Peanut Noodle Stir Fry

This is probably one of my favorite Asian/Thai inspired dishes that we make. It's creamy, loaded with veggies and chicken, and super delicious. Even though it's best served warm, it can very easily be eaten cold right out of the fridge. This recipe is adapted to be allergy friendly from Epicurious.

Ingredients
Sauce
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
1/3 cup warm water
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic (1 clove)
2 Tbps. rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 Tbps. sesame oil
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. dried hot red pepper flakes

Stir Fry
1 lb medium width rice noodles
2 Tbps. sesame oil
3-4 (aprox. 1 lb) chicken breasts, thawed and cubed
4 scallions/green onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped

Directions
Place all sauce ingredients in a blender and liquify until well blended.

In a medium-large pot, cook noodles according to package. Drain, rinse, and return to pot.

In a wok or large skillet, add sesame oil and brown chicken until cooked through. Add red and green bell peppers, and scallions/green onions. Cook until veggies are soft.

Once veggies are cooked, add peanut sauce mixture to wok. Cook until heated through.

Add to stir fry mixture to noodles and fold together until well combined.

Best served hot.

ENJOY!

Sushi Rice

Sushi rice takes more than just boiling the rice. To make it taste like real sushi it requires a liquid mixture to be added to it. We like to use the Progressive Microwave Rice cooker, to actually cook the rice.

Ingredients
4 cups cooked sushi rice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbps. sugar
2 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Rinse rice in mesh strainer until water runs clean.

2. Cook rice according to package or in a rice cooker. If using a microwave rice cooker, let rice sit for 5 minutes after it finishes cooking.

3. In a small sauce pan mix vinegar, sugar, and salt together on low/medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Let vinegar mixture cool.

4. Add vinegar mixture to rice.

5. Stir thoroughly and refrigerate.

Wait until rice is fully cooled to make sushi, if it is too warm it will dissolve the nori.

Veggie Sushi

After seeing it in numerous grocery stores and visiting a couple of sushi restaurants we decided to give sushi a go ourselves. There are some tricks to making it taste right though. Below is our go to recipe, it can be a little tricky to get the amounts right but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy.

Ingredients
1 recipe Sushi Rice, chilled
nori (seaweed paper)
carrot strips
avocado, cut into thin slices
cucumber, cut into strips

sushi rolling mat
small bowl filled with water
plastic wrap
scotch tape

Directions
Wrap your sushi mat in plastic wrap, and tape down the ends so that the mat is secure inside and doesn't slide around too much. Be sure to tape on the side that the nori does not sit on when rolling (the mat will usually roll up better one way).

Spread rice on nori, leaving about one inch uncovered (as shown at right). Make sure you don't put too much or the sushi won't close.

Place veggies across the middle of the rice.

Dip your finger in the bowl of water and wet the edge of the uncovered nori, this will help it stick together once it is rolled.

Roll sushi mat, starting with the covered end. Once rolled up, wrap the ends of the mat around the sushi and give a couple of gentle squeezes to make sure everything sticks.

Unroll, set aside, and repeat for remainder of rice.

Once all sushi is rolled, use a clean sharp knife to slice into about 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick slices. You may need to clean your knife between slices.

ENJOY!

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*NOTE: This is also tasty dipped in gluten free soy sauce!

Vegetable Fried Rice

This recipe pairs well with just about any Asian dish, but we recommend it with Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken. It originates from the same place, but has been adjusted to make it "friendly" as well. Also feel free to add other ingredients such as additional veggies, or chopped up meat (ham, chicken, etc.).

Ingredients
3 cups cooked white rice
3 Tbps sesame oil (or vegetable oil)
1 cup frozen peas and carrots (preferably thawed)
1 small onion, diced
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 c egg beaters substitute
3-4 Tbps gf soy sauce

Directions
Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok on medium/high heat.

Add the peas/carrots mix, onion, and garlic. Stir fry until tender.

Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. 

Add the rice and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated!

ENJOY!

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

We made this recipe a few times awhile back, but it is definitely very tasty. I found this dish on Pinterest, and it's hard to go wrong with gluten free orange chicken. It was originally posted on Life in the Lofthouse, and we have adapted it to make it "friendly". We served this with Vegetable fried rice and steamed broccoli. (I apologize for the poor quality pictures, updated ones hopefully soon to come.)

Ingredients

Chicken: 3-4 boneless chicken breasts salt and pepper 1 cup cornstarch 1/2 cup egg substitute (2 eggs) 1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce: 3/4 cup sugar 4 Tbps ketchup 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar 1 Tbps gf soy sauce 1 tsp garlic salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 325°F.

Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl, and set aside.

Trim the chicken breasts of any fat, rinse them, and cut into bite sizes pieces. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Then place the chicken in a 9×13 greased glass or ceramic baking dish.

Make sure sauce is still well mixed, and pour evenly over chicken.

Bake for one hour, turning the chicken every 15 minutes.

ENJOY!

Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry

Lately we've been getting good use out of our wok, which we got as a wedding gift; and I must say we have made some pretty tasty dishes. I found this one on Pinterest, but it originates from McCormick. We made some minor adjustments, but this is definitely a keeper.

Ingredients
14 1/2 ounces chicken broth
1/4 cup gf soy sauce
2 Tbps. corn starch
1 Tbps. sugar
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ginger, ground
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 Tbps oil
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
4 cups cut up vegetables (we used red bell peppers and broccoli)

Directions
Mix broth, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, garlic powder, ginger and red pepper, if desired, in small bowl until smooth. Set aside.

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet/wok on medium-high heat. Stir fry chicken until cooked through, then remove from pan. Add vegetables to skillet; stir fry about 3 minutes. Return chicken to pan.

Stir soy sauce mixture. Add to pan; stirring constantly, bring to boil on medium heat and boil 1 minute or until sauce is slightly thickened.

Serve with cooked rice.

ENJOY!