Chicken Stir Fry And Leftover Mac And Cheese

Since we no longer RV or travel very much otherwise, I’ve given up gardening and don’t cook much while on a diet, and we only eat out occasionally, I don’t have a whole lot to post about these days but I'll keep plugging along.

Takeout-Style Kung Pao Chicken And Such A Simple Shower Fix

Since everyone here but Pat is trying to lose weight, we’ve been trying to cook healthier and lower calorie and this dish seemed to fit the bill.  We rarely make stir-fry but I’ve become a fan of “Serious Eats” and decided to use their recipe for Kung Pao Chicken  and Cindy wanted to cook so she followed the recipe as shown below which we adapted a little but the original can be found by clicking on the above link.

Soup-A-Thon For A Very Cold Week And Snow

I rarely eat soup in warm weather but with highs in the 30’s (cold for here) predicted for 10 days, we decided to have a soup-a-thon beginning with chili on Friday before the predicted winter storm.  We used our normal Anson Peckham’s Chili Con Carne recipe and once again we thought it was delicious.  This is Bev's topped with cheese and onion.

Chicken and Pineapple Kebabs

We had some pineapple spears in the fridge along with some chicken breasts and bell pepper and Bev suggested kebabs for supper which sounded great to me.  I went on line in search of a recipe and settled on the recipe for Chicken and Pineapple Kabobs from “The Whole Cook” blog.  I chose it because of the short list of ingredients, all of which I had on hand.  I followed the recipe but added the extra step of reducing the leftover marinade in a pan and spooning it over the plated kebabs.

Not So Spicy Beef Stir Fry

I recently cut steaks from a whole beef tenderloin and ended up with a pound of tail meat so Bev suggested we turn it into stir fry.  I looked back thru my blog posts and found several for beef stir fry and two that had great reviews.  Friend, Russ, commented that our most recent one “may have been the best meal he has had at our place.”  But since we just made it last year, I opted for a recipe from 2012 that got this comment - “I thought it was very good and Bev said it may have been our best ever stir fry.”

Chinese Meal Ala Ashley, Charcuterie Board, Spam Hash, Our RV

Bev wanted to make pasta with Ashley, one of our surprise Christmas day guests, and Ashley wanted to incorporate it into a Chinese dish to cook for us.  She roasted some of the pasta and boiled some then served the combo under a delicious stir fry of chicken, beef, broccoli, and typical items for these dishes.

I’d shown Kathy’s charcuterie board previously but for New Year’s Eve, Wende had to use the counter top for hers.

We had some cooked potatoes left from two previous meals and a can of Spam that had been sitting in the pantry for a while so we decided to turn them into hash for breakfast.  I just diced everything, medium, and fried in oil to crisp up, then plated and topped with a couple of sunny side-up eggs for a delicious breakfast.

I would normally have added some peppers and onions to the hash but I wanted to judge the taste with just potatoes and meat.  This was my first ever spam hash but I will make it again.  I had originally bought the Spam (Hormel) to recapture some of my childhood where canned meat sandwiches were often on the lunch menu, except Mom always bought Treet (Armor) which I assume was cheaper. Now, I have Spam on the grocery list to use with our next batch of homemade bread for a fried Spam, cheese, and mayo sandwich, circa 1950’s.

Finally, when our motorhome stranded us along the roadside back in October, Bev said she would not give it another change to strand us and wanted to sell it.  After engine repairs and a full chassis servicing, it has been sitting peacefully in the driveway awaiting it’s fate. 

With the time to begin making reservations at hand, a decision was required and Bev has agreed to give the ole girl one more change since we spent so much on her, so I’ll soon have some trips to report on and hopefully with good outcomes.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/27/22 – 01/06/23 meal dates

Steak and Pepper Stir Fry And Chicken Waldorf Salad

I’m working on reducing our frozen food inventory (again) and when I saw this recipe for Steak and Pepper Stir Fry, I knew it would get some freezer burned beef out of the freezer and prevent some of our recently picked peppers from going in.  A one pan stir-fry meal works well for our Friday group and Mary’s recipe from her “Vegetable Recipes” blog fit the bill.  I used beef tenderloin which I grilled over high heat for a couple of minutes to add another layer of flavor.  The original recipe with great pics like the one below can be found by clicking on the above link.

Honey Garlic Chicken

When I saw the recipe for this dish from Kevin’s “Closet Cooking” blog, I thought it would fit into our plan to cook a meal then eat leftovers for a day or two.  Since I wanted leftovers, I doubled the recipe to get the one below.  The original recipe, along with some great pics and nutrition info can be found by clicking on the above link.

Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks & Soy Sesame Asparagus

When I thawed out the package of tuna for the previous meal, I still had a 14oz. and an 8oz. piece left which I decided would feed three people so I saved it for our Friday get together – Joe, Cindy, and I ate tuna and Bev and Pat leftover Pasta Di Angelo.  I found another Asian recipe for Six-Minute Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks on the "Bowl Of Deliciousness" blog.

I increased the marinade amount by 50% to get the recipe below.

I had mentioned in the previous post that most tuna is gassed (with carbon monoxide) to achieve the bright red color and it's easy to understand why as ours looks like beef liver.

Egg Drop Soup

Rather than canned dog food, we mix the dry food with cooked chicken for our pups and, as a result, we make a lot of good chicken broth and Bev decided she wanted to turn some into egg drop soup.  I went online and found a recipe from The Woks Of Life that sounded easy and good.  I followed the recipe as written except as noted and I increased it by 50% to match our amount of chicken broth. You can click on the above link for the original recipe and more pics like this.

Chicken Stir Fry, Snow, and Capt. Romeo

 I’m back to eating healthier with very low carbs so a chicken stir-fry dish seemed to fit the bill well but before I get into the food let’s look at the weather.  It was 76F on New Years Day and we awoke on Jan 3 to this.

Cashew Chicken Ala Kevin

I had been wanting to make a Chinese dish with cashews so when Sil, Pat, gave us a jar of the nuts, I went in search of a recipe.  The one I chose was in my recipe file and it is Cashew Chicken from the very reliable Kevin on his Closet Cooking blog. Since I had 1½ pounds of chicken and wanted leftovers, I increased the ingredient amounts to get the one below.  Click on the link for the original recipes and more pics like this.

I often post a pic from the site the recipe came from because they are often from food bloggers who make it a priority to get good shots of their dishes, whereas I’m just getting a few shots of the food before it gets cold – their shots show what my dishes should look like.

Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Shrimp Stir Fry & Eliza Visits

Early last week, I had texted Wende so she could ask Eliza if she would like to come down for a weekend visit and she picked Sunday.  They usually get here around 4pm (after her nap) so dinner is always part of the visit.  We had some pineapple and colored peppers that needed to be used and some shrimp in the freezer so I looked thru my recipes and found the perfect one for these ingredients and a crowd - Mary’srecipe for Pineapple Shrimp Stir Fry. 

Some Recent Meals & Happenings

Bev works very hard to keep her flower gardens looking good and one of them is around the rock in the middle of our driveway.

Teriyaki Pork Stir Fry

When we made chicken stir-fry a week ago, Bev said she loved it and wanted to have again soon so we decided stir fry would be a good weekly meal to provide for our friends with the invalid son.  But for this meal, Bev wanted to use pork so I went for an online search and found a recipe for Teriyaki Pork that didn’t require buying any special ingredients.  It came from Dinner At The Zoo and I adjusted the ingredients list a little and used some frozen vegetables we had on hand and I changed the directions around.  You can click on the link for the original recipe and more good pics like this one.

Chicken Stir Fry For Around The World

We had not had stir-fry in a long time and with broccoli needing to be cooked, chicken in the freezer and another around-the-world dish opportunity, I went in search of a recipe.  I found Trish’s EasyChicken Stir Fry recipe at her Mom on Timeout site.  I adapted it a little for the ingredients we had on hand but you can click on the link for the original and more pics like this one.

Healthy Breakfast And Other Stuff

After my surgery, the doctor advised that I should not be dieting while healing but now that it’s a month post-surgery and the start of a new month, it seems like a good time to get back to eating less.  But since I’ve mentioned surgery, here is an update.

Hip Update - Yesterday (three weeks and 5 days post-surgery and 10 therapy sessions), I was finally able to walk 100 yards or so without my cane and with just a slight limp – so good progress continues and the internal healing should be fully complete in two more weeks.

Murgh Makhana - Butter Chicken

Now that I have a new hip and even though still using a walker, I had to get out of my chair and do something plus I was ready to get back to my around-the-world meals - none since before Christmas and the pre-surgery crash diet started.  For this next one,  I selected India and it seems there are many traditional Indian dishes so I picked Butter Chicken using the recipe from Café Delights and after ordering what is likely a lifetime supply of Garam Masala and dried fenugreek leaves from Amazon over a month ago, I was pretty well set to go.  

Please check out Karina’s blog for some good pics of her process and her dish like this one.

Thai Beef With Peppers

Bev saw The Pioneer Woman make this dish on TV and really wanted to try it so we bought the steak, fresh ginger, and some Thai Stir Fry Rice Noodles – we had everything else on hand.  Bev was tired from a day in her flower bed so I made the dish by Ree's recipe.  This is a shot of her dish from the web.

Chicken Adobo Ala Pam

I have been wanting to cook something with Asian flavors but not the normal stir fry and when Pam posted the recipe for Chicken Adobo on her For The Love Of Cooking Blog, I knew it would fit the bill.  Please check her site for some great shots of the dish.