Stir-fried Chicken and Veggies Over Rice

I have returned to the blog world! Woohoo! Thanks for hanging in there with me while I've been moving. I made this meal in a borrowed kitchen before we moved into our house, but I wasn't really able to blog about it until now. So here we go.

First off, this is a pretty simple meal, which is good when you're not in familiar kitchen territory. I basically just put some oil in a skillet, heated it up, and cooked chicken and veggies until they were done, added some soy sauce and spices, and served it up over white rice. Really, really easy. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
-rice, enough to feed everyone (I used instant white rice, but use whatever you like)
-approximately 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
-chicken breasts, enough to feed everyone, chopped into bit sized pieces
-approximately 2 cups broccoli, cut into florets
-approximately 1 cup carrots, chopped into bite sized pieces
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-1/2 tablespoon onion powder
-1 teaspoon ginger

Directions:
Cook rice according to package directions. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces and stir fry until almost cooked through.

Add in the broccoli and carrots and continue stir frying until the veggies are crisp tender.

Add the soy sauce and spices and continue stirring.

When the chicken and veggies are completely coated in the yummy goodness, cooked completely, and hot and delicious, serve over the rice.

Enjoy!

Chicken in Peanut sauce

I decided to experiment with a new Asian inspired dish. Chicken in Peanut sauce, over noodles. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it actually turned out all right. I think I'll tweak it next time I make it, but for a first attempt, not too shabby. :)

A lot of Asian or eastern dishes are pretty spicy, so I tend to be hesitant to try them when they're made by someone else. But when I decided to try this, I could kind of control how things went in the spice department, which means that this is persnickety approved. It was very flavorful, in my opinion, but not overly so. I don't know how "authentic" it tastes, but it works for me. I used fettuccine pasta as my noodles. I just think they work well. You could also use spaghetti, or some sort of Asian noodle. Whatever floats your boat. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup peanut butter
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-1 teaspoon ground ginger
-3 tablespoons soy sauce
-3 tablespoons brown sugar
-1 cup chicken broth, divided in half
-chicken breasts, enough to feed everyone
-pasta (I used fettuccine)

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the first 6 ingredients and half of the chicken broth until well incorporated.

Put the chicken breasts in a large plastic bag, and pour in a little of the mixture as a marinade.

The remaining mixture will be your sauce, so don't use too terribly much as a marinade, maybe a quarter of the mixture or so, enough to coat the chicken. Let the chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge. Keep the rest of the sauce in the fridge too, if you're doing the overnight option.

When you're ready to make the rest of the meal, boil a pot of water and cook the pasta. Drain and set aside. Pour the remaining sauce mixture into a small sauce pan. Add the other half of the chicken broth. Heat over medium heat and allow it to thicken slightly, stirring frequently.

Grill the chicken until cooked through. I used a counter-top grill contraption that takes like 5 minutes to cook chicken, but do it however you prefer. NO PINK in the middle! :)

Slice the chicken into strips.

Pour most of the sauce over the noodles and stir to coat well, leaving a little sauce in reserve for the chicken.

Plate the pasta, then place the sliced chicken on top of the noodles. Spoon a little bit of the sauce over the chicken for good measure.

Yummy! Eat and enjoy!

Asian Meatballs

Yum. Meatballs in an Asian sauce over white rice. Woohoo. This was an experiment that turned out well, so I'm glad. I will admit, Asian flavors are not my forte. Sometimes they go well, and sometimes...they...don't. But I keep trying, hoping someday I'll get better at gauging the flavors and all. I think part of my problem is that so many Asian flavors are so strong, and I just don't know how to combine them without it becoming overwhelming. However...this time, I managed to make it work. I did a happy dance when I finally tasted it. Not gonna lie. My husband thought I was losing it, but hey. I was excited.

I also only used 1/2 lb of ground beef for my meatballs, since it was just the two of us eating. I think if you had a side dish to go with this, it would be enough for four people. It was definitely enough for three, since my husband and I both had PLENTY and I have another serving in the fridge awaiting lunch sometime soon. Anyway...I think this would be enough to feed 3-4. Double it if you need more. :) Away we go.

Ingredients:
For meatballs-
-1/2 lb ground beef
-1 egg
-1/3 cup breadcrumbs
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-2 teaspoons garlic powder
-flour for dredging (maybe 1/2 cup or so?)

For sauce-
-1 teaspoon Hoisin sauce (available in most grocery stores in the Asian food sections)
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-2 tablespoons rice vinegar
-1 cup beef broth
-1 teaspoon onion powder
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients (except the flour).  Make sure the ingredients are well incorporated, but don't over work the meat. That will mean tough meatballs, which is a bad thing. Pinch off small sections of the meat and roll them into meatballs, approximately 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter.

Dredge each meatball in the flour until lightly coated.

Remove as much of the excess flour as possible. I did this by gently moving the meatballs from one hand to another, tapping off the flour as it moved from hand to hand.

In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium/medium high heat. Place the meatballs in the heated oil

and cook until no longer pink in center. You'll need to flip them around a couple times to brown the whole outside and so they cook evenly.

I had to do my meatballs in batches cause my skillet wasn't quite big enough for all of them, so don't worry if you need to do that too. When the meat is cooked, remove the meatballs to a plate and let them rest for a minute while you finish the sauce.

Speaking of sauce...while the meat is cooking, combine the Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, ginger, rice vinegar, and most of the beef broth in a saucepan over medium heat.

Reserve about 1/4 cup of the broth for later. Whisk the ingredients together until well combined. In a separate small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with the remaining beef broth. Add this mixture to the sauce pan, stirring frequently. When the cornstarch is well incorporated, add the brown sugar to the sauce pan and whisk into the sauce. Let the sauce come to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium low so it can simmer a little bit. It should start to thicken slightly because of the cornstarch. Make sure to stir it frequently.

Remove the oil from the skillet you cooked the meatballs in. Pour the sauce into the skillet and continue stirring occasionally over medium heat. It will simmer a little bit, but don't let it get too hot or else the sugar will burn and be disgusting. The sauce should continue to thicken slightly. Add the meatballs to the skillet and coat them well with the sauce.

Continue cooking until the sauce has cooked down and become almost like a slightly liquid glaze, and the meatballs remain coated with the sauce.

Serve over rice (I used instant white rice), or rice noodles, or whatever Asian carbohydrate you prefer. The flavor of the meatballs in the sauce will be relatively strong, so a more neutral base would be best.

Yay for a successful Asian-style meal! :)

Moo Shu Noodles

I have made something similar to this before. It didn't turn out so well. Haha. This time, I adjusted some things, and it turned out MUCH better. And I added broccoli, which makes it healthier, right? Sorta? Ok, works for me. :)

You can use any kind of pasta, really. I think long skinny noodles like spaghetti, angel hair, fettucini, etc work best, but who am I to judge? Use whatcha got, I say. I added some broccoli to mine, but you could add any veggies you wanted to, really...you're just stir-frying them, so throw in whatever you want to. This works well for me when I'm craving Chinese take-out and don't want to do the take-out part. It's really quick and easy, in my opinion. I think you'll like it. :)

Ingredients:
-Pasta (I used spaghetti), enough to feed everyone. I made a little bit, just for me, but I'll give directions for a whole box (16 oz)
-1/4 cup hoisin sauce (available in the Asian section of most grocery stores)
-3 tablespoons soy sauce
-ground ginger and garlic powder to taste (approximately 1 teaspoon garlic, 1/2 teaspoon ginger)
-1/2 cup chicken broth (I just added some water to the cooked chicken crusties on the bottom of the pan, aka de-glazed the pan after cooking the chicken)
-2 eggs, beaten
-chicken breasts (approx 3-4, or however much you want), cubed
-broccoli florets, approximately 1/2-1 cup per person
-veggie oil, to stir fry (approximately 2 tablespoons for chicken and 2 tablespoons for broccoli)

Directions:
Boil a large pot of water. Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, place a large skillet over medium high heat, then add 2 tablespoons of veggie oil. Let it heat up. Add the veggies and stir fry until just tender-crisp. No mushy veggies, folks. Set the veggies aside on a plate. Add a little more oil, and cook the chicken cubes until no longer pink inside, but don't overcook them. Set the chicken aside with the veggies. Add just a little bit more oil (or butter if you prefer), and scramble the eggs until cooked. Set aside with the veggies and chicken.

In a separate bowl, mix together the hoisin sauce and soy sauce. Stir in the ginger and garlic. Pour the cooked pasta into the skillet, back over medium heat. Add the veggies, chicken, and eggs. Then pour the sauce over the top of everything, as well as the chicken broth. Stir everything to combine well, letting the pasta get coated in the sauce, and all the chicken and veggies and eggs evenly distributed. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Honey Hoisin Chicken and Rice Pilaf

My trusty food blog inspiration Mel, from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, had a similar recipe on her blog. She did honey hoisin pork ribs, and I'm doing chicken, but I'm using her idea/recipe with a few minor adaptations. I am also using her rice pilaf recipe (on the same blog post as the ribs). I'm so glad she makes food I can eat with my pickiness. Haha. But really, this turned out really well, and since it was my first time making it, I wasn't sure it would. My husband told me he really liked "the flavor" of the chicken, which means it tasted good. Haha. We had some canned fruit to round things out a bit. ;) Anyway...off we go into the wilderness of foods I've never made before. Woohoo!

Ingredients:
Rice Pilaf-
-1 tablespoon canola oil
-1 cup angel hair pasta, broken into 1/2-inch pieces (I actually used linguine, and it still turned out great)
-1 cup rice
-2 cups chicken broth
-Seasonings to taste (I used garlic and onion powder)

Honey Hoisin Chicken-
-Chicken breasts
-1/3 cup honey
-1/4 cup soy sauce
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/3 cup hoisin sauce
-1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
-1/4 cup distilled white vinegar (or rice vinegar, which is what I used)

Directions:
Brown rice and angel hair pasta in the oil over medium-high heat.

Cook until spaghetti is lightly browned. Add chicken stock and seasonings and bring to a boil.

Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes (Mine didn't take quite 20, but close to it). Stir it around a bit to lighten it up,

and then serve.


Honey Hoisin Chicken-
Boil the chicken breasts until just done. DO NOT OVERCOOK!!! Cut the chicken into large bite size pieces. In a separate bowl, mix the other ingredients to make a marinade. Coat the chicken pieces with the marinade, and let it marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. After that hour, spread the chicken in a single layer on a baking pan lined with foil.

Broil in the oven for about 3 minutes. Baste the chicken with more marinade, and turning them around in the pan slightly. You want them to be coasted and getting brown and carmelized on all sides. See how the liquid on the foil is getting dark? You want that to a lesser degree on the chicken.

Once the chicken is well glazed, remove the chicken pieces from the pan, discarding the excess marinade. Serve it immediately.

Yum. Serve everything together for a delightfully different meal. Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I like to try cooking new things. This was a bit of a stretch for me...I was a little bit anxious about the sauce. Haha. It worked out well, though. I was relatively impressed. Away we go.

Ingredients:
For Chicken:
Chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces.
Flour, for dredging
Egg, Milk, for dredging
Oil, for shallow frying

Rice

For Sauce:
1/3 cup rice vinegar (use white if you don't have rice)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
2 teaspoons corn starch
4 teaspoons water

Directions:
Cook the rice according to package directions. Set aside. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour, then the egg/milk mixture, then the flour again. Fry in the oil in a skillet over medium heat until cooked through, flipping once. Drain on paper towels.

In a sauce pan, mix together the vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, and pineapple juice. Bring it to a boil. Mix together the corn starch and water, then add to the pot. This will thicken the sauce. Reduce heat and make sure everything is mixed well, then remove from heat. This will not be the bright red you'd find in a restaurant, but those are colored with food coloring.

Serve the chicken over the rice, then pour sauce over the chicken. Enjoy!

Pork Fried Rice

Have I mentioned that I love friend rice? Oh, wait, I have. In my post about Chicken fried rice. Haha. So I guess it's not terribly surprising that I would make another variation-pork fried rice. It's similar to my chicken version, but slightly different. If you can make my chicken version, you can make this one. Away we go.

Ingredients:
2 boneless pork chops
3 cups cold, cooked rice
1 zucchini
1-2 carrots (1 if large, 2 if smaller)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
3 tablespoons soy sauce
Oil (maybe a tablespoon for each step, so 4 tablespoons total)

Directions:
Slice the pork chops in 1/4 inch slices, then cut them into 1 inch pieces. Cut the zucchini and carrot(s) into similarly sized pieces, no bigger than 1 inch cubes. Heat a large skillet or wok over medium heat with a little bit of oil. Cook the pork until it is done. You're basically stir frying it. The small pieces should cook relatively quickly. When the meat is cooked, set it aside. Put a little more oil in the skillet or wok. Cook the veggies until just tender. Don't let them get mushy. Set them aside. Add a little more oil to the skillet or wok, and scramble the eggs. Set aside. Add a little more oil, and stir fry the rice for a couple minutes. Add the eggs back in and stir to combine. Add the spices and soy sauce, and stir to mix evenly throughout the rice. Add the veggies and meat back in, and stir it to mix it evenly in to the rice. Make sure everything is heated through and mixed well. Serve hot and enjoy!

Moo-Shu Noodles

I'm gonna be honest with you, cause that's how I roll (yes I did just say that). This was not my favorite. It would have been awesome with a few tweaks, so...I will try again and update with my improvements eventually.

I got the original recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs, here:
http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2009/08/moo-shu-noodles.html

You might want to follow her recipe more closely than mine until I work out the kinks. She uses some weird stuff like cabbage and mushrooms (two of my least favorite "veggies" in the whole world), so I was trying to adapt it to my persnickety taste. Like how I did that, throwing in the word "persnickety" in a blog post? :) Sorry, I digress. I blame the stomach flu I had earlier this week...

I ended up just using the pork, substituting carrots and peas as the veggies, the eggs, noodles,and the sauce. The sauce was overpowering. I think I added too much sauce for the amount of noodles I had, and there just wasn't enough substance. Not enough...something. Probably veggies. Haha. I think next time, I will try adding some broccoli, carrots, maybe some zucchini, etc, to try to break up the noodles and sauce more. I'm pretty sure that if there would have been more to mine, it would have been great. So anyway...the original recipe is above, and mine is below. Good luck!

Ingredients:
12-ounces fettuccine, linguini, or spaghetti
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil, divided
3 eggs, beaten
3 medium-sized boneless pork chops, thinly sliced (it is easier to slice thinly if pork chops are slightly frozen)
Ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 cup peas and carrots, cooked
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth

Directions:
Boil the pasta, drain, and set aside. While pasta is cooking, scramble the eggs in a skillet with some oil or butter over medium heat. When they are cooked through, scoop them into a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet, heat some vegetable or canola oil (I like veg oil) over medium high heat. Cook the pork chop slices in the oil, basically stir frying them, for a few minutes until they are brown but not overcooked. Overcooked pork is tough and yucky. You don't want that. :) Put the cooked pork in the same bowl as the eggs and set aside. In a separate bowl mix the hoisin sauce and soy sauce. Set aside. Add another little bit of oil to the skillet. Stir fry your veggies until tender, then add the garlic and ginger. Stir to combine. Add the hoisin and soy sauce mixture, heating through. Add the eggs and pork to the party, and stir it all up. Lastly, add the noodles, and stir 'em around until everything is hot and the noodles are coated with sauce. Serve right away.

Like I said...the sauce was overpowering, but I didn't use the entire 12 oz or whatever of pasta, so that was my fault. And like I also said, a few more veggies or something would have made this better and less...noodle-y. Haha. Anyway, hope you can learn from my mistakes and yours turns out wonderfully. Enjoy!

Chicken Fried Rice

My husband and I love to go to those Japanese Steakhouse places. You know, the ones where they cook the food in front of you on a huge flat top grill. My favorite part is the fried rice. I'm not gonna lie. It's probably the least healthy part, but...I don't care. It is amazing.

Since we can't go to one of those places all the time, I get my fried rice fix at home. This is also a lots-of-food-for-cheap meal, so it'd be good for a big family, or for a dinner party, or what have you. I mean...who DOESN'T like fried rice? :)

Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil (to thinly coat the bottom of the wok or skillet)
3 cups cooked, cold rice (I use Minute rice)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 eggs
1/2 cup veggies to put in the rice (I use canned peas and carrots)
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

Directions:
In a cooking wok, or a really large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the rice and stir fry it for a couple minutes. Add the spices and soy sauce, and stir to combine, the stir fry it a couple more minutes. Push the rice to one side of the wok or skillet. Scramble the eggs on the other side. When the eggs are cooked, combine with the rice until evenly distributed. Add the veggies and stir fry until heated through. Add the chicken and stir fry until heated through and everything is combined well. Serve immediately

If you want to have a more "balanced" meal, don't add the chicken to the rice. Make a little more of it. Cook it in some butter until it's almost cooked through, then add a little soy sauce toward the end to make something similar to hibachi chicken. Or use teriyaki sauce for teriyaki chicken. You can also cook up some carrots and zucchini (cut into thick strips) with some soy sauce for a similar take on hibachi vegetables. Just heat some butter in a pan, cook the veggies a couple minutes, stirring frequently, and add some soy sauce toward the end. You don't want to burn the soy sauce. That tastes nasty. That's why you only add it at the end, whether for meat or veggies.

No matter what you do...I hope you enjoy the fried rice. I mean, really, it's the best part anyway. ;)