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I like this recipe for General Tso's Chicken way better than anything I've ever had in a Chinese restaurant. It is easy to prepare at home with easy-to-find ingredients and it has half the calories and one-fifth the fat of the take-out version. America's Test Kitchen, the folks who deconstruct recipes and show us how to make them step-by-step in Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country, made over this recipe for General Tso's. They swapped white chicken breast for the dark meat and a crunchy breading of corn flakes for deep-frying. My husband does not like Chinese food but he loved this recipe when I made it for dinner. The option to omit red pepper makes it a winner with our 9-year-old as well. I hope to add photos, but in the interest of sharing this fabulous recipe, I'm posting without. GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN by America's Test Kitchen BEFORE: 910 calories, 45g fat, 5g sat fat AFTER: 490 calories, 8g fat, 1.5g sat fat   WHY THIS...

I enjoy Indian food when I get to the nearest city that has an Indian restaurant, Morgantown, WV, and Mother India. Because I can't afford to eat out or drive much, I am always looking for ways to make what I crave at home. I found a passable way to make one of my two favorite Indian dishes, Chicken Tikka Masala . And I blogged about it last summer so click the link in the last sentence to find the recipe. About the same time I was intrigued by this recipe for "Bread Machine Naan." Now, my understanding of naan is a chewy flat bread that's stretched thin and baked in a Tandoor clay oven. This recipe is so delicious I don't care what it calls itself! My family loves it any time we get a craving for fried dough ... you know, like vendors serve at carnivals. Sometimes it's called Elephant Ears. Or Johnny Cakes. Or fry bread. Eat these plain or with butter and powdered sugar, or cinnamon sugar, or spread with your favorite jam. I recently enjoyed them d...

Who needs Helper when this is just as easy to make? I make this when we want lasagna but I don't want to dirty more than one pan and bowl and spend a couple of hours assembling and baking it. This is a Cook's Illustrated recipe from a few years back.   SKILLET LASAGNA Serves 4 to 6 Meatloaf mix is a combination of ground beef, pork, and veal, sold pre-packaged in many supermarkets. If it's unavailable, use ground beef or Italian sausage removed from its casings and crumbled. Use a 12-inch nonstick skillet with a tight-fitting lid for this recipe. 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes Water 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium onion , minced Table salt 3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tablespoon) 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 pound meatloaf mix or Italian sausage or ground beef 10 curly-edged lasagna noodles , broken into 2-inch lengths 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce 1/2 cup grated Parmesan che...

Soon after we moved into our house in 1999, my mother-in-law gave me a battered copy of "The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook" that she found at a yard sale. I learned to make Beef Stroganoff from it. But that version is decidedly not healthful at 580 calories per 1/6th of the recipe. I'm including it here to preserve it but also because a little splurge now and then on "the real thing" is not bad. But recently, thanks to Pinterest, I found a lighter version with the same flavors of Beef Stroganoff. It's calculated for Weight Watchers and streamlined for quick preparation as a casserole. I have http://www.laaloosh.com/ to thank for it. BEEF STROGANOFF 1 1/2 pounds beef tenderloin butter or margarine 1 large onion, minced 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced 2 teaspoons dry mustard 1 teaspoon salt beef broth 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sour cream I wrote a note in the cookbook: Stir-fry the steak, chop and measure ingredients and cook noodles before you ...

I wrote this story in December 2002 for The Dominion Post. Chocolate-covered cherries are not only a Christmastime treat. They are perfect to give at Valentine's Day. And they are not hard to make at all. BY CYNTHIA McCLOUD The Dominion Post Crafting a holiday confection -- juicy cherries wrapped in sweet, creamy fondant and swathed with semisweet chocolate -- isn't as complicated as it tastes. Sue Carpenter of Morgantown easily makes chocolate-covered cherries from a recipe she found in McCall's magazine in 1987. "It said 'easy candy' and they are real simple to make," Carpenter said as she wrapped a thin layer of white fondant around a maraschino cherry at the dining room table in her South Park home. As a member of the Morgantown Service League, Carpenter makes the cherries as refreshments for the group's annual holiday open house at the Old Stone House Gift Shop. She said she would like to sell them at Valentine's Day to b...

We're deep in winter and you're probably thinking "Man, she loves comfort food and her Crock-Pot." Yep. It's all that gets me through the week sometimes. I can't remember where I found this recipe, but I make it so much I want to preserve it on my blog so I can find it easily. I don't make the dumplings anymore because they seem to take forever to bake. Instead, I bake frozen or from-scratch biscuits and serve this stew atop them.   SLOW COOKER CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch pieces   2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups) I get mine from Davis Bros. Farm. 2 cups whole baby carrots 2 stalks celery, sliced (about 1 cup) 2 10 3/4 ounce can  Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)   1 cup water   1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed   1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 cups all-purpose baki...