Sesame-Crusted Chicken Fingers & Thai Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

Sometimes I like to pretend I'm 5 years old and have chicken fingers & macaroni for dinner. But then, I remember that I'm actually like 20 years older than that and I need some veggies too. Add in the token broccoli and you have yourself a meal! Normally, I bake my chicken fingers using a few seasonings & panko crumbs. I love anything Asian-inspired and have had this little gem on my bookmark list for a while from Skinny Taste. Um LOVE! I did have to buy a jar of sesame seeds and some sesame oil for this recipe, but honestly I still have a ton left and I've made it like 3 times. So worth it!

Oh and I didn't discover the dipping sauce until take 2, but its fabulous! It has a little kick but you can adjust the spice to your taste. It seriously takes these little chicken fingers over the edge!! You could even go crazy and make these into nuggets. Explore your wild side. :)

AMAZING Salted Caramel Sauce

I've been afraid of caramel. Very afraid. since my little incident over a year ago. My wound has healed, but I still have a faint scar to prove my battle wounds! ha My friend Nicole came over & wanted to make some delicious pumpkin blondies that required this salted caramel sauce, so I made her make it while I watched. Success! It seemed like I could attempt without an injury, so when I NEEDED to make this again a couple weeks later when my supply ran out, I did it! OK, I had a few mishaps with the sugar crystallizing and getting really hard in the bottom of the pan. I tried 3 times and finally the last time when I turned the heat up higher, it worked! I made this again at my mom's house for Thanksgiving & the same problem happened. Apparently no one really knows what that happens, or at least I couldn't get a good reason on the web. The foolproof way to make it though is to add a tablespoon of light corn syrup to the water sugar mixture, which prevents it from hardening. Just do that, it's easier... :) Also, DO NOT stir the mixture except when you first put it in the pan, or you will mess it up. Bad. It's really yummy though & very worth it!

Salted Caramel Sauce

• 1/3 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 TBSP light corn syrup (optional, but makes it easier to make for the first time)
• 1 vanilla bean, sliced & seeded
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Mix cream, sea salt, vanilla & vanilla bean scrapings in a large cup. Set aside. 

In a medium saucepan, mix water, sugar & corn syrup- stir one last time to combine & do not stir again! Heat over medium-high heat until starts to bubble. DO NOT STIR or you will disrupt the caramel-making process (Very scientific, I know), but you can gently swirl the pan to make sure everything is heating evenly. 

Watch it carefully until it turns a deep amber color (this is where my hands were full and I couldn't take any more photos!). Turn off heat and carefully add cream mixture, whisking constantly until comes together and any hardened caramel bits on the whisk melt away. When you first pour it in, it will go crazy & steam & bubble, but just keep whisking. 

Pour into a jar and store in the fridge. You should probably only keep it for a week or so, but I have kept mine a lot longer. Its really amazing on apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, brownies.... etc. you get the idea. :)

Enjoy!

Homemade pizza sauce

In case you haven't read my ramblings in my last post, homemade pizza is my new favorite meal! Beware if you are coming over for dinner soon. :) My last post was about easy, delicious homemade pizza dough. This is the recipe for my pizza sauce- which is adapted from Jessiker Bakes. You can change it up to add your favorite spices too. Its so easy, SO much cheaper than a jar of sauce and ready in 10 minutes or less. I will never buy my own pizza sauce again! :)

Homemade Meat Sauce

 
My go-to meat sauce is ground beef + a jar of tomato sauce. Nothing wrong with that! I wanted to try something new and came across Nonnies Meat Sauce from Bree's blog. This is perfect to make on a Sunday afternoon while you've got a couple loads of laundry in and you're doing some cleaning...or laying on the couch in front of the TV. :) It just needs a couple hours to simmer.

 This sauce is good- the mushrooms really add that richness. I could not find dried porcini mushrooms at HEB, so I used dried shitake (found in the Asian foods aisle). I still think it needs a little extra something though. Next time I'll add some more seasonings and maybe somemore tomato sauce. If you like your sauce very thick, don't change a thing though! Yum :) Can't mess with Nonnie, right?