Meatballs with Peppers and Pineapples

Does anyone else feel like Asian food is kind of addicting? I think it's the sauce. The sauce is always delicious and makes me want to eat more rice. Although it's not a traditional Asian recipe by any means, I was definitely addicted to these sauce-covered meatballs.

This was really easy to make but tastes like it took awhile. If you like spice, up the crushed red pepper.

Meatballs with Peppers and Pineapples

Source: The Pioneer Woman

1 1/4 lb ground beef

1/2 onion, diced

1 whole egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper, more to taste

1/4 cup All-Purpose flour

canola oil, for frying

2 whole green peppers, seeded and diced roughly

1 1/2 cup fresh pineapple chunks

2 cups beef stock

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 cup sherry or wine vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

salt to taste

crushed red pepper to taste

extra beef stock, if needed

rice, cooked (optional)

Combine ground beef, diced onion, egg, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and crushed red pepper. Mix well with hands until combined. Roll meat mixture into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Freeze on the pan for 15 minutes to firm.

Mix together beef stock, soy sauce, sherry (or vinegar, sugar, and cornstarch.

Heat canola oil over medium-high heat. Roll meatballs in flour, then fry in two batches until nice and brown, about 2 minutes per batch. Remove meatballs and set aside on a separate plate.

Pour off oil from pan and return pan to medium-high heat. When pan is hot, throw in the chopped green peppers and cook for one minute. Add pineapple to pan and cook for one minute, stirring gently. Pour in stock/soy sauce mixture, then add meatballs. Stir gently to combine and cook for one minute, or until sauce is thickened. Add salt and crushed red peppers to taste.

Serve over cooked rice. Enjoy!

Sesame Chicken

The night I made this, we were in a rush to get from school/work to our Growth Group. I hadn't eaten in around 10 hours (except for a Butter Croissant from Starbucks-those are delicious) and needed food before we went. I threw this together in under 15 minutes from the time I opened the fridge to the time it was on the table. This was an easy, but by no means authentic, recipe. We loved the taste with the hint of spiciness.

Sesame Chicken

Source: The Rookie Chef

3 chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1/2 bottle of Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Add chicken into pan with cooking spray and cook through over medium heat. Once they are cooked, add the dressing and spices to the chicken over low heat. Keep stirring and allow to caramelize. Serve over rice or by itself. Enjoy!

Shrimp Lo Mein and Japanese Steakhouse White Sauce

I'm horrible with New Years Resolutions. One of mine for this blog was to post at least two times a week and here I am updating for the first time in a month. The hubs had to go to the field for some military exercise for the last month and I would be embarrassed to post what I ate this past month. I did get to eat a few dishes with beans, which the hubby hates, but other than that there were quite a few nights where I hit up the drive-thru...

But I'm back! And I thought I'd start it out with this gem of a recipe from Food.com. It's not exactly authentic Chinese food, especially since I subbed spinach for bok choy (that is one expensive and hard to find ingredient), but it is delicious.

2 lbs medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 cup soy sauce

8 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

6 cloves garlic, minced

4 tsp sesame oil, divided

12 ounces snow peas

2 cups shredded carrots

1 head bok choy, sliced (I substituted spinach)

1 15 oz can chicken broth

7 scallions, sliced

12 oz fettuccine, cooked and drained

Combine first five ingredients and set aside for 10 minutes. In a skillet or wok, heat 1 tsp oil over high heat. Drain shrimp, reserving soy mixture. Cook shrimp until pink, 2-3 minutes. Remove from skillet.

Add 1 tbsp oil to skillet, then add peas and carrots and cook 1 minute. Add to shrimp. Cook cabbage in skillet with remaining oil 1 minute. Combine broth and reserved soy mixture and add to skillet, along with shrimp mixture. Cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and mix in scallion and fettucini. Enjoy!

The white sauce recipe can be found here. This sauce is pretty much the only reason I go out to eat at Japanese places. I love this sauce and his recipe is practically identical in taste. The person who posted this recipe asked to be linked instead of copied so follow the link above. Be sure to chill it overnight because that really helps the flavors mix.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Along with the fried rice, we had sweet and sour chicken. The sauce tasted amazing, even if was a tad too vinegary tasting. This with the fried rice made a filling and delicious meal. It will definitely be repeated.

Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper1 cup cornstarch2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Directions:
Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish.

Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stove top. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

This recipe is also from deliciousmelicious.com. We didn't have cornstarch so I used flour instead and it worked out fine. You can also bake the chicken without the sauce covering it and use it as a dip instead. Next time, I'm going to fry up some onion, green and red pepper and pineapple to add to the chicken.

Fried Rice

My first attempt at cooking Asian turned out great! Our Chinese usually comes in the form of styrofoam take out boxes from Panda Express, so when I decided to attempt cooking fried rice my husband was both excited and a little apprehensive. But it turned out great! It tasted just like my favorite take out!

Ingredients:
1 cup leftover meats - pork, chicken, beef, seafood
1-2 eggs
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 onion finely diced
3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped vegetables (fresh or frozen)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1-2 tablespoons light or dark soy sauce
1-2 cups prepared rice, cold (or day old)

Directions:
In a hot skillet or wok, heat oil.
Add garlic and onions & stir.
Add leftover meats of your choice, chopped up in bite sized pieces.
Stir fry meats until you get them a bit crispy.
Push the meats aside and crack eggs into the pan.
Scramble the eggs into the pan until cooked.
Add cold rice over the eggs & meat into the pan, making sure to crumble it in your fingers. (Dumping a large chunk of rice is not going to work here. You need to crumble it so it separates nicely).
Add salt, pepper, onion & garlic powders and soy sauce; toss.
Allow the rice to heat up and absorb the spices and soy sauce, tossing to help it along.
Add the fresh or frozen veggies and toss into the rice.
Continue cooking it all on high heat until rice is heated through and veggies are cooked.

I found this recipe on deliciousmelicious.com. I modified it a little bit and ended up making two batches because there were three of us eating dinner. I made vegetable fried rice so I left out the meats. Normally, fried rice usually has peas and carrots mixed in but we only had peas and corn so that's what I used.