Pad Thai

Ingredients

10 oz. rice noodles
4 T. brown sugar
1 T. honey
3 T. lime juice
4 T. soy sauce
1 T. sesame oil
3 green onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1x1 inch bulb of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 bunches of broccoli, cut into florets and steamed for 4 minutes
1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped by food processor
Olive or peanut oil for cooking

Directions

NOTE: In order to cook rice noodles, you shouldn't boil them like you do with semolina pastas; they need to be put into warm (not hot) water and left to sit for 1-3 hours. When you're ready to use them, just drain.

1. Mix together brown sugar, honey, lime juice, soy sauce, and sesame oil; set aside

2. Heat up oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat

3. Toss in scallions, garlic, and ginger and cook for about 1-2 minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn (be sure to move it around the pan)

4. Add the steamed broccoli, noodles, and soy sauce; toss around until noodles are coated

5. When the noodles are well-coated and everything is evenly distributed, add the peanuts and toss again to spread them around; let noodles sit in pot, cooking, for a minute or two until the noodles have absorbed the sauce

6. Serve immediately.

Veggie Burgers

These are best served with Mango Avocado Salsa (trust me on this). You can also add anything you want to inside them, like shredded zucchini, spinach, or edamame. This is the basic recipe, but I recommend adding onto it!


Burgers

1 14. oz can black beans, drained (I used Bush's seasoned)
A handful or two of baby carrots, finely chopped (these don't cook much, so make it small!)
1 yellow onion, diced
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs (or regular bread crumbs)
1/4 cup wheat germ (or corn meal)
edamame/spinach/zucchini/etc.
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
olive oil for cooking

1. Squish all ingredients (except olive oil) between your fingers until it's consistent. If you prefer a milder taste to the onions, you can saute them in olive oil until translucent before putting into your burgers.

2. Shape into patties big enough to fit your buns and cook in olive oil for 3 minutes a side until lightly browned; serve with salsa!

Buns

Here is the bun recipe in case you're feeling bold (or bored. Or both.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water
2 envelopes yeast
3/4 cup warm milk (I find 45 seconds in the microwave does the trick!)
1/4 cup sugar (plus one pinch)
3 T. butter, melted but not too hot
2 teaspoons salt
about 5 cups flour (625 g.)
2 eggs
1 egg for brushing (optional; butter can also be used but the effect is not as nice)
sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

1. Proof yeast in a large bowl with the warm water with a pinch of sugar.

2. Add milk, sugar, butter, salt, and 2 cups of flour and mix with your hand

3. Stir in the 2 eggs

4. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until a soft dough is formed

5. Knead until smooth, about 5 minutes

6. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes

7. Punch down dough and divide into 8 pieces for buns, 16 pieces for sliders

8. Roll each piece into a ball and place on a lightly greased or parchment-covered baking sheet; cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 30-40 minutes

9. Preheat oven to 400

10. Brush buns with egg (or butter) and sprinkle on sesame seeds if you have them. P

11. Cook for 10-12 minutes

Chinese Chicken and Broccoli

My first time cooking Chinese food! As Borat would say, "great success"! I found a recipe online but didn't really follow it at all, to be perfectly honest. I just kind of played around. I thought Chinese food would be complicated (thus never having tried it before) but it seems like if you have enough sesame and soy sauce you can't really go wrong. Murat was crazy about this, even the ginger, and that's saying something. This probably works better if you have a wok; I just used a frying pan, and it was fine.

Also, when I made this I put in soy sauce AND hoisin sauce, and it was way too salty for my taste (Murat liked it, though). This adds more soy sauce to the hoisin sauce and doesn't put in more, which I think would have been better.

This is my attempt at recreating it, but it may not be exact. Play with it! I think it's hard to get wrong.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-size chunks
4 cloves garlic, pressed or very finely chopped
1 2x1 inch piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
6 T. chicken broth (low-sodium if you can find it)
2 large heads of broccoli, cut into florets
1 tsp. corn starch
olive or peanut oil for cooking (can add a dash of sesame oil for flavor)
seseme seeds for garnish (skip if you don't have any)
homemade hoisin sauce**

**Hoisin Sauce
(Honestly, I'm not sure how exactly the proportions were, so these are estimates; fix to taste)
3-4 T. soy sauce
1 T. honey
almost 1 T. tahini (or smooth peanut butter)
2 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. black or white pepper
2 garlic cloves, pressed

Directions

1. Saute the chicken on medium-high heat in the olive (or peanut)/sesame oil mixture until cooked through and lightly brown; set aside

2. Put a little more oil in the pan and saute the garlic and ginger for about 30 seconds to a minute (don't burn the garlic!) on medium

3. Add the cayenne pepper, broccoli florets, and half the chicken broth; cook until broccoli florets are looking green and tender and most of the chicken broth is evaporated

4. Whisk the hoisin sauce with the cornstarch

5. Add hoisin sauce, rest of the chicken broth, and chicken to pan, and cook until sauce is thickened

6. Serve over rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Again, a slight variation from King Arthur Flour. I made the ones on the back of the tollhouse package the other day, and blech, they were so tasteless. These were SOOO good!

Ingredients

2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup (stick and a half) butter, room temperature
1/4 cup crisco
1/2 - 1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract, optional
1 tsp. vinegar, cider or white
1 tsp. baking soda
1 egg
2 cups flour (250 g.)
1 11.5 oz. package chocolate chips (or 2 cups)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Cream butter, shortening, and sugars

3. Add rest of ingredients except egg, flour, and chocolate chips; mix until smooth

4. Beat egg into mixture until smooth

5. Add flour

6. Add chocolate chips

7. Drop heaping tablespoons into parchment-lined cookie sheet

8. Cook for 10-11 minutes

(makes 3 dozen)

Almond Cloud Cookies

These are only slightly different than from the King Arthur website where I found them. If I had infinite time and money, I would do nothing but cook their recipes all day. These are chewy and crunchy and almondy and AMAZING! I would probably add a little lemon zest next time.

Ingredients:

10 oz. almond paste (from the reviews, you really should use love n'bake!)
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 egg whites
confectioner sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325

2. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper

3. Mix almond paste, sugar, and salt with a food processor (I use a pastry cutter) until it's a consistently crumbly texture.

4. Add in egg whites until uniform

5. Add in almond and vanilla extract

6. Drop heaping tablespoons on parchment paper; top generously with confectioners sugar, then use 3 fingers to make a dent in the top

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until just starting to brown around the edge

8. Cool in the pan