Glass Noodle/Stir Fry Salad

I make this dish a lot when I'm craving noodles & stir-fry but don't want the carbs. This stems from a recipe that my best friend taught me that had tomatoes in it. Originally it also had chicken and it was served over rice. There's a Thai dish called Glass Noodle Salad and it has a lot of the same ingredients, minus the tomatoes. I can't eat tomatoes anymore so I thought I'd alter the chicken recipe and instead of the chicken, use ground chicken or pork or sometimes ground turkey if I couldn't find anything else. And I use bean sprouts noodles, which are usually used in my egg rolls. I heat them up under hot running water. They don't tend to fill me up as quickly & they aren't as thick as regular noodles, so they tend to soak up the sauce a little bit better. Then I throw whatever I have in the fridge in the rest of the salad. I usually use the same thing every time. I don't normally measure out the sauce ingredients-normally only to taste.

Glass Noodle/Stir Fry Salad (4 servings):

3 pack bean thread noodles, softened under hot running water, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 2-inch piece ginger, chopped or minced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
6 green onions, rinsed & chopped
8 oz ground turkey
Soy sauce
Sriracha
Hoisin Sauce
Fish Sauce

Cook turkey until no longer pink; drain & set aside. Saute bell peppers until softened, about 5 minutes. Add green onions, garlic & ginger & saute about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the turkey back to mixture & stir to combine. Start adding your sauces a couple 1 tsp at a time and stir to combine. Keep adding whichever sauce here & there, tasting to your liking. I usually add a small squirt of Sriracha, a couple big squirts of Hoisin & several dashes of Fish & Soy sauce to even out the mixture. Once everything is mixed, stir in the cilantro. Add the noodles at the end; you may need to add some more sauce at this point or you could serve the mixture on top of the noodles. Those of you who like peanuts, this dish may taste good with chopped peanuts on top. Enjoy!




Enjoy!...

Orange-Rosemary Shrimp

I love a lot of flavor in my recipes. Bold flavors or recipes with lots of seasonings or spices. This recipe had none of this! It was the most bland recipe I've ever had, and I even added extra orange zest! It didn't taste bad, which is why I'm posting the recipe here. The only saving grace was the added garlic I put in it. I was going to make this as a dinner for my aunt and my friend and I'm so glad those dinner plans fell through and we decided to go out to dinner instead! I ended up making this when I was house sitting for my aunt instead. I ate it because it was what I brought with me and the shrimp was good but I just wasn't a big fan of the recipe. Maybe you will be!

Orange-Rosemary Shrimp (4 servings) (Freezer Meals):

1 lb fresh or frozen medium shrimp in shells
1 (16 oz) pkg frozen broccoli, cauliflower and carrots
1 tbsp finely shredded orange zest
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 c olive oil
3 cloves garlic, sliced, or more to taste
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
2 c hot cooked rice

Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact if desired. Rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels. Place shrimp in plastic bag; add frozen veggies. For marinade, in small bowl combine orange peel, orange juice, oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and crushed red pepper. Pour over shrimp and veggies. Seal bag; turn to coat shrimp and veggies. Freeze for up to 1 month.

To serve, thaw marinating shrimp in the fridge overnight. Heat skillet over med-high. Add shrimp mixture; cook and stir about 8 minutes or until shrimp are opaque. Serve shrimp mixture over rice.




Marinade...






Marinating...






Freshly cooked...






Enjoy!...

Sweet & Sour Pork

I found this recipe in a Weight Watchers Cookbook. I had tried it several years ago and loved it. Unlike most Weight Watchers recipes, this recipe had a lot of flavor. I was telling my mom about the recipe and started craving it so I decided to make it again and once again I loved it. While making it, I discovered I was missing some ingredients, but I just worked around it. I didn't have a bell pepper so I went without. And I've never used scallions before for some reason so I just used green onions instead. It says to marinate the pork while you prepare and cook the veggies but I let mine sit overnight, as I did the first time I made it. I think marinating it overnight lets the marinade sink into the pork and makes the pork more flavorful. I'll definitely keep making this recipe!

Sweet & Sour Pork (4 servings) (Weight Watchers) (4 points)

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 lb boneless lean pork loin, cubed
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-in pieces
3 scallions, sliced
1 c drained, canned unsweetened pineapple chunks (reserve 1 tbsp juice)

In large skillet, heat oil. In gallon-size plastic bag, mix hoisin sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and ginger; add pork. Seal bag, squeezing out the air; turn to coat the pork. Let bagged pork stand while you cook the veggies.

In skillet, stir-fry the bell pepper and scallions until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Transfer the pork to the skillet, reserving the marinade; stir-fry the pork until browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add the marinate, pineapple and pineapple juice; stir-fry until pork is cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Return the veggies to the skillet and heat to serving temperature, about 2 minutes.




Pork marinating...






Pork and green onions...






Pineapples added to the pork...






Enjoy!...

Garlic-Ginger Chicken-Tomato Stir-Fry

I have been on a major sticky rice kick lately...for some reason I hadn't made any since I've lived in my current apartment and that will be 3 years in November! Which is stupid because I have a 25 lb bag of sticky rice in my closet that I need to eat! So to give myself some protein to go along with my sticky rice, I decided to use up whatever veggies I had in my fridge and cook up a stir-fry. I wanted the usual veggies but I had little to pick from so I threw some stuff together and minus the larger chunks of ginger that didn't get as minced as I would have liked, it tasted pretty good. Not to mention the broth was excellent when I dipped my sticky rice into it! Again, I don't have exact measurements but I'll try-the broth is mainly made up to your taste preference.

Garlic-Ginger Chicken-Tomato Stir-Fry (2-4 servings):

3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 3-4 in piece fresh ginger, minced
1 green onion, sliced
1/4 c red bell pepper, chopped
1 pkg grape tomatoes, halved
2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 tsp Sriracha
1-2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp fish sauce
1-2 tbsp veggie oil

Heat oil in grill on med-high. Add chicken, garlic and ginger and cook until chicken is no longer pink in middle. Add bell pepper and green onion and cook until tender, 2-3 min. Add tomatoes and cook until they start to burst, 3-4 min. Add Sriracha, hoisin, soy sauce and fish sauce; stir to combine and heat through. Serve with rice.




Enjoy!...

Tomato Stir-Fry

Another one of Mandi's recipes that I love. I went to the Mpls farmer's market this morning and came back with a bunch of fresh veggies so I added some to this stir-fry. Normally this recipe calls for 1/2 green bell pepper (I used a whole, small purple bell pepper). I also added bean sprouts and a red hot pepper in place of the Sriracha sauce. Don't these tomatoes look gorgeous?!

Some more gorgeous looking veggies! And super spicy!

Here are the ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
10-15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 handful chopped cilantro
3 green onions, chopped
1 small bell pepper, any color will work
2 tsp Sriracha Sauce (again I used one of the red pepper above from the farmer's market), more if you want it spicier
2 tsp fish sauce, more if you want it saltier
2 tsp soy sauce
Olive oil and Garlic salt



In frying pan, heat up olive oil and fry chicken until cooked. Add green onions (I added the red pepper at this time as well) and stir for a few minutes

Add tomatoes and bell pepper. Fry until tomatoes are "saucy".
Add cilantro, Sriracha sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, garlic salt and bean sprouts (if using). Stir for a couple of minutes and then remove from heat.

Serve over hot cooked rice.

Enjoy!

Stir-Fried Honey-Ginger Chicken with Peppers

I found this recipe from the Everyday Food magazine and had to try it. I served this stir-fry over rice, but I'm sure you can serve it over noodles as well. Above is a picture of my rice cooker, which I love.

Here's the list of ingredients:

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp. rice vinegar

2 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tbsp. veggie oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1/4 cup minced, peeled fresh ginger (I would highly recommend fresh ginger over dried ginger)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 each red, yellow & orange bell peppers, thinly sliced

Fresh cilantro leaves, crumbled over the top

Below is a picture of the minced garlic & ginger.

In a small bowl, stir together honey, vinegar & soy sauce.

The chopped bell peppers

Chicken Breast cut into chunks.

In a large skillet or wok, heat 1 tbsp. oil until hot. Add chicken and stir until opaque but not cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate or bowl.

Add 1 tbsp. oil, ginger and garlic to skillet and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the bell peppers and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add soy mixture and bring to a boil.

Return the chicken to the skillet and toss until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Crumble cilantro onto the stir-fry and remove from heat.

Serve over rice. Enjoy!