Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Day 278

I took a week off from blogging. Let's call it my summer vacation. We didn't have anything fancy or new, so it's all good. :)

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Filling
Original recipe
2 leaves lettuce
3 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves
3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
4 teaspoons finely chopped Thai basil
12 - 15 snap peas
2 radishes
4 small carrots
3 green onions
52 grams Vermicelli noodles

Veggies for spring rolls filling

Brown rice vermicelli for spring rolls filling

Peanut Sauce
Original recipe
(Substituted 3 TBSPs General Tso's sauce for Hoisin and omitted sugar)

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
3 tbsp General Tso sauce
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
4 1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 1/4 teaspoons chile-garlic paste
1 medium garlic clove, mashed to a paste
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil

Peanut sauce for Vietnamese spring rolls

Wrap in rice paper.

Vietnamese spring rolls unwrapped

Wrapping Vietnamese spring rolls

Serve with sauce. Make extra for lunch.

Store in a container on a damp paper towel so they are not touching each other.

Reviews/Comments

OMG. I can die happy now.

Chinese Stir-fry & Cheese Rangoons

Day 270

Leftovers rock.

Chinese Stir-fry & Cheese Rangoons

Chinese Stir-fry

We added more veggies to this to freshen it up and also because there was too much sauce. I ran out and picked more snow peas, then chopped more carrots and another onion. I also threw in some garlic scapes and spinach that was in the fridge.

More fresh veggies for yesterday's stir-fry

Before & After

In the before and after pics below, you can see in the first pic that there is a lot of sauce for the amount of veggies in the top pic. 

Before

After

Cheese Rangoons

We had more wonton wrappers left so I picked up a new package of cream cheese and Laura grabbed more green onions outside and I made 15 cheese rangoons to have with the stir-fry tonight. Because we ate all the ones I made last night, since we had this meal for lunch today, too.

Cheese rangoons & veggie stir-fry

Reviews/Comments

The rangoons weren't as good as last night's bok choi rangoons, but the stir-fry was even better. Gets a 10 from me again.

Chinese Stir-fry & Vegetable Rangoons

Day 269

Chinese Stir-fry & Vegetable Rangoons

Chinese Stir-fry

Fresh, homegrown snow peas were the inspiration for this whole meal. The more you pick the more they grow so we're trying to use them as much as possible.

Snow peas & green onions

Stir-fry Ingredients

1/3 lb snow peas

4 carrots

1 lb mushrooms

2 onions

1 red pepper

1/2 lb bean sprouts

1/2 lb fresh pasta, cooked

Stir-fry ingredients

Stirfry Sauce

Original recipe (the Basic Stir-Fry Sauce one)

2/3 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup veggie broth

1/3 cup rice vinegar

3 1/2 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp minced ginger

Directions

This dish requires a bit of prep and a few steps. All veggies need to be washed and chopped. The pasta has to be cooked then set aside and the sauce needs to be made. The veggies need to be stir-fried, then mixed with the sauce and noodles.

Chinese Stir-fry

Vegetable Rangoons

I've posted a rangoon recipe before but this one is slightly different. In addition to the cream cheese, green onions and soy sauce, I also added minced snow peas, diced red pepper and finely chopped bok choi, which changed the flavor and texture. 

Ingredients

1 package cream cheese

2 tsp soy sauce

5 green onion stalks, chopped

1 bunch of baby bok choi, chopped fine

6 snow peas, finely diced

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh red pepper

1 package wonton wrappers

Water for sealing

Rangoon ingredients

Directions

Clean your counter-top really well. Mix first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Arrange wonton wraps on the counter in a grid and wet 2 adjacent edges on each. Drop 1 tsp filling in the center of each wrap and fold opposite edges together to seal.

Making rangoons

Fry in 1" sunflower oil and drain on paper towels. Serve with Compliments Sweet Chili Heat sauce.

Vegetable Rangoons

Reviews/Comments

This was amazing and gets a 10 from me.

Laura thought the bok choi rangoons were perfect and delicious and she loved them. Gets a 10 from her too.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Day 265

Eggs salad. Old standby. Always so good though!

Egg Salad Sandwich

My Egg Salad Recipe

Boil eggs. Mash them up. Mix with mayo. Tonight's egg salad also has 1 1/2 or 2 tbsp whole grain mustard in it.

Eggs

Sandwich Building

Lightly buttered wheat bread

Egg salad on bread

Add Lettuce

We almost always have BBQ chips with egg salad sandwiches but I opted for lettuce on this one. Garden fresh.

Egg salad & lettuce on bread

Egg salad sandwich

We used whole wheat diabetic bread simply because someone at work said it's "the BEST bread EVER". It's not bad. You don't miss the sugar and the texture is nice.

Reviews/Comments

I rate my sandwich a...7. Good, but not as good as say...roasted veggies.

Laura rates it a 7 too! Wow, we're totally on the same page. We usually are.

Fresh Garden Salad with Texas Toast

Day 264

Dinner on a dime.

Fresh Garden Salad with Texas Toast

Fresh Ingredients

A variety of lettuces (Romaine, Buttercrunch, Oak Leaf, etc)
Radish
Spinach
Kale
Snow Peas
Cucumber

A variety of lettuces

Other Ingredients

Toasted slivered almonds
Chow mein noodles
Facon bits (on Laura's salad)
Salad dressing

 Laura's Salad

French Salad Dressing

1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 cups sunflower oil
1/4 cup ketchup
3 tbsp sugar
1 pressed garlic clove
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp soy sauce

Salad dressing

Reviews/Comments

The salad was delicious, and nutritious, but not super exciting. The toast was nice. I give it an 8.5. I sopped up the extra dressing with my bread because the dressing was lovely.

Laura said hers was good. She rates it a 7.

Laura's Pitas with Spinach Artichoke Dip

Day 263

I decided to make this because, well, we had all the ingredients. Even a can of artichoke hearts in the pantry for the past month or so. Not to mention fresh spinach and parsley in the garden!

Pitas with Spinach Artichoke Dip

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I looked up a few different dip recipes to figure out how to create this dip but the one I followed most closely was Hot Spinach and Asiago Dip.

My recipe:
1/2 package cream cheese
1/3 cup mayo (Compliments salad dressing)
1/3 cup sour cream
1 can artichoke hearts
1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese (reserve 1/4 cup for top)
2 cups fresh spinach
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced

Base ingredients for Spinach Artichoke Dip

Dip ingredients

Artichoke hearts

Dip mixed in bowl

Mix it all up and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Spinach Artichoke Dip before baking

Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining parm over top and put under broiler for about 5 minutes to brown.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Laura's Pitas

As usual, Laura's pitas are a hundred times better than store-bought ones. Maybe even a thousand times better. They are soft and warm and elastic-y. And delicious. They even pocket.

Laura's pitas

Reviews/Comments

We've had this at restaurants, but man, it doesn't compare. After making this at home, I wonder why restaurants bother adding salt to it...it doesn't need any added at all. It's perfect. Perfect 10.

Fresh Garden Salad

Day 262

Fresh Garden Salad

From the Garden

A variety of lettuces (Romaine, Buttercrunch, Oak Leaf, etc)
Radish
Spinach
Kale
Parsley

From this:

Harvesting veggies

To this:

Washing veggies

And finally this:

Fresh Garden Salad

Spicy Peanut Thai Noodles

Day 261

This recipe was given to us by our pal, Devin who posted it on our walls and then followed up with a message that we "need to make" it because he made it last night and it was "so good"! So, we did. Thanks, Devin!

Spicy Thai Noodles

Spicy Peanut Thai Noodles

Original recipe
This meal came together too fast to take many pics, but I think the one of the end result says it all. It's as fantastic as it looks.

Mix in small bowl:
2 inches grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp Sriracha
2 tbsp brown sugar

Trust, me, you'll want to mix these ingredients first, so you can tend the stove. Grate your ginger and measure out the other things, set aside and start chopping mushrooms and garlic. We went light on the hot sauce, as you can tell.

Fry:
1 tbsp olive oil
12 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced thick
3 garlic scapes, chopped

Mushrooms & garlic scapes

We skipped the zucchini because we didn't have any, and added more mushrooms instead. We also substituted the garlic from the original recipe with garlic scapes because we just harvested ours yesterday. And by we I mean Laura.

Boil 5 minutes:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 package fresh linguine

Drain the linguine and combine all three of the above mixtures until well incorporated. Don't overcook the linguine, because you'll hate yourself.

Add:
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 peanuts, chopped

These are the ingredients that really make this dish by adding the important flavors and textures. I wouldn't recommend skipping any of them.

Spicy Peanut Thai Noodles, uncombined

I did skip the eggs, but not on purpose, I just forgot. And I also skipped the red pepper flakes, but believe me, we didn't miss them.

Spicy Peanut Thai Noodles

Reviews/Comments

Okay, so this was super damn spicy, at least for us. You'll notice the original recipe calls for 3 tbsp of Sriracha. Let's just say thank God we didn't use that much. We must have wussy palates when it comes to heat, although we both enjoy it in moderation.

I give this a 10. I might go for a milder version next time, as that was the plan tonight, but it was excellent, regardless of the burning lips. Laura said she loved it too. I'm going to go ahead and rate it a 9 on her behalf.

In Other News...

...soon we'll have snow peas!

Pea blossoms

BBQ "Chicken" Burgers

Day 260

BBQ "Chicken" Burgers

I had dinner at Mom & Dad's and Dad barbequed chicken burgers. He also barbequed "chicken" burgers, which they got for me! How thoughtful is that???

Barbequing chicken burgers

In the pic above, mine were the two slightly smaller, more oblong shaped ones on the far right.

It was a good-sized burger and I only had room for one, but the other one is in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. Whoop!

Enormous burger

Good Eats, Good Company

And I got to eat dinner with a lovely young lady, and my folks.

Burger & Alyssa

Reviews/Comments

These. Were. SOOOOOOoooooOOOO. Good. Soy or not, they were amazing. The texture was so real, I broke pieces off to inspect them a couple times, but I saw the frozen patties in the bag and read the ingredients myself. I wish I had taken note of the brand, but I'll find them.