Ginger-Soy-Garlic Dressing

I have been eating A LOT of salads lately for lunch, and sometimes dinner.  Salad dressings not containing sugar are impossible to find at my grocery store.  Lucky for me, there are four pages of salad dressing recipes in my new The South Beach Diet Super Charged book.  I adapted their recipe for Soy-Ginger dressing and made the ginger the prominent flavor.  I used it over my salads and also marinated thinly sliced cucumbers in it.  Both were full of flavor and delicious!  Just make sure you stir it well before serving.  Then spoon it over your salad so that you get plenty of ginger and don't overdress it.

Ingredients:

3 T reduced sodium soy sauce
4 T red wine vinegar (original recipe called for rice wine vinegar)
1-2 T freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
black pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
1/2 cup Canola oil

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all ingredients except Canola oil.  Slowly drizzle in the Canola oil while whisking.  Serve over salad, vegetables, or use as a marinade.  Enjoy!

Broccoli, Zucchini, and Mushrooms In Brown Sauce Over Steamed Rice

I wanted to make an easy Chinese dish for lunch today while my girls were home.  I had an idea to use up all of their favorite vegetables from the fridge in a Chinese style saucy dish that would please us all.  It was fast, flavorful, and much healthier than delivery.

Ingredients:

1 T butter
1 pint fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 C chicken broth
2 C fresh broccoli florets
1 large green zucchini, cut into bite size pieces
1 T brown gravy sauce (found in Asian aisle)
2 T low sodium soy sauce
garlic powder, to taste
black pepper, to taste
1 T corn starch
2 T cold water

1 1/2 C Brown or white rice, cooked per package instructions

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter.  Add the mushrooms and a splash of soy sauce.  Saute until tender.  Remove from pan to a bowl and set aside.  Add the chicken broth, broccoli, zucchini, brown gravy sauce, soy sauce, garlic powder, and black pepper to the pot.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and let cook until broccoli is cooked but still slightly crisp, about 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms back to the pot.  Stir together 1 T corn starch into 2 T cold water in a cup.  This is a slurry that will thicken up your sauce.  Add slurry to your sauce and stir until thickened.  Taste and add more soy sauce if needed.  Serve over steamed rice.  I always add a little Sriracha on top of mine for some extra spice.  Enjoy!

Sushi Night At Home!

Growing up in Dallas, there are so many restaurants to spoil a food lover.  My all time favorite by far is Kobe Steaks.  It's a fabulous hibachi grill that I would request for every special occasion.  The wait list was usually about 2 hours on a Friday or Saturday night, but always worth the wait.  My husband and I would go at least 2 times a month (before kids) and on every date night (after kids) until we moved too far away. 

Oh my, what were we to do now!  We had to find a new hibachi grill and pronto!  We got lucky and really enjoyed the first one we tried.  And this one has an entire area of the restaurant dedicated to sushi.  We do not eat raw fish, but we finally decided to try some California Rolls and Shrimp Tempura Rolls.  And then I was hooked!  Since we enjoy watching the crazy Hibachi master chef cooking up our favorite steaks, shrimp, chicken, and fried rice, we always sit at one of the Hibachi grills.  He always puts on a great show with lots of fire and tricks.  My girls love eating there on Sunday afternoons.  My hubby and I even take our little 3 year old for an early lunch on his day off during the week.  We always order a Spicy Volcano Roll as an appetizer, which is like a California roll topped with a spicy sauce and either fried crawfish or shrimp...amazing!

I've heard some food bloggers talk about how simple these California rolls are to make at home at decided to give it a try.  I used the recipe for Sushi Rice over at Mommy's Kitchen as she explained it the best and had lots of pictures to follow.  I'm not posting a recipe on my blog.  Please visit Mommy's Kitchen if you want a great tutorial and recipe for California rolls and please leave her a nice comment.

I found all the Sushi making equipment (bamboo mats, rice paddles, pretty plates, and dipping bowls) at World Market.  They also have fancy reusable chop sticks and all the Asian cooking supplies (Sushi rice, Nori, wasabi paste, red chili paste, Sriracha, Tamari).  You can find the protein and produce at your local grocery store as most now have a fully stocked Asian aisle. 

Look at the cute Sushi serving set I found at Ross for only $9.99.  They also had a red/black set.

I carefully prepared the Sushi rice, chopped up all the fillings, and got to work.  My hubby stood next to me using his own bamboo mat.  He doesn't like "to be told what to do...nobody controls him, ever!" so his first roll turned out a mess.  Our girls were laughing so hard!  He said, "yours look so good...how did you do that?"  I explained that I have been researching and was simply trying to help guide him through the process first.  MEN!!!  So my hubby then made another roll with the rice and fillings inside the Nori, and left me to assemble the rest.  I thought it was fun!  My girls stood there watching me like it was a TV cooking show, absolutely mesmerized...how cute!  They were really excited to try their Mommy's creation.  Luckily, they really liked the rolls, but had a hard time taking little bites through the Nori.

We made four different rolls:  

California Rolls - Sushi rice on the outside, then the Nori sheet, filled with imitation crab, cucumber, and avacado

Fried Shrimp Rolls - Sushi rice on the outside, then the Nori sheet, filled with fried shrimp, cucumber, and avacado

Hubby Creation #1 - Partial sushi rice on the outside, then the Nori sheet, filled with crab, fried shrimp, cucumber, avacado, and more sushi rice (it was HUGE)

Hubby Creation #2 - Nori sheet, sushi rice, filled with crab, fried shrimp, cucumber, and avacado

I made a simple spicy sauce to top mine and Hubby's rolls.  I just mixed together some mayonnaise, Sriracha sauce, a splash of rice wine vinegar, and a pinch of sugar.  We like it spicy and this definitely did the trick.  Hubby also used some red chili paste because he likes his rolls really spicy!  I also made a little dipping sauce by stirring a little bit of wasabi paste into Tamari soy sauce.  My girls used a simple soy sauce for dipping.

This was a fun family mea!  It takes a little planning and preparation, but is well worth it.

We finished our Sushi meal with some comforting warm Caramel Apple Pie

And we all went to bed with very happy tummies!

Chicken, Mushroom and Broccoli Lo Mein with Ginger Garlic Brown Sauce

I have been craving my favorite lo mein from our local Chinese restaurant.  But my husband is on this stupid "NO CARB DIET" so we haven't ordered any Chinese lately.  I decided to make my own version of lomein for lunch today for Jordyn and I to eat.  I saved the rest for my girls to eat for dinner.  This dish was really easy, tasty, and fairly healthy since I didn't use much oil.  I used vegetables that my family likes, so feel free to change it up to fit your tastes.  I wanted to add fresh bean sprouts at the end, but my grocery stores did not have any in the produce section last week.  This would have made it perfect. I used some leftover grilled chicken from last night.  You can also saute the chicken first, remove it, and then put it back in at the end of the cooking process. 

Ingredients:

2 cups leftover cooked chicken, cut into strips or bite size pieces
1 T butter
1 T canola oil
1 small container fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 white onion, sliced
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh ginger, grated
1 can low sodium chicken broth, 1/4 cup reserved
2 T corn starch
1 T brown gravy (found on Asian aisle)
1 T Hoison sauce
Low sodium soy sauce, to taste
black pepper, to taste
1/2 box Barilla linguine noodles, cooked al dente

Cook linguine noodles in salted boiling water for 8 minutes.  Set aside.

In a large deep skillet, saute onions and mushrooms in  butter and oil until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and ginger, and cook for another minute.  Add 3/4 of the chicken broth and broccoli.  Cover with a lid and bring to a boil.  

In the meantime, mix together the remaining chicken broth, corn starch, brown gravy, and Hoison sauce.  When the vegetable mixture comes to a boil, remove the lid.  Add the brown gravy chicken broth mixture and cook for 3 minutes.  Add the chicken and cooked linguine to the skillet.  Toss well using tongs.  Cook for a couple more minutes until the noodles have finished cooking through (Chinese noodles are never served al dente) and have absorbed some of the brown gravy sauce.  

Taste and season with black pepper and soy sauce.  If you like it spicy, you can add some red chili paste, red pepper flakes, or Sriracha.  I refrain from making it spicy or my kiddos wouldn't touch it.  I squeeze some Sriracha on my bowl of lo mein since I prefer it spicy.  Enjoy!