Morsels of Life

Savory Oatmeal

Savory oatmeal made more efficient with an egg on top.

Sesame Chicken - it's a dish commonly found in Chinese restaurants. It's also one of my favorites. ~~I think~~ There was a time when I'd eat Sesame Chicken at least once a week, usually more. (My parents owned a restaurant, for those of you wondering.) If I'm going to a new Chinese restaurant, the first thing I check out is their Sesame Chicken. Only then will I look at other options. And yes, I frequently use Sesame Chicken as a gauge for determining whether a restaurant is worthy of a return trip. While Sesame Chicken can seem a bit complex, it actually boils down to getting the sauce right. So that's what I'm sharing today - Sesame Chicken Sauce. Feel free to adjust to your own tastes and preferences!

For a recipe on how to cook Sesame Chicken using this sauce, check out this Sesame Chicken recipe. :)

Do you have a certain food you order to "test" a new restaurant? What is it?

Sesame Chicken Sauce

by CJ Huang

A sweetly savory and slightly tangy sauce perfect for Sesame Chicken.

Prep time: 1 minutes
Cook time: 4 minutes
Total time: 5 minutes
Yield: 1.5 cups

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Material	Notes
		1/2 cup	soy sauce
124 grams	4.375 ounces	1/2 cup	rice vinegar	You can use white wine vinegar as a substitute.
92 grams	3.25 ounces	3/4 cup	brown sugar
136 grams	4.75 ounces	1/4 cup	corn starch	optional - this ingredient is used as a thickener. You can see the difference between the top and bottom pictures.
12 grams	3/8 ounces	1 tablespoon	ginger, grated or minced
6 grams	1/4 ounces	1 tablespoon	chili pepper flakes	I used gochugaru.
18 grams	5/8 ounces	2 tablespoons	sesame seeds	optional - toast beforehand for a bit of extra flavor

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Combine all materials and heat.
	3. Continue to whisk together materials until thickened.

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Sweet Potato Sausage and Kale Casserole

Savory sausage cooked up with sweet potatoes and tomatoes, then combined with kale.

Bacon and Bean Quesadillas

Cheesy bean quesadillas flavored up with crispy bacon and green onions.

Parmesan Crisps

Got some Parmesan cheese and 5 minutes? You can make yourself some Parmesan crisps! Great as crackers or with dip.

Outback Bread

A delightful honey wheat bread with a crunchy outside and a soft and sweet inside.

Chicken Pot Pie

After making the pie crust, I needed to make the chicken pot pie filling. I'd never successfully made a chicken pot pie before, but I knew it needed chicken (obviously) and some mixed vegetables. I thought I'd throw some chopped onion in as well for additional flavor, and since there were already carrots and onion in the mix, I thought some celery would also go well. However, since I didn't have any, I substituted celery seed. I also threw in some oregano and bay leaves for good measure. The primary difference I made this time was that I just used gravy instead of using cornstarch and some combination of water, stock, milk, or cream as a thickener. I'm not sure why that made such a huge difference since gravy is basically drippings, corn starch, and some combination of water, milk, or cream, but it really did. Once the filling was complete, all that remained was making the crust. Although there's a wide variety of crusts available, I wanted to make an all butter pie crust, or pâté brisée, because that's what I think of as going with chicken pot pie, and I have it say, it was worth the effort! The entire apartment also smelled delicious while baking this pie!

Chicken Pot Pie

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
1 pound			chicken, cooked and shredded
		2	onions, chopped
	1/2 teaspoon		oregano
		2	bay leaves, crushed
	2 cups		gravy	I wanted a drier pot pie so that not all the filling would come out, but if you wanted a more moist filling, you could add more gravy.
	1/2 teaspoon		celery seed	I didn't have any celery, but you could use 3 stalks (chopped) instead.
12 ounces			mixed vegetables	I used carrots, corn, green beans, peas, and lima beans.
	1/4 teaspoon		pepper
		1	pie crust, bottom crust prebaked, top crust unbaked	I used carrots, corn, green beans, peas, and lima beans.

Methods:

Mix onions with gravy and cook until onions are translucent.
Add all remaining ingredients except pie crust and mix well over medium heat.
Pour filling into prebaked bottom crust, and form unbaked top crust over filling.
Poke some holes with a fork or cut some slits in the top crust before baking.
Bake at 350F until warmed through and top crust flaky.

Garlic Parmesan Swirl Biscuits

Another of my Five Friday Finds, this time from Good Cheap Eats. These biscuits are slightly similar to the Garlicky Cheddar Biscuits - just switch the cheddar for some parmesan and add a swirl! I love these types of recipes, where it looks like it took time and effort, but really, it didn't. Don't you?

We ate these swirl biscuits for breakfast, but you could just as easily serve them as a side to Little Lasagnas. In fact, if you served these biscuits with the Little Lasagnas, you'd be well on your way to starting a muffin tin meal! Wouldn't that be fun?

Whenever I eat something with a swirl like these biscuits (or Hua Juan, for example), I always like to peel it apart and especially taste the fillings/texture of the inside. Tell me I'm not the only one?

Garlic Parmesan Swirl Biscuits

by CJ Huang

Mingling the flavors of garlic and Parmesan in a mouthwatering swirl biscuit.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Yield: 12 servings

Materials:

Volume	Material	Notes
2 cups	flour	I used half whole wheat and half white.
1 teaspoon	salt
1 tablespoon	baking powder
1/4 cup	butter
3/4 cup	milk
2 teaspoons	garlic powder
3 tablespoons	Parmesan cheese, grated
	Garlic Parsley Butter, melted	optional

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder, and then cut in butter until homogeneous.
	3. Mix in milk until dough forms, and then roll out in a rectangle.
	4. Sprinkle garlic powder and Parmesan cheese on top, making sure not to forget the edges.
	5. Roll up dough and pinch to seal.
	6. Cut dough into 12 pieces, about an inch wide.
	7. Place each piece in a greased muffin tin and bake until golden brown and delicious, about 15 minutes.
	8. (optional) Brush Garlic Parsley Butter on top of each biscuit.

Hint: Try cutting each biscuit apart with dental floss. It's a lot cleaner and neater than a knife (at least for me)! Plus, you get perfectly round biscuits. Just slide the floss under your roll, where you would cut, bring the two ends up, cross, and pull. That's it!

Apricot Chicken

Juicy chicken, cooked to a spicy and fruity perfection.

Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks

Since I had made some flatbread pizza, I started thinking about breadsticks. Breadsticks always seem to go quickly and they're so tasty! I had made some cheesy peppered breadsticks before, but this time, I wanted something like a less greasy version of the traditional garlicky breadsticks you can get when you order pizza. I have to say, these breadsticks definitely qualified, and, they were tastier too! These breadsticks finished in almost no time at all, especially since I used some of the instant flour mix. I opted to twist the breadsticks so that they would look nicer, but it's certainly optional. If you wanted to bring the twisted ones to a party or gathering, you certainly don't have to tell anyone there how quick and easy these breadsticks were to make!

Cheesy Garlic Breadsticks

by CJ Huang

Quick and easy breadsticks - a tastier and less greasy version of the traditional breadsticks.

Materials:

Volume	Material	Notes
2 cups	instant flour mix	Or Bisquick
1/2 cup	water
1 teaspoon	pepper
1 tablespoon	garlic
	red pepper flakes	optional
	cheese, grated	I used Romano.

Methods:

Combine instant flour mix and water.
Add in black pepper, red pepper flakes, cheese, and garlic.
Mix well and roll dough out to about a half inch thickness.
Cut into strips about 1 inch across to make breadsticks. At this point, I opted to twist them a bit. You could do the same thing to make them look "fancier" without much extra work!

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