It's Nuts

The hubs and I got a wok as a gift when we got married. I finally used it for the right purpose! It created a very tasty an easy stir fry dinner.

The Ingredients

Shopping List:
1 lb. chicken, chopped
1 Tbsp. oil
1 pkg. frozen stir fry veggies
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 tsp. corn starch
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
5 drops hot sauce
3 cups chopped cabbage
Chopped Peanuts
Hot cooked rice

Directions:
-In a large skillet or wok, stir fry chicken in oil for 2 minutes. Add vegetables, cook 4 minutes longer. Add garlic; stir fry until chicken is no longer pink and veggies are crisp tender.
-In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Stir in the broth, soy sauce, peanut butter, and hot sauce until well blended. Pour over chicken mixture.
-Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add cabbage, cook 2 minutes longer or until crisp tender. Sprinkle with peanuts and serve with rice.

The WOK

The completed dish (minus the peanuts)

This meal was glorious. Just like the Chinese restaurant, but WAY healthier I'm sure. Let me know if you give this a try.

Southern Style

In honor of Mardi Gras, I recently made some Jambalaya. This is normally the husband's job each year, but I had found a new recipe and wanted to give it a shot!

Ingredients:

Shopping List:
1 green pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1 can condensed French Onion soup
1 can beef broth
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tsp. Creole seasoning (Cajun)
1 1/2 tsp. hot sauce
1 lb. uncooked shrimp, chopped
1/2 lb. Andouille sausage, chopped
2 cups uncooked long grain rice

Directions:
-In a large pan, saute the onion and pepper in butter until tender (the original recipe didn't call for this step but we like our veggies good and done!). Add soup, broth, tomato sauce, seasoning, and hot sauce. Stir and bring to a boil.
-Remove from heat and stir in shrimp, sausage, and rice.
-Transfer to a greased 9x13 inch pan. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil, stir, and bake 10-15 minutes longer, or until rice is tender.

Jambalaya (sorry for the terrible photo, I was hungry)

A few notes on this recipe.

-The flavor was AWESOME, not really spicy (add more hot sauce to your liking).
-We needed some more liquid because the rice seemed to absorb too much. We thought about adding a can of undrained chopped tomatoes next time.
-The recipe called for a full pound of shrimp and my bag was only about 2/3 of that. It still worked out just fine.
-I couldn't find any Andouille sausage at the grocery store so I just picked up plain smoked sausage. The husband informed me later that Cajun/Spicy brautwurst would have also done the trick.

Happy Eating!