Green Bean Chicken Stir Fry Over Fried Rice

I've been contemplating taking an Asian cooking class for awhile now and just haven't gotten around to it. In the meantime, I've been playing around with Asian flavors and I came across this recipe and decided to try it.
Recipe found at Chinese Grandma


Chicken and green bean stir fry

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 pound green beans
• Cooking oil

Marinade:

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sherry (I did not use this)
• 1 clove garlic

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sherry
• 1 clove garlic

Optional

• Dash sesame oil (did not have, will use next time)
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated ( did not have, will use next time)
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste ( used this)

Directions

1. If starting with frozen chicken breasts, set in bowl of cold water to defrost.
2. Take end off green beans and wash.
3. Rinse rice in several changes of water until water is mostly clear. Add fresh water for cooking and set aside.
4. Dice chicken into bite-sized pieces (approx 1/2″ cubes). Place diced chicken in bowl.
5. Add marinade ingredients to chicken – soy sauce, sherry, garlic chopped. (Stir well to distribute marinade.)
6. Refrigerate chicken.
7. Start rice to cook before starting stir fry.
8. Prepare stir fry sauce. Add brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, sherry and garlic chopped in a small bowl. 
9. Add cornstarch and stir well, pressing out any lumps until sauce has a consistent milky brown color.
10. Heat two tablespoons of oil in an large skillet over medium-high heat. 
11. Add green beans. If green beans don’t fit in one batch, cook half at a time. Use long tongs to turn beans over while cooking so that they do not burn.
12. If beans are particularly thick, add two tablespoons of water to pan and cover skillet for a couple of minutes to steam-cook beans to desired tenderness. Do not overcook, as beans will go back in the pan briefly later.
13. Remove beans from pan.
14. Add two more tablespoons of oil to pan. Add chicken and stir to separate pieces.
15. When chicken is cooked (turns from pink to white), add prepared stir fry sauce and stir. Sauce will quickly turn from milky light brown to glossy dark brown as it cooks.
16. Add string beans and stir to combine. Add dash of sesame oil if desired.
17. Remove chicken and string beans to serving dish.
18. Serve over rice.

 Served 2

I wanted to try for the whole Asian experience and decided to make a quick fried rice instead of serving over plain white rice. I just fried the rice in a wok with soy sauce and egg.

This meal was actually pretty tasty!! I plan to make this again with the ginger and the sesame oil! Looked great on my Asian style plates.

Restaurant Review # Two: Mexican Yum

La Burrita-Berkeley

I went to a spot I like in Berkeley called La Burrita a few weeks ago for beef enchilada's. YUM!!! a favorite

They also have the thinnest crispiest chips and I love their roasted red pepper salsa.

I must remember to take the pictures BEFORE I start eating.

To be honest for the FIRST time EVER the beef was little over cooked so the enchiladas were just okay. But still edible. As you can see in the picture I ate one. The rest was lunch the next day! They get 3 stars for the chips being wonderfully delicious.

I Love Pizza

PIZZA!! I LOVE PIZZA

pizza pizza pizza mmmmmmmmmmmmm pizza

All kinds of ooey, gooey, cheesey delicious meat covered pizza. I try different pizza joints searching for the ultimate eating. I really like small mom and pop joints over chains...

BUT...

Pi.zza H.ut is making me want to to fight them right now! LOL! That's right I said it FIGHT THEM!

Do you see the MEAT!!!! in this crust?????  The CRUST!

What is wrong with them?? Why would they do this?? to me

I want to eat this! NOW!

Mmmmmmmm......Maple Bacon Cupcakes?

I think these would be sooo delicious. What do you think? They are adding bacon to everything!! Recipe found here

photo credit thefreshfridge.com

I wish I could buy them...today... and eat them....but I can't so I will try to make them. I hope mine taste good.

Mmmmmmmm......Pork chops

I love pork. I really do! After all it's the other white meat! LOL!

I fried pork chops marinated in a teriyaki sauce, seasoned with garlic powder, smoked paprika and red and black pepper.

hand floured

Showcased on a big ole plate LOL!

Pork chops, garlic mashed potato's and peppered green beans. This picture quality sucks so much you can't see the spices! Bummer! But it was deelish!

Easy Breezy ~ Nacho Cheesy

Hey ya'll

I'm going to get better about posting. I have to remember to take pics because I'm certainly eating everyday LOL!

This is a simple, easy, quick cheap plate of nachos I made for me and a friend for lunch on Saturday. I am sooo glad I worked out before I ate this! It looks super fattening but it's a little bit healthy.

The players:

You will need:
1/2 can Low Sodium Chili Beans I tried these for the first due to the lower sodium. I usually use Bu.sh's chili beans
Medium Salsa Con Queso of all the cheese sauces I 've tried this store brand Saf.eway is my favorite.
La Victoria Salsa Suprema (medium heat)
Sour cream
Jalapenos (not shown)
You could also add diced tomato and olives (I was out)
1/4 package of Ground beef (not shown)
and tortilla chips. I prefer Santitas. They taste less salty than other brands.

Brown the ground beef or turkey if you prefer.
Season meat with onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and cayenne pepper.
Add 1/4 of a taco mix packet. If you need a bit more salt flavor add a shot of garlic salt. As you can see I like flavor.

Heat the beans in a boiler, add two shakes of chili powder. Allow beans to come to a full boil then turn down heat to low to simmer.

Arrange chips on plate. Pour on heated cheese sauce, add ground beef, chili beans, salsa and sour cream in that order. Add jalapenos here if wanted.

Voila! Nachos

my guests plate looked so pretty I had to take a picture



so nice I had to take it twice!


There you have it Easy Cheesy Nachos!

Restaurant Review # One:

Papalote Mexican Grill -  SF

I'm excited to be doing my first restaurant review since starting this blog!  Last Thursday the Food Network replayed an episode of  Bobby Flay's Throwdown against the Escobedo brothers owners of Papalote Mexican Grill in San Francisco. This was my first time seeing this episode. I love when the Food Network does shows about eateries in the Bay Area. The challenge was against their famous Triple Threat Burrito. Which Bobby Flay lost.

from the menu

Anyway, after being stuck inside for days due to the flood inducing thunderstorms, it felt great to have a clear day, so I decided to get out and about and go try this burrito that looked so deelish on TV.

So off I went to the Mission district to the original Papalote located at

3409 24th Street @ Valencia

 I like to try the original of restaurants first, then I venture to the more upscale versions. They have another one deeper in the city. It's the one showcased on the website.

The original

Okay on to the REVIEW:

There wasn't a sign on the place, so I missed it the first time around the block, and there was very limited neighborhood parking.

The place was so tiny. My friend grabbed the seats while I stood in line to order a 19.95 burrito that we decided to split. I read the price was probably inflated after Bobby Flay's visit. I placed the order, got my tag number 18 and went to sit down and wait for this masterpiece.

 While waiting, a small bowl of lukewarm chips and

the famous salsa

were brought out. The salsa was pretty good. It really helped the chips which were blah. But I was starving! I really like chips and salsa, and was disappointed when the server said it would be 1.55 for more.  We had already spent over $26.00 on one burrito and 2 drinks! I hate to sound cheap but ... so no Thank you!



chips and salsa

I have to say, the burrito was huge!!!  Not 20.00 huge but huge! I forgot to take a picture when it first came out. : (

I asked that they cut it in half and my friend had the larger side.

burrito with the famous salsa on the plate

Too be perfectly honest because I said I would keep it real. This was NOT the best burrito I've ever had. It was just okay. It truly needed the famed salsa to give it some flavor. I added the works for .99 to get some cheese, sour cream and guacamole. Which this burrito definitely needed. I asked for the guacamole on the side just in case I didn't like it. I didn't They forgot to bring the guacamole, so I went to ask for it and since you could not see the sour cream on the burrito I asked for that too. The cashier said "Oh they only add a little to the burrito" o_O! I think if you're paying extra for something you should at least be able to see it. AND on a burrito that big?? A little? Girl bye!

WRAP UP:  The only meat of the three that had flavor was the shrimp. Overall, it was just an okay burrito. The meat was fresh and nicely grilled. The burrito was so huge I only ate half of my half and after the flavors marinated the extra half, which I ate later was actually tastier. Definitely not worth the price. I'll probably go try the newer upscale place just cuz tho! LOL!