New Recipe: Moo Shu Beef

I LOVE moo shu beef, but I was skeptical about being able to make it at home. But it seemed like it was worth a shot. And my apologies in advance, but I forgot to take photos. Still, the recipe is worth sharing.

Moo Shu Beef: Makes 6 servings; 6 WW points per serving

Ingredients

• 8 oz lean sirloin beef
• 3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 medium scallions, chopped
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp sherry cooking wine
• 2 cup Chinese cabbage, or Napa cabbage, chopped [I used Napa.]
  
• 1/3 cup canned bamboo shoots, drained and chopped
• 1/3 cup canned straw mushrooms, drained and sliced
• 1 large egg white, beaten
• 12 medium tortilla, flour, fat-free, warmed [I used low-fat whole wheat tortillas, and we only used 8.]
  
• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce

Instructions

1. Place beef in a medium bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and cornstarch; stir to coat.
   
2. Heat oil in large skillet or wok [I used a skillet, since we don't own a wok]. Add scallions and garlic; sauté 1 minute.
   
3. Add beef and cook until browned, about 2 minutes. Add remaining soy sauce and sherry; cook 1 minute more.
   
4. Add cabbage, bamboo shoots and mushrooms. Sauté until vegetables are browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in egg white and cook 2 minutes more.
   
5. To serve: Place a heated tortilla on a plate. Spread 2 teaspoons of hoisin sauce on tortilla and then place 3 tablespoons of beef filling on top of sauce. Roll up, folding in one end to seal in filling. Yields 2 filled tortillas per serving.

The verdict: DELICIOUS. Very similar to the moo shu I know and love in restaurants, but much healthier. The recipe is simple to make, and I didn't even alter it. I loved eating all those vegetables, too. It made me feel virtuous. We will definitely be making this one again.

Old Favorite: Thai Coconut Chicken

I found this recipe months ago, on a Weight Watchers recipe blog that I've been following ever since. I'd link to it, but I just tried to go there and Blogger informed me that the blog had been removed. I'm not sure why, since it was there yesterday, but for now I'll just reproduce the recipe with my modifications, and if the recipe blog ever comes back, I'll add the link then.

Anyway, this recipe is one of our favorites, and one of the only ways that Torsten likes chicken. I modified the recipe to make it a bit lower-calorie, and the result is a slightly soupier version of the original recipe. I actually like it that way, and have also found that if you soak the rice in the sauce for a few minutes before serving, it becomes much less liquidy and much more like the original.

Thai Coconut Chicken: Makes 4 servings; 8 WW points per serving

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless chicken breast, sliced into bite-size pieces
  
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 (13 1/2 ounce) can light coconut milk [The original recipe called for regular coconut milk, which has about triple the fat and calories of light coconut milk. Light coconut milk is not as creamy as regular, but the trade-off is totally worth it. Also, the 8 points per serving is assuming you use light coconut milk; if you use regular, the points are much higher.]
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, shredded
• 1/2 cup frozen English peas [I don't like peas, so I leave this out.]
  
• 1/2 cup canned water chestnuts
• 2 to 3 tablespoons fish stock
• 1 to 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 limes, quartered (optional)
• 3/4 cup uncooked white or jasmine rice [I only use this much to keep down points. If you aren't particularly worried about that, I'd use a bit more rice.]
  

Ingredients

1. In the bottom of a pot, stir together the red curry paste and a little coconut milk to combine.
2. Saute the chicken until cooked through.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients except the rice and simmer for about 10 minutes (or until the peas are cooked and the sauce has reduced and thickened to desired consistency).
4. Serve over hot rice with lime wedges. [This is where I mix the rice and curry together and let it sit for five to ten minutes so that the rice will absorb some of the liquid--you can see the difference in the two photos I've linked to.]

The verdict: This is one of our absolute favorite dishes. We have it at least once every two weeks and we never seem to get sick of it. The flavor is delicious and could pass for coming out of a restaurant, in my humble opinion. The cooking method keeps the chicken tender and moist, and the coconut milk makes the sauce nice and creamy. Plus, it's super easy to make--you essentially just dump a bunch of ingredients in a pan and stir. I do not plan on removing this dish from our rotation any time soon.

Old Favorite: Pork Lo Mein

The first time I made this recipe, we didn't like it that much. It was very bland, and neither of us is a big fan of pork. But I liked the concept, so I reworked it a little and it has since become one of our favorite dishes. We use ostrich instead of pork, but if you like pork, I imagine that's just as good, and definitely less expensive.

Pork Lo Mein: Makes 4 servings; 7 WW points per serving

Ingredients

• 8 oz uncooked whole-wheat spaghetti, or buckwheat soba noodles [I use chuka soba chow mein noodles, which aren't quite as healthy but are well suited to the dish.]
  
• Cooking spray
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced [I press garlic instead of mincing it because it's much easier.]
  
• 1 Tbsp ginger root, fresh, minced [I use pre-minced ginger from a jar. Fresh ginger is a huge pain to work with.]
  
• 1 pound lean pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes [I use ostrich fillets instead.]
  
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots [I don't like carrots, so I skip these.]
  
• 1/2 cup onions, diced [I just use one onion and don't measure exactly how much it is.]
  
• 1 cup fat-free chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• [I also add a bit of Asian hot sauce, a bit of Thai fish oil, and a few other seasonings, such as onion powder, to spice this dish up a bit.]
  
• 2 Tbsp scallions, chopped (for garnish) [I don't bother with this.]
  

Instructions

1. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain and set aside.
   
2. Meanwhile, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger; cook 1 minute.
   
3. Add pork [ostrich] and cook, stirring occasionally, until pork is golden brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. [When cooking with ostrich, the cooking time needs to be adjusted so that the meat doesn't wind up overcooked and chewy.]
   
4. Add carrots and onion; cook until vegetables are soft, about 2 minutes. Add broth and soy sauce [this is when I add the other sauces and seasoning as well]; simmer until pork is cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
   
5. Add noodles to pork mixture and cook 1 to 2 minutes to heat through. Garnish with freshly chopped scallions, if desired. Yields about 2 cups per serving.

The verdict: Obviously, like I said, we love this dish. The meal is light and yummy and very easy to make. When we're in a recipe rut we often wind up eating this dish at least once a week.

New Recipe: Chicken, Scallion, and Artichoke Stir-Fry

So, when I came across this recipe I was eager to try it. I love artichokes and almost anything Asian, and the directions were very simple--there was little involved other than dumping a bunch of ingredients in a pan. It sounded perfect. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Although I think the recipe would be salvageable if it were done differently.

As usual, I've added the photos to my cooking set on Flickr.

Chicken, scallion, and artichoke stir-fry: Makes 6 servings; 6 WW points per serving

Ingredients:

• 1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, very thinly sliced
• 1 pound scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces [I didn't have a full pound, so I just used one bunch.]
• 27 1/2 oz canned artichoke hearts, without oil [I drained and rinsed them before cooking.]
• 1/2 cup Asian stir-fry sauce
• 4 cup cooked linguine [I used whole wheat linguine. Also, I think that there are about 2 ounces of uncooked pasta per one cup of cooked pasta. But I'm not sure.]
• 4 medium radishes, thinly sliced [I skipped this.]
• Cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Warm a large, nonstick pan coated with cooking spray over high heat.
2. Add chicken, scallions, and artichokes and stir-fry until chicken is firm and opaque, about 10 minutes. [It didn't take nearly ten minutes to cook the chicken over high heat.]
3. Add sauce and cook until hot, about 2 minutes more. [Because the chicken cooked so much faster than the recipe said, I wound up adding the sauce and simmering it for more than two minutes.]
4. Spoon chicken mixture over noodles and garnish with radishes. [As I said, I skipped the radishes.]

The verdict: One of the rare recipe disappointments we've had recently. The concept was really nice and the food looked and smelled great. But the dish was just way, way too salty. I think the culprit must have been the stir-fry sauce, which we hadn't tried before. I don't know if I used too much of it (though I followed the recipe exactly), or if I just picked the wrong sauce. But afterward, both of our tongues were totally coated with salt. If I were to make the dish again, I would choose a different sauce or make one myself. But considering how many other dishes we've had recently that we really enjoyed, I doubt we'll be trying this one again.

New Recipe: Asian Beef Salad

So, although this was to be expected after a year on Weight Watchers, Torsten and I have found ourselves in kind of a recipe rut recently. To fix this, we spent quite a bit of time searching for new recipes last week, and unearthed quite a few. Then we booked a Zipcar for a solid two hours, enough time for leisurely trips to both Whole Foods and Giant, and purchased a whole bunch of ingredients to make these new meals.

That trip, incidentally, reminded me of how good it is to finally have a nicely stocked kitchen. We had many, many of the staple ingredients required for the new recipes. A lot of what we had to buy was produce, or different types of meat, or ingredients for a new sauce. Things that we didn't already have around. But we didn't have to buy flour, or pasta, or spices, or oil. Things that I used to buy on an as-needed basis, resulting in daily trips to the grocery store and an excess amount of money going toward groceries, especially when I inadvertently bought something we already had. Which is why we now have three jars of bay leaves in our cabinet.

Anyway! On with the point of this post, the recipe. This is one of the first recipes that we tried, and although I was not on the ball enough to take pictures as I was doing it, it was totally worth posting about because it was delicious. I will print the recipe as I found it, with my own commentary and adjustments in italics.

Asian Beef Salad: Makes 4 servings; 8 WW points per serving

Ingredients:

• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar [Torsten doesn't like vinegar, so I didn't bother buying rice wine vinegar just for this. Instead I used some red wine vinegar we already had, and not nearly as much as the recipe called for.]
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp peanut oil [I couldn't find this at the store, so I substituted sesame oil we already had.]
• 1 pound lean sirloin beef [I used three quarters of a pound because it was only for the two of us and it was a Friday night, meaning I couldn't bring the leftovers to work the next day for lunch.]
• 8 cups mixed greens [I used as much as fit in the salad bowl I had, which was probably more like four cups.]
• 1 cup canned unsweetened mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 Tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup packaged chow mein noodles

Instructions:

1. Combine garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, oil and hoisin sauce in a large bowl [I also added a splash of Asian hot sauce for a bit of extra bite.] Add steak. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours or overnight. Remove steak to plate; reserve marinade.
2. Preheat grill or broiler. Grill or broil steak for 8 minutes on each side for medium or longer until desired doneness. Remove and slice steak into thin strips. [The piece of steak I had was very wide and thin, and I couldn't figure out how to get the whole thing into the liquid to marinate, so I chopped it ahead of time and reduced the amount of cooking time to make up for it. I broiled it for about six minutes without turning it and it came out very slightly overcooked.]
3. Meanwhile, pour reserved marinade into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute more, stirring occasionally.
4. To serve, place 2 cups greens on each of 4 plates. Top each with about 3 ounces of steak, 1/4 cup of oranges and 1 heaping tablespoon of noodles; drizzle each with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cooked and cooled marinade. [I just mixed everything in the salad bowl ahead of time, except the chow mein noodles, which we each sprinkled individually on our own plates. Also, I like warm salad, and the beef was hot anyway, so I didn't bother waiting for the marinade to cool completely before I added it to the salad.]

And it came out delicious! The sauce was tangy and delicious and served as a great dressing, the beef was tender even though I probably should only have broiled it for five minutes, the oranges added a nice sweet aspect to the whole thing (and I'm not usually big on sweet/savory combinations), and the chow mein noodles were deliciously crunchy. Plus the whole thing was super easy and quick to make. It was a great meal for a summer evening; light, but also totally filling.

Verdict: This recipe has been added to the pile of recipes to use again. And we will likely do so soon.