General Tso's Chicken

I made this night for dinner and there are NO left overs it was a huge hit in fact Porter my pickiest of eaters ate 3 helpings and was talking about it still this morning! Definitely will be making it again!

General Tso's Chicken
1 pkg thinly sliced chicken breast (about 7 breast) cut into cubes
1 cup cornstarch
4 eggs beaten
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground ginger

combine the spices with the cornstarch and toss chicken cubes lightly in the seasoned starch. then toss in the eggs and back in the corn starch. Fry till golden brown and drain place in a 9x13 pan

Sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar (less if you don't like vinegar) I used just under 1/3 cup
4 T Ketchup
1 T Soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Whisk and combine well, taste and adjust seasoning to taste, if you like more vinegar or soy whatever add it now. Once the chicken is all fried, pour the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat well. Bake at 350' for 15-25 minutes till chicken cooked all the way through and the sauce is thickened. Serve over white or fried Rice

* For a true General Tso's Chicken you would add Red Pepper flakes to the sauce but being that my kids are little I figured they wouldn't like it. And it was awesome without it!

 

Man it has been awhile since I posted! Life sure has been busy! But I wouldn't have it any other way. Is it sad that the only time I make time to post is when it is a cake? I think maybe it is because I want to have all my cakes for my portfolio book on here. oh well.

Well back around Halloween I donated a certificate for a silent auction for the sixth graders fund raiser for their field trip(it's apparently a big deal this field trip) Anyhow, the certificate was for a cake to serve 100 people, I was bummed because my preference for a starting bid did not get put on there which would have been starting bid of $50. And the cake went for $45 I think. oh well it was for a Good cause and it all worked out because the gal that bought it only wanted cake for 30 people which made me feel alittle better. :)
Anyhow, she asked for a cowgirl cake for her daughter's 8th birthday with teal, pink and purple with Stars on it. It is a simple white cake with strawberry filling, buttercream and marshmellow fondant.

The brim of the hat is made of gum paste. Overall I'm happy with how it turned out. Hopefully the birthday girl like it to!

 

Anyhow, life has been super busy, Darwin has an MRI tomorrow for his back, which might need a possible surgery, hopeful that it won't but we will see. The kids have been sick with the croupy crude and I'm slowly getting bigger with Johnson Baby #6, another boy due July 15th!

Hot Chocolate Truffles

So I've been trying to come up with a good little gift for the boys' teachers for Christmas, I didn't want to spend too much money as that is always tight this time of year. So I decided I was going to make them something. I figured no one really will want a steak cake so I came up with Hot chocolate truffles.
I got the idea from pinterest where I saw a marshmallow stuck to a peppermint stick to use as a stir stick for your hot chocolate and I thought Why not have something that is the actual chocolate that I would stir into the warm milk...
Here is what I did, pretty much you are making a ganache....

2 bags semi-sweet or Dark or milk depending on your taste high quality chocolate chips
    (I used Giradellis)
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 T of sugar more or less to taste
pinch of salt
Crushed up candy canes
Hot chocolate mix

Place chocolate chips in a large bowl. Heat the cream in a sauce pan, add the sugar and salt to dissolve. Once the cream is simmering, pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Whisk till combined and smooth, it will look grainy at first and be a milky brown once it starts to incorporate it will get dark and silky shinny. Cover with Plastic and place in fridge overnight. Place crushed candy canes on a paper plate and the Hot chocolate mix on a separate one. Pull ganache from fridge and with a large spoon, spoon out large balls of the ganache. Place the ball in either the peppermint or the mix and roll to coat and form a ball. Wrap separately in plastic wrap and keep refrigerated.

To use, Heat a mug of milk up and drop your truffle into the warm milk, stir till completely melted and get lost in the silky chocolate heaven.

I placed about six in a cute little mug for their teachers and I'm going to write up some cute poemy type thing if I can be that creative! Of course you have to save one for yourself... quality control and man oh man are they GOOD!

Steak Cake

Darwin's Grandpa Glen Johnson turned 80 this pasted weekend. We were able to go back to Burns for the celebration, and I was asked to make him a cake. Darwin's Aunt Sharon came up with the idea of doing a big ole steak, I added the mashed potatoes and corn. It turned out really well! I was really worried about the steak looking cartoony but all in all it turned out pretty good. Everything on the plate is edible. The mashed potatoes, are chocolate cake that I covered in ivory fondant, I didn't want it smooth or pretty as it is suppose to be potatoes, the butter is a yellow starburst complete with Butterscotch "gravy". The corn is cake covered in ivory fondant, then I made three different shades of yellow and hand rolled the kernels. I then colored some sugar black for pepper. The steak is just cake covered in white fondant and then I hand painted it. All it all I think it is one for the portfolio!

Another Cake

It would seem as of late that I'm not cooking any other than cake....I assure you my family is eating regular balanced meals and not just cake. I just haven't blogged about the recipes and really haven't made anything new, lately...other than cakes. So yes this post is about yet another cake.
I made a Birthday cake for my friend Amy's son Dillon and her friend saw it and wanted a cake made for her son's Birthday. Batman was the desired theme. Here is what the cake looked like...

Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out. The little boy was pretty excited about the cake as well. My kids we're bummed because they weren't invited to the birthday party of the kid they don't know.

So I've had lots of people ask me for business cards and I've decided it is time to make my cake business a little more official. So I'm going to order some business cards, but I can not for the life of me come up with a name...any ideas?

Happy Halloween!!

I was asked to make a cake for a silent auction for the sixth graders fundraiser for their annual fieldtrip... They always put on a Halloween carnival and silent auction and it is usually a huge success. I made the cake above for the auction and also gave a gift certificate for a cake order up to 100servings. Not sure what happened but the auction was definately not as successful as it was last year, it seemed there were less people and less bidding. The Halloween cake went for $17... and the certificate for $40. I'm trying to tell myself it is ok and it went to a good cuase, but hurts alittle when I realize I know get to do a large 100 serving cake and the money earned for the school was only .40 a serving.... oh well, at least I can use towards my charitable contributions on my taxes...right? Anyhow, I was pleased with how the cake turned out.

Asian Fried Chicken

I made dinner for a friend the other night and I was feeling kind of at a loss as to what to do. Chicken is always a good affordable bet but I want to make it special and of course super tasty. This is the recipe I came up with and it was GOOD!

Asian fried Chicken
10 thin cut boneless skinless chicken breast
2 cups flour
2 T ground Ginger
1 1/2 T ground Nutmeg
1 T garlic powder
1 T corn starch
2 tsp salt
2 tsp Ground black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 T paprika
5 eggs
3 T water
1/2 inch veggie oil for frying

Heat the oil in frying pan. Combine flour and all the spices in a dish. Combine eggs and water to create an egg wash. designate one had your wet hand and one your dry (this makes you hands less likely to become globs of the flour and egg mixture) begin in the flour covering the chicken with the spiced flour mixture, then dip in the egg wash, then again in the flour, again in the egg wash and finally in the flour.  Place in the hot oil and fry for about 4-5 minutes per side till cooked completely through.

Honey soy glaze:
In a small sauce pot combine

1/2 c honey
4 garlic cloves minced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 scallion sliced
1 tsp pepper

Heat to simmer and allow to simmer for several minutes. Drizzle over the cooked chicken or on the side as a dipping sauce.