Thai Noodle Salad

• 12 ounces angel hair pasta
• 5 cups shredded napa cabbage
• 4 cups shredded carrots
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
  1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
  1 bunch chopped mint
• 1 bunch fresh green onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 18 oz cooked diced chicken

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  
  
  
  
  
  

Directions

(Use a food processor to shred the carrots)

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Break pasta into small pieces and add to boiling water; cook for 4 minutes or until al dente; drain. In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, cabbage, carrots, red bell peppers, 1/2 of the cilantro, 1/2 of the onions, and chicken.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter, tahini, rice wine vinegar and sweet chile sauce. Season with soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Ten minutes before serving, toss the sauce with the cabbage mixture until evenly coated. Garnish with remaining cilantro and green onions. Optional garnish: peanuts and sesame seeds.

Eat cold. Makes great left overs. 

Makes 17/1 cup servings 175 calories per serving. 

Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/thai-noodle-salad-2/detail.aspx

Terryaki Chicken

Terryaki Sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 cup water

1/4 tsp garlic (or two cloves garlic)

1/2 tsp ginger

Thicken with corn starch

Variation: add juice of mandarian oranges and add oranges with the chicken

Normally, I would chunk the chicken and cook it in a frying pan and then make the sauce and put them together. But, today, I put the raw chicken breast into the crockpot and poured the sauce on it and cooked it on high for 4 hours. Poured the sauce into a pan, thickened it w/cornstarch. I roughly cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces. (it was super tender and easy to cut, not quite falling apart, so that was good). Put them together and served over rice. It was a hit! Yum!

If you like it spicer, I'm sure you could put some red pepper into it. I thought it was fine, and super easy!

I think I would do 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts to sauce. I quadrupled the sauce and had 9 breast. We had leftovers.

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Prep: 10 min
Total: 8 hours 10 min.
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:
8 small boneless skinless chicken thighs (1 lb.)
3 Tbsp. flour
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1/3 cup barbecue sauce
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. ginger

Directions:
1. Toss chicken with flour in slow cooker
2. Stir in all remaining ingredients and cover with lid.
3. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours (or on high for 3 to 4 hours.)

Yummy!!!

I have made this once, and it was fabulous...maybe a little too spicy for my liking, so I might take out the ginger and make sure the bbq sauce wasn't spicy.

Moo Shu Chicken

The thing I like about this recipe is that it can be prepped the night before.

Makes 4 servings-
4 tablespoons reduced- sodium soy sauce
4 garlic gloves minced
3/4 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into 2" strips
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups shredded napa Cabbage
2 cups shredded bok choy (Chinese cabbage)
1 carrot shredded
1/2 cup canned straw mushrooms, rinsed, drained
1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots, rinsed, drained and thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon hot chili oil (optional)
8 Whole- Wheat Moo Shu Pancakes ( you can also use flour tortillas)
4 Teaspoons Hoisin sauce

1. Prepare the Marinade. In a gallon-size zip loc bag combine 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and half the garlic; add chicken. Seal the bag; squeezing out the air; turn to coat the chicken. Refrigerate, turning the bag occasionally, 1 hour min. Drain and discard the marinade.

2. In a small bowl, combine the 2 remaining tablespoons of soy sauce, the remaining garlic and the ginger; set aside.

3. Spray a large nonstick skillet with Pam; heat. Saute' chicken until cooked through, 2-3 min. Transfer to a plate. In the skillet, combine the cabbage, bok choy, carrot, mushrooms and bamboo shoots; cook, stirring frequently, until the cabbage and bok choy begin to wilt, 4-5 minutes. Add chicken and the soy sauce mixture and hot chili oil; Toss to combine.

4. To serve, spread the pancakes with the hoisin sauce; top with chicken mixture and roll up.
Just for the filling - points 9 , 503 calories, 3 g fat,88 carbs, 31g protein, 726mg sodium

Coconut Curried Chicken

Ingredients

3 or 4 chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
2 Tbsp. curry powder
1/2 cup canned light coconut milk
1 Tbsp. canned tomato paste
2 tsp. canola oil
3 minced garlic cloves (I just use garlic powder)
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Cook the chicken and oil in a large skillet, stirring in the curry powder, garlic, onion, ginger, and cayenne. Add the tomato paste and coconut milk and mix well. Let simmer for about 10 minutes or until chicken is all the way cooked and the sauce looks like it is done. Serve over rice and enjoy!
*If you want to double the recipe and freeze some for later, it works pretty well and is a good way to use up the rest of the coconut milk and tomato paste.

Won Ton Soup

Mostly Homemade War Wonton soup.
(with Lisa's Eggrolls - one baked and one fried)

1/2 of a large pkg frozen potstickers
( I use the chicken/vegetable ones from Costco)
Bring 10 cups chicken broth to a boil and add two flavoring packets from the potstickers.
While that is heating:
Chop about 8 green onions and add to broth
When water boils add about 1/2 pkg won tons (I figure about 3-4 per person) and start timer for 8 min.

While that cooks wash, chop and set aside the following:

1/2 head or so of Broccoli
1 Small head Bok Choy (in fruits and veggies near the lettuce)
1 cup carrots chopped
Mushrooms - to taste (if they are small you could leave them whole)
Drain one can of sliced water chestnuts and set aside
Drain one can of baby corn and set aside

NOTE: You can add diced firm tofu or any kind of leftover (all ready cooked) meat if you like but avoid any with strong seasoning as it changes the flavor of the broth. Char shu pork is awesome if you can find it.

When timer dings. take the soup off the heat and add the veggies (and tofu or meat) making sure they all get submerged in the boiling broth. Put lid on and allow to sit for a few minutes off the heat while you set the table and round up the kids.

DINNER'S READY!

Note: We like our veggies crisp tender - if you like them softer, allow them to cook in the broth until desired tenderness (or mushiness:)

The only Weight Watcher points in this is the Won Tons - 4 points for three
If you add meat there are also points for that.

Cashew Chicken

I love this recipe and it is pretty easy.

Cashew Chicken

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite size chunks.

1 bunch of broccoli, cut into florettes

3 green onions, sliced

1 can water chestnuts, sliced

a handful of cashews (I have never measured them, just put in how many I think looks good)

Stir fry chicken and a little garlic. Start the sauce while the chicken is cooking. (see below)

Add broccoli, green onions until cooked to desired texture. (I like mine done more but many people like them crunchy). Add water chestnuts and cashews

To make the sauce:

2 cans of mandrian oranges (drain the juice into the pan, keep the oranges to put into the chicken)
1 Cup Chicken broth
8 TBL sugar (1/2 cup?)
6 TBL Soy sauce
2tsp garlic
2 tsp ginger

Combine above into a pan and boil. Thicken with cornstarch. Poor on stir fry and add the oranges and serve over rice.

Egg Rolls

I love to make these because they turn out so yummy. My husband says they are the only "chineese" food that I make that is as good as a resturant.

Egg Rolls

1 lb ground chicken or turkey. (pork works too) (I use 1 lb even if I double it)

1 tsp ginger
2 cups finely chopped cabbage (abt ½ head)
¼ lb bean sprouts (I buy the pkg and put about ½)
½ C. shredded carrot
3 green onions, finely chopped
2 TBL oyster sauce (in the Chinese section)

1 pkg Large Square wanton wrappers (usually in the fruits/veggie section)

Stir fry meat and ginger over high heat. Add cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot and green onions. Cook 2 minutes or so. Stir in oyster sauce. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I often will salt to taste here, especially if you are using ground turkey. IF the filling tastes good, the egg roll will too. You can try it and season to taste.

Let mixture cool. Use 2 TBL’s (or so) of filling for each egg roll.

Deep fry at 350 in vegetable oil until golden, turning occasionally. Drain on paper towels.

To fold the eggroll:

Lay wrapper diagonally.

Place filling in wrapper, close to the bottom corner.

Fold up bottom corner to cover filling.

Fold in both sides roughly against filling.

Roll toward top corner.

Wet the top corner slightly (I dip my finger in water and just go down both sides a little. Then when you roll it closed it will seal. Then it is ready to cook.


Some things I have found out…if the filling is hot, the wrapper will tear. This makes the oil pop and stuff comes out. Also, if they sit too long, they will get soggy on the bottom.

If you want to make them and only cook a few, freeze the rest. I have frozen them uncooked and cooked. If they are cooked, they can just go into the microwave. I freeze them on a cookie sheet for about an hour, and then put them into a ziplock bag. You can then remove however many you want to eat at one time. We eat a ton of these, and I usually double or triple it. So, one head cabbage, one bag bean sprouts, 1 lb meat, and last time I used 3 packages of wrappers.

I also have been trying to bake them instead of frying them, in my effort to lose weight. They are not as good, but not bad either. Last time, I baked them at 350 for 10 min and then put them under the broiler for 4 min. They were not too bad. :) You still can't eat 8 though. (Well, you could and you will want too, but you shouldn't or you will get fat like me. Stick to 2...a day)

Asian Turkey Wraps

I'm sorry I missed my day this week! I had like...9 distractions! :) I hope you don't mind me posting one today. I got this from a friend who got it off another site, but I love it! I wish I knew which site it came from to give them credit.

Asian Turkey/Lettuce wraps

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ( have just sprayed with Pam and it was fine)

1 Cup finely chopped onion

1 lb ground turkey breast

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic salt

1 12 oz bag of Broccoli Slaw

1 small can drained water chestnuts

½ Cup Yoshida’s Teriyaki Sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil (I have made w/o if I don't have any)

Approximately 15 Butter Lettuce leaves (you can also use iceberg lettuce leaves)

1. Place oil into a large 5 qt skillet or other large pan over medium heat. When hot, add onion and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Add ground turkey, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Brown and crumble until cooked through.

2. When turkey is cooked, stir in broccoli slaw, water chestnuts, teriyaki sauce and sesame oil. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Reduce heat to low until ready to serve. Serve spoonfuls inside lettuce leaves. Enjoy!