Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

 Hello! How is your Sunday? It is a beautiful day here on our small hobby farm. The sun is shining and although it is still cold, it is not single digits, and we don’t have the wind that we have dealt with this past week. I wanted to share this recipe with you all. It is a meal that I made several months ago, but one that my husband really enjoyed and so I make it for lunch at times.

Many bloggers talk about food and I know many struggle with what to make for a meal and I am hoping that maybe this will spark someone to try something new for lunch or even dinner, as today’s lunch is leftovers from last nights’ dinner. I tried a new recipe that my husband had sent me on messenger and was surprised that I actually liked it quite a bit. 

It was sweet and sour baked chicken. Prep time was about 30 minutes for me and it cooks for an hour. Not bad for the schedule. Most of our dinners usually require a good hour in the kitchen not including clean up. Clean up is fairly easy for this one as you cook on parchment paper, which means the pan you bake it in is not too dirty or hard to clean. I even used a disposable pan that I had in case it made a mess. The pan was saved though because it was not dirty. 

Here is the recipe:

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1? pieces

1 cup corn starch

2 large eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F and line a 13 x 9-inch pan with parchment paper.

Set aside. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper.

Add cornstarch to a large ziploc bag and add chicken breast. Shake to coat.

In a shallow bowl, beat together eggs. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until sizzling.

Dip chicken breasts in eggs and add to the skillet. Sear chicken until golden and place in the prepared pan.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic powder, and sea salt and whisk.

Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour, tossing halfway through.

Serve with rice.

#chickenrecipe

Honey Garlic Chicken

As I was looking for Keto recipes, I came across one on Pinterest for Honey Garlic Chicken. I read the recipe and decided to try it, but to adjust the recipe a bit to make it more to our liking. I will say it was good, but not my favorite meal. My husband loved it though and it is going into our recipe collection of foods to work into our menu when we need something easy and a little different.

Most of the ingredients are items that most cooks will have in the kitchen pantry and so there is no real need to go to the store. I try to limit my trips to the grocery since we live farther away from the store. I try to limit recipes that involves ingredients that we would not normally have on hand as well. If those ingredients are items that are specialty for just one recipe, I will generally try to exchange them for something else or find a way to use them in more than one recipe.

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

COOK TIME: 30 MINUTES

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 pounds cubed pork

1 1/2 teaspoon minced onion

2 teaspoons of garlic powder

3 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

4 tablespoons sugar free honey

3 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

1. Season the pork with onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, pepper, and seasoned salt. I placed ingredients into a Ziplok bag and tossed to coat well.
2. Melt butter into large skillet over medium heat.
3. Add pork to skillet, and sear on all sides until nearly cooked.
4. Mix in garlic, honey, and add lemon juice to pork.
5. Stir, saute, and let cook over medium heat about 10 minutes.

2 carbs per serving

195 calories

I suggest serving this with cauliflower rice and a low carb vegetable. Delicious meal and a nice addition to the weekly menu plan.

Chili For A Cold Day

My husband has many food ideas and there are certain foods that he only wants when it is cold and many of those are what most people consider comfort foods. Foods like chili, roast, beef stew, and many soups are generally considered comfort foods and many people eat these year-round, but not in our household. These foods are winter, cold day foods to him. So, with a forecast of snow in the air tonight and the fact that he wants left-overs for tomorrow, as I won’t be home, he wants chili tonight.

Chili can be made many different ways and with many different ingredients. I chose a very simple recipe today and I will share it with you as my cold day chili. I prefer to use deer burger in ours as we have it readily available in our freezer and we like the flavor it adds to the chili. I also like to add home canned tomato juice, if possible, which was not in this case. I intended to use home canned diced tomatoes but was given some store-bought diced chili ready tomatoes so that is what I used for today’s meal.

I am fortunate that we heat with wood most of the winter and so my woodstove can double as my stove this time of the year for foods like this. I enjoy the meals that are cooking while I am busy with other work. It also makes the day feel as though I have accomplished a bit more when dinner is already on cooking by 9 a.m. Many people do not have the luxury in doing that, but that is part of what I truly love about our life here on our small farm in the country.

Here is the recipe for my chili. Please know that you can make many adjustments to what you do with this recipe, but I prefer this one for today.

Cold Day Chili

1 pound of deer burger, fried and drained of any grease

1 small onion, diced

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 8 oz can of chili ready diced tomatoes, although I prefer my own canned ones

2 15 oz cans of chili beans, I prefer to use the mild

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 cup of water

Mix all ingredients together and let simmer most of the day. I never bring to a boil as I just want the flavors to simmer together and heat all of the ingredients. I cook macaroni separately and we each add what we want to our bowls, as well as crackers. I also always serve with a peanut butter sandwich, as it is the perfect addition to the meal and complements the flavor of the chili quite nicely.

Daily Writing

Daily writing prompt

What snack would you eat right now?

View all responses

What snack would you eat right now is my writing prompt. I enjoy snacks and I don’t mind saying that either. Snacks can be healthy and not cause health problems if you snack the right way. Healthy snack choices are just as easy as the unhealthy ones. I would prefer chocolate as my snack, but I know that it is not the healthiest choice that I can make.

Considering the time of day, if I were to eat a snack now, it would be some carrots sticks or celery sticks with a bit of ranch dressing. If I did not have that on hand, I would have some cheese cubes and maybe a couple of crackers. Many times, these are my snacks for lunch. I am not a huge lunch eater, but I am usually getting a bit hungry, by this time of the day. There are many healthy choices for snacks at lunch time. Broccoli, celery, carrots, cheese, crackers, and other veggies are great options. Fruit can be a great idea to as long as it is not a sugar filled fruit.

Tomatoes with tuna in the summer can be a delicious snack as well. It is a little more filling, but still a nice snack for anyone. I like pretzels as well, but those watching their carbs, might not want pretzels. Hummus is another fantastic choice for lunch time snacks. Avocados are usually one of the things that I like to add in for those of us that like them. (I am not a fan.).

Whatever your snack choice is make sure it is a low sugar and low carb choice.

Starting Anew

I have made promises that I intend to be much more active on here and get this blog to be active and learn more about WordPress and all of the other bloggers here, but I have failed in the past. With 2024 being around the corner and I am making many changes to my life and my career path, I fully intend to do what I have promised for over a year. I will make this a successful blog. There is not a choice, but to do it!

This will be farm related recipes and helpful kitchen hints as we are doing more homesteading and less grocery store shopping. I want to help other ladies, especially younger ladies, learn that cooking from scratch truly does not have to be hard. Some recipes will be much more difficult than others, but anyone can learn to cook the items that I will be doing here. I love my crockpot, so I am sure you will see lots of recipes for the crockpot. Many days I am extremely stressed and busy by the time, we need to eat dinner and so our meals are easy 15–30-minute dishes that are not complicated at all. Are you aware that sausage and pancakes make a fabulous easy dinner? Ask my husband!

Farm life can be hard work and caring for a home can be as well, but homemaking skills are also not as bad as many people make them out to be and dinner does not have to be the hardest part of your day. I like to enjoy my evenings reading a good book or playing a board game, so I certainly don’t want to spend all of my time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up the mess. {By the way, I still wash dishes by hand. }

There will be recipes for bread, meals, meat dishes, soups, and desserts here on a regular basis and I intend to be very structured in following through with this plan. I have it written in my calendar and that is the way that all things get done in my time frame. I tell everyone if it is not on the calendar, it is not a part of my day. Yes, planning and cooking dinner is on the calendar daily.

Please stop by and see what is new from time to time and become a regular reading if you feel compelled too. I would greatly appreciate it.

Monday

Hello! As I am very busy today, but I am attempting to make this blog active again, I am adding this photo and short paragraph. I want to remind everyone that no matter what kind of day you are having that God has a huge blessing in store for you.

Returning To A Computer Near You

I started this blog several years ago and really just did not stick to it. I have a blog over on blogger.com and I would like to streamline them so I may be making some changes here soon. I hope to make this blog as active as that one and I want to share so much more about us and our life here on our little funny farm.

I don’t remember exactly why I liked the name of Slatersfunnyfarm, but it seems to have stuck for years now and that is why I would like to streamline things and make each of this work together. I believe it had something to do with a chicken and our cat lying together in the back yard. Seems to be the memory that I have of coming up with a name.

On this blog, I will mainly share daily life here and some exciting recipes. I enjoy cooking for my husband and I enjoy using fresh foods as much as possible. I feel that many of us eat too many processed foods and restaurant meals these days. I have learned to can this year and I have enjoyed processing the foods that we have grown in our garden.

I hope that you will all become an active reader and participate in this blog and help me advance my blogging skills.

Summer Macaroni Salad Recipe

As summer approaches, we will be hosting several cookouts and attending several as well. One of my daughters’ favorite foods is macaroni salad and this is one of her favorite recipes. I like to try new things and so I am always experimenting with foods. This is one of the experiments that went well and the family really enjoyed.

The secret to this recipe is the extra little addition of red peppers. It adds some color and flavor to the traditional salad. I prefer red peppers or yellow peppers, but you could add green peppers if you chose too.

 

7 ounces shell macaroni, cooked

1 cup mayo

3 tablespoons yellow mustard

1 small onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

4 hard boiled eggs, diced

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

 

Mix together and chill before serving.

Snowy Menu

As my husband and I were talking in the car today, I came up with the idea for my post today. We were talking about the snow that we have and how it seems that everyone goes to the store to purchase milk, bread and eggs each time a snow storm is predicted. So I made a comment about how everyone must have French Toast for snow days. As I said it, I realized that the writers block that I have had here has been lifted as I suddenly had a good idea for a post.

French Toast is made by dipping bread into a mixture of egg and milk with possibly some cinnamon to add flavor and then fried on a hot griddle on in a hot skillet until browned on both sides. Then placed on a plate and covered with syrup or butter and syrup.

A great addition to this is to add vanilla to the egg and milk mixture or I have even added some Anise to the mix instead of cinnamon if I am in the mood for extra flavor. I sometimes cover it with fresh fruit instead of syrup also.

The snow day menu could consist of French Toast and some kind of breakfast meat, such as bacon or sausage. A large glass of cold milk to go along with it and you have a perfect snow day dish!

Football Day Appetizer

For anyone living near Indianapolis, Indiana there has been plenty of hoopla about the playoff game between the Denver Broncos and the Indianapolis Colts being that Peyton Manning used to play for the Colts and now Denver is blessed by having him as the head quarterback. Number 18 is a legacy wherever he plays!

The way I see it is that Peyton made the Colts the team that they are today and they have a nice, newer stadium due to the effort and leadership of Peyton Manning. While Andrew Luck may take the field there now, that stadium will always be a tribute to the team that Manning led to the Super Bowl. It seems to me that most Colts fan are always comparing stats of the two quarterbacks and it makes me wonder if they are trying to justify the fact that Irsay and Pagano let Manning go following some neck surgeries instead of waiting to see if he was going to play again. Manning was and still is one great quarterback and his stats show that. I am not sure how concerned Luck is with being compared to such a great football player, but I have seen interviews with Peyton that indicate that he has moved on and does not care that they are comparing the two. Peyton has records to back up his skills. Luck is a good quarterback and his stats are good, but let’s see where he is in 10 or 15 years. I am not sure he will be in the same class as some other NFL quarterbacks, like Manning, Tom Brady, and Brett Farve to name a few.

Anyway, we are not big football fans here, but we will watch the game today as I do like to watch Peyton play and I hope he wins the Super Bowl this year. That means that since it is a later game, I will probably serve snacks and pizza  so here is a good appetizer to start with, as I don’t know many football fans that will say that wings are not a favorite. This is a dip recipe for those die hard chicken wings fans.

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

2 grilled chicken breasts, grilled and shredded

1/2 bottle of ranch dressing.

1/2 bottle of Buffalo Wing Sauce. ( I prefer the Kroger brand of sauce, but any will work)

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

1/2 bag shredded cheddar cheese , about 4 oz.

1/2 bag shredded Mozzarella cheese, about 4 oz

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve with tortilla chips.