Vegetable Moo Shoo

I love Chinese food, but it usually sucks when I try to make it at home. This turned out to be pretty good, and it's reasonably healthy, which is another plus.

Vegetable Moo Shoo

4 Eggs, beaten
3-4 T Sesame Oil, for frying
1 Bag of shredded vegetables (Broccoli Slaw)
8 oz Bean Sprouts
1 Bunch of Chives, finely chopped and divided
1-2 T Rice Vinegar
1-2 T Soy Sauce
2-3 T Hoison Sauce
1-2 T Minced Garlic

Add any other vegetables that you might like. Below are what I used.

• Yellow Squash
• Zucchini
• Yellow Onion
• Mushrooms

Prepare all of your vegetables. Moo Shoo is mostly shredded cabbage. The prepackaged Broccoli slaw helps save you the step of shredding your own. So that the other vegetables didn't create big chunks in the moo shoo, I sliced the onion and mushrooms very thin. I cut the zucchini and yellow squash length wise and then used a vegetable peeler to create thin long strips of each.

Heat a tablespoon of the sesame oil in a large frying pan. Scramble the eggs and set them aside. Wipe out the pan.

Heat some fresh sesame oil in the pan and add the minced garlic. Saute until it's golden.

Add the vegetables, bean sprouts, half of the chives, the vinegar, soy sauce, and hoison sauce. Mix well. This will start out huge, but will wilt down and brown as you cook.

Add the cooked egg and the remaining chives. Mix it well and serve with rice.

Comments

This was pretty messy because so much goes into one pan. Use the biggest pan that you have. If it has high sides, that's even better. I used kitchen tongs to mix everything. That seemed to work best.

I served this with some rice and plum sauce. Plum sauce and Hoison sauce can be found in the Asian food aisle at Publix. I still felt like it was missing a little something, so if you try this and have any ideas, let me know.

Not Fried Rice

Let me first say that this is not fried rice and it's not quite a stir fry either. But we made this the other day, and to my surprise, I actually liked it. I figured that some weird in between thing wouldn't be good, but it's easier than making fried rice and you don't have to plan as far ahead.

Not Fried Rice

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (really any meat or tofu will do)
1 t minced garlic
1 T Oil (for cooking chicken)
1 1/4 C water
1/4 C Soy Sauce
1 T sugar
16 oz Frozen Veggies (we used corn and peas)
2 C instant rice

Slice the chicken into thin strips and cook with minced garlic and oil over medium-high heat. We just used vegetable oil, but sesame oil would probably give it some nice flavor.

Once the meat is cooked through, add the water, soy sauce, sugar, and frozen vegetables and bring to a boil.

Add the rice, cover, and remove from heat. Let it sit, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork, and it's ready to eat.

Comments:

It seems like a lot of soy sauce, but it really adds flavor to the meat and the rice, since it all gets soaked up. You can add more soy once it's plated if you like, but I didn't think it needed any. That's why I liked this. I was expecting it to be bland, but it wasn't.

We just used frozen chicken breasts this time, but in the future, I think I might get some unfrozen and marinate it all day before we use it. Maybe in teriyaki, soy, onions, and garlic.

I usually like a little egg in my fried rice, so I think in the future I might scramble an egg or two in the pan with the chicken, oil, and garlic before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Thanksgiving Dish 1

Per a special request, I'm going to post a couple recipes from Thanksgiving. I don't like Turkey, so when it comes to Thanksgiving, it's all about the side dishes for me. I love how all kinds of vegetables can be turned into incredibly unhealthy casseroles, and there are a few casseroles in particular that I have to have during the holidays. This corn casserole is a relatively new addition to that list of holiday necessities, but it tends to be very popular.

Corn Casserole

* 2 eggs, beaten
* 1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
* 1 (15 ounce) can cream-style corn
* 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
* 1/4 cup butter, melted
* 1 (8.5 ounce) package dry corn muffin mix (Jiffy Corn Muffin mix is what I use)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (the universal casserole temperature).

Mix all of the ingredients in a 2 quart casserole dish. Make sure everything is integrated

Bake for about an hour or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.

Comments:

This is a super easy recipe that doesn't require a whole lot of fresh ingredients. Before you put the dish in the oven, the batter will seem kind of soupy. That's okay. It will set up while it bakes.

I've seen some recipes that suggest putting in shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onion, and or chili peppers. This would certainly give it more of a southwest feel, but I like it just as it is. The creamed corn gives it a nice sweet flavor that I wouldn't want to change.

You could make this a little healthier by using low fat sour cream and margarine, but it's comfort food, so why bother.

Fried Feta

We just had some store bought ravioli tonight with a little olive oil and Parmesan on top. Pretty tasty, but not really noteworthy, so instead, I thought I'd post a recipe for fried feta, because there's very little in this world that's better than fried cheese. I had fried feta a long time ago at a restaurant as an appetizer, and I really liked it. The next day I tried to replicate restaurant's the recipe, and I think I got pretty close.

Fried Feta with Tomato Onion Relish

1 Small block of feta, sliced into 1/4-1/2 inch slices
2 Eggs
Bread crumbs (to coat the cheese)
Dry seasoning (optional)
Vegetable Oil for frying

1 Red onion
1 Yellow onion
2-3 Roma tomatoes
1/4 Cup White wine vinegar
Salt and Crushed Black Pepper

This recipe is pretty easy. Buy a small block of feta, and slice it into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices. Thoroughly scramble the eggs in a shallow dish, and pour a generous amount of bread crumbs on a separate plate. You can mix some crushed dried herbs, like oregano or basil in with the bread crumbs for some additional flavor, but it's not necessary since feta is so flavorful to begin with.

One by one, dip the sliced feta into the eggs and then the bread crumbs. Once all the slices have been coated in bread crumbs, place the in the fridge for at least 20 minutes to chill. If you don't let it chill, the breading will fall off the cheese when you try to fry it.

While the cheese is chilling, make the relish. Dice the onions and the tomatoes. I prefer Roma tomatoes because they tend to be a little more firm than others. Mix the vegetables and the vinegar together. Add the salt and pepper to taste.

Once the cheese is chilled, heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan. Place the cheese in for about 15 seconds on each side. You'll need some tongs and or a spatula to flip the cheese. Set the finished cheese on a plate with a paper towel under it to absorb any leftover oil. Serve with the relish.

Comments

Frying can be intimidating the first couple times, but the results can be so good. Be quick when frying this. Not only will the breading burn after too long, but the cheese will melt and it will be impossible to handle. Flip it once and remove it.

The relish is a big part of this appetizer. The acidity of the ingredients really stands up to the cheese, and gives the whole thing a fresher cleaner taste.

Veggie Saute

This recipe is really colorful and tasty. Todd and I both went back for seconds. Another nice thing is that if you have a big enough pan, you can make the entire dish in it and not have to dirty a bunch of stuff. The problem with using a pan that big is that you will at some point need something to cover the pan. Ideally, this would be a lid, but if you are like me, you realize that you don't have a lid for your big pan after you've started cooking. In that case, improvise. I ended up resting an inverted pizza pan on top of my big frying pan, and everything worked out.

Veggie Saute

Again, because I'm not baking, some of my measurements aren't precise.

1 Zucchini
2 Small Yellow Squash
1 Yellow Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Large Tomato
1 Can Vegetable Broth
1 1/2 C Instant Rice
1 Clove of minced garlic
Vegetable oil for sauteing
Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste

Start by chopping all of your vegetables. I like big chunks of everything except tomato in this. I'm not crazy about the texture of cooked tomato, but I like the flavor, so I diced the tomato pretty finely.

Throw the onion and vegetable oil in the pan and let it cook over medium heat until the onion is tender. Then, put in the minced garlic. I buy the jars of preminced garlic because it's easier, but mincing fresh cloves would probably taste better. When the garlic looks golden, throw in all the other vegetables. Keep stirring, and add some seasoning.

After about five minutes or so of sauteing your veggies, poor in the broth and the rice. Let it come to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover your pan, and let the whole thing simmer for about 20 minutes. The more you let it simmer, the more tender and juicy the vegetables will be.

Comments

The can of broth that I used was 14 ounces, which is a little under 2 cups. I know with instant rice, you typically use equal parts liquid and rice, but the zucchini and squash will suck up that extra liquid and taste pretty good. If you don't like it, though, find the proportion that works for you.

I liked this recipe, and I don't think I would really change much about it myself. Obviously, it's pretty simple and you could substitute whatever vegetables you have on hand, but I think the squash worked really nicely. If I were to add anything, it might be to grate some fresh Parmesan on top of the prepared dish, but that's just because cheese makes just about anything better.

Spaghetti Squash

I'd heard about spaghetti squash a couple years ago and have wanted to try preparing it since then. I was surprised to find the squash at Publix, and this recipe was super easy and pretty tasty. My measurements are rarely exact unless I'm baking, so where exact amounts aren't indicated, just go with your personal tastes.







Spaghetti Squash
3-4 servings







1 Spaghetti Squash
1 Yellow Onion
1 Large Tomato
1 Clove of minced garlic
Some Olive or Vegetable Oil
A couple handfuls of crumbled Feta
Garlic Salt, Pepper, and Basil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove all the seeds and stuff that looks like pumpkin guts from the inside. Once your squash is cleaned out, bake it cut side down for about 30 minutes or until the outside can be punctured by a knife with little resistance.

While the squash is cooking, chop the onion and tomato. I like big chunks, but cut them however you like.

Remove the squash and let it cool so that you can handle it. While it is cooling, saute the onion in a little oil over medium heat. Once the onion is tender, add the minced garlic and saute for a couple more minutes. Finally, reduce the heat and add the tomato and seasonings. Let all of this simmer on the stove (In the picture, we're using onions, red peppers, and green and yellow squash).


The squash should be cool enough to handle now. Take a spoon and dig out the insides. It should come out looking like spaghetti noodles.


Toss the noddles with the vegetables and throw in the feta to taste.

Comments:

I liked this, but the squash doesn't have a whole lot of taste on its own, so you shouldn't be shy about adding the seasoning and feta. I ended up putting more garlic salt and pepper on mine after I plated it.

You can add more than just the vegetables listed. In the future, I think I'm going to put mushrooms in as well, so that it has a little more of a savory flavor. Big slices of portabella might work as a nice meat substitute. Fresh Spinach, thrown in the pan with the tomato, might also be a good addition.

If you don't want feta, then thick shavings of Parmesan could be substituted, but why wouldn't you want feta?

Innaugural Post

Todd and I are making an effort to eat better this year. It's kind of like a resolution, but not really because I like cooking. To keep us on track and to help me remember what I liked and what I didn't, I thought it might be a good idea to start a food blog, so here we are. I'm going to try and post whenever we try new recipes, but I'm lazy and I procrastinate, so more realistically, I'll post when I can.

Let me know if you try any of these recipes and if you make any changes.