Stirfry

This has been a busy week, so I wasn't able to post until now.  This recipe was thrown together pretty quickly tonight but it was so good!  The sauce I use is from my favorite Pioneer Woman's blog.  The original recipe is Beef with Snow Peas.  I have made that and it was delicious.  I then took that recipe and tweaked it to make chicken and broccoli.  The sauce is just a great Asian sauce and I think it can be used with any other meat and veggie combo you want.  Tonight I used some chicken tenderloins that we didn't use earlier this week, asparagus, and red pepper.

Here's the line-up:

• Low-Sodium Soy Sauce
• Cooking Sherry (this stuff is amazing)
• Brown Sugar
• Corn Starch
• Ground ginger
• bundle of asparagus
• red peppers (these were some special kind of pepper we found at the grocery store)
• chicken breast (cut up)

This was just the bag that the peppers came in if you were interested.  I would definitely get them again.

First we'll make the sauce.  In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger.  It should look something like this:

 Add chicken to sauce and let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Remove the woody part of the asparagus.  To do this, hold the asparagus and bend until the bottom part breaks off.  You can just cut off the bottom, but I think this way works best.  Then cut the asparagus into about 1/2 inch pieces.

Chop up the pepper into 1/2 inch slices and show off your new manicure.

Love these colors!

Heat olive oil in pan over high heat.  Add veggies and cook until desired tenderness.  We like them nice and crispy, so I only cooked them for a few minutes.  When they are done remove to a separate plate or bowl.

Make sure the pan is hot again and add half of the chicken mixture.  This part is hard for me, but after you add the chicken DON'T TOUCH IT!  Let sit for 30 seconds.

Turn and cook for another 30 seconds or so.  Cooking the meat at this high temperature for such a short amount of time makes it so wonderful.  When the chicken is done move it to a separate plate.  Cook the rest of the chicken the same way.

When the second batch of chicken is done, add the rest of the chicken, the veggies, and the rest of the sauce.  You will only need to stir for about 30 seconds, then remove from heat.

I had some leftover spaghetti, so instead of making rice I added it to the mix.

And here's the finished product.  It was not on that plate for long at all.

And if you want to bump it up a notch, add some crushed red pepper.  Delicious.

I love this recipe because it's so versatile.  Customize it to your liking.  I'm kinda shocked I didn't add any mushrooms.  Aren't you?

Full recipe:

• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tbsp. cooking sherry
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. corn starch
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 bundle of asparagus
• 2 small red peppers
• 1 package of boneless skinless chicken breast
• rice or spaghetti, cooked according to package

In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, cherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger.  Add sliced meat to bowl and set aside.  Heat olive oil in hot skillet.  Add veggies and stir for 2 minutes.  Remove to a separate plate and set aside.  Make sure pan is hot and with tongs, add half of the chicken.  Make sure the chicken is spread out in the pan.  Let sit for 30 seconds.  Turn and cook for another 30 seconds.  Remove to a separate plate.  Repeat cooking method with the rest of the meat.  When this is done, add the rest of the meat, veggies, and sauce.  Stir for about 30 seconds and remove from heat.  Serve over rice or stir in spaghetti.

Impossible Pie??

Tonight I made something called Impossible Pie.  This is something I had never heard of until this past week.  A coworker brought it in for lunch and it looked amazing.  Basically it's a quiche that is super easy to make.  You can customize it any way you want.  Of course my version includes mushrooms.  I will definitely be making this again.  It was delicious!

Here's the ingredients:

• Eggs
• Bisquick (this stuff is AMAZING)
• Milk (not shown)
• Cheddar Cheese
• Mushrooms (they're a necessity in my cooking)
• 2 cooked turkey sausages (I just used 2 leftover sausages from my stuffed pepper recipe)
• Butter (not shown)
• Olive oil (not shown)
• White Wine (also not shown. I suck.)

To start this recipe, get out a 9-inch pie pan and grease up that bad boy.  Then chop up your sausages and add them to the pan.

From here I sauteed some mushrooms.  This is my favorite way to prepare mushrroms and I'm excited to show you how to do that!  Start with a pan on medium heat.  Add 2 tbsp. butter and about 2 tbsp. olive oil.  While these are warming up I chop up my mushrooms.  Make sure you don't get them too wet.  I usually just run the water, get my hand wet, and rub off any excess dirt.  If you're a germaphobe I'm sorry, but I don't really worry about that stuff.  I just get the big globs of dirt off and make sure they look good.  When you're done chopping throw them in the pan.  Let them sit for a bit and cook.  It might be hard to resist stirring them, but trust me, it'll be worth the patience.

 Mmmm. They're already starting to smell good.  When the mushrooms release their water (you'll see) and they look like this: 

 

Pour in a little white wine.  Probably about 1/4 cup.  Let the mushrooms cook a while more, soaking up in all the deliciousness.

When they're done they should look something like this. Drool.

To prepare the Bisquick mixture grab a bowl and add three eggs.  Then add 1/2 cup Bisquick and 1 cup milk.  I didn't add this picture cause it was ugly.  Mix well with whatever you want.  I just used a whisk.
 

 Add the sauteed mushrooms to the pan and about 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese.

Pour Bisquick mixture over cheese.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. When it is done it should look like this:

So pretty, so easy.  My kinda meal.  Somehow the Bisquick does this magical thing and creates a crust.  So delicious.  Pretty sure if you made this for your friends they would be really impressed and would not believe how easy it really is to make.  I might just have to make it for some friends.

Next time I make this I think I'll add some veggies.  Maybe broccoli, asparagus, or some peppers.  Mmmmm.

Until next time...

Heather


Full recipe:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup Bisquick
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 package mushrooms
• 2 cooked turkey sausages
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch pie pan.  Chop up sausages into small pieces and add to pie pan.   Heat a frying pan to medium to medium-high heat.  Add butter and olive oil.  Chop up mushrooms and add to pan.  Let sit for 2 minutes.  Stir and add wine.  Let cook until almost all the liquid is gone.  To prepare Bisquick mixture, combine eggs, Bisquick, and milk in a large bowl.  Whisk until the mixture is smooth.  When the mushrooms are done, add evenly to pie pan.  Cover with shredded cheese.  Then pour Bisquick mixture over evenly.  Carefully place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Can be served immediately or at room temperature.

Stuffed Peppers

I decided to make stuffed peppers tonight.  Why?  Because I've never done it.  My mom made stuffed peppers while I was growing up.  One thing I do when I cook is take recipes that my mom makes and tweak them to fit my needs.  That's how I created this recipe.

So here we go.  Here's what you'll need.

• Green or Red Peppers  (Red peppers are obviously the superior pepper, right?)  I only used two, but the recipe could have made enough stuffing for 3 or 4 peppers.
• Hot Italian Turkey Sausage.  We try to be healthy around here, or at least pretend we are, and we like things SPICY!
• Mushrooms, because they make everything better and I mean EVERYTHING!
• One small onion
• A can of diced tomatoes
• Brown or white rice

Start by heating a pan to medium to medium-high heat and about 2-turns/2-seconds worth of olive oil.  I know, very precise.

Then grab your favorite knife (everyone has a favorite knife, right?) and chop up that onion.

Add the diced onion to the pan and give it a stir.  Add some salt and pepper if you wish.

Prepare your peppers. hehe.  Lop off their lids. haha. Alright. Enough.  Remove the seeds and make sure they look pretty.

 Like how pretty these look!

Remove the sausages from their casings.  Break them up and add to pan.  I only used three sausages since I was only making two stuffed peppers.  Crumble with spoon.

Once the sausage is cooked, add your chopped mushrooms.  However much you think is good.  I always say you can't have too many mushrooms, so this was a small amount for my liking.

Once the mushrooms have cooked down, add your cooked rice.

Then add the can of tomatoes.

Because we like things spicy, I added crushed red pepper.  If the sausage is spicy enough for you, don't add it (ya wimp!).

Now stuff your peppers! You will probably be tempted like me to over-stuff, but don't do it!  It will just make a big mess and you'll regret it.

I added a slice of munster to the top of each pepper cause that's what I had and cheese is my life.  I probably should have done this later...you'll see.

Then put the lid of the pepper on top cause it looks purrty and cause I said so.

Place your peppers in a baking dish.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Pepper overboard!  This guy fell over whilst in the oven, but he still tasted good nonetheless.  I think they might have been a little prettier if I had waited to put the munster on.

Beautiful.

And they tasted good, too!

Full recipe:

• 4 Green or Red Peppers
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 package of Hot Italian Turkey Sausage links
• 1 package of mushrooms
• One small onion
• 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 boil-in-bag of Brown or white rice
• 4 slices of cheese (Muenster, provolone, or cheddar recommended)

Preheat oven to 350.  Heat a frying pan to medium to medium-high heat and add olive oil.  Dice onion and add to frying pan.  Cook until onion in soft.  While onion is cooking, prepare peppers by chopping off their tops and removing seeds.  Make sure the peppers can stand up in your baking dish.  If necessary, level out the bottoms. Remove sausage from casings, break into pieces and add to pan.  Break up with fork.  Slice mushrooms and add to the pan when sausage is done cooking.  After mushrooms have cooked. add prepared rice.  Then add can of diced tomatoes.  You can add crushed red pepper and shredded cheese at this point, if you like.  Add stuffing to hollow peppers.  Place top on peppers and cook peppers for about 30 minutes or until pepper is soft.  Five minutes before removing the peppers, add a slice of cheese to the top of each pepper, beneath the lid.  Serve immediately.

Welcome

Welcome to the Pickled Plate!  My name is Heather.  I love to cook and decided to create a blog to share all of my culinary adventures with you.  

I love cooking, trying new recipes, and tweaking old recipes.  I've been following other blogs that include step-by-step pictures of the cooking process, and if I can get my act together, maybe I can do the same.

Here are some past dishes I've made:

Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake

 Butternut Squash Soup

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Homer Simpson Cake

 Turkey Sausage and Mushroom Lasagna

 Stuffed Acorn Squash and Roasted Brussel Sprouts

 Twice-Baked Potatoes

I definitely need to work on my photography skills and most of those pictures were taken with my cellphone.  I just got a new camera for my birthday, so I'll be testing it out and hopefully posting some great pictures.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy!