ReNEWdled Lo Mein

First things first. ReNEWdled Lo Mein is a not a typo but a play on words. It is the combination of renew noodle lo mein. Re-NEW-dled.

Black is black, white is white. Don't judge a book by the cover or a recipe by the title. What you see is what you get. Those any many more cliches exist for a reason. But sometimes they are not true. Not true at all. Black really is the combination of all colors and white is the lack of color. This insanely long titled recipe The 30-Minute Ultimate Spicy Chicken Lo Mein really took closer to an hour to make and contained very little heat. Very little heat.

Modifications Made:

Good grief, the list of veggies in this recipe were over the top. Just to prepare the veggies would have taken close to thirty minutes, not to include cook time, or mix time. Not wanting to julienne all the veggies nor wanting to wait an hour to eat, I used veggies already in the fridge ready to go. The only two items needing chopping was one cup cabbage and one bell pepper. Snap peas pre-washed in a bag, mushrooms from a can.

With thin spaghetti boiling in salted water, chicken was cooked as directed and set aside. Veggies were added to the skillet, softened slightly, and set aside. Sauce, doubled as it was an entire box of spaghetti, was quarter cup soy sauce, one tablespoon of sriracha/honey/oyster sauce/garlic each, and one teaspoon of sesame oil. To this one tablespoon of cornstarch mixed in one tablespoon of water was mixed and heat turned off waiting for noodles to be done. As soon as noodles were cooked, they were taken straight from the water quickly drained, added into the thick sauce and tossed about for even coating. Chicken and veggies were added and tossed about in the sauce.

Scaled for Likability: No, Thank You

It was the cabbage's fault. Red cabbage does not belong in a stir fry or lo mein. It discolors the other ingredients and overpowers the sauce. Cabbage for stir fry or lo mein should be limited to napa or tender green cabbage. Not red.

If one picked out the cabbage and ate the rest, the lo mein was okay. The sauce was good but the noodles were wrong. They needed to be cold leftover noodles that have gone slightly dry. Veggies on the other hand had a nice texture combination. Snap peas with high crunch, red peppers with soft crunch, and tender mushrooms. Green, red, and white. Lovely. If there was an "Ultimate" winner in this dish, it was the marinated chicken. Never marinated a chicken before stir fry or lo mein and it was worth the extra five minutes wait time. Chicken was flavorful and moist all on its own.

With most failed recipes there is plenty of room for improvement but why waste time when there are already a couple of T&T lo mein recipes saved.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese ...

Eating Waffles

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