Spicy Sunflower Seed Noodles with Veggies and Chicken

Pink Parsley had this yummy sounding recipe with peanuts, to which our son is allergic. So we substituted SunButter in the recipe. I also had imagined this more like a stir fry than a salad, so we stir fried the veggies a bit and added the dressing and put it on top of soba noodles. It turned out great!
Spicy Sunflower Seed Noodles with Veggies and Chicken
adapted from Pink Parsley, adapted from Pinch of Yum, originally from Food Nouveau

For the dressing:

  • 3 Tbs soy sauce
  • 2 Tbs water
  • 2 Tbs Crunchy SunButter
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 Tbs rice wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbs minced fresh ginger
  • 1/2 Tbs honey
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp sugar

For the stir fry (or don’t cook it and make it a salad…)

  • 1 cup julienne yellow pepper
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 1 medium shredded zucchini
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions
  • 1 cup chopped or shredded cooked chicken breast
  • 8 oz. cooked soba noodles or linguine
  • 2-3 Tbs minced fresh basil
  • 2-3 Tbs minced fresh cilantro
  • crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Mix all the dressing ingredients. Stir fry the veggies. Add the dressing and serve on top of the soba noodles.

Portabella and Cheese “Burgers” on focaccia

Portabella, tomato and basil focaccia burgerThese Portabella and Halloumi “Burgers” looked really good, but I wasn’t able to find Halloumi cheese, which is apparently a cheese that can be grilled on its own…Plus I had a craving for some focaccia. I made the focaccia recipe many years ago when it came out in Fine Cooking, and it is really good…though I had forgotten how long it takes. I was able to squeeze it into a day in the fridge, and one evening after work letting it warm up, rest a bit and cook, but it probably could have used more time to rest (the recipe calls for about 5hrs between taking it out of the fridge and cooking it!). But, it was still really good.

 

For the burgers we used:

  • 4 Portabella mushrooms
  • 3 1/2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • Tomato slices
  • Basil leaves
  • We topped it with either some smoked gouda or feta cheese (didn’t have enough gouda for everyone)

Bee-Bim Bop

Bee-Bim-Bop, Bip Bim Bap, Bibimbap…Maybe there is a difference, but they all seem to be a tasty mix of veggies, especially cabbage, meat and eggs. I had originally planned on using this which more a guideline than a recipe, but we also had the recipe from the Bee-Bim Bop book our youngest read in class. We also couldn’t find any safe Hoisin sauce, so we made something with soy sauce, molasses, sugar and corn starch…

As we tend to do, we made a bit of a mashup and came up with a yummy meal.

B.B.B.

  • ~1 lb Skirt steak
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 3 Tbs soy sauce
  • 2 Tbs molasses
  • 1 Tbs sugar
  • 1 Tbs corn starch
  • rice wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbs Olive oil
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 2-3 green onions sliced
  • 1/2 cabbage sliced
  • 2 carrots sliced
  • 2 cups bean sprouts
  • Handfull or two of spinach
  • rice cooked
  • sriracha sauce

In a large bowl mix the ingredients from garlic through vinegar. Grill the steak a few minutes on each side until cooked as desired. Slice across the grain into bite sized pieces. Add the steak to the sauce in the bowl while it is still warm and set aside.

Add 1 Tbs oil to a pan and heat over medium heat. Cook the egg like an omelet. When it’s cooked through remove from the pan and slice into strips.

Add the other Tbs oil to a pan and heat over med-high heat. Add the green onions and then cabbage and stir fry. Add the carrots and cook for a bit. Add the bean sprouts and cook stirring. Add the meat with the sauce and cook until the sauce has thickened a bit.

Serve over rice with sriracha sauce.

Butternut Squash and Bacon Quiche

Oh my…Anne’s recipe for butternut squash and bacon quiche was great! I just had the last remaining piece for lunch and it is yummy goodness. It did take a while to prepare and cook, but it is worth the wait.

For future reference and those without a scale the 180g of flour was about 1 cup each. The crust was great even though I made it in the morning and left it in the fridge all day…took some work to roll out…We only used about half of the feta and parmesan that the recipe called for, it didn’t seem like the full amount would fit in the pie pan we used.

Meals for Oct 15-21

  1. Chicken with wine, lemon and butter sauce with Brussels sprouts and bacon 
  2. Butternut squash mac and cheese
  3. Vietnamese Stir-Fried Sweet Potatoes and beef (also in TFMCB p. 476)
  4. Chocolate chip chili (you have to scroll down the page a ways…)
  5. Orzo with caramelized fall vegetables and ginger
  6. Pizza
  7. Butternut squash and apple soup with Gruyere, apple and sage scones

Pumpkin scones

Today is my wife’s birthday, and was looking for something a little special to make for breakfast. After visiting a certain coffee establishment yesterday I was craving pumpkin scones. While there are plenty of recipes that try to mimic theirs, I fond a few that looked even better. The one I settled on was from Bodacious Girl‘s blog. I made a few modifications, partially because I didn’t have cream cheese or buttermilk on hand. We skipped the chocolate glaze, though that does look yummy…and sugar coma inducing.We also had some truffles from a neighbor that we sliced on top of scrambled eggs and made a nice fruit salad.

Pumpkin Maple Scones (modified from Bodacious Girl)Pumpkin scone

  • 1 1/2 cups white flour (we use white whole wheat)
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 Tbs sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking sode
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
  • 6 Tbs cold butter
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375˚.

Mix together the pumpkin puree, cream, lemon juice, maple syrup, and vanilla and place in freezer.

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until it is coarse crumbs.

Pour in the wet ingredients and mix as little as possible to blend. The last part of mixing is best done with your hands in the bowl, gathering it all into a ball. Place the ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pat out into a disc 1 1/2 in thick. Cut into 8 pieces and move them around on the sheet to spread out.

Bake 15-20 minutes.