Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Sooooo delicious!! Had my dad waking me up super early (&& I am NOT a morning person at all) practically begging me to make these while we were on vacation.

Ingredients:

PANCAKES:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg
(or if you don't feel like making the pancakes from scratch/you're short on time....bisquick pancake mix will work just fine!)

CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

GLAZE:
melted vanilla icing

Directions:
First mix up the ingredients for the cinnamon filling in a bowl and set aside. This will need to settle while you're preparing everything else. The cinnamon filling can't be runny, it should be about the consistency of toothpaste before you use it. (Hint: if it is taking too long to settle then place the bowl in the freezer until the it is the correct consistency. Once it is set, transfer the cinnamon filling into a ziplock bag and snip out the corner. Then make the pancake batter. Stir up all of the ingredients, or the store-bought mix, in a bowl.



Heat a large skillet to medium-low and spray with non-stick spray, if needed. Pour in the amount of batter you'd like depending on the size you want your pancakes to turn out, personally i used about 1/2 cup for each pancake. When the pancake is about halfway cooked on the first side, squeeze the cinnamon filling in a spiral on the pancake. As soon as you see bubbles appear to be coming through the pancake it is time to flip it, then cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until done.



Heat the icing and drizzle over the warm pancakes && you're done!! Enjoy!!

Orange Chicken

YES, from scratch!!!


Ingredients:

1/2 pound chicken breast (cut into bite-size cubes)
1teaspoon minced garlic
1 inch ginger (minced)
2 teaspoons oil, veggie oil will work
Oil for deep frying, veggie oil here as well
Corn starch


Orange Sauce:

1/4 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons canned chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
6 teaspoons sugar
Salt to taste
*I added about a tablespoon of sambal for a spicy kick, but its not necessary*

Frying Batter:

1/2 cup water (add more water to make the batter thinner)
1 cups all-purpose flour (add more flour to make the batter thicker)
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 egg
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1 small pinch of salt

Directions:

Mix the orange sauce ingredients and set aside. Taste and add any ingredient as needed for taste.

Mix the frying batter, *caution: make sure that it is thick enough to stick to the chicken, if it is too drippy then your "chicken nuggets" (for a lack of better term) won't have enough breading for the sauce to cling to your chicken.* Heat up a pot/wok of cooking oil, veggie oil works just fine. Dip the chicken meat into the batter. When the cooking oil is hot enough for frying, drop the chicken pieces into the oil and deep fry them until they turn golden brown or crispy. Test a piece by cutting it in half to make sure that the chicken is cooked all the way through. Transfer them out onto a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil.

In a wok, add 2 teaspoons of cooking oil and quickly stir-fry the minced garlic and ginger until aromatic. Add in the dried red chilies and toss around until you smell the spicy aroma. Add the orange sauce and let simmer for about a minute. Mix some corn starch with water and add this mixture to the sauce in the wok until thick enough (the sauce will bubble in the wok). Add chicken and toss in sauce. Remove from heat && you're DONE!!! Best served over white rice, Enjoy!

Grilled Asparagus

A super quick and easy meal or snack, one of my favorites. So simple in fact that I wouldn't even qualify it as a "recipe" but I'll tell you how I prepared it:

Take a bunch of fresh asparagus, any amount will do nothing specific. I was lacking in EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) so I used just plain cooking spray on the asparagus. Then seasoned it with salt and pepper. To grill the asparagus I used just a counter-top George Foreman Grill and grilled it for about 5-8 minutes, basically until the asparagus is tender. && done, enjoy!!