Healthy Sesame Chicken Take Out Fake Out

By now you have probably noticed my affinity to Take Out Fake Out.  You can see some examples here and here and here and here and here and here.    Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan of take out but everything is fried and well, fried food goes to my hips...and thighs, and arms and I could go on but you get the drift.  Enter Take Out Fake Outs, all of the flavor while being wayyyyy healthier.  

This one comes from my blog friend Laurie over at Simply Scratch.  I saw it a while ago and did what everyone does these days, I pinned the heck out of it and decided to make it later.  I was stumped on what to make the other night and sifting through my Pins this gem came up and I knew I had to make it.  I'm so glad I did, this is one fabulous dish.  Thanks Laurie! 

Start by making the sauce, the base is honey

And soy sauce

With some toasted sesame seed oil

Garlic

And sesame seeds.  Easy peasy.

Give it a quick stir and set aside for now

Then get to work on the veggies, red pepper

And green onions.  Give them a quick chop and set aside for now

Then work on the "coating" egg whites and corn starch

Mix with a fork.  This stuff is kind of weird but it will be okay, I promise.

Next cut up some chicken in small bite sized pieces and season with quite a bit of salt and pepper

Toss them in the egg white mixture.

Preheat a large skillet or wok with a little coconut oil (or canola if you don't have coconut).  Once the pan is very hot, add the chicken in batches, be sure not to crowd the pan or you will steam the chicken rather than sear it.  Also, I let the egg white mixture drip of the chicken a bit before putting it in the pan.

Once the first batch is done, remove it to a plate and add the second batch and so on...this is what you are looking for golden brown chicken baby.

Once all of the chicken is cooked, add the veggies and give them a quick stir fry.

Once the veggies have had a few minutes to cook, add the chicken back to the pan

And pour in the delicious sauce.  Give it a quick toss and heat through and that's it! 

Serve over rice white, brown, Jasmine whatever you have on hand.

Top with additional green onions

And try not to lick the plate.

Healthy Sesame Chicken Take Out Fake Out

1/2 cup honey
5 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced or grated on a Microplane
2 egg whites
4 tablespoons corn starch
3 medium sized chicken breasts, chopped in small bite sized pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons coconut oil (or canola)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped into small pieces
4 green onions, chopped finely + 1 for garnish
Rice for serving

Start by combining the honey, soy sauce, sesame seed oil, sesame seeds and garlic in a small bowl.  Mix well and set aside.

In a larger bowl, combine the egg whites and corn starch.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and the bite sized pieces into the bowl with the egg whites and corn starch.  Toss to coat.

Add the coconut oil into a large skillet or wok on high heat.  After it is preheated, add the chicken in batches, just enough to cover the bottom of the skillet/wok without touching each other.  Let cook on all sides until golden brown. Once the first batch is cooked, remove it and place on a plate.  Repeat until you have done this with all of the chicken.

With the skillet/wok still on high heat, add the vegetables and stir fry for 2 minutes or so.  Then add the chicken back to the skillet/wok.  Turn the heat down to medium and pour the sauce into the skillet/wok.  Give it a good toss to coat everything and let bubble for 2 minutes or so.

Serve over rice and garnish with the additional green onion.

Enjoy!

Very slightly adapted from Laurie's version at Simply Scratch

Enchilada Style Stuffed Peppers

No, I'm not kidding.  But first things first why don't you take a minute, seriously it takes one minute, to enter the Stella and Dot giveaway that I have going on right now!! Click here for the post and enter on the bottom of the page.  The contest goes until next Monday January 23rd.  

Okay, now, for real, these are amaze.  Sorry, amazing.  Mr. Schwartz had a sit down talk with me last night about how I need to finish my words and not shorten them.  He said half the time he doesn't know what I'm talking about.  I told him that he should just be smarter and figure out what I'm saying.  That did not go over well.  Aaaand, I mean, Jay-Z and Kanye totally say cray.  As in cray-zay. So, what's the big deal.   Then he started abbreviating everything he could think of.  Starting with "th y" as in thank you for a wonderful dinner.  Not okay. I get it. 

This are cray  crazy good!  I mean they are everything you love about enchiladas without the tortilla and stuffed in a green pepper!?  I do have to add that I used ground turkey and brown rice as well.  Therefore, a healthy dinner option.  Yes please!  

Musical Selection:  Breathe Again by: Toni Braxton.  I almost died when a fellow blogger mentioned this song on her blog the other day.  I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.  And, I couldn't find the Jay-z Kanye song where they say "cray."  I don't think my mom would have appreciated it anyway. 

Start by cutting the peppers lengthwise and making little pepper boats.  Set this aside.

And brown up some ground turkey.  You could also use ground beef but I thought the ground turkey was perfection.  Oh and I forgot, chop some onion and toss it in with this as well.

So basically you want to make taco meat.  So add your favorite taco seasoning.  I go very heavy on this stuff since I get it at Costco and I just dump it in.  Please note that you will or should use about two packets since the rice will be added and that takes away a bit of the flavor.

Add some water and give it a mix.

Lately I have been adding tomato paste to my taco meat as well.  It deepens the flavor and makes it nice and thick.  I dig it.

Stir it all up.

And give it a taste.  It should be pretty strong/spicy before you add the rice.

Speak of the devil, there it is.  Like I said, I used brown rice.  Specifically brown jasmine rice from Trader Joe's.  That stuff is fantastic. I under cooked it by about 10 minutes so it had a little bite to it yet.  I hate a mushy stuffed pepper and enjoyed the bit of texture the brown rice added.

I also tossed in a can of green chiles.

And some black beans.  Okay, super fun fact I learned: black beans can be frozen, defrosted and used! Seriously fantastic.  I was making tacos a few weeks ago and opened a can of black beans but forgot to put them in the tacos.  Cool.  I didn't want to waste them so I popped them in a freezer bag and into the freezer they went.  Last night I defrosted them a bit in the microwave, really not too much  since I knew they would get reheated in the taco mixture and in the oven and they were perfect. So, remember that one.

Here it is all stirred up.

Next stuff the heck out of the peppers.

Like that.  Well, kind of like that.  They don't need to be perfect and mine are not at all.  I had tooons of stuffing left too.  I'm thinking of making quesadillas with it or just putting it in the freezer to use next time I want to make these as in, like, next week.

Next comes the enchilada part.  I used canned enchilada sauce and poured it mainly in between the peppers and drizzled a little on the top of each pepper as well.

Like this.

Topped them all of with a mound of cheese and into the oven they went.  We like our peppers to have a bit of bite to them so we cooked them for about 40 minutes but I would suggest next time adding another can of enchilada sauce and letting them cook at least 45 minutes.  Making sure the cheese doesn't get burned though.

But they come out looking like this.  Ahhhhh!  Seriously these are so good. Mr. Schwartz would not stop raving about them.  

Oh hello perfect bite.  

Enchilada Style Stuffed Peppers

1 package (or lb) of ground turkey or beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 cup brown rice (uncooked)

2 packets taco seasoning (give or take depending on your taste)

2/3 cup water

1 small can of diced green chilies

1 small can tomato paste

1 can black beans

2 10oz cans enchilada sauce 

3-4 large green (or red) peppers

1 package (or about two cups) Mexican blend cheese (cheddar would work too)

Start with cooking the brown rice as directed on the package.  I cooked mine about 10 minutes short (it called for 35-40 minutes and I cooked it for 30) so it had a bit of bite left to it.  

Meanwhile, brown/cook the meat in a large skillet with the onion.  While the rice is cooking and the meat is browning, prepare the green peppers by cutting them length wise to create pepper boats. Place in a 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. 

Once the meat is fully cooked, add the taco seasoning, water, tomato paste, chilies and black beans.  Stir everything until it is combined.  Add the rice and stir again.  

Take the taco/rice mixture and stuff the peppers so they are heaping full.  Take the enchilada sauce and pour around the peppers, drizzling a little on each stuffed pepper as well.  Top each pepper with a good amount of cheese.  

Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  At that time, check the peppers that the cheese is not browning but is melted.  Take a knife and test the doneness of the peppers.  If it is to your liking take them out.  If they need a few more minutes place tin foil on the top and put them back in the oven for about 5-10 minutes.  

Take the peppers out and enjoy! 

Recipe by: Mrs. Schwartz