Peanut Sesame dressing

I had a Thai chicken salad from Wawa Friday which inspired me to make my own peanut sesame dressing.

I think I have decided on:

- 1 part extra virgin cold pressed olive oil

- 1 part pure sesame seed oil

- 1/2 part apple cider vinegar

- ginger

- 2 parts peanut butter

- sesame seeds and crushed red pepper for the actual salad

Thai broccoli mix

Total cop out dinner. Somehow I keep ending up with empty cupboards...

So tonight I took a head of fresh broccoli and sautéed it in sesame and coconut oil. I then added, directly to the skillet, a carton of Archer Farms Thai curry soup.

I served this over brown rice, with a handful of raw cashews on each portion. Very delightful.

Sesame sautéed brussel sprouts

Thanks to author friend Diane N. for suggesting a drizzle of sesame oil and some dried mustard on brussel sprouts! I put a drop of sesame oil on each sprout, but haven't tried with mustard yet.

Lunch was these sprouts with a vegetarian sausage and one scrambled egg. Now I want a tall glass of orange juice

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.

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.

Pork with apples without apples and with peaches

I made an incredible lunch today from last night's leftovers and that made me realize that I didn't blog yesterday's meal. So, to try and remember...

- 5 thin boneless pork chops
- apple juice
- brown sugar
- canola oil
- country herb blend
- one can sliced peaches
- 1/4 cup Archer Farm lemon dill mustard

Cook the pork chops in one tablespoon canola oil, five minutes each side in the Le Creuset skillet.

Add about 1 teaspoon country herb blend, one cup apple juice, 1/2 cup brown sugar, the peaches (drained) and the mustard. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and let simmer about 15 minutes. Add frozen greenbeans, serve when the greenbeans are cooked.

Now, with the leftovers, I chopped the pork and the peaches very small. I put them and the leftover juice in the skillet. Cook until. Add about 1-1 1/2 cups cooked spaghetti. Swirl with about 2 teaspoons sesame oil. Cook until noodles are hot, stirring constantly. Sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds.

Broccoli with sesame butter sauce

A vegan buttery treat, I hope:

- one steam-in-bag bag of broccoli florets
- about three tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
- about two tablespoons organic earth balance margarine
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Make sauce, mix into broccoli. Toast sesame seeds and add.

Meat Bagel with sesame sautéed asparagus

For lunch today I fried some beef hot dogs in the skillet, with lots of asparagus spears from the freezer.

I cut the dogs in half length-wise so they would lay flat on a open-faced bagel sandwich, each sandwich requiring 3/4 of a hot dog sliced in this manner.

The meat itself was a gift from a friend.

I toasted a half bagel for each of us, put ketchup on it for the child and husband (horseradish mustard for me) and put the slices of meat on top. Then I sprinkled on some shredded "Mexican blend" cheese and warmed it slightly in the microwave.

I removed the meat from the skillet (it had been cooking with the asparagus) and added about a teaspoon sesame oil to it. I also sprinkled four color pepper and garlic salt on the asparagus and cooked it until thoroughly hot and brown on one side.

Despite the perceived kid-friendliness of these open-faced sandwiches, my daughter thought they looked awful and smelled worse. She picked at them for a half hour and then announced she didn't like the beef knotwurst or whatever it was.

I have the only kid in America who loves meat, loves sausages, loves bacon, but hates anything remotely hot dog-ish.

Vegan stirfry

I didn't get a photo of today's lunch, a simple and plain affair for which a friend joined us.

I heated the Le Creuset skillet with about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, cold-pressed, and a teaspoon of sesame oil, swirled around the pan with my hand. I fried the last serving of homemade seitan. Added a bag of the steam-in-bag spring vegetables with citrus sauce from Aldi.

Had rice cooking (1 cup) in the steamer. Combined it in the skillet (only about half the rice). Heated and stirred. Added about a 1/2 teaspoon four color organic pepper and a teaspoon of garlic salt.

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.

Seitan wraps

I used my homemade seitan last night to make wraps with Aldi steam-in-bag Season's Choice Italian blend vegetables.

I fried the seitan over medium low heat in olive oil and sesame oil to make it crisper and give it some extra flavor.

This morning, we had frosted mini-wheats. For lunch I'm anticipating half tuna sandwiches on store-bought wheat and tortilla chips with mango salsa.

For dinner, I want to try and make pizza in my Le Creuset skillet. Using it like a pizza stone...

Crazy Vegan Burgers

I started with a teaspoon canola oil, a teaspoon of sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of fresh dill and 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce. I'm frying some vegan boca burgers. We're not eating them with a bun and if I don't mind corrupting my vegan meal, I may add some smoked gouda.

But then, my daughter wanted cottage cheese and apple butter with hers. And a side of blueberries, so that's a lot of cheese.

My husband raved about these. He said they were so good he had to read the blog to find out what I did to them!

Improvised Lo Mein 2

After that huge breakfast (plus popcorn at the theatre I hear) my daughter says she's not hungry. My husband says he is. I'm honestly not sure.

But I do know we could use some veggies...

So I plan to recreate "improvised lo mein" which my daughter and I had for lunch one day in August, using some leftovers in the freezer from my mother-in-law's asian pork dish. As it's November, we probably need to use those up anyway.

The original post:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2009/08/improvised-lo-mein.html

Let's gather some ingredients:

• Sandwich size freezer bag with my mother-in-law's frozen Asian-style pork.
• spaghetti
• sesame oil
• sesame seeds
• chow mein noodles
• steam-in-bag stir-fry vegetables, Giant store brand
• low sodium soy sauce
• One clove garlic sliced thin
• Le Creuset pan (cooking Asian style in the French skillet, weird, n'est-ce pas?)

Craving for egg rolls... Okay... egg rolls not on the menu... move on...

Step one: prepare veggies in microwave, set aside. Thaw frozen leftovers in microwave set aside. Boil water for spaghetti. Heat about 1.5 tablespoons sesame oil in large skillet to toast generous amount of sesame seeds.

Step two: When water boils, break a handful of spaghetti in half and add to the water. When the skillet is hot and oil is even across bottom of skillet, add about three tablespoons sesame seeds and cook them until a tad browned and reduce heat. Add garlic and cook on low heat.

Step three: when spaghetti is desired 'doneness,' add to skillet and drizzle with another tablespoon sesame oil. Stir into sesame seeds and garlic, then spread in even layer. Cook on low or medium heat until the noodles fry a little and get slightly brown/crispy. Then add vegetables and leftovers sitting in reserve. I would do the plain veggies first so they have a chance to get some of that sesame oil before you add the seasoned leftovers. I did add about two teaspoons of soy sauce when I added the veggies.

Step four: now, this is the tricky part. You may need to add sauce if the mi xture is dry. What kind of sauce? That's a personal preference.

I didn't end up making sauce. I simply stirred well and served with the chow mein noodles.

Improvised Lo Mein

My mother-in-law made her Chinese-style pork with vegetables a while ago and we froze some. I am extremely low on groceries, so I thawed some for lunch. I plan on cooking some spaghetti, after breaking it in half, then sautéeing the spaghetti in sesame oil and sesame seeds and then serving the leftovers over that. That's as creative as I can get right now...

Sesame Pork with Pears

Tonight for dinner I really wanted to make Dominique Malet's Sesame Pork with Pineapple and Coriander. Except I don't have pineapple. Or coriander. Or sunflower oil. So... I winged it. Big shock, right?

Angel's Marinated Sesame Pork with Pears (served over Asian-style store-bought salad)

Four thin pork chops sliced into stir-fry strips

For the marinade:
Two(2) teaspoons cornmeal
Two (2) tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
One (1) tablespoon champagne vinegar
One (1) tablespoon Chambord
Two (2) tablespoons sesame oil*

Prepare marinade in the order listed, so the liquids dilute the corn meal.

Soak pork in marinade for about 15 minutes at room temperature. I prepare mine on a deep plate and sprinkled liberally with roasted sesame seeds I purchased at Forks Mediterranean Deli. I always get my sesame seeds there, they're way too expensive at the grocery store. Spices, too.

While the meat marinades, prep the following:
For the stir fry:
Fresh garlic or garlic powder
pears
soy sauce
garlic

Prepare a wok with canola oil. Heat oil. Add meat. Stir-fry meat for about three minutes on high. Sprinkle with about two teaspoons garlic powder and a pinch of ginger. Add pears in desired size of chunks and sprinkle with one tablespoon soy sauce. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon ginger and stir-fry for two more minutes, stirring constantly.

I'm going to serve mine over a Dole Asian Crunch Salad. Which I am augmenting with fresh spinach from my garden. This was my favorite meal in the last week or so...

*Special cooking oils and vinegars: like sesame oil, champagne vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and cooking wines can look expensive, but when you use sparingly to produce an authentic flavor or a special meal... it can really make a standard cheap cut of meat taste incredible.

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.