Kung Pao Chicken

From Cooking Light



Ingredients:
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon bottled minced ginger
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper (about 1 large pepper)
1 cup snow peas, trimmed
2 tablespoons chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

Directions:
1. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until softened. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add chicken; sauté 3 minutes or until chicken begins to brown.

2. Combine 3/4 cup water and the next 5 ingredients (through crushed red pepper), stirring with a whisk until sugar dissolves. Add water mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Add bell pepper and snow peas to pan; cook for 2 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender and sauce thickens. Sprinkle with nuts.

Comments:
This was pretty good. I used a green pepper instead of red because I had half of one sitting in the fridge from something else. I think I might have overdone it on the red pepper flakes because it was a little spicy. I had the leftovers over rice for dinner the next day.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

From Everyday with Rachael Ray



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped
6 cups miniature pretzels, chopped

Directions:
1. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350°. In a bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar and peanut butter on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating until just combined; stir in the peanuts.

3. Place the pretzels in a bowl. Using a 1 1/2-inch-diameter cookie scoop and working in batches, drop a few balls of dough in the bowl and toss to coat. Place the cookies on the prepared pans. Bake, rotating the pans after 10 minutes, until golden but still soft to the touch, about 15 minutes. Let cool slightly before transferring to racks to cool.

Comments:
These were easy to make but I'm not sure I'd repeat them. The first batch I made as written - rolling the dough in the pretzels. The bottoms burned. The second batch I just sprinkled some pretzels on the top of the cookies and that worked a little better. They all still turned out kind of dry. If I'd try a peanut butter-pretzel mash-up again I might stick with my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and add some pretzels to the dough.

Vietnamese Turkey (Chicken) Wraps

From Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook



Ingredients:
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 to 1/2 tsp red chile paste
1/4 cup water
2 carrots, cut into matchstick size pieces
1 cucumber, seeded and cut into matchstick size pieces
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp peanut oil
10 oz boneless, skinless turkey breast, cut into thin strips
2 cups hot cooked rice
2 heads Boston lettuce, cleaned and separated into leaves
1/2 cup whole mint leaves
1/2 cup whole cilantro leaves
3 tbsp unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts, chopped

Directions:
1. To prepare the dipping sauce, in a small serving bowl, whisk together 2 tbsp of the fish sauce, the lime juice, sugar, and chile paste with the water; set aside.

2. In a medium nonreactive bowl, combine the carrots, cucumber, onion, and vinegar; let stand 20 minutes. Drain, discarding the vinegar, and place in a medium serving bowl.

3. In a large nonstick skillet or wok, heat the oil. Saute the turkey until no longer pink, 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining tbsp fish sauce and place in a medium serving bowl.

4. To assemble a wrap, spoon about a tbsp each of the rice, turkey, and cucumber-carrot mixture into a lettuce leaf; top with 1-2 mint and cilantro leaves, sprinkle with peanuts and fold the lettuce leaf over to enclose the filling. Dip into the sauce.

Serves 4. POINTS Value per serving: 7

Comments:
I skipped the fish paste because that just sounds gross. Used chicken rather than turkey, iceberg instead of Boston, but kept everything else pretty much the same. I was not too impressed. I ate one lettuce wrap and then gave up on it - they were too messy! I ate the chicken with some rice and the dipping sauce. That was really good.

Peanut-Crusted Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

From Cooking Light March 2008



Ingredients:
pineapple
cilantro (left out)
red onion (left out)
dry-roasted peanuts (used almonds)
bread
salt & pepper
chicken cutlets (or in my case boneless, skinless breasts pounded thin)
canola oil

Comments:
Yeah, yeah, what's with all the alterations? I forgot I had thrown out the big container of peanuts when I cleaned the pantry out a little bit ago so I had to improvise. I also hate cilantro and didn't have an onion. So I guess this is really "Almond-Crusted Chicken with Pineapple." It works. This recipe takes very little brain power and tastes delicious. I threw some green beans in the microwave and the first thing Adam said was "I hate green beans." Sigh. (He ate them anyway...) Anywho, another simple variation on the crusted chicken theme.