Orange Chicken and Edamame Salad

I saw this on a blog and decided to make it last night. I was kind of proud of how nice looking it came out especially because I couldn't be bothered to measure out most of the ingredients. I used brown sugar instead of splenda and I used white wine vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. We ate almost everything, so this will be a good meal to make when I don't want to have leftovers.

Marinade:
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound chicken breast tenders, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup cornstarch

Sauce:
3/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
5 teaspoons Splenda granular
4 teaspoons sugar-free OR regular honey OR Agave
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Pinch red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Kosher salt

Sliced green onions
Sesame seeds

Marinade: In a medium bowl combine orange juice, orange zest, soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt. Add chicken tenders and stir to coat. Allow to marinate for 25-30 minutes.

Sauce: In a small saucepan combine orange juice, orange zest, chicken broth, Splenda, honey, soy sauce, oil, garlic, and apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil; lower heat to a simmer and cook until liquid is reduced by 1/4. Season with salt to taste. Stir the 2 teaspoons cornstarch with a small amount of cold water and add to the sauce. Bring back to a boil and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until thickened. Set aside, but keep warm.

In a large bowl or ziplock bag add the 1/2 cup of cornstarch. Drain the chicken and toss with the cornstarch, shaking off excess. In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium-high. Add chicken and cook until golden and meat is cooked through. Gently toss cooked chicken with the sauce. Garnish with green onion slices, sesame seeds and serve with rice.

Edamame Salad:
Mix all ingredients together and serve.
1 bag of cooked edamame
2 oranges supremed, with the juice from one leftover
salt, pepper
chopped green onions, white parts only.

Filet with Brandy Sauce, Green Beans and Baked Onion

Yesterday Blake was really stressed out from work so I wanted to make something he'd like a lot. I don't use beef that much so I decided on steak. I cooked the steak well but I almost set my kitchen on fire trying to flambee some brandy, which I couldn't even really taste when it was all done. I made some sauteed green beans and threw in some leftover grape tomatoes I had baked an onion for sides. The onion recipe said to core out the middle, but I had a hard time doing that and I didn't really think it was necessary since I wasn't stuffing it. Next time I won't do it at all.

Steak Ingredients:
2 8 oz. filet mignon
salt, pepper
olive oil
2 oz. brandy

Directions:
Season the steaks with salt and pepper all around. Heat a pan on medium high heat until hot, then drizzle in olive oil. Place steak in the pan and leave it without touching for about 8-9 minutes on each side. When steaks are cooked, pour in the brandy off the heat. Then tilt the pan so the flame catches the alcohol. When the alcohol has burned off, remove the steaks to rest for a few minutes. Serve with sauce spooned over the top.

Green Beans Ingredients:
1 bag pre washed green beans
half a container of grape tomatoes, halved
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp butter
olive oil
white wine

Directions:
Heat olive oil and butter together in a pan until melted. Add garlic and sautee for a minute. Add green beans and toss to coat. Then add tomatoes and stir in. Add white wine and cook for about 10 minutes until beans are tender.

Baked Onion Ingredients:
2 small sweet onions
olive oil
white wine
dried thyme
half a chicken bullion cube

Directions:
Cut the stem end off of the onion and trim the root end so that it is clean, but does not come apart. Put onion in mini cocotte. Rub with olive oil, chicken bullion and sprinkle with thyme. Pour a little wine in the mini cocotte. Bake at 400 about 40 minutes or until the outer layer looks like it is drying out. Let cool slightly before serving.

Potato, Brocooli, Cheddar Soup

I'm not feeling well this week so I wanted to make soup in my slow cooker last night. My plan was to put it in right when I got home so I wouldn't have to mess with anything later when Blake came over to eat. I tried to cut a recipe in half, but I had to add more water to get the right consistency so now I have soup which I have to eat the rest of the week. I couldn't really taste the soup that well but I think it was kind of bland. It was probably because the recipe didn't have any cream in it.

Ingredients:
4 potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 bunch of spring onions, whites only, chopped - reserve greens for garnish
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can vegetable stock
1 can evaporated fat free milk
about 2 cups of water
1 package cut broccoli florets
salt, pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Add everything into the slow cooker except water, broccoli and cheddar. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for longer. Mash potatoes with a potato masher. Add water if necessary to thin out the soup. Stir in the broccoli and cheese. Heat through and serve immediately with crusty bread. Garnish with green onion.

Okonomiyaki

I have wanted to make this for a while since we had so much fun eating it in Tokyo. I found a few different recipes on websites and decided just to give it a try. It came out ok, but not the same as the real thing. It was fun to make anyway, but my house ended up very smoky from the griddle pan. We made two batches because I didn't realize how much a head of lettuce would make. One batch was mushroom, one was gruyere. We used the sauce I made, which helped the pancakes taste more like the ones in Japan, but we didn't use the mayonnaise. I couldn't find bonito flakes or seaweed to sprinkle on top.

Ingredients (makes 1 batch):
3 cups of shredded cabbage, packed
2 shredded carrots
2 eggs
1 cup flour
3/4 cup water
3 spring onions, white only, chopped
topping: chopped shitaki mushroom or grated gruyere

Okonomiyaki sauce:
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce

Mayonnaise:
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp white wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar.

Directions:
Cut up cabbage, shred carrots, cut onions, and prepare topping. Mix together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, water, and eggs. Heat a griddle pan over medium high heat. Mix the egg mixture into the cabbage mixture. It should be fairly wet. Oil the griddle pan with vegetable oil and spoon out the mixture to form pancakes. Size them so that you are able to flip them. Brown for a few minutes, then flip. Sauce the cooked side. When the opposite side is browned, flip and sauce again. Serve immediately topped with more sauce, green onions and japanese mayonnaise.

Tuna tacos

Monday I made these for dinner. I looked at some recipes in foodgawker but I just did this myself. I really liked it and it felt pretty healthy to eat. I served it with a salad of black beans, corn and cherry tomatoes over romaine with a low fat ranch dressing.

Ingredients:
1 tuna steak
1 bag of corn tortillas
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 limes
1 bunch cilantro
salt, pepper, chayenne
1 avocado
1/4 head of cabbage, chopped
olive oil

Directions:
Chop the cabbage and slice the avocado. Squeeze a lime over the avocado and set aside. Mix the mayonnaise with the juice of one lime, salt, pepper, and a pinch of cheyenne pepper. Chop a handful of cilantro finely and mix it in. Add more cilanto to taste. Rub olive oil on the tuna and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sear over medium heat for about 3 minutes per side, leaving it pink and rare in the middle. Remove from the heat and allow to rest a few minutes before cutting into slices against the grain. Heat tortillas over the gas burner to warm up before serving.