Mu Shu Pork

Mu Shu Pork

1 large tree mushroom
¼ cup tiger lily buds
½ lbs pork cut into 1 ½ inch strips

MARINADE
1 tsp soy sauce
¼ tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp vegetable oil

12 Mandarin Pancakes
½ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs slightly beaten
½ cup shredded bamboo shoots
½ head cabbage, shredded
2 green onions, cut into 1 inch sections

SEASONINGS
2 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp white pepper

Dash sesame oil
4 tbsp Hoisin sauce
½ tsp sesame oil


Directions

Soak mushroom and tiger lily in warm water for 20 minutes, drain. Remove steam from mushroom.
Combine pork with MARINADE ingredients in the order listed, mix well and set aside.
To steam, separate pancakes and fold them in half. Arrange inside a cloth napkin. Place napkin on rack in steamer (or double boiler) and steam for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm and moist in steamer.
To stir-fry, heat wok over high heat for 1 minute until hot. Add oil, swirling to coat sides. When oil is smoking hot pour in eggs and scramble until golden; remove and drain. Add pork, stir vigorously to separate and cook until well done. Remove and drain.
Remove all but 3 tbsp of oil. Return pork to wok an add mushrooms, lily buds, and bamboo shoots. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add cabbage, green onion, eggs and seasoning. Mix well and add a dash of sesame oil. Transfer to platter.
To serve, place green onion slivers on a small place. Combine Hoisin sauce and sesame oil; place on another small plate. Open wrapper, spread center lightly with sauce mixture and a few slivers of green onion. Spoon about 2 tbsp of pork mixture into the wrapper.

Mongolian Beef

Another really yummy dinner!

Ingredients

6 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, minced

3 tablespoons garlic, chopped

1 1/2 cups soy sauce

1 1/2 cups water

2 1/4 cups dark brown sugar

vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup)

3 lbs flank steaks

3/4 cup cornstarch

6 large green onions

Directions

Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.

Don't get the oil too hot. Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, and then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts. Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef. Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.

As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.

Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.

You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly. After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet. Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute. Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, and then add all the green onions. Cook for one more minute, and then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate. Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.

Hot and Sour Soup

SOOOO sooo yummy!!!

12 pieces tiger lily buds

1 dried tree mushroom

MARINADE

1 tsp soy sauce

¼ tsp cornstarch

½ tsp vegetable oil

¼ lbs pork cut into 1 ½ inch strips

2 quarts Chicken broth

2 tbsp shredded bamboo shoots

½ carton (16 oz) firm tofu cut into squares

1 tbsp dry sherry

Salt to taste

Cornstarch paste

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp vegetable oil

6 tbsp red rice vinegar

1 ½ tsp white pepper

Chopped green onion

Directions

Soak tiger lily and tree mushroom in warm water for 20 minutes. Cut tiger lily in half; shred tree mushroom.

Combine MARINADE ingredients with pork in the order listed; mix well and set aside.

To cook, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add pork, tiger lily, mushroom, and bamboo shoots. Return to a boil. Add tofu, sherry and salt. Stir in 3 to 4 tbsp cornstarch paste and continue cooking until reaching the consistency of creamed soup. Slowly drizzle eggs into broth in a thin stream; gently fold in soy sauce and oil. (If you wish you may set aside at this point)

To serve, mix rice vinegar and pepper in a large soup bowl. Pour in soup and stir. Sprinkle with chopped onion and serve immediately.

Jeff's Birthday Dinner

We headed down to San Jose to have dinner at my mom's house to celebrate Jeff's birthday!

We had great food! Hot and Sour Soup, Fried Rice, Mongolian Beef, Mu Shu Pork and Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting for dessert! (recipes coming soon in another post)

Foto Friday!

Wisconsin Days 6 & 7

Monday Mom & Jeff flew home, so we spent the afternoon with my Dad's side of the family. We went out to the farm and went snowmobiling! Then we went back to Uncle Dave's house for some warm dinner, and a chance to catch up with everyone!
Tuesday we hung around the house went up to Grandad's Bluf to see the view of La Crosse. We also went to the Cheese head store, then did a little wine tasting. We got home and had a great Prime Rib dinner!

Wednesday we headed to Texas.

Wisonsin Days 3 - 5

The day after Christmas we went to Suicide Hill to go sledding! Mom, Jeff, Bill, Steph, Evan and I made the short drive to the hill. Russ was coming down with a cold so he decided to stay warm and get some sleep! We were borrowing my Aunts car for the week which does not have 4-wheel drive so we had to push it in to the parking lot since the area had not been plowed. We got the car in and headed down to the hill. We all had a blast!

After our sledding we headed back to the cars. It was much harder getting my aunt's car out. We pushed and pushed and couldn't get it over the snow bank. A nice guy in a truck was driving by and offered to help pull the car out! I don't know what we would have done without him!Next we were off to visit the Amish. They have stores in their homes where you can buy stuff they have made. We bought a rug, I will have to post a picture later. We went to 3 houses and got a good feel for how they live. 3 houses was more than enough! We stopped at Hideaway a bar in Chaseburg for Fried Portabello Mushrooms, Fried Cheese Curds, and homemade potato chips! YUM!!(Dead Deer hanging outside)

(it was freezing cold and they were outside plowing!)

Friday night we also went down by the river and looked at the Christmas lights.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed up to Minneapolis. Once we got there we went to the Mall of America! Russ was not too impressed; he thought it was just a little bigger than Valley Fair in San Jose, but it had a theme park in the middle. So if you took out the theme park it would be about the same. I don't think so but whatever! :)After the Mall we checked into our hotel and went to an indoor water park - Water Park of America. We hit the water park from 4pm - 10pm and all had a blast! It wasn't as big as we expected but we had fun!

Sunday we headed back to La Crosse. Once we were back my Aunt Bev took us for a little drive so Russ could see La Crosse. We stopped at the Worlds Largest Six Pack, The Mississippi River, the house my dad grew up in, and the University.