Pad Puk Gai

Otherwise known as chicken with bok choy. We got an abundance of bok choy with our CSA box late last week and wanted to use it sooner than later.

Using an app on his phone, Nate found a recipe, which was easy enough and sounded tasty. The Thai-inspired recipe used up all of our bok choy and included lots of other fresh veggies. We paired it with some leftover soba noodles we had in the freezer.

We followed the recipe pretty closely, but made a few substitutions including making a sauce because other than 1/4 teaspoon of fish sauce, there wasn't anything saucey about it. And we like sauce!

I definitely recommend this recipe and it's easy enough to make it to your taste.

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Pad Puk Gai (Chicken with Bok Choy)

• 4 cups (or one huge bunch) bok choy, chopped
• 1 large chicken breast, cut into cubes
• 4 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 teas. fish sauce
• 1 small container mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, cute into big cubes
• 2-3 green onions, sliced
• (we omitted the celery and MSG the recipe calls for)
• For the sauce: a couple shakes (to taste) of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, hoisin sauce, Sriracha)

In wok, heat oil until hot. Cook chicken and garlic until done (about 5-6 minutes)

Add onions and fish sauce and cook about another five minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and cook until veggies are tender.

Whisk together sauce ingredients and pour over veggies. Add noodles, stir and cook until warm.

Serve with more Sriracha!

Baked Tofu Stir Fry

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I love a good homemade stir fry. You probably also know I love tofu. And, luckily, Nate is a good sport when it comes to eating tofu. He may not seek it out, but he'll always finish a plateful of tofu veggie stir fry.

We hadn't made stir fry in a long time, so we whipped up some for Sunday night's dinner. I loaded up on some good stir fry veggies at Outpost, getting a big handful of each kind. I also used some veggies we already had on hand: button mushrooms, sugar snap peas, green beans, red onion and red bell pepper.

I chopped up the veggies and stir fried them in the wok in peanut oil and jalapeno grapeseed oil until softened but still crisp.

For the tofu, I did something I've never done before, but have always wanted to try -- rather than pan frying the tofu like I usually do, I marinated it for a while and then baked it. I took a block of extra firm tofu, pressed it between two towels with books to take some of the water out and then cut it into cubes. I mixed up a marinade of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, cayenne pepper, ground black pepper and Sriracha and poured it over the tofu. I marinated it in the fridge for about an hour and then I baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes. Yum! The flavors were fantastic. I'll definitely do it again that way.

For the sauce, I got inspiration from one of my favorite food blogs, Iowa Girl Eats. Searching Kristin's recipes, I found a sweet and spicy peanut sauce. The sauce was simple and delicious, and forced me to buy a jar of chili garlic sauce. Yum!

For the sauce:

• 3 Tbs chicken broth (I'd usually use veggie broth for a veggie meal, but we just happened to have ice cube-sized amounts of chicken broth)
• 3 Tbs soy sauce
• 1.5 Tbs chili garlic sauce
• 1 Tbs peanut butter
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar
• dash of garlic powder, ground ginger, onion powder
• 4 shakes of sesame oil

Microwave broth, soy sauce, peanut butter and chili garlic sauce for about 20 seconds. Whisk until peanut butter is smooth, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Whisk to combine.

When the veggies were ready and the tofu done, we mixed everything in the wok and poured the sauce on top and mixed well. I took Kristin's idea here, too, and added an egg, with a few drops of sesame oil, to the stir fry to make it into like a fried rice dish.

It was good, but I have to say, with all those flavors, you really couldn't even taste the egg.

We served the veggies, tofu and sauce on top of steamed brown rice. All in all, it was a great meal, and I would definitely make that sauce again.

The Soup Cookbook Everyone Should Own

I bought a copy of the Milwaukee Empty Bowls Cookbook from a friend at the December #MKEfoodies Cookies for Kids event. And I'm so glad I did.

First, proceeds from the $20 cookbook go to Milwaukee Empty Bowls, a nonprofit that "uses art to heighten hunger awareness and raise funds to help food pantries and meal programs in the Milwaukee area." The beautiful bowls are created by local potters, students and artists and are donated to the organization. Each year, on the second Saturday in October, the bowls are available for purchase and are meant to be filled with the wonderful soups available at the event.

Second, the cookbook is filled with wonderful recipes all from local chefs, restaurants and stores. And lucky for me, the book includes one of my favorite soups, which I always make sure I order when I'm at the restaurant.

I chose the chicken tortilla soup from Water Buffalo as my first recipe from the book. When ordered at the restaurant, this soup is always creamy without being rich, with the right amount of tender chunks of chicken and a hint of spice. 

The soup was souper (Sorry, had to!) easy to make and tasted pretty close to the real thing. I can't wait to make more from the cookbook!

Water Buffalo's Chicken Tortilla Soup 4-6 servings (We got closer to 4)

• 6 Tbs (3/4 stick) of butter
• 1 pound chicken tenderloins, cut in 1-inch pieces (we used a cooked rotisserie chicken)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 teas. ground cumin
• 1 teas. salt
• 1/2 teas. pepper
• 1/4 teas. dried oregano
• 1/2 teas. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 3/4 cup heaving whipping cream (I used 2% milk)
• tortilla chips for garnish (we also used avocado and hot sauce for garnish)

In soup pot, melt butter, Add chicken and onion and cook over medium heat until chicken is no longer pink inside, about 5 or 6 minutes.

Add spices, then flour, and mix well. Cook, stirring for about 30 seconds. Stir in stock and bring to a full boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Stir in cream.

Enchilada Pasta

I've been slightly obsessed with reading one of my favorite food blogs: Iowa Girl Eats. "Obsessed" might be over doing it. Maybe I should just say I look forward to reading it every day, and always make a point to find it at the end of the day or early the next day.

Anyhoo, I came across this post of hers from the other day about an Enchilada Pasta, and I was immediately drawn to a recipe with Mexican flavors that also feature pasta. Score!

The dish was really pretty good, and it was nice to have everything -- protein, a starch, dairy and veggies -- all right in one dish. If I did it again, I might had some black beans to the mix. All in all, it was really good, although it kind of reminded me of a fancier -- or slightly more complicated -- Hamburger Helper-type meal.

Nate and I worked on this meal together, which meant we kind of made up some parts as we went along -- which included both putting varying amounts of spice in the dish, making it a super spicy meal. Good, but spicy! He may have wiped his brow a few times throughout the meal.  

From the start, I decided to change a few things about the recipe. We used ground beef instead of chicken, mostly because we had some in the freezer we needed to use up. Also, we're not sour cream fans, so I subbed plain Greek yogurt, which we always have, for the sour cream. 

Here's what we did for our Beefy Enchilada Pasta:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• a pinch of two of habanero powder
• 1 Tbs.-ish olive oil 
• 2 small red onions, diced
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 15 oz. can red enchilada sauce (I used medium spice level)
• A couple (OK, maybe 10) shakes Cholula sauce) 
• 4-oz. can diced green chilies
• 1/2-ish teas. chili powder
• 1 teas. cumin
• 1/4 teas. salt
• 1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt 
• 8.5 oz medium sized pasta (I used whole wheat penne)
• Toppings: chopped avocado, tomatoes, green onions and/or sour cream, if desired

Brown beef and onions, mix in habanero powder and any other spices you'd like.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté zucchini and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.

In large skillet, add enchilada sauce, Cholula, green chilies, salt, chili powder and cumin. Stir to combine then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every so often. Add Greek yogurt, cheese and beef to skillet. Mix to combine, warming the skillet if necessary for the cheese to melt.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and mix pasta into cheese, beef and veggie mixtures. 

Serve garnished with avocado and tomatoes (and green onions and/or sour cream, if desired).

Green Chile Chili

There are many things I love about Colorado -- the mountains, the craft breweries, the skiing and hiking, the laid-back lifestyle -- but one of the things I love most is that you can order delicious, homemade green chile chili just about everywhere you go.

Whenever we're in Colorado -- and we're there a fair amount, with Nate being from Colorado and having plenty of family members there -- I'm always sure to order a cup or a bowl. The style I've had in Colorado always has pork in it and is very thick. It's often served over other foods, such as burritos. Yum!

Green chile chili is always something I've wanted to make and for some reason never did. Until now.

With the cool fall temps and changing leaves, I figured now would be a good time to make our first batch of chili of the season. Nate and I both consulted a few different green chile chili recipes for ideas and insight, and then came up with this recipe.

I have no idea how traditional it might be (I have a feeling it's not too traditional at all), but I can tell you this -- it was delicious, and we will definitely be making it again. It had just the right amount of heat for us (it might be a bit much for those who don't like things too spicy) and the pork and Great Northern beans made it very satisfying. 

Green Chile Chili

• 1.25(ish) pounds pork (I can't remember what we used, but shoulder or pork butt would work) 
• 4 Anaheim chiles
• 1 Poblano pepper
• 1 banana pepper
• 2 small red chiles
• 1/2 jar tomatillo salsa
• 1 can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 teas. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• flour
• olive oil

Cut pork in about 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces (you can cut it after cooking, too, which is sometimes easier). Dredge pork in flour. Heat olive oil -- about a tablespoon -- in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pork until browned.

Meanwhile, turn oven broiler on high. Place peppers on a foil-lined baking sheet. broil peppers and chiles, other than the small red ones, until blackened, rotating as needed (I think this took me about 20 minutes total). The small red  ones were too small to broil, and ended up crispy. I would just chop those and throw them in with everything else. After the peppers are blackened, place in a plastic bag and seal for about 15 minutes. Peel skin off the peppers, de-seed if desired and chop. 

Add pork, peppers and rest of ingredients to a slowcooker. Cook all day on low (you could also do this on the stovetop for a few hours, but I like how flavorful soups/chilis get in the slowcooker). Serve with cornbread, shredded cheddar, tortilla chips or anything else you'd like.

I was so excited to eat this meal that I didn't take a picture of the finished product. But I'm sure you can imagine what it looked like!

Afghani Hot Dish

I have sooooo many cookbooks, but I love getting new ones! Lucky for me, my parents gave me one for Christmas: Hot Dish Heaven: Classic Casseroles from Midwest Kitchens. They got it at a store in a museum (I think it was) in Madison, WI. It's a great cookbook--it contains all-one-casserole or "hot dish" recipes. It's by Ann L. Burckhardt, a retired Star Tribune taste section editor. Lots of the recipes are for traditional comfort-type food, like tuna noodle casserole, mac and cheese, and tater tot hot dish.

I had Nate pick out one recipe that sounded particularly good so I could make it for dinner tonight. He picked out the Afghani Chicken Bake. It was pretty easy to put together, and tasted great. The recipe comes from an Afghani restaurateur in the Twin Cities. Here's the recipe:

Afghani Chicken Bake

-2-3 lbs. boneless mixed chicken pieces (I used about 2.25 pounds of boneless breasts)

-1 tbs. corn oil (I used olive)

-3 medium potatoes, peeled and chunked (I did not peel them, and I would recommend "chunking" them rather small so they cook)

-3 medium carrots, peeled and chunked

-1 tomato, sliced

-1 green pepper, sliced

Tomato sauce:

-6-oz. can tomato paste

-1.75 cups water

-1 tbs. crushed garlic (I didn't quite know how to do this, so I kinda crushed 4 cloves of garlic then chopped it all up)

-1 teas. salt

-1 teas. ground coriander seeds

-1 teas. black pepper

-1/4 teas. cayenne pepper

Hot cooked rice, preferably basmati

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Wash chicken, removing skin and fat. If chicken breasts are large, cut in half (I kind of cut in quarters). Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and brown chicken.

In a 2.5-quart greased baking dish, layer the chicken, tomato, green pepper, potatoes and carrots. Combine ingredients for tomato sauce and pour over chicken and veggies.

Cover and bake for 1 hour or until chicken and potatoes are tender when pierced with fork (I ended up baking for 1 hour 20 and the potatoes were good). Serve with rice to soak up tomato sauce.

This dish was tasty, although I had to add some extra salt to my plate. Really crushing the garlic would make a difference, though, so I'll be sure to do that next time.