Pineapple Chicken

Original Recipe: 
2 Chicken breasts
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 tbsp corn starch
1 can pineapple tidbits (I used in juice, original recipe calls for in syrup, but clearly we're being healthy here)
2 tbsp flour with some salt and pepper for seasoning
oil for cooking.

Cut chicken into chunks and toss in the flour/salt/pepper mixture.  Put in oil heated in pan and cook for ~5 minutes.  As it cooks (or before) drain the pineapple and reserve the juice (it calls for 1/2 cup, but just use what you get) and mix the juice with soy sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch.  Add this sauce to the pan and heat until thickened and the chicken is done.  Then add pineapple until heated through.

Baker: Brittany

Assessment: Good for ghetto chinese.  A bit salty, but seriously tasty.  I love how tender and moist the chicken stays (prolly because of the flour coating? IDK but it's my favorite part).  Wonderful served with rice and we added some snow peas tonight too (added a nice crunch).

Fixes: Could have used more vinegar for a bit more tang.


Future Deliciousness: It's an old recipe from my mom's family... so it's pretty stuck in its ways.

Extra Credit: Gone too soon/I don't have an iphone :(

Question from vitrailmiroir: What did you serve it with? Noodles? Rice?
Answer: We've always served it with rice, makes for a good way to soak up the sauce and continues allowing you to pretend it's Chinese :)

Chocolate-Covered Bacon

Original Recipe: Top of my head

2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 stick of butter (4 tbs)
1 pack of bacon, cooked to your preference (you'll still have some leftover chocolate)

1. Melt butter in pan on low heat
2. Add chocolate to pan, stirring constantly
3. Using tongs, lay bacon flat in chocolate, press down to coat, and repeat on other side

Keeps well in the freezer if you're like me and can't handle more than a piece or two at a time.  Keep chocolate covered fruit in refrigerator, or you have to wait like 10 minutes for it to be warm enough to eat.

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: DELCIOUS though not nutritious :-P

Fixes:

1. Thicker bacon/double-layer the bacon.
2. You may be tempted to reduce the amount of butter to make it healthier, but less butter makes the chocolate less dip-able.

Future Deliciousness: I used the same chocolate to dip strawberries. Now I'm thinking of having a chocolate fondue...

Extra Credit:

Delicious!

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

Original Recipe: Joy the Baker

Baker: vitrailmiroir

Assessment: Absolutely delicious. Going to make it again and again.

Fixes:

1. Didn't really need all 4 tbs of butter for the filling, so I'll probably only use 2 tbs next time
2. In my super-thick dish, i had to bake it at 300F for 1 hour to get the right texture distribution.
3. My dough didn't rise very quickly, so I'll probably pre-warm the oven until it's a little warmer than my house, which is apparently cold.

Future Deliciousness: Cream cheese frosting? Mmmmm. I think so.

Baker: Brittles

Assessment: Oh man sooo good.  Best when reheated slightly in the microwave if for some reason it's not finished in the hour or so after it comes out of the oven.

Fixes:

1. To help your dough rise, my suggestion that I saw recommended elsewhere is to take a custard cup type bowl half filled w/ water, heat it in the microwave, and then leave the hot bowl of water in the microwave w/ the dough that you want to rise. Worked like a charm!
2. Also, I might suggest a pan that isn't so thick? I don't know if that was your problem, but a thinner pan might allow the heat to get to the center more quickly.
3. When I piled all of the pieces of dough in the pan, I sort of alternated them so they were slightly zigzagged, which made for a nice way to pull it apart/parts of each part were thinner/thicker than others.

Extra Credit:

Before. (vitrailmiroir)

After. (vitrailmiroir)