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Review: Panda Express!

Well we’ve finally evaded my awful, horrible mother’s grasp (she wants us to live in KC but to never go anywhere – which annoys me to no end, since she should have no control over my life at this point, but I digress, lol.) and visited one of our favorite fast food places which would be Panda Express. Now, we’ve never been to this one (it’s up on Barry Rd. in Kansas City, where St. Claire(?) and Barry Rd. intersect about half a mile from Lake Waukomis and The Coves.

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It was awesome, very clean and friendly with a great atmosphere. We bought some of their famous orange chicken, I had a pepsi and Laota had a tea. We sat and took some pictures then grabbed a bottle of their orange sauce (very good, we’ve had it as a glaze on roasted chicken since). It even has a little outdoor spot with a few tables to eat – pardon the bad pics, had to take them with my phone! Out of five stars, it easily gets four – check it out if you have time!

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Tags: Panda Express

Recipe: Easy Ginger Citrus Chicken Stir Fry

Ginger Citrus Chicken Stir FryI know I haven’t posted a recipe in forever and ever, but this one is one I created on the fly (and suggest you not get too bogged down about measurments, either!). It’s for yummy sweet ginger citrus chicken stir fry, and it goes a little something like this:

Veggie Base:

1/2 C each: Frozen Broccoli Florets, FrozenSnap Pea Pods, Canned Water Chestnuts, Red and Yellow Peppers (julienned)

3 Slices of FRESH Ginger Root (Can’t stress this enough, must be fresh!)

Dash of: Salt, Sesame Oil

Glazed Chicken:

3 – 4oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, uncut.

Juice from half a lemon

3 T Pineapple Duck Sauce

1 tsp. Raw Minced Garlic

2 tsp. Raw Shredded White Onion

2 T Pineapple Mango Marmalade or Orange Marmalade

Dash of: Cinnamon, Fresh Grated Ginger, Salt, Pepper, Shoyu

Method:

Put your wok (or skillet, but I prefer a wok) over a medium flame and add a few dashes of your favorite sesame or peanut oil with half of your garlic and half your onions until translucent with a nice, fragrant aroma. Now add a dash of shoyu and a dash of your lemon juice and turn the heat up to medium high.

Lay your chicken breasts thickest side down in the pan and cook on medium high for 5 minutes. Once they’ve gotten a good browning on one side, add more sesame oil and shoyu and flip them over to their other side – cook another 2 minutes. Now you want to take your spatula and start to cut the chicken breasts into 1 inch by 1 inch pieces and turn the heat back down to medium.

When the chicken is almost cooked through (important – cannot be entirely done!), add the rest of your lemon and another dash of sesame oil to the pan and turn the chicken over to coat well. Now add the duck sauce, the rest of your garlic and onion, the marmalade and the rest of your spices to the pan and continue to cook on medium for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the glaze starts to thicken and the chicken is cooked through. Set this aside in a bowl with as much glaze as you can scoop out with your spatula – we want about a teaspoon left in the wok.

Deglaze the pan with a mixture of shoyu and a little sake (not much, only a tablespoon or two) then add your veggies and spices all at once (unthawed). Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until veggies are cooked through and the thawed water is evaporated. Push them over to the side of the wok and add the chicken back to the pan and turn the heat down to low. Now reheat on low for a few seconds, which will help melt the glaze enough that you can use your spatula to stir the meat and veggies together.

You can have it on rice if you want, but I liked it all by itself. Sorry my photos aren’t better, I was in a hurry and only had my phone! My total prep time and cook time was about 20 minutes – fast and delicious!

Hy-Vee Doughnuts – Not Awful

Okay, here’s the thing. Where I come from, Hy-Vee stores are awful, dirty and unfriendly places with high prices and shoddy or even spoiled merchandise and groceries. So, I was surprised when I moved out to Kansas City last month and found that wasn’t the case here.

We went on an excursion to Hy-Vee last night that took us far out of our way and we managed to walk four miles altogether instead of one and a half – because we’re smart, lol. In the high piles of snow, ice, cold and dark with heavy traffic it was quite a hike.

We finally made it, freezing and tired (and in pain, says moi, who twisted both ankles on ice banks). The staff at Hy-Vee were sweet as pie, they let us sit at their cafe even after they closed so we could talk and have a salad and sandwich. The cafe closes at 8, but Hy-Vee stays open all night.

We came home with treats, one of which was a huge box of beautiful day old doughnuts that are not only cheap at four dollars a dozen, but tastey! Here are some pics of our doughnuts with my delicious egg nog pulled tea:

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Cinnamon-Ginger Shrimp Bento

Cinnamon-Ginger Shrimp Bento

First bento photo in awhile, I’ve been super busy with the move and work. We’ve got ginger cinnamon shrimp stir fry with broccoli, peppers and carrots. A little pancake sandwich shaped like a gingerbread man, some holiday candies, rice and a nice tamagoyaki slice!
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Tags: Bento, pancake sandwich, Rice, shrimp, stir fry, tamagoyaki

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