Chicken Rice Egg Drop Soup

It's miserably cold and I found myself lamenting that we couldn't make soup. And then I realized the idiocy of that, because I dropped all my frozen chicken drumstick stash into the crock pot Sunday to feed the family and make homemade stock.

So I've had chicken stock bubbling away for two days.

I asked the child if she wanted to make Daddy soup. She said sure. We had leftover rice from a Chinese take-out order and the leftover drumstick meat, so we started with that, in the strained homemade stock, for the base.

I asked her what kind of soup she wanted and she said Chinese. We cane up with the following ingredients:

- peas

- corn

- sesame seeds

- a few drops sesame oil

- teaspoon low sodium soy sauce

- 1/2 teaspoon ginger

- 1 teaspoon sugar

- 2 teaspoons garlic powder

- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 

We got it crazy and bubbling and then drizzled an egg into it.

Ginger Asian Dipping Sauce

I am making tuna sandwiches and salad for dinner with a side of bacon-wrapped scallops (Archer Farms frozen appetizers). On the back of the box, they suggest dipping sauce.

So I mixed up:

- low sodium soy sauce

- maple syrup

- ground ginger

- sesame seeds 

Pork in orange sauce

This is a variation of pork with peaches and snap peas, the original recipe passed to me from my college roommate.

The sauce, which is added with whatever nuts you want (cashews or peanuts recommended) after the vegetables and meat are cooked, consists of:

- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed juice of clementines

- 1/4 cup corn cob jelly

- 1 tablespoon corn starch

- 2 indivudual serving cups of diced mango

- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce

- 2 teaspoons ground ginger 

My famous egg rolls

Homemade egg rolls are fun and easy to make!

We use prepared egg roll wrappers that come 12 in a pack. 

It's standard practice in this house for me to use Wegmans broccoli slaw as the bulk of the filling. It has a nutritional boost over some of the other vegetables available. I get out a big bowl, pour the slaw in, and add a can of crab meat.

Today I also added kale since we have a lot of it left.

We don't use an egg wash to seal them, we use simply water.

For seasonings, I sprinkled in some low sodium soy sauce, a lot of ginger, some garlic powder, a few drops of walnut oil, and a few generous splashes of sesame oil.

I taught daughter how to roll them and fried them over medium temps in a fifty-fifty blend of coconut oil and canola. 

I've blogged about these before... These are some of the various egg rolls (both homemade and prepared) that I have blogged about:  http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/search?q=Egg+rolls&m=1

 

Make your own salad

Asian flavored salads tonight.

Mine consisted of:
- organic baby leaf lettuce
- unsalted cashews
- dried peas
- sesame sticks
- mandarin oranges
- Archer Farm lemon ginger sesame dressing

Asian flair chicken salad

This smells incredible.

I started with a few steady drops of sesame oil in my cast iron skillet adding:
- ginger
- pinch curry
- garlic pepper
- lots of parsley
- diced candied ginger

Added a diced pear and 6 ounces diced chicken. Sautéed together adding more sesame oil and low sodium soy sauce.

Added tiny bits of broccoli and grated carrot.

Chilled it. Added 2 teaspoons mayo and 2 teaspoons horseradish sauce.

Crab egg rolls

I have revisited a family favorite: homemade egg rolls. A previous version of my crab egg rolls can be found in this entry from January 2010:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/01/crab-rolls.html?m=1

But these are a tad simpler, take 30 minutes start to finish, and taste incredible.

I fried them in about 1/2 inch canola oil with a few dashes of sesame oil. It's too expensive and doesn't handle high temps well but a few splashes do taste wonderful.

If you wish to make these vegan, stuff with your favorite veggies and potentially tofu if you wish and seal with corn starch and water instead of egg and water.

INGREDIENTS:
- one can crab meat, or other meat if desired. I use the Bumblebee white meat because it's cheap and i'm broke
- one bag broccoli slaw from the produce department at Wegmans (the original recipes recommends cabbage but this comes already shredded and packs an incredible nutritional wallop)
- a few tablespoons of Tzatziki (sp?) dressing just to lubricate it. It's not necessary and this is the first time I tried it.
- a teaspoon or so of ginger
- a hearty dash of fresh ground black pepper
- some country herb seasoning (or any herbs that appeal. Fresh dill is magnificent.
- I also added a hearty dose of ras wl hanout but I don't expect anyone else too

Get some Egg Roll Wrappers. Peel, fill, smear with an egg-water wash, fold up, and fry.

Sesame Turkey Barbeque

So, I cook like a spaz. Sometimes I start mixing so many flavors that in the end, I don't know what made the recipe work and what was completely unnecessary.

We have turkey left that had been frozen. We've been eating those super yummy spicy turkey mash up wraps.

I decided to make turkey barbecue, except my family isn't keen on barbecue so I thought I'd try something
more Asian inspired.

The base of this recipe was Betty Crocker's barbecue sauce. As written:

BARBECUE SAUCE
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Boil. Then stir in:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

What I did:
3/4 cup no HFCS ketchup
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon black strap molasses
About 1/2 cup Iron chef orange teriyaki sauce
About 1/4 cup Newman's Own sesame ginger dressing
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon walnut oil
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup sesame seeds

Pan-seared sesame tofu cutlets

I don't have a good record with tofu. I don't like working with it. But every few years I make the attempt. In June, I found tofu on sale, on clearance, at Target so I figured I'd give it another go.

I bought two blocks. The first ended up cubed for a curry stir fry.

This one had the usual tribulations. I started with a pound of tofu, I think.

I pressed, drained and sliced the tofu. Pressing typically involves sandwiching the tofu between two plates with a heavy pile of books on top. I use vegetarian cookbooks.

I screwed up the marinade, so this is an approximation.

- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- about 3 tablespoons Newman's Own Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup Iron Chef orange ginger sauce

I marinated for two hours.

For the coating, I mixed 50% corn flake crumbs and 50% sesame seeds. It stuck nicely because of the high oil content in the marinade.

I preheated my Le Creuset skillet with canola over medium heat. Half of them fried perfectly, some lost their breading but not nearly as many as I usually mangle. My husband said they were good. My daughter didn't like the high volume of seeds. And I forgot to eat some before I left for work.

"Iron Chef" Orange Glazed Pork

A month or two ago, I bought a jar if Iron Chef Orange Sauce with ginger on clearance for half price. I decided to cook some pork chops with minced garlic, grated crystallized ginger and this sauce, adding water chestnuts, steamed vegetables in a light butter sauce and a can of green beans since the vegetable content looked low.

Market Pantry Broccoli & Beef

Today for lunch I made black bean burritos, but I totally ran out of steam for dinner. I feel like we have eaten way too much red and fatty meat the last few days, but we can blame the storm. And the fact that it's the end of the month. My freezer is still stocked with meat but we ate all the fresh and frozen veggies.

The final budget for August came in at $350 for groceries and $110 on dining out. My goal for September is to shave $100 off that-- from either/both categories. I think it's doable. We have lots of meat, juice and soup so this will help reduce the grocery budget. We may splurge for husband's birthday and go out...

Dinner tonight will be meat and processed. Against the grain of this blog. But my freezer has all breakfast food and nothing for a tired mom to whip up. I was thinking homemade pizza or spaghetti and then I remembered we had stuffed shells/ziti last night.

I chose Market Pantry broccoli and beef. It was on sale and I had a weak moment. Nutritionally it meets my nazi mom standards:
- low fat (4 grams total per serving, 1.5 saturated)
- adequate fiber (thank you broccoli, 2 grams per serving or 8% RDA)
- 25% RDA vitamin C
- 12 g of protein
- 10% RDA vitamin A
AND
- 8% iron

But before you ask, sodium is 870 mg or 36%.

Surprisingly, the ingredients look read-able. I'm not seeing MSG, but it does contain wheat.

 It was good. Non-offensive. More flavorful than I expected, but I like my Asian cuisine on the spicy side so I found this bland.

Pork glazed with sesame oil with fresh squash

My mother brought us two garden fresh yellow squash and I thawed out pork in anticipation of guests but they had a family emergency...

Ingredients
-5 thin cut boneless pork chops
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- sesame seeds
- one tablespoon orange juice concentrate

In a large frying pan or cast iron skillet, heat butter and sesame oil over low heat. Add meat, increase heat to medium, and cook for about five minutes each side. Glaze with orange juice concentrate and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

For the SQUASH:
Without cleaning the skillet...

Ingredients
- 2 medium yellow squash, chopped
- about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
- about 2 tablespoons butter
- about 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- about 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- one cup water
- about two tablespoons orange juice concentrate

Add first four ingredients to skillet over medium heat, squash last.

Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl to make a sauce.

Stir fry squash until golden. Add sauce and cook until the juice boils down.

Simply Asia Sesame Noodles

We're having a processed but augmented vegan lunch. Simply Asia Sesame Noodles with broccoli (tiny cut) and pineapple added. Daughter has an ear infection again, so we're getting her off dairy again.

Picked these mixes up at Target since after the burn incident (second degree burn on my hip from boiling water), my husband would like to handle the cooking.

These were fantastic and the pineapple and broccoli were so welcome in my belly.

Packaged stir fry

Someone had gifted us a bag of Green Giant create-a-meal sweet and sour stir fry. I'm not one for such mixes as stir fry is easy enough to make without everything assembled in one bag.

But tonight, I was ill-prepared for dinner.

Now the directions say to make pork or chicken to put in this... But I didn't. I drizzled some canola oil into the Le Creuset skillet, added the vegetables into the skillet while the rice was in the steamer.

I added some leftover sesame broccoli from the other night and some sesame seeds and I sliced one boca chikn patty for some extra protein.

It was better than I expected.

Smoked pork pockets

My daughter and I made "pockets" today. Like a cross between a pasty and a hot pocket. I had some pie crust in the freezer and I needed to use up the last of that pork.

So, we cut the pie crusts into four pieces each. Daughter brushed each one with melted butter. Then we stuffed each one with a few chunks of smoked pork, mozzarella, asiago, and cheddar cheese, and several peas.

Then we closed them, pinched them and brushed the top with butter and made nice little indentation with a fork. I cooked them at 350 for 20 minutes. I intend to freeze them for quick meals later.

Asian inspired salad

Tonight my husband started and I finished these Asian-inspired salads. Bagged salad with carrot, cabbage and lettuces. Cashews. Sunflower seeds. Dried pineapple. Wegmans Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette. Green pepper from the garden. These would have been vegan, but my husband added cheddar and extra sharp provolone.

Ginger Pork

Today's experiment is Ginger Pork. I'm expecting company at an unknown time, so I wanted to make something I could keep warm in the oven (with a loaf of homemade bread, of course.)

So in the Le Creuset skillet, I put three large pork chops, about 1" thick each. I put:
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- about 3/4 teaspoon four color pepper
- about 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground garlic salt
- about 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
- about 1 tablespoon grated candied ginger
- one tablespoon white grape juice.

I cooked over medium about five minutes each side. When I flipped them, I drizzled
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Then I made a sauce of
- one tablespoon white sugar
- one cup white grape juice
- one tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

I poured that into the skillet and put the whole thing in an oven preheated to 300 degrees.

The recipe is inspired by Venir Dîner, C'est Prêt, a French cookbook. I plan to serve with a Dole Spring Fling Salad and my bread. I'm debating whether or not to add cooked baby carrots. I'm thinking yes.

Asian-style steak leftovers

I'm sure I've posted my Asian-style sauce recipe before... Last night I planned to marinate the leftover meat from the weekend, the asparagus and the carrots, with some added "california blend" veggies from the freezer... I mixed all that into the sauce and let it marinate overnight.

Now, I'm heating my Le Creuset skillet with about a teaspoon butter, a teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon walnut oil and almost two tablespoons sesame oil to stir-fry everything.

I have rice in the steamer.

Clicking "asian" will lead to some variations in the sauce. Or this is the basic recipe:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/02/stir-fry-with-seitan.html

*note* part of the reason I made this was to use up leftover pineapple. I forgot the pineapple! Had I remembered the pineapple I would have sauteed it in the oil before I added anything else.

Stir fry with seitan

This is the basic recipe for a basic Asian style sesame sauce:

For a half-pound of meat, or equivalent veggies, mix

• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (I use low sodium)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1-2 teaspoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger

Marinate whatever you wish to season. I would recommend leaving it in the sauce for a while.

Now from here, I'm making some spaghetti noodles because I'm out of rice. I'll fry them and make them like lo mein. I'm using the seitan I made yesterday as my meat. And california blend vegetables, which I plan to marinate in whatever sauce the wheat meat (seitan) doesn't soak up.

Updated Crab rolls

I took this basic crab roll recipe I made:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/01/crab-rolls.html
and decided to pump it up, nutritionally. I couldn't find asian slaw and I didn't feel like grating my own cabbage so when I saw that Wegmans had "rainbow salad" which was Asian slaw with grated broccoli... I thought what they heck, and substituted for the additional nutrition of broccoli. I used zesty clover and radish sprouts this time, added more dill, and sprinkled in some five spice.