Posts tagged ‘dinner’

May 4

Gingered Beef Stir-Fry

Over the weekend I received my first issue of Taste of Home magazine – the April/May 2009 issue. The first recipe I decided to try from this issue is the gingered beef stir-fry. I really love stir-fry dishes, especially if they include ginger. I’ve only recently became a fan of asparagus, so I was excited to try this particular recipe.

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It was quite quick and simple to prepare and tasted very nice. I used ground ginger instead of fresh ginger and did not notice much of a ginger taste; next time I’ll use fresh ginger. Also, I thought the two pounds of asparagus was a little excessive, so I just used one pound.

As far as stir-fry dishes go, this was an average one, but definitely well worth preparing.

Gingered Beef Stir-Fry
Adapted from April/May 2009 Taste of Home magazine
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce, divided
1 tablespoon sherry
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh gingerroot or dash ground ginger
1/2 pound beef flank steak, cut into thin strips
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup beef broth
1 1/2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1/8 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups hot cooked rice

Method
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine 2 tablespoons soy sauce, sherry and ginger; add the beef. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, broth, hoisin sauce, sugar and remaining soy sauce until smooth; set aside.

In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry beef in 1 tablespoon oil until no longer pink. Remove and set aside. Stir-fry asparagus in remaining oil until crisp-tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.

Stir cornstarch mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Return beef to the pan; heat through. Serve with rice.

Apr 29

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Healthy Eating & Morel Mushrooms

My mom is staying a few days with me this week and is doing some cooking for me. That’s great because I’m not the best cook; I much prefer to bake! I just wanted to share the meal she made for me last night, and later in the post I’d like to share a photo of a bag full of morel mushrooms that my dad found in the woods behind his and mom’s house.

But first, last night’s dinner. My mom has turned to a diet of organic and healthy foods, so she decided to cook up some samples of what she’s been eating for me.

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We had organic sweet potato soup (swirled with cinnamon and dotted with mini marshmallows), steamed broccoli and cauliflower and a lightly seasoned salmon fillet. It was really yummy!

And now the morel mushrooms. As everyone knows, it’s morel season now and my dad found quite a few good-sized morels in the woods behind my parents’ house in the country.

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The one lying in the very front is approximately six inches long! While my mom has been here with me, my dad has been at home feasting on these morels!

Apr 3

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Chili Spaghetti

For years, the only way I knew how to eat spaghetti was with a tomato-based sauce. Spaghetti is one of my favorite foods, and when I realized that it didn’t have to have that tomato-based sauce, I was ready to branch out and try new things with my spaghetti.

I haven’t made this recipe for a while, but when I saw the picture I took of it way back when in my Flickr photo set I was reminded of how much I enjoyed this particular spaghetti.

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This is chili spaghetti and the recipe comes from a Jamie Oliver cookbook. I no longer have the book (it’s stored away with my other possessions in Sydney for now), but I think it was the book titled Jamie’s Kitchen.

Chili Spaghetti
Adapted from Jamie Oliver

Ingredients
1 pound dried spaghetti
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
1-2 fresh red chilies, seeded and finely chopped
1 good handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (I toss in the leaves whole, for that rustic appearance)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
While cooking the spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente, fry the garlic in a couple of good glugs of olive oil until softened. Add the chilies, drained pasta and parsley. Toss to coat, season and serve.

Just a reminder on the chilies – try to wear rubber gloves if possible while chopping chilies, and if not possible, then wash your hands thoroughly immediately after chopping (i.e., do not touch your eyes or other parts of your skin). Also, if you’re looking for more mild chilies, choose larger ones; if you want a hotter chili, choose smaller ones.

Mar 31

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Spaghetti & Meatballs

This isn’t the most exciting recipe you’ll find here at The Sweetest Kitchen, but I do like to blog about the yummy stuff I’ve made in the kitchen. Spaghetti is just one of my many favorite dinners, but I usually just cook spaghetti and throw a jarred sauce onto it, sometimes with grated parmesan cheese. I haven’t had spaghetti and meatballs in years, and decided that this is what I’d do with the pound of frozen ground beef in the freezer.

I just used what I had on hand, it was a totally made up recipe! And I still used a jarred sauce!

Meatballs
Adapted from myself
Makes 2 dozen meatballs, depending on how big you roll them

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg

Method
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined, hands are usually best to mix this. Roll into 1-1 1/2 inch balls and place on a baking/cookie sheet. Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Serve with freshly cooked spaghetti and your favorite spaghetti sauce.

There are better meatball recipes out there, but mine tasted just fine and I’m looking forward to the leftovers for dinner tonight!

Mar 28

Indian Butter Chicken

Having came from and grown up for the first 20 years of my life in a small country town, I was totally oblivious to all the different foods that are out there, namely foods from different countries. When I moved to Sydney in 2001 I was overwhelmed with the variety of food choices and fell in love with so many different ethnic foods. One of my favorites is Indian butter chicken.

I’ve had a craving for butter chicken for the past week and since there are no Indian restaurants nearby in this suburb of Indianapolis that I’m now in, I had to make it myself. I searched for a recipe and found on that had received heaps of great reviews and had a 5-star rating on FoodNetwork.com.

While it isn’t the best recreation of my favorite butter chicken from the restaurant in Sydney that I used to visit, this is a fantastic Indian dish. Despite the long ingredient list, it actually is quite easy to prepare, as well. I was very pleased with my version of butter chicken, and I will definitely be making this again.

My notes:

Now, I say “my version” because I realized that garam masala isn’t the easiest spice to find in the grocery store. After a big search of the aisles, I ended up using curry powder instead of garam masala. So technically, perhaps you could call this a red curry rather than butter chicken!?

I also used fresh garlic instead of preminced garlic from a jar; I minced two fresh garlic cloves.

I bought a fresh already-made rotisserie chicken from the deli in our grocery store, so I didn’t even have to worry about cooking my own chicken. I tore the whole chicken into shreds and added it to the sauce.

The recipe says it serves 4, but the servings they are talking about must be huge – this recipe made heaps of butter chicken. I think we’ll be eating it for the next three dinners!

Mar 27

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Portobello Mushroom Burgers & Baked Onion Rings

Our dinner last night was exceptionally tasty. I just have to blog about it! The pictures were taken in late evening natual light so they’re not that great, but it’s better than what our artificial kitchen lighting would have been.

Anyway, these two recipes are ones that I have recently found on Land O’ Lakes recipe index and TasteSpotting.com. Grilled portobello mushroom burgers and oven-baked onion rings.

The recipe for grilled portobello mushrooms is posted here (they spelled portobello as “portabella”, but I’m pretty sure I’ve spelled the correct way?). The mushrooms are coated with melted butter, chopped garlic and chopped fresh basil, then grilled. They are then accompanied by romaine lettuce and a sliced tomato on a whole wheat bun. The recipe also called for onion slices, but I forgot about them!

We don’t have a real grill, so I used our little George Foreman grill that my cousin gave us for Christmas in 2006.

This is a delicious, meaty and juicy alternative to hamburger. We’re not vegetarians here, but this mushroom burger is good enough to make us turn into vegetarians!

Next on the menu, oven-baked onion rings, which I originally found on TasteSpotting.com; the recipe is posted here, at Le Petit Pierogi. The neat thing about these onion rings is that they are baked, not fried. Their coating of panko bread crumbs ensures that you’ll get a nice crunch from these onion rings.

They weren’t exceptional, but I loved that they were homemade and oven-baked, and they were a nice pairing for the mushroom burgers.

Jan 26

Cupcakes Are Coming

This past week I haven’t had a lot of sweets, but I have enjoyed trying out some other new recipes that I’ve been craving for lunch and dinner. For example, this simple chicken and salad wrap really hit the spot the other day.

All it is is a whole wheat tortilla, romaine lettuce, grilled chicken strips (these can be purchased frozen and pre-cooked, to be reheated in the microwave) and a few drips of tomato & herb based salad dressing. Simple, healthy and tasty!

The other recipe I cooked up was very nice as well. It is super easy and can be made in one pot. All it is is chicken breasts, stewed tomatoes, garlic, mushrooms and oregeno.

I would have liked to have served this with plain white or brown rice, but I didn’t have any. I served it with peas instead. My 18-month-old son loved this and ate every single last crumb of this. I was so pleased because this is a boy who loves his french fries and chicken nuggets, so when he eats any kind of vegetable it is something to write about! My 3-year-old daughter, however, would have nothing of it!

I forget where I got this recipe, it was just printed out in Notepad and stuck in my recipe book, so I’ll post it here in case anyone else is interested in trying this as well.

Chicken, Mushrooms & Tomatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, about 1 1/2 pounds
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (14.5 ounces) stewed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Method:
Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large (5-quart) saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat; swirl to coat bottom of pan. Cook chicken, turning when it easily releases from the pan, until golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Add mushrooms; cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, and oregano. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until tomatoes have broken down, 10 to 15 minutes.

Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pan; cover, and cook until chicken is opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes. Turn chicken to coat with sauce, and serve.

I was not able to enter Iron Cupcake: Earth this month because I have simply not had time to go on a search for necessary ingredients. The only time that I did have a chance, I couldn’t find one of the main ingredients that I needed! This is the first challenge that I have missed, but I do eventually intend to make the wine cupcake that I wanted to make for January’s challenge.

And just as a heads up, coming up later in the week are chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes. Chocolate chip cookie dough baked inside chocolate cupcakes, and frosted with raw (eggless) chocolate chip cookie dough! Yum! I can’t wait to taste these!