Fantastic Chicken Lo Mein

I did it again! Another Asian dish served up at home, and taken down by the two of us like there was no tomorrow! When I see ingredients like sesame oil and rice wine vinegar something in my brain goes haywire and I immediately have to try it! You can find the original recipe at Prevention.com which includes the nutritional information. If you're not sure about all the health benefits from sesame oil, you can check out this information on Livestrong.com. It's full of anti-oxidants and antibacterial properties that you won't want to pass up! There are other uses as well, including skin benefits among other medicinal health benefits, if you want to do some looking around on their site! So without further ado...let's get started!

Ingredients
8 oz lo mein or thin spaghetti (you could even use a little more, I only had 6 oz and it didn't go very far)
2 TB sesame oil (you can also use olive oil)
1 lb. boneless, skinless, chicken breasts cut into thin strips
1 onion-chopped
1 lg. red bell pepper-chopped
2 lg. garlic cloves-minced
1/2 c chicken broth
3 TB rice wine vinegar
3 TB soy sauce
1 TB fresh grated ginger

Start out by cooking your noodles according to the package.

While you've got your pasta going, heat 1 TB of the oil in a large skillet over medium/high heat. Add the chicken strips and cook the chicken until no longer pink. Remove the chicken from the skillet and cover to keep warm!

Heat the remaining 1 TB of oil in the skillet, and add your red pepper, onion and garlic. Cook for about 8 minutes or until the ingredients are tender. Stir in the broth, ginger, vinegar and soy sauce and cook for another 2 minutes  Add the cooked chicken and the noodles, stir to incorporate everything together and heat through. 

Serve on a plate (or in a bowl) and enjoy!! 

We absolutely loved this and will be eating it again! Very quick and easy and would even taste great if you let the noodles marinade in the mixture over-night, add the chicken, heat up and enjoy!! Stay tuned for a fantastic snack idea! Until then...

~Happy Eating~

Soba Noodle Stir-Fry

Have you all been introduced to the 5,000+ recipes from Joy of Kosher? There are so many on there, I don't have time to sift through them all!! They have a magazine with great articles, a blog, and countless articles you can look through! I'm always a sucker for a good Asian dish, and came across the Soba noodle stir-fry and couldn't help myself! The only drawback I came across was that the amount of oil that goes into the vinaigrette, in my personal opinion was too oily. Next time we make it, I'm going to reduce the oil, you make it how you want to though! It still tasted great! Let's get started...

Ingredients
Vinaigrette
1/2 c rice vinegar
1/4 c soy sauce
1 TB minced ginger
2 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 c olive oil

Stir-Fry
1 TB canola or olive oil
1 carton fresh mushrooms sliced
1 TB minced ginger root
1 clove minced garlic
1/3 c green onions
2 TB tasted sesame seeds
salt & pepper
1 pkg. dried soba noodles

To start out, you're going to want to mix all the ingredients to the vinaigrette together and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and saute the mushrooms over medium heat. After a few minutes add a pinch of salt, the minced ginger root, and garlic and turn the heat to low and allow to heat through for a couple more minutes! By this time. you should be smelling the ginger and garlic aromas throughout the whole house! YUM! Stir in the pepper, 3 TB of the vinaigrette, and I added some green onion just because! Mix all this together and turn off the heat!

Cook the noodles according to the package directions (it took about 3 minutes once we added the noodles to the boiling water). Drain the noodles, run cold water over them and add them to a serving bowl.

Mix in the stir-fry and the remaining vinaigrette and garnish with the sesame seeds! Not too much work goes into this delicious meal, and the best part is you can eat it hold or cold. Either way tastes great, so you can make this ahead of time then pop it in the fridge and serve it later!

Stay tuned for some delicious baked ziti pasta, and until then...

~Happy Eating~

Lettuce Wraps-PF Chang style

I love those recipes that are so good, they are asked for again and again! Dee Jay just reminded me that we haven't had lettuce wraps in awhile, so I started on this extremely delicious dinner for us last night! A happy side note is that even though you are "wrapping lettuce" around a mixture of goodness after about four of them Dee Jay decided he was full and that they make a heavier meal than one would imagine! So ladies, get your guys to try them out. I'm going to go out on a limb that they will not be disappointed (or left hungry)! I found this recipe on this cute blog, Bohemian Transplant! If you have some time to look around her blog at all her recipes, you won't be disappointed! She also has great insights for parents, and photography as well! So let's get started with what all you're going to need for this recipe!

Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken
1/2 onion, minced
salt & pepper (to taste)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
1 TB sesame oil
2 1/2 TB soy sauce
1/2 TB water
1 TB peanut butter
1/2 TB honey
1 TB + 1 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp (+) Chili garlic sauce (you can add sriracha if you want to add a kick)
3 green onions
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped

First, you're going to add the chicken and onion with a dash of salt and pepper and cook in a skillet until nearly done! Next, add the garlic and ginger and continue to cook until the chicken is no longer pink.

Here we are simmering with garlic

and ginger and onion

 

In a small sauce pan, heat the sesame oil, soy sauce, water, peanut butter, honey, rice vinegar, red chili sauce, and another dash of pepper. Stir until the sauce runs smooth and then add the sauce to the skillet and stir to combine everything.

After you have everything mixed, you can add the green onions and cook another couple of minutes and then sprinkle with the chopped peanuts. 

 

Sorry about the blurry photo! I was in a hurry to eat and didn't stop and

look at the pictures I was taking :)

 

When everything is mixed and warmed through, you are going to serve this in the middle of cold lettuce leaves! Wrap the sides of the lettuce around the mixture and enjoy! It's that easy! 

Woo-Hoo

 

I hope you all enjoy this as much as we do! I know it's not exactly PF Chang quality, but sometimes it's nice to bring those recipes home and try them out for yourself! Hope everyone is having a fun and fantastic start to your week!! Stay tuned for more deliciousness from our kitchen to yours!! 

~Happy Eating~

 

 

 

spring rolls - activity, dinner

Leah here. I'll typically pick a cool, herby spring roll over it's fried egg roll cousin. Have you tried a spring roll? A soft, chewy rice wrapper that neatly holds anything from crunchy veggies to herbs and even shredded chicken or cooked shrimp. I like making things you can make your own --like a big salad or homemade pizza. These types of meals are fun with friends or family, too. Lay out a big bowl of lettuce, a tray of baked potatoes or a slab of rolled out pizza dough. Line up the toppings and let everyone make their own creation. Throw spring rolls in to that category of "activity dinner."

To start, you need rice wrappers. They seem scary. Thin, wispy...and the packaging is typically not in English. Luckily, you can now find them at most supermarkets with a decent selection of Asian ingredients

I've used a few different spring roll recipes. Recently I tried this one from Williams Sonoma. It had a great tip about layering TWO rice wrappers for a sturdier roll. GENIUS! Decide how many rolls you want or need. I made six rolls and cut them in half making 12 half rolls. Plenty for hubs and me to snack on throughout the evening.

Prep all the ingredients you need for your roll recipe. This takes a bit of time. Give a few people a chopping, dicing or peeling job and it will go faster. Organize your ingredients in a line by how you will add them to your roll. You will thank me for this. I'm an old pro (ha!) so I just piled mine up on a plate. (an upside down plate, sorry, I'm no computer expert!)

My recipe called for green lettuce (tender butter lettuce would have been better here), cucumber, avocado, carrots shredded (would have been better as small matchsticks), basil, and mint. Also good in spring rolls--cilantro, thinly sliced jalapeno, rice  noodles...sky is the limit. These were vegetarian but I like cooked shrimp in mine.

Fill a wide, shallow bowl with warm water. Lay a clean kitchen towel next to the bowl. Here is where things can get scary--be brave! See how the rice wrapper is hard and crunchy? You're about to give it a bath. 

Dip one rice paper round into the water for a few seconds to soften--about 20 seconds--then lay it flat on the towel. You want it to be the constancy of a wet paper towel. But not a wet tissue. Got that? Ha!

You might rip it but they are actually pretty forgiving. That's why I like the double wrapper idea. Dip a second wrapper into the water and lay it directly on top of the first one. Get ready to work quickly. 

For my recipe, I centered a lettuce leaf on top of the stacked rice papers. Starting about one-third in from the edge closest to you, arrange your herbs in a line across the lettuce. 

Top the greens with a small row of each of your veggies or meat. Here are my carrots, cucumbers and avocado. You don't need much so don't over stuff the roll.

Now, think burrito! Lift the bottom edge of the wrapper up and over the bottom third of the filling and then roll once tucking the veggies in.

Fold in the sides of the wrapper and continue rolling it and tucking it into a tight cylinder.

 Set aside, seam side down. They will start to dry out so another secret--cover them with a damp (not wet) kitchen towel or a few damp paper towels. You can even make these a few hours ahead if needed. Keeping them covered will keep everything fresh. When ready to serve, cut in half.

Keep stuffing, rolling and tucking and you'll get  a plate full of crisp, fresh, yums. 

The dipping sauce I made this time is actually miso dressing from Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook “My Father’s Daughter." It's not for everyone, but everyone (every peanut eater) should love this peanut dipping sauce I've used several times from Chow.com. Like what you see here? Then please start with his recipe for shrimp summer rolls---my favorite to date.

I love getting friends and family in the kitchen. What is our favorite activity meal? Grilling? Cookie decorating?