Amazing chicken stir fry

I wanted to make something that resembled thai food, without actually having a lot of Thai staple ingredients available. The result is a thai/indian/asian medley.

Time: 40-60 min

Ingredients:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts - 2
Olive oil
Oyster sauce - 1-3 tsp
Turmeric
Black pepper or Pepper medley
Powdered ginger (fresh is better!)
Garam masala
Garlic - 6 cloves
Red onion - half
Baby carrots - handful
Red bell pepper - half
Baby spinach - generous handful
Sugar snap peas - handful
Jalapeño peppers - 1-2
Peanut butter (I used "Once Again" Creamy) - 1 tsp
Jasmine rice - 1 cup

Instructions:
1. Cut up raw chicken into bite-sized pieces, marinade in olive oil, oyster sauce, powdered ginger, garam masala, turmeric, and pepper. Set aside.
2. Set rice to boil (time this step so that your rice gets done when your stir fry is done)
3. Mince garlic. Dice onion. Julienne the bell pepper and carrots. Cut up spinach. Mince Jalapeno.

4. Heat up pan on high heat, and apply olive oil. Sauté chicken on high heat until good color, add onions and garlic, and lower temperature to half. Sauté, and let cook for 5-8min, occasionally stirring.
5. Add peanut butter, peppers and carrots, wait 3-5 min.
6. Add sugar snap peas, wait 2 min.
7. Add spinach and jalapeno, wait 2-3 min.
8. Serve and enjoy :)

Limppu

This Christmas, I helped out my grandmother with making some of the great traditional Christmas foods. I took some of grandma's recipes along on the way home, because they're definitely worth sharing :)

This is a typical bread from the Häme region, and it's always been a favorite of mine :)
(cooking and oven times may be a little off, because you know no self-respecting grandmother judges doneness by the clock :D )

Note: makes 4-5 limppus
Time to Prepare: many minutes
Time in Oven: ~20+ minutes/loaf

Ingredients:
1 quart buttermilk
4 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast (or 2 ounces of fresh yeast)
wheat flour
rye flour
2/3 cup molasses
egg (for glaze)
spices: fennel, anise

Cookware:
two large bowls
baking cloths
baking surface/table
baking sheet
baking paper

Directions:
1. mix room temperature buttermilk with the yeast
2. add wheat flour until very loose porridge consistency
3. add 2 teaspoons fennel and 2 teaspoons anise
4. add ~2/3 cup of molasses
5. mix in wheat and rye flour until more doughlike, but still sticks to your hand. but not too much (lol)
6. cover with baking cloth and let rise
7. form the loaves. Take a chunk about four fists in size, and fold it over itself from the side in a circular motion until it stays in a hemisphere shape. Do this on your baking surface with enough flour so you don't get stuck everywhere
8. let the loaves rise, and then poke holes in them with a fork and "paint" them with egg. Set your oven to 370 F
9. put in the oven until brown

I always, being the weird kid that I was, loved to eat limppu slices with blue cheese. oh yeah.

Meatballs for a Small Army

This Christmas, I helped out my grandmother with making some of the great traditional Christmas foods. I took some of grandma's recipes along on the way home, because they're definitely worth sharing :)
(cooking and oven times may be a little off, because you know no self-respecting grandmother judges doneness by the clock :D )

Time to Prepare: ~45 minutes
Time in Oven: ~10+ minutes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs (unsweetened)
4 eggs
~1.5 cups sour cream
water
4 tiny onions, or one big onion
2.2 lbs ground beef
1.1 lbs ground chicken
(or substitute with ground turkey, or any mix of the above as long as total mass constant)
spices:

Cookware:
knife
cutting board
oven dish(es)
large bowl
stirring spoon thing

Directions:
1. chop the onion until it is in tiny pieces, almost minced
2. in a large bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, sour cream, eggs and some water so that you get a "dough". note: start mixing immediately to avoid the breadcrumbs chunking up
3. add the chopped onion and the ground meat
4. set your oven to 560 F
5. grease the oven dish
6. roll the meatballs, and set in the dish. They can touch eachother. It helps to have wet/moist hands, so keep a cup of water nearby
7. put in the oven, and enjoy soon :)

This is of course traditionally served with good old mashed potatoes and some lingonberry sauce. mmmmm.....

Salmon Pasta

So this isn't entirely from scratch which makes me mad but thats all my host mom had in the fridge (sauf the champignons and the creme fraiche which I got from monoprix). This meal only serves two as opposed to four by the way.

Time to Prepare: ~20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 tbsp creme fraiche (sour cream if you're in America)
6-8 mushrooms (the really regular kind that are white in a usually blue container)
1/2 of a lemon
cold smoked salmon (this was what I had ready made. scroll to the bottom for instructions with real salmon)
2 cloves of garlic
spices: basil, pepper (thats all I had :( )
olive oil
macaroni (or spaghetti)

Cookware:
pot
skillet

Directions:
1. cut the musrooms into slices (each mushroom makes about 4-6 slices)
2. cut the fish into pieces a bit smaller than the mushroom pieces (or use your hands to piece the fish)
3. cut the garlic into tiny pieces
4. bring the pasta to a boil (add a bit of oil to the water)
5. while the pasta is boiling, saute the garlic and mushrooms in a bit of oil
6. when the mushrooms are brownish and have shrunk, lower the heat to medium and add the fish. take care not to burn your fish!
6. Add the creme fraiche to the fish and mushrooms, and squeeze the lemon into the sauce also.
7. lower the heat to medium/low, and add your spices. Leave to simmer until the pasta is done.
8. when your pasta is done, pour out the water and mix the pasta in with the sauce.
9. Eat.


simple recipe, not sumer yum yum yum yum, but also not bad for something to cook after you get home from work.

Using fresh salmon:
1. cut the salmon into a few chunks small enough to fit in a pot
2. bring pot of water to boil, and boil the salmon for about 5 minutes or so
3. take the skin off the salmon (if it doesnt just peel off your salmon is too raw)
4. follow the above recipe

Chicken Stir Fry/Stew

The idea was originally to make a chicken stir fry, but there was a change in plans and I ended up making food for five people, and my pan wasn't quite enough to make a stir fry with so much stuff in it... So experimental techniques were used, and I'm actually pretty happy with the result.
I served this dish with rice, and since I couldn't fit all the vegetables in my pan i just added some of them into the boiling water with the rice. I mean, it all ends up in the same place anyway :D


Time to Prepare: ~60 minutes

Ingredients:
Tomatoes
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Carrots
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Scallions (long, onion type things. Also called green onions)
Baby corn (I used the canned variety)

Cookware:
Pan/skillet
Pot to cook rice
Large bowl
Aluminum foil

Directions:
1) Cut your chicken into small pieces and marinade. My marinade included olive oil, basil, tarragon, oregano, garlic powder and chives)
2) Chop up all vegetables into small pieces.
3) Heat up your pan and brown the chicken slightly on high heat
4) Turn the heat to medium/low (but still hot enough to boil water), and add about half an inch of water to the pan. Add the vegetables. If you've chopped enough vegetables, they will make a heaping pile on your pan and you cant really stir the food without having everything fall everywhere.
5) Take a piece of alumium foil and cover the vegetables and pan. This essentially steams the vegetables while your chicken is boiling below.
6) After 20 minutes, pour the contents of the pan into a large bowl so you can mix everything together. Eat.

The same ingredients also work for a stir fry, if your pan is big enough first add the carrots, then the chicken, then the broccoli and cauliflower, and finally the tomato, onions and baby corn. Keep stir frying until done :)

Potato Vegetable Quiche

The proportions in this recipe still need work. I sort of improvised as I went making this last night, so don't take these directions super verbatim... The proportions here make enough quiche to fill a 9x13 pan.

I stole this recipe off SmarterFitter Blog, and edited it a little. Here's the original: sweet potato quiche.

Time to Prepare: ~60 minutes
Time in Oven: ~45-60 minutes

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 bag grated cheese (I used a 4 cheese variety)
4-5 potatoes
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup canned corn
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
olive oil
2 tomatoes
3 Cups wheat/graham flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
9 tbsp margarine or butter
3/4 cups water
Spices (ex: garlic powder, oregano, tarragon, etc)

Cookware:
Skillet or pan to saute vegetables
Dish to bake quiche in oven
Knife
Cutting board
bowl

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking powder, butter, and 3/4 cup of cheese together in a bowl.
2. Add the water to the mixture. The dough should be firm, almost to the dry side.
3. Cover the dough and set it aside for later.
4. Set your oven to 350F.
5. Dice the tomato, peppers and onion, and chop the garlic into tiny pieces.
6. Slice the potatoes into thin slices.
7. Heat up your pan and add some olive oil; saute the onion, garlic and peppers until the onion becomes translucent. Mix in the corn and tomato, add spices (ex basil leaves, oregano), and set aside to cool.
8. Mix the eggs and the milk. Add spices to the mixture if desired (ex, tarragon, garlic powder).
9. Grease your baking dish.
10. Take your dough and spread it on the bottom and sides of your baking dish.
12. Spread half of the sauted vegetables on the crust, and then layer about half of the potato slices on top of that, spread about half the remaining cheese on top of the potatoes.
13. Make a second layer with the remaining vegetables, tomatoes and cheese.
14. Pour the egg/milk mixture on top of everything. Try and spread it evenly over the top.
15. Put your dish in the oven for 45-60 min. I think you will get a nice top and a good consistency for your quiche if you increase your oven temperature to 375F after 25/30 minutes or so.

This recipe is still kind of in the "experimental" stage, if you try it leave comments and tell me what happened!

Blue Cheese Chicken

While this food item isn't maybe quite as healthy as the other stuff I cook, its still not that unhealthy for you... And, it tastes good :)

Time to Prepare: ~30 minutes
Time in Oven: ~45 minutes

Ingredients:
4 potatoes
1 leek or a bunch of green onions
1 small bag of baby carrots
half of a head of cauliflower
REAL blue cheese (get it from the international/cheese section of your grocery store, not from the dairy section)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
1 tbsp chives and onion flavored cream cheese (optional)
1/3 cup skim milk (optional)
Spices (I used oregano, tarragon, garlic powder,and chives on the chicken)

Cookware:
knife
cutting board
oven bag
dish to prepare food in

Directions:
1. set your oven to 375 F
2. open up the oven bag and lay it on the bottom of your baking dish
3. cut all your vegetables into small pieces and spread them along the bottom of the bag/dish
4. cut off all the non-meat off your chicken breats, and cut deep cuts into the meat
5. stuff the cuts with blue cheese, and spice the chicken
6. (optional) mix the cream cheese and skim milk together and pour evenly over the vegetables
7. spice vegetables (ex: garlic powder)
8. place the chicken over the vegetables
9. pour olive oil over both the chicken and vegetables
10. add a tiny bit of water to the bottom of the dish, this is to keep the vegetables and chicken from drying out
11. close the bag and cut a few slits into it to keep pressures even
12. place the dish into the oven for about 45 minutes.

I served this meal with rice and a salad, both of which you can make while your chicken is in the oven :)