Week 4: Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken, Fried Rice, and Cherry Crumble

I'm an overachiever this week.  I tried 3 recipes to make one killer dinner and a delicious dessert.  It could be that after 3 full weeks of at least one person being sick in our household, we are all finally well ::knocks on wood::.  It could also be that with the start of a new semester at work, the feeling of starting fresh is all around me.  Or it could just be that I miss those special Sunday dinners my mom would cook growing up and wanted to get back into the habit of doing those for my family.

This week was different.  With Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Evan being released from the hospital on Monday, we geared up for a short week of work.  My mom and Scott's mom took shifts Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to watch Evan at our house since he couldn't go back to daycare yet, and luckily with final exams this week, I was able to stay home on records day on Friday since I had my grades done Thursday.  A big thanks to our parents for always helping us out when we're in need!

Thursday, Scott and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary.  Unfortunately, he had to have basketball practice after school, so I had put together a lasagna and red velvet cake Wednesday night so that we would have a really yummy, but quick dinner on Thursday.  We've always decided against gifts for one another for anniversaries since the date is so close to Christmas and Scott's birthday.  But, I couldn't resist doing this easy Pinterest idea to make Scott feel special.  5 Mylar balloons from the dollar store.  The white one is from the year we got married with a picture from our wedding and my favorite wedding memory on the back of the picture, the other red ones are for each year we've been married with a picture from each of those years and my favorite memory.

Saturday, we were lucky enough to snag a date night with the boys away for the night.  We grabbed dinner and drinks at Compari's on the Park in Plymouth and then went bowling.  So, by Sunday, with the boys back home, laundry done, grocery shopping done, and everything ready for a full week of work and a new semester, I knew I wanted to try out some of these recipes I've been hoarding in a pile.

This week's meal I made was AMAZING.  Scott was totally skeptical because I've tried a sweet and sour chicken recipe before that wasn't anything to write home about.  But, man, I'm glad I tossed his opinion to the side and stuck with my gut on this one.

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice:

For the chicken...

1 package of chicken breasts (4) that I rinsed with water and then cut into cubes.
salt + pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup canola oil

For the sauce...

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt

       Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.   

While the chicken was in the oven, I started the rice and the dessert.

For the rice...

3 cups cooked white rice (day old or leftover rice works best!)

3 tbs sesame oil

1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 cup soy sauce

On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet or wok.  Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated!  

Delicious!

And for dessert, we periodically get postcards from our realtor who sold us this house we're in now with recipes to try on them.  It's a cute idea since their slogan is something along the lines of "We're your recipe to success in real estate".  Their recipes are always tasty and pretty easy to make!

Easy Cherry Crumble

2 cans Cherry Pie Filling (21 oz. each)

1 box of Vanilla cake mix

1 stick of butter, melted

1 cup almonds

Simply spread the cherry filling on the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan.  Then mix the melted butter with the cake mix and almonds.  Put the cake topping on top of the cherries and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Serve with vanilla ice cream!

What a great way to end the week and start another!  I can't wait to have the leftovers for lun