Posts Tagged ‘soy sauce’
Simple Chicken & Sweet Pepper Stir Fry
June 2, 2013 | 
Author In undergrad I made a lot of stir fries. Oh the days before food blogging and my desire to make new recipes all the time. And the days when I was even less financially stable than I am now, which is hard to imagine as I sit here worrying how my bank account it going to survive the month. How did I function all those years with even less money than I have now? But I digress.
Stir fries are great not only because they are fast, but because you can really throw in whatever veggies and sauces you have lying about in your fridge. My new veggie obsession is baby sweet bell peppers because in the past I always find myself with fractions of bell peppers, but now I can just use little ones. A couple of those, a small chicken breast, soy sauce and some chili garlic sauce makes for a delicious stir fry.
In unrelated news, today is my sister-in-law Kate’s birthday! Happy 29th Birthday <3!! Hope you enjoy your birthday package that arrived yesterday 
.
One year ago: Strawberries and Cream Pie
Two years ago: Blueberry Pomegranate Smoothie
SIMPLE CHICKEN & SWEET PEPPER STIR FRY
Serves 1
Ingredients:
1/4 cup quinoa (or brown rice)
2 tsp olive oil
2 baby sweet bell peppers, julienned
1 clove garlic, minced
4 oz. chicken breast, cut into thin bite-sized pieces
2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/8 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 scallion, thinly sliced (optional)
Directions:
- Prepare quinoa or brown rice according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet over medium heat with one teaspoon oil. Add the bell peppers, and garlic and stir-fry until golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Return skillet to heat and add another teaspoon of oil. Add the chicken and stir-fry until the chicken loses its raw color and is golden, about 3 minutes. Add the soy sauce, garlic chili sauce, and return the bell peppers to the pan and toss to heat through.
- Serve over quinoa (or brown rice) and top with scallions.
Source: The Spiffy Cookie original
Slow Cooker Beef & Broccoli
The other day I spotted a 2.5 quart crock pot in a sale bin at Kroger. For $9.99. With purple polka dots! With my need for a smaller crock pot, minimal funds, and love for purple it’s like it was meant to be mine and therefore I swiped it up and purchased it (and heck yea for extra gas points). Hopefully cooking smaller volume recipes in this smaller crock pot will solve my issue with things cooking too fast in my larger 5 quart one, although it still lacks a timer setting on it so I will still have to depend on my plug timer.
Unfortunately, I bought the 2.5 quart crock pot after making this recipe I am sharing with you today, so I cannot yet report on it’s functionality just yet. So as usual for my 5 quart crock pot this recipe cooked twice as fast and therefore be sure to adjust the cooking time based on your crock pot’s mannerisms. But cooking time adjustments aside, this was an awesome meal. The beef was tender and the sauce was so good I ended up using every last drop on top of some leftover rice. Yes, I ate just the sauce over some rice because I enjoyed it that much.
One year ago: Blackened Chicken with Cilantro Lime Quinoa and Avocado Cream Sauce
SLOW COOKER BEEF & BROCCOLI
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
1 cup beef consumme or beef broth
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 cups broccoli florets, cooked
White rice, cooked
Directions:
- Coat the inside of the crockpot with nonstick spray.
- In the crockpot, whisk together beef consume, soy sauce, dark brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic.
- Gently place your slices of beef in the liquid and toss to coat.
- Turn crockpot on low and cook for 6 hours*.
- When done, in a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 4 tablespoons of the cooking liquid to create a slurry, pour back into crockpot, and stir to mix well. Cook on low for an additional 30 minutes to thicken up the sauce.
- Serve with broccoli florets over white rice.
*Cooking times may vary. My crock pot cooks hot with smaller volumes and only took 3 hours.
Source: Adapted slightly from Table for Two.
Pass the Cook Book Club: Guy Fieri’s Asian Fried Quinoa
Pass the Cook Book Club returns with round two! This month Kita chose Guy Fieri’s cook book titled Guy Fieri Food: Cookin’ It, Livin’ It, Lovin’ It. From the recipe selection, I decided to make his Asian Fried Quinoa. I’ve used quinoa in many different dishes, so I was excited to see how it would turn out as a substitute in fried rice. Obviously the texture was much different from rice, but the flavors were spot on and the mix of vegetables was wonderful (it was my first experience with baby bok choy as well). This dish was a great healthier alternative to traditional fried rice but it’s not a permanent substitution. Sometimes a girl just needs some rice!
Two years ago: Black Forest Stuffed Cupcakes
ASIAN FRIED QUINOA
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups quinoa
3 cups water or vegetable stock
3 Tbsp grape or olive oil
2 cups diced onions, about 1 ½ med onion
1/4 cup chopped shallot
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/2 cup minced ginger
1 cup finely chopped green onions
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups shredded baby bok choy
1 cup finely diced celery
2 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 cup diced sugar snap peas
3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Directions:
- In a large, dry, heavy bottomed skillet, toast the quinoa until lightly golden, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring often. Add the water and reduce the heat to medium. Cover and cook until quinoa opens and the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool.
- Wipe out the skillet and heat 1 ½ tbs of the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until well browned and soft, stirring occasionally. Stir in the shallots, and cook for 2 minutes, then the garlic, ginger, and green onion, cooking for 3 to 4 minutes more. Add the carrots, bok choy, celery, cabbage, and snap peas and stir until just wilted. Pour in the soy sauce and combine. Transfer mixture to a bowl and cover.
- Heat remaining oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add the quinoa. When heated through, pour the eggs over the quinoa until eggs have cooked. Return the vegetables to the pan. Adjust the seasoning with additional soy sauce if needed.
Source: Guy Fieri Food: Cookin’ It, Livin’ It, Lovin’ It, page 310.
World Diabetes Day: Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps & Giveaway
Today is World Diabetes Day, and Carolyn from All Day I Dream About Food, along with many other bloggers (including myself obviously) are promoting Diabetes awareness by posting diabetes-friendly recipes today. Check out her blog for the chance to win a blue KitchenAid stand mixer (as blue is the color of diabetes awareness), and stay turned here on The Spiffy Cookie for a different giveaway!
Diabetes has not affected me personally (something to be thankful for next week), but I admire Carolyn for her refusal to give up on her passion of baking and cooking after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Instead, she fought on and found new ways to enjoy her passions, to the point where I find myself craving her low carb treats too! Her blog, All Day I Dream About Food, has opened my eyes to how you can make creative, flavorful foods that are still low in carbohydrates and suitable for diabetics, dieters and even the everyday hungry person. Many of her recipes are also gluten-free!
But unfortunately diabetes isn’t just about coming up with friendly foods. Diabetes is an increasing global problem, particularly in developing countries. Although the causes are complex in nature, the rapid increases in overweight, obesity and physical inactivity definitely have an impact. Worse still, the World Health Organization (WHO) projects that diabetes deaths will increase by two thirds between 2008 and 2030. Therefore, in an effort to stimulate effective measures for surveillance, prevention and control of diabetes and its complications, WHO is building awareness by participating in the celebration of World Diabetes Day.
There is good evidence that a healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco may help in prevention and/or reducing complications. So eat healthy, get active, and put away those cancer sticks (aka cigarettes and that’s another good reason to quit). For my contribution to spreading awareness through healthy eating, I made these lettuce wraps using Swerve all-natural sweetener instead of brown sugar. proof that healthy eating can still be easy and fun.
Be sure to check out the giveaway for you own Swerve baking kit to try out yourself at the end of this post. Get your swerve on!
One year ago: Chicken Alfredo Biscuit Casserole
CASHEW CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAPS
Makes 6-8 lettuce wraps
Ingredients:
SAUCE
2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp Swerve granulated sugar (or brown sugar for non-diabetics)
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
CHICKEN
2 chicken breasts (about 3/4 lb. total), diced
8 leaves of greenleaf or iceburg lettuce
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup cashews, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- For the sauce, mix all ingredients making sure to dissolve brown sugar. Set aside.
- Heat canola oil in pan over medium to medium high heat. Add diced chicken and brown (about 4-5 minutes). Remove chicken from oil. Add onions, garlic and soy sauce to pan; 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. Serve with rice.
Source: Adapted slightly from She Wears Many Hats.
Pork Chops with Pineapple Fried Rice
Fried rice is one of my favorites although I’ve only made it myself a handful of times. It is likely due to Qing bringing in fresh homemade fried rice for us at work sometimes, and I am convinced I cannot make it any better. One of these days I need to watch her make it. She uses Asian BBQ pork which you can only buy at the Asian grocery store – another place I need to check out evidently.
Meanwhile while planning to invade her kitchen, I took a stab at fried rice again with this pineapple and pork chop version. Granted there is no competition when it comes to Qing’s fried rice, but it was still quite good. Next time I would use less onion, but that may just be my preference. But I really thought the grilled pineapple was a must for the flavor of this dish. Start up your grill!
Be sure to check out the original post by The Pioneer Woman for great step-by-step photos.
One year ago: White Chocolate Coconut Chili Macadamia Nut Cookies
PORK CHOPS WITH PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE
Serves 6
Ingredients:
1/2 whole pineapple, cut into spears and skewered
2 cups cooked white or brown rice
6 whole pork chops
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 large onion, sliced
8 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce (more to taste), divided
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Sriracha, or other hot sauce
Salt to taste
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 eggs
1 cup chopped carrots
1-1/2 cup frozen peas
Directions:
- Grill (or saute) pineapple spears until they have good marks/color on the outside. Slice, then set aside.
- Heat butter and oil over medium high heat, then add the pork chops to the pan. Saute on both sides until they have nice color.
- Throw in the sliced onions and work them into the crevices between the chops. Shake the pan and move the onions around and let them cook for a good couple of minutes.
- When the onions are starting to soften, add 6 tablespoons pf the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, and hot sauce. Shake the pan, stir it around, and let it cook and bubble up for a good couple of minutes until the pork chops are completely cooked and the sauce is thicker. Remove the pork chops to a bowl, then let the sauce bubble up and cook for another 30 to 45 seconds. Pour it over the pork chops. Set aside.
- Add a small amount of oil to the same pan (without cleaning it) and return it to the stove top over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir it around, then crack in the eggs and immediately stir them to scramble them a bit. Add carrots, peas, and remaining 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Add cooked rice and stir it around to cook for a couple of minutes.
- To serve, pile rice on a plate, then top with pineapple chunks, pork chops and onions from the sauce. Drizzle a little bit of sauce over the top.
Source: Adapted slightly from The Pioneer Woman.
Guest Post: Sriracha-Soy & Sesame Almonds by Bake Your Day
You may already know of Cassie of Bake Your Day from her wide array of tasty recipes: Cinnamon Toast Greek Yogurt Dip, Biscoff Banana Grilled Cheese, and Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosted Cake Doughnuts to name a few. And today I am excited to have her guest posting for me!
Cassie and Ali (of Gimme Some Oven) are also currently hosting a Tomato Love Recipe Exchange that you should check out.
One year ago: BBQ Chicken Burgers
—————————————————————————————————————-
Hi there, Spiffy Cookie readers! I am thrilled to be posting for Erin today because I have what might be my new favorite snack to share with you!
I love simple snacks with tons of flavor. But I also love being able to make them at home. It is really easy to buy great snacks at the grocery store but cooking is half the fun for me. I love being able to choose my own spices and switch out ingredients, especially for roasted almonds and mixed nuts!
I’ve chosen buffalo flavoring, rosemary and my newest to share with you: Sriracha-soy & sesame almonds! We love Sriracha sauce in our house. Actually, we love any spicy condiment, this being one at the top of the list. And these were so simple to make, and a perfect snack for any party!
Sriracha-Soy & Sesame Almonds
Ingredients:
2 cups almonds
2 Tbs. Sriracha sauce
2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. sesame seeds
Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a large bowl, stir the Sriracha sauce, soy sauce, olive oil and sesame seeds together until blended.
Add the almonds and stir well to coat. Pour the almonds and the Sriracha mixture onto a 9×13 sheet pan and spread in an even layer.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, stirring the almonds every 10 minutes. Place the almonds back into the oven for an additional 5 minutes, watching closely so that the flavoring doesn’t burn.
Vegetable Fried Rice for One
Despite waking up at 5:30am every day this past weekend to play with yeast (not the baking kind), I had a pretty nice weekend. It’s amazing how much I accomplished in the little amount of free time that I had, and how relaxed I felt by Sunday night. Even got in a lovely phone chat with my friend Amber back in Columbus. It’s the little things that keep me going 
. Especially since as I write this, it is 10pm and I am doing that graduate student research thing at lab.
This recipe serves one person and it’s quick and easy to prepare. Perfect match for my mission to not produce any leftovers before I head out of town, in combination with my sparse time. It was also my first time ever using fresh ginger, and smells amazing! I never want to use dried ground ginger again. Which brings me to a question, how do you store ginger root? Is it supposed to be refrigerated or left out on the counter?
VEGETABLE FRIED RICE FOR ONE
Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
4 tsp vegetable oil, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 medium zucchini, quartered and thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup cooked brown rice, cold
1 cup baby spinach
Directions:
- In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- In a large nonstick skillet or wok, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium-high. Add egg and cook until set. Transfer to a cutting board.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Add carrot, and zucchini and cook, stirring until softened, about 3 minutes. Add scallion, ginger, and garlic and cook until scallion is soft, about 2 minutes. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes.
- Add soy sauce mixture and cook, stirring, until liquid is absorbed, about 1 to 2 minutes. Coarsely chop egg and stir into rice, serve.
Source: Adapted slightly from Everyday Food June 2012.
Spicy Basil Chicken
I picked up Brady from the vet yesterday and was none too pleased to be stuffed back into his cat carrier, but upon his release back home he was happy as a clam! I was sent home with two weeks worth of antibiotics and hopefully it will be smooth sailing after that. Definitely do not like that I will be leaving town again soon, but he will have a good cat-sitter who has been given advanced approval to take him to the vet at the first sign of any new flare-ups. But for now, hooray happy kitty! Totally enjoyed reading on the couch with him snuggled up next to me again last night.
Now that all is well let’s talk about dinner. I am guilty of being subscribed to several cooking magazines, yet rarely do I cook from them. I will fold over pages and drool over everything in sight but for some reason I easily forget even the most tantalizing images. I have this problem with many of the amazing cookbooks I own as well. Although while we are at it, I probably only ever make a fraction of the number of recipes I bookmark online. Alas.
Thankfully for me, I managed to make this stir-fry from a recent issue of Cooking Light. This meal satisfies the taste buds with all the great flavors going on. A spicy basil sauce coats the chicken which is served with sautéed snow peas and peppers and brown rice with sesame seeds. But if you are looking to cut back on time, you can use instant brown rice and some steamed vegetables instead. The chicken holds the spotlight anyway.
One year ago: Buttermilk Ranch Mac & Cheese
SPICY BASIL CHICKEN
Serves 4
Ingredients:
CHICKEN
2 tsp canola oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 (4-oz.) skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Tbsp fish sauce (I used additional soy sauce instead)
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
1-1/4 tsp chile sauce with garlic
1 tsp water
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup sliced basil leaves
VEGETABLES
2 tsp dark sesame oil, divided
2-1/2 cups fresh snow peas, trimmed
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
RICE
1 cup uncooked brown rice
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Directions:
- For the chicken, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots and garlic to pan; cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add chicken to pan; cook 13 minutes or until chicken is done.
- Meanwhile, heat another large skillet over medium-high heat for the vegetables. Add 1 teaspoon sesame oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add snow peas and bell pepper to pan; sauté for 4 minutes or until the vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat. Drizzle vegetable mixture with remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper, and toss well to combine. Set aside.
- Cook rice according to package directions, omitting fat. Stir in juice and salt. Sprinkle with seeds. Set aside.
- Combine fish sauce and the next 6 ingredients (through salt) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add fish sauce mixture to pan with the chicken, and cook for 1 minute or until mixture thickens, stirring to coat chicken. Remove from heat. Stir in basil and stir with rice and sautéed vegetables.
Source: Cooking Light, April 2012
Posted in Chicken, Entree | 
Tags: basil, chicken, lime juice, peas, red bell pepper, shallot, soy sauce | 
10 Comments »
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
The Holiday Recipe club is a fun way to play with holiday-themed ingredients or recipes, but until now they have all been associated with American holidays. A little while ago, there was discussion within the group whether people would be interested in exploring other holidays outside of the US and as you can see from today’s post, the motion was passed! For today’s first international HRC post we are celebrating Buddha’s Birthday by using either gram masala, tofu, or sesame.
Sesame grabbed my attention and I first thought of making Sesame Chicken, but I was convinced I had already posted a recipe for that – wrong. Even if I had, it would’ve still totally been worth trying out this recipe because it’s done in a slow cooker, making it so easy to prepare. And healthier too because it’s not fried! Granted that means you lose the crispy action, but I didn’t miss it that much knowing it was better for me.
Want to join us in celebrating more National and International holidays? Check out the HRS’s contact page. Also be sure to check out the end of this post for the rest of the HRC line up.
One year ago: Fried Mac and Cheese
SLOW COOKER HONEY SESAME CHICKEN
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (1.25 lbs)
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1/2 onion, diced
2-1/2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp sesame seed oil or extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced, pressed or grated
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup dry brown rice
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb broccoli florets
Directions:
- Put chicken into crock pot.
- In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken.
- Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through.
- Cook rice according to package directions.
- Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet until hot. Add broccoli and saute 5-6 minutes or until cooked but tender.
- Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Whisk cornstarch into liquid in the crock pot. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened.
- Shred chicken or cut into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce. Serve chicken over rice with broccoli, garnish with sesame seeds.
Source: Adapted from Prevention RD.
Posted in Chicken, Entree, Slow Cooker | Tags: chicken, Chinese, honey, rice, sesame, soy sauce | 19 Comments »
Chicken Pad Thai
You’re not sick of peanut butter yet are you? There has been quite a lovely string of peanut butter recipes posted on here and surprisingly it wasn’t all my doing! I have my absolutely fabulous guest posters to thank for pumping up the peanut butter level. Did you enjoy having them around as much as I did? I hope that you found a few more food bloggers to follow if you weren’t already. Thanks again Shannon, Tara and Sharana – you were all fabulous!
But in case you are a bit tired of the completely unintentional peanut butter binge (I promise it was totally not on purpose – which makes it that much more wonderful) I will first think you are totally strange, but will then tell you that this recipe today offers a slight change by turning things over to the savory side.
For some reason I’ve put off making pad thai for awhile, mistakenly thinking it would be a bit of a pain both in buying the ingredients and actually producing the dish. Oh but I am so glad I was wrong. In fact the only things I had to buy were limes, cilantro and scallions. The rest I already had stocked up and ready to go! Chicken? Check. Linguine noodles? Double-checked. Peanut butter? …I’m not answering that one for you… And the end result was pure delicious-ness.
CHICKEN PAD THAI
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken, cut into small pieces
5 garlic cloves, minced and divided
1/4 cup + 3 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
8 oz. wide, flat, linguine-style noodles (I used whole-wheat)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 bunch scallions thinly sliced
2 large eggs, light beaten
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup chopped roasted, salted peanuts
Directions:
- Marinate chicken with 1/4 cup soy sauce and 3 cloves of garlic overnight or at least four hours.
- Cook chicken over medium heat until cooked through. Set aside.
- Cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain.
- In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, lime juice, peanut butter, and remaining soy sauce.
- In a large nonstick skillet or wok, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
- Add remaining garlic and scallions, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Add eggs, stirring gently and constantly, until scrambled.
- Add noodles and sauce to skillet, and toss until coated. Add chicken and continue to toss.
- Remove from heat and garnish with cilantro, peanuts, and lime wedges.
Source: Adapted slightly from Blog is the New Black.
Posted in Chicken, Entree, Pasta | Tags: chicken, cilantro, eggs, lime juice, peanut butter, peanuts, soy sauce | 7 Comments »
