Kitchen Renovation Cooking Extravaganza!

It is SUCH a relief to be able to use all of our house after having kitchen renovations done.  That very essential room was cut off for three or four days, and I for one missed being able to work in it.

My very fancy tofu in a very fancy bowl.

But now... now it's much, much nicer.  The first day of full operations was Saturday, and to celebrate the occasion, I made a variation of the Seared Tofu with Sugar Snap Peas that appeared in the NYT.

I didn't have fish sauce or sesame oil, so I filled in those amounts with soy and peanut oil, and omitted the sesame seeds (same reason).  Otherwise, pretty much the same thing.

Last night's dinner was a variation of that variation, which turned out to be Orange Chicken (recipe follows).  Tonight was the very easy + tasty Fresh Pasta Sauce with a little sauteed chicken and sausage added, and WOW was that good over egg fettuccine.

Living in a household with someone who is dieting to lose weight (to increase the success chances of surgery) is challenging in a lot of ways.  I have a very long history of not really feeding myself unless I'm feeding others, and I spend most of my day (ergo eating time) out of the house.  With dinners being generally low-calorie (and I've never eaten much dinner anyway), I've been having to really take my personal nutritional needs into account, to make sure that I'm not starving myself.

So besides cooking AWESOME food at home, I've also been schlepping granola, yogurt, fresh fruit, and other tasty nibbles with me to work, to make sure I eat enough.  I'm doing a bang-up job, if I do say so.

But!  Here's the recipe I promised.  Enjoy!

Orange Chicken with Stir Fry Vegetables

My very fancy stir fry in the same very fancy bowl! The kitchen may be usable,
but we have certainly not unpacked all the stuff that used to live in it!

Using the sauce from Seared Tofu with Sugar Snap Peas as a base, I created an orange chicken recipe.  We usually have TONS of greens in our CSA, so this is a good use for that baby bok choy that is so often neglected at our house.


8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 2 single breasts
1/2 cup chopped onion
Canola oil cooking spray
1 Tbsp peanut oil, divided
3 heads baby bok choy
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced with a vegetable parer
1 cup snow peas
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 gloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsp sugar (or to taste)
1-1/2 tsp sriracha
4 cups brown and wild rice
1/2 Tbsp butter (for cooking rice, optional)

Cook rice in rice cooker according to directions, adding butter if desired.
While you're waiting on the rice, chop bok choy and slice carrots lengthwise with vegetable parer, making long thin strips; set aside in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 tsp peanut oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sriracha, sugar and orange juice.  Cover and shake or mix until blended.
When rice is done, heat pan over very high heat, and spray with canola oil spray, adding 1 tsp peanut oil, if desired.  Add onion and chicken, and brown over high heat; when chicken is brown and mostly cooked, add bok choy and carrots.  Add additional 1 tsp peanut oil if the pan is dry.  Stir fry until bok choy begins to wilt, about 3 minutes.  Add sauce mixture and let simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.  Add snow peas and stir, letting cook 1 or 2 minutes more.

Serve over brown and wild rice.  Makes 4 servings.

Bonus: Fresh Pasta Sauce

I could have sworn I'd posted this before.  Well!  Now I will!

This is a highly customizable sauce.  Saute onion and/or meat, throw in veggies, saute until sauce-like, throw over pasta.  You can season it however you like, but I like it best when the flavors of the vegetables are allowed to shine through - I do very little more than a sprinkle of salt on top after cooking, although I may throw in some oregano or basil if I have it handy.

1/2 cup chopped onion
Olive oil or butter, as desired
Garlic, minced or smashed (to taste)
Boneless skinless chicken (optional)
Italian sausage (optional)
1 cup chopped tomato or whole cherry or grape tomatoes
2 to 4 cups chopped fresh vegetables (chopped zucchini or yellow squash, bell peppers, hardy greens, julienned carrots, thinly sliced celery, sliced mushrooms, spinach - you name it!)
fresh or dried herbs (to taste)
salt and/or pepper (to taste)

Heat a pan over medium to medium-high heat, add oil or butter and onion.  Saute until tender, then add meat if desired.  Saute meat until browned (or continue sauteing onion until browned).  Add tomatoes and other vegetables and saute until veggies are tender and tomatoes (whole) split or (chopped) start to fall apart.  Season as desired, letting simmer for a few minutes to incorporate the flavors of any herbs you use.

Serve over the pasta of your choice, and dig in!  Makes about 4-6 servings of sauce.

Curried bison meatballs

I made this new recipe tonight and it turned out great! I used ground bison instead of beef and served it with a little rice and a lot of steamed broccoli. I always feel better--not only healthy but proud and satisfied--when I make food from scratch at home.

 

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Family Dinner Sunday

Hi blog reading people!  This is our first post (unless one of my co-bloggers types fast) and my first post for sure so I'll say a little bit about my food philosophy.  I am lucky to be able to find and afford many organic and natural foods.  I am a recovering vegetable-phobe discovering new ways to add them to my life, and loving it.  I have a sweet tooth that could turn a whole kindergarten class hyperactive so I will likely feature dessert here on a regular basis.  I love to bake my own bread when I have time.  I own a lot of diet/weight loss cookbooks, but I am not on a diet.  I often find myself adjusting recipes to add back healthy fats or natural sweeteners where it calls for artificial flavorings.

I had a cooking-intensive weekend, but it paid off today as I had a mostly stress-free dinner with my in-laws, not to mention plenty of other good food! 

I started my morning with Maple Spiced Oatmeal with Currants before taking my toddler to church for Easter services.  Even the kid liked it--she usually rejects oatmeal but she took a few bites of mine before requesting yogurt and a banana.  Also before we left, I got started on dinner--Lemon Chicken in the slow cooker.  When we got back home, my husband had just put Smitten Kitchen's Boozy Baked French Toast, which I threw together last night, into the oven.  Paired with some spiked coffee, it was the perfect way to relax and feel festive before my in-laws arrived for egg hunting and dinner.

Dinner was the aforementioned braised whole chicken, artichoke mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli with crispy prosciutto and balsamic vinegar (from Nom Nom Paleo), and wine--a nice California white blend.  I knew we would like the broccoli, but the potatoes were the hit of the table.  Even my father-in-law, who isn't a big potato guy, had some.  Finally, we topped it off with banana spice cake (bundt style) and cream cheese glaze, the leftovers of which I managed to photograph before my roommates gobbled it up.

I'll take more pictures in the future, but we just had the idea to start the blog tonight and I was so excited about today's food I had to share!  I've linked recipes above where I got them online, and the couple from cookbooks are below. 


Maple Spiced Oatmeal with Currants  (adapted from the Ultra-Metabolism Cookbook)
4 servings, 3/4 cup each
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: ~35 min

• 4 cups water
• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 1/2 cup currants
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (original recipe calls for 1 tsp. maple extract)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch allspice
• splash whole milk (original recipe calls for unsweetened soy milk, optional)

Boil water in a medium saucepan.  Stir in oats and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the currants and cook for 10 more minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the maple, cinnamon, and allspice at the very end, and add milk as needed to achieve your desired consistency.

I immediately divided it into four containers and now I've got breakfast ready to go a couple mornings this week!

Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken (from Weight Watchers Slow Good Super Slow Cooker Cookbook)
Makes 6 servings
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 3 or 6 hours

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1.5 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• 1 (~3.5 lb.) chicken
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grated lemon zest

Combine garlic, oil, oregano, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.  Rinse and pat dry the chicken, then gently separate the skin from the meat on the breast, thighs, and legs.  Rub half the spice mixture under the skin and half in the cavity of the chicken.

Heat and grease a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken breast side down and brown, turning frequently, for 6-8 minutes.  Transfer to a 5- or 6-quart slow cooker.  Add broth to the skillet and deglaze, scraping the brown bits from the skillet while the broth boils briefly.  Add 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice and pour the liquid over the chicken.  Cover and cook until fork-tender (3-4 hours on high or 6-8 on low).

About 20 minutes before cooking time is over, stir lemon zest into the remaining lemon juice and pour into the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on high until fragrant.  Transfer chicken to a platter and serve with the broth as a sauce.

(WW says to use low-sodium chicken broth, to discard the skin and wings from the chicken, and to skim any fat from the broth.  I have low blood pressure and don't keep low-sodium anything around, the broth didn't seem overly fatty, and my husband said "the skin's the best part!" so I didn't do any of that.)

Cream cheese glaze (borrowed from here)

• 1 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon rum extract (didn't have any so I used almond and vanilla)
• 1 tablespoon milk

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Heat in a microwave oven for 15 seconds. Drizzle spoonfuls over a cooled cake.