Bailey's Frosting

I'm back in business! I can't believe I ever quit blogging. Over the past two years I've graduated with my Masters in Teaching, moved out on my own, bought my first house, got my first real teaching job, and bought a brand new car:) This girl is growing up! To celebrate, I thought a more 'adult' geared dessert was in order. I made this frosting to go on some devil's food cupcakes for Easter and they disappeared within 5 minutes! Here's the recipe:

 

In a large bowl beat 2 sticks of unsalted butter. Whip on high speed for 1 minute. Next, add 3/4 cup of Bailey's Irish Liquor and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Beat on low until all ingredients are well mixed. Now for the sugar. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar to the bowl and SLOWLY beat frosting until it is able to form stiff peaks. If you feel that the icing is to runny, add a bit more of the powdered sugar. ENJOY!

Orange Chicken (GF)

Keeping with an Asian them this week...I found yet another pinterest recipe that sparked my fancy! Of course it took a bit of tweaking to make it gluten free but that part wasn't difficult at all! Just a fair warning though...this dish gets messy to make. So do it on a weekend when you have the energy to actually clean up after it! Haha! But it really was delicious! Here's the recipe:



First you'll need to create the marinade. Take out a large mixing bowl and combine 3/4 cup of chicken broth, 3/4 cup of FRESHLY squeezed orange juice (trust me, it really makes all the difference!), 1 1/2 tsp of orange zest, 6 tbsp of white vinegar, 1/4 cup of gluten free soy sauce, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 3 minced cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp of either finely grated ginger or powdered ginger (I used powdered ginger and it worked just fine!), 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp of cornstarch, 2 tbsp of cold water, and a few orange peels. Mix together well until the cornstarch has dissolved. Take out 3/4 cup of the marinade and stick it in the fridge. Add in 1-2 lbs of cubed chicken to the rest of the marinade and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Heat up a pot of canola oil (or a deep fryer if you have one) to 350*F.  Next you'll make the coating for the chicken. Beat 3 large egg whites in a small bowl until frothy then set aside. In a medium sized bowl, mix together 1 cup of cornstarch, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper, and a few shakes of garlic powder. Take the marinated chicken and remove it from the excess marinade. Pat the chicken dry with several paper towels. Take only a few cubes at a time and dip them in the egg wash, then in the coating. Shake off any excess coating then drop them into the heated oil. Cook until the coating is golden and the chicken is cooked all the way through, then remove from the oil and place onto several paper towels to drip off any excess oil. Repeat this process until all of the chicken is cooked. In a separate pan, heat up the saved marinade from the fridge. When it is simmering, dump the cooked chicken into the pan and toss until coated fully.Serve over white rice and ENJOY!!

GF Skinny Honey Sesame Glazed Chicken

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past several months! Life has sort of gotten away from me and has just started to come back into a routine! I've just started my student teaching (YAY!) and am currently beginning the job application process so wish me luck! Hopefully I'll end up with a teaching position this fall. Any how, because I'm at the high school for most of the day, I've started planning out my lunches and dinners for the week in advance which has proven to be EXTREMELY helpful and both a time and money saver! My mission is to try out at least one new recipe each week because of this routine, the first of which being this Skinny Honey Sesame Glazed Chicken recipe:) I stumbled across it on pinterest.com (which is an addictive yet wonderfully creative website as most of you already know) and decided to test it out for dinner tonight. DELICIOUS! Seriously, if you are one of those people who orders sesame chicken at Chinese restaurants like I am, save your money and make this at home! Plus, since it's baked it is much healthier than the deep fried and battered kind. Here's the recipe:



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Take 1 &1/2 to 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts and cut them up into one inch cubes. Dust them with flour (gluten free of course!) and shake off any excess. Preheat your oven to 400*F and bake the chicken cubes for 15 minutes in a pan with a bit of a lip on it (I used a jelly roll pan). While the chicken is baking, mix together the sauce... 2 tbsp of low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 cup of honey, 1 tbsp of sesame oil, and siracha (Asian hot sauce) as desired. Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the sauce on top. Stir the chicken so that it is all evenly coated, then place chicken back into the oven for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to coat everything well. Remove from oven and toss with sesame seeds. Serve over a bed of rice.

ENJOY!

White Bean Chicken Chili

A few weeks ago, I finally made the trip out to my roommate's home in Richmond, VA. While we were there, her wonderful mother made us this recipe for dinner! This completely changed my view on what chili is and was absolutely delicious (plus gluten free!); not spicy at all, just full of flavor! Served with corn bread it is a great cozy meal, I really encourage you to try it! It makes enough for an army (or a chili cook off!) but you can easily cut the recipe in half like I did and it's just enough for four :) Here's the recipe:

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In a large pot, saute one chopped medium onion in about a tbsp of oil for 6-7 minutes. Add in 2 chopped cloves of garlic and saute for an additional 2 minutes. Add in 6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts that have been cut into bite sized pieces. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and lightly brown. This recipe can be finished up in two different ways; via crock pot or stove top (long vs short cook time!).

For the crock pot, dump the cooked chicken mixture into the slow cooker. Take one can of white beans and put into a blender or food processor. Blend until liquefied, this will act as your thickening agent in your chili! Add to the slow cooker. Also add an additional 3 cans (15 oz each) of rinsed and drained white beans, 1 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of chili powder, 1 tsp of pepper, 1 tsp of oregano, 1 can of chicken broth (16 oz), 1 16oz package of frozen corn, 1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chili, 1 chopped red or green pepper. Mix ingredients well and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

 For a quicker version, cook on the stove top! Add all ingredients into the large pot that the chicken was originally cooked in and bring to a boil. Then lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

You can top with cheese, sour cream, green chives, cilantro, lime juice, corn bread, etc.!

ENJOY!

Smothered Pork Chops (G.F.)

The other day I went into the freezer and pulled out some boneless pork chops to make for dinner that night. I went online in search of a tasty recipe for them and stumbled across this one! Again, another food network steal, this one by Tyler Florence. This recipe took my idea of pork chops to a whole new level. Definitely worth the time to make them! Serve them up with some mashed potatoes and you have a real 'comfort food' type meal. Here's the recipe:


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Take your pork chops (bone in or boneless are fine!) and dry them off with a few paper towels. In a small mixing bowl, blend together 1 cup of flour (I used King Arthur Gluten Free All-purpose Flour!), 2 tbsp of onion powder, 2 tbsp of garlic powder, 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1 tsp of kosher salt, and 1/2 tsp of fresh cracked pepper. Once the dry ingredients are all mixed together, dredge the pork chops in the mixture, covering all sides of each. Next, heat a skillet with about 1/4 cup of e.v.o.o to medium heat. When the skillet is nice and hot, place each of the pork chops into the pan. Cook for approximately 4-5 minutes per side or until both sides are golden brown. Remove the pork chops from the pan. Add a few tsp of the left over dry mixture to the drippings left over in the skillet. Stir until the mixture becomes thick, then add 1 cup of chicken broth. Let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes so as to let it reduce down. Add 1/2 cup of milk (I actually used soy and even Ryan couldn't tell the difference!) to the pan and stir together well.Once the gravy has thickened, place the pork chops back into the pan with the gravy. Allow to simmer for another 5 minutes or until the pork chops are cooked through. Serve and ENJOY!