Pei Wei Mongolian Beef!

Sorry I totally forgot to take a picture...

PEI WEI MONGOLIAN BEEF

2 tsp. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp. ginger, minced

1 Tbsp. garlic, chopped

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/2 c. water

3/4 c. dark brown sugar

1 c. vegetable oil

1 lb. flank steak

1/4 c. cornstarch

2 large green onions

Preparation:

• Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp. of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat. Don't let the oil get too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.
• Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/8" thick slices. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that hte cornstarch sticks.
• As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you can also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and saute for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges. You don't need to thoroughly cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.
• After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. Put pan back over the heat, dump the meat back in and let it simmer for about a minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions. Cook for one more minute.

Serve over rice or noodles..Makes enough to feed 4-5 people. (depending on how much everyone eats...)

I added zuccini, snow peas, and celery to mine and it was DELICIOUS! Seriously it was so good!

Cashew Chicken

**CASHEW CHICKEN**

1 Tbsp. oil
1/4 c. or more cashews
1 chicken breast half, cut in chunks
1/2 c. chicken broth
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 lb. Chinese snow peas
1/4 lb. fresh mushrooms
1/2 c. celery, sliced or chopped
1/2 c. carrots, sliced or chopped
2 green onions, sliced

1. In large nonstick pan, heat oil and stir-fry cashews on medium heat until lightly toasted. Remove cashews from pan with slotted spoon.
2. In same pan, stir-fry chicken until tender and no longer pink in center. Remove chicken from pan with slotted spoon. Remove pan from heat.
3. In a small bowl, combine chicken broth, soy sauce, cornstarch and sugar. Set aside. Return pan to heat.
4. Place snow peas, mushrooms, celery and carrots in pan and stir-fry 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in soy sauce mixture.
5. Add green onions and cook until well blended and thickened and add chicken.
6. Add cashews just before serving.

Makes 4 cups (serves about 1 person)

I made this for dinner tonight and it was DELICIOUS! I had to quadruple the recipe to feed everyone, but it worked out nicely. (If you are feeding 2 people double it, 3 people triple it, and so forth.) We left out the mushrooms. But other than that we followed the recipe spot on and it was SUPER easy! I was intimidated by the name of the meal "Cashew Chicken" sounds pretty fancy shmancy...but it was so easy and SO good! We put ours over noodles but everyone agreed it would have been better with rice. Anyway, this is a MUST TRY recipe!

Lettuce Wraps

We had these at a friend's house on Saturday night. So delicious and low fat.

3 Tbsp oil
3 Tbsp chopped onions
1 tsp Garlic, minced
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce
1 lb ground turkey

Special Sauce:
1/4 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Water
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
2 Tbsp Ketchup
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/8 tsp Sesame Oil
1 Tbsp Hot Mustard
2 tsp Water
1-2 tsp garlic and red chile sauce

Stir-Fry Sauce:
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Rice Vinegar

Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.

Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.

Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.

Bring oil to high heat in a work or large frying pan. Brown ground turkey. Add garlic.

Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together.

Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple of minutes then serve in lettuce wraps with the special sauce either ladled over the top of the meat mixture or a small bowl for dipping the lettuce wrap.

We also took some of the special sauce and made stir fry noodles as well. You can saute your favorite vegetables while you cook rice noodles. Then add the rice noodles to the vegetables and add a couple ladles of the sauce and bring warm.

Huli Chicken

The pictures do not do it justice ;o)

This is the best marinade I have come across yet!

Ingredients:Boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 C Water
1 C Soy Sauce
1 C packed brown sugar
¼ C Dried Sesame Seeds
Small fresh Ginger root
Fresh Garlic
Green Onions

Directions:
Mix water ,soy sauce and brown sugar in mixing bowl ( I use large zip lock bags)
Peel and chop garlic and ginger ( use equal amounts )
Dice green onions and remaining ingredients to liquid mixture. Add sesame seeds
Rinse chicken and add to Marinade. Refrigerate 1-2 days (the longer the better)

**I usually double the recipe. If your soy sauce is on the salty side you can add ½-1 C extra water. Also you can add pineapple juice to sweeten it up a bit in place of the extra water.***

Cooking:When you are ready to cook I recommend the BBQ but you can bake it as well. Remove Chicken from Marinade, set sauce a side. If you are BBQ you can glaze the chicken after you turn it the first time. If you choose to bake it pour glaze over chicken in baking dish cover and bake @ 350 until cooked ( 25-30 min)

Optional glaze:
I slowly boil the marinade for a couple of minutes then thicken and use as a glaze after the chicken is cooked. Make sure it comes to a full boil to ensure that it has cooked off the chicken juices.(Yes it is safe if you boil it long enough)

Great with any side dish of your choice. Enjoy!!