Kung Pao Style Chicken and Ramen Noodles

Hi! I came across this recipe yesterday and knew I had to make it for dinner. And it was so good that I am coming out of my bloggy "break" to share it with you! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. I really should have. But...I got the recipe from HERE and she has a beautiful picture of the food.


Kung Pao Style Chicken and Ramen Noodles

3 Tbsp. canola oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts (mine were lightly salted)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
1/2 - 1 tsp. red pepper flakes (depending on how spicy you like it....I used close to 1 tsp.)
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 (3 oz.) packages ramen noodles (throw away seasoning packet)
2 Tbsp. Hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
4 green onions, sliced thin

In a large (12 in.) nonstick skillet, heat 2 Tbsp. oil over medium-high heat until rippling. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked thoroughly - about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken to a medium bowl.

Add 1 Tbsp. oil to skillet. Add red bell pepper and peanuts to skillet. Cook until the bell pepper is softened - about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the bell pepper and peanuts to the bowl with the chicken. Try to leave as much oil in the pan as possible.

Add the garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes to the still-hot skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute. Add chicken broth to skillet. Break ramen noodles into the broth mixture. Bring to a simmer and break up the noodles as they soften. Cook for 2-4 minutes.

Stir in the hoisin sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil (this worked best with tongs). Continue to simmer for another minute. Add chicken, peanuts and peppers to the skillet. Use tongs to combine everything. Sprinkle with green onions before serving.

Enjoy!

Coconut Curry Soup

This was a great soup for a cold day. We're in the middle of a winter storm here, so it was nice to have some hot soup while the snow blows outside. The flavors of coconut and curry go perfect together. And even better, this soup comes together really quickly! I managed to chop/dice everything up in the afternoon (while Jack was at school) and then throw it in the pot when we got home from running errands in the evening. Dinner was on the table in 30 minutes...and most of that was simmering time.

COCONUT CURRY SOUP
(recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe)

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3), cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 can (14 oz.) light unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more to taste...I would suggest 1/2 tsp. if you like it a little spicy)
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro

2-3 cups hot, cooked rice - for serving

In large stock pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add the pieces to the hot oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes. The chicken and vegetables don't have to be fully cooked because they'll finish cooking while the soup simmers.

Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, fish sauce, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, and curry powder. Stir to combine. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes (I let mine go for closer to 20). Stir in the lime juice and cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over rice.

The BEST Chicken Pot Pie

Oh my heavens. This was comfort food at its finest. Both Lonnie and I really enjoyed this and thought it was delicious. I am positive that I will be making this again and again and again. I decided to double the recipe that I had and make 2 pot pies. One we ate tonight and one went in the freezer. I have a feeling it won't be long before the one in the freezer is brought back out. :) The following recipe is for TWO pot pies. So if you only want to make one, half it.

Oh, and side note - the card for our camera is broken, so I've been using my phone to take pictures. Sorry if they're not the best!


CHICKEN POT PIE
(adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cookbook)

Makes 2 pies

6 medium carrots
6 celery stalks
1 1/2 large onions
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3 cups cooked chicken, diced
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp. ground thyme
2 tsp. salt
Black pepper to taste
2 pie crusts

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Finely dice the carrots, celery and onions.
Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the pot. Cook until the onions start to turn translucent, about 5 minutes.


Add the chicken and stir to combine. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and chicken and stir to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring gently.



Pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly. Add in the bouillon cubes and stir. Watch the thickening magic happen.

Pour in the cream (yes, all of it) and stir. Allow to cook over low heat for about 5 minutes. Season with thyme, salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Taste your creation! Add in anything it might need (more salt, pepper, etc.).




Pour the chicken mixture into two pie pans or small casserole dishes.



Put the crust on top of the pans and cut small slits in the top. Press the crust into the sides of the dish to seal. (I cheated here and used pre-made pie crusts. I hate making pie crust.) Here is where you can put one dish in the freezer (after covering it well, of course) and put the other in the oven.



Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Make sure to put foil under the pie pan to catch the filling that oozes over the sides. Put foil over edges of crust if it starts to brown too quickly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

"Tried-Too-Hard" Thursday

Yesterday was difficult. We had our trip to the hotel and waterpark and the whole thing was just difficult. Without going into too much detail or negativity, I will just say that everything about it was challenging. With the added stress and irritability, we really wanted to eat out. There were restaurants surrounding the hotel and they all sounded delicious. And so easy. But, we held strong! We managed to eat all of our food (dinner on Thursday and breakfast on Friday) at the hotel. It was nice that our hotel room had a little fridge, microwave, sink and dining table.

For dinner Thursday, I made popcorn chicken and tater tots. Or, I should say, I attempted to make popcorn chicken. I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe for chicken strips, but I cut the chicken into smaller, bite-size pieces. My first batch was a complete flop. I had to throw it away. I don't know if the oil wasn't hot enough or what, but the breading fell off of the chicken and it just tasted icky. The second batch turned out much better and that's what we ended up eating. Jack wouldn't touch it....but I can't say I'm surprised about that. He ate some of the tater tots and PB&J. I didn't take any pictures while I was making the chicken because...well...I didn't feel like it. I was a little bitter about having to make our dinner to take to the hotel - all I wanted was to be able to drive-through a fast food place and buy the same exact thing without the hassle of making it at home. Here's the one picture I got of our dinner -




Jack, mid-sentence -



So, here's what I learned yesterday...

1) Our son does not need a fancy hotel room and waterpark to have fun. His anxiety really got in the way of him having fun. We could've found something to do at home that would've been more fun.

2) Our meals do not need to be perfect. I could've easily just made sandwiches for dinner on Thursday. But I had to do better than that. And the stress that I put on myself was unnecessary.

3) Next paycheck, we are buying a deep fryer. I am so tired of "frying" things in a pan on the stove. It is messy, smelly, greasy and messy.

Meatballs with Peppers & Pineapple

I don't have a creative title for Wednesday yet. Might not ever have one. We'll see.

Today I made Meatballs with Peppers & Pineapple. This recipe comes from my favorite food blogger, The Pioneer Woman. I have used many of her recipes (and have her cookbook!) and each one has turned out wonderfully. This one was no exception. I made it in stages throughout the day and that worked out really well.



I didn't have any store-bought breadcrumbs, so I made my own. Super easy! I just used one piece of regular bread and put it in our little food processor.

Then spread the crumbs out on a baking sheet and put in the oven to dry out. I set my oven to 350* and put the crumbs in there while it was preheating. These were done right when the oven beeped (to let me know it was at 350*). One slice of bread equaled 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Perfect!

The recipe calls for ground beef, but we had ground chicken on hand (reduced to $1.49/lb at our local store!), so I used that. If you've never used ground chicken before...it's a weird thing. The texture is nothing like that of ground beef or ground turkey. It's like if you took a raw chicken breast and mashed it up. It's very sticky and mushy. Which makes making meatballs with it kind of interesting. But here it is with the onion, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. All ready to be smushed up.


Here are the balls! I used my handy-dandy cookie scooper (I don't know how I survived without this thing) to make them into uniform size meatballs. I got 18 out of 1 lb. of meat. I popped these in the freezer for 45 minutes or so (didn't plan on that long, but life got in the way).


Green bell peppers, roughly chopped. So green and pretty!


The recipe calls for fresh pineapple, but I used canned. Cheaper and I already had some in the pantry. I used just a little bit less than the entire can.


Now for making the sauce. Some beef broth...


Soy sauce...


Sherry...(I have never used cooking sherry before today. The recipe calls for either sherry or vinegar. Sherry smells nothing like vinegar. It smells like what it is - alcohol.)


Sugar...(and then I added cornstarch, but my hands were too messy to take a photo).


Here's the meatballs, all coated in flour. They look like Russian Teacakes. Don't walk away from them while they're on the counter...wouldn't want a kid or a husband biting into one of these!


Fried! Super easy. The oil was very hot and they browned up really quickly. At this point, they are still raw in the middle, but they'll get cooked through in the sauce later.

Peppers in a hot skillet. Only let these cook for a minute or so...they'll cook more in the sauce later.


Pineapple with the peppers. Again, only cook them for about a minute.

Here's everything simmering happily in the pan! The meatballs finish cooking in the sauce and the cornstarch helps the sauce thicken up nicely. I added about an extra tablespoon of cornstarch to my sauce. To add more cornstarch to an already hot liquid (so it doesn't clump up) - in a small bowl, add about 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch and then just enough cold water to mix it together, then add the cold liquid to the hot liquid.

The finished product! It was absolutely delicious. I will definitely be making this again.


MEATBALLS WITH PEPPERS & PINEAPPLE

(adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

1 lb. ground meat (beef, chicken, turkey)
1 small diced onion (or 1/2 medium onion) diced finely
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp. salt
Black pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes, more to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Canola oil, for frying
2 green bell peppers, seeded and roughly diced
1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks (fresh or canned)
2 cups beef broth
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup sherry or white wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
Salt to taste
Crushed red pepper, to taste
Extra cornstarch, if needed
Extra beef broth, if needed

Combine ground meat, diced onion, egg, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and crushed red pepper. Mix with hands until combined. Roll meat mixture into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Freeze on the pan for 15 - 30 minutes to firm.

Mix together beef stock, soy sauce, sherry (or vinegar), sugar, and cornstarch.

Heat canola oil over medium-high heat. Roll meatballs in flour, then fry in two batches until nice and brown, about two minutes per batch. Remove meatballs and set aside on a separate plate.

Pour off oil from pan and return pan to medium high heat. When pan is hot, throw in the chopped green peppers and cook for one minute. Add pineapple to pan and cook for one minute, stirring gently. Pour in stock/soy sauce mixture, then add meatballs. Stir gently to combine and allow to cook and bubble for a few minutes, or until sauce is thickened. Add salt and crushed red peppers to taste.

Serve over cooked brown or white rice.