recipe of the week: mongolian beef (crock pot or not)

once upon a time, i decided that i wanted to make mongolian beef.
and none of the recipes i found seemed perfect, so naturally i decided to make my own :-)

here's what you need:

1 pound (or a bit more) flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons brown sugar
5 green onions, sliced into 1/2 or 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water

begin by slicing the flank steak against the grain into very thin strips

admire

place your corstarch in a mixing bowl

toss the steak strips in it until they are well coated

in a large skillet heat garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in olive oil for 3-5 minutes

add coated beef strips and fully cook

grab your green onions

add them to the mix (perfectly ok to do this while the meat is browning, of course)

yum.

add the brown sugar

once the meat is fully cooked, mix the hoisin and soy sauces

pour into the mix and add the water

this is the point where it can go one of two ways. either simmer it on the stove until you are ready to serve it

OR pour into a crock pot and use the lowest setting (i just kept it on "warm") to continue simmering it throughout the day.

serve over brown rice. so, so yummy.

 

recipe of the week: honey sesame chicken (slow cooker!)

i'll be honest. when i first bookmarked this recipe, i did it with my husband in mind.  i really didn't think i would LOVE it.  i'm not a "sweet with my meat" kind of girl. but shocker...i actually really enjoyed it!  partly because tweaked it a bit and added some spice to it, and partly because i used really good honey :-)

honey sesame chicken


1 pound chicken thighs (i find they are more flavorful AND cheaper than breasts)
1 cup (yes, one CUP) of honey
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup organic ketchup
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sriracha hot chili sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced (i prefer the sweet vidalia variety when they're available!)
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 6 tablespoons water



 mix together the honey, soy sauce, ketchup, sesame oil, and sriracha

 add the onion and garlic

 place the chicken in the slow cooker and sprinkle with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes

 top with sauce, and cook on low for 4-6 hours

remove chicken from slow cooker and remove bones/cut into bite sized pieces

 meanwhile, stir the cornstarch and water together into the sauce.

 return the chicken to the sauce and cook for another 10-20 minutes

 serve over rice.  enjoy!

obviously, the sugar content is rather high on this simply because of the honey.  but worth it :-)


based on 6 servings, rice not included in the nutritional facts.

recipe of the week: thai chicken pizza

i'm into easy food.
don't get me wrong.  i'm also into cook for hours but it's totally worth every moment food.
but this particular recipe falls into the first category.  easy.  cheap.  quick.


thai chicken pizza


1 pound of chicken breasts, cooked through and shredded
1 jar of peanut satay sauce (you'll find it in the asian section of most groceries. i got mine at trader joe's.)
1 ball of pizza dough
mozzarella cheese (i use about a cup)
1 carrot, shredded
3 or so green onions, chopped (green part only)
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
however much cilantro you want
thai basil if it's in season (it wasn't here :-( )


begin by combining your shredded chicken and satay sauce

 then roll out your dough on a floured surface.

 (this is a good time to play with the dough if you dare)

then roll the dough into a shape. i chose the rectangle this particular evening because it's waaaay easier than a circle for me.

 top with the chicken satay mixture

  and the cheese

 and veggies (i didn't have red onion this night...oops!)

  bake at 375 for about 12 minutes (depending on your oven of course)

 and enjoy!  

i cut 12 pieces of this pizza.  assuming a serving size of 2 pieces (which is what i usually have) here's what you're looking at according to myfitnesspal.com

recipe of the week: asian chicken noodle soup

i stumbled across this recipe a few weeks ago and knew that i wanted to make it. i love asian soups (or food) in general, and a twist on chicken noodle soup sounded fantastic!  i changed a couple of things, but most is fairly close to the original.


asian chicken noodle soup
(serves 5ish; takes 30 minutes)


2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons ginger, peeled & grated
2.5 cups pre-cooked, shredded chicken breast*
1 teaspoon chili sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
2 tablespoons of lime juice
scallions and cilantro to taste
55 g rice noodles**


*when i have a recipe that calls for shredded chicken, i cook it with olive oil in my grill pan and then shred it with my stand mixer (dough blade).  most pre-packaged chicken is full of added sugar and chemicals and i find that it's cheaper and healthier to just buy chicken breasts and go through the extra step.  seriously, it takes 10 minutes.  :-) i cook it while i'm gathering the rest of the ingredients.
**my husband didn't like the texture of the rice noodles, and i could take or leave it.  next time i'll be trying it with udon or lo mein noodles for a thicker noodle texture.


heat oil in pan over high heat
add garlic and ginger and saute for 2 minutes
add chicken, chili sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce.  

cook for 2 minutes and then add the chicken stock and water.

bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  while this is happening, place the noodles in a bowl and pour boiling water over them until they are covered.  let them sit the 10 minutes or so you are simmering the soup.
remove soup from heat and add lime juice, scallions and cilantro.

divide the noodles evenly into bowls and ladle soup over them.

according to the original recipe, this serves 4 people.  however, those portions seem huge to me.  we easily got 5 servings of soup out of this.  however, based on the serving size the original recipe called for, this soup contains 246 calories per serving.

 (screen shot from my fitness pal app, where i loaded every ingredient i used into the recipe.)


clearly this isn't a stand-alone dinner, but we added edamame and asian dumplings from trader joe's into the mix, so we were good.


i will also add that if you're expecting a soup that is full of flavor-punch, this isn't the one. :-)  i did add some sriracha to mine and that made it perfection for me, but if you don't like added heat you may want to bump up the ginger and garlic and even add an onion or two.