Sichuan Style Chicken with Peanuts and Green Beans

I know, I know what you are thinking...how much Asian cuisine can these people eat?!?! Right?? LOL! It's okay. I understand. But we do eat a lot. I mean, there's the beef with snow peas, spicy mongolian beef, and now sichuan style chicken! But we love it so. There's nothing like meat and veggies atop a delicious bed of sticky rice. And of course...the fun of eating with chopsticks! What more could you ask for in a meal??

The Hubble and I have even had parties dedicated to finding the perfect Chinese takeout restaurant. We would order a bit from each place and have everyone do a taste test to decide the best place for which dish. The Hubble's "go to" dish is kung pao chicken, mine is sesame chicken. Luckily, I found this recipe, which is amazingly similar to The Hubble's beloved kung pao chicken. It's spicy, delicious, and the crunch of the peanuts is so fun. I also decided (halfway through making this meal) to add some green beans to give it a little something extra.

So now it's your turn to make this dish. Let me show you how:

First up, grab your ingredients. You will need: chicken broth or stock (low fat, low sodium), chinese black vinegar, rice wine (sake), peanut oil, sesame oil, soy sauce (low sodium), cornstarch, dry roasted peanuts, chili paste with garlic, ginger, garlic, green onions, water chestnuts, chicken, and not pictured here (because I thought of them halfway through making this) green beans.

We'll start by making the marinade for the chicken. Add together the soy sauce, sake, cornstarch, and sesame oil.

Whisk it all together....

Until combined and smooth.

Dice up your chicken.

Throw it in the bowl with the marinade...

Toss the chicken in the sauce until it's well coated. Toss it in the fridge and let it marinade and meld together for about 20 minutes.

While the chicken is getting nice and flavorful we are going to prep some of our other stuff. Starting with the garlic. Go ahead and peel your garlic cloves.

And give them a nice chop.

Chop up some green onion and toss it in a bowl with the diced garlic.

For the ginger, you want to peel it. The easiest way I've found to do this is to just take a spoon and scrape off the skin? Peel? Outside? Whatever it's called...just scrape it off.

And dice the ginger as well.

And throw it in the bowl with the garlic and onion.

We also need to make the sauce. Whisk together the chicken broth or stock, sugar, soy sauce, sake, Chinese black vinegar, cornstarch and sesame oil. Set aside for a bit.

Right around this time the chicken should be ready. Heat up some oil in a large wok and toss in the chicken.

And stir it and cook it until thoroughly cooked through.

Now remove the chicken to a plate. You can cover it with foil to keep it warm but we'll heat it back up later.

Now remember that bowl of goodies?? The garlic, onion, and ginger? Yeah that bowl! Toss those goodies in some more heated oil. Saute for about 30 seconds.

Now add in some chile paste with garlic, mix it in and saute for another 15 seconds.

Now add in the sauce you made and set aside earlier. Cook for about a minute until the sauce starts to thicken.

This is the point where I realized I had some fresh green beans in the fridge that needed to be used. So I grabbed those and tossed them in the sauce. Cook these for about a minute.

Then add back in the chicken.

And toss in the water chestnuts (these are my favorite!!).

And throw in the peanuts.

Mix everything together and let cook for about a minute or so until everything is heated through and the green beans are slightly soft but still kind of crunchy.

Serve over a bed of rice. And enjoy!!

But don't forget the chopsticks!!

Sichuan Style Chicken with Peanuts and Green Beans
Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

 

Marinade:

• 2  tablespoons  low-sodium soy sauce
• 2  tablespoons  rice wine or sake
• 1  teaspoon  cornstarch
• 1  teaspoon  dark sesame oil
• 1 1/2  pounds  skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

Stir-Frying Oil:

• 2  tablespoons peanut oil, divided

Sauce:

• 1/2  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 2  tablespoons  sugar
• 2 1/2  tablespoons  low-sodium soy sauce
• 2  tablespoons  rice wine or sake
• 1  tablespoon  Chinese black vinegar or Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/4  teaspoons  cornstarch
• 1  teaspoon  dark sesame oil
• 2  tablespoons  minced green onions
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  minced garlic (about 7 cloves)
• 1  teaspoon  chile paste with garlic

Remaining Ingredients:

• 1 1/2  cups  drained, sliced water chestnuts
• 1  cup  (1/2-inch) sliced green onion tops
• 3/4  cup  unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts
• 6-8 oz Chinese style green beans
• 6  cups  hot cooked long-grain rice

Preparation

1. To prepare marinade, combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; cover and chill 20 minutes.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken mixture; stir-fry 4 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove from pan; set aside.
3. To prepare sauce, combine broth and next 6 ingredients (broth through 1 teaspoon sesame oil); stir well with a whisk. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in pan. Add 2 tablespoons green onions, ginger, garlic, and chile paste, and stir-fry for 15 seconds. Add broth mixture, and cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly.
4. Stir in green beans, cook for 1 minute. Stir in cooked chicken, water chestnuts, sliced onion tops, and peanuts; cook for 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Serve over rice.

Espresso-Walnut Cake

Okay. Today I am going to try to redeem myself as a coffee drinker, lover, holic. I'm sure we all remember the Earl Grey tea cake debacle. Well, I now bring you espresso walnut bars! Woohoo!!

While we are having a little downtime here in the middle of nowhere Missouri while The Hubble is in school, I've decided that the perfect way to make as many treats and sweets I want without gaining back all the weight I lost is to make the stuff and send them off to school with The Hubble! Genius right?? I thought so.

So last Monday was the first time I've been able to concentrate on making something for The Hubble's class since we got here a month ago. I gave The Hubble a list of choices and I was MORE than willing when he selected I make this recipe. See...The Hubble claims to be a tea drinker but he is quickly realizing things are so much better on my side of the fence. I will corrupt him and make him a coffee drinker if it's the last thing I do!! (Cue evil laugh) Muahahahahahahahaha!!

Okay I'm done. Here we go...

Ingredients: flour, brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, instant espresso, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla yogurt, vanilla extract, baking soda, and salt. Whew, I'm out of breath now!

In a small bowl, dump in your tightly packed brown sugar...

Your finely chopped walnuts...

And 1 teaspoon of the instant espresso. I like to use the Starbucks VIA because it's in those nice little packets and you don't have to buy a big jar for a small recipe. And hello?? It's Starbucks! (I'm a fan if you didn't know. If they sold IV's of the Kenya blend I would buy stock!)

But I digress...

Mix those ingredients together and set aside.

Now, get a large microwave safe bowl and nuke your butter until it is melted.

Dump in the sugar. And whisk it all together.

Add in your eggs.

And whisk those in until you have a smooth mixture.

Then whisk in the yogurt, vanilla, baking soda, and salt.

Dump in the flour and the rest of the espresso.

And whisk until just mixed together.

Spray your pan with this stuff. And if you don't have this stuff go ahead and spray the pan with regular cooking spray then dust with 2 teaspoons flour.

Spoon half of your mixture into the bottom of the greased and floured pan. Smooth it out as best you can.

Then take that lovely brown sugar, walnut, and espresso mixture from earlier and sprinkle half of that over the other mixture in the pan.

Now comes the tricky part. You want to pour the rest of the mixture into the pan and spread it.

But you have to be careful not to disturb the brown sugar mixture in the center too much.

Then sprinkle the rest of the brown sugar mixture over the top of the entire thing.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack.

Once they are cool you can cut them up...

Serve, and enjoy!


Espresso-Walnut Cake
Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  packed brown sugar
• 3  tablespoons  finely chopped walnuts
• 1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1  tablespoon  instant espresso or 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules, divided
• 5  tablespoons  butter
• 1  cup  granulated sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 2/3  cup vanilla fat-free yogurt
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1 1/3  cups  all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine brown sugar, walnuts, cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon espresso granules in a small bowl.
3. Place the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave at HIGH for 1 minute or until butter melts. 
4. Add granulated sugar, stirring with a whisk. 
5. Add eggs; stir well. 
6. Stir in yogurt, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Lightly spoon 1 1/3 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. 
7. Add flour and 2 teaspoons espresso powder, stirring just until blended (do not overstir).
8. Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan, and sprinkle with half of the brown sugar mixture.
9. Carefully spread remaining batter over brown sugar mixture, and sprinkle with remaining brown sugar mixture.
10. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. 
11. Cool for 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. 
12. Cut into squares.
13. Enjoy!