Have you tried Pancit?  It is pure comfort food-chicken, noodles, vegetables-with an Asian spin.  It is a very popular family style dish here.  There are as many recipes for Pancit as there are Filipino families so feel free to adjust the recipe as desired.  You can add pork, green beans, mushrooms, or any other good stir-fry vegetables you like.  Be sure to check for saltiness before adding the soy sauce.  If you do not have the low-sodium soy sauce you will need to use much less.  This is a typical stir fry so be sure to get all of your meats and veggies prepped and ready to go before you start cooking because it goes very quickly.

Pancit

• 1 pound chicken pieces
• 5 cups chicken broth or water
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce (lite), divided
• 8 oz. rice stick noodles, available in most grocery stores
• 1/4 cup oil (peanut or sesame preferred)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 carrots, julienned (about 1 cup)
• 4 celery stalks, julienned (about 1 cup)
• 2 cups cabbage, thinly sliced

1. Simmer chicken pieces in chicken broth or water until fully cooked.
2. Remove meat, cool and shred with two forks.
3. Bring chicken broth to a  boil and add 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce.
4. Add rice noodles and boil for three minutes.
5. Heat oil in a large pan over high.
6. Add onion and garlic, stir fry until translucent.
7. Add chicken meat, shrimp, and 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce. Stir fry several minutes.
8. Turn off heat to rice noodles.  Reserve 1 cup of broth/soy sauce mixture from noodles.
9. Add vegetables and small amount of broth to pan.  Stir fry an additional minute.
10. Using tongs, add noodles to the pan with meat and vegetables
11. Turn heat to low and toss meat, vegetables and noodles.
12. Taste.  Add soy sauce if needs salt, if too dry, add reserved broth.
13. You can use kitchen shears to cut noodles into shorter lengths if desired.
14. Garnish with green onions and fried onions or garlic if desired.

It is really easy to julienne your vegetables with this peeler, and it makes for a really nice presentation, but feel free to chop them any way you like.

Halloween is almost here!  Surprise your loved ones with this spooky fun breakfast.  These sausage kolaches can be made anytime of year but for Halloween they make the cutest little undead breakfast treats ever.  Make as many or as few as you want, just match the number of sausages with the number of crescents you have.

Mummy Sausage Breakfast Kolaches

• 12 breakfast sausage links, cooked, any flavor (maple, spicy, etc..)
• 12 crescent dough pieces, canned, refrigerated
• mustard for mummy eyes

1. Cook your sausages.  Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, cut your crescent dough into long strips.
3. Wrap each sausage in strips of dough leaving a space towards one end for the mummy’s face.  You may have leftover crescent dough.
4. Bake kolaches for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
5. When ready to serve, use a toothpick or knife tip dipped in mustard to make two eyes.

You can make ketchup eyes too but they don’t stand out as well.  You can also do this with party sausages or hot dogs for finger food.  If you don’t have time to make these in the morning before running out to school or work, you can make them at night, refrigerate, and reheat them in the oven for a few minutes.  The microwave works too, for an even faster option, but they will be softer.

Hopefully you went out and acquired a bottle of black sauce after my post on Salmon with Black Sauce (again, I got it at Kroger so it isn’t too hard to find).  You’ve made the salmon dish and it rocked your world, so now you are wondering what else you can make with this magical stuff.  This delicious, spicy steak is the perfect choice.  The meat is juicy and slightly sweet, the sauce tangy and spicy and bright.

Spicy Asian Steak Lettuce Wraps

• 6 tbsp peanut oil
• 3 tbsp kecap manis or kecap manis sedang (black sauce)
• 2 lbs top sirloin steaks (flank or skirt steak would also be delicious)
• salt and pepper
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp chili sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp fresh cilantro, minced
• small head of lettuce

1. In a shallow baking dish, whisk together oil and black sauce.
2. Salt and pepper steaks then place in baking dish, turning to coat in sauce.
3. Allow steaks to sit at room temperature, turning occasionally.
4. Combine fish sauce, lime juice, chili sauce, brown sugar and cilantro, set aside.
5. Wash and separate lettuce leave, arrange on a platter.
6. Grill steaks until medium rare, three minutes per side over an extremely hot grill.
7. Allow steaks to rest, then slice thinly against the grain.
8. Serve atop lettuce leaves, with reserved sauce on the side for dipping.
9. Wrap meat and a spoonful of sauce in a lettuce leaf, enjoy!

You can also chop the lettuce and serve this as a salad, tossed with the dipping sauce.

I love this chicken salad.  The celery delivers a fresh crunch, the cranberries are chewy and sweet-tart, the walnuts buttery, all held together with tender bites of chicken in a creamy, tangy dressing.  The jewel tones of the cranberries, shallots, and celery always remind me of autumn, but this chicken salad is a great lunch time pick me up any season!  Get the recipe here.