I <3 Cashew Chicken (and other things...)

Friends: My dear friend Abi got married on Saturday (May 2) - and her and Kyle's wedding was fabulous and fit them so well. It was great to see a bunch of friends from college too! I wish them every happiness.

Fun: This is going to sound incredibly dorky, but I had a little excitement Sunday afternoon...I took my car through the carwash. I haven't gone through the automatic carwash in years, and I've never taken my own car through one. But the weather was sunny, the line was short, and there was a $2 off deal if you bought gasoline. I remember being a little kid and thinking the carwash was pretty stinkin' awesome...which it is.

Part of the reason I ended up going through the carwash was because my normal method of getting the car washed proved ineffective over the weekend - Josie, who's usually up for making a few bucks, said she was "too tired and lazy" to do the job this time around. : ) I could have done it myself when I got back to the apartment, but as far as I can tell, there's no place to hook up a hose at the building.

Food: Last night I got low-censused for the last four hours of work, so I made cashew chicken. This is one of my most favorite dishes and I love bringing it for a potluck. Although I have a recipe to make it from scratch, I've come to discover that dressing up a Wanchai Ferry kit from the grocery store works even better! I'm going to be in big trouble if General Mills ever quits making them...

Ingredients:

1 Wanchai Ferry Cashew Chicken kit

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

1 onion, chopped

2 teaspoons diced garlic

2 green bell peppers, sliced

Oil

1 can pineapple chunks, well-drained

Extra cashews, if desired (I always desire them!)

Lots of rice

Here you can see what the Wanchai Ferry kit looks like - you can find it in the Asian foods aisle. The rice in the kit is typical white rice (not Minute rice), so you can mix it with long-grain rice if you need more.

Get your rice going first - I cook mine in a rice cooker. Trust me, investing in one of those babies is so, so worth it - and you won't have to invest much. If you don't eat a lot of rice, you can always use it to steam veggies.


Next, stir fry the onion, garlic, and peppers in about 1 Tablespoon of oil until tender, then set aside. I like using a wok, but mine is getting junky...I ended up using a non-stick skillet for the rest of this recipe.



Mix the cubed chicken with the cornstarch in the kit, then stir fry it in another 1 Tablespoon of oil until it's cooked through. Add cashews, then the pineapple, and stir it around a few times. Reduce the heat and add the vegetables.



Yum! Add the cashew sauce packet and 1/2 cup of water, then simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, grab a plate of rice, and enjoy!!!

The Bad Blogger Returns...

It's true: I'm a bad blogger! I've had several online journals in the past and haven't posted regularly since I was in college.

What've I been doing lately? Well...

Food: Over the weekend, I made vegetarian lasagna! I'm not a vegetarian, but this is one of my most favorite recipes and it's realllly difficult to mess up. I also love the vast amounts of cheese in this stuff:

Honestly, who needs meat when you've got a tub each of ricotta and cottage cheese, plus a bunch of Italian herbs? And of course, SPINACH!

Yes, it is delicious stuff. However, I only like it raw and in pasta dishes and dip. Pay no attention to my goofy expression (especially now that I've pointed it out).

I've now been eating lasagna for at least one meal every day. I'm not sick of it...yet.

Speaking of food, my sister Jessi made a beautiful Serbian Easter cake for Orthodox Easter! She tells me it's called a "log cake"...and that thing contains a pound of butter and 10 eggs - whoa. Yummy! (I don't know how to say "really delicious!" in Serbian...actually, I don't know how to say anything in Serbian.)

Family: Last weekend, my sister Jamie and I took a mini-roadtrip to Eau Claire for her college placement tests. It was great to be in my college city again and to get some one-on-one chat time with her!

After our trip was over, we went back to my parents' and got facials from Jessi! Every now and again, I kind of wish I'd had a brother or two, but girly times like these remind me of how awesome it is to be blessed with a whole bunch of sisters!

SPINACH LASAGNA RECIPE:

The ingredient amounts in this recipe don't have to be exact - how awesome is that? Just keep in mind that you want A LOT of cheese.

Ingredients (estimates):

20 lasagna noodles

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 bag or 2 cups fresh spinach

1 large or 2 small tubs ricotta cheese (~3 cups)

1 small tub cottage cheese (~1 1/2 cups)

2 bags shredded mozerella or mixed Italian cheese (a total of 16 ounces)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 egg

3 cups tomato pasta sauce

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Boil noodles for 8-10 minutes; drain. When my noodles are done, I set them on an oiled plate until I need them.

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender; drain, cool, and set aside. Boil spinach for 5 minutes. Drain, squeeze out excess liquid, and chop.

Combine ricotta, cottage cheese, and about 1 cup of shredded cheese. Add spinach, onion & garlic, egg, and all spices. Beat for one minute.

Lay 5 noodles on the bottom of an oiled or sprayed 9x13 inch pan. Spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture on top. Sprinkle on one cup of shredded cheese and then cover with one cup of tomato sauce. Repeat these layers twice more.

Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for one hour. Allow to cool slightly and then enjoy!

Spring Has Sprung!

Or I hope it has...in Wisconsin, you can never be sure that you won't get hit with more snow until about mid-May.

Food: Possible snow aside, I've got big dreams of tomatoes and peppers and...well, mostly just tomatoes. A few weeks ago I set up three starter trays of them and they sprouted beautifully. And then I separated and re-potted them.

Sadly, they aren't doing so hot right now. Suffice it to say that you can't save every single plant and there's a reason the seed packet tells you to just do away with the wimpy looking ones. So...I've learned my lesson. Gladly, a hardy few survived my well-intentioned treatment - and will hopefully grow big enough to be transplanted to Mom's garden come late Spring!

If not, I've still got more seeds left. Wednesday and Thursday will probably be spent cleaning the starter trays and re-planting - hopefully with that packet of yellow pear tomatoes! I was thrilled to find the seeds...I first encountered yellow pears in college, when we grew them as part of a Bio/Med Club fundraiser. They're tiny and look delightful mixed in a salad...or accompanied with some cute cherry tomatoes for a summer snack.

Furniture: One of my goals for this year has been to buy more handcrafted or used items, and I've been needing a coffee table for my living room. Fortunately, I was able to get one completely handcrafted and it will arrive April 25th, delivered personally by the carpenter! I'm so excited to see it!