Pizza fun

This is something you could do for parties, for yourself just for fun or for your kids.  You can use a shaped cookie cutter, an open empty can or a shallow cake pan (think the Christmas pans that make brownie sized cakes in different shapes). I used a dinosaur and an elephant bread cutter to make my shapes since that is what our son is very into right now for his bread and that's what grandma sent :)

What you need:

I'll start off by saying I used what I had:
pasta sauce
pizza dough
a mozzarella cheese ball
and sandwich cutters.

Other options would have been:
the shredded mozzarella/cheddar/parmesan
olives/mushrooms/zucchini/peppers/ham or salami

Roll out the dough and place your chosen cutter on it. If the cutter sticks, put some flour on a plate and set the cutter on it briefly so that the dough will pull away easily. I had no trouble with the plastic ones.  I would suggest wiggling the cutter briefly after pressing (and holding) so that no part of it is stuck to the rest of the dough or you may have to go back.

Put a small amount of sauce on the pizza shapes and then top them with your favorite toppings. If making them for kids and adding veggies I would hide them all under the cheese (unless they don't care...unfortunately, mine does)

Enlist the help of the picky child (if making them for one) and they should be happier to eat their creations.
I chose to freeze some of mine so I took the drawer out of the freezer and put the shapes on a small baking sheet - yes, 8 is all I managed to fit inside the freezer. You should see what happens at Thanksgiving time!

Allow to freeze solid - I left them alone for 2 hours, and then put them in seal-able baggies. I kept them flat.

Make sure to either write on the bag or cut out the cooking time/temperature guide from the pizza dough. (otherwise 200 C for about 15 minutes is usually a good guess).

Ready for the oven

Ready for eating (apparently there was too much cheese)

Orange Chicken...fried yumminess

So for the past few years, my mom has been giving me some recipes...sometimes I cook them, sometimes I don't.  Well, my husband has been pestering me to make this one for quite a while as well, but it didn't sound that interesting to me so I never did. Until today. It wasn't actually that hard. Most of it, you can prepare in advance, as you have time.  I did the chicken early and the first half of the sauce. For the rest I chopped and measured everything else so all I would have to do is throw it together at the last minute. Yay!

What you need:

1 kg chicken - cut into cubes. You can buy the precut chicken as well
1 1/2 c flour
1 beaten egg
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
Peanut oil - erdnussol - I bought mine in Coop

Sauce:
1 1/2 c water (354 ml)
2 tbsp orange juice (as you will need the zest, you can just use the orange)
1/4 c lemon juice
1/3 c rice vinegar

2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (I used low sodium found at the Thai store)
1 tbsp orange zest - I used my cheese grater
1 c packed brown sugar - you can buy muscovado sugar at jelmoli but I'm not sure how similar it is.
1/2 tsp ginger root - I used the kind in the jar like for sushi since I couldn't find the root at Migros
1/2 tsp garlic (1 clove) minced
2 tbsp green onions - the whole onion.  Also save some to serve on top of the finished dish.
3 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water for thickening

In a deep pan or wok, pour in the peanut oil until you think it will cover the pieces of chicken.

Combine the flour salt and pepper. Put on a dinner size plate. Break an egg into a bowl and beat it with a fork until mixed.  Take a handful of your chopped chicken and coat it in the egg and then transfer it to the flour. Coat with flour and put into the pan of hot oil.
Do not feel the need to put all the chicken in at once unless you have a very large pan and a lot of oil. I did mine in 4 batches.

When the flour has browned, lift the chicken out and place on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

In a large pot (big enough to add your chicken to), combine the water, juices, vinegar and soy sauce. Blend over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Stir in the sugar zest, ginger, garlic and onions.  Bring to a boil.

 Add the cornstarch mixture a little bit at a time and cook until thickened. Add the chicken and heat through.




Serve with rice and/or broccoli  and top with green onions.