Sweet and sour chicken

I've always loved those red-and-white place mats at American-Chinese restaurants that all owners seem to order from the same warehouse. Textured paper, a thick red border and gold text describing the zodiac animals and their various traits provided plenty of entertainment for me as a child waiting for my sesame chicken. The zodiac pairings were always of the most interest, predicting whether a relationship would be successful or not. I'm positive that quizzing my parents for their birth years countless times at The China Cafe is the only way I remember the dates (as a tiger and a pig, they are a good match). 

As for me, I should've been looking for a dog but ended up with an ox, which means unfortunately, we will part.

Whatever. Bottom line is, I'm a horse and as of the Chinese New Year (last Friday), it is MY YEAR.

In celebration (okay, it was more of a coincidence), I made sweet and sour chicken. It's a hallmark of all American-Chinese restaurants -- basically popcorn chicken swimming in a sticky, sweet, thick sauce. I imagine you'd be hard pressed to find a similar dish in China, but they are just missing out.

Thank you to Damn Delicious for the recipe. You'll need at least and hour and a half to whip this up -- but if an impatient horse like me can do it, so can you.

Cook up some brown rice, steam some broccoli to serve on the side and enjoy. 

SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN

Serves: 2

Preparation: 1 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

Chicken:

2 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

Salt and pepper

1/4 c. corn starch

1 egg

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1/4 c. sesame seeds

Sauce:

3/4 c. white sugar

1/2 c. apple cider vinegar

1/4 c. ketchup

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. sriracha sauce

dash garlic powder

dash onion powder

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Coat a medium, shallow baking dish with coconut oil.

2. Whisk together the sauce ingredients over low heat; bring to a simmer. Cook down for 5-10 minutes until it thickens.

3. Mix the cornstarch, salt and pepper together. Coat the chicken pieces in the corn starch mix and then the egg.

4. Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes, flipping halfway through. When golden brown, transfer to paper towel-lined plate.

5. Mix chicken and sauce together in baking dish. Cook for about 45 minutes, stirring two or three times.

6. When the chicken is almost done, toast the sesame seeds in a nonstick pan over medium heat until golden brown. Serve chicken over rice and top with seeds.

Adapted from Damn Delicious / Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Asian chicken noodle bowl

I have been hibernating lately thanks to these recent cold snaps. Whether you blame the polar vortex, the bombogensesis, or just plain winter, it's been freakishly cold. That's all I know. It was -18°F when I woke up. Just seeing that number on the thermometer makes me cold, so I bundled up for the trek to the office -- a cardigan and a blazer, long johns under my jeans and, of course, wool socks. Top it off with my normal winter uniform of hat, scarf, puffy jacket and mittens and I miraculously avoided frostbite on the walk to my car.

Anyways, the only cure for my winter blues is brothy chicken noodles. Spicy, Asian-infused chicken noodle bowls. I was inspired by smitten kitchen's recipe but I skipped a lot of the extra steps and specialty ingredients because I do not leave the house when it's this cold. I will do a post soon on how to make chicken broth from scratch, but you can check out this link if you don't know how to do it. Otherwise, the store-bought kind would be okaaaaaaaaay I guess. 

Notes:

-I didn't have a lot of chicken, but you can definitely use more than 1 cup if you'd like.

-This is more of a noodle dish with a little bit of broth. You can easily add more broth or reduce the noodles to make a true soup.

-I used black bean garlic sauce to get an Asian flavor, but you could use any Asian flavorings you like. You can experiment with your favorite stir fry sauce or use a combination of fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha sauce, fresh lime juice, hoisin sauce, etc. to achieve your ideal flavor. 

SIMPLE ASIAN CHICKEN NOODLE BOWL

Serves: 4

Preparation: 30 minutes

6 c. chicken broth
1 tsp. fresh ginger, sliced

1/3 c. black bean garlic sauce

A generous handful of linguine noodles

1 c. chicken, cooked and chopped

Olive oil

4 eggs

2 c. bean sprouts 

Cilantro, Asian chili-garlic sauce and fresh jalapenos, for garnish

1. Mix the broth, ginger and black bean garlic sauce together and bring to a boil.

2. Add the noodles and cook according to package instructions, subtracting 2-3 minutes from the recommended time.

3. Remove soup from heat and stir in the chicken. Cover and set aside.

4. Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add eggs, season with salt and pepper and cook to medium doneness.

5. Divide the bean sprouts into four bowls and pour the soup over them. Plop a fried egg on top and add cilantro, chili-garlic sauce and jalapenos to taste. 

Black bean seitan and veggie stir fry

Seitan is a meat substitute made with wheat gluten. I've never cooked with it, so I decided to try it out by making a stir fry. (If you care about why I ever use meat substitutes, I wrote a freaking novel at the end of this post.)

BLACK BEAN SEITAN & VEGGIE STIR FRY

Serves: 3
Preparation: 50 minutes

1 c. brown rice
1.5 c. water
1/4 c. black bean garlic sauce
1 Tbsp. sriracha hot sauce
2 Tbsp. red wine (I used a Cabernet)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. sugar
8 oz. seitan, cubed
Coconut oil
1 small white onion, sliced
1 c. crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 c. snap peas

1. Bring the water to a boil over medium heat. Add the rice, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 50 minutes.
2. Mix the next six ingredients (black bean garlic sauce to sugar) in a bowl. Add the seitan, coat well and put it in the refrigerator to marinate.
3. Heat about 1-2 Tbsp. of coconut oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions and saute for 3-4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes. Add the red peppers and saute for 5 more minutes.
4. In the meantime, steam the snap peas in the microwave. Put in a shallow bowl, add about 2 inches of water and cook on high for 2-3 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
5. Add the snap peas, seitan and sauce to the vegetables and cook over medium-high heat until warmed through. Serve over rice.

ON EATING MEAT

I'm not really a pet person. Not at all, actually. I sporadically had dogs and a couple of cats when I was growing up, but I never formed a strong attachment with a pet. I can take them or leave them, and people who treat animals like members of their family kind of weird me out.

In addition, I've seen a lot of dead animals turned into tasty cuts of meat and I don't feel particularly bad about. I live in a rural area and lots of our friends and neighbors grow cattle, pigs and chickens for meat. My brothers and nephews are avid deer and pheasant hunters. The delicious sausage, steaks and bacon we get as a result is part of a not-so-pretty butchering process. However, I know how these animals lived and I know they were slaughtered with care and gratitude.

The point is, I'm not an animal freak haha.

But when I see videos or photos of animals being raised in filthy, enclosed spaces and suffering their entire lives for the sole purpose of providing me food -- that is hard to stomach. I do my best to buy humanely raised meat instead of conventional farm-raised meat, but it's a jungle out there. We get a lot of meat from the aforementioned friends and neighbors, but I still need to buy some. The U.S. doesn't have particularly strict food-labeling laws, so just because ground turkey says it's "humanely raised" or "free range" doesn't really mean anything. Beyond that, free range meat and eggs are pricey.

I'm not a purist by any means -- buying only humanely raised meat is a lofty goal that I am reaching for but haven't even come close to achieving. In the meantime, I'm focusing on getting protein from more plant-based sources like tofu and beans (and Greek yogurt, but I haven't looked into the moral implications of Chobani; I don't even want to know haha). I've heard a lot about seitan, which is sort of like tofu but made from wheat gluten instead of soy beans, so I thought I'd give it a shot. The protein content is really impressive -- 21 grams in just 120 calories -- and I like the texture better than tofu.

Mexican sweet potato stacks

Give me anything and I can make it Mexican. 

Bacon, eggs and sweet potatoes? You could make some sort of hash browns or breakfast potatoes fried with bacon and topped with an egg.

But me? I would make these delicious Mexican stacks. 

And let me tell you, it totally works.

MEXICAN SWEET POTATO STACKS

Serves: 1

Preparation: 15 minutes

Two thick slices of sweet potato, baked

2 slices of bacon

1 egg

1/4 of an avocado, sliced

2 Tbsp. Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

1/4 c. salsa

1. Chop the bacon into small pieces and fry over medium-low heat for 7 minutes or until desired doneness. Remove from pan and set aside on a paper towel to drain, leaving the grease in the pan.

2. Heat the bacon grease over medium-high heat. Put the slices of sweet potato into the pan and fry until crisp on both sides (about 2 minutes per side). Set aside and keep warm.

3. Lower the heat to medium and return the bacon to the pan. Add a bit of butter, if necessary. Add the egg and stir in the pan until done, about 4 minutes.

4. Divide the eggs evenly on top of the sweet potato slices and top with cheese, avocado and salsa.

Review: Recent recipes

Here's a roundup of all the yummy yummy things I've made lately.

BREAKFAST

Strawberry baked oatmeal: This is a really easy recipe that can be customized to please anyone. I made it with raspberries, blackberries, bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg and dark chocolate chips. It's SO GOOD and maybe a little high in sugar, but overall pretty healthy. I've eaten it for breakfast every day this week with a big scoop of Greek yogurt. It's super filling.

Quiche with bacon and leeks (recipe in Dutch): This is one of those recipes that looks fancy, like you spent hours in the kitchen, but it's actually pretty easy. I want to try to make it with creme fraiche or Greek yogurt to make it a little healthier; this version really high in fat and calories.

LUNCH AND DINNER

Polenta bake: Polenta is quickly becoming a standby for me. It's easy to make and the perfect base for a meal. I loosely followed the linked recipe, but honestly, you hardly need a recipe to make polenta. I stirred in Greek yogurt, zucchini and spinach. I also added some butter and mozzarella. It was a little too liquidy with the addition of yogurt and juices from all the veggies, so I will probably cut back on the amount of broth I use next time.

Black beans and coconut rich with mango salsa: Easy and super cheap. I love this recipe for work lunches.

Eggplant pizzas: Unimpressive. I will be trying these again, because the recipe says to cook the eggplant before you put the toppings on and I didn't do that (whoops). Maybe that will make all the difference.

Mexican-style pulled pork

This recipe was inspired by Rosie at The Londoner. It combines many of my favorite things: beer, Mexican spices, salsa and a slow-cooker. What's not to love, seriously. I made it while I slept and I've loved having it in the fridge this week to eat for lunch and dinner in tacos, on salads, on nachos, in quesadillas ... you get the idea.

I'm almost positive this recipe would work with any kind of meat -- I would cut the cooking time a bit if you use chicken, but I'm sure a beef roast could easily be substituted.

Mexican-style pulled pork

1.5 lb. pork loin roast
1 Tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. Sriracha sauce
2 tsp. oregano
1/2 c. salsa
1 c. Budweiser
Pinch of salt
Fresh ground pepper

1. Cut the roast into four pieces and put in a slow cooker.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix everything well with your hands.
3. Set the slow-cooker on low and cook for ten hours.

pulled pork burrito

pulled pork "inverted nachos"

One-pot garden veggie pasta

Whoops, I didn't post for four months. It's cool.

So, this time of year is basically heaven for me. I love vegetables. I eat cherry tomatoes like candy, I could live off of roasted zucchini and I add kale to everything I cook. So when everyone's gardens in these parts are exploding and they're trying to get rid of veggies, I am here to accept any and all green stuff. Yum.

This pasta is the perfect way to use up veggies (thanks to Mel's Kitchen for the inspiration). You can add any type of vegetable you want -- I just used the ones I had on hand. Also, it's one of those awesome "one-pot" dishes where you literally only get one pot dirty. Oh, and it's healthy. Winning.

Recipe notes:
--This recipe allows only 10 minutes for vegetables to cook. If you use something that takes more time to cook, like carrots or some other cray thing, steam or boil it before adding to the pasta.
--Mozzarella is the protein in this dish because cheese. Grilled chicken would be out-of-this-world yum, too. Just sayin.

GARDEN VEGETABLE SKILLET PASTA

2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 c. onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 can tomatoes
1/2 c. water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. whole wheat penne pasta
1/2 c. zucchini, chopped
1/2 c. eggplant, chopped
2 c. kale, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
10-15 basil leaves
4-8 oz. fresh mozzarella
fresh Parmesan, for topping

1. In a large pan, heat the oil over low heat. Add the onions and saute until soft before adding the garlic; saute for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add canned tomatoes, water and salt and bring the whole mixture to a boil.
3. Add the pasta and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Add zucchini and eggplant and cook for 8-10 minutes.
5. Add the kale, fresh tomatoes and basil and cook until just warm; about 2 minutes.
6. Divide the mozzarella evenly in four serving bowls. Top with equal servings of the pasta. Finish with Parmesan cheese and let sit a few minutes before serving to melt the cheese.