Well, since my last blog I have tried a few more recipes from my new cookbooks and have had a successful trip to our local Asian Supermarket (well not too local, it's the other side of town). One thing I didn't do when making my list for the supermarket is write down the chinese names for some foods I was looking for, so I am not quite sure if I got the right things. I now have a cupboard and fridge brimming with all sorts of noodles, sauces, veggie meats and different vegetables. I was super excited to do some cooking last night for my hubby and see how I fared. I made rice, Spicy Sichuan Eggplant and my own creation of veggie shrimp, mushrooms and snow peas with Vegetarian Oyster Sauce (I had no idea there was a vegetarian version).
Here are a few pictures, again, sooooo not a good photographer, but hope you get the idea.
Those veggie shrimp are pretty good, we first tasted them at our local Buddist Veggie restaurant here in Calgary. I was surprised how good they were in the restaurant and when I saw them at the supermarket I scooped up a couple of packs, they are in the freezer, I hope they freeze well. The veggie shrimp is made from isolated soy protein, wheat fibre, paprika, konnyaku powder, vegetarian seasoning and water. Hmmmm, no additives, perservatives, artificial colour, excellent! The spicy eggplant was also something we had at the veggie restaurant and I was able to make it taste very similar. Although spicy, it was finished off with no problem. I am happy to report the hubby thought it was my best dinner in a long time. He is right I have not been very creative lately and dinners have kind of sucked! Only a couple of things I would do differently next time, I would cut the eggplant a bit larger and use a bit less cooking wine for the spicy eggplant, but I think the veggie shrimp turned out pretty good. The Spicy Sichuan Eggplant was from my "Authentic Chinese Cuisine for the Contemporary Kitchen". I still have not made anything out of the baked seitan balls from the other day, actually a bit scared of that...I did see them at the asian supermarket and they are not suppose to deflate like that, now I am really not too sure what to do with them. Also, the one thing I learned was to have everything on hand, there is no dilly dallying looking for ingridients, not having anything chopped, etc. once that wok is hot you better be ready to go. I had everything lined up on the counter and was able to add it all in at the right time and that made a huge difference.
So tonight I am going to try a soup, the son has a T-Ball game so we need somthing quick, although, who am I kidding, he won't touch it with a 10 foot pole, he'll probably want mac and cheese. Sigh!
So that's all I got for now, the little girl is sleeping and I actually have a bit of housework to get done. Please pass along suggestions, recipes or thoughts. Have a great day!
