My FIRST STIR FRY!!!!

Szechwan Shrimp from allrecipes.com

sorry it's kind of blurry...so much steam!

(tripled sauce ingredients because I added broccoli!)


Here is my version of it:

• 12 tablespoons water
• 6 tablespoons ketchup
• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• 6 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup diced onions
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 12 ounces raw shrimp, shells and tails removed
• 1 lb broccoli florets 

Directions

1. In a bowl, stir together water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, crushed red pepper, and ground ginger. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in onions and garlic; cook 30 seconds. Stir in broccoli and half of the sauce and cook for 2 minutes.  Then, stir in shrimp, and toss to coat with oil. Stir in the rest of the sauce. Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and thickened.

Oh yeah, and instead of cornstarch, I used flour because we didn't have cornstarch.  And we didn't have ground ginger, so my dad rushed out and bought some.  Then he complained about how expensive spices are throughout the evening.

It was delicious!  Although my dad dislikes spice, so he requested that next time I make is less spicy.  Less red pepper, I guess.  And this sauce could probably make stir fried chicken or beef with broccoli too, I'm guessing.  Mmmm....I'm probably going to make this for tomorrow night's dinner too. 

Grilled Chicken, Salmon, and Tilapia

So I've been doing a lot of grilling recently...

FRIDAY: Marinated Grilled Chicken with boring veggies and rice.

SATURDAY: Grilled Salmon with rice, pineapple, and Bean, Corn, & Avocado Salad

SUNDAY: Grilled Tilapia with BCA Salad and Broccoli

I learned that it is necessary to oil the grill right before you put the stuff on so that it won't stick.  I stupidly oiled the grill only when I first started it.

For the marinated grilled chicken, I combined some soy sauce with olive oil, lemon juice, a tsp or two of worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and marinated the chicken for an hour in the refrigerator.

The salmon was coated in olive oil and rubbed with salt, pepper and lemon pepper, dill weed, onion and garlic powder.  Then drizzled with lemon juice.  This was so easy to grill and didn't stick at all (compared to the tilapia, which clung to the grill).  

The tilapia was mainly just olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon pepper.  I should have used more oil.  This was the only piece that was left whole.  All the others ripped into pieces when parts of them stuck to the grill.  :'( 

And the Bean, Corn, Avocado Salad was from this recipe from SparkRecipes.com.

Tomorrow, I will attempt to grill shrimp!

Simple Beef Stew

Beef Stew

1lb of angus beef cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 1/2 chopped onions

1 cup red cabbage

1 medium potato, cubed

1 cup soy sauce

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp corn starch

Directions:

Saute cubed beef and onions until browned, around 5 minutes. Then add everything else, except the corn starch. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Then mix the corn starch with a little water until smooth and add to the stew. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Then let cool and enjoy.

The recipe I was referencing for this stew included carrots, but I didn't use them because I don't have any. This is my first stew, and it's pretty yummy. I'm sure the sodium levels are high though. Oh well.

Check out this blurry picture:

Mmmm...beef. It's what's for dinner.

Pi Day and Green Bean Casserole

Sorry I forgot about this for a little bit.

Here is the Cephalonian Meat Pie that I cooked for Pi Day (3/14):

I keep always forget to take the picture until the food is almost gone. :(

Should not have listened to the recipe for the length of time to bake it. All of the crust was like a rock. But at least the filling was scrumptious! I added spinach and mushrooms to the recipe. Oh and some cinnamon.

And today I made the classic Green Bean Casserole for my roommate Katy's birthday:

It's so good that it looked like this after 10 minutes of being out of the oven.

The recipe link I attached to this isn't exactly what I used. I go off the recipe printed on the side of the french fried onions can. And I use the giant can of french fried onions. Mmmmmm so good...

I promise not to forget about you, little blog of mine!

Sweet & Sour Tilapia

Sweet and Sour Tilapia

from Palasang Pinoy

The photo I took with my cell phone doesn't do it justice. Also, I had started eating, then realized I still needed to take a picture. So that's why it's all crammed into a bowl. That's just how I eat.

Here's the picture from the recipe site:

I added extra sugar, some ketchup, mustard, and red pepper flakes instead of real red pepper flakes. It was tasty, but next time I will use just ketchup instead of tomato paste. I made this before with just ketchup and it was a lot tastier.

Luckily, this recipe made enough sauce to last me all week. Yummmm...

Mushroom Bhaji

From Serious Eats:

Mushroom Bhaji

mushrooms in tomato and onion sauce

Instead of white rice, I made brown rice. It was kind of undercooked. But it still burnt on the bottom anyway. The mushroom bhaji was super spicy, but I just drank a ton of orange juice with it.

Techanically, I cooked this yesterday.