Peanut Sesame Noodles + Homemade Sriracha

Lately, I've been wanting to eat take-out Chinese food from those paper cartons.  I want to shovel food in my mouth using chopsticks, like they do in the movies when something bad happens.  I'm not saying I want something bad to happen, I just want to enjoy a lot of Chinese take-out, in my mouth, while watching Pretty Woman.  Is that okay with you?

Problem is, there is not great take-out Chinese in the Santa Monica area (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).  So I had to make my own version of Asian-style take-out, even if I was paper carton-less.  I followed this recipe for Peanut Sesame Noodles, and they were delicious!  The sauce was everything I wanted it to be - smooth, spicy, nutty with a hint of sweet.  But what made it excellent was the Homemade Sriracha I stirred it all together with.  A good friend, Marianne, makes her own and hands them out as gifts and I'm telling you, the store-bought version does not come close. She shared her recipe with us below... yay!

Homemade Sriracha

(Makes 1 jar)

Printable Recipe

Adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow's My Father's Daughter

1 1/4 cups peeled garlic

1 pound red jalapeños, steamed and sliced into thin rings (seeds removed - the more seeds: the hotter the sauce)

2 1/4 cups rice vinegar

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

2 T sea salt

1 T arrowroot

1 T fish sauce (or soy sauce)

In a small sauce pan, add garlic and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and immediately drain.  Cool the garlic under running water and return it to saucepan.  Cover again with water and repeat blanching process. 

Thinly slice the blanched garlic and combine with jalapeños and vinegar in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, cook for 3 minutes and then remove from heat.  Add the brown rice syrup and salt and stir to combine.  Let the mixture sit undisturbed for 1 hour to steep and cool. 

Whiz the mixture in a powerful blender until smooth.  Return the pureed sauce to the pot, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, skimming off any foam until the sauce is slightly reduced and has some body.      

In a small bowl, dissolve the arrowroot with 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water.  Whisk into the simmering sauce and cool for 2 minutes more or until sauce has thickened.  

Remove the sauce from heat, let it cool slightly and stir in the fish sauce.  Store in a screw top jar in the fridge for up to 6 months. 

I chose to toss my Peanut Noodles with diced red bell pepper, cucumber, green onions, cilantro and chopped peanuts.

Baked Ziti

In this week's edition of "Random Things You Should Know About Me" (that's not a thing), I love pretending that I'm an Italian grandmother.  I like to imagine myself slaving away in the kitchen all day, making family favorite recipes I know by heart, adding my secret components that I'll only tell one deserving grandchild before I die (the one who sends me the most text messages).  Until I reach that status, I will try out recipes online that only take an hour from start to finish.  Like this Baked Ziti, made with love and tons of cheese.  If you're ever cooking for a crowd, check out The Pioneer Woman's recipes.  She often times cooks for small armies, and her food is divine.  I made this with just sausage, and otherwise followed the recipe to a T.  My one note: go splurge on good cheese at a local cheese shop or Italian market, you won't regret it.

Now get out of my kitchen before I spank you!  

(That's how they talk, right?)      

Oh, hello Ricotta and Parmesan and Mozzarella and Egg.

Leftovers for days...

Lee Kum Kee Orange Chicken

Last week, we had a 'Welcome Home' dinner for Carson and the theme was orange (because of this).  Jack and I had fun decorating the table with orange balloons, pumpkins, festive flowers and screwdrivers.  Not the tool, the drink, and Jack didn't help with that part I swear.  Coincidentally, I had just been sent some products from Lee Kum Kee and included was a packet of sauce for Orange Chicken.  Orange!  No preservatives or artificial flavoring, no MSG and no HFCS.  Prepared with fresh ingredients, ready in minutes... highly recommended for a weeknight dinner.  Do I sound like a commercial yet?  Should I take over Flo's job?  But seriously, I like making my own sauce like the next Julia Child wannabe, but I'm a mom of two and I want to keep what little sanity I have left.  Therefore, sauces in bags are the answer.  Serve this Orange Chicken with brown rice, carrots, and a salad with orange tomatoes and orange bell peppers and you're ready for your orange party.  Don't forget to invite some Oompa Loompas.  And check out Lee Kum Kee's website for other yummy products!              

Slow Cooker Short Rib Ragu

I can't believe how early school starts these days.  Mid-August and summer is over for kids.  What happened to Labor Day buttoning off the season??  I suppose when my kids are grown and bored, I'll be anxious to send them off to school early.  But for now, I'm trying to cling on to every last minute of warm weather and lazy days outside.  Durrrr, except for this meal I made the other night that SCREAMS fall and was absolutely delicious...

I'm a short ribs girl.  If they're on a menu, I will order them.  So when a reader sent me this recipe for a Short Rib Ragu that you throw in the crockpot and forget about, I instantly bookmarked it.  I was trying to wait until fall to make it, but I am not a very patient person when it comes to food.  Listen, whatever month of the year it is, make this recipe.  Very few ingredients, simple as can be, and a total crowd pleaser!  Now go to school.  (Recipe here.)

p.s. If you can't find boneless short ribs like the recipe calls for, use bone-in ones like I did.  The meat will just slide off the bone once it's done cooking and it only adds to the flavor : )

Pesto Quinoa Salad

WHAT UP BLOG?!  Sorry, it's been awhile, I've forgotten how to do this.  I should probably not start by sounding like a tween.  Is that how tweens sound?  I'm a cool mom.  ANYWAY.  I've missed you guys!  Last week, in New York, all I could think about were things I wanted to cook and share with you.  Like this salad we ordered in our hotel room one night.  It was so simple and delicious and I knew it would be easy to recreate and I was right.  I'm usually right, except for when I'm wrong, which is most of the time.  

Pesto Quinoa Salad

(Serves 6-8)

Printable Recipe

2 cups quinoa

4 cups water

2 T olive oil

2 small zucchini, diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

3 cups arugula, chopped

1 7oz. store-bought pesto, defrosted

Salt and pepper

In a medium-sized pot, combine water and quinoa and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.  Uncover, fluff with a fork, and remove from heat.  Set aside.  While quinoa is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add zucchini and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add arugula and cook for another minute or so.  Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.  In a large bowl, toss quinoa and vegetables and add pesto.  Stir, and season with salt and pepper to taste.    

Buffalo Deviled Eggs

Buffalo sauce.  Will you marry me?  I promise to love you forever and I'll always be true, unless brown sugar bacon tempts me and in that case, LATER.  

My friends and I share a love of buffalo anything.  So when I came across a recipe for deviled eggs, I decided to make them for an afternoon pool party.  We were ALL pleased.  They took no time to assemble, and I even got all fancy and piped the yolk mixture into the egg whites using a plain old freezer bag with the end snipped.  You've got to get a little fancy when you're proposing to a sauce, after all.  Recipe here. 

Olive Tapenade Spaghetti

I have been pretty creative this week when it comes to dinner.  You can send my medal via mail.  I accept cookies.  The other night, I took pasta and olive tapenade and created dinner!  Make pasta and then scoop in some olive tapenade.  Oh, and then throw in some toasted pine nuts and grated Parmesan cheese.  Salty, crunchy, cheesy... again, you can give your mail carrier pigeon my award... he knows where I live.  BUT!  I'm going to bake next week.  More than once.  So stay tuned... and have a nice weekend, why don't you?!      

Balsamic Glaze

Have you guys tried Trader Joe's Balsamic Glaze?  It's stupid good, or "sick" as my 4-year-old now likes to describe happy things.  Deep in flavor, not overly sweet or vinegar-y, and a perfectly thick consistency.  I use it as dressing ALL the time.  Just drizzle it over your salad with a splash of good olive oil (yup, I strive to sound like Ina) and that's all you need.  Marinate your chicken, or serve it over ice cream and fresh berries (which I have yet to do).  The other night, I used it to roast vegetables (with olive oil, salt and pepper).  It was so perfect, and much better than using watery balsamic vinegar.  

Sorry for all the iPhone photos as of late.  I lost my camera card and my to-do list says BUY ANOTHER.  My to-do list currently says 347 things.  I hate my to-do list and it's stupid face.  

1,000 Layer Lasagna

CELEBRATION!  KABLAM!  BOOM!  CHEESE!  ONE THOUSAND!!!  

When you opened this post, fireworks were supposed to go off inside of your house.  Did they?  Ugggh, Blogspot, what's wrong with you?!?  I get no 'wow factor' for 1,000 posts??  I guess they'll be sending me one thousand dollars at a later date.  They probably need my address.  Anyway.  

Welcome to my 1,000th post.  I'm glad you're here.  If you weren't here, I would be writing these words to myself, and to those tiny creatures that live inside computers and make the Internet work.  If you weren't here, well, then I just put 1,000 pieces of food in my belly for no reason at all.  But you are here!  So I bought you candles!  And I made you the best lasagna I've ever tasted!  Thank you for being here, never leave.  Let's put another '0' on that lasagna one day... one day, when the Internet can fly and I need an actual forklift to exit my house.  

This recipe couldn't have been more perfect to celebrate my 1,000 post.  There's obviously the name, but then there's the deliciousness.  However, I definitely made it the "Sirious" way (aka: I cheated, I made it easy, I didn't follow directions).  The recipe calls for paper-thin homemade noodles.  I bought sheets of pasta vs. making my own (Italian deli's will sell them, or even a restaurant might), and I didn't run them through a pasta maker to thin them out.  I didn't even flatten them with a rolling pin.  They looked thin enough to me, so I just went with it...  

     

The beauty of this recipe is how simple it is.  Just a few ingredients, so I decided not to skimp on quality.  I bought fresh mozzarella, used my favorite olive oil that I usually reserve for dipping in bread, really good canned tomatoes, meyer lemon zest and obviously fresh pasta.  The result tastes relatively light, lacking meat or heavy ricotta.  It gets crispy in the corners and caramely and bubbly, it's seasoned perfectly (I added oregano to the top once it came out of the oven), the lemon zest and red pepper flakes brighten it and add a subtle kick, and the fresh, salty cheese... I'm going to cry it's so good.    

Here's to 1,000 more.  Food!!!  

Tomato Paste 101

I learned an interesting thing in this month's Bon Appetit magazine.  Would you like to learn it with me? Let's learn together!  (I'm a Room Mom at my son's preschool, and learning is F U N!)

Many recipes call for tomato paste, and we throw it in without giving it much thought.  But BA told me that if you let it cook in a little light oil for a few minutes, until it caramelizes in color, it will develop its flavor and add richness to whatever you're cooking.  In fact, you can take a whole can (or tube) of paste, cook the entire thing, freeze it in ice cube trays, and then you'll have one ready the next time you're making sauce!  Neato!  We learned a thing!   

Broccoli Pesto

Discovering creative ways to sneak green veggies into my son's diet is one of my favorite things, right up there with organizing things and eating handfuls of chocolate chips while no one is looking.  With that in mind, I was recently inspired by this post, but I wanted something without heavy cream so I stuck to a more classic version of pesto: garlic, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil.  Plus something green, and in this case broccoli!  As long as I don't call it "broccoli pasta," he will eat it.  So I call it green pasta.  Because green is a super cool color.  There is a green Power Ranger, and a green Hulk, and he goes to school in the Green Room.  Go Green!        

We adults thought this was delicious too.  Here's what I did...

I threw 2 cups of broccoli florets in a pot with about 1/4 cup of water over medium-high heat.  I covered it, and let it cook/steam for about 5 minutes, until the broccoli was tender.  I threw it in a blender with 1/4 cup of toasted pine nuts, one clove of garlic (roughly chopped), and 1/3 cup of Parmesan.  I didn't drain the broccoli before placing in blender, because the excess water helped get things going.  Then I slowly drizzled in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, until it reached my desired consistency.  I tasted, and seasoned with salt and pepper.  

I served it over mini ravioli, because children (and myself) like things that are mini.

Peach Butter

Well hello millions of peaches!  I traded in my zucchini the size of a wiener dog for two boxes of freshly grown peaches.  Again, these came straight from our friend Linda's garden.  I've never been to their home, but I imagine it to be a magical place where friendly birds turn into cartoon characters, singing you songs while feeding you berries.  I bet that's what it's like there.

Welcome to Peach Week.  

I decided to make peach butter first because it called for 4 pounds of peaches and I wanted to make a dent in my stash before I became overwhelmed.  I found this recipe and it's delightful.  Just the right amount of sweet with no added spices - simply peaches, lemon juice and sugar.  They call it "butter" because it's a cross between a jam and a sauce (and mine is much more like the latter).  I can't wait to pour it over ice cream, stir it into drinks, drizzle it over pancakes and smother it over toast and scones all, summer, long.  

Four pounds is roughly equivalent to 40 smaller-sized peaches, FYI.  That's a lot of peaches to peel, pit and chop.  However, the method of boiling them for 30 seconds and letting them cool in cold water before removing the skin worked beautifully...  

Simmering peaches...

I used my immersion blender to puree it until it reached a silky smooth, butter-like texture... 

Thickening "butter"...

Gifts! 

Turkey Meatballs with Whole Wheat Spaghetti

I just wrote like 12 different beginnings to this post and erased them all.  I'm having one of those days where you feel completely unoriginal.  You know, the days when you go on Pinterest and feel like a complete, utter failure as a domestic human being.  Love that site no I don't!  

Anyway, at least I got somewhat creative with my regular old spaghetti and meatball dinner last night...  

I used this recipe, but tweaked it here and there to make it healthier.  Whole wheat pasta, egg whites only, 2% milk instead of whole, and I made my own breadcrumbs by throwing a piece of wheat toast in the food processor.  To heighten the flavor of the meatballs I added a few pinches of nutmeg, oregano and garlic powder before rolling them into balls.  Red pepper flakes on top of the finished product.  

Healthy Schmealthy.  This tasted decadent and sinful and we went back for seconds.