Stir Fry with Szechwan Sauce

I used to make stir fry a lot with using the sauce in a jar from the grocery store. I didn't really like the taste so I stopped making stir fry all together. Until a few months ago I came across this recipe for a Szechwan sauce. It makes stir fries delicious! It's spicy, so it's not for the weak! I made it with shrimp, but you can do any type of meat, and I use a frozen bag of mixed vegetables. You can usually find a bag that is specific for stir fries. Either serve with rice or noodles. 3 T olive oil
red chili peppers
2 t ginger
2 t garlic
5 T sugar
5 T ketchup
5 T vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together. I use a seasoning of red chili peppers and I put about a teaspoon in, but depending on how spicy you want it add more or less. When making it into a stir fry cook your vegetables and meat and toward the end add the sauce and let it simmer with the vegetables and meat.

Corn Chowder

A few weeks back I attended a church activity and they instructed us on how to make corn chowder. The original idea was to serve it in a pumpkin or instead of bowls us acorn squash that's been cooked, but I did neither of those. I typically don't like corn but I really like this corn chowder and it's so simple to make and it makes a lot. 1 pint cream
1/2 lb bacon
2 cans creamed corn
2 cans corn (or a frozen bag)
2-3 potatoes
Cajun seasoning
parsley
basil
salt and pepper

Peel and cut potatoes into small cubes. Place in a pot with water covering the potatoes. Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes. Meanwhile cook bacon and chop. Drain half of the water. In a crock pot add all ingredients and potato water and season to taste. Let cook for 3 hours.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies

A friend of mine just had her first baby, so I offered to make her dinner one night. Enter the tricky problem, she has a gluten allergy and cannot eat pretty much most of my good recipes. Well I headed to Trader Joe's because their aisle are full of gluten free products. Dinner was planned, but I had to include a dessert, that's the best part. Luckily while I was visiting in Utah I was browsing a magazine and came across this recipe for flour less chocolate cookies. I went ahead and made them and guess what?! They are yummy! I really enjoyed them. The only problem was I put the dough on wax paper and they stuck, horribly stuck to the wax paper. My suggestion, grease the cookie sheet and skip the wax paper.


3 c powder sugar
2/3 c Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 t coarse salt
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 c chopped nuts

preheat oven to 325. in a large bowl whisk together sugar, cocoa, and salt. Stir in chocolate and nuts. Add egg whites and stir just until incorporated (do not over mix). Drop dough onto two parchment lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake 25 minutes.