cookies Adapted from The Washington Post, 6/13/07 Special Equipment Needed -a stand mixer is nice, but a hand mixer will do   Note: This recipe uses my gluten-free flour mix Jeanne's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix (mix together and store in fridge): 1 1/4 C. brown rice flour 1 1/4 C. white rice flour 1 C. tapioca flour 1 C. sweet rice flour (also known as Mochiko) 2 scant tsp. xanthan gum (you can also use the gluten-free flour mixture (not baking mix) of your choice--just be  sure it contains xanthan gum. Or, you can add 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum per cup of gluten-free flour.  If you use bean flour, it will add a bean taste to the cookies)   Ingredients 12 TBL (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 1 C light or dark brown sugar (I used dark) 1/2 C granulated sugar 2 large or extra large eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 3/4 C Jeanne's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 2 C rolled oats (gluten-free)--not quick cooking Salt for sprinkling 1 C raisins (optional) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and oats.  Set aside. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter for a few minutes on  medium-high until light and fluffy.  Add the two sugars, beat for a couple of minutes.   Scrape down sides.  Add the vanilla extract, beat to mix in.  Add the eggs, one at a time,  beating after each addition. Add the flour mixture to your butter mixture.  Beat just to incorporate. Make sure to scrape the  bottom of the mixing bowl--the resulting batter is thick enough that some of the dry ingredients  don't get incorporated.  Do a final mix by hand to incorporate any stray dry ingredients.   If using raisins, mix them in at this time. Form golf-ball sized balls of dough.  Even though the dough seems too sticky, you can  form them with your hands without too much mess.  Place them 2 inches apart on lined cookie sheet.   Generously sprinkle each cookie with a good pinch of salt. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  Don't overbake.   The cookies should have a tender interior.  Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy! Nico's Note: I added a scant 1/2 tsp of Kosher salt instead of sprinkling them generously with salt.   I thought that added the right touch of salt.  It's better for me to make these in half batches and  freeze some so that I don't eat the entire batch at once.

Beef and Broccoli (without the Beef)

I made the recipe called "Beef with Broccoli" from Our Best Bites and the kids didn't like the way the beef turned out, but they loved the vegetables with it and have asked me to make them again so I'm just going to record the vegetable part of the recipe.

1 T oil
1/2 cup water
1 T cornstarch
1 t ground ginger--I just used the powdered kind
2 T brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
12 ounces broccoli florets broken into bite size pieces (about 4 cups)
2 carrots cut into small pieces ( I used about 1-1 1/2 cup baby carrots)

In separate bowl whisk together water, soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger, and brown sugar.  Set aside. Heat 1T oil in pan when hot and broccoli and carrots. Stir fry broccoli and carrots for 4-5 minutes until tender-crisp.  Add the sauce and cook for about 1 minute until the sauce thickens.  Serve over white rice.  (The next time I made this I doubled the recipe to have leftovers.)

Corn Pops aka Crack Puffs

Caramel Corn Puffs

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

50 mins

Author: Mandy Bird

: Dessert

Ingredients

• 1 (8 oz.) bag Barrel O' Fun Corn Pops or Cheetos Puffed Butter Pops (both found in the chips aisle)
• ½ c. butter
• ½ c. light corn syrup
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Directions

1. Place Barrel O' Fun Corn Pops in a large roasting pan.
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
3. Mix in a saucepan the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir for two minutes on med-high until bubbly around the edges.
4. Remove from heat and add baking soda. It will foam as you stir. Pour over the puffs and stir until all are coated.
5. *Place in a 250 degree oven and bake 40-45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and dump onto wax paper. Break into clumps before puffs cool.

*Nico's Note: I do not bake them because I like them soft and chewy.

Taken from: http://mandysrecipeboxblog.com/caramel-corn-puffs/

Light and Crispy Waffles

Light & Crispy WafflesRecipe from Aretha Frankensteins

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and whisk until combined. Allow to stand for 30 minutes.

Heat a Belgian waffle iron. Make waffles by ladling a generous 1/3 cup of batter into the waffle iron and cooking until golden brown. Serve with desired topping (Buttermilk Syrup is our favorite!)

Makes 5-6 waffles.

Taken from ourbestbites.com

Nico's Note:  I double (at least) the batch size for our family.

Westra's Contest Winner with Photo by Danielle Westra

Our friends spent a year making chocolate chip cookies to find the best recipe. This is their pick for now.  Right when I find that flour is not my friend.  I want to keep it for the future just in case.

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 11 minutes

Total Time 21 minutes

Servings 8 cookies

Author Si Foster, A Bountiful Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter cut into tablespoons I prefer unsalted
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 1/2-1 3/4 cup all purpose flour* see notes
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 2 cups walnut halves
• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips* see notes

Instructions

1. Pre heat oven to 400 degrees and set rack in middle of oven.
2. Place butter into bowl and turn mixer on low. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
3. Add sugars and beat butter until smooth on medium speed. This should take about 1 minute. Mix until the butter pieces are completely blended with the sugar and is no longer visible in pieces.
4. Add the eggs and beat on medium just until incorporated with butter and sugars, about 30 seconds.
5. Turn the mixer off. Add the cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pulse the dry ingredients on low until the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together.
6. Pour the walnuts into the batter all at once. Pulse the batter 5-6 times.
7. Pour the chocolate chips into the batter and pulse again 5-6 times.
8. Pour the batter out onto a clean surface. Fold the dough together a few times until all of the chocolate chips and walnuts are mixed into the batter.
9. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces about 6 oz each. Use your hands to shape cookies. Do not use a cookie or ice cream scoop. The cookies are meant to be roughly shaped. Do not flatten the dough.
10. Bake 4 cookies per pan, for 11 minutes on regular bake or 400 convection bake for 8-9 minutes.
11. The cookies are done when the top is a bit golden and the bottom is also golden.
12. Do not over bake. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.
13. To make the cookies without walnuts, see recipe notes

Recipe Notes

-It is important to let the oven fully heat up. Turn it on for at least 15-20 minutes before baking.

-I use 1 cup Cake Flour and 1 3/4 cup AP flour. You may try using 1 1/2 cups AP flour. I found the dough to be too sticky. If you have issues with the cookies flattening out, use 1 3/4 cups flour.

-If you do not have cake flour, try using All Purpose flour. 2 1/2 cups should work. When purchasing Cake Flour, look for it on the upper shelves of the grocery aisles. 

- If you can't find cake flour at your grocery, you can make your own at home by using this simple method: Measure out 1 cup of all purpose flour into a medium size mixing bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of the flour and place back in the flour container. Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the flour in mixing bowl. Sift the flour and cornstarch mixture. Sift again about 3-4 more times. You now have cake flour! Place in a bag or container and use as needed.

-Cake flour is usually found on the top shelf at the grocery store, near the All Purpose Flour or near other baking goods.

-I buy chocolate chips in bulk and scoop my semi sweet chips out of a jar. This recipe calls for 2 cups of chocolate chips. Most bags of chocolate chips are 11-12 oz or closer to 1 1/2 cups of chips, which will work for one recipe, no need to open another bag of chocolate chips.

-I use food handlers gloves to shape the dough, and also weigh the dough balls on a scale. Each dough ball is approx 6 oz.

-These cookies freeze extremely well. After cooling completely, place cookies in a large ziplock bag or small sandwich size bags. Place in freezer. When ready to eat, either let thaw, or wrap in paper towel and microwave for about 15-18 seconds. The cookie will not have a crisp exterior after being frozen, but will still be moist and taste fresh.-In the recipe it says to turn the batter out onto a clean surface and mix the chocolate chips and the walnuts together by hand. I do not do this step. I add this to the recipe because it is shown in the video. I simply fold the dough a couple of times with a spatula in the bowl to make sure all of the walnuts and chocolate chips are distributed.

Update 5/3/2017**

-Dislike walnuts? You may add additional chocolate chips or try increasing the All Purpose flour by 1/4 cup. Add 4 cups chocolate chips in place of the original 2 cups chips and 2 cups walnuts. If you omit the walnuts, you must replace with another substance that will take up mass in the cookie. Two additional cups of chocolate chips or 2-11.5 oz packages per recipe. Bake as directed. Refrigerating dough for 30-45 minutes after shaping and before baking is recommended, especially if baking in a regular bake and not a convection bake oven.

taken from https://abountifulkitchen.com/levain-bakery-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/

She tells the story of the cookie and gives a lot of tips on how to make it on her blog.

Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie

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Gluten-Free Hearty Chicken Pot Pie

• Prep15 MIN
• Total45 MIN
• Servings6

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Ingredients

2

tablespoons butter or margarine

1

medium onion, chopped

1

bag (12 oz) frozen mixed vegetables

1 1/2

cups cut-up cooked chicken

1 3/4

cups Progresso™ chicken broth

1

teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2

teaspoon dried thyme

3/4

cup milk

3

tablespoons cornstarch

Topping

3/4

cup Bisquick™ Gluten Free mix

1/2

cup milk

1

egg

2

tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1

tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Steps

• 1

  Heat oven to 350ºF. In 3-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring frequently, until tender. Stir in vegetables, chicken, chicken broth, salt and thyme; heat to boiling. In small bowl, mix 3/4 cup milk and the cornstarch with wire whisk until smooth; stir into chicken mixture. Heat just to boiling. Pour into ungreased 2-quart casserole.
• 2

  In small bowl, stir all topping ingredients except parsley with fork until blended. Drop topping mixture by small spoonfuls over chicken mixture. Sprinkle with parsley.
• 3

  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of topping comes out clean.

To be honest, I haven't made the whole pot pie, I just use the filling recipe to keep it gluten free.  My kids love choosing their own vegetables to put in and then I put real crust on for them and leave mine without crust.