Bob's Red Mill Cookies

I'm such a fan of Bob's Red Mill products. The problem is that it's pretty spendy. Recently, to my surprise, I discovered that Big Lots buys Bob's and sells it for half price of what it sells for in the grocery stores!
I bought the Organic Whole Grain High Fiber Hot Cereal to try out for healthy breakfasts, when I found this recipe on the side. Today we made them to take to a party and they are divine!
Here's the recipe with my tweaks.

1/4 cup Softened Butter
1/2 cup Evaporated Can Juice Sugar (I used slightly less)
1/3 cup Milk (any)
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Shredded Coconut
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Sea Salt
1 scoop Protein Powder (any)
3/4 cup Chocolate Chips (optional, not in original recipe)

Preheat oven to 350. Beat together butter and sugar til well blended. Add milk and vanilla and mix til smooth.
In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cereal, coconut, baking powder, and salt. Pour dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just combined. Scoop by the tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet and pat down slightly.
Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

DISCLAIMER: These cookies aren't low calorie, but they are high fiber and high protein. Also, they're great for people like me who have a wheat sensitivity, but they AREN'T fat free or gluten free.

Enjoy! 

Angenette

The End is Near?

Is it time to hang up the apron on this blog?

Asian Chicken Wraps

This dish was no appetizer - make these for your family along with a side of rice or lo mein, and you've got a impressive full meal.

I was scared to try making these - chicken wraps always seem rather fancy and complex in restaurants.

Turns out, the hardest part of this recipe was mincing the water chestnut and carrots.  Everything else was pretty enjoyable, to be honest.

I started off by stir frying the carrot (6 or 7 babies) and water chestnut (a small can of Sun Luck brand) together, with a couple of splashes of soy sauce, some black pepper, and barely a pinch of crushed red pepper, to make things interesting.

Next, I diced and tossed in the meat of four fully cooked chicken thighs (much tastier and better texture than breast) which were already boiled in water with a bit of chicken stock to preserve the flavor.  After mixing, I added in about 4 teaspoons of hoisin sauce - the signature flavor in most wraps I've sampled- and a tablespoon of oyster sauce to complement the hoisin with some meatiness.

I stir fried it all together at medium high heat for about 4 or 5 minutes, just barely allowing it to reach smoking point.  Garnished with some green onion, and served with some bib lettuce that was on sale.

They tasted great - I recommend a little extra kick with a few drops of my old friend Sriracha (Cock-a-doodle-doo!)

Chicken thighs    -    $1.50

Water chestnut   -    $0.70

Baby carrot       -     $0.20 (I'm guessing)

Hoisin               -     $0.25 (estimate)

Oyster sauce     -     $0.10 (estimate)

Bib lettuce        -      $3.00

Total                       $5.75

And we ate at least twice as much as you get at a restaurant!

Inari Sushi

If you've been wanting to try making or serving sushi to someone, this is one recipe to try.  For most people, there are at least two stereotypes holding you/them back:

• Sushi has raw fish: False!  Sushi is just vinegared rice.  The fish is optional.
• Sushi is expensive and difficult to make: Sometimes.  It depends on the ingredients you choose.  This recipe was ultra cheap, and uses a minimum of ingredients.

I thought about writing out my recipe, but there are so many that you can google on your own, and half the fun is experimenting with what works for you.  Me, I chose to leave out the Mirin sauce (we don't have any in the house).  I bought he aburaage tofu pouches in the frozen section of Super China market in Sandy (fast becoming a favorite spot on my map) for less than two dollars. 
Making Inari is a little labor intensive, but a lot of fun.  It took no coaxing whatsoever to get our girls to try them.  They are very filling.  We ate just these and some veggies on the side.  
Itadakimas!

Honey-Miso Glazed Tilapia w/ Soba Noodles

Maybe I can think of a better name for this dish - one that makes it sound cheaper.  But to be honest, I can think of any way to improve it.  I took the idea for the glaze from Alton Brown (thanks!) and tried to build a meal around it with the ingredients I found in the kitchen.
Miso costs about $4 a bag, but a little goes a long ways.  I mixed one tablespoon of red miso with one tablespoon of honey, then brushed it over the two tilapia fillets and baked in the oven at 325 for about 25 minutes.
Soba noodles run about $2 for a pack of 8 generous servings, if you get them a good Asian grocer (thank you, Super China in Sandy!).  I boiled the noodles, rinsed them out with cool water (they are usually served chilled), then tossed in some toasted sesame seeds, a few halved grape tomatoes for acidity, and a few splashes of chili-garlic oil.
On the whole, this dish was pretty great.  The flavors and textures balanced each other out very nicely. 

• Tilapia - $3.00
• Soba noodle - $.25
• All other ingredients - <$1.00

Not bad, eh?

Pupusas

Yesterday I took a group of my 3rd year Spanish students to sample the fare at Café Guanaco Jr. on 500 E. and 2700 S. in Salt Lake.  At my urging, everyone ordered pupusas.
Pupusas are the must-have food of El Salvador, and they're really not that hard to make.  Most recipes call for just 3 or 4 ingredients: masa de maíz (a corn flour available at most grocers), water, and whatever you want to put on the inside.
At Café Guanaco, they start at $1.65.  Two of them make a mighty meal, especially when you add on the encurtido and salsa roja that come on the side.  I'm thinking about going back next week while I'm on break from school and work - pupusas really are an ideal meal during the winter.

Braised Cod in Chili Sauce

All woks are a thing of beauty, and I'm no snob when it comes to Chinese food. So my longing to try something different last Friday night in no way had anything to do with being tired of my old friend General Tso. I'm just trying to broaden the repertoire.
Szechuan Garden, on the corner of 1300 E and 8600 S, had just what I was looking for: Braised Cod in Chili Sauce.
Although each chunk of the fish was intact when served, each one was still delicate and flaky enough to fall apart in my mouth. Sitting at the bottom of this spicy sea was a bed of crisp Asian greens, adding a delicate celery like flavor as counterpoint to the chilis, not to mention textural contrast. And though it wasn't exactly a bargain at $11.95, there was plenty to take home for my lunch the next day, effectively making it a $6 meal.