chinese stir-fry cabbage with soy dumplings

Tuesday is Asian Day

It is so troubling that it is Tuesday already and I still do not have my menu ready for the week! Holidays tend to throw me off - David is home and things just move at a different pace. So tonight I grabbed my trusty Chinese cookbook, Bryanna Clark Grogan's Chinese Cookbook, and opened the book at a page.

That was it. I had the ingredients, or close enough to them, and away we went. Dinner was ready in an hour, eventhough the 'pork' balls needed to be made from scratch.

I changed things up just a little by stir-frying the cabbage before I added the 'chicken' broth (see recipe page). I simply adore the flavor of stir-fryed cabbage and I wasn't going to merely just simmer them.

Everyone loved the meal and I loved that I could make it fast.

School has started in earnest here and it is always a challenge to get everyone back in rhythm. This is also Literature Group week and I have to prepare for that as well.

Back to work!

Cost Breakdown:

cabbage: $3

tofu, TVP: $2

onion, carrot, tamari, sherry: $1.50

rice: $1

Toal to feed a family of 5:

$7.50

thai noodle salad

I made a lite lunch pasta salad. I grilled a bunch of vegetables and cooked up some pasta. 

I am trying to make different dressings that do not need oil, so for the Thai influence I blended the meat of a young coconut with some fresh lime juice, and added a diced chili pepper. 

It all came together very nicely. It was fresh and still crisp tender. The only change I would make is the eggplant. While it is delicious fresh off the grill, the eggplant doesn't have quite the flavor after it sits for a bit. 

Cost Breakdown:

corn, green beans: $1

eggplant: $1

arugula:$.50

zucchini: $1

onion: $.50

peppers: $1

tomato: $1

pasta: $2

young coconut, sunflower seeds: $2

lime: $.25

Total to feed a family of 5:

$10.25