Pork Lo Mein

Hello. I have come to the conclusion vacation means going out with a couple friends on the weekend. It was a good recharge. Anyway, today's post came from my Chinese cookbook again. This one had a lot of ingredients I enjoy.

Pork Lo Mein

The finished product

6 oz boneless lean pork, shredded
8 oz egg noodles
1 1/2 tbs vegetable or peanut oil
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 carrot, julienned
4 cups finely sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 green bell pepper, seeded and thinlyt sliced
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup hot chicken stock
1 1/3 cups bean sprouts
2 tbsp finely chopped scallions


Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl and marinate the pork for at least 20 minutes. Cook the noodles in a pan of boiling water for 4-5 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. When cooked, drain and set aside. In a preheated wok or deep pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of the oil and stir-fry the pork until the color has changed. Remove and set aside. Quickly wipe out the wok and reheat. Add the remaining oil and stir-fry the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add the carrot and cook for one minute, then add the mushrooms and cook for one minute. Toss in the bell pepper and cook for one minute. Add the pork, salt, and stock and heat through. Finally, toss in the noodles, followed by the bean spouts, and stir well. Sprinkle with the scallion and serve.

Results
The recipe has its strengths and weaknesses. This was a wonderful combination of meat and veggies and lo mein is a hit with everyone. The only drawback to the recipe was the sauce lacks flavor due to my toying around with the recipe.

For this recipe I decided to change some things around. I used regular mushrooms instead of shiitake mushrooms, chicken broth instead of chicken stock, bone in pork chop instead of boneless lean pork, and finally I left the scallions out of the recipe.

Timewise, I was done in under half an hour. I marinaded the meat early and most of the veggies were  chopped and ready to go in under 10 minutes. Cooking was a cinch and straight-forward.

The taste of the dish left something to be considered. It was not bad, but it was weak. I decided the taste is what I get for trying to save money by using broth instead of stock.  However, every one ate decent amounts of the recipe despite the lack of flavor and that is what counts in my book.

Overall, this lo mein recipe was a good one if you want something with veggies and pork. I would probably want to try to find a different sauce recipe to give it more flavor if I were to try it again. On a side note, I did have another lo mein  recipe I could post to give an idea of how I like it to taste.

Beef Chop Suey

Hello again. I hope everyone is well. I was feeling ambitious, so I looked in our Chinese cookbook and found a recipe I thought worked.

Yummy Chinese

Beef Chop Suey 

1 lb rib-eye or sirloin steak, finely sliced
1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets
2 tbs vegetable or peanut oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 celery stalks, finely sliced diagonally
2 cups snow peas, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 cup fresh or canned bamboo shoots, rinsed and julienned (for fresh, boil in water for 30 minutes first)
8 water chestnuts, finely sliced
4 cups finely sliced mushrooms
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp salt
Marinade
1 tbs Chinese rice wine
pinch white pepper
pinch salt
1 tbs light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl and marinate the beef for at least 20 minutes. Blanch the broccoli in a large pan of boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and set aside. In a preheated wok or deep pan, heat 1 tbs of the oil and stir-fry the beef until the color has changed. Remove and set aside. In the clean wok or deep pan, heat the remaining oil and stir-fry the onion for 1 minute. Add the celery and broccoli and cook for 2 minutes. Add the snow peas, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Add the beef, then season with the oyster sauce and salt and serve.

Results
Overall, a good and not to mention healthy, recipe. It was a little time consuming, but I actually had help with it from everyone. There is something I should note about this recipe: it has been tampered with. I like to toy around with recipes if:
1. I have done this before and want to tweak it up
2. I do not have all the ingredients

The changes are:  I did not have bamboo shoots, so I used bean sprouts. I also used less onion than what the recipe calls (I only used half the onion because fresh onion and my stomach do not get along too well). I also did not use salt in the marinade.

This recipe was not nice on time. It took an hour from start to finish. Part of that was the marinade and the other part was I was cooking brown rice on the side (it takes about 45-55 minutes to cook) since I did not know what Katherine would think of this recipe.

Part of my veggie collection

Chopping up veggies took up some time and thankfully, I had help with that. Jeb would chop up some veggies and Katherine brought them to me. I have come to the conclusion everyone is willing to at least try what they have helped out with.

Although the cooking itself was straight forward, the overall taste begged to differ. I had to add extra oyster sauce to try and get some flavor to the dish. Without it, all you could taste was salt, cooked rib-eye steak, and fresh veggies.  In the end, it took about double the amount to get something flavorful.

Rib-eye steak

The plus side to this dish was I got to try something new: Blanching. It was an easy, painless experience and the broccoli tasted superb.

Once on the table, everyone at least tried it. Jeb and I liked it. Katherine stuck with rice, but did eat her broccoli (and is still eating it when placed in front of her).

All in all, a recipe I would try again either for a rainy day or when Katherine is eating a bigger variety of food. It was a little more time-consuming  than I care to try with a 4-year old. The taste and the challenge is what make this recipe worthwhile. If I try this recipe again, it would be to use a different variety of veggies as well as a food processor on some the veggies that require a finer chop.

Well, time to head out for the night. I hope you enjoyed this post. Until then, keep cooking.

Apple Crisp

Hello all. I hope everyone is enjoying spring (finally!). This week's post comes at Jeb's request. He mentioned one night Apple Crisp sounded good, so I got on the computer and found a good recipe from allrecipes.com.

Apple Crisp II

My own picture of the finished product

10 Cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

1 Cup white sugar
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 Cup Water
1 Cup quick-cooking oats
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 Cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 Cup butter, melted


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.

Combine oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes.

Results
I have been looking for a recipe that would work well for a family project. So far, this is the best one. Everyone was able to participate in his/her own way. Katherine washed and brought apples to Jeb. Jeb peeled the apples and I sliced and cored them.  That was the hardest and most time consuming part.

Though it was a time-consuming project, it was an easy one. It took well over half an hour to get the apples in the pan. Peeling, slicing and coring take a lot of time. (Note: If you cook with apples on a regular basis, I would recommend an apple peeler/corer. It will do most of your job for you in relative ease. You can find them online or in just about any store that sells cooking items for relatively low cost.)

 Cooking it was a cinch. The only other prep work involved was mixing a few ingredients in a bowl and that was done in under 5 minutes. Plus the taste was delicious. Everyone ate their first servings with gusto. Sadly, the second servings were left up to Jeb and I. Katherine made us finish off the rest of the apple crisp by ourselves. This was not what I had in mind when I made this, but at least I had help finishing off the pan. :)

Overall, this is a project I would try again. Everyone tried it and it exposed Katherine to something new. If I did make a change to the recipe, I would decrease the amount of water added to the apples before baking. It had a lot more juice in the bottom of the pan than I liked.  Hopefully, the apples will stay moist enough. Until next time, keep experimenting.

Taco Crunchwraps

Mexican is always good. I didn't always think so, but as long as it has tortillas, cheese, and sour cream, count me in. It's just as good  since Katherine is eating quesedeas. With that in mind, I thought it would be good to try a second recipe from my fb contact who brought you Dorito Chicken Casserole.


Homemade Crunchwraps (A lot like Taco Bell's but healthier*)

Hopefully my last borrowed picture.
 http://www.culinarycoutureblog.com/2012/02/homemade-crunchwrap-supreme.html

Ingredients:
6 large flour tortillas
6 small corn tortillas (or tortilla chips, which was what I used)
1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
sour cream
nacho cheese (or shredded Mexican blend cheese)
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes/

Directions:.
Brown ground beef in a skillet, then add taco seasoning (according to package directions). Set aside.

Microwave the flour tortillas, one at a time (because they cool off quickly), for about 10 seconds to warm them up; this will make wrapping easier.

Lay out the flour tortilla. Spoon some of the seasoned beef into the center of the tortilla. Top with some shredded cheese. Place the tortilla chips on top of the cheese/beef; spread a dollop of sour cream on top of it, then toss on some diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce.

Starting with the bottom of the tortilla, fold the edge up to the center. Continue doing this in a clockwise or counter-clockwise movement until all of the tortilla is folded over, and the filling is entirely enclosed. If your filling isn't entirely enclosed and you have an open spot, simply cut out a circle from another flour tortilla and place it on the exposed area, then wrap the tortilla again.

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray. Carefully place the Crunchwrap, seam-side down, in the pan. Press with a spatula and cook on medium-low heat, for about 3 minutes, until the bottom is nice and brown. Flip it over and cook for another 3 minutes. Serve and enjoy :D

Results
This recipe started out with some bumps and ended on a very good note. Both time and prep work were more than what I was expecting. Browning the hamburger and setting up for the tacos was easy, but tying to put them together was cumbersome.

For one, medium size tortillas are not large enough for this project. I nearly used up a 10 ct package trying to cover the whole taco. For two, putting the tacos together took a trick. They somehow popped apart despite repeated folding and laying them fold side down. And for three, I had to enlist in Jeb's help frying the tacos up, because Katherine lost patience with me trying to put our dinner together.

The results were well worth the trial. Everyone loved them. The meal was very filling and Katherine ate well without any complaint. I think I found a new family favorite.

All in all, this is a recipe worth trying again. I think if I can keep Katherine involved with the preparation work, this has a potential to be a good recipe. For changes, I try either buying a larger soft tortilla or making a larger tortilla from scratch. By then, I hope to master the art of putting these things together. Until next time keep cooking. :)


*I would like to go on the record saying homemade crunchwraps are healthier than Taco Bell's. The fat was reduced by at least 5 grams and the overall calorie count went down by 100 to 130 calories, regardless of whether you found the recipe on a professional site or in a blog similar to mine.

Dorito Chicken Casserole

Well, I got past my first post. Hopefully it went well for everyone. Now comes the next part of the challenge: figuring out what to post for my first recipe. That actually turned out easier than I expected. I found this particular recipe through one of my fb contacts. After the first read through, I figured it would be worth a shot.

Recipe: Dorito Chicken and Cheese Casserole

image found at: http://jessieheaviland.blogspot.com/2009/08/dorito-casserole.html

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of corn, drained
1/4 cup minced onion
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 medium sized bag of nacho cheese Doritos, crushed


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Spread the bottom of the pan with half of the Doritos . Reserve one cup of cheese. Mix together remaining ingredients in a large bow. Pour chicken mixture over the Doritos. Top casserole with the remaining cheese and Doritos. Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Results

Talk about a good recipe to make. I give a big thumbs up for the time and ease of this recipe.
 All I needed to do to make this recipe was brown up some chicken (I've heard you can use Rotissary Chicken in this. Does any one know if it tastes just as good?), mix ingredients in a bowl, throw it in a pan and bake. I was done in under 20 minutes. The only reason it took 20 minutes was because I had to defrost chicken and hand grind the block cheese we had.

The best part was everyone was willing to try it. My fiance, Jeb, gave it a big thumbs up and went in for second helpings.  My daughter, Katherine gave it a try. However, the only thing she would eat without coaxing was the corn. I thought for sure she would have like the Doritos, but that goes to show what happens when I try to peg her tastes. I did not think it was a bad recipe. Cheese is always good with me and anything that doesn't require a lot of my time gets a big thumbs up.

All in all, this recipe would get another go here. I would probably make a small change to it. I would substitute Tortilla chips in place of the Doritos in order to try get Katherine to eat this casserole. My fingers are crossed that it will help.

As always, feedback, suggestions and comments are always welcome. Until next time, think spring.

Hello, hello. Welcome to my cooking blog. I wanted to use the first post to explain how this blog came about and the format I'm going to use with each post.

You may be wondering why I wanted to put together a blog about cooking. The answer is : I'm trying to find recipes that work with three different people, namely myself, my fiance, and our 4 year-old-daughter. For the most part, my fiance and I are up for trying new foods. Our daughter, however is a different species all together. Comfort foods for her consists of mac and cheese, french fries and noodles. I would like her to at least try new foods and hope some how we can get out of the cooking rut we are in.

The next question I had after deciding on a topic was how to put this thing together. The answer came after looking into different recipes and how to grade each recipe. For now, I'll post the recipe and give credit to whoever posted it or where it was found. After listing the recipe, I'll look at how easy it was to prepare, how much time it took for me to make it, and how each member of the family liked the recipe. Then I'll close with an overall summary of the recipe based on these three criteria.

Hopefully this will be a good experience for both me and whoever is reading this. For future reference,feedback is welcome for any and all posts. If you have a recipe you know works and/or would like to see tried, go ahead and leave it in the comments section as well. With that being said, let the cooking experiment begin. :)