P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef

I didn't make this recipe, but my friend Derek from writing group did, and we got to feast on it for dinner today.  I found a copy cat recipe for P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef here and was intrigued, so you can imagine my immense satisfaction that I was able to taste it without having to go buy ingredients or touch raw meat... (definitely not my favorite thing).

The verdict? It wasn't exactly the same as what you get at P.F. Chang's, but it was pretty close and very tasty. I think I prefer my flank steak sliced thinner than they recommend - 1/4 inch seems a bit thick, while the bites I got that were thinner seemed much more tender - but I think that's more personal preference than anything. It's definitely a delicious and fairly straightforward dish and was a nice change from our usual fare of chicken dishes.

Baked Mozzarella Sticks - Take 1

Today's food experiment was baked mozzarella sticks, since they're one of Nathan's favorite appetizers and I saw a recipe for them on Pinterest. My recipe is slightly modified from one that I originally found here.

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Ingredients
- string cheese (as many as you want, up to 12 sticks)
- cooking spray
- 5 Tbs flour
- 1 egg
- 5 Tbs bread crumbs
- 2 Tbs Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 Tbs Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Cut string cheese in half. Freeze the halves until completely frozen.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
3. Measure out the flour in a small bowl/dish.
4. In a second small bowl/dish, beat the egg.
5. In a third small bowl/dish, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning.
6. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with foil or parchment paper. If using foil, be sure to spray it with cooking spray to avoid sticking.
7. Once the cheese is frozen, bread it by spraying it with cooking spray, then dipping it into the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs.
8. Bake at 400 F for about 4-6 minutes or until crisp. Keep a close eye on them to ensure they don't melt completely.

Serve with marinara sauce (if you prefer). These aren't as good leftover, but it's easy to throw them together in a few minutes, especially if you freeze the cheese ahead of time.

I personally could not get these to bread with a very thick layer of breading. As a result, they were okay but not fantastic. I will make some modifications to the recipe and try again over the next few days... I'll keep you posted on how this experiment turns out!

Something Bite Size to Read

I don't know about you, but I am totally wiped out from this last week. So rather than trying to whip up something in the kitchen (now that it's 11pm) or crank out another book review, I will share something I've been enjoying recently.

I read lots of blogs - some by friends and family members, an a lot by authors I enjoy. Robin McKinley (author of Beauty, Pegasus, and a host of other books) puts up a blog post every single day (in fact, perhaps that's partly why I try to do the same thing). Lately in an effort to drum up new material for blog posts, she began doing a serial fictional story loosely guided by her blog admin, who periodically throws scenarios at her (kind of like D&D but with more freedom for the character). So far she's done five episodes over the last two weeks or so, and I'm enjoying it very much. I've linked all five below for your convenience.

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5

It's very loosely based off of some of her own life experiences - being an author, having dogs, etc. but is not actually autobiographical. I find her writing style to be much more carefree in these little bite size chunks than it is in her more recent novels, which is part of why I like them so much. (I like her novels too. But sometimes they require several re-reads to get everything.)

Anyway. I hope you enjoy it too.

Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

Guess what???? I finally cooked something new again! Nathan was very happy to have a real dinner. It even turned out pretty good too. It requires a fair number of ingredients, but I found I really only needed a few extra things outside of my normal purchases. It took me about 45 minutes for me to make start to finish... maybe an hour, I'm not sure. But my chicken was frozen when I started...

Mine looks nothing like the original recipe's picture. Oh well. 

Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

Ingredients

- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes (3 if they are really large)

- 1 teaspoon minced fresh gingerroot (I used 1/4 tsp ground ginger)

- 2 garlic cloves, minced (I used 1/2 tsp garlic powder)

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- 1 cup chopped onion (1/2 a large onion)

- 1 cup chopped sweet red pepper (I actually omitted this because I don't like peppers.)

- 1 teaspoon ground coriander

- 1 teaspoon ground cumin

- 1 teaspoon curry powder

- Dash ground cinnamon

- 3 cups cubed peeled sweet potatoes* (I used two - though it probably wasn't 3 full cups)

- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth

- 1 1/2 cups water

- 1/4 cup orange juice

- 1 cup uncooked couscous

- 2 tablespoons cornstarch

- 3/4 cup light coconut milk

- 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Thaw the chicken ahead of time. Or thaw it in the microwave while you chop stuff.

2. Chop the onion, pepper, sweet potatoes, and chicken.

3. In a large skillet, saute the chicken, ginger and garlic in oil until chicken juices run clear. 

4. Add the onion, pepper and seasonings; saute 4-5 minutes longer. 

5. Add sweet potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until tender.

6. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring water and orange juice to a boil. (If you don't have orange juice, use 2 c water and 2 Tbs orange juice concentrate.)

7. Stir in couscous. Cover and remove from the heat; let stand for 5-10 minutes or until water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork.

8. Combine cornstarch and coconut milk until smooth. Stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. 

9. Stir in minced cilantro. 

10. Serve with couscous. Yield: 4-5 servings.

*Did you know not all sweet potatoes are orange? I was very surprised to find mine were white. And also slightly disappointed because they weren't as pretty in the dish. They still tasted good though.

Recipe slightly modified from here. I doubled it because if I'm going to go to all the work of making dinner, I want it to make more than two servings. Plus it meant we could feed Amy one last time before she moves far, far away.

And now for some pictures:

After step 4.

All done! It would be a lot more colorful if a) I had purchased orange sweet potatoes, and b) I didn't leave out the red pepper.

My first attempt at couscous. My mind kept trying to think it was rice. It's not.

Book Review: Illusions

Why, yes, I did go to the library last week. And got a huge stack of books. And have been burning through them like crazy. This time it's Aprilynne Pike's Illusions, the third book in her series (the first two being Wings and Spells).

To get you up to speed on the series as a whole, it's about a girl who discovers she is a *SPOILER BUT THERE'S NO AVOIDING IT* fairy when she "blooms" for the first time (grows a giant flower on her back), and then proceeds to discover that she is crucial for the entire fairy world's survival, which is at risk to be invaded by the bad guys (aka trolls). In this latest installment, though, the trolls take a backseat to the love triangle that we saw developing throughout the first two books. I admit I was a little frustrated with the high percentage of screen time that was focused on the further development of this love triangle, but then, that's not why I'm reading the books. If you like a good love triangle, this is the book for you. I mean, series for you. (I'd like to note that I understand why the love triangle takes center stage, and there is a reason and that does make it more acceptable, but that doesn't mean it's my favorite.)

I will say that Pike does a much better job than most at making her characters believable and (for the most part) sympathetic as well, which I find impressive even though I didn't care as much for the drama. The characters in combination with the mystery set up by the plot is what really kept me reading. I really enjoyed learning more about the world too - despite the fact that my summary makes it sound cliche and boring, in reality Pike does an excellent job at making her world unique and fresh while still drawing from common fairy mythology.

Overall, it was a fun fast read, but I really hope the next one (which happens to come out in about a week) focuses more on advancing the overall plot, resolving that massive cliffhanger ending plot twist, and digging more into the world, and less on jealous boys. (I'm fine with a little jealousy. I just don't want it to be the main focus of the book.)

Being Smart

I went to book group tonight with my sister in law, as per our monthly tradition (minus last month, when she was recovering from childbirth and I was not feeling like going anywhere alone, plus my mom was in town helping out). Book group usually goes about 4 hours (or more, though Nathan gets impatient with me if I'm not home by midnight, and I regret it at work the next day too) and we talk about the book for maybe 15 minutes of that time. The rest of the time we just talk about lots of things, often about raising children (or chickens) but most any subject is fair game.

Tonight was no exception. There was one bit of conversation in particular that resonated especially. We discussed raising smart children, and the impact that society and the family has on that child by how they react to them being smart. Specifically: if a child figures out something new and impressive for their age, do we praise them for being so smart? Do we draw attention to that? Or do we praise them for working hard on their own to figure it out? It's a subtle difference, but an important one. Most of the mothers in our book group have dealt with this before, and the general consensus seemed to be that praising them solely for being smart made it more likely that they would link being able to figure out things on their own with being smart, which often translated to thinking they were stupid when they encountered something that was hard or that they needed help with. In contrast, praising them for working hard helps them understand the value of perseverance, hard work, etc. (in theory, anyway; it's much harder to put that method into practice from what I've seen).

I think parents play an important role in shaping their child's attitude in this regard, but society as a whole will have a significant influence too, and we can't easily control that. How many times have you praised a child for being smart? I do it all the time - even having recognized that I do! And society as a whole tends to do so as well, placing more emphasis and value on being inherently "smart" than on developing crucial skills like perseverance, hard work, and maintaining a positive attitude. As my sister in law so aptly put it, "I would rather have children who know how to work hard than children who are smart. People who can work hard will succeed in life regardless, but people who are smart and won't work hard will not. If you are both, then great, but working hard is more important." (That's the general gist of it anyway.)

It's a careful balance. As a parent, you want to be able to recognize your children for their talents, and don't want to keep people from complimenting them, but you also want them to succeed - and if they give up the moment things get hard, they won't.

I'm not a parent yet. I don't have any real answers. But I'm going to try to be a better influence in the lives of all the children I interact with nonetheless. Will I still praise them for being smart? Probably. I'm not perfect, and it's a tough habit to break. But I hope that I can also help them recognize the role that effort and hard work plays in their success as well, and recognize that their strengths will not be the same as the strengths their siblings or friends have.

That's my take on it anyway.

Book Review: River Marked

River Marked by Patricia Briggs is the latest installment in the Mercy Thompson series, and it doesn't pull any punches.

I am also not a huge fan of the cover. But maybe that's just me. It is a completely inaccurate portrayal of the main character.

River Marked picks up soon after where Silver Borne left off. It starts off with a wedding and is one of the most tasteful honeymoon-centered books I've yet encountered. Of course, that may have to do with the fact that people start dying a few days into said honeymoon, and Mercy (coyote shape shifter) and her new husband Adam (alpha male of the local werewolf pack) get suckered into killing a giant monster to stop any more people from dying. But still. I was very impressed with how tastefully the whole thing was handled nonetheless. 

I am also impressed with how well Briggs manages to make Mercy's troubles believable, despite the action being completely over the top. (Seriously, I think there are at least 3 or 4 times when she or Adam are seriously injured or beaten up throughout the book.) Mercy seems to attract trouble wherever she goes, and this book is no exception. Briggs deliberately hangs a lantern on it several times (my favorite being the episode in Walmart) which only makes it work even better. 

There were a few niggly things that I wasn't entirely content with, of course - the fate of the walking stick, for example, and the fact that the majority of this book was far removed from most of the staples of the Mercy books (what with being set in a completely new location and all), but as a whole I was quite satisfied with this installment. I do think that they are best enjoyed when read in quick succession though.  I wish I'd had the chance to read this one a year ago when it first came out. 

Overall a fun and quick read. I love the characters and think Briggs has done an excellent job mingling lots of bits of common mythology into a unique and rich world.