Shanghai Shrimp

This summer has been, needless to say, hectic so far.  But in the most fun sorts of ways!  My birthday was a blast!  We had a great yoga class with my favorite yoga teacher out on the lakeshore path.  There are lots of photos up on strangeplaceforyoga, so head over there and check them out.  We followed it up with an awesome (and plentiful) sushi dinner with friends (and my baby brother!) which made me smile.

I have also been traveling for work, and even though it may feel like I'm always on a plane, when I travel I get to do my favorite part of my job and I've enjoyed all of the interesting things I've been learning.

A couple weeks ago, we were able to spend a day up out on a friend's boat on Lake Geneva which was an absolute blast!  We've also been taking advantage of the many summer festivals in Chicago.  Last weekend we went to Country Fest, where we were able to lay out in my new birthday hammock all day and enjoy the great weather and music.  Last weekend I also had my first trip to Ravinia, where we had a great night with Darius Rucker, Rodney Atkins, and Jana Kramer.  I had the best night singing, dancing and picnicing!



The summer is only ramping up from here!  Soon I'll be headed on my last work trip of the summer (I hope) followed by a visit to my parent's house in NH.  I'm ready to get out on the lake and waterski, as well as spend lots of overdue time with family.  Once I get back, it will less than 2 weeks until our big trip! We're headed all over the Pacific Northwest and then flying down for a few days in San Diego to cap off the end to of the Monkey Scientist's last summer break.  I couldn't be more excited.  If you have any advice please share!



Hopefully between all of the travel and fun I'll have time to share another recipe with you soon.  In the meantime, this recipe was PERFECT for my crazy hectic lifestyle lately.  Aside from the produce, we had everything we needed in the house, which is always a plus for me.  Although the prep takes a little while, once the vegetables are chopped and the liquids are measured out, it doesn't take very long to come together.  Plus, the boys were happy because it made a LOT of food!  It was perfectly finished with a little watermelon for dessert, and I still had time to make Chipotle Brownies (man, does that post need to be updated) for the Mexican-themed party we're going to tonight!



Shanghai Shrimp
from Family Circle

Ingredients
1 7 ounce package rice stick noodles
3 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
3 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce (divided)
3 tbsp rice vinegar (divided)
1/4 plus 1/8 tsp salt
3/4 lb mini sweet peppers,tops trimmed, quartered
8 oz sugar snap peas
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 lb raw cleaned shrimp (thawed if frozen)
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 - 2 tsp Asian chili-garlic sauce (sambal oelek)

Instructions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the rice noodles and cook for 3 minutes, then drain.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large wok over medium high heat. Add the cooked rice noodles, 1 tbsp of soy sauce, and 1 tbsp of rice vinegar. Cook, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes or until the noodles just start to brown from the heat and the sauce is evenly distributed.  Remove the noodles from the wok onto a large platter.
3. Add the remaining 2 tbsp of oil to the wok and heat over medium high heat.  Add the sweet peppers, sugar snap peas, and onion to the wok and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until the onions just start to soften.  Add the shrimp and 1/8 tsp salt. Cook, stirring, for an additional 4 minutes or so, until the shrimp are opaque.  Whisk together 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, the sweet chili sauce, lemon juice, and chili-garlic sauce, then add to the wok and cook for an additional 1 minute.
4. Pour the vegetable and shrimp mixture over the noodles, with all of the sauce in the pan, and serve.

Thai Beef Tacos

You might have noticed, we aren't big red meat eaters.  I don't have anything in particular against beef, and I'm pretty sure the Monkey Scientist grew up eating loads of steaks (he is from Chicago), but it has some drawbacks.  It really isn't that good for you.  And more importantly, it's expensive.  So when we do have beef, it's a special treat and we usually buy pretty cheap cuts.



The key to enjoying these cheaper cuts is not to eat them in a steak-and-potatoes kind of way.  While the Monkey Scientist does broil a mean teriyaki flank steak, tacos might just be the best way to eat flank steak. Tacos are such a simple recipe to throw together on a weeknight, and I loved the Asian twist in this recipe.  Definitely made for a unique dinner!



The Monkey Scientist did a lot of work to help me put this recipe together.  He made the mango salsa!  Since the mango salsa on our pork tenderloin a few weeks ago was too spicy, we left the jalapeno seeds out  this time around.  I liked it so much better!  The shallots were much milder than onions and the mango brought out the sweetness of the coconut milk in the marinade.  It was a great addition to the tacos.



These were some of the best tacos I've ever made.  The Monkey Scientist said this was one of his favorite dinners - I think he was happy to have some red meat, plus he's a big Chipotle lover.  I think marinading for longer than 2 hours (I should learn to prep ahead of time a little better) would have been a good idea, but it was still great.  I particularly liked the peanuts on top.  They brought out the Asian flavors from the marinade while adding a nice crunch.  This is an easy weeknight meal that you will really enjoy!



Thai Beef Tacos
every so slighty adapted from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients
1-1 1/2 pounds flank steak
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup light (canned) coconut milk
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup sweet chili sauce
1/2 mango, chopped
1 shallot, diced
1 jalapeno, diced (seeds removed)
a sprinkle each of sugar, salt & pepper
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
8-10 flour tortillas (I used burrito sized, but you could go smaller)
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce or hot salsa
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped

Instructions
1. Sprinkle flank steak with salt and pepper. Combine coconut milk, chili sauce, garlic, ginger, and sugar in a bowl and whisk.
2. Add flank steak to a ziplock bag or a shallow baking dish and pour marinade overtop. Refrigerate and let sit for 6-24 hours. (I only waited about 2 hours because I don't plan ahead well)
3. When ready to prepare, remove steak from fridge and let sit for 20-30 minutes. (Yep, I skipped this)
4. In a bowl, combine mango, shallot, jalapeno, salt, sugar and pepper, mix thoroughly, then set aside.
5. Heat a large oven-safe skillet (like cast iron) over high heat. At the same time, preheat the broiler in your oven. (You can also grill the steak if you wish.)
6. Using a pastry brush, brush oil onto the skillet so there is only a very thin layer. (CAREFUL! The oil may jump when you start to brush it!)
7. Remove steak from marinade with kitchen tongs, placing in the skillet. Sear on both sides for 1-2 minutes per side.
8. Remove skillet and place is the oven directly under the broiler. Cook for 3 minutes, then flip and cook for 3 minutes more. (Less time if you like it rarer, more if you like it more well done.)
9. Remove skillet from over, and place steak on a cutting board to rest for 15-20 minutes.
10. At this time, assemble your tortillas (warm them if desired), salsa, extra chili sauce for drizzling and peanuts. After the steak has rested, slice it into thin strips. Assemble tacos as desired and eat!

Sweet and Fiery Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa

The Chinese New Year is today!  The blogosphere has been blowing up with lots of fun recipes for the Chinese New Year, so I thought it might be fun to bring you one.  I chose this recipe because it was healthy (I love Skinny Taste!), can be eaten all year long, and was a little bit outside of my comfort zone.

To be honest, I have never made pork tenderloin in my life.  I think I've only eaten it once before and it was so overcooked that I though I just didn't like pork tenderloin.  I'm the type of girl who orders my steaks on the rare side of medium rare.  I'm glad that I finally made it myself, because it turns out pork tenderloin is awesome!



I knew the Monkey Scientist would enjoy this recipe because it called for his favorite - Sriracha.  For Christmas, I got him the Sriracha cookbook.  We've only tried one recipe so far and it was so-so, but we're aiming to try many more.  Sriracha is so good on any type of meat, and this pork was no exception.  We also may or may not have drizzled more Sriracha on top of the meat before we ate it... and the Monkey Scientist might have also zipped his pork in even more like ketchup...don't judge us.  (But if you want to ship us a few more bottles, we are running low!)



So honestly, I didn't like the mango salsa in this.  I left out the cilantro because it's the worst herb ever I don't like it, but the Monkey Scientist convinced me to leave some jalapeno seeds in and it was way too spicy for me.  Also, I had lemon juice instead of lime juice and really that isn't a valid substitution.  I liked the idea of the mango salsa, but I need to work on the execution.  The Monkey Scientist liked it though, which means if you have a high tolerance for heat, you will too!



Even though the salsa wasn't great, I loved the pork tenderloin.  It was moist, sweet, a bit spicy, and absolute perfection.  This was such a great substitute for steak, which I almost never make because of cost and lack of nutrition.  I don't love to have a big hunk of meat every night, but sometimes I just crave something medium rare that I can sink my teeth into, and this totally did the trick.  I absolutely recommend drizzling it in some extra Sriracha and serving it up with a roasted veggie, like cauliflower.  I also think this is one you can trick your picky-eater kids to eat - it really isn't that spicy and you can always cut off the outside if they're super particular (and then you get to eat it, because it's totally the best part!).  Now I want to try more pork tenderloin recipes!



Sweet and Fiery Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa
From Skinny Taste

Ingredients:
for the salsa:
1 large ripe mango, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (I obviously left this out because it's soapy and gross)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced jalapeño, seeds removed and diced
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
for the pork:
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 lb pork tenderloin
1/4 cup Sweet Red Chili Sauce (I used Taste of Thai)
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce (or more to taste)

Directions:
for the salsa:
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate salsa until ready to serve.
for the pork:
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Mix garlic salt and ginger in small bowl. Rub evenly over pork. Place pork on rack in foil-lined roasting pan. (I just used a tin foil roasting pan - easy clean up!)
3. Mix chili sauce, honey and sriracha in small bowl.
4. Roast pork in preheated oven 40 to 45 minutes* or until desired pork is cooked to your liking.  About 10 minutes before it is done (when your pork is maybe 5° away from the temperature you want it), brush the entire loin with the chili sauce mixture. (New pork guidelines allow pork to cook to 145°, if you prefer it cooked well, cook it until the internal temp reads is 160° with a meat thermometer.)  *My 1 lb loin was actually split in half, and it was cooked to between 145-150° after about 25-30 minutes.  It was medium rare perfection!
5. Slice pork and serve with pan juices and mango salsa on the side. (I also served with some roasted cauliflower)