Chow Mein

I LOVE Chinese food. I hardly ever get it and don't get to make it often at home. This is one of those dishes I get more than others because the kids really love the noodles, not to mention it is really quite simple to make. I always add a few pea pods and take a few liberties with the veggies. I've made this with chicken, pork, beef and even shrimp. If you want a GREAT Chinese Food recipe.. this is it.

Chow Mein

1 1/2 cups bean sprouts
2 boneless chicken breasts sliced thin
2 TBS oyster sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 TBS cornstarch
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 pound dry wonton noodles
2 medium celery cut in medium chunks
1/2 medium size white onion cut in medium slices
2 cups cabbage cut in medium slices
1 green onion
2 clove garlic chopped
4 TBS sesame or olive oil

1. Cut chicken into thin strips and set aside.
2. Soften the noodles by placing them in boiling salted water. Plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process and drain thoroughly.
3. Heat a wok or frying pan over medium to high heat. Add 2 TBS of oil. WHn the oil is hot, add noodles, Fry in batches until golden. Remove noodles from the pan.
4. Heat 2 TBS oil in a wok. Add garlic and meat. Let the meat brown briefly, then stir-fry until the redness is gone and the meat is nearly cooked through.
5. Add the rest of the vegetables (except the green onions) and mix well for 3-4 minutes.
6. In a small bowl combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken broth, cornstarch, and salt and pepper. Make a "well" in the middle of the wok for the sauce. Quickly stir and mix everything together. Stir in noodles and green onions.
7. Serve and enjoy!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Alright Jenn, this one's for you...

A month or so ago our ladies church group had a pie night. It was a very tasty night. I took two pies, one of which was Lemon Meringue , one of my all time favorites. After making this one you may see why people always say "easy as pie!" Yeah it's an easy one...

Lemon Meringue Pie

9- inch baked pie shell

Filling

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 TBS corn starch
1/2 cups water
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
3 TBS butter
1/2 cup lemon juice from fresh lemon
zest of one lemon (about 1 TBS)
2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Prepare and bake pie shell.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2 quart sauce pan. Gradually stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir one minute. Gradually stir in half of the hot mixture into the egg yolks. Stir into hot mixture in sauce pan. Boil on low 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and food coloring. Pour into pie shell.
Prepare meringue. Spoon onto hot filling. Spread over filling carefully sealing meringue to sides of pie crust to prevent shrinking or weeping. Bake 8-10 minutes or until meringue is delicate brown.(keep your eye on this part) Cool away from draft.

Meringue

3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
6 TBS granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in medium bowl until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 TBS at a time until stiff and glossy. Do not over beat. Fold in vanilla

Cake Truffles

I know I owe a few of you some recipes but this is too good not to post IMMEDIATELY. Ok so the cake balls..truffles.. balls.. Umm I like cake TRUFFLES better..sounds fancy, they are quite popular in the baking world right now. They seem to be all over the place.. They are tasty and easy to make, not to mention cute as a button. I'm nodding my head slowly waiting to be convinced.. the wait is over. Last night I ate these at our better-late-than-never holiday bakery party. Lisa Taylor, you are a rock-star! Cute, Check. Easy to make, check. Moist, check. Make your mouth sing, double check. MMMM Hit the high note on this one.. thanks Lisa!

Chocolate Truffles

1 package (18.5 oz.) chocolate cake mix
( + ingredients for making the cake)
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup of your favorite jam (I like seedless raspberry!)
2 packages (8 oz.) milk chocolate squares or chips (for dipping)


Prepare cake as package directs; cool. In saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter; add cocoa and sugar. Stir until smooth. Add vanilla and jam; stir until smooth and glossy. Remove from heat. Crumble cake and add saucepan mixture, mix until well blended and moist. Roll into about 1 inch balls. Melt Chocolate and dip chocolate cake balls in the chocolate. Place on wax paper and let cool until the chocolate is not shiny and is smooth and firm. Enjoy! Makes anywhere from 45 to 70 truffles depending on the size of the balls.

Note from Lisa: You can really get creative with this recipe. You can use any kind of cake, any kind of flavoring, and any kind of chocolate you want! My sister made truffles with a white cake, apricot jam and dipped in white chocolate. Instead of using jam, you can use peanut butter, caramel or butterscotch ice cream topping, or anything else you can think of. You can even put chopped nuts inside or sprinkled on top. You could roll a maraschino cherry in the cake mixture and then dip in chocolate. Get creative!


For the party, I actually split the mixture into thirds before adding the jam so that I could have three different flavors in one batch. I did add ½ cup of seedless raspberry jam to the first part, ½ cup of peanut butter to the second part, and ½ cup of caramel to the third part so that the flavoring was more prominent. If you make the recipe as it is written above, the flavoring will be more subtle.