PF Changs Mongolian Beef

Ben loves this meal. It takes time but is good. Thanks Carrie for all the great recipes!

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 pound flank steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions

1. Make the sauce by heating 2 teaspoons of vegetable in a medium saucepan over med/low heat. Don't get the oil too hot or you'll get a major spatter when adding the other liquids. 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 to 3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

2. Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4-inch 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.

3. 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.

4. 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 or a spider to take the meat out and onto paper towels, and 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.

House Fried Rice

You can pun in more veggies or different meet if you want to. This is easy but takes prep work. My advice would be to do all the prep early in the day. Dice the onion, carrots, celery, etc...when you have time in the day. Put it in baggies or something. Then just throw it together when you are making dinner. The kids loved this and I served it with the homemade Chow Mein. It was a hit. If you want to add the Lettuce Wraps to it, that would be really good as well. Just prep everything ahead of time! You have to get the crunchy Chow Mein noodles to have with this as well. The kids loved them with it.

1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup small shrimp - peeled and deveined (I omit this)
1/2 cup diced ham (or add some cooked, crumbled bacon)
1 cup chopped cooked chicken breast
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots - peeled and diced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup green peas
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup soy sauce

Cook rice according to package directions. While rice is cooking, heat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in sesame oil and stir in onion. Fry until golden, then add garlic. When garlic is lightly browned, mix in shrimp, ham, and chicken. Fry until shrimp is pink.Lower heat to medium and stir in celery, carrot, green pepper, and peas. Fry until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in beaten egg and cook just until egg is scrambled and firm.When rice is done, mix thoroughly with vegetables and stir in soy sauce. Adjust seasoning to your preference and serve immediately.

Chicken Chow Mein

This turned out really good (thanks Carrie). You can add whatever meets and variety of vegies you want. You can easily add carrots or celery if you want to. My advice would be to do the prep early in the day when you have a quiet moment. Once all the prep is done, you can just toss the chicken in to cook and throw it all together at dinner time. The kids loved it. Oh- You HAVE to get the crunchy chow mein noodles to have with it. The kids loved them.

12 ounces chinese noodles
8 ounces boneless chicken breasts, sliced thinly (freezing for about 20 minutes make this task easier)
3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 ounces snow peas, trimmed
2 ounces ham, finely sliced
1 1/2-2 tablespoons oyster sauce
4 green onions, finely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

*You'll want to get your prep work done first, because this will cook up very quickly.*Cook noodles according to package directions.Rinse under cold water, and set aside.

After you slice the chicken, place it in a bowl with 2 tsp of soy sauce, the rice vinegar and sesame oil.Toss to coat.Heat half the olive oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat.When the oil is nice and hot, add the chicken mixture. Stir fry for 2 minutes, then transfer the chicken to a plate and keep warm.Wipe the pan out and heat the remaining olive oil.Stir in the garlic, snow peas, and ham.Stir fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add the drained noodles to the pan, and continue to stir fry till the noodles are heated through, about 2 minutes.Add the remaining soy, the oyster sauce, and season with salt and pepper to taste.You may find you don't need salt.Add the chicken and any juices back to the pan, then add the green onions.Give a final stir and serve immediately. 3-4 servings

P.F. Changs Lettuce Wraps

This uses a lot of random ingredients, but once you buy them you will have them for next time! These take a lot of time but are definitely worth it. If you are having it as a meal alone, double the recipe.

3 Tbsp oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnuts
2/3 cup mushrooms
3 Tbsp chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce
Special Sauce:
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp sesame oil

Stir Fry Sauce:
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp rice wine vinegar

Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl. Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you’re ready to serve.

Bring oil to high heat in a wok (or large frying pan). Sauté chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until done. Remove chicken from the pan and cool. Keep oil in pan and keep it hot.

As chicken cools, mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.

Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.

When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.

With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil. Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan. Add the stir-fry sauce to the pan and sauté the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it with the lettuce cups. Top with the special sauce. *** I usually end up just mixing some of the special sauce in with the stir fry instead of pouring it on the lettuce wrap itself.***

If you want some spice, you can add a mixture of: 1 Tbsp hot mustard, 2 tsp water, and 1-2 tsp garlic and red chili paste.

Yummy Mandarin Chicken

This is really easy and the kids LOVED it.

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 TBS lemon juice
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. veg. oil
1/3 cup water
1 TBS cornstarch
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts

Combine sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, oil, garlic and ginger in a small saucepan and put it to medium heat stirring. Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir until cornstarch is dissolved. Add to the saucepan and turn heat to high. Stir often while bringing mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 4 to 6 minutes or until sauce is thick.

The original recipe has you grill you chicken. I was lazy and it still turned out great. If you grill it, once they are done- cut them into bite size pieces. If you do not grill it, you can cut it prior to cooking and stir fry the chicken in the bite size pieces. When the chicken is done and the sauce is done, pour the sauce into the frying pan with the chicken and stir it together. Easy and delicious. Serve this over steamed rice.

You can even make this sauce ahead of time adn refrigerat or freeze it. Still very good!