It's OK to Fake It

I know that yesterday I shared how to alter a recipe but that was nothing compared to tonight!  Tonight's dinner was an much easier version of Cooking Light's Glazed Chicken and Szechuan Noodle Salad with Sesame Broccoli.  In fact, I'm not sure that I can really say that I even followed the original recipe.  As you become a more confident chef, try making your own versions of recipes.  The more you experiment the quicker you will learn what you like and don't like.  Be careful not to go to any extreme with a recipe because it usually ends up in the trash with delivery pizza on it's way.

 

For tonight's dinner I took the flavors of the original recipe and simplified it.  Instead of chicken thighs (I'm not a fan of dark meat), I used chicken tenderloins that I chopped into bite sized pieces.  I have a well stocked kitchen but I don't usually have things like hoisin sauce.  So I decided to keep the ginger flavor and sprinkled some dried ground ginger on my chicken before I cooked it.  

The sauce has a lot of ingredients and I'm sure tastes wonderful.  But I wouldn't know because I faked it.  I had some Asian-style dressing in the fridge and added the soy sauce, peanut butter and lime juice.  I figured that all of the flavors were similar and that I didn't need to stock my kitchen with ingredients that I will never use again.

I heated a skillet over medium and added about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Once it was hot, I added my "ginger" chicken along with a tablespoon of soy sauce.  When the chicken was about 3/4 of the way cooked, I added some sliced peppers.  I didn't have carrots on hand but I had peppers that I needed to use.  Don't be afraid to substitute vegetables to prevent wasting food.

I added the sauce to the pan with the chicken and peppers and heated everything through.

 Instead of Szechuan noodles (what are those anyways?) I used regular spaghetti noodles.  I mixed them with my chicken/pepper/sauce mixture.  And that's it - finished!

For the broccoli I did follow the recipe because it was so simple.  It made a great addition and is an easy way to jazz up boring old broccoli.

 A lot of times I use recipes as inspiration for easier meals.  While recipes are a good way to learn cooking techniques and flavors, don't feel obligated to follow them.  Have fun adapting recipes and making them your own!

Happy Cooking!

Jenny