Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry

• 4 (4 ounce) boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup sliced celery (1/2 inch pieces)
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 1 small onion, cut into wedges
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

1. Cut chicken into 1/2-in. strips; place in a resealable plastic bag. Add cornstarch and toss to coat. Combine soy sauce, ginger and garlic powder; add to bag and shake well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. In a large skillet or wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil; stir-fry chicken until no longer pink, about 3-5 minutes. Remove and keep warm. Add remaining oil; stir- fry broccoli, celery, carrots and onion for 4-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add water and bouillon. Return chicken to pan. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

Pineapple Sticky Rice
Prepare rice as directed (basmati rice is ideal but I used white rice, too, and it's fine), except substitute half of the water with pineapple juice. After the rice is cooked, stir in honey and pineapple chunks, and salt to taste.

As stir-fry goes, this was pretty good. I love ginger, and my obsession with sticky rice is borederline obscene. I first had mango sticky rice at a buddhist temple in San Francisco and I almost converted on the spot, it was so good. This isn't quite the same religious experience, but it's still pretty good. The sweet rice with flavorful stir-fry is one of my fave combos.

This past weekend found me in a world of panic. Somehow I've been accumulating piles of meat in my freezer. When it comes to cooking, my ambitions are lofty, but by the time I get home after work, all I want to do is immediately enjoy my dinner. Inevitably, despite mounds of good intentions, I find myself consuming Ramen, cereal, or, on a particularly good day, some variation of the chicken-and-white-sauce-over-pasta (IF I've had enough foresight to leave some chicken out to thaw- but not so much foresight that it's gone bad by the time I get around to using it). The other significant factor contributing to this overhual of dead animal is my inability to pass up a good deal and my fear that chicken will never again drop below $4 a pound and if I don't buy up huge quantities while it's available, I won't be able to afford it and I'll be stuck eating Ramen or cereal for the rest of my days (is this ironic?).

So Saturday found me looking at something like 12 pounds of ground beef and I'd had enough. "That's it!" I exclaimed (to myself, alone in my apartment). "I'm going to damn do something with this ground beef!" I took stock of all the food I had on hand that was in danger of going bad soon, and what I came up with was some variation of Shepherd's Pie, which I will be calling

Cowboy's Casserole (because seriously, are shepherds even a thing anymore?)

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 lb sausage
• 3 potatoes, cubed
• 1/2 head cabbage, slice
• 1 can fresh kernel corn, drained
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 can mushroom soup
• 1/2 C sour cream
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

The key here is to SEASON THE MEAT. I cannot overemphasize this point (well I could, of course. I could say 'seasoning this meat is more important than the name you give your first-born'. I think we can all agree that would be a bit of an exaggeration). But still, if your ground beef tastes like ground beef, then your dinner will taste like you are poor.

So season the ground beef with salt, pepper, cumin (my favorite spice), Worcester Sauce and some italian seasoning, mix it with the sausage, and brown it in a frying pan. Dump all the veggies in a (big) bowl, pour in the soup and sour cream, and gave it a good mixing. Spread the mixture (which at this point will be five times larger than you originally intended) in a 13x9 casserole dish, cover it with grated cheese, and stick it in the oven for 45 minutes-1 hour.

I've been eating this stuff all week and I've still barely made a dent, but I have to say that I really enjoy it. It's perfect for those cooler days, now that we're actually experiencing them down here in the South. It's simple, cheap, and copious. Everything a cowboy could want :)

Tomato Potato Soup (catchy, right?)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cups peeled, cubed potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
• 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can tomatoes
• 1 1/4 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onions until tender. Mix in the potatoes, celery, carrots, and garlic. Season with Italian seasoning. Pour in milk, gradually stir in cornstarch, and bring to a boil. Mix in tomatoes, broth, and tomato paste. Return to boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

I made this soup a while back when I was in my vegetable soup phase, but hadn't gotten around to posting it quite yet. One of the people who reviewed this recipe was full of happy exclamations for it, one of them being "so fibrous!" which I found rather funny. Unfortunately, one thing I didn't find this recipe was 'delicious', but keep in mind that I'm not a huge fan of tomato soups to begin with (which I suppose raises the question of what I was thinking in making a tomato soup to begin with, but hey, I'm branching out, okay?) It was certainly a tolerable dish, and I'm sure there are people out there who could make grand improvements on this soup, but I'll stick to my Black Bean Veggie soup (which I recently made my third pot of), thank you very much.

I'm calling this one 'Envelope Chicken'.

Ingredients

• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 2 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 (8 ounce) package refrigerated crescent rolls
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and 1 T butter until smooth. Add the chicken, onion, salt, pepper, and milk and mix well.
2. Separate crescent dough into 4 rectangles (smush the edges together so that there's no break). Spoon 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture into the center of each rectangle. Pull the four corners of the dough together and twist firmly; pinch edges to seal.
3. Place sandwiches on cookie sheet, and brush with melted butter. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

This is sort of a personal-pizza variation on chicken pot pie, especially since I added a handful of frozen mixed veggies to the cream cheese mixture. But it is yummy and incredibly filling! I served it with flavored rice and Cabbage and Bacon, a personal favorite (cut bacon into small pieces and fry them in a frying pan on low heat. Remove them, then add water to the pan, fill it with sliced cabbage, cover it, and steam until it's mushy enough for your tastes. Add the bacon back in. Veggies fried in bacon fat- what more could you want?).

I made this for TJ and Alycia tonight, to lure TJ and his man-handiness to my apartment so that he could hang my newly acquired shelf for me. It might be a little crooked but nothing has tumbled off the end quite yet, so we'll call it close enough. We all enjoyed the meal, followed by cookies and black-and-white racial harmony cake with coffee. Nothing like a political statement disguised as confectionery delights, I always say.

My latest issue of Cooking Light featured a spotlight on chili, with some of the highlights from the Atlanta Chili Cook-Off (which you better believe I'll be attending next year). I made a pot the other night, and while it might not surpass Matt's Cheeseburger Bacon Chili (one of my all-time favorite dishes), it certainly rivals it.

Springfield Chili
-1 bacon slice, finely chopped
-2 1/4 cups finely chopped onion
-3 garlic cloves, minced
-1 lb ground turkey
-1/2 lb ground sirloin
-1 12oz can beer
-2 T barbecue sauce
-3 T chili powder
-1 t Worcestershire sauce
-1/2 t salt
1/2 t cumin
-1 (14.5 ox) can diced tomatoes, undrained
-1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
-1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
-1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese

Cook bacon in pot over medium heat or until browned. Stir in 2 cups onion (reserving 1/4 cup); cover and cook until onion is tender (about 5 minutes). Uncover and stir in garlic; cook for 1 minute.

Increase heat to medium-high; add turkey and sirloin to pan. Cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add beer, cook until liquid is reduced to 1/3 cup (about 7 minutes). Stir in chili powder and next 5 ingredients (through tomato sauce). Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until mixture thickens. Stir in beans; cook 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Top each bowl with remaining onions and cheese. Makes 6 servings.

I would serve this with cornbread (there's that southern flair again). I cooked some rice and ate it with my chili to stretch it a little; it was deee-vine, truly. I might say that Yeungling light was not the optimal beer; it'd be interesting to experiment.

August turned out to be a busy month for me; I visited Atlanta twice (once for Margaret's wedding) and my brothers came in town for a long weekend, which we spent camping in northern Georgia. I didn't do terribly much cooking; mostly just stuff to get me from weekend to weekend, though Margaret and I did make some amazing black bean and corn dip, along with chicken kabobs on the grill; I'll have to share those recipes at some point.

But I'm back at home now, at least for the next little while, and that means I'm pulling the pots and pans back out.

Earlier in the summer, I picked up a great cookbook at a garage sale for a mere quarter: Recipes from the Poor Clare Nuns of the Holy Name Federation. Now, I promise it's not just my Catholic bias- this collection is a real gem. My first meal attempt was a simple casserole:

Chicken and Cheese Casserole:
-3 beaten eggs
-1 can cheedar cheese soup (I used cream of chicken)
-1 1/2 cup milk
-6 slices buttered bread (I used cornbread- Southern flair, you know?)
-8 oz sharp cheese (cheddar), sliced
-3/4 lb chicken, cooked and cubed (or shredded)

Mix together eggs, soup and milk. Place 2 buttered slices of bread at bottom of a greased 2-quart casserole. Lay slice of cheese on each, then half the chicken. Add salt and pepper. Make another later of bread, cheese and chicken, then top with remaining bread and cheese. Pour the soup/egg mixture over top. Bake at 350 about 40 minutes or until brown and puffy.

The original recipe calls for shrimp, and says tuna can be substituted as well. This made a nice little meal, and great for leftovers (but isn't everything?)