Restaurant Review: P.F. Chang's

Oh.My.God. For nearly a year I've been craving Chinese food....I'd made some at home with store-bought sauces....but nothing tastes as good as take-out (where there is no effort on my part).

The P.F. Chang's GF menu has several options. We sampled three things: The chicken lettuce wraps, beef with broccoli and spicy chicken.

 Everything was delicious. For one appetizer and two entrees (all gluten-free) our bill was around $40. We got two LARGE meals out of this....so overall, it's not a bad deal. I highly recommend trying out the GF P.F. Chang's options!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

One of the things I've been craving the most since going GF is Chinese food. We have the best neighborhood Chinese restaurant ever. The Cleveland Wok. I miss it sooo much. I've learned that La Choy brand sauces are all GF, so I've used some of those. Here is my Sweet and Sour Chicken:

 

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 jar of La Choy Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 can of diced pineapple

2 green peppers, chopped in large pieces

1/2 large white onion, chopped in large pieces

cooked white rice

Directions:
Fry the chicken in a little oil until almost cooked through. Add the veggies, pineapple and the sauce. Heat through and cook until veggies are desired consistency (I like them still crunchy).

Serve on top of white rice.

Chicken Stir-Fry

Since going GF, I've really missed Chinese food. Rice, veggies and meat are all GF....but a lot of times the sauces (including soy sauce) contain gluten. I discovered that La Choy sauces are gluten-free! Here is a listing of the available sauces. This meal was so easy, I used the Stir-Fry sauce for this one, I have also tried the Teriyaki and Sweet and Sour sauces.

Ingredients:
2 to 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle La Choy Stir Fry sauce
2 cups cooked rice
assorted chopped veggies (I used onion, broccoli, green pepper, mushrooms, and carrots)

Directions:
Cut up the chicken and cook in a large fry pan with a little oil. When chicken is done, add the veggies and sauce and heat until veggies are soft and hot. Cook rice (I use a rice cooker - best invention ever). Eat!

Product review: Trader Joe's Indian Fare, Punjab Choley

I love, love, love this. The flavor is so good. I like spicy....this might be a little too spicy for me. I can usually eat about half of it before my mouth is on fire and I have to stop. It is soooo good.

This is also super easy, you just open the pouch, pour into a bowl and heat. When it's hot, I put it on top of white rice. Delicious!

Chicken with capers and tomatoes

I found this recipe in a Pampered Chef cookbook and didn't change much. The flavor was good, but I would recommend seasoning the chicken more heavily, as without the tomato sauce it was a little bland. I love capers (salt) and this was a good use of them!

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. rice flour
s/p
2 Tbsp. EVOO
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 white onion, minced
1/2 cup white wine (I used Pinot Grigio)
2 tsp. small capers plus 1 tsp. caper juice
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 cups cooked white rice

Directions:
Heat 2 Tbsp. EVOO in a large saute pan. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and dredge in flour. Fry in the EVOO until cooked through, remove from pan, keep warm.

Add garlic and onion to pan, cook one minute (until tender), remove skillet from heat and add wine. Stir to loosen browned bits from bottom of pan. Return to heat; simmer one minute.

Add capers, caper juice and tomatoes, stir until heated through.

 Return the chicken to the pan and coat with the sauce, heat until chicken is hot again. Serve with white rice.

Golden chicken with tomatoes and olives

This is a recipe from Real Simple that I've been wanting to try for awhile. I love olives with anything, and fresh grape tomatoes sauteed just enough to burst a little...so yummy.

Ingredients:
2 cups rice
2 Tbsp. EVOO
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
S/P
1 medium yellow or white onion, thinly sliced
1 cup pimento-stuffed olives, halved
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:
Cook the rice according to the package directions. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown, transfer to a plate. Add the onion to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly soft. Add the olives, garlic and tomatoes and cook stirring for 2 minutes more.

Return the chicken to the skillet, add the wine and bring to a simmer. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has slightly thickened.

Top with the fresh parsley and serve with or atop rice.

Chicken Tandoori

I love chicken, but get sick of making the same old recipes. I think I found this one in Food Network magazine...but I can't be sure. It has great flavor and is really easy to do. It can be served alone with rice or with a simple yogurt sauce. Both are delicious.

Ingredients:
4 to 6 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp.vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. plain or Greek yogurt
1/2 small red onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. paprika (or hot paprika)
juice of 1 lemon
S/P
cooked rice for serving

Directions:
Preheat the oven broiler. Make shallow cuts in the chicken with a sharp knife. Toss chicken with lemon juice and salt in a large bowl. In a food processor, pulse 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt, the vegetable oil, onion, garlic, tomato paste, coriander, cumin, paprika and salt to make a paste. Toss the chicken in the mixture and let marinate for 15 minutes.

Place the chicken on a foil-lined broiler pan. Broil, turning once until slightly charred and cooked through. (The more sauce/paste that is one the chicken the longer it will take to "char" - mine didn't really "char", but the chicken was cooked through and the paste was hot!).

 Yogurt sauce:
Mix 1/2 cup of plain or Greek yogurt with 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro and sprinkle with salt and paprika.  This sauce is good on the chicken and the rice.

Another Jennie meal: Beans & Rice

I love black beans and rice...I've never tried making "homemade" beans & rice...although Lulu has, and she said they were awful.  Viggo brand makes an AWESOME pre-packaged one. They are especially good with a little salt, a little lime and some fried eggs.  So delicious.  Also, Corona.  Here are some pics of this "classy" meal.  Jen, are you hungry yet?

Pepper steak

This is one of my absolute favorites, it's my mom's recipe and I make it all the time. You can use stew meat - which is already cut in small pieces, but I usually buy round eye steak and slice it myself. You can brown in by itself....but I generally brown it in 2 Tbsp. of butter - it really adds a great flavor.

Pepper Steak

3 cups cooked rice
1 pound round steak, sliced
1 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. butter
2 cloves garlic, pressed or crushed
1 1/2 cups gluten-free beef broth
1 cup sliced green onions
2 green peppers, cut into strips
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos if GF)
1 can diced tomatoes (or two large tomatoes, diced)

Cut steak into thin strips, sprinkle meat with paprika, let stand. Brown meat in butter. Add garlic and beef broth.

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in onions and peppers, cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Blend cornstarch, water and soy sauce. Stir into pan until thickened. Add tomatoes, heat through. Serve over rice.