Coconut Curry Noodles, WOW!

The hubby and I went for ice cream a few nights ago.  For some reason the dog always knows if we’ve had ice cream.  When we get home he’s licking his lips and gives us a good sniff.  He knows that we were up to something.  Usually we end up bringing home a small dish of vanilla ice cream and he eats it in about 30 seconds.  This time the cat decided he wanted to get involved in the action.  I couldn’t resist getting out my camera to get some shots of our crazy animals.  Arlo didn’t seem to mind that Link was joining him but definitely started eating faster in fear that the cat might eat his share.

 Link (Left), Arlo (Right)  I know the cat is bigger than most dogs, we still love him:)

Now back to what you’re all hear for….FOOD!  I hate to brag but this dish was fantastic.  Often when I have a recipe in mind it takes a few days before I get a chance to make it and when I do, it’s rarely as good as I imagined.  The hubby always tells me I’m crazy.  I think it’s like they say, It’s always better when someone else makes it.  Not this time, I LOVED this recipe!

The coconut curry flavour that soaks into the noodles is so delicious, I think I could eat the whole dish myself.  Feel free to switch up the veggie combination, use what you have in the refrigerator. Some other options are bean sprouts, green pepper, carrots or green beans.  Just be sure to slice everything up nice and thin so that everything cooks in the same amount of time.

Like most of my stir-dry recipes the prep time is a little longer but the cooking time is nice and quick.  Definitely give this one a try, you wont regret it!

Shrimp Singapore Noodles

Ingredients

• 6 oz. fine dry rice vermicelli
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1-1/2 tbsp curry powder\
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 2 Tbs. low-salt soy sauce
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp hot chile paste
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger
• ½ cup sliced mushrooms
• ½ cup very thinly sliced celery, 1 large stalk
• ½ cup thinly sliced yellow onion, 1 med-small onion
• ½ cup very thinly sliced red bell pepper
• ½ cup snow peas, ends trimmed
• 4 scallions, root ends trimmed, white and green parts cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 lb. small shrimp, peeled and deveined

Tips:

If you can’t find small shrimp at the market, cut medium or large will do, you can cut larger shrimp into bit sized pieces. 

Feel free to substitute shrimp with chicken or pork cut into bit sized pieces

Directions

1.       Put the vermicelli in a heatproof bowl with enough very hot water to cover. Soak until softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain well. If you like, cut the noodles with a knife or kitchen scissors to shorter lengths (4 or 5 inches) at this time. Loosen the noodles and spread them on a dishtowel to dry while you proceed.

2.      Put 1 Tbs. of the oil in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add the curry powder and half of the minced garlic and sauté for 20 seconds. Add the coconut milk, soy sauce, sugar, chile paste, and salt. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

3.      Heat a large wok or sauté pan over high heat, add 1 Tbs. of the oil, and tilt the pan to coat. When hot, add the remaining garlic and the ginger. Stir-fry until the garlic is golden, 10 to 20 seconds. Add the celery, onion, red pepper, snow peas, scallions, and mushrooms. Stir-fry until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a plate and set aside.

4.      Heat the remaining 1 Tbs. oil in the pan over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp and stir-fry until just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the noodles, vegetables, and soy-curry mixture. Toss to mix thoroughly and to coat noodles with the sauce. Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Sloppy Joe's

I’m heading off to the cottage for a few days so that means no blogging for about a week.  I had to squeeze in one more post before I left so here you have it : )

The hubby has been working late these days so I have been eating on my own.  I tried to come up with something that would easily reheat for him when he gets in the door.  What I came up with is Sloppy Joe’s.  Not the mix from the can at the grocery store but a homemade mixture.  I served mine with a side of salad but I have a feeling that the hubby will just eat two or three of them and skip the salad.

I picture this being a good kid friendly meal, you could even use little slidder buns for their tiny hands.  The flavour isn’t too strong but if you wanted to kick it up a little you could add extra hot sauce.  We topped ours off with some shredded cheddar cheese, delicious.

Sloppy Joe’s

Ingredients

·       1 tablespoon olive oil

·       12 ounces ground sirloin

·       1 (8-ounce) packages presliced cremini mushrooms

·       1 cup prechopped onion

·       3 garlic cloves, minced

·       1/2 cup no-salt-added tomato paste

·       1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano

·       2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

·       2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

·       1 tablespoon molasses

·       1/4 teaspoon salt

·       3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

·       1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

·       4 Kaiser rolls or hamburger buns, toasted

Preparation

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add beef; cook for 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.

2. While beef cooks, place mushrooms in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until finely chopped. Add mushrooms, onion, and garlic to pan; cook for 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Add tomato paste and next 5 ingredients (through salt) to pan; cook 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and liquid evaporates. Stir in pepper and hot sauce. Spoon about 1 cup beef mixture on bottom half of each bun; top with top halves of buns.

ENJOY!

Hard Work Gets You A Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffin

Yesterday was a great day!  One of the great features of our home is a beautiful flower garden surrounding the front of the house and another huge garden to the right of the house.  Except I am no gardener!  Over the past 3 years my inexperience and neglect have been slowly killing the poor gardens.  It was actually getting embarrassing because it began to look more like a giant long grass patch in our front yard.  

Thankfully my Mom, Step-Father and the Hubby helped me rescue the gardens yesterday.  Before everyone started working I whipped up a batch of Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.  At first I was a little unsure of how coffee and banana would taste together, I knew coffee and chocolate would be good and chocolate and banana is delicious as well but the three together, who knows?  Well, it’s good! 

We started working around 11AM after it poured for most of the morning.  The muffins were great because everyone could take a small break and enjoy a little sugar boost.  Luckily the rain never started again and we were able to get everything finished, look how beautiful it turned out.  The pour garden hasn’t looked this nice since we moved in:)

I packed up muffins and sent them home with my Mom.  I even ate another muffin for dessert. 

Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup margarine
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules, dissolved in
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Blend butter or margarine, sugar, egg, banana, dissolved coffee, and vanilla in food    processor for 2 minutes. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and soda, and blend just until flour disappears. Add chocolate chips and mix in with wooden spoon. Spoon mixture into 15 to 20 paper-lined muffin cups.

3. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

ENJOY!

Vietnamese Noodle Salad

As promised here is another great grilling/summer recipe to celebrate the first day of Summer.  This one comes from the lovely people over at Fine Cooking.  The recipe is not your standard BBQ meal, it's a nice lite noodle salad with a sweet and sour Vietnamese sauce to marinate your grilled pork and veggies in and at the end you pour the tasty sauce over the whole dish.  The flavours come together nicely with the fresh mint and cilantro.  And I got to use mint from my own garden. It always feels so rewarding to eat something that you've grown yourself!

It does take a little effort to get everything together but the recipe is laid out well so that everything flows easily.  If you can prep some of the ingredients the day before this can easily be a quick weeknight meal.  Once the sauce is made, the noodles are cooked, the pork is grilled and the herbs are chopped you're good to go.  It is also great for a hot day like today, no standing over a hot stove frying or baking.

The final verdict....EXCELLENT!  My kind of dinner...Noodles, herbs, lettuce, grilled pork and veggies, you can't go wrong.



Vietnamese Noodle Salad with Pork Patties

From Fine Cooking

Ingredients

·         8 oz rice vermicelli noodle

·         Kosher salt

·         1/2 cup very thin carrot strips (julienne)

·         1/2 cup very thin daikon radish or jícama strips (julienne)

·         3 tsp. granulated sugar

·         1 tsp. red-wine vinegar

·         Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (nuoc cham) see recipe below

·         1 lb. ground pork (ask the butcher for coarsely ground pork butt)

·         4 scallions, thinly sliced

·         1-1/2 tsp. fish sauce

·         Freshly ground black pepper

·         6 large leaves romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

·         1 cup roughly chopped fresh mint

·         1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Direction

1.       Soak the rice vermicelli in a large bowl of warm water for 15 min. Meanwhile, bring about 2 quarts water and 1 tsp. kosher salt to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Drain the noodles and add them to the boiling water, stirring with chopsticks to gently separate the strands. When the water returns to a boil (after about 2 min.), drain the noodles in a colander (push the strands against the sides of the colander with chopsticks to help them drain completely). Put the noodles on a platter and fluff them with chopsticks. Set aside until cool, at least 30 min. and up to 2 hours.

2.      Put the carrots and daikon or jícama in a colander. Sprinkle on 1 tsp. of the sugar, the vinegar, and 1/4 tsp. kosher salt and mix well. Let the colander sit in the sink for 10 min., and then gently squeeze the vegetables to get rid of the liquid. Add the vegetables to the bowl of dipping sauce.

3.      Put the pork in a bowl. Add the scallions, the remaining 2 tsp. sugar, the fish sauce, 1/8 tsp. kosher salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper and mix gently with your hands. Shape the meat into small patties about 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick; you should have ten patties.

4.      Grill the patties over a medium- hot gas or charcoal grill, (or in an oiled grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat) until they’re well browned outside and cooked through but still moist inside, 8 to 10 min. on a grill; 15 min. on a grill pan (cut into one to check—it’s fine if the pork is still a little pink inside). Add the cooked patties, still warm, to the bowl of sauce and vegetables and let sit for 5 to 10 min. before serving.

5.       Serve the noodles on the platter, along with the lettuce, mint, and cilantro. Remove the pork patties from the sauce and put them on a different platter. Give everyone a large bowl and let people serve themselves noodles, lettuce, and herbs, then top that with pork patties and a generous drizzle of the dipping sauce and the vegetables in it. Toss gently.

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

·         3 large cloves garlic, minced

·         1 hot red chile, such as serrano, thinly sliced

·         1 cup water

·         1/2 cup fish sauce

·         1/2 cup red-wine vinegar

·         1/2 cup granulated sugar

Directions

Stir all the ingredients in a medium bowl.

ENJOY!