Honey Sesame Chicken

Honey Sesame Chicken

Meet my Best Friend: Sun Bird (tm) Honey Sesame Chicken.

It's very easy, takes less than 30 minutes, it's cheap, and EVERYONE loves it! My two-year-old asks for THIRDS! Not kidding...Thirds!! You can't go wrong!




Most grocery stores carry Sun Bird packets in their Asian section. I happened upon this particular packet shortly after Kellen and I got married...and we love it! I always have all the ingredients on hand (I keep packets on hand too). When we moved to Iowa, I couldn't find it anywhere! All of our local grocery stores had multiple Sun Bird products...except this one! I asked the grocery manager of our local Hy-Vee (On Jordan Creek Parkway and University for those of you in Iowa) if they could get it in...and they did! The Elders in our ward ask me to make it for them when they come to eat at our house :)
If you are not lucky enough to be able to find it in the store, or if your store cannot stock it for you, you can also find it online. Click Here

I serve it with white or brown rice, or ham fried rice (if I have the time). The packet also instructs to add crushed pineapple and Cashews...I don't add those, we like it better without them. I like to serve fresh pineapple as a side-dish (if it's on sale ;))

Ham Fried Rice
(These are all approximations, just take your best guess)
2 cups cooked rice (white or brown, minute or regular...it really doesn't matter)
3/4 cup shredded or diced carrots
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup cubed ham (If you have left-over Ham from a Sunday dinner, dice/cube it and put it in your freezer. It's great for scrambled eggs, ham fried rice, etc!)
1 bunch green onions, sliced
Soy Sauce (to taste)
Garlic Powder (to taste)

Place green onions with a little bit of oil (peanut, sesame, vegetable, or canola works best) in your WOK or frying pan. Cook until soft. Add rice, peas, carrots, and ham. Stir together. Sprinkle with soy sauce and garlic powder (add soy sauce a little at a time, because once you have too much, there's no going back...less is best!). Mix all together and let cook, stirring every-so-often (you just don't want it to get burned). Add a little more soy sauce and/or garlic powder as you want!

Krispy Peanut-Butter Brownies

I don't know the technical name for these, but they're easy, and yummy!

Box of Brownies
7 oz jar marshmallow cream
1 bag milk chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups rice crispies.

Make brownies per directions on box, in 9x13 pan and let cool. Melt 1 bag of chocolate chips, add peanut butter, then stir in the rice crispies. Spread the marshmallow cream on the brownies. Then spread the chocolate/peanut butter/crispy mixture on the top. YUM!

Truffles

Several people have asked for our truffle recipe, so here it is! They are incredibly easy and quite scrumptious if I do say so myself. :)

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
8 1-oz. squares chocolate (or about 2 c. chocolate chips) (any combo will do—all dark, all semi-sweet, all milk or a mixture)
3-4 tsp. of flavor extract such as peppermint, orange, lemon, vanilla, coconut, etc.


1. Melt chocolate as directed on package. Beat cream cheese with a mixer until creamy. Blend in the melted chocolate. If desired, add flavoring and mix well.
2. Line a dish with plastic wrap and pour the chocolate onto the wrap. Chill until firm (a few hours) or for a few days. Alternatively, just chill directly in the bowl you mixed them in and use a cookie scoop to scoop out portions to make truffles with.
3. Shape into about 36 balls (depending on how large you want them). Chill until ready to coat.
4. Finishing: role them in cocoa powder or dip into melted chocolate.