Homemade Sweet & Sour Sauce

So the other night, my husband had a hankering for Chinese food.  I remembered that we had a box of ready made egg rolls in the freezer and when I told him, he said, "But we don't have any sweet and sour sauce to go with it."  We were thinking of our options when all of a sudden I remembered that I had a recipe for sweet and sour sauce.  I have only made this recipe one time, but my family must have really enjoyed it because I filed it in my "family favorites" recipe binder.  After my hubby made it, I graciously dipped my egg roll in a bowl of it and remembered why the recipe was filed in our favorites. 

It. Was. De-lish. 

What's even better is it didn't cost a dime to make it.  We had everything in the pantry so there was no need to run to the store to buy the ingredients OR to buy a whole bottle of premade sweet and sour sauce.  Really folks, can life get any better then that?  :)

BTW, I do know how to make homemade egg rolls/lumpia...but it's my mother's recipe and I am sworn to secrecy on that one :)

Homemade Sweet & Sour Sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. soy sauce

3 tbsp. vinegar

3 tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp. cornstarch

3 tbsp. ketchup

4 tbsp. vegetable oil

Saute' garlic in oil until lightly browned.  Add rest of the ingredients and stir until thick.  Serve with egg rolls/lumpia or fried rice. 

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Herbed Salmon Spread

This is another low-fat recipe from Prevention's Quick and Healthy Low Fat Cooking.  I've never been a salmon type of girl....but I have to admit that in this recipe, you wouldn't even know it's salmon.  It reminds of how a tuna sandwhich is made. 

When I bought the ingredients for this, I couldn't find the suggested cheese in the recipe, so I improvised and bought the next best thing, Haverty's Dill Cheese.  I mean...Dill is an herb right?  And the recipe does say "8 oz. low-fat herbed cheese."  Anyway, a couple of days later I was out shopping for milk and low and behold, I came across the right type of cheese that the recipe called for (Boursin).  So what did I do?  I bought it and made the dish as soon as I came home.  I actually did end up using half of the Haverty cheese because I didn't purchase enough of the Boursin cheese.  I'm not sure why these things always happen to me...lol.  But in any event...the recipe tasted pretty good.  With all the combinations of herbs, you seriously couldn't even taste the salmon in it.  And I'm sure it would have tasted just as wonderful if I didn't use the Haverty cheese and used just strictly Boursin. 

Rating System:

The Hubs:  Thumbs Up

Libby:  Thumbs Up

Our kids:  My Three Year Old Daughter LOVED this and ate half of it within 2 days...my almost two year old son didn't like it so much :( 

Herbed Salmon Spread

(adapted from Prevention's Quick and HealthyLow Fat Cooking)

4 oz. cooked slamon, flaked

8 oz. low-fat herbed cheese, such as Boursin

1/4 cup minced red onioins (I just chopped mine into little pieces)

1 tsp. dried dill (omit this if you already have dill in the cheese)

1 tsp. lemon juice

In a medium bowl, blend the salmon, cheese, onions, dill and lemon juice.  Place in a serving bowl and chill until ready to serve.

Serve with low fat or low sodium crackers.

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Creamy Pomegranate Icecream

Last November, POM Wonderful contacted me via e-mail and asked if I would be interested in trying some of their yummy Pomegranate juice.  I had never been contacted by a major beverage company to sample some of their products, so this was definitely a first for me.  I was honored and flattered when I read the request and I delightfully agreed to it. 

 A few weeks after they contacted me, I received these cute little babies in the mail:

Granted, there were more bottles that arrived in the package...at least around 8 or 9 more :)  The holidays came and went, visiting house guests came and went, and now....a few months later...I am finally getting around to experimenting with these cute little things.

Up until recently, I have never been an avid drinker of pomegranate juice.  The only other time I tried it was 2 years ago at a Christmas get together that my family attended.  My friend, who threw the get together, made the most wonderful punch as the main beverage.  When I asked her what she made it with, she told me it was just half pomegranate juice and half Sprite...and that was it.  I was shocked at how easy it was and have remembered this concoction eversince.  This was one way to use up all our lovely juice. 

Last week, I came across this wonderful icecream recipe and I wanted to try it. 

It is super simple and very quick to make.  You just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, pour it into your icecream maker, and let the appliance do the rest of the work.  Not only is this easy to make, but it tastes VERY rich and smooth.  When you eat it, you are reminded of hot, sunny days spent outside watching your children play.  The addition of the pomegranate juice makes the icecream have a certain 'cherry zing' flavor to it.  This one is definitely going to be a keeper at my house.

Rating System:

Everyone in this family loved it! :)

Creamy Pomegranate Icecream

(adapted from Allrecipes.com)

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup white sugar

1 cup pomegranate juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

Stir together the heavy cream and sugar. Stir in the pomegranate juice, vanilla extract, and salt. Add the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions...we made ours for around 40 minutes.

Enjoy :)

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