Chicken Waikiki Beach

As promised, here is the recipe for Chicken Waikiki Beach. I wish I knew where this recipe came from so I could give the proper credit, but I have no idea! I know it did come from an old roommate and she probably got it from a cookbook... or was it a family recipe? I can't remember. It's a little bit sweet and a little bit tangy but definitely packed full of flavor.  The prep time is minimal with most of it being in the oven! It probably isn't the healthiest of recipes, but serve it up with some brown rice and veggies on the side and you might be able to get away with it ;) Hey, healthy food gets boring sometimes.

2 chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and brown in a small amount of oil. Since the chicken will be going in the oven, it is only necessary to brown it instead of cooking it all of the way through.

Sauce:
1 can pineapple
1 Tbs. soy sauce
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. ginger
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1 Chicken Bouillon cube
3/4 c. cider vinegar

1 green pepper  cut into bite sized pieces

Drain pineapple juice from can and combine with water to make 1 1/4 c. Add to a saucepan. Add all sauce ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 2 minutes {the sauce will be relatively thin, but will thicken in the oven}. Place browned chicken in a 9x13 baking dish. Pour sauce over chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes uncovered. Add pineapple and green pepper and bake 30 minutes longer. Serve with rice.

{Before adding the peppers and pineapple}

This is definitely enough to feed a whole family. With my husband and I taking large portions, we still barely made a dent in it, but it makes great leftovers!

Asian Chicken Pizza

Kristine showed me this recipe at a girl's night last year. At first I thought it sounded so strange- asian flavors on pizza with mozzarella. Well, I was wrong. It is delicious! We also have been using a new dough recipe I found on tastespotting.com. I recommend this dough recipe because it's the best one we've found and we've probably tried about 8 different ones in the past few years.


Topping:

2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon oil (vegetable or olive oil)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon corn starch

2-3 cups grated mozzarella

Make your dough and let it rise. In a bowl combine the oil, vinegar, soy, garlic and green onions. Chop the chicken breasts into bite size pieces and let them sit in the marinade for 30 minutes. Saute the chicken and sauce together in a pan after it's marinated. Cook the mixture for about 5-7 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink anywhere. Stir in the corn starch and turn the heat off.
Once the dough is risen, roll it out. I made two large-ish pizzas and topped them with the sauce, chicken + mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese has started to brown and the bottom of the pizza is golden. You won't be disappointed!

Pork Won Tons

1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 pepper
40-50 wonton wrappers
A few inches of vegetable oil in deep pan
(i like a deep pan to prevent oil popping on me)

I usually mix up the meat and seasonings in a bowl, then divide the raw meat mixture in half, put it in a ziploc and freeze it to use another time.
With the rest of the mixture, fill teaspoon with the mixture and place on half of the won ton. Dip your finger in water and moisten the edge of the triangle. Stick the other side to it so it seals well. At this point you can either steam them (I have a bamboo steamer but I've also used the vegetable steamer that goes on top of my rice cooker) and then fry in the oil, or just put them straight into the hot oil. Make sure if you steam them to try to get as much moisture off of them as possible so the water doesn't pop in the oil. When frying, let them cook until golden, then flip. I drain mine on a paper towel. Then I dip them in this:

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ginger