Monthly Archives: November 2009
Quick and Easy: Chicken-Cashew Stir-Fry
I’ve been doing this for many years now, first with my web-based business and now in the blog. My goal has been to make cooking easy. So if the impulse is to reach for fast-food or prepared food, you’ll have an alternative. Quick, easy, tasty meals made with healthy ingredients. Most of the recipes I post here are far from gourmet, but tasty, nutritious and easy to prepare. Fool-proof for people who want to cook, but are unsure of their skills. I hope I’ve succeeded.
Now the holiday madness is in full swing and cooking dinner becomes even more of a challenge. So over the next few weeks I’ll be putting up some of my quickest recipes and tips for quick meals. I’ll start with this 15-minute stir-fry.
Chicken-Cashew Stir-Fry
- ½ cup boiling water
- ½ tsp chicken bouillon
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
- 3 boneless chicken thighs, cubed
- 16 oz bag frozen stir fry vegetables (usually a broccoli, carrot, snow pea mix)
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- ¾ cup whole cashews
wok or deep skillet
Dissolve bouillon in boiling water, mix together with soy sauce, let cool & add cornstarch, mix well. Set aside. Heat 1 tbsp oil in wok, add chicken and stir-fry quickly, 5 – 7 minutes, move to one side. Add remaining oil and vegetables and stir-fry additional 5 minutes. Mix chicken, vegetable and soy mixture, bring to a boil 1 minute, reduce heat and let simmer 2-4 minutes. Serve over rice or with rice noodles.
If you don’t have a wok, don’t let that slow you down. Some well-known chefs dislike them completely, feeling that with our modern stovetops, they do not heat up properly and a deep skillet is a better choice. I’ve been known to use whichever I grab first from the cabinet. What I do find invaluable is a thin wooden spatula that I couldn’t cook without. I’d like to have 5, but haven’t found but one of these ultra-thin tools. I keep looking, so eventually I will find more.
This had me laughing out loud….
I wish I’d stumbled on it before I posted my Cranberry Recipe, because this is just awesome. Funny (and bit R-rated), this is how to cook something fun and STOP STRESSING ABOUT IT.
From Wonkette, a Totally Awesome Cranberry Recipe:
No first lady could even fucking imagine making something as wonderful and perfect as your editor’s famous Wonkette’s Actual Awesome Real Cranberry Business. It is one of those things that just blows people away, because they assume it must be so hard to make real cranberry relish because why else would we eat that Jell-o’d aspic glob from the can? IT MUST BE SO HARD. No, it isn’t, so stop whining about everything, for once.
This dish takes exactly three minutes to prepare, and another 10 or 15 minutes in the oven, and you don’t even have to think about it. Pre-heat the oven, prepare the cranberries, “slide in the pyrex,” as they say, and just turn the fucking oven off, go outside, have a cigarette. More here….
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
I’ve started my holiday baking already. In the oven at the moment are Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re easy and just a touch above regular chocolate chip cookies.
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- dash of salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds or peanuts), chopped
mixing bowl and cookie sheet
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Sift together salt, soda, flour and cocoa, then add to butter mixture, blending well. Add nuts and chocolate chips. Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on cooling rack.
Happy Thanksgiving
I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you get to spend it in a way that makes you smile. There will be no Thursday Night Menu, because I think there will be enough leftover turkey to get you through the weekend. I’ll be back with that next week. Have fun, be safe and enjoy the feast. – TaMara
Lane Cake, Part Two
I was going to do a bit more blogging on cooking turkeys and some holiday sides, but I got sidetracked by a Lane Cake. I wrote about it in Food In Fiction, but had never made it. A friend asked me if I would make one for her, and since I owed her big time, it seemed the least I could do. Thus started my adventure. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, but it is far from a simple confectionary. Here’s the recipe as I made it, a bit tweaked from several I found. I wish I could have found the original recipe from Emma Lane, but couldn’t. Though there is rumor it can be found in a southern cookbook, I had no luck finding it. But what recipe I cobbled together seems to have worked, so I’ll pass it on. And for those who know To Kill a Mockingbird, yes there is enough ‘shiny in it’ to make you tipsy. My shiny was in the form of brandy, your choice may vary.
Lane Cake
Cake:
- ¾ cup vegetable oil or butter
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 ¼ cups sifted flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup brandy or whisky
- 3 beaten egg whites
Four 9-inch pie tins, oiled and floured
Cream together oil, sugar and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture and mix until blended. Add water and brandy and mix for 2 minutes on medium. Gently fold in egg whites until mixed in, but don’t over mix or the eggs will deflate. Use ladle to evenly pour into 4 9-inch pie pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until center springs back. Cool thoroughly on racks.
Filling:
- 8 egg yolks
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup melted and cooled butter
- 1 cup chopped raisins
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup brandy or whisky
- ½ tsp vanilla
saucepan
In saucepan mix together eggs and sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly for 6 minutes. Do not let boil. Add chopped pecans and raisins and cook for 1 minute. Add brandy and vanilla, cook another minute. Set aside to cool.
Frosting:
- 1 cup butter, melted and cool
- 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp brandy or milk (add more as needed)
Mix until smooth and fluffy.
Assembly:
Once cake is fully cooled, place on layer on the serving plate. Add 1/3 of the filling, spread evenly. Repeat for remaining layers and then frost.
