General Tso's Chicken

My sweet sweet husband has one really sweet habit that makes me crazy sometimes. Every single time he goes to any restaurant he has a particular thing that he always gets. For instance - if we go to any Chinese restaurant he will get General Tsos Chicken; if we go to any Thai restaurant he will get Chicken Pad Thai; if we go to Winners he gets the Birdie Sandwich... every every dang time. I want to break his OCD and every time hope he will try something new - "here doesn't this look good?" at which point he always takes it into consideration and when it is time to order goes back to his old standby. Every every dang time. So yes - I see it as a challenge to expand his horizons - but yes I also find it absolutely adorable how faithful he is to his choices. So... it was only fitting that I find a recipe to make my sweet sweet husband General Tso Chicken. I made one version vegetarian with fake chicken and one with real chicken breast.

• 1C veggie broth
• 2T low sodium soy sauce
• 1T chopped fresh ginger
• 2t rice vinegar
• 2t sweetener
• 1t curry paste
• 2T Franks sweet and spicy hot sauce
• 2T evoo
• 1 package of boneless chicken breast (or 1 bag fake chicken strips)
• 1 handful of green onions
• half package of frozen broccoli

1. Mix broth, soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, sweetener, and curry in a bowl until it is well blended and put aside for a while
2. Saute the chicken in evoo in a pan until heated through - remove from pan and put in a plate for a while
3. Pour broth mixture in to pan and simmer until it thickens a bit
4. Place chicken, green onions, and broccoli back into pan and coat with sauce until cooked through
5. Serve over rice (though if you skip the rice and franks sauce this works for stage 1 south beach diet)

Spiced Pork Chops & Mango Salsa

Rare is the day that I touch meat. But every once in a while I have to get down and dirty in animal flesh for my boys. So when I saw that Publix had pork chops on BOGO this week I decided to make it happen. I found some recipes and tweaked them to our taste.

Pork Chops

• pork chops
• allspice
• berbere
• salt & pepper
• rosemary
• basil
• honey
• evoo
• balsamic vinegar

Mango Salsa

• 2 diced mangoes
• mint
• chives
• lemon rind
• lemon juice
• stevia
• red pepper

1. slice tofu, dry, and marinate in allspice, bebere, rosemary, basil, salt, pepper, a tiny bit of honey, evoo and balsamic in the fridge for a few hours 
2. chop mangoes and mix with mint, chives, rind, juice, stevia, and red pepper to taste 
3. saute tofu in nonstick pan until crispy 
4. serve with salsa drizzled over

Persian Tadiq - aka almost burnt rice

A close friend of our family is from Iran and he and his family are the most gracious generous people we know. He always cooks these yummy meals when he comes to visit from his main home in Canada and has been making us tadiq since I was a young girl. There were many things he cooked but this is what we all remember and would drool over. My sister recently found a recipe for it and I had to give it a whirl. Here is my modification of it. My only problem was the crust stuck to the bottom of the pot, so maybe more oil next time? We shall see - it still tasted awesome!

• 2 cups dry basmati rice (has to be basmati)
• a smidge of turmeric
• frozen vegetables (whatever you like i used a stirfry mix)
• ground crumbles (or ground beef for you carnivores)
• 2 T butter
• 4 T oil
• 2 T salt

1. Cook ground crumbles and frozen vegetables in a pan and set it aside
2. Bring water in pot to a boil
3. Add salt to water
4. Put rice into bowl and pour water in until the water overflows to rinse the rice. keep rinsing until water runs clear
5. Add rice to boiling water
6. Boil for 5 minutes
7. Put pot into sink and let cold water in it to flow out the starchy foamy water
8. Pour rice into colander
9. Put rice into a bowl and mix in meat and veggies
10. Put pot back onto stove on medium heat
11. Cover bottom of pot with oil - make sure it is sufficient to allow easy removal
12. Melt butter and add turmeric in small bowl
13. Add rice to pot
14. Poke four holes in rice mound and pour butter mixture into it
15. Place a clean dish towel over the pot (careful so it doesnt touch burner) and cover tightly with pot cover
16. Cook for 8 minutes on medium
17. Turn stove as low as it will go and cook for 35 more minutes
18. When it is done scoop out all the top rice
19. Put plate over pot and flip over pot tapping top to make the crust slide out onto plate unbroken
20. Place crust over rice and serve

 

BLT Burrito - A twist on a bacon lettuce tomato sandwich

So this morning my handsome son ate 1 bowl of oatmeal, 1 banana, 3 pieces of bacon, half an apple and was still hungry. So, I decided to get creative. I wanted to make sure this last meal filled him up but wanted also to do something different for him. He was in his seat asking for a sandwich or more bacon. So instantly I thought BLT - but this boy is not crazy about sandwiches with lettuce or tomatoes. However, he does love cheese roll ups, so I decided to get a little fun and make him a BLT burrito. He is in his seat slurping away and licking his fingers so I think I was successful. And I think if I ate bacon I would probably be loving it as well.

• whole wheat tortilla
• shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 slices bacon
• a handful of baby spinach
• hot sauce - or tomato sauce if you will if your kid can't handle the spice :)

1. First I microwaves the bacon for two minutes, though I probably could have gone a little lower since I was cooking it again anyhow
2. I filled a row of cheese on the bottom of the tortilla
3. covered it with spinach
4. place the two pieces of bacon on top
5. added a little more cheese to hold it all in
6. rolled up the tortilla (i usually put a tiny smidge of cheese in the last bit of the roll to "glue" it together
7. Microwave for 45 seconds
8. watch your son inhale it

Good stuff - I hope you bacon lovers enjoy :)

Curried Beef Thai Crockpot Bowl

So, my sweet boys love their meat. But their mommy/wifey is a vegetarian. To be honest I have been trying to get off the veggies this past year, but I have really struggled with that. The most I can force myself on is Tilapia and only if my husband blackens it and I eat it really fast without thinking. I cook meat for my family on occasion but they are sadly getting most of their protein from beans, tofu, and eating out. What I will often do is cook a version of something for me without me and one for them with meat, but honestly I am not doing this enough. So I figured that tonight (when I am drinking my meals) would be a good time to try something new and fun for them. So here goes...

• 1/2 bag egg noodles
• 1 lb ground round 
• 1/2 bag frozen japanese vegetables
• 1/2 vidalia onion sliced
• foo curry sauce

and then for the sauce

• 1T Hoisin Sauce
• 1/2t tumeric
• 1t Raw Agave Nectar
• 1t lemon juice
• 2T peanut butter
• 1T panang curry
• 1/2t coriander
• 1t curry
• 2C water

1. Pour noodles in crockpot
2. Pour 2C water over them
3. Place onions over noodles
4. Place Vegetables over onions
5. Place Meat over veggies
6. Make Sauce
1. put everything except for the water into a small bowl and blend until homogeneous
2. slowly mix in the water until it is a saucey/soupy consistency
7. Pour sauce over all in crockpot
8. Pour 2C more of water over mixture allowing sauce to creep down
9. Set on HIGH for 3-5 hours or until hot

Mexican Mac N Cheese

 

I wanted to make something fun tonight to both impress my husband and also knock one more thing off my pinterest recipe board that I needed to make. I managed to twist ingredients to suit our likes and I can't begin to tell you how yummy this was. We made one with sausage and one with vegetarian veggie crumbles. Can you tell which is which? If so comment below :)

• 1 box rigatoni
• 1 package pork sausage or veggie crumbles
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 jar pineapple salsa
• 4 cups mexican shredded cheese
• green chiles
• chopped cilantro
• 1 ugly tomato
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 short velveeta stick

1. preheat oven to 350
2. boil the pasta and set aside
3. saute onion, garlic, and sausage/crumbles until onions are soft and clear and meat is done
4. once meat combo is done (drain grease if pork) and then add salsa and mix well
5. layer glass baking dish with pasta, meat, cheese
6. melt velveeta in chunks with a couple tablespoons of butter (optional)
7. pour velveeta on top of final baking dish product (optional)
8. scatter green chiles on top (optional)
9. bake 20 minutes (or until it is bubbling)
10. place sliced tomatos, cilantro, and any other toppings you would like (olives/?) on top
11. serve and enjoy!

Turkey Milk gravy

This, I found is a great way to use some of that turkey juice. You know,t he fatty yummy slush you find at the bottom of your roasting pan?
I usually save it in jars and use it up throughout the week in stews, soups, gravies, and other things for rich turkey broth flavor.

To make the gravy you just need:

Onion, Garlic
Milk,
Butter or oil
pepper
Flour

I usually add little to no salt, as the turkey juice is pretty rich. Heat up the oil on a skillet, dice up onion and garlic. Throw it on and let them cook for 5-7 minutes.Salt just a tiny bit if you want.
Once the onion is translucent, add a few tablespoons of the turkey juice - don't haev to add much. Once the Turkey jello melts, sprinkle some flour (about a handful) into the liquid - very lightly. Don't throw one big pile as it will just clump. Stir carefully to make sure you don't have lumps.

Continue stirring for a couple of minutes. Add milk - add as much of as little as you want. Depends on the flavor that you are going for at this point. Continue stirring for a couple of minutes. I usually do this on the skillet that I just fried meat on, to get the brown bits in as well.

Comes out - heavenly.