Mushroom Sushi

2 cups, fresh shitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1/2 avocado
2 sheets of nori
pickled ginger (optional)
1 Tbs fresh ginger root, grated
1-2 Tbs tamari
1 Tbs olive oil
water as needed

• Heat the oil in a skillet, add the ginger and sautee lightly
• throw in the mushrooms and tamari, as water as needed so mushrooms will cook without sticking to the pan
• Once mushrooms shrink up a bit and get slightly dark, you know their ready, remove from heat.
• Lay out your seaweed on a sushi mat (here are my sushi rolling directions)
• Spread avocado either in slices or mashed up, along edge of sushi paper
• Add in optional pickled ginger and then make a row of mushrooms
• Roll, slice, eat. Yum!

Chicken Stir Fry

• DOUBLE FOR LEFTOVERS!
• 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
• 1 red pepper, julienned
• 1 1/2 cup sliced celery (1/4 inch pieces)
• 2 small onions, cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup water

1 head lettuce, prepared

1 can mandarin oranges in wedges

1 can water chestnuts

1/2 cup nuts (cashews, almonds, peanuts)

1. Cut chicken into 1/2-in.cubes; place in a resealable plastic bag. Add cornstarch and toss to coat. Combine soy sauce, ginger and garlic powder; add to bag and shake well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. In a large skillet or wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil; stir-fry chicken until no longer pink, about 3-5 minutes. Remove and keep warm. Add remaining oil; stir- frypepper, celery and onion for 4-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add water. Return chicken to pan. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

Serve over lettuce, topped with mandarin oranges, water chestnuts and nuts as desired.

Chinese Chicken Salad

2 chicken breasts (grilled and chopped)
1 head of lettuce
4 stalks of celery
2 stalk of green onion
4 8 oz. cans of mandarin oranges
2 8 oz. can of water chestnuts
8 oz. of slivered or sliced almonds
1 cup of sugar

Dressing:

1 cup of canola oil
2/3 cup rice vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar

Heat almonds and sugar at medium heat in a small pan. Stir continuously until the sugar has heated through and coated the almonds with a nice caramelized coating. (Don’t worry if the sugar gets all clumpy and seems to not be working. Just keep stirring…..it will melt.) Then spread over foil and let cool completely. Chop up all of the remaining salad ingredients and mix together in bowl. In a cruet, mix in all the ingredients for the dressing. Shake until completely blended. The dressing isn’t soluble so you’ll have to shake again right before pouring over your salad.

One last note: The dressing made is a bit too much for the amount of salad. So I always pour the dressing over individual portions of salad. But if you’d like to pre-mix your salad if you’re headed to a pot luck, make sure to watch how much you’re using in the salad. Sample it before serving.

Oriental Dip

30 ml	(2 tbsp)	Sesame oil
30 ml	(2 tbsp)	Low salt soy sauce
20 ml	(4 tsp)	Lemon juice
1		Garlic clove, crushed
15 ml	(1 tbsp)	Dried chili peppers
		Salt and pepper

1. Mix together.

2. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Serve.

Vegetarian Shabu Shabu

1500 ml	(6 cups)	Vegetable Stock
4		Green Onions, Thinly Sliced
1		Small Onion, Diced
1		Tomato, Diced
15 ml	(1 tbs)	Fresh Ginger, Grated
2		Garlic Cloves, Crushed
30 ml	(2 tbs)	Fresh Cilantro Leaves, Thinly Sliced
45 ml	(3 tbs)	Japanese Soy Sauce
To Taste		Salt and Pepper
To Taste		Hot Sauce
		Assortment of Dippers: Sliced Shiitake Mushrooms Green onions Small Squares of Firm Tofu Tomato Wedges Bok Choy Leaves String Mushrooms Steamed Broccoli Mung Bean Vermicelli 1. In a large pot over medium heat, warm up the vegetable stock. 2. Add the chopped green onions, onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, cilantro and soy sauce and bring to a boil. 3. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. 4. Arrange dippers and dips on serving plates and bowls and keep refrigerated until fondue starts. 5. When you are ready to get started, add salt and pepper and hot sauce to taste. 6. Strain the fondue broth to remove all solid particles. 7. Transfer the vegetable fondue broth into your hot pot fondue pot. Keep the extra broth in a pot on the stove top on low heat to replenish as needed. 8. Light the fondue burner and adjust the heat. 9. Put a piece of vegetable or tofu onto your fondue fork and cook it into the delicious seafood broth. You can also let items float in the pot and pick them up with chopsticks or a slotted spoon. 10.Transfer the cooked dipper onto a regular fork and dip into one of yourfondue dips.