Spicy Chicken and Rice

Needing a braces friendly dinner as the teen table counterpart is still yammering on and on and on about tender teeth, Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps with white rice seemed like the perfect meal. Best of all, no additional ingredients were needed and it was 30 minutes or less meal.

Modifications Made:

Brown sugar was left out as the past two Asian dishes were just too sweet to eat. Since the meal was ground chicken tossed in a sauce, removing sugar was not an option and adding extra soy sauce was not option either as the dish would be too salty. Better to add sugar as an after sauce in the form of sweet Thai chili sauce than toss the whole meal out.

Scallions were replaced with 5 sticks of green onions, both the white and green parts.

The cooking order was also changed. Chicken meat was browned with no additional oil, onions and sauce were added along with 1/2 cup of water. Meat then cooked in sauce until water evaporated on low heat.

During the simmering of the meat one cup of white rice was cooked with no salt as the dish should contain plenty of salt.

Scaled for Likeness: Good

Just one word: SALTY! Oh my word the meal was so, so salty. Served alone or in a lettuce leaf the meat was so salty it could barely being eaten. Luckily plain white rice saved the day. Once the meat was mixed into the rice and reserved on a lettuce wrap, it was completely edible. Plain white rice, hero of the day.

If made again, and I might because it was good and simple, the meat would be browned, the sauce, 1 cup rice, 2.5 cups water would be added and cooked until rice is desired texture. In fact to help reduce the salt, the fish sauce will be eliminated as one tablespoon has over 1700 mg of salt. Yikes!

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 almost tender. Green be

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 potatoes. Cover and reduc

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 and did not contain enough onion, garlic,

Eating Waffles

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