Pot stickers anyone?

Today was a two meal day.  Every other Saturday we have the boys over all day.  I always start the day out with french toast and bacon.  Pretty standard fare.  The french toast is made with texas toast to give it some oomph.  Nothing wimpy about my guy's appetite so I like to go big.  The egg mix is just egg, vanilla, milk and a pinch of salt.  I had purchased some different extracts one day on a whim so I also made two of the toasts with some orange extract added to the basic egg mix.  You could smell the extract more than taste it, but not bad.  We like to try some different toppings and that is why the many jars of jelly are out.  Add a whole pound of bacon and, voila, breakfast.  Yummmm

After some game playing and grocery shopping it was time to start dinner.  Nick is a budding chef so we take advantage of this time together to cook.  I love having a sous chef.

This is Nick...handsome, isn't he.

Nick had already decided what dinner would be.  We have attempted to make pot stickers on several occasions and he wanted to give them another shot today.  To go along with the pot stickers he wanted to have Kung Pao Chicken.  The Kung Pao recipe is the same as the Kung Pao Beef I made at the beginning of the week.  Just replace the beef with chicken.

Rice...                                                                            Veggies...

                                 

My darling husband/best friend garnished his Kung Pao with a little more heat, sriracha sauce all over it...

  

I just like a few peanuts for the crunch factor

The real star of the show is the pot stickers.  Nick made the filling all by himself.  And did a fine job!!

Pot Stickers

1 pound ground sausage

2 cups chopped cabbage

2 Tbs soy sauce

2 Tbs rice wine vinegar

1 Tbs chopped green onion

1 Tbs sesame oil

2 tsp grated ginger

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 package won ton wrappers

Sprinkle some salt on the cabbage to draw out the water.  Let this set while you get all the other ingredients in your bowl.  When everything else is in the bowl take the cabbage and wrap it in paper towel and squeeze out the moisture.  Add the cabbage to the bowl and combine well.

Take approx 1 Tbs of the mixture and place it in the middle of the won ton.  We have been playing with the best way to form the pot stickers and have not really decided on the best way.  I encourage you to play with it also.  Just don't forget to wet the edges of the won ton with some water before you start your fancy fold.  It's the water that makes them stick together.  Put a little oil in the pan and add 1/4 cup of chicken stock on medium heat.  Add as many pot stickers as will fit in your pan without them touching each other.  Put a lid on the pan and let them steam for 6-7 minutes.  Remove them from the pan and put them on some parchment paper sprayed with some oil so they don't stick.  When you have them all steamed clean out your pan, put about 1/4 cup of oil in the pan and put it on meduim high.  Fry one side of your pot sticker to a golden brown.  

Dipping Sauce

2 Tbs light soy sauce (we used regular soy and it was too strong, if using regular water it down a bit)

1 Tbs rice wine vinegar

1 tsp grated ginger

a splash of sesame oil and a few rounds of green onion and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds make the sauce special.

We still need to perfect the appearance of those pot stickers but I don't know if we could make them taste any better...

Very flavorful and satisfying meal.  Thanks Nick for the menu and all the help!!

Spicy...whew...

Well...no picture...we sorta dove in to quickly cause we were hon-gree and just plain forgot!  Sorry.

I still had some Italian sausage left from the other day.  (Remember, I had the marvelous coupon and just had to use it.)  Today I decided to spice up an old favorite.  My darling husband/best friend cooked dinner one night (before he became the husband part of his name) and it still rotates into the dinner rounds quite often.  The original recipe is a package of Zatarain's Dirty Rice with browned sage sausage.  The box tells you how to do this with hamburger but we prefer the taste of the sausage.  Tonight I decided to expound on that recipe.

I took the rest of the Italian sausage out of their casing and put it in the skillet on medium high with one chopped onion, one chopped green pepper, one seeded and chopped jalapeno pepper and three chopped cloves of garlic and a splash of olive oil.  After the sausage was done and the peppers a little softened (about four minutes) I added one can of kidney beans and the Zatarain's mix with 2 cups of water.  I brought this to a boil and turned it down to a simmer and cooked it for about an hour.  We had some leftover raspberry tea to wash it down with...and man, did that hit the spot.  I will admit, this dish was on the verge of being a bit too spicy for me.  I think that jalapeno pepper was a hot one.  Sometimes they are real mild but sometimes, whew....sweating...

My darling husband/best friend took one bite and said, man-that's good.  Words to warm a cook's heart.  There is nothing like cooking for someone who truly appreciates your efforts. Thanks honey.

With no protein left in the house, I have no idea what tomorrow will bring to the dinner plate. That's exciting.  Maybe I will be able to pull out something brand new and complicated and try my hand at it.  Keep the Pizza Hut number handy...

My favorite Chinese dish...

My beautiful sister got us a wok for Christmas our first year together.  She knows how much I love to cook. At that time, I had not made any Chinese food other than what my brother called Chicken Teri Yucky  I often wondered if he really liked the meal when he gave it such a name, but he requested it enough for my feelings to not be hurt.  When I got the wok I wondered if I would really use it that much but my darling husband/best friend, along with having a penchant for pico de gallo, also has an intense Chinese food fetish.  So three cookbooks later I started my adventures in wok-ing.  This recipe is my absolute favorite.  You can use chicken or beef and any veggies you have on hand.

The first picture is what I call my go-to rice for Chinese meals.  It is white basmati cooked in chicken broth.  You want to put this on first because it takes 20 minutes to simmer.  While you are waiting for the rice to get done chop up three garlic cloves and four green onions and saute them in some oil then when the rice is done add it and a packet that I found in the store called Stir Fry Rice seasoning.  It's in the Asian food spot of any store around here so I know you can find it where you are. Combine well and let it sit while you do everything else.  Rice done.

While you are waiting on that rice to cook, because we all know it does not take 20 minutes to chop up three garlic cloves and four green onions, you can be cutting your meat into bite size pieces and making the marinade/sauce.

The best part of this recipe is the marinade/sauce.  I found this recipe in a magazine (so much for the expensive cookbooks),

Marinade/Sauce recipe
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (actually I use 1 1/2 cause we like it HOT)
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup of water

stir this up and put about half of it on the meat of your choice and allow it to marinate while you chop everything else up.  Reserve the other half to throw in with your veggies while they are cooking.

Once again I needed to use up some veggies in the fridge.  The tri-color peppers I got on sale at the beginning of the week were about to meet the same shriveled fate that the jalapenos were headed for yesterday.  I had half a red, yellow, orange and green pepper just waiting to be chopped up.  I added two carrots and the rest of the celery I had on hand, about three average stalks.  It was actually the middle bits but I think they would average out to three stalks of the outer part.  I added one small onion cut in half and then sliced thinly.  I can't resist water chestnuts so I threw in a can of those also.  I have used bok choy and sugar snap peas in this recipe but like I said earlier you can use any crunchy veggies you have on hand.

Just use the standard Chinese food cooking method.  Wok hot-throw in some oil and the meat-cook for a minute or two and remove from the pan. It doesn't need to be completely done because you are going to throw it back in towards the end.  Add a little more oil and throw in the veggies.  Cook for a minute or two and put in the reserved sauce.  Cook for a minute or two and throw the meat back in. (Don't leave out the meat juices that are on the plate, that's the good stuff)  Cook for a few more minutes or until the veggies are the desired crunch for your taste.

The third picture is to show that you can garnish this to your heart's delight.  My darling husband/best friend loves some extra green onion and we both love the crunch of the peanuts.  Yummm.