"Take-Out" In 20

Hello there! Long time no see.  Wow, it really has been a while.  I've been doing plenty of cooking but apparently slacking on my photos.  I was looking through to see what kind of deliciousness I could share with you and found I didn't have many options to choose from.  I have tested a bunch of recipes while putting recipe sets together for a few clients but no pictures! Shame on me.  I guess I've been a little caught up in my Health Coaching endeavors, and so distracted with the end of school and beginning of summer shenanigans that I lost track of time.  I do have one good find for you today and I will work on some others very soon.  This recipe is for Moo Shu Vegetables from Eating Well.  I love to make Asian food at home.  The main reason is that it isn't always easy to get it elsewhere.  I don't live in a big city with a ton of options, aside from the several Chinese take out places.  Basically they all taste the same but one place might have "funny" beef and another might have rubbery chicken.  If you want the good stuff you got to venture into the Laotian, or Vietnamese territory.  Those are fantastic but not very convenient, for us anyway.  We recently tried out a Japanese place close to home which I believe specializes in Sushi but have a large selection of Hibachi and noodle bowls and tempura and the like.  We spent about $67.00 trying a wide variety only to be really disappointed (and didn't even have leftovers!).  Oh well, lesson learned.  You never know until you try right?  So why not try to make some?  Now I'll go easy on you with this one, no trips to the Asian market needed. There may be a couple of ingredients that you won't have on hand already but venture out and add them to your pantry.  You can use them in a few other recipes that I have posted already and a few more that will be coming your way. So let's get to it! I'm just going to apologize in advance for these pictures.  I was apparently not on my game when I made this.

So here we have the ingredients.  Some you're familiar with, some you may not be (hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil).  They all keep for quite a while so don't worry about them going to waste.

Fresh cilantro makes everything taste good if you ask me!

And you can't beat broccoli slaw.  Look at all that work already done for you!

Chopping is minimal.  Some garlic, scallions, cilantro and ginger.  No biggie. This recipe happens to be vegetarian but if you have some shredded chicken on hand you could easily toss that in at the end and make it a meal.  If you are planning to stay meatless, a veggie summer roll or egg roll would be a perfect accompaniment.  If you're buying them at the grocery store, just read your labels and try to steer clear of MSG and high levels of sodium.

Lightly beat the eggs,

and cook them in a nonstick pan (which mine no longer seems to be) stirring gently until set, just a few minuets.

Remove them to a plate and wipe out the pan.

Next you heat the rest of the sesame oil and cook the garlic an ginger for a couple of minuets (and it will smell fantastic, I promise).

Add the slaw

and the sprouts, some of the scallions, soy sauce and vinegar.  Stir it all up and cook covered for a few minutes until vegetables are tender.

Then stir in the eggs and hoisin sauce and heat through.  Top with some scallions and cilantro for serving.

I like to add a few peanuts for crunch.  Now I don't think this recipe is a full on substitute for an Asian restaurant but it is really tasty and easy and quick AND a perfect gateway to venturing into some new flavors at home.  For the full recipe click on this Eating Well link and enjoy.