Asian tonight

I opened my freezer in shock to find it was mostly empty. No homemade bread, no baked goods, no frozen meals left for me to heat in an instant.

So tonight, I took the last of the frozen chicken egg rolls from the warehouse store and I mixed up some oriental style sauce: about a teaspoon garlic powder, a teaspoon honey, three tablespoons sesame oil, one teaspoon sugar, about three tablespoons water, a 1/2 teaspoon ginger, and a half teaspoon oriental five spice.

I poured the sauce into a skillet with lots of frozen mixed vegetables (the kind normally for soup) and added a couple tablespoons of sesame seeds. I cooked the mix on high for about five minutes to thaw the veggies, then I turned the heat down and let it simmer.

Meanwhile, I started some instant brown rice with some butter. I also thawed the egg rolls in the microwave. When they finished, I tossed the egg rolls in the skillet with the veggies.

Finally, I started the tea pot and made some green tea with honey.

I made iced tea with the green tea. I piled rice into bowls, topped it with vegetables, and added the egg rolls to each bowl. Normally, when I make random stirfries without a formal recipe, they come out bland and I have a boatload leftover which nobody wants to eat. Today, it was incredible. And everybody wanted more. But there wasn't any.

Recycling

This may look suspiciously similar to the Cashew Pork with Pea Pods/Pork with Apricots from the other night but it's not (quite). I made more of the orange juice-based sauce, made more veggies, and threw in the leftovers from the pork and the pineapple from our daughter's snack the other day. I served with mini egg rolls and while it was very similar to the original (Sunday) I used slightly different seasonings since I ran out of ginger. We had mango sorbet for dessert. My father-in-law had stuck the mango sorbet in the freezer a while ago...

"Pork with Peaches"

I thawed out the two boneless pork chops I had left from the pork with apples last month and planned to make "pork with peaches" or Cashew Pork with Pea Pods. It's a recipe I got from my college roommate. 

Cashew Pork with

 Pea Pods

1 pound pork, lean and boneless

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup orange marmalade

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 tablespoon corn starch

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon oil

2 cups pea pods

1 can peaches chopped

1/2 cup cashews or peanuts

1. Slice pork.

2. Make the sauce: Mix

 the juice, soy sauce, marmalade, corn starch and ginger. Set aside.

3. Cook the pork with the tablespoon oil. When cooked, add pea pods and peaches. Cook long enough to warm the center of the peaches. Add sauce. Cook until bubbly and thicker. Add nuts.

 

4. Serve with rice.

Now, as usual, I deviated from the recipe. I doubled the sauce, used a quarter of the meat, and used Hong Kong Stir Fry veggies (frozen) instead of pea pods. I didn't use marmalade but substituted applesauce. And I skipped the nuts. Oh, and I used apricots instead of peaches.

Then, I made gourmet Asian noodles and stir-fried them so they were a mix of crispy and soft and served them instead of rice.

Flea Shampoo Potatoes and Egg Rolls

Tonight my husband has another Christmas party that didn't include spouses or families so the preschooler and I are on our own. I made pineapple fried in equal parts soy sauce, olive oil and canola oil, and the mini egg rolls I mentioned earlier in December.

I also made what is known in this house as "flea shampoo potatoes." I forget the real name, but it's a vegan recipe that can feature either dill or parsley. If you use dill, the smell is oddly reminiscent of flea shampoo. We love dill, and if I have fresh dill I load it on. Simply put, for flea shampoo potatoes you fry the potatoes in olive oil, soy sauce and lots and lots of dill. I like my potatoes salty, so I use 50/50 on the oil and soy sauce but you can adjust to taste. My daughter ate a portion like this and just asked for two more mini egg rolls. AND more potatoes.

Another easy secret to fun convenience food is to use funky sauces. I served these egg rolls with a plum dipping sauce. The 7 oz. bottle was $3.59, which is steep, but it jazzes up a cop-out meal and is used sparingly. I got mine at Wegmans.

Honey Glazed Egg Rolls with oriental seasoned carrots and rice

At our local warehouse club, I often buy some sort of frozen egg or spring rolls. I select the type based on what I read on the label. When I know I will be running from meeting to meeting all day, I toss one in my bag still frozen. Then when I get a minute, I can wrap it in a paper towel, toss it in the microwave and since it is usually fairly thawed by then, it cooks in a flash and I can wolf it down while driving, packing for my next engagement, whatever. And they have enough protein to keep me going.

I noticed them in the freezer Tuesday night, and believe me they stood out in that sparse environment. I usually make them with stir fry and serve pineapple on the side. But no pineapple. No stir fry vegetables. Just carrots. About a half pound.

So I peeled them and cut them and cooked them. While they were cooking, I whipped up a oriental-style sauce for them. The 'base' was a recipe for ginger carrots from the American Heart Association Low Salt cookbook. But I am NOT including that recipe here. Imagine my recipe with just the ginger, butter and sugar.

Combine in a small skillet:

2 teaspoons butter (I used the real thing)

@ 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger (I'm not real good with measuring or sticking to a recipe.)

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 drop sesame oil

1 pinch oriental five spice

When carrots are tender crisp, prepare them in sauce.

Now, I took the dirty skillet, added some canola and some sesame oil and about a tablespoon of honey and fried the [precooked in the microwave] egg rolls in it. I made white rice (I usually used brown, but someone gave this to me.) The egg rolls got very dark very quickly because of the honey, but we liked it.