Showing posts with label Asian Cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asian Cooking. Show all posts

Friday, December 11, 2015

Chinese Tofu Salad with Cashews



Cory and I used to make Chinese Chicken Salad all the time.  You may remember, it was the salad with Top Ramen added and sometimes served with chicken.  Since we are staying away from a lot of process food the Top Ramen is out.  We also have cut back on our meat.  Cabbage salad sounded boring.  I took the initiative to mix and match my ingredients to come up with a new version for our family and renamed it Chinese Tofu Salad.

It's not exactly like the salad we used to make but it had familiar notes to it.  I think he liked it because he went back for seconds and then thirds.

I used the Fried Tofu from Tuesdays recipe to top our salad.  I like warm protein on my salads.  The process of making fried tofu is in Tuesdays blog post. It is simple and creates a nice warm element to this salad.  

I also toasted sesame seeds and cashews.  The fried tofu, toasted sesame seeds and cashews create a party in your mouth.  The different flavor profiles with the simple dressing explode with flavor and freshness. 


Chinese Tofu Salad with Cashews and Sesame Seeds

1/2 head of cabbage, cut any way you like
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1/2 cup toasted cashews
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
2 stalks of celery, sliced thin
green onion for garnish on top
Fried Tofu-optional (see post for instructions on how to make)

Dressing:

3 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
3-5 drops of sesame oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1-2 teaspoons sugar or coconut sugar

1.  Mix salad ingredients together.

2.  Combine dressing ingredients together.  Taste to make sure it is balanced correctly. Adjust with more rice wine, soy sauce or sugar.

3.  Pour dressing over salad and toss.  Add tofu to individual plates of salad. Garnish with green onion pieces.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Honey Sesame Chicken #sponsored





Our summer is coming to an end and with that thought, I am already thinking about fall, back to school and our busy schedules. It is true that I homeschool  our kids and our time is a bit more flexible but I find that with more open time also brings more scheduled activities.  Isabella wants to be on the go every single day.  I am already tired thinking about September and October.

What brings me comfort during this busy time is knowing that I can prepare some healthy meals at home that feed my family and keep us out of the lines for fast food.  Chinese Food is something that I have not been able to enjoy for a few years because of the ingredients that are used. I have an intolerance for soy, msg and wheat products (noodles) and most pre-packaged foods (sauces and dressings).  I have missed the sweet and spicy flavors of some of my favorite dishes.  

To bring some of the "fast food" in to our home so that my family feels that they are not being deprived of the "finer things" I have been experimenting with a variety of dishes.  Honey Sesame Chicken is one such dish that was easy for me to convert because I could easily replace the sauce ingredients with a few gluten free/paleo cupboard items that I keep on hand.  The recipe I decided to use called for chicken breast.

I am in the habit of buying chicken thighs.   For this recipe I decided to follow the suggestions for white chicken meat and purchased Tyson® Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast.  I found that each piece of breast meat is hand-trimmed for convenience to save time and effort in my meal preparation.  It is nice when I am in a hurry to have the meat ready to cut and use in my recipe.

Tyson Fresh Chicken is a brand that I use in place of my locally sourced meat when I am unable to get to my farmer to restock my refrigerator or freezer. They are a company made up of real people who have been in the business for 75 years.  Their products are all natural* with no added hormones or steroids**.   Did you know that they provide the chicks and feed to local farmers throughout the country?  In fact, more than 4000 farmers throughout the US help Tyson Foods provide chickens to our local market places by using their own farms to raise them in. 

As an added bonus, Tyson Foods also carries a line of gluten free pre-made items to be used when your family is on the go.  This recipe when made with arrowroot starch and coconut aminos is Paleo; when made with cornstarch and gluten free soy sauce it is gluten free.

My Honey Sesame Chicken recipe turned out delicious and my family asked for seconds.  I can't wait to make this again and next time trying the Tyson Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs in place of the white meat.




Honey Sesame Chicken 
Makes enough for 4

1 1/2 pounds Tyson Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, cubed into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup arrowroot starch or corn starch
3 tablespoon honey
1/4  teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
3 tablespoons coconut oil, for frying

Honey Sesame Sauce:
We like extra sauce, so I double this recipe for my family.

2 tablespoons soy sauce, gluten free soy sauce or coconut aminos
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon arrowroot starch or corn starch
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (garnish)
2 green onions, sliced thin (garnish)

1.  Combine the first 8 ingredients for the Honey Sesame Sauce in a small bowl.  Whisk to blend.
Set aside until all of the chicken is cooked through.

2.  Combine the chicken pieces, arrowroot starch, honey, salt and pepper in a medium size bowl. Stir to coat each chicken piece.

3.  Heat oil in a skillet, add chicken pieces and cook until each side is golden brown. (See picture below.) Transfer chicken pieces to a wire rack until all chicken is prepared.

4.  When chicken is done cooking, transfer sauce to a small sauce pan. Heat sauce until it begins to boil, stirring often. Remove from heat when the sauce begins to thicken.  

5.  Add the chicken to a medium bowl and add sauce.  Fold chicken and sauce to coat each piece.  Add sesame seeds and green onions for a garnish.

6.  Serve with rice.  Store leftovers in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Note: Chicken must be cooked to an internal temperature of 170 degrees for boneless products and 180 degrees for bone in chicken products.


Written by Sherron Watson

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED AND THE WINNER HAS BEEN CONTACTED.

Please share in the comments below your favorite "back to school" chicken dish.  I am always on the lookout for new recipes to feed my hungry family. Plus if you leave a comment you will be entered to win a gift basket full of kitchen gadgets!

For more delicious recipes visit PickTysonFresh.com.

Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
  1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
  2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
  3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
  4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 8/27 - 10/26.
Be sure to visit the Tyson Fresh Chicken brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!


*Minimally processed. No artificial ingredients. 
**Federal regulations prohibit the use of added hormones or steroids in chicken.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Crispy Orange Beef



2020 Update:  This recipe gets a lot of traffic. Most people love it and a few have not. Our family still likes the flavor of this dish with the orange sauce and the crispy chicken pieces. I hope you enjoy this too!

One thing I really miss?  Chinese food.  I love the sweet and spicy sauces combined with crispy meats.  The smokiness that comes from the vegetables stir-fried in a blazing hot wok....YUM!

I have seen versions of Crispy Orange Beef on Pinterest several times. My mouth waters with each picture. I finally decided to give it a try and see if I could use "my ingredients" to make a tasty alternative.

I think I did. The beef is fried in coconut oil. I am able to use arrowroot starch in place of cornstarch. I use coconut-aminos in place of the recommended soy sauce.

I was very happy to have this for lunch with a bowl of rice and a few stir-fried vegetables along the side.  The combination of ingredients created a nice blend of flavors. Nothing too over-powering.  Subtle flavors that allow the meat to shine and the orange to be present with each bite.

My inspiration for this dish came from two blogs: Fifteen Spatulas and Table for Two. The links will take you to the original recipe if you don't need to make food adjustments due to allergies and intolerances.

NOTE:  Before you make this recipe, read the instructions. It does say to freeze the meet with coating for 45 minutes. I personally have not tried the recipe by skipping this step. 

Crispy Orange Beef
Makes enough for 2 very hungry adults or 4 adults with rice and side dishes

2 pounds of steak: sirloin, stir fry steak or skirt steak (what you see in the pictures)
2 tablespoons coconut-aminos or soy sauce or gluten-free soy sauce
1/3 cup arrowroot starch or corn starch
1 cup of oil, for frying  (I used coconut oil)
Crispy Orange Beef Sauce, recipe below

1.  Cut meat into bite-size pieces.  I tried to have my pieces about 1inch by 1.5 inches.  Add coconut -aminos or soy sauce to the meat pieces and toss.  Add the starch and coat each piece of meat.  

2.  Using a wire rack inside a cookie tray, spread the meat pieces out in a single layer.  Freeze for 45 minutes.  This helps to dry the meat out and make it crispy when fried.

3.  10 minutes before the meat is done in the freezer, add oil to a large cast-iron pan or dutch oven.  Bring oil to 375 degrees F.

4.  Line a bowl with a paper towel and start frying meat.  Fry until golden brown on each side (about 3 minutes)  You can add more oil if you want to coat the pieces and "fry".  I did more of a pan fry on mine and it worked out great.  Remove pieces to a paper towel and continue frying until all the meat is prepared.

5.  To prepare sauce-see below.  Toss sauce with crispy beef pieces, add garnish and serve with rice.


Crispy Orange Beef Sauce

2 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1/4 cup of orange rind, sliced very thin

1/4 cup green onion, chopped for garnish

To serve sauce on the side:  Combine sauce ingredients in a small saucepan, whisk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened (about 3 minutes). 

To serve sauce over beef: Add ingredients to a small bowl and whisk.  When all of the meat has been fried, remove oil and toss sauce into the frying pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat for 3 minutes. Add beef pieces and stir to coat each piece with sauce.




Written by Sherron Watson

Monday, May 26, 2014

Asian Style Spiral Salad with Chicken




I bought myself a new toy for the kitchen: a Spiralizer.  I can't stop using it.  I tell you it is freaking awesome!

My kids can't wait to use it too.  They  eat more vegetables.  Heck, I am eating more vegetables.

The best new vegetable we have learned to LOVE LOVE LOVE-- are yellow beets.

They are my favorite.  Way better for a beet virgin like myself than the red beet.  Sorry red beet! I do love marinated red beets just not raw red beets.  Yeah, say that fast 10X's.


Maybe I am crazy and there is not a difference in flavor, but in my mind, the yellow beet, taste better.  It is a bit sweeter and not so earthy.

Before I went gluten free and started reading labels,  we used to eat this salad that had cabbage and a bag of Top Ramen.  I sort of miss that salad.  I miss the crunchy noodles, the crispy cabbage and the seasoning  from the packet.

After I made this salad I asked Cory if it reminded him of anything we have had before and he brought up the Top Ramen salad.  I had the same thought.

For some reason the dressing, the crunchy almonds and the spiraly vegetables made us believe that we were eating a very similar salad to the one we loved from our early days of marriage.  And you know that was a long time ago-- wink..wink

I added chicken for some protein and to help fill us up for dinner.  We are trying, and failing miserably on some nights, to not snack late into the night.

I committed a while back to eating more salads and this is one salad that the whole family has asked for several times.  It is a great way to involve your kids in meal planning, get them to try new vegetables and get creative.  Use any vegetable you want.

If you do get a Spiralizer (this is not a paid post-heck-they don't even know I bought one) I would recommend saving the tails.  When you put the vegetable onto the spiralizer you push and crank with one hand and hold the bowl with the other. The vegetable is being pushed through a metal tube and cut at the same time.  You are left with an assortment of "tails".  I tossed them into a baggie and froze them for when I make a vegetable broth or chicken noodle soup next.

This is a fun salad.  It is simple, and yet, you can do so much with it to add that gourmet flair.  I threw some black sesame seeds into ours for fun.

Enjoy!




Asian Style Spiral Salad

Makes 4 adult servings
Prep Time:  25 minutes
1 carrot, peeled
1 red or green apple
lemon juice (for apple)
1 yellow beet, peeled
1 zucchini, peel left on
4 large red radishes, peel left on
toasted almonds, optional
black sesame seeds, optional
cooked chicken pieces, optional
Meat is optional for this dish.  Chicken, beef or shrimp work well.  This is a great salad to use any leftover meat in the refrigerator from the night before, this is what we do.
Dressing:

Makes 1/4 cup 
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
2 tablespoons Mirin.  
Mirin is a japanese sweet cooking rice wine.  It can be found in the asian section of most grocery stores.

1.  Spiral all of the vegetables into a large bowl.

2.  Prepare a small bowl with 1 cup of cold water and juice from half a lemon.  Spiral the apple and add to the lemon water.  This will prevent the apple from turning brown.

3.  Combine the two dressing ingredients into a jar with a lid.  Shake.  Pour over salad and toss.
4.  Salad is best served immediately.  Everything is crunchy and crisp.   Add any optional ingredients and toss again.  Leftovers should be stored in the refrigerator and will soften a bit as it sits in the dressing.



Written by Sherron Watson

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