Asparagas

Our favorite veggie.

And here is my favorite cooking suggestion:

Rinse asparagas and break off the ends
Line pan with foil, and layer the asparagas in it
Toss with olive oil
Sprinkle with your favorite spices (my personal favorite is a family friend's Secret Spice, but even salt and pepper works great!)
Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes until slightly crunchy, but tender (Temp isn't too important, typically, about 350, but I just throw it in with whatever else I'm cooking)

Enjoy!

You can also chop them up and fry in the skillet, but they don't tend to have the same perfect crunch.

Oriental Noodles

INGREDIENTS
1 package oriental noodles (or 2 packages ramen noodles without season packet)
2 tbls. olive oil
1/2 cup green onions chopped (can substitue regular onions)
1/2 cup chopped red or green peppers
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2 tbls. soy sauce
1/2 cup sprouts

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring pot of water to a boil

2. Heat oil in skillet and fry onions, peppers and carrots so they are tender.  Add soy sauce

3. Throw noodles in boiling water and boil for 2-3 minutes

4.  Drain noodles and add to skillet.  Mix and serve!

SUGGESTION: For a main course, add some cut up pork, steak or chicken to the mix.

Sweet and Sour Grub

My new favorite.  Kind of messy, but really easy, and so yummy!  I've done pork and chicken and they both are good.  Serve with rice or noodles.

Sweet and Sour Chicken and/or Pork

INGREDIENTS
4-5 pork chops or boneless chicken cut up into pieces (big chunks)
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1-2 cups cornstarch
1/2 cup flour
Optional: garlic salt (to taste)

Sauce:
1/2 cup ketchup
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 - 1 cup pineapple or mandarin orange juice
1 tbls. soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oil in large skillet and preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Wisk eggs in bowl, set aside, and put cornstarch, flour and garlic in big Ziplock bag

3.  Place meat in eggs and coat entirely. 

4. Put meat in bag (I put it all in at once) and shake it up so they are all well covered

5. Using tongs, put the covered meat chunks in the oil and lightly brown (more like a golden color, only takes a minute or two)

6. Once lightly browned, but not cooked all of the way, place all of the meat in one layer in a pan lined with foil.

7.  Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a medium sauce pan until heated thoroughly

8.  Pour on meat and toss around

9. Cook at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, re-coating meat with the sauce half-way through

SUGGESTION:  If you want to make this as a freezer meal, use fresh meat (never frozen) do all of the above, except after browning the meat in the oil, put it in a bag.  Mix sauce, do not heat, put in seperate bag, and freeze.  When ready to cooke, throw it all in a crockpot on high for 3-4 hours