Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

 

 

 

This recipe was amazing- I am SO relieved that all the selections from our Meal Plan have been so yummy.  Jenny Collier is wonderful!  It’s a little scary when you commit to a month of recipes that you’ve never made before.  I did take a moment to look through most- in order to plan which would take more time and therefore should be made on the weekend.  While this recipe was easy to make, it did take some prep time, I was wishing we’d planned it for a weekend instead.

I prepped it while watching Knox and Jason play in the living room, it’s rare that he’s home early with us- so I thought I would get dinner started….  but sorta wished I was over there with them instead!  It started innocently by turning the oven on to roast up the squash.  I told myself, after bath/ bed for the baby– then I could easily finish the recipe and we’d eat in no time, it’d be nice to have squash ready.  Then it sucked me in one ingredient at a time- I only needed to chop the onion and garlic and green onions… shred some carrots… mix the sauce in a bowl… then I would go play with them… then I saw the meat- “I could just get the shrimp peeled and deviened too…. then it would be so easy for later to cook everything”… and finally,  ” well I should also chop up the chicken while I’m at it”.  And then it was an hour gone and dinner was completely prepped, I had 20 good minutes before Knox was too tired to keep his head up, but we ate a great dinner.

I used a recipe as a base for this but altered everything for what I know and love about Pad Thai.  We made our own peanut sauce for dipping as well- it was amazing.  Finish with a bit of lime juice, and it’s perfection:

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

Makes 4 servings

30-45 minutes of prep for cooking squash and chopping ingredients

10-15 minutes of active cooking

Ingredients

2 medium-sized spaghetti squash

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 red onion, chopped

4 carrots, shredded  ( reserve some for serving)

1 bunch of scallions, chopped ( reserve some for serving)

10 large shrimps, diced

2 chicken breasts, diced

canola oil, for cooking

1 lime,  ( for serving)

Sauce

1/4 cup Teriyaki Sauce

3 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp ground garlic

1 tbsp peanut butter

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cut spaghetti squash in half, scoop out the seeds, drizzle each flesh side with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place squash cut side down on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Roast in you preheated over for 45 minutes, until squash is fork tender, then set aside to cool before scooping out the squash “noodles” with a fork.

3. In a small bowl mix together sauce ingredients and set aside

4. In a large pan, heat 1 tbsp canola oil, and saute with your chopped garlic, red onion, carrots, and scallions (and any other veggies you like)

5. Once cooked down, add shrimp and chicken and cook for 5-8 minutes, until protein is cooked

6. Add in spaghetti squash (approx. 3 cups) and sauce mixture, mix well to combine

9. Taste and adjust spices to desired liking*

To serve: Top with extra scallions, shredded carrots and a squeeze of lime.  If you like it saucy add this Peanut Sauce as well:  in a small bowl mix 2 tbsp Teriyaki Sauce, 2 tbsp peanut butter and enough rice vinegar, to smooth to desired consistency, using a fork to mix.

Stir-Fried Noodles with Roast Pork

Leftover recipes are the best.  When the thought is already made for you and you can create 2 unique meals with one or more shared element, it makes for a great week!  This noodle bowl was really good with our left over pork tenderloin and filling.  Enjoy:

Recipe Adapted from Food and Wine January 2013 Issue

Ingredients

1. 8 ounces Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced
2. 12 ounces fresh Chinese noodles or linguine
3. 1/4 cup chicken broth
4. 3 tablespoons soy sauce
5. 1 1/2 teaspoons unseasoned rice vinegar
6. 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
7. 1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic sauce
8. Pinch of sugar
9. 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
10. 1 tablespoon minced ginger
11. 2 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
12. 1/2 pound leftover Asian-Brined Pork Loin or other roast pork, cut into thin strips
13. Sliced fresh hot red chiles, for garnish

Directions

• In a saucepan of boiling water, cook the noodles until al dente, 3 minutes; drain and rinse the noodles. In a bowl, combine the broth, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chile-garlic sauce and sugar.
• In a large nonstick skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Add the ginger and mushrooms and cook over high heat, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the noodles and scallions and stir-fry until lightly browned, 5 minutes. Add the pork and sauce and cook over moderate heat, tossing until the sauce is absorbed, 3 minutes. Transfer the noodles to a platter, garnish with scallions and chiles and serve.

Asian-Brined Pork Loin

This last month has gone by so fast, and the fact we don’t have many recipes to show for it is telling.  We have been enjoying a lot of date nights and eating out too much!  Our kitchen is starting to notice, and we are making a pact to be better at making food and picking our recipes out for the week to stay on track.  ( Chicken stock is being made as we speak for some delicious kale and white bean soup!)  This recipe was pulled from an old Food and Wine magazine before we sent it to the recycling bin ( nesting much!?).  Jason loves anything brined and we haven’t had much experience with it so he pulled this and we gave it a try.  All of the ingredients sounded wonderful and smelled devine, we followed the directions to a T but used tenderloins instead of a bone in 6-pound roast.  We figured the flavors would be even more intense with the smaller scale meat selection, but were kinda not blown away by it considering all that goodness.  We determined that we would recommend the following:  squeeze out the oranges in to the brine rather than leave them sliced and zest some rind in to the bowl, chop up those chiles really well so the flavor more readily escapes, and mince the ginger- all so the flavors don’t have to soak out, they are already bam out and in your face.  Otherwise, the pork was tender and cooked perfectly, we served it first with asparagus, cilantro, limes and brown rice- then the best part was all the extra meat was ready to use for a LEFTOVER RECIPE, which I will be posting separately: Stir Fried noodles with Roast Pork.

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM FOOD AND WINE JANUARY 2013

ACTIVE: 30 MIN | TOTAL TIME: 2 HRS PLUS OVERNIGHT BRINING  |  SERVINGS: 8 TO 10

1 1/2 cups mirin

1 1/2 cups low-sodium soy sauce

4 ounces fresh ginger, minced

10 small dried red chiles, chopped

1 orange, halved and juiced and zested

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

8 cups cold water

2- 3-pound, pork tenderloins

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

• In a large pot or bowl with lid, combine the mirin, soy sauce, minced ginger, chopped chiles, orange juice/ zest and rind, sesame oil and water. Add the pork roast, cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350°. Drain the pork and let it come to room temperature. Pat dry. In a medium, flameproof roasting pan, heat the vegetable oil. Add the pork roast and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until browned all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer the tenderloins to the oven, on a rack in a fasting pan, and roast for about 40-45 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 135°. Cover the pork very loosely with foil and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Slice it thinly before serving.

Spur of the Moment Orange Chicken with Veggie Quinoa

This may be pretty dorky, but- don’t you just LOVE when you can throw a bunch of random stuff together… that you’ve got hanging around the kitchen…. and make it in to a really really good meal?  Well, we are dorks because we certainly do, enjoy it- literally! 

Obviously you won’t make this recipe having the exact same happenstance of ingredients on hand… unless you made fish tacos Sunday, Quinoa Cakes Saturday, and are planning to make Wild Rice with Pistachio and Oranges ( coming soon!).    The inspiration, other then what we had to use, came from a craving for Chinese Orange Chicken- but no desire for the unhappy belly afterwards.

We had a good 2.5 cups of cooked quinoa ready to go ( rather then rice- perfect!), lots of oranges to spare ( mmm juicy orange and zest), cilantro/ red cabbage/ corn/ red onion and some thawed chicken breasts just ready to either waste away sadly or be magically transformed into this super high protein, ingredient efficient, tasty AND healthy spin on a Chinese meal.  We even had leftovers to take for lunch today- yep, we are cool!  Without further adue- here’s how we made this:

Ingredients::

4- 4 ounce chicken breasts, trimmed and sliced into 1″ strips

Sauce+ Marinade Chicken

Juice and Zest from 2 oranges

scant* 1/4 cup Teryaki Sauce

1 small dash Toasted Sesame Oil

1 large dash Fish Sauce

1 teaspoon red pepper chili sauce

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder 

Quinoa

1 teaspoon Olive Oil

1/2 red onion, finely diced

1/2 cup corn

1/2 cup shredded purple cabbage

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped, plus more for garnish

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup reserved sauce/ marinade

1/2 orange, juiced

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

2.5 cups cooked quinoa

salt and pepper to taste

Method::

In a medium bowl, whisk together all marinade ingredients, reserve about 1/4 cup, set aside. Season chicken lightly with salt and pepper and garlic powder, then place the chicken strips in to the bowl of marinade and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile:

In a 10-12″ pan, heat oil over medium heat till hot.  Add onion, cook for 3-4 minutes till translucent and fragrant.  Add in the corn, cabbage, cilantro, tomatoes and stir to combine, 2 minutes.  Add in 1/2 cup wine and reduce by half.  Add in the quinoa, toss well, adding in marinade, orange juices and water to coat the mixture.  If it’s too dry, add more water.  Heat through, about 3 minutes longer.  Taste and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

To cook the chicken, heat another 8-10″ pan over medium high heat with a small dash of oil.  When the pan is hot, add in all the marinade and chicken from your bowl.  Cook tossing often for about 7-8 minutes, till juices run clear and chicken is cooked through completely.  Serve on a bed of Quinoa and top with extra cilantro.

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Soba Noodle Salad

This noodle salad is fast, delicious, and can be served to 4 for a dinner portion, or 6-8 smaller salad portions.  This stores really well and can be brought as lunch for up to 3 days!

8 ounces whole-wheat soba noodles

4 ounces Firm Tofu, diced

1 large shallot, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups shredded carrot, 2 carrots

1 red pepper, julienne

1/3 cup shredded fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup shredded fresh mint leaves

2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Dressing:

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon lime zest

juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon fish sauce

   1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce

 

Boil noodles according to package directions. Strain and rinse with cold water.

 

In a large bowl, combine noodles, tofu, shallot, carrot, pepper, basil, mint, and cilantro.

 

Combine all dressing ingredients, season with salt to taste, add to noodle mixture, and toss lightly.

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