Authentic Korean Stir Fry (w/chicken)

Recipe is scribbled on a scrap of paper- will transfer soon if anyone's interested!
SO SO good! My family craves this now!!

Did you know that most Asian people "wash" the rice before cooking it? I had no idea. Yep, they fill the bowl with rice and water, then squish the rice with their hands to get all that filmy stuff off of it (didn't know it was there til I saw this-whoa) and then, and ONLY then does it get cooked! (And I recently read that it lessens the amount of arsenic that is apparently rampant in our food supply. Great.)

And to be Korean food, you use Sesame Oil. And Korean soy sauce. Not Kikkoman or another. It's not the same. (Thai food is mostly peanut oil- and coconut milk-- just change those things and BAM, you have thai food. Well, almost.)

First: Buy Korean noodles from Asian Market store (see picture). Soak them for 1/2 hour in cold water
Second: Cut any meat you're wanting to use, and put in bowl or ziplock with a swig of sesame oil and a big glug or 3 of Korean Soy Sauce.
Third: Stir fry/Steam any and ALL (tons) vegetables you desire (broccoli, caulif., carrots, bell peppers, onions usually at our house) I love them slightly browned. Mmmm.

Cook up meat til 'done' and throw in with veggies. Season veggies with salt and pepper.

Lastly cook noodles for about 5 mins & drain. Then add a small glug of Sesame Oil, and a few glugs of Korean Soy Sauce, and sugar (or agave, or cane syrup, etc) I use cane sugar.. Keep using a fork or tongs to mix greatly. Must be eaten fresh or they just soak up the taste and are bland.

Chicken Pot Pie

Awesome for leftover turkey and mashed potatoes! (Thanks Jana for sending the recipe to me in Germany!!)

Chicken Pot Pie
1/2 c butter
1/2 c flour
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 c milk
2 c water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1and 1/2 c frozen peas and carrots
2-3 red potatoes, cashed(?) and thinly sliced
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, onion, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly Remove from heat and stir in milk, water, and bouillon. Heat to boiling stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Add pease and carrots, potatoes and chicken. Roll "super easy pi crust" pastry into 11x14 inch rectangle. Pour chicken mixture into 9x11 inch pan on the bottom crust. Place pastry over top and flute edges. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden.

Super Easy Pie Crust

1/2 c butter
2/3 c Crisco shortening
1 T. sugar
1 T nonfat dry milk
1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
3 c unsifted flour
1/2 c cold water

Pumpkin Bisque from Mormon Cookbook- SO GOOD!

1/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups canned pumpkin (I used 2 butternut squashes and a leftover mini deco=-pumpkin)
2/3 cup sour cream
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups light cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sour cream, for garnishing
Chives, for garnishing

Sautee onion in butter. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine pumpkin, sour cream, chicken broth, cream, brown sugar, and salt.
Beat mixture until smooth.
Add onions and butter.
Cover and chill. (I stopped here and just ate it, but you can chill it)
When ready to serve, garnish with dollops of addt'l sour cream and chives.
If serving hot, warm slowly over low heat.
DO NOT BOIL.
Makes 6-8 servings.

*** My note: Tastes amAZing with German RYE bread (Roggenbrot) MMMMMM!!

Taco Salad Night

Do it right and make it pretty! SO delicious on these HOT summer nights!

Eggplant, Tomato, & Bell Pepper Sauce

1.Cut 3 eggplants in half. Slather butter on the halves and sprinkle generously with parmesan. Fry in pan on both sides of eggplant, just till browned a bit.
2. Add a little olive oil then add chopped bell peppers and lift eggplant up onto them as they cook.
3. Add some chopped up onion (at least half of one).
4. Cover the contents of the pan in tomatoes (all sixes work fine- my tomatoes are little).
5. Add a few BASIL leaves, some thyme, organo, italian seasoning, a little garlic.

This is awesome for PIZZA SAUCE, SPAGHETTI SAUCE, PUPUSA SAUCE, MOZZ. STICK SAUCE.

So I zip-lock bag the sauce, then freeze it all flattened out. It stacks well this way and thaws out much quicker than brick-form.

3. Dump in TONS of tomatoes and

Sweet & Sour Chicken

This was to die for. And I winged it. HA!

I just dumped some corn starch in a bowl, then dumped in the raw chicken pieces (cut em with kitchen scissors ladies! Don't chop your fingers off!), coating them well.

The fry the chicken in some oil (4-5 T) on high with the lid on at first, then off at the end to brown it a bit. This keeps the meat moist.

Make the sauce in a separate pan while the chicken is searing:
Don't feel too restricted by these measurements! Do what you like best!
3/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. vinegar
1/2 c. chicken broth
3.5 T ketchup
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp worcestire sauce

Truthfully I just kind of dumped the soy sauce & Worc. sauce in! mmmm! Some people also add a little brown sugar and or garlic & ginger. I didn't. This time.


Then put the fried chicken into a bowl to the side, and just put in whatever vegetables you have on hand! I used things from my garden:
Tomatoes, green & orange bell peppers, green beans (blanch these first or just boil em for awhile and have them on hand ready to use), onion & pineapple!! Thinly sliced carrot would also be wonderful although I was out at the time!

Salsa- from Garden to Chip in less than 30 mins!

I have a vivid memory of running outside through the hail in Utah to cover up my tomato plants. Later that summer, with 26 of those things producing juicy tomatoes faster than we could kill the pig weed, we decided it high time to buy a food processor.
With it came this dandy of a recipe for salsa which I've loved ever since!

1/2 Sm onion, cut into 1 in. pieces
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & cut into quarters
1 clove garlic
3/4 lb Roma tomatoes (about 5 tomatoes) SEEDED & CUT into eighths
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro
1 T Olive Oil
1 T Lime Juice
1/2 salt

Put onion, pepper, & garlic in chopper- process 3-5 seconds

Add tomatoes, cilantro, oil, lime juice, & salt. - Pulse 6-8 times for 2 seconds each to chop (or until desired consistency)

Yields 1 1/2 cups, 12 servings (2 T/ serving)

Shish-ka-bobs & Corn on the Grill

Bring on the shish-ka-bobs!

These were phenominal with just a little salt & pepper! MMMMM!
From our garden we picked tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant and we added onion and anything else we could find that would stay on a skewer!