Hunan Beef Stir Fry

Stir fry is the best way to use leftover veggies. And while is the normal for most stir fry meals served at this table, Hunan Beef was planned and ingredients were bought with specific intention.

Modifications Made:

Yellow bell pepper replaced red bell pepper and frozen zucchini replaced fresh. Ginger was omitted and powder ginger was added to the sauce instead.

Scaled for Likability: Great

This is the first Asian recipe where White Ground Pepper was called for and used. Never has a bottle of ground white pepper been owned and when compared to black pepper there are definite noticable differences.

It seems all Asian sauces contain some sugar but the amount of sugar in this dish is lost to the heat of the Sambal Oelek and white pepper. The only thing to make this dish better would have been the use of fresh zucchini as stated or the addition of snap or snow peas instead of zucchini. I am finding the more I cook with zucchini, the less I like it. Odd. Next time, the sauce is going to be doubled and noodles are going to be swapped for rice to see how the Hunan Beef Lo Mein compares.

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...

So Sad Cake Brownies

Oh my word how does a space as small a pantry becomes so disorganized? And in such a short time, nonetheless? While reorganizing the four 2x4 pantry shelves yesterday a golden back of the box recipe was discovered. Milk Brownies. Replacing yogurt for milk or applesauce for oil, these are commonplace alternatives. Milk for water in a box brownie, this had to be tried. Stat. Modifications Made: Per the box, 1/3 cup milk replaced 1/3 water. Half cup of chopped walnuts were added along with two tablespoons of Hershey chocolate syrup. Because why not. Scaled for Likability: No, Thank You The milk was fine, the extra chocolate was fine. Walnuts could have been doubled. The problem was the brownies themselves. I accidently made cake brownies with two eggs instead of fudge brownies with just one brownie. So sad. These were given to the neighbor who prefers cake brownies. If the neighbor liked fudge brownies (they are the best kind) these wo...

Eating Waffles

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