recipe review: turkey fried rice

at some point last week, l & i were trying to figure out a easy fix for the ground turkey we had for that night's dinner. the original plan may have involved meatballs, but that was going to require more time and effort than either of us felt like expending, so i made turkey sloppy joes with bbq sauce instead. before i made that, though, i flipped through the folder of recipes i've been clipping this year (as opposed to the hundreds of recipes i have on my hard drive, and not to be confused with the binders of recipes i have in storage) and found this one for turkey fried rice. i didn't have all the ingredients on hand at that point, but l & i agreed that it should go in the rotation for this week.

here's what i did differently:

--i cooked 1 cup of rice (instead of 3/4 cup) to yield 3 cups of cooked rice. the rice might have been extra long grain instead of long grain, but that's what i grabbed out of the pantry and i don't think it made much difference

--silly me forgot to put scallions on the shopping list, so i improvised with a little (i mean, probably less than 1/2 teaspoon) onion powder when i added the other ingredients.

--skipped the ginger b/c we didn't have any around

--used a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic vs. chopped b/c there's a giant jar of it in the fridge and l, j, and i are all garlic fans

--used frozen sugar snap peas (vs. snow peas called for in recipe) b/c i was already buying frozen green peas and figured what the hell. i didn't measure these quanities, though - i think each bag was less than 16oz each, and i probably used 1/2 to 3/4 of a bag of each.

--the carrots we bought at the farmers market were a little on the small side, so i used 6 instead of 4

--went with somewhere between 2-3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce instead of hoisin sauce b/c that's what was on hand

and even with all of those substitions, we still proclaimed it nom. the original recipe says it serves 4, but i think my version could probably yield 6 single servings. i'd definitely make it again.

(non-recipe related content coming soon. seriously. it's on my list. it's gonna happen.)

recipe review: maple-soy salmon

i've been in the mood for salmon for at least the past 3 weeks, but whenever i went to the grocery store, the seafood counter would be closed or the store would be out of salmon and my plans for deliciousness would be thwarted. not today, though. since i work thisclose to a whole foods, i knew i could have salmon for dinner tonight and appease my taste buds. when i went to my recipe folder, i was looking for something quick that i wouldn't need to do a lot of additional shopping for (aside from the salmon itself, that is). luckily, the friends i'm catsitting had everything i needed to make this.

a confession, though: it's entirely possible that i've made this before a couple/few years ago. i honestly don't remember, so let's just pretend/assume that this is new to all of us, ok? that said - i used about a pound of salmon that i cut into 4 pieces. if i'd been in the mood to do math, i probably could've adjusted the measurements here so i wouldn't end up with a surplus of sauce. however, i wasn't in the mood to do math therefore i ended up with a surplus of sauce. 

verdict? meh. if i'd had more time (read: if i wasn't already starving by the time i got dinner started), i might have let the fish sit in the sauce for 5-10 minutes, b/c i didn't really pick up that much of the maple/soy/dijon concoction. it was still good, though. i'd make it again. parmesan couscous and roasted broccoli were also served. mmm...roasted broccoli. i'm relatively full and yet i still have to resist the urge to eat what's left of tonight's batch of broccoli. i love it that much. you should try it out, assuming that it's cooled off enough in your area for you to tolerate turning on the oven.