Stirfry

Chicken and Shrimp Stirfry

At what age did you become responsible for your own meal preparations? Are you a young adult, living independently from your family, and relying on take-out food or easy pick-up, prepared meals from the supermarket? If you notice this is your regular meal planning stategy for satisfying your immediate hunger pains, then have you also noticed that your weight is increasing as you continue these eating habits?

This blog post is about how Scott took a desire to eat healthier by preparing a meal at home with ingredients he chose himself. Scott also increased his time at the gym during the week. When possible, Scott is making better food choices for his overall health. Scott is in his early thirties, lives independently in his own home, has a very busy business career involving lots of travel and has lots of social events with friends involving food, of course.

This fresh stirfry dinner was prepared by Scott, on his own. He thought ahead what he wanted to prepare for his dinner, went to the supermarket to purchase fresh ingredients and took a little time to organize and cut his produce and protein before beginning the cooking process. Scott, without knowing, utilized the process of "Mise En Place" meaning everything in its place before cooking. This is how the chefs cook in restaurants. By having all the ingredients of a meal washed, cut and measured just before you begin the cooking process, allows you to efficiently introduce each ingredient into the cooking process. Therefore, less frustration and chaos while cooking. The result is a smooth, organized, stress-free prepared meal.

"Mise En Place" - Organizing ingredients, everything in its place.

Another thing Scott shared with me is a couple of photos of his meal preparation. He even presented his photos on white dishes which is the choice of the professional food photographers, as I have learned as well.

I think Scott took responsibility to prepare a healthy, nutritious meal at home and gained some confidence during the process of preparation and cooking. With a tasty dish like this stirfry, imagine what other home cooking meals await Scott? By controlling the ingredients during home cooking, Scott controls the salt, sugar and fat content and does not let others do this for him. This is a much better way to eat for your overall health, I think. How about you?

Reminder: cut fresh produce first and put into medium bowls. Wash kitchen knife and cutting board to cut the chicken tenders and put pieces into medium bowls. Wash kitchen knife and cutting board again to cut the shrimp and put the pieces into a medium bowl. This prevents cross-contamination of food.

What you will need:
Large cutting board
Kitchen knife
Large fry pan or skillet
Large spoon, metal or wooden
Medium bowls for ingredients (3-4)
Serving plate
Serving spoon, large
Fork and knife

Ingredients:
Olive oil or vegetable oil, two tablespoons
Green pepper, small to medium, chopped into small pieces
Red onion, small, chopped into small pieces or slices
Chicken tenders, fresh and skinless, cut into small pieces
Shrimp, fresh, shelled, cleaned and deveined
Kosher salt, one teaspoon
Black Pepper, crushed, one-half teaspoon
Optional: one teaspoon soy sauce, low sodium.

Cooking process: Fast, total cooking time about five minutes.
Add the olive oil or vegetable oil into the fry pan or skillet. Turn heat on stove top to medium-high.
Add the red onions and green peppers and stir as they cook in the oil.
Sprinkle the salt and crushed black pepper on top of the cooking vegetables.
When the cooking vegetables look softer add in the chicken and keep stirring the mixture. When the cooking chicken looks like color has changed from pinkish to more white color and looks firmer, add the shrimp and keep stiring the mixture. If adding low-sodium soy sauce, add this now and keep stirring to cover all the vegetables, chicken and shrimp.
When chicken is white color and shrimp is more firm and pink color, stir and taste the stirfry.
Add more salt and black pepper for your personal taste.
Turn off the stove top burner and put the cooked stirfry on a clean plate using a clean large serving spoon.
Bring the serving plate to the table where your clean fork and knife have been placed for you to enjoy your home cooked stirfry meal.

Steak and Summer Salad

Grilled Steak with Fresh Summer Salad - July 2011 - Guest Photo/Recipe
By Alexa for Prep2eat

Imagine being a newlywed couple about to celebrate your first wedding anniversary. Your first year of marriage included new jobs, grad school and a recent move into a new apartment. Ah, more space to live in and a shiny new kitchen with stainless steel appliances.

When and what will be the first homecooked meal after the unpacking? With pots and pans and small appliances all set to perform culinary magic, the inspiration came for Alexa to surprise her husband, Rob, with a juicy steak. Who wouldn't hurry home with that vision stimulating the tastebuds?

Along with the mouthwatering protein as the star on the dinnerplate, the supporting side of a fresh, summer salad completes the show.

The first homecooked meal in the new apartment was a huge success! Here is how the magic began with Alexa creating a marinade of flavor sensations for the awaiting steak.

As I like to say, "Nobody in the world is eating this meal. I created it just for you." This steak dinner is the homecooking-magic Alexa prepared for her husband, Rob.

The Souper

What you will need for this meal:
Fresh steak, cut of choice
Large plastic ziplock bag for marinating the steak
Measuring cups and measuring spoons
1/4 cup Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic, crushed or minced
One teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Kitchen supplies and utensils:
Tongs
Large frying pan or grill pan. (Option, outdoor grill)
Large platter for cooked steak
Aluminum foil for covering the cooked steak on the platter
Large salad bowl
Wooden salad utensils
Vegetable peeler
Kitchen knife
Serving fork for cooked steak

Add the steak and seasoning ingredients mentioned above into the large ziplock bag, close tightly, and shake all the ingredients completly to cover the steak.
Place the ziplock bag with the marinating steak into the refrigerator for about an hour before grilling.

Cooking process:
If pan searing, cook the marinated steak on medium-high heat. Medium-rare will take about 4-5 minutes per side depending on the temperature of your stove-top burner. Option: grill the steak on an outside bar-b-que grill on medium setting for heat. Check the steak often to see how it is cooking.

Testing doneness of meat: Press your finger into the center of the cooking meat. If your finger dips into the center it is cooked very rare. If your finger does not dip into the center of the cooking meat, the meat is well-done. Anywhere in the midpoint of dipping your finger into the cooking meat will mean medium-rare to medium-well doneness.

When the steak has been seared or grilled to your liking, pick up the cooked steak with clean tongs and put the steak onto a large platter. Cover the cooked steak with aluminum foil so that the steak will rest, allowing the juices to settle back into the meat. Rest the steak on the platter, covered with aluminum foil for about 20 to 30 minutes.

While the steak is resting, prepare the summer salad:

Ingredients for this salad are:
Romaine lettuce, 2-4 large leaves, enough for two people.
One carrot, shaved
Fresh cherries, pitted and sliced (amount is up to you)
Cranberries, dried (amount is up to you)
Avocado, cut in half and taken out of covering, cube the flesh of avocado
Feta cheese, fat-free (optional)

Combine all the ingredients for this summer salad into a large salad bowl.

Dressing for summer salad
Pyrex glass dish or bowl, safe for microwave oven
Large spoon or whisk
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/2 cup
Balsamic Vinegar, 1/4 cup
Orange Marmalade, 1 tablespoon

After putting the above indredients for the salad dressing into the Pyrex glass dish or bowl, whisk gently to blend.
Take the whisk out and put the Pyrex glass dish or bowl into the microwave oven for just about five seconds, on high setting. This will heat the ingredients a little in order to blend better. After taking the Pyrex glass bowl or dish out of the microwave oven, use the whisk to blend the indredents again.

Just before serving the summer salad, pour the dressing over the salad and mix lightly with wooden salad utensils.

To plate the meal:
Slice the steak and put a few slices on an individual dinner plate. Serve a portion of the salad along with the steak on the same dinner plate.