Chicken & Cashew Stir-Fry.

My cooking group has started the second session this week and I'm still trying to make all the recipes from our first session! I'm almost caught up, just a few more to go.

Chicken & Cashew Stir-Fry via Annie's Eats (by way of Liz's Cooking Blog, by way of Gourmet magazine [May 2007]) - how's that for some citations?!?!

I added some sugar snap peas, used green onions instead of the scallions, used chicken breasts and doubled the sauce. I apparently got a little heavy handed with the red pepper flakes so I added some hoisin sauce to counter the spiciness. I agree with some of the reviews on Epicurious which suggested adding additional vegetables - bok choy, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, water chestnuts, you get the idea. Served over brown rice this is a super quick weeknight dinner.

I am going to enter this into Joelen of Joelen's Culinary Adventures Chinese Cuisine Adventure. Check out her blog, she's amazingly talented and has all these great cooking parties & classes, makes me wish I lived in Chicago!

Sweet & Sour Chicken.

I'm trying to go back and catch the recipes I didn't make from my cooking club, sweet & sour chicken was posted way back by Erin, check out her photography - she's very talented! Sweet & sour chicken is the one Asian inspired dish the husband says he doesn't like, so since he's drafting one of his many fantasy football teams tonight I decided to try this out for dinner. I halved the recipe, used ground ginger & didn't use water chestnuts. I also added a little bit of Trader Joe's Sweet Chili Sauce. For my vegetables I used frozen snow peas, carrots & broccoli.

I liked this recipe way better than I thought I would! And the husband "I don't like sweet & sour chicken" even liked it too! I liked that it was healthy, fast and uses ingredients I generally have on hand. I thought the sweet chili sauce added a nice bit of heat, without overpowering the dish. I think halving the preserve & replacing the other half with the sweet chili sauce would be good for next time. Maybe a few dashes of red pepper flakes or Sriracha for even more heat.

Awhile back I bought some Minute Rice 'Ready to Serve Brown Rice' (170 calories, 4.5g. fat, 175 mg. sodium, 28g carb., 2g. fiber, 3g. protein). They come in two little containers and are already precooked, I just put them in the microwave for one minute. They were pretty good, I'll have to buy some more for lunches. I think they make a white and seasoned variety too.

Recipes I've Missed.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm part of an online cooking club. Someone posts a recipe, we make it & then report what we thought of it, etc. This week the fourth recipe was posted and I'm sad to say I've only participated in one, and it was the one I posted. Bad huh? Here's a recap of what's been cooked so far. Let me know if you make any of these and your thoughts, etc.

Week 1 -I just didn't have time to make it, I'll come back to it eventually. Here's the recipe: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/beef-pork-lamb-recipes/grilled-pork-chops-with-peachy-hot-salsa/article.html

Week 3 - The husband does not like sweet & sour chicken. I thought about making a scaled down portion for my lunch, but it just seemed like a lot of work for lunch. I may or may not come back to it, haven't decided. Here's the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/lf_hl_eatingwell/recipe/0,3190,FOOD_30878_100936_,00.html

Week 4 - Neither one of us is a fan of fruit & meat combinations. Sweet & savory just usually doesn't do it for me. I doubt I'd ever make this, but here's the recipe:

Weight Watchers Apple Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 apples, unpeeled,cored and thickly sliced
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

1. Sprinkle chicken with thyme, salt and pepper.
2. In large fry-pan, heat half of the oil over medium high heat; brown chicken all over.
3. Transfer to plate.
4. Add remaining oil to fry-pan.
5. Cook apples and onion, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes.
6. Add apple cider, bring to boil, stirring and scraping up brown bits from pan.
7. Return chicken to fry-pan.
8. Cover and cook over medium low heat, turning once, until no longer pink inside (about 7 minutes).
9. Transfer chicken to serving platter.
10. Whisk vinegar with cornstarch; whisk into fry-pan and cook, stirring, until glossy and thickened (about 1 minute).
11. Pour over chicken.

WW POINTS per serving: 5
Nutritional information per serving: 241 calories, 8.4g fat, 2.1g fiber

4 servings