Obsessed! In the best possible way!

I had a pin on Pinterest for a link to something called "quick ramen bowl."  It looked good, greens, mushrooms, scallions, sriracha, an egg, ramen.  All the stuff I love.  I never really looked at it, which I am kind of famous for when it comes to Pinterest.  I tend to go, "Ooh!" and forget to look at it again, unless it's one of my cake boards which I refer to almost daily when I'm at work.  I was thinning out a board that got bogged down with too many subjects and I came across the link.  I went to the blog and... it sounds crazy, but... my life is changed!

I have been trying to save money and cut down on my grocery bill in particular.  I burn a lot of calories at work.  Like in the "just ran a marathon" category.  I'm hungry All. The. Time.  Figuring this out has helped me realize what I need to do to lose weight (hello, starvation mode! eat more!) so lately, my grocery bill has become astronomical.  What to do?  What to do?  I've found some good resources for budgeting at meal time, but a lot of those folks don't eat like I do.  No offense, really!  It's just that the bulk of my groceries are from the produce department.  And I eat a lot of Asian food.  A lot.  I also don't have kids, and many of those blogs are geared towards family-friendly meal time.  Soooo, enter Budget Bytes.  What's the first thing I make?  The Dragon Noodles, of course!  I made a couple changes, but I don't think it got me too far off the $1.02 cost per serving!  (Whattt?)  I added a bag of frozen stir fry veggies that were $1 at Kroger and an extra egg.  I needed a bit more sauce, so when I made it the second time, I used a little fish sauce and and a little garlic chile sauce.  It gave it a little more of a Vietnamese flavor than just straight up "burn down the house."  I also used angel hair pasta because I had a half of a box which was perfect for this.  Dudes, this was easily one of the best things I've made recently.  And it took 10 minutes.  It had the perfect amount of heat for me and was filling!


Do yourself (and your wallet!) a favor and hit up Budget Bytes for a recipe or 15.

I was half way through the bowl of noodles before I realized I needed to document the deliciousness.

Chicken with Spicy Black Bean Sauce and Stir-fried Vegetables

I'm definitely feeling much better. Whatever bug I caught turned into bronchitis (free gift with purchase?) which is why I was so sick. Thankfully I'm feeling better since I'm getting on a plane at 6AM tomorrow to head to Detroit Rock City to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday! Ninety! Amazing! Can you imagine all of the changes she's seen in her life? It's mind-boggling, really.

As promised, here are the recipes from my class. This was SO good. I can't wait to make it again. Now, the recipe calls for chicken, but I believe this would be equally tasty with beef, pork, or shrimp. I added the sambal oelek because I was in the mood for spicy. I recommend adding sambal rather than the garlic chili version because the sambal is just chiles and nothing else. It's available in Asian markets everywhere. It'll keep forever in the fridge. Do let me know if you make this. I'd love to hear what you think.

Chicken and Snowpeas in Black Bean Sauce, 4 servings

2# (about 8 ounces each) Chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
1 Egg white
6 fl oz Chinese rice wine
2 TBSP Cornstarch
2 fl oz Soy sauce
2 tsp Granulate sugar
2 Onions, small
4 fl oz Peanut oil (or any flavorless oil)
1 TBSP Garlic, minced
2 tsp Fresh ginger, minced
3 TBSP Fermented black beans, mashed
4 oz Snow peas, fresh
To Taste (TT) Sambal Oelek

1. Slice chicken into thin strips, about 1" x 1/4".
2. Combine the egg white, one third of the wine, and 1 TBSP of cornstarch. Add chicken, refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. For the sauce, mix the soy sauce, sugar, remaining wine, and cornstarch.
4. Quarter the onions, separate the layers.
5. Stir-fry the chicken in 3 fl oz of oil. Remove and set aside.
6. If necessary, add the remaining oil and stir-fry the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds. Add the onions and mashed beans and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the snow peas and cook for one minute.
7. Return the chicken to the pan, add the sauce mixture and stir-fry until hot and the sauce has thickened.
8. Serve immediately with rice.

Notes:

-In the steps that ask you to add cornstarch to liquid, MIX WELL! Cornstarch gets lumpy when introduced to liquid. It may be helpful to use very clean fingers to break up the lumps.

-On the day we made this, we were out of Chinese rice wine in the kitchens. We used rice wine vinegar instead. I think I'd do it again. It gave this dish a nice tanginess that helped to round out the flavor. The choice is yours.

-When you remove your chicken from the marinade, pat it dry.

-I also added baby corn, which was good as well.

Stir-fried Asparagus with Shiitake Mushrooms, 4 servings

1# Asparagus
6 oz. Shiitake mushrooms
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 TBSP sesame oil
2 tsp garlic, chopped
4 fl. oz. oyster sauce
TT crushed red chiles, optional

1. Wash the asparagus, trim the ends, and slice on the bias into 1-2" pieces.
2. Wash the mushrooms, trim off the stems, slice the caps into 1/2" slices.
3. Heat the oils in a wok or saute pan.
4. Add the garlic and stir-fry for a few seconds.
5. Add the asparagus and mushrooms and stir-fry for 1 minute.
6. Add the oyster sauce (and crushed red chiles if used) and continue to stir-fry until the asparagus is nearly tender, approximately 3 minutes.

Notes:

-If you are unfamiliar with oyster sauce, it's wicked salty. I found that in step 6, it was helpful to add some chicken stock. It toned down the saltiness and the stickiness of the cooked oyster sauce. I definitely recommend it.

-Feel free to add other veggies here. I added eggplant too. Tasty!

Linguine with White Clam Sauce In A Hurry

When I got home from work tonight, I was starving. As in, "feeling woozy and should have eaten a snack earlier" starving. I whipped this up in the blink of an eye. So easy, so good.

1 large or two small spicy Italian sausage
1 TSP minced garlic
1/2 medium white onion, fine dice
1 cup white wine
2 6.5oz of canned chopped clams, reserve the juice
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped fine
salt and pepper to taste
2 TBSP butter, cut in half
1/2 box linguine, cooked al dente

Brown sausage in pan, but do not cook completely. Let rest on cutting board for a few mintues. Add 1 TBSP butter and 1 TBSP olive oil to deep saute pan. Add garlic and onion and saute for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, slice sausage thin and add back to saute pan. Saute for 5 minutes. Add white wine to pan to deglaze. Add reserved clam juice. Stir well, scrape up the flavor bits from the bottom of the pan. Add clams and stir well, saute two minutes. Add parsley and remaining 1 TBSP of butter. Mix with linguine, serve, and enjoy!


Notes:

I bought my sausage from the Fresh Market. I believe they make their sausages in house. They are easily twice the size you'd expect. If you're near the Fresh Market, I would totally recommend them. They are $3.99 a pound. The one I bought was $1.54, or just under a half a pound!

I'm lazy these days, so I've been using minced garlic in a jar. So easy!

If your feelin' fancy, buy a nice bag of clams from your fishmonger (I love that word!) and toss them in the sauce. But save that for some night when you're not racing home to make dinner before you pass out and are trying to put on jammie pants while your pasta is cooking...or whatever it is that you might do after work. Ahem.

I like adding a bit more butter than usual to this. It adds a richness to the sauce that I like. I do not like cheese with seafood, generally speaking. I also don't want to add cream to this lest it taste like clam chowder on noodles.

Double this if you want two-er, four servings.

Orange Pepper Tofu

I have recently discovered the Kroger near me. On my last shopping trip, I found a brick of my favorite tofu brand (Nasoya Organic) for 88 cents because the expiration date was five days away. This is the tofu that's almost $4 at Whole Foods. Score!

1 brick extra firm tofu
1 red onion
1 each red, yellow, green bell pepper
1 Anaheim pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
------------------------
2 TBSP good horseradish mustard
juice of two oranges, with some pulp
1/4 soy sauce
1/4 seasoned rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin

Cut tofu into 1" blocks, coat in oil and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, depending on oven. Turn half way through.

Slice all veggies into 1/4" slices. Be sure to remove seeds and ribs from peppers.

Juice oranges, adding mustard, soy, vinegar, cinnamon, and cumin. Mix well with whisk.

Saute peppers and onion on high for five minutes. Add tofu and saute for another two minutes. Add sauce and toss well. Use 1 TBSP cornstarch mixed with 1 TBSP of water to thicken sauce.

Serve immediately over steamed rice.

Notes:

I have recently discovered that baking tofu gives a nicer texture and makes the tofu easier to saute. You may want to double the sauce and marinate the tofu overnight before baking. I've said before I have a wacky oven. The temperature is dead on, but for some reason stuff takes longer to cook. You're baking this until the tofu is golden brown and crispy on the top and bottom.

This came out spicer than I was expecting, but I like it. In Googling chile pepper varieties to jog my memory about the kind I used here, I found this database. Impressive!

I only had a grainy, deli mustard on hand. It has a nice horseradish quality to it. If you have a real Chinese yellow mustard, you may want to reduce the amount to 1 TBSP since they are usually more potent.

I am not a fan of five-spice powder. If you are, skip the cinnamon and cumin and use that instead.

The Chinese typically use peanut oil for stir-fry, since it has a much higher smoke point that other oils.

This is so good, I'm going back for seconds.