Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice

We were able to cook dinner again tonight and we tried a recipe that I took out of Cooking Light last year.

Honey Cashew Chicken with Rice was really easy for us to make together and the results were amazing for a weeknight stir fry. We used brown rice instead of white and asparagus instead of broccoli but otherwise followed the recipe.

What makes this dish is the sauce which is a combination of rice vinegar, honey, soy sauce and Sriracha. It’s got a bit of heat to it but mixed with the sweetness it’s subtle and delicious.

Mike suggested we make this regularly because it was just that fabulous.

Cheesy Penne with Broccoli

Tonight I decided to try Cheesy Penne with Broccoli which was in this month’s Cooking Light.

This was a basic macaroni and cheese recipe except the sauce is made with a few different cheeses plus Dijon mustard and without any butter or oil. I normally like to add something green to macaroni and cheese, so this stood out as I was looking through the magazine.

We opted for shells instead of penne just because we had them on hand.  Otherwise, we followed the recipe exactly.  I thought it was pretty good but could use a bit more flavor.  Mike’s suggestion was to add more Dijon mustard and I read in the comments on the recipe that maybe adding some crushed red pepper would help.  But it was good enough and easy enough for a weeknight so we’ll definitely try it again maybe with a little modification.

Orange Beef and Broccoli

Tonight we made Orange Beef and Broccoli.  We both thought we’d made it before but neither of us could remember cooking it once we got started.  It was very easy to make and the Trader Joe’s Brown Rice Medley actually took longer than the entire prep and cooking of the beef and broccoli.

This was really flavorful and fragrant.  It’s probably even better for during the week when we need quick recipes that taste like a treat.

Sriraccha-Glazed Chicken and Onions Over Rice

Earlier this week I saw that Beth made Sriracha-Glazed Chicken and Onions Over Rice. She said it was delicious and easy but she had me at sriracha. The recipe is from Cooking Light.

As we were making it, we wondered about some of the ingredients. Well, only one ingredient – ketchup.  But we stuck with the recipe for the most part only substituting fresh garlic for bottled.  We also doubled the sauce since Mike likes a lot of sauce and we were having broccoli on the side I suspected it might all get mixed together.

Just like Beth said, this recipe is amazing. It is so flavorful and easy but it could use a bit more heat so I might add more sriracha next time. And like I said above, I mixed this bowl together when I ate it and the sauce was great on the broccoli. You could probably stir fry more vegetables in with the chicken and onions too.

I get the leftovers from this dinner and I’m really looking forward to them.