Asian beef with snow peas

Okay, heres a new one I tried. I'm going to post it with the changes to be made to the original recipe. And I'm going to try to do the whole fancy photo recipe thing too. :)

Asian Beef with Snow Peas

The characters:

6 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp corn starch
1-2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp ginger
4 cloves garlic,minced
1 pound round steak, cut into thin strips
8 ounces snow peas

Directions:
When making a stir fry you should prep all the ingredients before starting to cook. Stir fry should cook very fast at a high temp in a wok or large skillet. So, first starters combine the soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl. Mince the garlic and ginger together. Okay people here's a tough one, we are going to use FRESH ginger! We are adults and don't need that powdered crap for this. If you don't use ginger alot and are afraid of buying it to let it go bad heres a trick: Peel ginger and freeze in ziploc bag. Grate it while it's still frozen and it keeps for-ev-er (in the best Sandlot voice I can do) So the best tool to grate this fabulous fresh ginger you ask, well this would be the best tool. And to my Altus folks (since that's all of you) they have this at walmart.

Fancy, eh??

So you've got your ginger and garlic minced and combined, you've got your sauce mixed and combined. You should have your meat cut already and have your wok heating. Have all your ingredients handy...

Heat the sesame oil in your wok. Add garlic and ginger. Saute for 30 seconds, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Add your meat. (in this case I'm using venison so if you think it looks weird that's why....go ahead take your moment "eww...deer meat! That's gross....She killed Bambi's father!" okay are we done now??)

Cook until meat is browned on all sides. Add your snow peas (or sugar snap peas if you prefer) and saute for an additional 3-5 minutes.

Add the soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower heat and simmer until the sauce is thick and smooth.
Serve over jasmine rice and throw some toasted sesame seeds over the top to make it perttty...

Broccoli and cheese casserole

I've made this 2 times now and love it. The kids eat it up and it's easy and tasty. It's a good one to make ahead of time, like when the kids nap, and all you have to do is cook it whenever you're ready to eat.

The original recipe is found here:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1545795

Here is how I made it: (since we know I can't keep a recipe the same-hence the title of the blog, recipes MY way)


Ingredients
2 cups cooked brown rice
6 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried fines herbes (I used thyme, oregano, parsley, and basil)
3 egg whites
Cooking spray
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded romano cheese
1 bag of frozen broccoli florets (cooked)
1/4 cup (1 ounce) reduced-fat shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs


Preparation
Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine the rice, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, fines herbes, and egg whites. Press mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle romano evenly over rice mixture. Set aside.

Cook broccoli according to directions; drain well.

Spoon broccoli mixture evenly over rice mixture. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Combine egg substitute, milk, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Pour egg mixture over broccoli mixture.

Combine breadcrumbs and the remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture evenly over broccoli. Bake at 400° for 23 minutes or until set.

Review: Awesome! If you want to make this a dish with meat I would throw some chicken in the layer with the broccoli. Just cook up a breast or 2 and chop it up. The kids love this and we eat it as a meal with no side. You could use it as a side dish though and serve a meat with it or add it to the casserole. Oh and if you know me well enough you'd know that I would never measure the cheese, I'd eye it, going over the amount of course. :)

Sun dried tomato pasta with feta

So this one is super easy and just a couple things thrown together.

1 pkg Linguine noodles
1/2 jar of tomato basil pesto sauce (by the spaghetti sauce)
1/2 cup of cooking liquid from noodles
crumbled feta

Cook noodles according to package. Place 1/2 a jar of tomato pesto in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the noodle cooking liquid. Toss pasta in mixture. Top with some crumbled feta and serve. Yummy!!! So easy and so good, cuz that's how I roll...

Arroz con Pollo

So C has always wanted me to make arroz con pollo for him. (which translates to rice and chicken for you non-Spanish speakers) So after much whining and requests from him I finally found a recipe and tried it out tonight.

The cast of ingredients:
1/2 salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
3 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 cup long grain white rice
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
pinch of saffron
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 lb chicken

Directions: Heat oil in large skillet. Add chicken, sprinkle with oregano, basil, paprika, and smoked paprika. Brown chicken until crispy skin appears, preheat oven to 400. Remove chicken from skillet and place in baking dish. Add garlic to oil in skillet. Cook until browned. Add rice and cook until opaque in color, 1-2 minutes. Stir in broth, wine, saffron, and tomatoes. season with salt and pepper. Return to boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked through. Remove chicken from the oven and place on top of the rice mixture, simmer for about 5 minutes.

Review: I thought it was very tasty. C loved it and can't wait for me to make it again, this is not the original recipe it is the way I made it. Changes for next time=none, I hit the nail on the head the first time with this one!

Original recipe taken from allrecipes.com (Carol's Arroz Con Pollo recipe)

Are you crazy lady??

So I'm always emailing my friends the recipes I cook. Not to toot my own horn but they always seem to like what I cook and want the recipe. Shocking I know! Anyhoo, the problem with that is I never follow a recipe when I cook. Now if I'm baking I follow them to a T, unless of course there is no T in the recipe and then I'm just screwed. So after always sending my friends the recipes I use I decided it would be easier to compile them here and just keep it all handy and have room to place my adjustments and reviews. So I hope you like this blog...I'm new at this...I don't know how often I'll post, since I'm not busy at all with school and kids and a family and all that junk, but I'll try to post a recipe every night, unless of course I'm at school, or too busy or just being plain lazy in which case I'll post whenever I get a chance.