Moo Goo Gai Pan

We love our Chinese takeout, and I know full well that it is terrible for us! This recipe tastes so much like takeout, but it is definitely healthier. We used fresh peas from the garden, which was an added bonus! I'll be using this recipe a lot, using various veggies I have on hand.

*Could become a vegetarian or vegan meal if I took out the chicken. Use marinated tofu or tempeh if desired, or just extra veggies!

Moo Goo Gai Pan 
teamgulley via

www.lowfatlifestyle.com 

12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (omit if going vegetarian)
1/2 cup chicken broth (use veg. broth if going vegetarian)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine or dry white wine
4 teaspoons cornstarch (I used arrowroot powder)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium carrots or one cup, thinly bias sliced
8 ounces whole small fresh mushrooms or 3 cups sliced
2 cups fresh pea pods or one 6-ounce pkg. frozen & thawed
1/2 of an 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained (I used whole can)
3 cups hot cooked rice (used mix of barley and brown rice, yum!)

Cut chicken into thin bite-size strips. For sauce, in a small bowl stir together the chicken broth, soy sauce, rice wine or white wine, cornstarch, and sugar. Set aside.

Pour cooking oil into a wok or large skillet. (Add more oil as necessary during cooking.) Preheat over medium-high heat. Stir-fry garlic in hot oil for 15 seconds. Add carrots; stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and, if using, fresh pea pods; stir-fry about 1 minute more or until carrots and pea pods are crisp-tender. Remove the vegetables from the wok.

Add the chicken to the hot wok. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until no pink remains. Push the chicken from the center of the wok. Stir sauce. Add the sauce to the center of the wok. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

Return the cooked vegetables to the wok. Add water chestnuts and, if using, thawed pea pods. Stir all ingredients together to coat with sauce. Cook and stir about 1 minute more or until heated through. Serve immediately over hot cooked rice.

Per serving: 439 calories, 7g fat, 54mg cholesterol, 685mg sodium, 62g carbohydrate, 29g protein

Master Formula Veggie Lo Mein

This is a very flexible recipe, and so tasty! I have to fight my kids for the leftovers . No, I'm kidding, I always let them have their share. Okay....I usually share. I would never push the leftovers to the back of the fridge to ensure they were all mine. Let's just move on, shall we?

Pretty much any ingredient, goes. I like how the recipe is set up so you can make choices according to what is needing used up in your veggie drawer, and you can use meat, or not. The sauce is delicious and it's nice to have measurements (though I always end up throwing in more) for the veggies. I found this 'master formula' in an awesome book called Cook Without a Book.

Master Formula Veggie Lo Mein 
Source: adapted slightly from Cook Without a Book

Ingredients:
Optional: 8 oz extra firm tofu, drained and pressed, cut into bitesized pieces
                Or shredded seitan Or shredded cooked pork/chicken/beef

8 oz Firm Vegetables (pick one from list below)
8 oz lo mein or soba noodles
1 T. soy sauce
2 T. vegetable oil (I like to use peanut oil)
1 medium-large onion (or two if you like onions) cut into wedges
8 oz Tender Vegetables (pick one from list below)
1 T. minced garlic (about 3 or 4 cloves)
1 T. minced fresh ginger (i usually skip this, my family dislikes ginger)
Lo Mein Sauce (recipe follows)

Bring 2 quarts of water and a generous sprinkling of salt to boil in a large pot. Add the Firm Vegetable and cook until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add the noodles to the pot and cook, stirring frequently, until just tender; drain and set aside.

If using, toss the tofu with the soy.

Meanwhile, heat a 12-inch non-stick skillet (I use a large wok) over medium-high heat until very hot. Add 1 T. of the oil and the onion; stir-fry until crisp and spotty brown. Add the Tender Vegetable and stir-fry until just cooked, about 2 minutes. If using tofu or meat, add next and stir-fry until browned. Add the cooked firm vegetable and stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Transfer everything to a plate.

Add the remaining 1 T. oil to the empty skillet (wok) and heat until shimmering. Add the noodles and stir-fry until heated through, about 2 minutes. Reutrn the vegetable mixture to the wok, along with the Lo Mein Sauce, stirring to coat. Serve hot.

Firm Vegetable Ideas
asparagus-   tough ends snapped off, spears cut into 1-inch lengths
snow peas or sugar snap peas-   strings removed if necessary
broccoli or cauliflower-   cut into small florets
carrots-   peeled and thinly sliced or julienned
white turnips or rutabaga-   peeled and cut into small dice
butternut or other winter squash-   peeled and cut into small dice
thin green beans-   cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths

Tender Vegetable Ideas
succhini or yellow squash-   halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
baby bella (cremini) mushrooms-   sliced
bell peppers-   stemmed, cored, and cut into bite-size strips
eggplant-   quartered lenthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
fennel-   stalks discarded, bulb halved, cored, and thinly sliced
cabbage or bok choy-   cored and finely shredded
bean sprouts

Lo Mein Sauce
1/4 c. vegetable broth
1/4 c. soy sauce
2 t. rice vinegar
2 t. toasted sesame oil
1 t. red pepper flakes
1 t. sugar

Whisk all ingredients together and set aside until ready to use.

There are a few steps, but if you lay everything out, it will all go very smoothly.

Korean Chicken Breasts with Snow Pea Pods

This has an awesome flavor!

Korean Chicken Breasts with Snow Pea Pods
Amy - amylz
The Everything Slow Cooker Cookbook

4 chicken breasts
6 garlic cloves
1 pound (2 cups) snow pea pods
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Remove bone and skin from chicken. Peel and mince garlic. Wash the snow pea pods and remove stems. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, red pepper flakes and sugar in a small bowl. Turn on the slow cooker to high setting. Add the oil and garlic. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. After the garlic is tender, add the chicken and soy sauce mixture. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 hours. Add the snow pea pods. Cover and cook on low for 1 more hour.

Wontons

I made wontons for the first time today, Valentine's Day. My original intention was to make Italian-flavored ravioli shaped like hearts for the kids' lunch, inspired by this post at Weelicious. However, today I was feeling like Chinese-flavored wontons might go over better, especially if I gave the kids some noodles to go with them.

Weelicious also had a recipe for chinese flavored filling, so I adapted her recipe just a tad, and this filling turned out great! Luckily, I had everything on hand, and this was really simple. I used rotisserie chicken because I usually have some in the freezer in one-cup batches to grab for quick meals), but you could use any chicken or pork. Leaving out the meat entirely and adding more veggies is another option, which I'll definitely be experimenting with. My whole family loves wonton and pot stickers (which as far as I can tell are just fried wonton), so this will be a great for nights that we crave Chinese food and I want something a bit healthier.

Wontons

1 c. shredded rotissiere chicken

1/2 c. chopped celery

1/2 c. chopped carrot

1 T. soy sauce

1 inch piece ginger, peeled and minced

1 clove garlic

1 T. sesame oil

Wonton wrappers

1. Put all ingredients except wonton wrappers into a food processor and pulse until until pureed (I used my magic bullet, in batches).

2. Put a teaspoon of filling on a single wonton wrapper, and use your fingertip dipped in water to moisten the edges. Fold over into a triangle and press edges together.

3. Place 4 or 5 wontons into a pot of boiling water for two minutes, remove with a slotted spoon, and lay on a plate without letting their edges touch. Serve immediately (although I like them cold, too). If desired dip into a sauce made with soy sauce and a touch of sesame oil.

4. These are good to made ahead and freeze, as well. Just follow steps one and two, place wontons on a baking sheet, freeze until solid and then move to a bag or container to keep in the freezer. Take out as many as needed when you want to eat some wonton, and then go ahead with step number three. No need to defrost.

Here are our wontons from today's "Chinese Valentine" inspired lunch. I cut the wrappers into hearts using a cookie cutter and sealed two of them together with filling inside for each heart. We also had noodles, heart jello, applesauce, and fresh snow peas. :)

Here I used the rest of the wonton filling to make regular triangles to freeze. I found that making four at a time, with a cup of water and dry cloth nearby, made the work pretty easy and quick. The wonton are in the freezer ready for us to use later.

Inspired by: www.weelicious.com

Honey Sauced Chicken

I have a huge weakness for 'Chinese' food (in quotations because I'm fully aware that the flavor I crave is not really Chinese, but America's unique interpretation of it). My oldest son and I share this love...the other men in the house aren't as thrilled but don't complain when I decide to either get Chinese takeout or cook some myself. We do have a Chinese restaurant within walking distance of our house...and the number is programmed into my phone...but making my own 'takeout' is much cheaper!

This dish uses a LOT of honey, so I won't make it a lot...however, it was really tasty and I know I will definitely make it in the future. I put some precooked rice noodles in the crockpot about a half hour before we were going to eat. Delicious!

Honey Sauced Chicken
Kkmas0n ~ mmmmCafe

1.5 pound chicken (of your choice)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chopped onion (or 1/16 cup onion flakes)
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3 hours or on high 1 1/2 hours. Chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce. Serve over rice or noodles.

To bake chicken as a 30 minute meal: Dice chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper, place in 8x8 pan. Pour sauce over chicken and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.