Glass Noodles with Chicken & Veggies

The great thing with noodles and pastas, is that it doesn't go bad. I had leftover glass noodles that were in its bag in my cupboard for a while. I decided to use it along with chicken and vegetables I already had in the fridge that I didn't want to spoil.

What you need:

- thin glass noodles (you can buy this at Asian markets)

- batchoy

- bell pepper

- tomatoes

- seasoning (black pepper, salt, garlic salt)

- oyster sauce

- minced garlic

* Before you begin prep soak your glass noodles in cold water and let it sit. It needs to soften before you can cook it.

* I made the noodles separately from the chicken and veggies

Glass Noodles with Chicken & Veggies

1. Cut chicken and veggies into small cube-like sizes

2. Heat oil in pan then add minced garlic

3. Add chicken, season with spices and oyster sauce then let it cook thoroughly

4. Add bell pepper and cook for a short while

5. Add the tomatoes and batchoy. Put the lid on then turn off the heat. The heat from the closed pan should be enough to cook those

* You want to keep your veggies crispy, not soggy

6. Transfer to a plate. Use the same pan with the juices from the dish to cook your noodles. Add more oil if necessary

7. Once noodles are soft, add into your pan and season accordingly. If it gets too dry before it cooks, you can add a little water

8. When the noodles are cooked, transfer to a plate then top off with the chicken & veggies

Week 4: Over budget

Last week my bf and I ended up going to a really nice restaurant for a friend's birthday. Just one of the examples how things don't always go as planned. Without having to go into too much detail on the exact cost, let's just say we blew our budget out of the water.

I also ended up eating out last Friday because I didn't get a chance to cook anything the night before. The good thing though, is that I still had a lot of food left to cook this week. Although it doesn't make up for last week's damage, it still helps out a bit.

This week I cooked:

1. Glass noodles with chicken & veggies

2. Lime pepper chicken with garlic fried rice

3. Honey and pineapple oven baked whole chicken

Chicken & Veggie Stir Fry

This is another quick and easy dish to cook. All you need are a few ingredients and you can have yourself a delicious and healthy meal.

Chicken & Veggie Stir Fry

1. Cut chicken breast into small pieces

2. Cut vegetables you want to add to the stir fry. I had sweet onions, red bell pepper, batchoy and white mushrooms

* Remember to cut your meat and vegetables in similar sizes.

* You can add other veggies if you want like carrots, string beans, broccoli, etc.

3. Heat oil and add sweet onions

4. Cook sweet onions (I love the smell of this cooking!)

5. Add chicken breast and season with black pepper, garlic salt, basil, a pinch of salt, oyster sauce, sriracha (Asian

spicy sauce-I add this to lots of things because it's so good!), a little squeeze of lime or lemon

6. After chicken is cooked, add vegetables (batchoy, mushrooms & bell pepper)

7. Stir for about 5 minutes and turn off the stove. You do not want to over cook the vegetables or else they will be

soggy instead of crispy.

Baked Salmon with Honey Teriyaki Sauce

Baked Salmon is probably one of the easiest things to cook. I love baked salmon not only because it's easy but it tastes good and you can do other things while it's baking in the oven!

Baked Salmon

1. Line a casserole dish with aluminum foil and place fresh salmon filet in the casserole dish

2. Add basic spices: black pepper, garlic salt, (sea salt if you like), minced garlic

3. Cover salmon in aluminum foil

4. Bake in the oven for 45 min - 1 hour at 350F. Remove foil cover at around 30 minutes

Honey Teriyaki Sauce - Easy to make!

1. In a small saucer, pour teriyaki sauce (available at all grocery stores, esp. Asian markets)

2. Once hot, stir in honey, minced garlic and cilantro (fresh flavor)

3. Stir in saucer until it boils and set aside

* Once the salmon is done cooking, remove it from the oven and pour your sauce over it. That's it! =)

Cream of Chicken & Cayote Pita Pocket - An experiment

Friday

I love to experiment with food. I often take recipes I already know and modify it here and there. I don't know how I came up with this one but I just did. Haha! It came out pretty ok. Not anything to rave about but still tasted good. This actually came about because I was thinking about cooking cream of mushroom chicken. But I didn't have any fresh mushrooms. However, I did have cayote (Asian green vegetable) and I didn't think using cream of mushroom would work so I opted for cream of chicken.

Cream of Chicken & Cayote Pita Pocket

1. Heat olive oil (I use olive oil for cooking all the time) and sautee diced onions and garlic

2. Add chicken breast sliced into small square pieces. Add seasoning: black pepper & garlic salt. Cook chicken.

3. Add cayote sliced in small squares/cubes. Cook cayote. (Don't overcook it or else it will become too soft)

4. Add one can of cream of mushroom and mix until it starts bubbling.

This next option you don't have to do, but I did just for experimentation purposes.

5. Mix in white rice with the cream of chicken and cayote.

6. Cut pita bread in half to make 2 pita pockets.

7. Stuff pita pockets with cream of chicken and rice.

It came out ok. Next time, I don't think I'll add the pita bread portion. It took away from the taste of the dish. It was better with rice only.

Kalbi Meat

Monday

Yesterday, I went to H-Mart at Diamond Jamboree in Irvine to shop for meat. I bought 1.5lbs kalbi beef, 1lb ground beef and 2lbs chicken breast. I also ended up buying 1 cayote and 2 peaches. It cost me an even $13. For lunch I had left overs and for dinner, I had a business mtg so I didn't spend anything there. It was more small plate type things like calamari, ham & cheese squares and hummus but I got full off it. It was at Andrei's Conscious Cuisine & Cocktails. This is a new place but I love it! I heard that Tuesdays(Reggae) and Fridays have live music from 5-8pm. Happy hour is also everyday from 3-6pm. Awesome place you need to check out if you haven't already.

So my budget remains:

What was left from last time: $32.35 - $13

Remaining = $19.35

Tuesday

I had my usual Special K cereal for breakfast (my fave is the fruits and yogurt flavor) and had left overs for lunch. For dinner I cooked the kalbi beef with sweet onions and made a cucumber salad with tomatoes, peaches and raisins.

Kalbi Beef & Sweet Onions

1. Heat olive oil in pan

2. Add half of 1 sweet onion sliced in rings or cut the rings in half. Cook in the oil

3. Add kalbi beef (the one I bought it pre-marinated)

4. I like to add more black pepper, garlic salt and oyster sauce

5. Cover with lid to cook on medium-high heat (always watch it because it'll cook fast)

6. Remove lid and cook beef until it thickens a bit

Week 1: Getting started

For this experiment, the $50/wk budget will be used for all new groceries I buy. I won't count things I already have. I have a lot of food that I don't cook so it's about time I stop wasting.

I was really excited to start this experiment today. I decided that I should start by cooking dinner. I had leftovers so I decided to combine some to create something new. I had leftover white rice, leftover chicken adobo (Filipino dish) and I had a few eggs. So what did I make? Fried rice!

1. Sautee garlic

2. Add leftover rice

3. Scramble eggs (used 2 eggs)

4. Cut up the chicken in tiny pieces and tossed it in

5. Add black pepper, garlic salt and a little teriyaki sauce

Spent: $0 - Used ingredients I already had

The $50/wk Food Experiment

So a little background on this experiment I'm trying out. I follow @Time on Twitter and ended up on The Cheapskate Blog. A lot of the blogs really interested me but the one blog that really caught my eye was about these 3 bloggers who lived in different parts of the US and were trying to live off $50/wk per person.

So I thought, I should try this. The past few weeks I've had a major reality check. I spend waaaay too much money on food, especially eating out. It's to the point that this along with irresponsible spending (I shop too much), have gotten me in a not so pleasant financial state.

There are many reasons why I decided to try this out.

1. I spend too much eating out and I end up throwing away leftovers.

2. I buy groceries and end up throwing a lot out because they go bad.

3. I want to be more aware of the things I eat.

4. I love to cook! This will really bring me back to cooking and trying out new recipes.

5. The money I spend on one or two meals, I can buy groceries for a week's worht of meals.

I know this will be difficult because I work all day and by the time I get home I don't feel like cooking. I'm tired and I just want to eat. I have to really plan my meals and schedule times to cook it. I need to make food for lunch the next day too so I don't eat out for lunch. There will be days that I meet people for lunches or dinners, I'll have to try to make it up during the week. I'll adjust and try to stick to this experiment as much as I can.

Wish me luck! Hopefully I get through a week doing this. =)