Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry

This recipe came from our friend in Potsdam, NY. We call him "the renaissance man" and for good reason. Think of anything. He can do it. Cook? Bake? You bet. Amazing musician? Incredible. Historian? He'll make you feel as though you were there. Biologist? Doctor? Yup. Yup. He is quite amazing. He shared a whole recipe book with us and I use it very often.

For the vegetables you can use whatever you have available, he recommends a combination of onion, carrots, cauliflower, bamboo shoots, bean threads, and bean sprouts. When I made this tonight I used: broccoli, carrots, onions, green beans, endive hearts, mushrooms, celery, snow peas and red pepper. I love stir-fry!!!

Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry

Cut 1 lb. Chicken (it is easier to do if it is partially frozen) Cover with marinade ingredients and set aside. (You can do this the night before or a few hour before you are going to cook and leave in refrigerator in a sealed bag.

Marinade:

1/3 cup soy sauce

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

2 Tbsp oil

grated rind of an orange

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ tsp Chinese 5 Spice (opt) (I squirt in a little Sriracha Chili Sauce- the kind with the rooster on it- careful! a little goes a long way!)

Chop up vegetables and set aside in piles according to cooking time.

Order for cooking vegetables: (By the way, this is a great resource for when you are cooking any stir-fry!)

• Put in first:

onions

ginger

garlic

• Longest cooking veggies:

Cabbage

Carrots

Broccoli

Cauliflower

• Shorter cooking veggies:

Summer squash/ zucchini

Green beans

Celery

Bean Threads (soak in water for a few minutes first)

• Add to heat through:

Leeche nuts

Bamboo shoots

Mushrooms

Mini-corn

Egg

• Add off the heat:

Snow peas

Bean sprouts

Sesame oil

Nuts

Prepare sauce ingredients and set aside.

Sauce:

½ cup chicken stock (or chicken base in water)

juice of one orange (1/3 cup)

1 Tbsp corn starch

Heat up some oil in a wok or large pan. Cook chicken over the highest heat about 1/3 cup at a time just until it is cooked. (I never do this. I always just do it all at once.) Set aside, covered. Next add veggies in longest cooking first. Cook over highest heat stirring constantly. Push veggies to the side and pour in sauce ingredients. As soon as the sauce comes to a boil, stir it into the veggies that were pushed to the side and add the chicken. Taste to correct seasonings. Stir in any “off the heat” ingredients and serve at once. (This means the cashews! I just chop them up a little and throw them in. Once I forgot the put the cashew in. It wasn't so much Cashew chicken stir fry!)

Mahi Mahi with Avocado and Quinoa

Hello all!

I had to tell you all about this meal because it was so satisfying and healthy. What are the chances that I had all the ingredients to make this?!?! (Avocado, cabbage, lime, mahi mahi) Anyway- I had some mahi mahi that I wanted to use tonight and I happened across this recipe the 3rd time I searched online. I didn't take a picture because we gobbled it up! I had already made Quinoa to go with our meal, so that is my one change from the recipe. (Well, I guess I also used regular cabbage instead of cole slaw mix because I had it)

By the by, have you all tried Quinoa? It is lovely! I only heard of it for the first time last year. Today I bought it for the first time and made some up for dinner tonight. The kids noticed no difference from regular rice and it is so healthy!! The National Academy of Sciences classifies it as one of the best sources of protein in the vegetable kingdom!!! I bought mine at Costco in a cute little green bag.

Lest you all think I am a crazy health nut, I did eat 3 See's chocolates after dinner. I am a walking paradox! (Or maybe that just makes me human.)

Here is the link to the recipe for the Mahi Mahi. If you ever happened to have those ingredients on hand or feel like trying something new try it!

P.S. Did I mention we have an avocado tree in our backyard? How cool is that!! Gotta love California!!!!

Cashew Sweet and Sour Pork

Here is a recipe I made that came from Our Best Bites. We all really enjoyed it around here. We love stir fry's in general, but it was fun to use pork, which we don't usually. I did try to chop the pork in my food processor, as was recommended in the recipe. I thought it made the pieces too small. Considering my taste panel, maybe it was the right way to do it!
Here is a link to the recipe on their website, if you are interested in seeing their gorgeous pictures of the process. I love those gals over there!

Cashew Sweet and Sour Pork (from Our Best Bites, from Cooking Light)

2 Tbsp. cornstarch, divided
1 Tbsp. cooking sherry or apple juice
1 lb. pork tenderloin or boneless pork chops, thinly sliced
1/3 c. water
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. oil
1/3 c. chopped cashews (or exactly one of those little .99 bags of Fritos cashews at the front of the grocery store)
¼ c. green onions
2 tsp. minced or grated fresh ginger
2 tsp. fresh garlic, minced or pressed
6-8 oz. snow peas, trimmed
1 8-oz. can pineapple chunks, drained

Now...to get your pork super thin, you'll need to partially freeze it. When it's semi-frozen (or mostly-frozen), you can either cut it very thinly with a sharp knife or pop it into your food processor fitted with the slicing blade. It's like magic.

When I say trim your snow peas, I mean get the icky hard parts off. Little baby snow peas are very tender and don't need to be trimmed, but you'll probably have some bigger ones in there. Just snap the corners off and then tug a little to get the tough string that goes along the side of the snow pea. It's like a vegetarian version of a fish-gutting. Without the guts. Okay, it's not really like that at all.


Begin cooking your rice.

Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, sherry, and pork. Toss well.

Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, water, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and ketchup. Stir with a whisk; make sure there are no clumps with the cornstarch.

Now collect everything that's going into the stir fry next to the stove so you can access it easily.

Heat 1-2 Tbsp. canola oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add pork and stir-fry 3 minutes. Add onions, ginger, and garlic.

Stir-fry 1 minute. Add snow peas and pineapple. Stir-fry 3 minutes more. Whisk sauce ingredients again and add to pan

bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in cashews and serve over hot rice. Garnish with more cashews and green onions if you want.

Mongolian Beef

I love stir-fry. I was so pleased when I made this recipe. It was one of those dishes that I liked so well I licked my plate when I was done. Hee hee hee. I've made it twice now and my girls have gobbled it up both times. I even enjoy the leftovers!

The recipe came from a friend of ours in Potsdam, whom we refer to as the Renaissance Man, because he is so talented in so many different areas (cooking being one). Apparently, Mongolian Beef is traditionally just beef and green onions, but we like a variety of vegetables in there.

Mongolian Beef

1 lb. Sirloin Steak, cut into small strips
6 cups assorted vegetables (I used broccoli, onions, red pepper, carrots and celery in the picture, I believe)

Sauce ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 T sugar
1 T rice vinegar
1 tsp red pepper flakes (I used 1/4 tsp when I made it for the girls- Kenneth would have enjoyed more)
1/4 tsp fresh pepper (I used ground pepper)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T water
2 tsp cornstarch

Marinate the beef in 3 Tbs soy sauce and 1 tsp oil. I usually do this earlier in the day and keep it covered in the refrigerator. But, you could just do this step first and let it marinate just during the time you are chopping vegetables.

Next, cut up your vegetables. Set aside in piles according to cooking time.

Here is a great resource for cooking order from the Renaissance Man himself:

• Put in first:

onions

ginger

garlic

• Longest cooking veggies:

Cabbage

Carrots

Broccoli

Cauliflower

• Shorter cooking veggies:

Summer squash/ zucchini

Green beans

Celery

Bean Threads (soak in water for a few minutes first)

• Add to heat through:

Leeche nuts

Bamboo shoots

Mushrooms

Mini-corn

Egg

• Add off the heat:

Snow peas

Bean sprouts

Sesame oil

Nuts

So, after you have that taken care of, prepare your sauce. Set aside.

Heat up 1/4 cup of oil in a wok or large pan. Cook meat over highest heat just until it is cooked. Set aside, covered. Next add veggies, longest cooking first. Cook over highest heat, stirring constantly. Pushe veggies to the side and pour in sauce ingredients. As soon as the sauce comes to a boil, stir it into the veggies that were pushed to the side and add the meat. Serve at once over rice. Enjoy!

My new favorite food blog!

I have been on a hiatus with posting. Not because I haven't been trying new things, but because life has been so busy! We have had visitors (13 people in a little apartment is crazy!!) and I have not been getting on the computer much during the day. (I get too frustrated when the children interrupt me and I have decided it's better for me to spend time with them instead of spending unproductive time on the computer!) Anyway. I can save myself a whole lot of time and give you a whole lot of good recipes if I just share this blog I discovered with you. I have already made quite a few recipes from here and have loved them all and can't wait to try many more. It is amazing!!

here it is:
http://www.ourbestbites.com/

Here are a couple of pictures of what I have made from that website:

These are called Pizza bites, I think:
These are the Breadsticks (same dough as the above dish) very tasty. I did half savory and half sweet.


I have also made the Guacamole, the Lime Cilantro Dressing, the Pizza pockets (hot pockets) and the Lime Cilantro Pineapple Rice. All were definitely "Food of Good Report"!
(I replaced 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour in the hot pocket recipe dough and it was fantastic!)

I hope you all enjoy- I have and will continue to!