Quick and Easy Teriyaki Sauce

While I'm dreading the jet-lag fatigue I'm going to feel tomorrow morning, I know it will last only until next weekend. At least, I hope so.   No, I haven't returned from a trip in another time-zone. I'm talking about the hour of extra sleep that has been taken away from me as we "Spring Forward".  My alarm goes off at 5:00am, and the only thing that stands between my sleepy stupor and oversleeping, is a very hot shower, and a cup of dark bold coffee to sip on the way to work at 6:15am.   The pay-off, of course, is that we food bloggers can take advantage of longer days and better natural light photographs, as we gain an extra hour of daylight.

Do I hear an amen?

I'm thinking that my energy is solar-powered.  When daylight is short, I find that I have less energy. As the daylight lasts longer, I have the energy to come and swim laps, tidy the house, and cook.  I remember when my son was young, and I was driving him to baseball or golf practice-- that I could hardly wait for him to get his license and I'd have more time to myself.  Now that he's a grown adult, has his own car and job, I still find that time flies by much too fast.  Yikes, I'm starting to sound like my own mother!

I so love my food blog, as my creative outlet, and I have missed not being able to find time to edit some of the desserts, breads and savory meals I've made, over the last few weeks.  I spent this whole weekend in a classroom, taking job-related classes, and haven't been home for very long. Before I go to bed,  I wanted to share this very fast recipe because I've been making a lot of those lately.  After all, I much prefer a home cooked meal over take-home.

My son (who usually works nights) was home, for a change.  He asked if I could possibly make teriyaki chicken.  I didn't have teriyaki sauce, and so I thought I'd see how fast google would find a recipe for me.  I landed on food.com and found a recipe that listed all the ingredients that I had on hand.   I didn't really plan on photographing the recipe steps, but once I tasted the sauce-- I grabbed my camera and knew that I had to share it.   I'll make it again, as it did the trick!

The ingredients list includes soy sauce, water, cornstarch, ground ginger, garlic powder, brown sugar and honey.  Okay, I admit that this isn't what Japanese food purists would deem to be authentic.   The sauce came together in less than 10 minutes, while my rice cooker was taking care of the starch.

Our Weber is still covered and stored away until summer is in full swing, so I used a stovetop cast-iron grill.   I usually have chicken on hand, so I grilled some boneless chicken breads and glazed them with the sauce.

I also had a few fresh pineapple spears (one of my favorite morning snacks is fresh pineapple and cottage cheese... love it), so I sprinkled them with some brown sugar and added them to the grill.

Rummaging around in the vegetable bin, I found some green onion as well. Dinner was on the table in under 45 minutes.  Maybe this isn't the prettiest dinner to look at, but it meant the world, to me,  that I fulfilled my son's request.

TASTING NOTES:  The sauce is thick and flavorful, and I'll never buy bottled teriyaki sauce again. I've bookmarked more authentic teriyaki sauce recipes that uses mirin and fresh ginger, so that I can have a comparison. But, when that craving hits, this is a fool-proof and easy sauce worth trying. Neither my son nor husband likes grilled pineapple.  I love it, and I didn't mind that the brown sugar had caramelized. (They have no idea what they're missing out on.)

Yay!  I got a post to share with all of you finished, and now I can get ready to go to bed.  Problem is, my internal clock is saying it's too early.  See what I mean?  Jet-lag.  Am I the only person who struggles with making this adjustment?

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