Haley's Cashew Chicken

My friend Haley made this recipe for us one night. It was fabulous. The peanut sauce is a bit spicy.

Cashew Chicken
Serves 4 to 6

You will need: 
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons canola oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
8 scallions, chopped (white and green separated)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons peanut sauce
3/4 cup unsalted, roasted cashews, roughly chopped
1 large zucchini, sliced into half-moon pieces.

Directions
In a large zip top bag, toss the chicken with the cornstarch, salt and pepper until the chicken is coated.

In a large nonstick pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken, tossing often, until browned and cooked, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, white ends of the scallions, and zucchini and cook for 3 minutes. Add the vinegar to the pan, toss for 1 minute. Add the peanut sauce and a few tablespoons of water; cook, tossing, until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat and top with scallion (green part only) and cashews. 
Season to taste with more salt and pepper. Serve over rice.

Red Bean Bun

My attempt at red bean buns.

First Attempt at Miso Soup!

Click Here for Recipe!

Actually, the recipe was called Ginger Miso Seafood Broth. I saw Ching-He Huang make it on Cooking Channel, and I had to try it even if it was the middle of summer.  

Miso- Soybean paste, found it in the
refrigerated section at the Asian Grocery Store.

As usual, there were a few ingredients in the recipe I couldn't get a hold of.... and even more importantly, some I didn't like and completely omit (i.e. CILANTRO... blech!) My review on the recipe may not be  completely fair because of this...

Luckily, I was able to visit a real city recently to pick up some miso... There was no bok choy to be had in this little town, so I used Spinach. Also I used mostly salmon because it's what I had on hand. 


I have to say I'm not a big fan of tofu, but it's tolerable in this soup.  The ginger is what initially attracted me to the soup, but I have to admit if I make this again, I would cut back on the ginger a bit... and I would probably grate it... well, then again, since it's in big chunks, I guess you could fish it out of the soup if you wanted... I think I would leave the fish out. Hubby liked it, but he's much more of a seafood eater than I am.... I'm thinking MEAT!! lol Also, I added parsley in place of the cilantro...

Thinly Slicing Ginger

And as I said, it's summer; it was 100 degrees F today, so I also had this delicious "personal size" watermelon. It was so yummy. I really could have personally ate the whole thing myself, but I shared! ;) 

**Tip: Use a spoon to scrap the skin off of your ginger root.