Chili Garlic Stir Fry Sauce Mix

I was craving stir fry the other night and wanted to try something new, so I came up with this:

Chili Garlic Stir Fry Sauce Mix (single use)

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch (not shown in picture, I added it later)
1/2 teaspoon garlic flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/8 teaspoon dried chili flakes (more if you like it hot, this was mild)



What else you'll need

1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 pound boneless chicken or other meat
oil for frying
veggies for stir frying
rice

Combine mix with water and soy sauce and stir well.



Quickly stir fry the chicken in oil and then add veggies. Once veggies are cooked add sauce and simmer until sauce starts to thicken.



Serve on a bed of rice or noodles. Delicious!!!

Honey Sesame Chicken Mix

Chinese New Year is this weekend and it's my year (year of the snake!). You can celebrate by ordering Chinese take out... or you can make your own and save money...

Honey Sesame Chicken Mix

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
2 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

What else you'll need

1 pound boneless chicken thinly sliced
1/3 cup cold water
1/4 cup soy sauce
oil for frying

Combine mix with water and soy sauce and stir well.

Fry the chicken in oil until fully cooked. I like to dust my chicken with flour before frying to make it taste breaded like take out does.

Pour sauce into wok and simmer until sauce begins to thicken.

Serve with rice.

If you're concerned about sugar content you can halve (or omit) the sugar and replace the water with pineapple juice. It won't taste as much like take out but it will be a lot healthier.

Guest Posting: Chicken Chow Mein Mix at $5 Dinners

I'm guest posting today over at $5 dinners. It's a great site with countless affordable recipes and today my seasoning mix for chicken chow mein is featured.

Head on over and check out a delicious easy recipe that tastes just like take out: chicken chow mein seasoning mix.

Happy mixing!

Chop Suey Seasoning Mix

Well the new year is here and people everywhere are making resolutions. Most people's involve diet or exercise, but since we do okay with those generally we're most concerned with something else... money.

2012 was a big year. We had a new baby. We re-did our bathroom AND our kitchen. We put in some new windows. It was very expensive, and we're trying to build up our savings again before the next big expense comes our way. This means eating in, cooking from scratch and using what we have. The perfect thing for that is...

Chop Suey Seasoning Mix (single use)

1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper

What else you'll need

1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 pound chicken breast sliced
bunch of green onions
2 stalked diced celery
1 package of slice mushrooms
2 cups bean sprouts
oil for frying

Combine mix, water and soy sauce and stir well.

I like to pre chop my veggies into separate bowls before cooking to make things easier. To avoid washing extra dishes we often use the bowls the raw veggies were in as serving bowls once the food is done.

Stir fry the chicken in the oil until fully cooked and then add in the vegetables, then the sauce. When the sauce begins to thicken add in the bean sprouts last. Serve over rice.

Chop suey means 'assorted pieces'. It can be made with any type of meat or vegetables you have. It's perfect for cleaning out your fridge and is a delicious and healthy way to save money.

Slow cooker Korean short ribs mix

It's September, and the days are slightly cooler. That means... slow cooking again! The other day we decided to take the girls out boating on the lake, and I knew that we would come home late and tired and tempted to order take out. So I filled up the crock pot before we left with...

Korean Short Ribs Mix

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon dried green onions
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper

What else you'll need

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup of water

Combine mix, soy sauce and water and stir well

Pour sauce over the ribs in the slow cooker.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours

After 10 hours the meat will be falling off the bone, so only cook for 8 if you want to gnaw off the meat. We had no choice because it took us 10 hours to get home.

I served our ribs with rice and that giant bag of Costco veggies we are trying to use up.

Delicious! Not as sweet as my honey garlic rib mix, but very tasty!

Mongolian Beef Mix

One of my favorite episodes of South Park has a line where the owner of 'City Wok' screams 'DAMN YOU MONGOLIANS!' and it always makes me giggle. I can't help but think of it when I make this delicious stir fry dish...

Mongolian Beef Mix

1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 tablespoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon garlic
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon paprika



What else you'll need

1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 pound thinly sliced beef

Combine mix with water and soy and set aside.




Stir fry beef strips quickly on high heat and then stir in sauce and cook until sauce thickens.



I served it with rice and steamed stir fry vegetables, which was perfect. The sauce was incredibly sweet, in the way that Chinese take out tends to be. If you like (or need) something less sweet I would use less sugar.

Schezuan Sauce Mix

I'm back on another stir fry kick- It's always been one of my favorite meals. I've completely given up on those bottled sauces (if the price wasn't bad enough, the sodium content will do it!), but I like to have a bunch of variety. Here is my latest concoction!

Schezuan Sauce Mix

1 tablespoon corn starch
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

This is a mild sauce suitable for small children, for a spicy sauce add more cayenne to suit your tastes.

What else you'll need

1/2 cup cold water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
oil for frying
1 pound boneless meat cut in strips or chunks
4 cups chopped veggies (I use Costco frozen stir fry mix because I'm lazy and it's very good!)

Combine mix with water and soy sauce and stir until smooth. Stir fry meat in the oil first (I like to dust my chicken with 1/2 cup of flour mixed with 1 teaspoon of salt to give it that 'fried' take out taste sometimes).

Once chicken is cooked fully add sauce and vegetables and cook until vegetables are warm and sauce thickens. I served mine on a bed of rice. It was delicious!!!

Broccoli Beef Stir Fry Mix

I am always on the look out for new stir fry variations and I knew broccoli beef would be a good one to try because I both love beef stir fry and broccoli so much.

Broccoli Beef Stir Fry Mix (single use)

2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

What else you'll need

1/2 cup cold water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced
4 cups broccoli florets

Combine mix with water and soy sauce and stir well.

I slice my flank steak while it's still frozen because it makes it easier to get it super thin. The thinner you slice it the more tender it is when you cook it. Slice it across the grain into strips.

The other key to tender stir fry beef is cooking time. Flash fry it on medium high heat in your wok so it cooks for as little time as possible.

Add the sauce, then the broccoli and simmer until broccoli is tender and sauce thickens.

I served my broccoli beef with rice and it was delicious. I think this is my favorite stir fry sauce yet!

Lemon Chicken Sauce Mix

Our favorite Thai restaurant went out of business! We were heartbroken! The night we planned to get it as a treat we ended up having to order Chinese take out instead and I noticed afterwards that I felt... icky. MSG. Oil. Syrup. Ug.

But it tastes good when you're eating it, and the best way to enjoy Chinese food without consequences is to make your own. So I tried to mix it up with our favorite take out dish...

Lemon Chicken Mix (single use)

1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried lemon peel
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

What else you'll need

juice of 2 lemons (up to 1/2 cup lemon juice)
1 pound chicken diced
oil for frying
flour and salt for dusting (optional)

Combine mix with lemon juice and stir well. Fry chicken in a wok (I coat my pieces in a mixture of 1/2 cup flour plus 1/4 teaspoon of salt first to give them that deep fried take out flavor) until fully cooked. When chicken is cooked stir in lemon sauce and simmer for a few minutes until sauce thickens and chicken is well flavored.

I served mine with rice and steamed stir fry veggie mix. It tasted just like take out without the added nausea afterwards.

We miss our little Thai place, but we need to save money anyway, and this is a very good way!

*I have shared this recipe in the $5 dinner challenge here*

Japanese Tempura Batter Mix

A friend once told me that every culture has a deep fried specialty and even the healthiest cuisine- Japanese, is no exception with their fabulous tempura battered snacks. I first tried out this mix for guests on Christmas eve but it was too hectic that night to properly photograph it for the blog. I also wanted to make it thicker so it would taste perfect. I finally tried it out again the other night.

Japanese Tempura Batter Mix

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

What else you'll need

2/3 cup ice cold water

Measure out the water into a bowl and pop it into the freezer to chill while you assemble the mix. Once this mix is ready pour in the ice water and stir until you have a thick, lumpy paste. Make sure the batter is used right away or you'll need to chill it. You can batter anything you want with it- Shrimp, fish, mussels, broccoli, zucchini, carrots... I used it to batter 1 pound of large shrimp and a few spears of broccoli for fun.

Dip each piece of food in the batter until it's thickly coated and then fry immediately, flipping once.

Lay the food on a paper towel to drain any excess oil before serving.

I served the shrimp with steamed broccoli and teriyaki rice and noodles (another new mix coming soon!). This batch was just perfect and was gobbled up accordingly.