Hot and Sour Soup {Everyday Dinners}

   I love Hot and Sour Soup. When I was growing up my Mom and Granny took me to get Chinese at least once a week. Egg Drop was my soup of choice, every once in a while I would get Wonton Soup, which is my egg hating Mom's soup of choice. It wasn't until I was an adult that my Dad convinced me to try Hot and Sour Soup. My first time I was hooked.

   Here is the funny thing about my Dad and Chinese food, when he dated my Mom she tried to get him to eat it all the time. He, being a very picky eater at the time, refused. It wasn't until he started dating my Step-Mom that she forced him to eat it. He was hooked after he almost died by covering his egg roll in hot mustard. Now that is a funny story! My little brother did the same thing with wasbi about five years ago. Their genius clearly runs in the family. Yeah, they will never live it down. That's what family is for right?

   When I first married my husband he and I went out for Chinese often. We had a favorite restaurant we ate at at least twice a month. Once cold night the owner gave us a complimentary bowl of hot and sour soup to share. I didn't get a drop. My husband was now hooked. He had no clue he was eating tofu. Now that kind of thing doesn't bother him, but back then, he would have never, ever even tried it knowing there was tofu in it. It's amazing what being married for six years to a woman constantly forcing new things on him can do. I had no clue how easy it is to make. It is a new staple around here! I may have to make a second batch to send to my Dad. When I updated my Facebook status sounding my victory over producing a winning Hot and Sour Soup he dropped a not so subtle hint that he was in need of a bowl of the liquid gold. 

Hot and Sour Soup

serves 4 full sized portions or 8 appetizer portions

1 tablespoon seasme oil
2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon grated garlic

4 cups chicken or beef broth

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoon Sriracha* or Red Pepper Flakes

2 tablespoons corn starch

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 package of tofu, diced

2 eggs, beaten

In a stock pot or large wok over medium high heat oil and saute mushrooms after a couple of minutes add ginger and garlic. Once the mushrooms begin soften add broth, soy sauce and Sriracha. Bring to a boil. In a small bowl whisk corn starch and vinegar. Stir into soup and let thicken, it should only take a couple minutes. Add in tofu. Bring back to a boil. Add the eggs through a slotted spoon making ribbons. Give a stir and taste, season accordingly. Serve warm.

*I made my own and used this recipe.

Everyday Dinners... Turkey Quinoa Enchilada Bake

It's time for another EVERYDAY DINNERS, this week I'm sharing a Turkey Quinoa Enchilada Bake. This one could take a full hour if you didn't do any prep work. Like I mentioned here, I make big batches of quinoa and rice ahead of time and since we were having Nachos a couple of nights before I went ahead and browned my turkey. The only thing I had to saute that night was the corn and peppers, although that could have been done ahead of time as well, the rest was layering and baking with a little shredding. I always buy blocks of cheese instead of shredded. I do this for two reasons, first the price difference for the amount it ridiculous, I'm all for getting a little work out and saving some cash. The second reason is that fact that shredded cheeses are coated with something so that they don't stick together. I don't think they melt a well as freshly shredded cheese, maybe its all in my head but I'll stick with my big blocks of cheese.

This is another one of those recipes where I make way too much so that we have lunches for the next couple of days. I fed all 4 of us dinner, and my husband has seconds, plus we have three lunch portions ready in the fridge. Tomorrow I'll make a big pot of Spicy Peanut Noodles and toss in some steamed veggies for the remainder of the weeks lunches.

Turkey Quinoa Enchilada Bake

Serves 6-8

8 cups cooked quinoa (that's 2 cups uncooked)

½ cup salsa (I've adapted Pioneer Woman's recipe for my own liking)

approximately 1.5 lbs of ground turkey

2 tablespoons Taco Seasoning (Iseriously recommend making your own)

1 16 oz packed of frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 bell pepper, diced

½ can sliced black olives* (optional)

1 10 oz can enchilada sauce

8 oz (I block) Monterrey jack cheese shredded

Preheat oven to 375 F. Prepare your quinoa by bringing 4 cups of water to a bowl, rinse 2 cups quinoa in cold water, drain and add to bowling water. Return to a bowl, turn down to low and cover. Cook 15 minutes. In a medium sized skillet over medium high heat brown ground turkey, add taco seasoning while breaking up with a spoon. Stir in half of salsa to keep it from drying out. Set meat aside. In the same skillet over medium high heat combine corn, bell pepper and remaining salsa. Cook until peppers have softened. In a casserole dish, layer quinoa topping with 1/3 enchilada sauce, then turkey topping with 1/3 of sauce then top with corn mixture and olives and add remaining sauce. Bake for 15 minutes then cover with cheese and bake another 15 minutes.

*I served mine with fresh cilantro and a slice of lime.

**In all honesty you could saute and shred and layer everything the night before, come home from work preheat the oven and toss it in, then top it with cheese. Or in my case I could make it ahead and then the mister could bake it while I'm on my way home. Just a thought.

Honey Lemon Chicken Pitas

I cannot get enough of this chicken! I want to eat it everyday. I crave it all the time. I'm in love with this meal. For reals! It is so good that some of the sauce from the chicken was running down my arm and before I even realized what I was doing I licked my arm! Luckily for me Monkey was napping so I didn't have to do damage control in manners and the Mr. was so into his wrap he didn't notice. Doodlebug was the only one that caught me but he's got my back, he has no choice he can't talk yet.

This is super simple and tastes sinfully delicious. The only thing that can be tricky is that sometimes if you let the sauce thicken too long the chicken can become too dry. Once that sauce begins to thicken do not turn your back. 

Honey Lemon Chicken Wraps
(feeds 3 to 4)
3 chicken breast, thawed and diced
1 tablespoon Paprika
salt to taste
1 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup tablespoons of honey
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha

Combine all ingredients in a bowl toss and marinate 30 minutes.  In a large skillet bring to a medium high heat pour everything into the pan. Once sauce begins to bubble turn down to medium heat and cook until sauce has thickened.
Serve on pita or in a whole wheat wrap with guacamole spinach and tomato.
**I like a tad bit of sour cream on mine however the Mr. not so much a fan of the sour cream.

Spicy Peanut Noodles {A lunch time favorite}

I needed comfort food today. I was making up for the lack of it yesterday, when I needed it most. Yesterday, no one and nothing would go along with the plan I laid out for the day. And just when I was about to explode, on the interstate with the Mr. and the boys our Jeep went comatose. There we were stranded in 80+ degree weather on the side of the interstate in rush hour traffic. Luckily my in laws came to our rescue and brought the boys and me home while the hubs waited for a tow truck. It could have been much worse so I am thankful, very thankful that it wasn't but I was/am stressed!!! So umm... Yeah, that happened but now back to the food. I don't crave your "typical" southern style comfort food when I'm stressed. While I love biscuits and fried chicken like any true southerner for me comfort food (other than mashed potatoes) includes soy sauce and rice vinegar. My quick and easy favorite is this spicy peanut noodle meal. I used to have this for lunch at least once a week but lately I've been juicing for lunch or eating raw fruit and veg. I've missed these noodles.

*This is not a true recipe because I never make them the same way twice. Adjust the ingredients to you're taste. I have also been known to through in left over veggies from the previous night.*

Spicy Peanut Noodles

For 2 people I use approximately

1/3 of a box of spaghetti noodles

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup peanut butter

1-2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar or lemon juice

1/8 cup honey

Sriracha

1 raw carrot, grated

a small handful of peanuts chopped

Sriracha

Boil your pasta as you normally would. In a bowl whisk together soy sauce and peanut butter. Until well combined. Then add in your vinegar and honey. Taste to make sure you don't need more of something. Add a few drops of Sriracha, then stir and taste again.  Once pasta is done, drain and toss with your sauce. It should just coat your pasta, you don't want it swimming in sauce. Once coated stir in the carrot, the heat from the pasta will soften the carrots slightly yet still leave a crunch.  Portion into two bowls. Top with peanuts and add a few drops of Sriracha. Enjoy while warm. 

Peanut Honey Chicken Stirfry

I think my family would literally starve if it wasn't for stir fry, I not kidding, they would waste away into nothingness. if we are particularly busy I may make a form of stir fry weekly sometimes three or four times a week. It is an easy, on the go, healthy and versatile meal.                                                                           

                                             

 I swear one of these days I will stop taking pictures at 8:00 at night and start preparing food during daylight hours. But until then I'll just have craptastic pictures with flash and horrible lighting. Just for the record, my sauce looks incredibly thick here, too thick actually, it wasn't lumpy or that thick the picture is just not a good one. 

This stir fry is my "basic" stir fry. Sometimes I change the peanut butter for other flavors. I've listed some substitutions and other combinations below. The veggies are something I rotate in and out. This time it was a pre-cut frozen stir fry pack, I ditched the packaged sauce for my own though. The usual suspects are any combination of broccoli, bok choy, carrots, mushrooms, onions or cabbage. My favorite is bok choy but it isn't always available everywhere. I don't know exactly how many veggies to tell you, mine is usually fairly veggie heavy, excluding the one pictured. I usually do a full head of broccoli or bok choy or both and 5 to 6 carrots but that is my favorite combination. That should give you an idea of where to start. I often omit chicken or meat completely and go full on veggie. Remember vegatables cook down in size so when you're staring at a mountain of veg you'll only have about half of that by the time it is all done. Basically this is the most versatile way for me to get good foods into my family and make it quickly with little effort. I can chop everything the night before or early in the morning or even buy pre-chopped frozen veggies to thaw along with the meat. Minute rice is even an option to speed things along.

This recipes makes a lot of sauce. I like mine sauce my husband not so much so when serving I'll plate it up with less sauce and reserve some on the ise for me. You could cut the amount of sauce back if you so desire. 

I know this seems like a lot of food, and it is. This usually feeds two adults and one child dinner and then again for lunch the next day and often at least one more meal out of it for one of us.

marinade

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 inch chunk of ginger, grated or finely chopped

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

4-6 boneless chicken breast cut into chunks

sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup peanut butter (I prefer the natural type that is still a bit grainy)

1/8 cup honey

1-2 tablespoons rice vinegar or lime juice

2 table spoons sesame oil plus extra for cooking

1 tablespoon of Sriracha (I tend to add more afterwards so that I don't have little ones breathing fire)

2 tablespoons of cornstarch

4 tablespoons of water

coconut or peanut oil for cooking

your choice of approx 6-8 cups of veggies

and 4-6 cups of cooked rice, I use brown or jasmine

(You can stir fry the rice but my guys prefer it light and fluffy)

Start but combining all of the ingredients for the marinade into a large gallon sized freezer bag or casserole dish with a lid. Add chicken in or toss to coat. Let it marinate for 30 minutes or more.

Start by making your sauce.

For sauce whisk together soy sauce, peanut butter and honey.Whisk in vinegar/lime juice and Sriracha. Slowly add sesame oil while whisking. Set aside.

Start cooking with your veggies. Put your wok or skillet on medium-high, add 1/2 tbsp of cooking oil add veggies in along with a few drops of sesame oil, not too much, that stuff is strong. Sauteed your veggies until tender crisp and set aside. You may need to add more cooking oil at this point. Add your chicken sauteed until brown. Then add sauce simmer until chicken is cooked through. Once chicken is cooked through remove chicken from sauce and set aside. Bring sauce back to a boil. Combine water and cornstarch. Stir slurry into boiling sauce and whisk well so that lumps do not form. Boil one minute or until sauce is thickened. Remove from the heat. I like to serve mine layered on a large platter, starting with rice, then veggies, chicken next topped with sauce and peanuts. However sometimes I make my family's plates for them and layer it in the same way in a large bowl.

Some nice substitutions are mango puree, curry paste, coconut milk or orange juice instead of peanut butter. Very often I may combine some of the flavors. Orange and coconut milk are wonderful as well as coconut milk and curry paste. You will also need to modify your measurements and other ingredients also. For example you may choose to omit the honey with the curry paste. If all of these flavors are just too much for you swap in a chicken stock. (beef for steak and veggie for vegetables ) 

Something else to consider, if I sub steak for chicken I like to lower or omit the peanut butter and up the soy sauce. I leave the peanut butter out totally for shrimp and scallops. We prefer the seafood  with either the coconut or fruit sauces.