Curried Noodles

This is a vegetarian dish, as this was a side item to some chicken that was cooked on the grill. Dad said he could ‘’really’’ taste the soy sauce in this dish, even though it was just a tablespoon. I thought it was subtle enough but some are sensitive to this. So I would actually recommend just starting with maybe a teaspoon of soy sauce, then adding a little more if you think it needs it.

Serves about 4-5

3 bundles of soba noodles (rice noodles). Each bundle is pretty small, but this expands pretty big!
Evoo – extra virgin olive oil
½ can coconut milk
½ - 2/3 bottle of Trader Joe’s red curry sauce
1 bunch of green onions
1 bunch of cilantro – remove stems and use the leaves only
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 zucchini – cut lengthwise, then lengthwise again. then dice.
4 garlic cloves – minced.
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce (optional. if you don't have it around, it should be fine)
Crushed black pepper

boil a pot of water. Add noodles and cook as directed, should be no more than 5 minutes for the noodle cook time. Drain.

While the water is boiling, prepare the vegetables by cleaning then and dicing them.

Meanwhile in a very large another pan (big enough to hold noodles and veggies) on medium heat, drizzle a tablespoon of EVOO and sauté the zucchini, celery, and carrots. Crush some black pepper for seasoning. Add the garlic. Allow to cook for a few minutes. Add the drained noodles into the pan and toss. Then pour over the coconut milk and curry sauce. Add the soy sauce and fish sauce. Mix thoroughly and allow to heat through completely. You can cover the pan and allow to heat on medium low for a few minutes. Dice the green onion and the cilantro. Add to the pan. Mix and toss thoroughly. Serve hot.

another recipe to come with what to do with that leftover bottle of curry sauce and coconut milk.

Asian-y Salad

What to do when you walk into your house and you find grilled teryake marinated chicken on a plate.

Serves 1

2 grilled teryake marinated chicken thighs
1 handful of spinach leaves
3-4 butter leaf lettuce
5 stems of worth of cilantro leaves
4 baby carrots
1 or 2 green onions
spicy peanut dressing from Trader Joes

Chop and arrange ingredients on a plate. Serve with the dressing.

That's a Wrap

I wanted a sandwich, but I had no bread, so I made this wrap instead.

serves 1

1 tortilla - sun dried tomato
1 spreadable mini triangle of low fat laughing cow cheese
3 slices of seasoned turkey meat
a mini handful of mix tomatoes, cut into quarters
1/2 a small persian cucumber, diced
some spinach leaves
a heaping tablespoon of guacamole
1 slice of extra sharp cheddar cheese, cut into mini chunks

heat tortilla on a stove top until softened on both sides and warmed. Spread the cheese. place the turkey meat on top. add the veggies, cheese, and guacamole. Wrap and serve.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Lovers Cookie

I took mini peanut butter cups, in a peanut butter cookie dough, with just enough chocolate to make a cookie that's decadent yet addictive. Matt gave me this great idea that he saw on America's Test Kitchens on how they browned the butter before making the best chocolate chip cookie ever. I decided to go run with it, and came up with this recipe. I honestly think it's one of the better cookie recipes I've come up with. It is still my 'standard dough' recipe with just a few mods in it.

1 cup butter (2 sticks) - melted and browned
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons peanut butter (think slightly heaped 1/2 cup when scooping)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 cup mini peanut butter chips - available in Henry's bulk candy section, or in a small clear box package at Trader Joe's.
1 cup chocolate chips

pre heat your oven to 375 when you're about half way done with the cookies. and as always, mix your wet ingredients first then add the dry.

In a medium saucepan on your stove top, put the two sticks of butter over medium low heat. melt down completely and cook the butter until it is just barely browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

With an electric mixer beat the sugars, eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter together. The peanut butter will probably not mix in well at first, but that will change. Now stream in the melted butter. If you dont have a stand mixer you can just slowly add the melted butter a little at a time. Add in the baking powder and salt. Now add the flour about a half cup at a time. Keep mixing until fully incorporated. Now mix in the peanut butter chips, then the chocolate chips.

Create one inch balls and drop onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8-12 minutes (depends on your oven, but I thought 10 minutes was solid). Cool for a minute on the sheet then transfer to a rack.

3 cheese pizza with vodka sauce on herb crust

Makes 1 pizza, serves about 4

1 ball / pack of raw herb dough from Trader Joe's
flour
EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pam cooking spray
1/3 - 1/2 bottle of Vodka sauce, also from Trader Joe's
about a 1/3 of a ball part skim mozzarella, shredded. turns into about 1 cup
1/2 log of fresh mozzarella ( use the whole log if you want and not use as much regular mozzarella. That would be dope. but I plan on making a caprese salad this week so I wanted the leftover half)
3 tablespoons or so of parmigiana reggiano cheese or whatever parm you feel like using.
4 cloves of garlic minced

before you get started, put the dough out of the fridge and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On a clean floured surface, roll out the trader joe's dough. On a pan or cookie sheet spray the surface with Pam cooking spray. Carefully lift the dough from the surface - I folded it into 4ths to lift and transfer - and place on the prepared pan. unroll the dough. Take some EVOO and drizzle about a couple teaspoons with directly on the dough. Brush to spread evenly all the way to the edge of the crust. Place the dough in the oven for about 8 minutes.

In the meantime. Shred the mozzarella cheese and mince the garlic. Take the fresh mozarella and cube into chunks or cut into thin slices.

When ready, take the dough out of the oven. This is called pi barring the crust (however you spell it). I found with the it creates even baking, and it makes it slightly crisper.

Spoon the bottled vodka sauce over the crust. spread evenly. I like to layer the cheese a little, sprinkle some fresh mozarella, some regular, add a little parm, and back to fresh. Top with the minced garlic sprinkled through the top.

Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is just slightly browned. Transfer pizza to a large cutting board and slice.

Frances' Birthday Strawberry Shortcake

Looking through Frances' photos from her bodypaint festival, I came across this one. I was very late to her birthday dinner because I was still putting together this cake. I missed the dinner, but Frances, Vicky, and myself still very much enjoyed her cake. It's SUPER easy, and really delicious. The double bonus was that this was Frances' favorite birthday cake growing up, and she use to ask her mother to make her one each year for her birthday.

cake:
1 box of white cake mix. I believe this one was Pillsbur. Make as instucted and mix with 2 eggs, oil, and water.
Use a bundt pan so you have a cake with a hole in the middle to fill with fruit. Bake as directed.

filling:
1 pint of fresh strawberries
about 2 tablespoons of white sugar

whipped topping. Cool whip or other brand.

wash and hull the strawberries. Slice into quarters and place in a bowl. add sugar, and toss. The sugar will incorporate into the strawberries and create a light sauce.

After the cake has cooled enough to remove, place on a platter. Then flip it onto the plate you want to use. Take the strawberries and fill the hold in the middle first, then arrange the rest of them on top. Spoon the extra sauce over the berries and cake. Serve with a dallop of whipped topping.

Happy Birthday Frances!

Double Chocolate Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks of butter) softened to room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

preheat oven 375 degrees. cream together the wet then add the dry. Beat the butter and sugars together. Then add the vanilla. beat until smooth. continue beating in the ingredients: add the baking powder and salt. Add the cocoa powder 1/4 cup at a time and mix until smooth. add in the flour a 1/4 cup at a time as well. then add the chips. scoop cookies by rounded teaspoon fulls (I like to use a cookie scoop) onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

bake for 10 minutes at 375