Vietnamese BBQ Pork & Noodle Salad

This is a new one for us-trying Vietnamese flavors at home. Pork, delicate rice noodles and some great spice make for a light yet filling meal. The rice noodles are called "rice sticks" or "rice vermicelli" and can be found in most large grocery stories in the Asian food aisle. Don't be fooled by the actual rice noodles, which are flatter and a bit larger.

The recipe calls for pork loin, but we wanted to use chops for thrifty reasons (natch).

It's a great meal for the week as it stores separately and heats up great.

This is from the September 2014 issue of Cooking Light and has been adapted to take advantage of our pantry and tastes, which tend to run a bit spicier than most.

Prep time: 25 mins
Cook time: 60 mins + 1 hour marinate time

What you need:

• 5 teaspoons of sesame oil (not usually found with the other oils, but is in a smaller bottle in the Asian food aisle)
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sriracha paste (it's not the type with the squeeze top, but a screw top)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large shallot, chopped (or 2 medium shallots)
• 6 pork chops. thinly sliced 
• 1 package rice vermicelli 
• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch of carrots, julienne cut
• 2 tablespoons chopped, dry roasted peanuts

What to do:

• Combine 1 tablespoon sesame oil, soy sauce, sriracha paste, brown sugar, garlic and shallot in food processor until smooth. Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade.Place pork in ziptop bag and marinate with remaining sauce for at least an hour. 
• Cook noodles according to directions, toss with 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. 
• Pre-heat broiler and place pork on broiler pan covered in foil. Broil about 3 minutes on each side, until pork is no longer pink in center.
• To serve, plate amount of noodles desired with 1/2 cup lettuce, 1/4 cup cucumber, 2 tablespoons carrot and drizzle with 1 tablespoons of marinade. Top with pork chop and 1.5 teaspoons chopped peanuts and enjoy. 

Tex Mex Mac and Cheese

We wanted something a little spicy after gorging ourselves on sweets all through Thanksgiving. Rachael Ray had an interesting take on mac and cheese by adding jalapeños . It sounded interesting, but we wanted a bit more spice and have a soft spot for cheddar, so we put our spin on the recipe.

However, because of the spice, this could be an overwhelming main dish. Instead, we served this as a side with baked chicken breasts and roasted asparagus.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 5 jalapeños, diced
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 5 tablespoons of flour
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 cups of buttermilk (any milk is fine too, the buttermilk just added some richness)
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 package of tube or curly pasta like a rotini

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 casserole dish and cook the pasta according to the package direction. 

Melt the butter slowly in a medium sauce pan, something big that will hold all the ingredients. 

When the butter is melted, add the jalapeños, onion and garlic. Cook until tender. 

Add the flour, cumin and chili powder and stir until smooth. Then slowly add the milk, stirring until well incorporated. Once the mixture looks smooth, add the cheese gradually. Stir until thick.

Mix the sauce with the pasta. Put the mixture in the casserole dish and sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly on top. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling. 

Turkey Cupcakes

Meatloaf is one of the easiest meals to prepare. In about an hour, meat, breadcrumbs, ketchup and a few other things turn into a delicious meaty loaf. While it's a meal that will last a whole week and leave everyone satisfied, it's also a very heavy recipe.

We found a recipe that put a fun spin on meatloaf by using turkey and cupcake tins. Think of these as a lighter meatloaf, or easier meatball. To edit it to our tastes (and pantry supply), we used breadcrumbs instead of couscous, added a few jalapenos, used spicy brown mustard, and made them slightly larger than the original recipe called for, as they do shrink. 

These turkey cupcakes could be a great appetizer for a group, paired with your favorite pasta, or eaten simply with a side salad.

Cook time: 25 minutes
Prep time: 20 minutes
Makes 18 cupcakes

Ingredients: 

• 2.5 cups coarsely chopped zucchini
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium red pepper, chopped
• 3 jalapenos, chopped (seeds in if you want the extra kick)
• 1 lbs. ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
•  2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (seasoned or plain)

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees while you chop your vegetables
• Take the coarsely chopped vegetables and pulse them in a food processor. Make sure they are finely chopped, but not obliterated. You want to see a few good pieces in the turkey cupcake.
• In a large bowl, mix turkey, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, egg and breadcrumbs with the vegetable mixture until well combined
• Butter/grease your favorite muffin pans and drop heaping tablespoons of the meat mixture
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the internal temperature is about 160 degrees F. 

Baked Chicken Noodles

Another great adaptation from Cooking Light. This chicken and pasta recipe combines two unlikely companions, Asian and Italian staples. Using linguine instead of chow mein noodles, and a soy sauce based sauce instead of a marinara dish yields a surprising new family favorite. While on paper the taste combination may not instantly sound appetizing, they somehow work together to create a light and non-greasy tasting noodle dish. 

Of course we've added a bit of sriracha, but even with just the red peppers, the dish has a subtle heat that doesn't overwhelm the other flavors. 

As always, we used the Cooking Light recipe as a guide and edited it to our tastes (and, admittedly, what was currently in the pantry). The recipe below yields a 9x13 dish and can easily yield 8 servings. Bonus: it heats up well and make for great leftovers or packed lunches. 

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 17-20 minutes, depending on how brown you like your bread crumbs

Ingredients:

• 1 16oz package of linguine 
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 medium sized red bell pepper, diced
• 8 oz mushroom caps (shiitake or portobello work nicely)
• 1.5-2 lbs chicken breast, cubed
• 3 small to medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 less-sodium cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
• 1 to 1.5 teaspoons sriracha (optional)
• 2-3 heads of bok choy, leaves thinly sliced
• .5 to 1 bunch of green onion
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Cook the pasta according to your taste and preheat the oven to 400.

Heat peanut oil in a large pan or wok and add the bell peppers and mushroom. Saute for 2-3 minutes then add the chicken and garlic. Add the soy sauce and coat the mixture, stirring frequently.

In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch and chicken broth, whisking until cornstarch is dissolved completely. Add the mixture to the pan and cook until the liquid is slightly thick. Be sure to stir, stir, stir. 

Remove the pan from heat and add the vinegar, red pepper, and if using, sriracha paste. Then drain the pasta and add it to the mixture, followed by the bok choy, onions and 2 teaspoons of the sesame seeds. Toss to combine.

Grease your 9x13 dish (glass works best) and spoon the pasta mixture evenly into the dish.

Combine the melted butter and breadcrumbs, then sprinkle evenly on top of the pasta.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the bread crumbs are slightly browned. 

Barbecue Sauce With Six Ingredients

We're on a homemade kick and we blame the salad dressing. With Labor Day approaching, we wanted to try our hand at barbecue sauce. The base of all sauces is roughly the same: ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce. We wanted something a bit sweet and spicy and ended up with a six ingredient sauce:

• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar 
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons sriracha (natch)
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

Mix it all together and slather on your favorite meats!

Tofu Vegetable Hot Pot

Adapted this Cooking Light recipe to use slightly more accessible ingredients and last two people about 8 dinners (4 days). The original recipes is found at MyRecipes.com (Tofu Vegetable Hot Pot ).

This is a great way to introduce people to the joys of tofu. The spice is not so shocking because of the coconut milk and if served over rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced shallots
• 6-8 tablespoons sriracha, depending on how spicy you want it (or any type of Thai, chili paste or sauce)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/2 cups shredded green cabbage
• 4 medium/large shiitake mushroom caps, chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
• 1 pound water-packed firm tofu, drained and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 tomatoes, cut into 1-inch-thick wedges
• 1 bag frozen vegetable mix that can includes: carrots, baby corn, onions, snap peas and other stir fry type vegetables
• 1/4 cup (1-inch) sliced green onions
• 2 cups hot cooked jasmine rice

Total prep time: 15-20 mins

Total cook time: 25 mins

Serves: 2 for approx. 4 dinners (8 meals total)

Cooking Tip: Begin cooking the rice first, so it will be done by the time the entree is ready.

Defrost frozen vegetables and set aside.

• Heat oil in a large nonstick saucepan and add shallots; sauté 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic, cabbage and defrosted vegetables. Cook 2 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in water, soy sauce and coconut milk; bring to a boil. Add tofu.
• Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes. Add tomato; simmer 3 minutes. Stir in onions. Serve over rice.