Honey Sesame Chicken Recipe

Thursday, May 24, 2012
Honey Sesame Chicken has always been a huge favorite when we went shopping at the mall in the food court.

The coating absorbed all that sweet sauce with an Asian sesame nutty flavor in this tender mouth-watering boneless chicken served over white rice.

The best part about making your own in your own kitchen is you can have more than the small serving in the mall and it's so much tastier and delicious!

This recipe can be baked or air fried and the sauce literally takes 3 minutes to cook.

These little cubes of chicken are fantastic little bites with the best tasting sauce and are so easy to make.

Using this coating with egg, flour, and cornstarch with a few seasonings makes a super crispy coating and the chicken tastes great naked.

Serve them with your favorite fluffy white rice or Fried Rice, it will be a huge hit in your house for all Sesame Chicken Lovers out there.

Scroll down and see how easy it is to make homemade Honey Sesame Chicken and print it off.



sesame chicken and rice


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Deep Fried Ricotta Appetizers

Wednesday, May 23, 2012


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Great Food Experience at Franklin Hotel in Rome N.Y.

Monday, May 21, 2012



As promised, here is our great experience we had the very next day at Vescio's Franklin Hotel in Rome NY ( they are on Facebook too). When you walk in the door, your surely in heaven with the many rows of pastry in the see through glass cases.  A real family atmosphere who runs the business.

Great food with good prices in Rome New York


Great food with good prices in Rome New York
Hard to get by these without wanting to eat dessert first!
The cannoli are fantastic!

Great food with good prices in Rome New York
Everything from pusties to biscotti and more!

Just amazing. Italian pastry heaven. The pusties, cannoli, cakes, Italian cookies, lobster claws and many other Italian specialities awaits you. This is as close to homemade as it gets. The service and family atmosphere is just what I needed to recover from that last dissappointing experience at Cavallo's. I could have stopped right here at the pastry then came the menu..... oh boy and yes great food! Thanks to Aunt Linda and Uncle Joe for bringing us here for lunch!

Great food with good prices in Rome New York
Lunch Specials everyday, Wednesday when we went, they had Ham and bean soup, pasta and peas, manicotti, tripe, fried haddock, and much much more!

Great food with good prices in Rome New York
My husband and I had the Fried Haddock, cooked perfectly!
Great service and great food. All run by the family of course, Phil and Carol Vescio, are the owners( tell them Claudia sent you when you visit!) Phil Jr, does all the pastries, Mark is the chef, and Mary our gracious hostess.

Great food with good prices in Rome New York
Aunt Linda had the pasta and peas, not a pea left on her plate when she was done!
Great food with good prices in Rome New York
Uncle Joe had the Strawberry Chicken salad, doesn't this look amazing?

Great food with good prices in Rome New York
With so many scrumpticious desserts I chose the Cannoli and it did not dissappoint me... I could have eaten many more! Delicious!!
So if your ever in Rome, stop in, you will be having a great dining experience. Look for these two guys, will be waiting for you! Say hi to the two Phil's!

Great food with good prices in Rome New York
                                                                            The Vescio's

If you want to try my recipes since I don't have any to share from this great establishment try some of my versions of these great meal:

Pasta and Peas My Grandma's
Batter Fried Fish Fry
Upstate  NY Cannoli
Pusties
Almond paste cafe cookies


Our Haddock favorite coating for Fish Fry is listed on our Traditional Christmas Eve Post Click HERE
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My Utica New York Cavallo's Food Experience Review Part 1

Sunday, May 20, 2012


This photo is what they have on their menu a version of Greens. My niece ordered them and laughed when she tasted them, she said I should have made them instead, mine are much better! These were a little gritty and not as tender as we would like.


As many of my readers know,  Utica, New York  is my home town and near and dear to my heart! I go back as often as possible for my favorite foods. For over 20 years now, I have gone to Cavallo's in New Hartford, NY on Genesee St., always with great compliments on their food and service.  Every time we go home, my husband and I make this our last night get together there, with the family and friends to meet for our last great dinner, well unfortunately, I can't say that this year.  The service was by far the worst treatment we had ever experienced not only there anywhere, even sadder we had the largest group there that went unnoticed!  On a Tuesday night, they weren't even busy to have an excuse!  The food and the whole lack of service experience for 15 people was terribly disappointing. We got there around 5:30 and the rest trickled in around 6:00pm.  First thing, I was told I couldn't buy a round of drinks for my guests on a separate check to do a toast, we had to run a tab, it was policy... that had never happened before. So no arguments, I proceeded to run the tab. My brother had ordered a pizza and wings at 5:30 he was starving, he arrived there earlier and didn't want to wait for everyone. At 7:30 no food for him yet but the rest of us ( all 13 people left)  had ordered way after him and we all had our food. Get the picture, not very accomodating? Well to make matters worse, the food was not at all what we had expected each one of us had issues with the preparation of what we ordered.  The calamari wasn't cooked it was cold inside and rubbery, the coating was falling off and the Vodka riggies, these were tasteless, and very little sauce. The wings were dry and overcooked, eggplant bitter and even a steak sandwich was tough and the cheese wasn't melted. After 20 years and 1900 miles to fly, ( not to mention the bill was $350.00, no refills on our drinks unless we asked and waved  the waitress down more towards the end of all our meals. Then with even the numerous complaints nothing was done to make a better experience for my guests or me. Late dinners, poor service and undercooked or overcooked food.  A very disappointed family and friends dinner,  it was not surprising no one came after I repeatedly asked for a manager.  Needless to say this establishment will now be a very distant memory after 20 years of dedicated journeys to meet everyone I will never say again "I can't wait to go back there!"  I was beside myself thinking of all the good times we had there at one time, what in the world happened?


Uncle Joe, Aunt Linda, my husband Nemo, sisterinlaw, Tonya, motherinlaw Sandy, sisterinlaw Bobbi and my nephew Craig....
Even Adriana the youngest one, wasn't crazy about the macaroni and cheese, she left that too!

My beautiful great nieces Vanessa, Adriana and niece Mary who makes some mean greens!

John, Luke, Mary had the wings... dry and overcooked! Joanne didn't say a word but Luke made several complaints on why it took two hours to get a pizza and everyone else was done by the time he got it?  Really, unacceptable!

The best part of the whole evening was getting to be with my family and some great friends, this is my brother Luke Colenzo and I catching up..... nope no pizza yet, it's already been an hour!

Two of my dearest friends came to see me, Helen LaMore and Mary Macenroe, head of the Utica Boilermaker
As you can see the breading was falling off, the inside actually tasted raw, cold but who was going to come so they could get sent back? No one ever came back or asked if we were good with anything.


Vodka Riggies? With very little sauce,
tasted like plain boiled macaroni
 I stopped taking pictures, it wasn't worth the waste of space
 on my SD card, 15 disappointed people!
So tomorrow check back to see where to go for  great service and food in our opinion in the Upstate NY area, even though we all know food is a matter of opinion, good food and customer service go hand in hand and that can't be compromised, when you lose one or both there is no going back. 

We just loved our next visits on our vacation. The pastry, the food the service and people were all fantastic...so stay tuned!

If you would like some recipes of what we really enjoy eating growing up in Upstate NY see some of our homemade recipes. We always go back to enjoy foods like Chicken Riggies, wings, pizza, greens all from Upstate NY specialities.... Our favorites are Napoli's Pizza, Florentine Pastries, Palateri Joes, Hemstroughts Half Moon Cookies, Chesterfields Utica Greens, Joe's and Rosario's Pizza.  All the local feasts for pizza fritte just to name a few traditional spots we hit. Love the bagels at bagel grove and love the fish fry at Eddies in Sylvan Beach!
St Anthony's Son's of Italy Mount Carmel!  I carry these back on the plane in tupperware!




   see links below:

Chicken Riggie Fest
Fried Calamari
Upstate NY Greens
Tomato Pie Upstate NY Style
Italian Lemon Ice
Pizza Fritte Feast Fried Dough
Pusties
Italian Gravy or Sauce the big debate
Feast Upstate NY Style Sausage and Peppers Sandwich
Upstate NY Apple Pie
Pizza Dough
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Curt's Grilled Balsamic Italian Herb Chicken

Friday, May 18, 2012

6 fresh boneless chicken breasts sliced around 1/2 inch thick
Marinade for 1/2 hour in 2 tablespoons olive oil and 3 tablespoons lime juice. Drain.
Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with lemon pepper seasoning.

Grill boneless chicken breasts on each side or until juices run clear on low heat and golden brown on each side.

 Balsamic Lime Sauce:

1 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon good grade balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon each oregano, parsley, garlic powder, salt, pepper
1 clove minced garlic
2 tablespoons parmesan
4 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon canola oil

Combine all of the above spices, herbs with oil. Simmer for around 1/2 hour.

Place  cooked chicken on a plate and pour sauce on top.
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Pasta with Escarole and Haddock

Wednesday, May 16, 2012
This is a layered dish with a delicious sauteed escarole, buttery crumb-topped haddock on a bed of your favorite pasta.

This versatile pasta dish can be substituted with spinach, kale or even swiss chard so don't worry if you can't find escarole.

Garlic wine butter, white fish swimming with wonderful sauteed greens makes this easy dish fit for a family or hosting a dinner party.

With just a few simple ingredients you will have this gourmet dish on your tables in no time and use any kind of pasta you prefer.

We love penne or rigatoni with this dish as the thicker pasta is heartier.

If you love seafood you may also enjoy our Baked Haddock with Scallops and a Lemon Dill Sauce.

Scroll through all our tips and substitution suggestions for this printable recipe below.


this is a dish or rigatoni with greens and haddock on top


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Refrigerator Biscuit Pepperoni Rollups

Monday, May 14, 2012
Delicious pepperoni roll-up appetizers are just the perfect finger for a large crowd and any party event when you need something quick, delicious and easy!

This is a no-fuss way to make a party food a big hit every time, the fillings are versatile so change them to any meats or even vegetables you prefer.

Scroll to the bottom for all our printable instructions.



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Slow Cooker Easy Osso Buco

Sunday, May 13, 2012
This is a slow cooker easy way to make osso buco and my mom's recipe.








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Freezer Sweet Sour Jam Chicken

Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Freezer marinades are great for already prepared flavored chicken or any meat when you need to get dinner made quickly any weekend night and this Sweet and Sour Jam chicken is a tangy flavor everyone loves.

This easy marinade is a sweet coating added to a freezer bag with meat like pork, chicken, or beef and the sauce is bursting with a little Asian kick to its flavors and is terrific with any cooking method.

We have cooking methods here for slow cooking, air frying, grilling, and pan sauteing in a stir fry.

The sauce has ketchup, jam, brown sugar, spices, and pretty easy pantry ingredients.

If you're craving that delicious Chinese sauce from your favorite takeout, try sweet sauce plus the kids just love it also!
liked it in the comments.

Just remove the freezer bag and thaw in the refrigerator overnight and the sauce and meat are ready to cook when thawed.




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Baked Sausage Potatoes, Peppers and Tomatoes with Bread Crumbs Cabernet

Monday, May 7, 2012

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Homemade Low Sodium Tortilla

Saturday, May 5, 2012
These low sodium flour tortillas are the best homemade flour tortillas, super easy to make and delicious!

They're perfect for enchiladas, soft tacos, burritos, quesadillas, wraps, chimichangas, hot pockets and so much more!

I just love the fact that these pillowy delicious cast-iron cooked tortilla are so soft and one of the best recipes I ever made especially needing a low sodium diet!




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Fried Beef Empanadas

Friday, May 4, 2012
One of our favorite Mexican-style fried foods is empanadas.

Stuffed fried dough pockets with beef, onion, and garlic are a tasty pillowy treat wrapped in a delicious homemade masa dough.

You may buy the wrappers premade in the supermarket or make our homemade recipe.

I have made these by hand using a round large cutter and fork and not invested in an empanada plastic maker to make them even easier you can see in the first photo.

Our super easy-to-make casserole will be a big hit with kids who love these flavors plus this is a great potluck and Cinco De Mayo meal on May 5th.

Setting up a garnish bar is fun plus you can add all your family and friends' favorite toppings with a little of all our suggestions below to build their own meal and also just perfect when hosting a party.

The recipe and ingredients are all in a printable recipe card at the end of this post.




5

Arizona Vacation and Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Thursday, May 3, 2012
Pumpkin Bread Pudding was the best bread pudding flavor we ever had being huge pumpkin fans, and if you are too then this is going to be a huge win with one taste!


We were lucky to get this served to us on a trip we took to Arizona, one bite and we were hooked, we just couldn't get enough of this delicious pumpkin bread pudding it was so delicious.


It tastes just like pumpkin pie but in bread pudding form. It’s rich and creamy and delicious in every way.


We loved Arizona and actually got to eat many Southwestern foods we weren't accustomed to and everything new we tried was fantastic but this dessert stood in our mind and I couldn't wait it get their recipe to try it.


Luckily I was able to recreate the recipe from the ingredients almost perfectly to what we remember and this pumpkin bread pudding is almost spot on with a drizzle of caramel rum sauce on top.


As a bonus recipe, I also included a Ceviche Recipe we fell in love with, it's a delicious shrimp-style vegetable salad, that's so refreshing and bursting with flavor, I have also included it below.


Did I mention this is a perfect almost tastes like a Pumpkin Baked French Toast Casserole and perfect for a Thanksgiving breakfast treat?


Scroll down to our printable recipe card to give this one a try.


pumpkin bread pudding



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Triple Berry Cream Cobbler Using A Cakemix Recipe

Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A special spring and summer treat!

2 cups unsweetened frozen or drained canned raspberries, strawberries or blackberries
2 cups unsweetened blueberries fresh or frozen
1 can 7 up or other lemon flavored soda
1 white cake mix
Whipped cream

Place frozen fruit in an oil spray 9x13 baking dish. Add dry cake mix over the top. Pour soda slowly over cake mix. Don't stir the cake mix and the soda, the trick of this is to make the crumb like topping and this is how it will come out. If you stir the two together, you will have a cake topping not the crumble.

Bake in a preheated oven of 350 degrees for 45-50 min.
Serve with whipped cream or french vanilla ice cream.

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Freezer Marinade Mexican Chicken

Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Freezer Marinade Mexican Chicken is perfect to make ahead of time especially on May 5th for Cinco De Mayo here is a great recipe for the event and it will be all ready to cook to help celebrate the day!

We just love easy recipes like this one, all the marinade coats whatever meat you prefer and stays in the freezer until ready to thaw and cook, it's super easy to do.

Part of meal prep like this is great especially when you get a great deal on meats at the butcher or local supermarkets.

This freezer marinade will save time and money and delicious meat will be easy to just cook on the stovetop, grill, or slow cooker.







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