Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Beef & Bell Peppers with Lemon Grass


Extremely Easy
Serves 4
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb lean beef tenderloin
2 T vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
1 lemon grass stem, shredded finely
1 inch piece fresh ginger root, chopped finely
1 red bell pepper, deseeded and sliced
1 green bell pepper, deseeded and sliced
1 onion, sliced thickly
1 T lime juice
boiled noodles or rice

1. Cut beef into long, thin strips, cutting cross the grain.
2. Heat the oil in large skillet or wok over a high heat. Add garlic and stir fry for 1 minute.
3. Add beef and stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes, or until lightly colored. Stir in the lemon grass and ginger, and remove wok from the heat.
4. Remove the beef from the skillet or wok, and keep to one side. Add the bell peppers and onion to the skillet or wok, and stir-fry over high heat for 2-3 minutes or until onions just turn golden brown and are slightly softened.
5. Return the beef to the skillet, stir in lime juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper Serve with noodles or rice.

Saute of Chicken, Corn & Snow Peas




Madison & I both do not like baby corn, so we omitted it. This is from my low fat cookbook again. It was really good! I would have added garlic and maybe a little bit more sauce, but other than that it was great!
I halved the recipe and it was just a bit more than we could eat.

INGREDIENTS:
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
9 oz baby corn
9 oz snow peas (I just had a bag of them from the other day, I think I used more than it called for but it was good!)
2 T sunflower oil
1 T honey
1 T sherry vinegar
1 T light soy sauce
1 T sunflower seeds
pepper
rice or egg noodles to serve


1. Using a sharp knife, slice the chicken breasts into long, thin strips. Cut the baby corn in half lengthwise, and trim the snow peas. Set veggies aside until required.
2. Heat sunflower oil in a wok or wide skillet, and cook the chicken over a fairly high heat, stirring constantly for 1 minute.
3. Add corn and snow peas and stir over moderate heat for 5-8 minutes, or until evenly cooked.
4. Mix together the sherry vinegar, honey, and soy sauce, and stir into the skillet with sunflower seeds. Season with pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Serve the saute hot with rice or egg noodles.

Difficulty: Extremely Easy
Serves 4
Prep: 5-10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Cook's tip: Rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar makes a good substitute for the sherry vinegar used in this saute.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Pad Thai





Even if you're not incredibly adventurous, you really should try this pad thai. It is SO good! I love it. I make it every so often. This is day 1 of our diet. I planned all of our meals out of my diet cookbooks (I have low fat cookbooks, etc.). This one is from my sister. It is really good and under 300 calories per serving. Even Madison loved it! I highly recommend it.
A hint: do all prep work before you cook everything in your wok or skillet...otherwise you will be stressed, trying to do stuff while things are cooking. Get lots of bowls out and prep everything ahead of time and place in the different bowls. I have little silicone prep bowls, but even cereal or small mixing bowls work well.

All these ingredients were at Kroger - I found most ingredients at Dominick's and Whole Foods when I lived in Wheaton. I know Wal Mart wouldn't have everything, but just about any grocery store will. It may sound gross, but I promise it is good :-)

Yield: 4 servings
----
2 quarts water
3/4 lb. mung bean sprouts
6 oz Rice noodles
----
Sauce:

3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons katsup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce or fish sauce (I use soy sauce...)
----
3 tablespoons Peanut oil or vegetable oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed (or 2 teaspoons minced garlic)
1 tablespoon fresh chile (I used a jalepeno pepper) or 1 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 cups carrots; grated
(I use a food processor grater, but you can grate w/ a cheese grater)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten with a pinch of s
alt
2/3 cup peanuts, chopped
6-8 scallions; chopped (about 1 cup)
In a covered pot, bring the water to a rolling boil.  Blanch the mung bean sprouts by placing them
in a strainer or small colander and
dipping it into the boiling water for 30 seconds.
Set aside to drain
well. When the water returns to a boil, stir in the rice noodles and cook for 3 to 5 minutes,
until tender but firm. These noodles stick easily, so stir often and put salt in the pot.
Drain the cooked
noodles, rinse them under cool water, and set them aside to drain.
Prepare the remaining ingredients and have them near at hand before
you begin to stir-fry.
Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet. Add
the garlic and chile, swirl them in the oil for a moment, and stir in
the grated carrots. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Push the carrots to the
sides to make a hollow in the center. Pour the
beaten eggs into the
center and quickly scramble them. When the eggs have just set, pour in the sauce mixture
and stir everything together. Add the drained
rice noodles and mung sprouts, and toss to distribute evenly.
Stir in
the peanuts and scallions, and serve at once. Enjoy!!

Grating the carrots
Patting the carrots dry:


Adding garlic & chile with oil in wok



Boiling the noodles:

Adding everything to the wok: