Chicken Yakisoba

As promised, I am following up with my Chicken Yakisoba recipe. A quick note before we start. This recipe cost me under $15 and served hearty portions for 4 adults, one child, and I had two servings of leftovers! You could probably cut everything in half if you are only cooking for two, and it would be an even better value.

Ingredients you'll need:
1-2 pounds of chicken or lean pork, sliced against the grain
1 bottle of Teriyaki 30 minute marinade
4 carrots, sliced thin, length-wise like matchsticks
1 medium head of cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 garlic cloves, chopped
16 ounces of chuka noodles (2 packages)
2 tablespoons of grated fresh ginger
3 scallions, finely sliced
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bottle of tonkatsu sauce (they sell it in the Asian section at Winco)

Place sliced chicken or pork in a gallon ziplock bag with 30 minute teriyaki marinade. Place in fridge for at least 30 minutes. After meat is finished marinating, cook noodles in a pot of water. Bring to boil and let boil until they float (al dente, not fully soft, you don't want mushy noodles!). Drain and set aside with a little bit of oil mixed in so they don't stick together. Under medium heat, add oil to a large frying pan or to a wok. Add meat. Stir while frying until meat is cooked through. Drain off most of the liquid that is in the bottom of wok from marinade. Add onions, ginger, garlic, and carrots. Stir well while cooking and add salt and pepper to taste. Add Cabbage and cook until it just barely starts to wilt (don't let it get too done, it will cook more as it sits and is re-heated, overcooked cabbage will ruin your yakisoba!). Remove meat and veggies from the wok and set aside in a big bowl. Place noodles in the wok and add more oil and about 1/3 of tonkatsu sauce. Fry until noodles begin to brown. Mix the meat and veggie mixture back into the wok with noodles and add in remaining tonkatsu sauce. Make sure everything is coated with the sauce and let simmer just until warmed through, so as to not overcook the cabbage. Serve immediately, say blessing, and enjoy!

A New Inspiration

So I have recently been enjoying trying new recipes. I guess it's actually more about creating my own recipes by modifying ones I find online. Or just simply finding something that sounds good and trying to re-create it from scratch. It has come out of two years of staying home and watching food network. I started making recipes I would see on shows that sounded good. At first, I would follow the recipes to the letter, making sure everything was done exactly as recommended. But after a while, I began realizing that there are some easy ways to change recipes that may make them more appealing to me or my family! One of the first things I found was to use half of the oil in baking recipes (and even then use only a light olive oil) and replace the remaining half with applesauce. At least it makes baked goods that much more healthy! From there I expanded to changing spices (adding, deleting) and reducing the amount of sugar in baked goods. I then started playing with cooking (as opposed to baking) which is much more easy to modify. The reason for this is that in baked goods, you really can't change the amounts of flour, leavening agent, eggs, fats etc. or else the recipe just won't turn out in the oven! But when cooking something that doesn't require those specific combinations of ingredients to turn out, you can be a lot more creative. I think that part of my recent branching out in my cooking is owed in part to being pregnant and cravings! I find things that sound good, but can't find any equivalent in the store that satisfies the craving. So I decide to try and do my best to make it myself. The other day was the pico de gallo...tonight was Yakisoba! I have made stir fry for years, but it was never anything special and definately not what I was craving. So I decided to look online for some inspiration. I found a base recipe for Yakisoba and went from there, changing the sauce and the cooking technique just a bit to make it so the cabbage wasn't overcooked and the sauce was not runny...I will create another post soon with the entire recipe, but for tonight I think I have written enough! I say all of this to make a point. I have found a new inspiration for this blog. For those of you who love to cook, or who want to become better at cooking, I am going to post my adventures in cooking here! All of the regular family updates will still be included. But in addition, I will share my newest recipes, and maybe some of our tried and true favorites, and give tips that I am learning. Hope you want to join me as I learn and experiment along with me! Bon Appetit!

A New Recipe

With all of my pregnancies, no matter which foods turn my stomach, I can usually handle mexican food. Since this pregnancy is no exception, when we went to Baja Fresh the other day I became rather attached to their fresh pico de gallo from the salsa bar. The next day, as I was finishing the last bit that I had brought home in those little plastic containers, the idea came to me that it may be pretty easy to re-create this deliciousness! So yesterday I went to Winco and grabbed 3 pounds of roma tomatoes, 2 large onions, 1 bunch of cilantro and 2 anaheim chilis. When I got home I cut up all of the tomatoes into small chunks, stuck the onions and chilis in the food processor until they were diced pretty small, and chopped up about half of the cilantro. I just started adding...and tasting...adding. I used all of what I had chopped up and added a touch of salt. We had Jason's parent's over for dinner, and when they arrived I was just finishing the 2 quarts (8 cups) of pico de gallo. Jason's mom sarcastically said, "think you have enough pico?" Haha...by the end of the night we only had about 1 cup of the 8 left and had busted through an entire family sized bag of tortilla chips! No one could stop digging in! I thought afterwards that I should have taken some pictures, but the pico was consumed so quickly it just didn't happen! So anyway, I never knew pico could be so simple and taste so good!! This is definately something I will be making a lot this summer as my own romas ripen in my garden....yummm...

Family Time!

It has been a wonderful week! Jason had a week of vacation to use and we decided to just stay home and go to a few places we have wanted to see as a family within driving distance . So we went to the local art Fair, Jason's high school reunion, out to a friend's house in Eastern Oregon, to the beach, and to explore the Aviation and Space Museum. It has been a full week! The kids have really loved having their daddy around all the time. At the art fair, Natalie enjoyed people watching and Caleb made a picture frame and got his hand painted. It was a great start to vacation. In Eastern Oregon, we enjoyed spending time with our friends. Jason and his friend Tim were able to take the boys (Tim's son and Caleb) out for a Jeep ride to the top of a big mountain. The boys loved the open top Jeep! Tim and Jason also hiked early in the morning up to a beautiful lake. The kids and I stayed at the house and watched deer come up to the house feeder. Natalie especially loved the deer and would squeal with delight. The Aviation and Space Museum was fun, but a little bit more involved than Caleb was ready for. He liked looking at all of the planes, but really wanted to touch, so he had a hard time staying out of the roped off areas. They did have a little airplane ride that he really loved, and went on twice! I think my favorite adventure was definately the beach. We went to the Marine Science Center where Caleb was able to touch many sea creatures in their touch tank. I would definately recommend this place to families with younger children, as it has many tanks full of fish to watch and lots of things to touch. It is also only a $10 suggested donation per family and is not too long, so it is perfect for short attention spans! We then went and played on the beach, let Caleb fly a kite, and ate pizza at one of our favorite places.
Here are the pictures...

Art Fair

The Jeep Ride

Air & Space Museum

The Beach

The Night Time Battle

I don't know if anyone else has been through anything like this, but my 2 1/2 year old is suddenly having problems sleeping. Due to a major change in the family routine, Caleb started getting up in the middle of the night. The number of times he awakes has increased in the last few days to four times, or more. Here's how it went two nights ago...Caleb comes into my room or stands at his bedroom door crying, "mommy," until I come. The first time, I asked him to jump into bed and he wanted to do the entire night time routine all over again...singing, praying, tucking, the works. So after this was done, I said good night. A half hour later there he was again, over and over. I was trying to do the "supernanny" thing and just put him back into bed and leave. But it was obviously not working! I was getting to my wits end and it just seemed to just be getting worse each night and not better. I began to wonder if I should just let him crawl in bed with me and fall asleep. However, this is a habit neither I, nor my husband, want to foster. But I was almost at my limit! My pregnant body was begging for sleep!

So I went online to read about sleep on AskDrSears.com. Dr. Sears wrote a book called "The Baby Book" that is basically the bible for all issues baby, and I have come to trust his opinion on most matters. He has a wonderful article that really made me a lot more at ease about the whole issue. He explains that when a family has a major routine change, it will most likely cause toddlers and young children to experience sleep upset. Caleb just desperately wants to be near me in the middle of the night for security, but I need my sleep and so does he! The solution Dr. Sears poses is to set up a "special bed" on the floor in our room for when Caleb wakes in the middle of the night and needs to be near. Caleb can just come in and tuck himself into his "special bed" and be with me, without disturbing my sleep so much! It should meet both of our needs for sleep and his need for security. Well, I tried it last night, and I got my first full night of sleep in two weeks! Caleb came in at about 11:30, and once he was tucked in to his "blue bed" (a blue sleeping bag) he stayed asleep until morning! Amazing! I have learned that I must be willing to compromise on my opinion of what should be, in order to give Caleb the security apparently needs. :)