Reading is fundamental. Reading is FUN! Our Reading Lists.

I enjoy reading. My parents instilled in me the joys of reading at a very young age by reading to us, and in turn, I've tried to introduce the joys of reading to my own child. I started reading out loud to him since he was still in my womb, tumbling around to the rhythmic sounds of my voice. Now at age 4, he continues to enjoy our weekly visits to the library to pick out his handful of books. It's amusing to watch him search and explore through the various aisles in the children's section and page through the many offerings there. And, as if he had discovered a pure treasure, his face would light up whenever he spotted THE book of the week. Then, with great pride, he'd carry his book collection up to the check out counter and proudly hand the librarian his selection.

Below is a small sampling of Cornie's favorites within the last 3 months:

THE LORAX, by Dr. Seuss

THE BIG BRAG, by Dr. Seuss

GREEN EGGS and HAM, by Dr. Seuss

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, by Dr. Seuss

OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO, by Dr. Seuss

DINOSAUR VS. BEDTIME, by Bob Shea

DISNEY PIXAR MONSTERS, INC., Adapted by Cathy Hapka

THE CHOCOLATE BUNNY, by Rosemary Wells

BONE SOUP, by Cambria Evans

And, here is my reading list from the last 3 months:

THE NOTEBOOK, by Nicholas Sparks

THE WEDDING, by Nicholas Sparks

THE GUARDIAN, by Nicholas Sparks

DEAR JOHN, by Nicholas Sparks

THE SECRET DIARY OF ANNE BOLEYN, by Robin Maxwell

MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN, by Robin Maxwell

VANITY FAIR, by William Makepeace Thackeray

WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, by Mac Anderson

USE YOUR HEAD TO GET YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR, by Harvey Mackay

48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE, by Dan Miller

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE RIGHT JOB EVERY TIME, by Lori Davila and Louise Kursmark

Happy reading!

Tammy's take on General Tso's Chicken

Here is my version of the favorite Chinese dish, General Tso's. This is a delicious and healthy dish that is so deceivingly simply to make. Paired with some rice and a good hot, or iced, cup of green tea, it's perfect for any dining occasion! For my version I'm adding freshly cut and cubed, sweet pineapples.

Ingredients:

1 pound sliced chicken breast, then cut into 1" cubes

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 egg, lightly beaten

black pepper, to taste

1 cup corn starch, or as needed

Sauce mixture:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar)

1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine

1 tablespoon raw cane sugar (or 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar)

3 tablespoon of chicken broth or water

3 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 teaspoon corn starch to thicken sauce

1 ripe, sweet pineapple, quartered, sliced and chunked

1 green or red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 medium onion, sliced

3 cups canola oil to deep fry chicken cubes

Directions:

Combine chicken cubes with beaten egg, soy sauce and pepper. Mix well. Into a large ziplock bag, add your corn starch. Little by little, add your cubed chicken mixture, allowing excess egg coating to drip off before placing into the ziplock bag; shaking to coat cubed chicken evenly with corn starch.

Heat your oil in a deep sauce pan to about 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook chicken cubes a few pieces at a time to prevent clumping. Fry until crispy (about 3 minutes). Remove chicken and place onto paper towels to drain excess oil.

Combine sauce ingredients into a small bowl, stirring well to dissolve the sugar and corn starch. Set aside.

Into a large frying pan or wok, add some oil, about 2 tablespoons. When oil is hot, add sliced onions, green pepper. Sautee until tender, yet slightly crisp. Remove and set aside.

Add your chicken into frying pan or wok. Quickly stir fry the chicken cubes until they are slightly browned, about 30 seconds. Move chicken towards side of the pan. Add your fresh pineapple chunks, about 2 cups, sauteed onions and green peppers. To your sauce ingredients, quickly give it a stir before adding that into the middle of your pan or wok. Mix all ingredients in your frying pan or wok well, coating the sauce evenly. For a thicker sauce, simply add a little more corn starch.

Enjoy immediately!

Live well and happy! :)

Spontaneous Banana Bread Recipe. . .

As with each visit to my parents, my mom generously sends home with me a car load of fresh, organic groceries. Since they were leaving for vacation to Jamaica a couple days after our visit this last week, we received an additional load of food; which, they were afraid, would have spoiled while they were away. So, a lot of bananas in too little time leaves me with overly ripe bananas that I didn't want to spoil and/or waste. Thus, here is my Spontaneous Banana Bread Recipe. I call it "Spontaneous" because in the spur of the moment the recipe was created with whatever ingredients I had available in my kitchen at the time. Hope you enjoy!

Makes 2 loaves.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1/3 vegetable oil

1 1/3 cups brown sugar

3 cups mashed over-ripened bananas (about 7 and 1/2 small to medium-sized bananas)

3.5 cups all purpose flour

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup Craisins in blueberry flavor

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, add in your flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and mix well. In a another mixing bowl, mix melted butter and brown sugar. Beat in your eggs and add your mashed up bananas, along with milk. Add this banana mixture to your dry ingredients and mix well. Add in vanilla extract and fold in your Craisins. Mix evenly.

Pour into a greased 9- in. x 5- in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes, or until an toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Serve sliced and toasted with melted butter or... how my son likes to enjoy his, with a little scoop of cookies and cream ice cream. :)

Live well and happy!

2010 Notable News, Part 1.

It is already June! I cannot believe that we've almost completed half of 2010 already. It's been a pretty busy year with a lot of ups and downs - more blessings than not. Here's a quick recap of the last 6 months within our Anderson household.

January -

Had Cornelius' 4th birthday celebration, even though he was born on December 27th.

February -

We celebrated Chinese New Year's and home welcoming party at Anh 2 and Thu's house.

March -

New car for Mommy shortly followed by Mommy getting laid off from work. (No, there wasn't any correlation.) Allowed us a great opportunity for a visit up to see Ong Ba Ngoai in CT. Mommy launches her online store at www.tottotesbytam.etsy.com .

April -

Mommy invited back to work for the US Census.

Celebrated new addition to the extended family with the birth of niece, Olivia Reichel. Traveled up to Lancaster, PA to visit the Reichel family.

Ong Ba Ngoai came to PA to visit them and than VA to visit us for the following weekend.

May -

Daddy lands new job.

After 3 successful years, Daddy sells his business.

Trevor gets his driver's license.

Cornelius finishes his first year of preschool.

June -

Anna and Giam's family comes up to VA and CT for family reunion. And on to enjoying summer vacation, family time and more job searching for Mommy...

And to think it's only been half a year. I can't wait to see what the next 6 months will bring! Opportunities galore!

Japchae - Korean Glass Noodles - Tammy style.

Japchae is a Korean dish made from sweet potato noodles, stir fried in sesame oil with various vegetables, and flavored with soy sauce, and sweetened slightly with sugar. Typically it is made with beef, however, for my recipe, I am using chicken. Here is my version of this simple, yet, deliciously healthy dish.

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets (already sliced thin)

1/4 cup sliced white button mushrooms

1/4 cup sliced red onions
1/4 cup sliced green peppers

1/4 cup broccoli diced

1/4 cup sliced carrots

2 Tablespoons diced garlic

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

2 Teaspoons thick soy sauce

1.5 Teaspoons of sugar

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 bag of Sweet Potato Noodles (or about 2 cups cooked noodles)

This yields about 2 servings.

(I am spoiled in the fact that our local grocery store has a full service salad bar where I can go and purchase the above fresh veggies already chopped at whatever amount I need. Maybe you will be lucky enough to find a similar salad bar set up at your local grocer?)

For the sweet potato noodles, I am using this brand. You can purchase this at a Korean grocer or an Asian store.
From the bag, I am using about 1/4 of the amount.

Cook this according to instructions on the bag. I added the pictured amount of noodles to boiling water for about 9 minutes, or until soft and pliable. Then I removed it from the boiling water, cold rinsed it and set it aside to drain.

Take your chicken cutlets and cut into thin slices.

Into a large, hot, non-stick skillet, add 1 Tablespoon of sesame oil, garlic, chicken, thick soy sauce. Stir well as you brown and cook the chicken. Once chicken is cooked thoroughly, add all the veggies and remaining garlic. Stir fry veggies until slightly tender yet still crisp. Continue to stir well. Mix in soy sauce and sugar (to taste). Add well drained noodles and remaining sesame oil.
Make sure you stir all the ingredients well and noodles evenly. Add additional soy sauce and/or hot sauce to taste. Can be served hot or cold, either as a side dish with rice or main entree.

Enjoy!

Live well and happy! :)

YouTube - Every one's doing it...

YouTube - With over 2 billion views a day, why not? Maybe some of these folks may even like what I have to say. If not, consider it a personal thank you for your visit and time spent. :)

So, without further delay:

www.youtube.com/user/TamsCorner

I will be putting together some cooking tutorials for quick, tasty recipes.
Starting with the following:
* Chicken Salad Delight Sandwiches
* Eggrolls, Tammy-style
* General Tso's Chicken

So please come back and visit!

Live well and happy!