Two Novice Chefs, One Tiny Kitchen

Whew, dinner didn’t bomb!  That’s always a relief :)  Tonight’s dinner was a quick one to prepare, so I had plenty of time to get in a good workout and spend some time reading tonight.  I think if we make this again I’ll serve it with some kind of veggie stir fry or asian noodles.  I just whipped up some couscous and a salad tonight but more flavorful side dishes would have been nice.  Tyler rated this dish an 8 on a scale of 1-10, not bad!  Thanks for the recipe Cara!

Crunchy Coconut-Peanut Tilapia (from Cara’s Cravings)

Ingredients:

2 tilapia filets, 4-6oz each
1/4 cup light coconut milk
1/4 tsp curry powder
3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Or, just use a broiler pan.

Stir together coconut milk and curry powder, and pour over fish in a shallow baking dish. Turn fish to coat both sides and let sit for about 10 minutes.

Pulse peanuts and panko together in a food processor or blender; season with salt and pepper. Pour the crumbs onto a plate. Remove fish from coconut milk and press both sides into the crumbs, then gently place on the baking sheet or broiler pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until opaque in the center. If desired, turn on broiler for the last couple of minutes to get the top extra-crispy.

Serving=1 tilapia filet

WW points per serving: 5

Finally got around to making this recipe this week with Tyler’s help!  We both really liked it, but it may have had a stronger flavor if we had marinated the chicken longer than an hour.  Definitely a keeper and much healthier than going out for Thai food!

Thai Chicken Satay (from Weight Watchers)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 T asian fish sauce
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 T minced peeled fresh ginger
2 t grated lime zest
2 t + 1 T fresh lime juice
1 1/2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 2 inch long thin strips (about 40)
6 T light coconut milk
3 T reduced fat creamy peanut butter
4 t honey
1/8 t crushed red pepper

Directions:
Combine 1 1/2 T of the fish sauce, the onion, ginger, 1 t of the lime zest, and 2 t of the lime juice in a large zip-close plastic bag; add the chicken.  Squeeze out the air and seal the bag, turn to coat the chicken.  Refrigerate, turning the bag occasionally, at least 1 hour or up to 6 hours.

Meanwhile, soak 40 (6-8 inch) wooden skewers in water for at least 30 minutes (I used metal skewers so I skipped this step.)

To make  the peanut sauce, whisk together the coconut milk, peanut butter, honey, the remaining 1 T of fish sauce, 1 T of lime juice, 1 t of lime zest, and the crushed red pepper in a serving bowl until smooth.

Spray the broiler rack with nonstick spray and preheat the broiler (we don’t have a broiler rack so we just put it on a cookie sheet lined with foil)

Thread the chicken strips onto the skewers.  Wrap the ends of the skewers in foil to prevent charring (only if you use wood skewers).  Place the skewers on the broiler rack; broil 4 inches from the heat, turning once, until cooked through, 6-8 minutes.  Serve with the peanut sauce.

Source: Adapted from Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites: Over 200 Best-Ever Recipes from the Weight Watchers Test Kitchens, Wiley Publishing, 2008.

serving = 5 pieces of chicken and about 2 T of sauce (recipe makes 8 servings)

WW points per serving=4

I was really happy with this recipe! Tyler said he thinks he’d like it more without the ginger, but my taste buds said it was fine You could change this recipe up with many different kinds of vegetables. I couldn’t find shiitake mushrooms (our store NEVER has them) so I used cremeni instead.

Vegetable Stir-Fry (from Weight Watchers)

Ingredients:

3 T reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1 T canola oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced (I used a mix of frozen peppers)
1/4 lb fresh shitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 t grated peeled fresh ginger
2 1/2 cups cold cooked brown rice
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 cup frozen peas, thawed (I left these out because I HATE peas)
1/4 t crushed red pepper

Directions:
Combine the soy sauce and vinegar in a small bowl, set aside. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok set over high heat until a drop of water sizzles in it. Add the bell pepper, mushrooms, and ginger; stir-fry until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the rice, stirring well to break up any clumps; stir-fry until heated through, 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the soy sauce mixture over the rice. Add the green onions and crushed red pepper, stir-fry 1 minute. Serve at once.

1 serving =2/3 cup stir fry.

WW points per serving=3

Source: Adapted from Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites: Over 200 Best-Ever Recipes from the Weight Watchers Test Kitchens, Wiley Publishing, 2008.

Well we were finally able to get together all the right ingredients to make this recipe properly. Last time I tried to make it I couldn’t find ground turkey or water chestnuts (Super Target is somewhat lacking as far as groceries go, but it’s so close and so convenient!) Tyler made this for us, I tend to shy away from all asian-inspired recipes. He makes all the stir frys for us, and come to think of it, all the fajitas too…couldn’t really tell you why, that’s just how we do it! I enjoyed this recipe, but it wasn’t really rave worthy. Despite lots of cornstarch we just couldn’t really get the liquid to thicken, so they were very messy and juicy lettuce wraps! We served them with rice to try to soak up some of the liquid. I think this is a good base recipe that could be tweaked to be made even better, I just don’t really know how since I’m not very experienced with these kinds of dishes!

Ground Turkey Lettuce Wraps (from sparkpeople.com)

Ingredients

Ground Turkey, 4 patty (4 oz, raw) (yield after cook (remove)
Cabbage, fresh, 1 cup, chopped (remove)
Onions, raw, .5 cup, chopped (remove)
Carrots, raw, .5 cup, chopped (remove)
Waterchestnuts (water chestnuts), 0.5 cup slices (remove)
*Canola Oil, 1 1tsp (remove)
*Kikkoman Lite Soy Sauce, 4 tbsp (remove)
Teriyaki Sauce, 100 grams (remove)
Green Peppers (bell peppers), .5 cup, strips (remove)
Chicken Broth, .5 cup (8 fl oz) (remove)

Directions
Brown the ground turkey in 1tsp oil. Add onion, carrot, and pepper. Add sauces and chicken broth. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Add cabbage and water chestnuts, reseason if needed with more soy. The longer it simmers, the more flavor it will have.
Add 1T cornstarch slurry (with 1T water) if you’d like to thicken the sauce.
Serve with lettuce or rice.

Tyler and I love our sister-in-law Xue’s potstickers. Since we only see her once a year that’s about as often as we have them. We got a craving and decided we were up for the challenge. I had to drive all over town to find the potsticker wrappers (Giant and Safeway do not carry them, but Wegman’s does) and it was so worth it!

Pork potstickers (made by Tyler)

Recipe is a cross between Xue’s and one I got from one of my favorite food bloggers.

1/2 lb ground pork
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2/3 cup green onions
1/4 head Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Potsticker wrappers (they are small and round, you need about 30-40)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Mix raw pork, sesame oil, soy sauce, green onions, cabbage, and garlic in a bowl. We did not find in neccessary to run it through a food processor, we just mixed it by hand.

Lay a potsticker wrapper on a flat, dry surface and put a Tbsp of mixture in the middle. Using your fingers, dampen the wrapper surrounding the filling and fold the dumpling, pressing the seams together.

Add oil to a skillet over medium heat and add dumplings (we cooked about 12 at a time in our large skillet) Add 1/2 cup water to the pan and cover tightly until all the liquid cooks off. Flip when the dumplings are golden brown on one side. They will be done with they are slightly browned on both sides and a potsticker cut in half reveals no pink.

Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

Tyler’s dipping sauce: a mixture of soy sauce, sesame seed oil, and green onions.

Tyler hard at work, I just took the pictures!