Sweet & Sour Chicken

2 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 c soy sauce
8 oz can pineapple chunks or tidbits, including juice
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
chicken, defrosted and cubed

Brown chicken in oil. Add peppers and garlic.

In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and ginger.

Add to chicken while pouring pineapple chunks (and juice) into pan.**

Bring to boil.

Serve over rice.

**If soy sauce mixture is poured over chicken first, it will thicken too quickly. To avoid this, add pineapple and juice BEFORE soy sauce mixture to avoid premature thickening.

Comments from the cook: The original recipe calls for sliced carrots also. One of us (not me) isn't a big fan of them, so we leave them out. Add other veggies as you see fit. The sauce in this recipe is fantastic, so the more, the merrier!

Originally shared by Melissa Bell, my former roommate

Oreo Balls

1 package Oreo cookies, crushed (white stuff removed)
1 8 oz. package 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
5-6 squares white almond bark
1/2 bag milk chocolate chips

Remove white filling from Oreos with knife. Blend cookies in mini-chopper or blender until fine. Combine with cream cheese in KitchenAid or with hand mixer.

Roll into walnut size balls and place on cookie sheet covered in wax paper.

Chill for 15 min in refrigerator.

Melt white almond bark in microwave or in double boiler. Melt chocolate chips also. Roll balls through chocolate of choice, and place on wax paper. Drizzle with opposite-colored chocolate.

Allow to harden. Best when served chilled! Makes approx. 2 dozen.

Comments from the cook: These are a true crowd-pleaser! They are quite rich, so keep a glass of milk closeby.

While the recipe calls for almond bark and chocolate chips, the chocolate shown in the picture above is Ghirardelli dipping chocolate. A gift from my MIL. It is AMAZING. I've tried the recipe with chocolate chips and almond bark, and the results are not quite as pretty, but still taste fantastic.

originally shared by: Kathy Kiester, Pioneer 4th Ward

I've been thinkin...

I've been thinking about starting a food blog for a while. Recently I concluded that I am not a real "truster of foreign recipes". With a pretty busy schedule and little time to take a lot of risk (ruining recipes, especially under a time crunch, is one of my biggest frustrations!), I prefer to stick to the stuff that I KNOW will work.

This little blog is an attempt to share some of my favorites...coupled with some of my favorite photographs.

Enjoy!