Lulu's Recipe Box

Healthy Cashew Chicken

I'm on a roll with finding wonderful recipes on Tasty Kitchen. This healthy cashew chicken was a little sweet, crunchy from the cashews and vegetables and just delicious! I loved all the vegetables and chicken for a well-rounded and quick dinner. I will definitely be adding this to my dinner rotation! I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil (Divided)

1 cup sliced mushrooms

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

2 T. cornstarch

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 red pepper, sliced thin

3 whole green onions, chopped

1/2 cup unsalted cashews

3 T. honey

3 T. low-sodium soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

jasmine rice for serving

Directions:

Heat a large nonstick skillet on medium heat and add 1 T. olive oil. Add the mushrooms and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from skillet into a small bowl.

Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper, then sprinkle cornstarch on chicken pieces and make sure each piece is somewhat coated. Add extra cornstarch if needed. Add the remaining olive oil to the skillet and brown the chicken until cooked through.

Add garlic, red pepper, edamame, half of the green onions, and cashews and stir for 30 seconds. Turn heat to medium-low.

In small bowl, mix soy sauce and honey. Pour into the skillet, coating the chicken and vegetables. Let it simmer a minute if you like the sauce a little thicker.

Serve over jasmine rice. Top with extra green onions.

*Slightly adapted from HowSweetEats on Tasty Kitchen

Shrimp and Pork Fried Rice

I'm back into the blogging world! I have to admit, I have been horrible at cooking new things the past few months. Life has been crazy between wedding planning, traveling back to Iowa for wedding showers and my work load with teaching. Unfortunately things are not slowing down anytime soon, but I forced myself to try some new recipes! I'll have at least three new ones for you this week! My first recipe this week is my mom's fried rice. This was one of my favorites growing up. I don't think my mom ever missed cooking a homemade meal for me. Fried rice is an easy dish to make and you can sort of throw in whatever makes you happy! It makes for great leftovers too! 

 

 

Ingredients:

Cook 1 1/2 cups of long grain rice in 3 cups water

4 slices of bacon fried crisp, then broken into small pieces

3 eggs, beaten

3 T. oil

2 tsp. grated fresh ginger root/about 1/2 to 1 tsp. of ground ginger

8 oz. cooked pork, cut into thin strips (you can use a thin pork chop)

8 oz. cooked shrimp, coarsely chopped (you can use fresh or frozen)

8 green onions, finely chopped

1-2 T. soy sauce

Directions:

Pour half of the egg mixture into wok or large fry pan. Cook and slide out onto plate. Roll the egg up and slice. Repeat with the other half of the egg mixture. Stir fry ginger in oil for 1 minute. Stir in already cooked rice for several minutes. Stir in bacon, pork, shrimp, green onion, egg and soy sauce. 

Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps

These chicken cashew lettuce wraps are very similar to the chicken lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang's. Those are delicious and I was really impressed by how great these were as well.These lettuce wraps had plenty of crunch, flavor and spiciness!  Great for a low carb meal too! Even though these are normally served as an appetizer, we ate them as our main dish. It was just enough food for the two of us as a meal. Instead of heading to P.F. Chang's next time, you can create these at home on the cheap and in about 30 minutes. Enjoy!  

Printable Version

Serves 6 as an appetizer or 2 as a main dish

Ingredients:

1 T. rice vinegar

1 T. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground red pepper

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp. sesame oil

2 T. plus 1 tsp. soy sauce, divided

3 T. Canola Oil or oil of choice

2 piece Chicken breast, about 3/4 lb., diced

1 cup diced onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup cashews, chopped

Leaves of Greenleaf or Iceberg lettuce, washed and dried

Directions:

For stir fry sauce, mix together rice vinegar, brown sugar, ground red pepper, ground ginger, sesame oil, and 2 T. soy sauce, making sure to dissolve brown sugar. Set aside.

Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add diced chicken and brown for about 4-5 minutes. Remove chicken from oil. Add onions and garlic to pan and remaining teaspoon of soy sauce to the pan and brown. When onions and garlic are brown and tender, add stir fry sauce, browned chicken and cashews. Saute mixture for a few minutes and remove from heat. 

Spoon chicken mixture into individual lettuce leaves. Add your favorite hot sauce, more cashews or basil as desired. 

***adapted slightly from Tasty Kitchen member missamy

Sweet and Sour Chicken

If you enjoy cooking or browsing cooking blogs, then I'm sure you have heard of the Pioneer Woman. She recently started a community recipe blog called, Tasty Kitchen. You can become a member to share recipes on the blog or you can just find and make recipes that are posted by members. Either way, it's a great blog to check out! I found this oh so delicious sweet and sour chicken recipe the other night over at Tasty Kitchen! I have to say, this was one of the best meals I have cooked in a long time! I will certainly be adding this to my regular rotation of dinner recipes. You have to try it! Seriously better than sweet and sour chicken at a Chinese restaurant! Can you tell I loved the recipe yet?? haha

While the preparation is a little messy (dipping the chicken in cornstarch and egg), it is well worth it in the end. The end result gives you lightly battered chicken that is full of flavor and moist. It is not as unhealthy as the heavy fried chicken in some Chinese restaurants. You only fry it for a few minutes in oil to get the sides brown and then you bake it in the oven for an hour. Your kitchen will be smelling might tasty while it's cooking! The meal is also wallet friendly, something I'm always searching for these days. Most of the ingredients are ones that you always have on hand in the kitchen and are not expensive. 

I wouldn't change anything about this recipe. The only thing I would do differently next time is make the extra sauce. I like a lot of sweet and sour sauce on my rice, so I will definitely make the extra sauce next time. Oh and next time, I will make my Crab Rangoon to go with! TC and I will never have to go out for Chinese food again! 

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

3 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper

1 cup cornstarch

2 whole eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup Canola oil

For the sauce:

3/4 cups sugar

4 T. ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 T. soy sauce

1 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:

Cut chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Have your cornstarch and lightly beaten eggs in two shallow bowls or dishes. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in the oil until browned on all sides but not cooked through. The chicken will continue to cook in the oven. Place the chicken in a single layer in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and pour over the chicken. 

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

Serve on top of rice. I like to use Jasmine Rice but any kind will do!  

*** Recipe from member Melanie on Tasty Kitchen

Chinese Chicken and Broccoli

I saw this recipe over at Annie's Eats the other day and thought it looked just as good as going out to a Chinese restaurant. What's even more impressive is she created the recipe herself. I hope I can get to that point as a cook of creating my own recipes. It was one of those nights where I did not feel like running to the grocery store for a few missing ingredients. I figured the recipe would probably turn out about the same if I left out the oyster sauce, green onion and sesame seed garnish. This dish really did taste as wonderful as some of the Chinese take-out that we have gotten. I'm looking forward to trying some more Chinese dishes to save some money! 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. peanut oil, divided
1½ tsp. sesame oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
¼-½ tsp. red pepper flakes
4 cups broccoli florets
6 tbsp. chicken broth, divided
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
4 tbsp. soy sauce
1½ tsp. cornstarch
3 scallions, chopped
Sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

Directions: 
Heat about half of the peanut oil and the sesame oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken pieces to the pan and sauté until golden brown and cooked through.  Transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon and cover with foil to keep warm.  Add the remaining oil to the pan.  Add the garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the red pepper flakes and broccoli florets to the pan.  Pour in about half of the chicken broth – it should steam and boil quickly.  Allow the broccoli to cook until crisp-tender and the broth has mostly evaporated.  Add the oyster sauce and hoisin sauce to the pan.  In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce and cornstarch, and add to the pan.  Stir in the remaining chicken broth.  Return the chicken pieces to the pan.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the scallions.  Serve over rice and garnish with sesame seeds, if desired.