I am breaking my blogging fast with a big bloggy cook-a-long today! I'm just going to pretend you are in my kitchen.....I'll be cooking and filling you in on the last few months at the same time.

In honor of our study of Marco Polo and his trip through China, we will be eating chinese food tonight! We will be making a big batch of lettuce wraps from a copycat recipe! P.F. Changs, anyone? These really taste like the real thing without the budget hit! Please don't let all the prep work put you off this recipe...it makes a ton and is really worth the work. It is a great appetizer to have on hand in the freezer during the holidays, an awesome picnic lunch to take when you go on a fall leaf hunt, and a very easy weeknight dinner that children usually love.

You can find the single batch recipe here:

http://www.recipelink.com/mf/14/8937

I am making a really big batch, so that I can freeze it in dinner size portions. Here is my re-sized recipe.

Chicken Mixture:

3 cups dried Shitake mushrooms

4 teaspoons cornstarch

8 teaspoons dry sherry

4 teaspoons water

4 teaspoons soy sauce

salt and pepper

5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup oil

4 teaspoons fresh minced ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

8 green onions, minced

4 8-oz cans bamboo shoots, minced

4 8-oz cans water chestnuts, minced

1 pk cellophone chinese rice noodles, prepared according to instructions (I've never used this...if you do, let me know how it goes!)

Cooking Sauce:

4 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons dry sherry

8 tablespoons oyster sauce

8 tablespoons water

4 teaspoons sesame oil

4 teaspoons sugar

8 teaspoons cornstarch

I will be making a few changes along the way to accomodate our tastes and what we have in the house. I will be preparing all ingredients first, then cooking it in several batches, because I don't have a big wok, only a meager 10 inch skillet.

The first thing I'm going to do is start soaking my mushrooms in boiling water. I buy a big bag of dried Shitake mushrooms at Costco. They last forever and are great for stir-frys and WONDERFUL for adding to your roasts in the crockpot. They add a rich smoky flavor to just about any dish. I filled my large saucepan 3/4 of the way with water and brought it to a boil. Then I added 4 cups of the dried mushrooms. I will let them sit for about 30 minutes while I post about the last bunch of photos I just downloaded.

Note: I can't figure out how to get my photos to download in the correct order....so you'll just have bear with me.

Take a look at the photo of the chicken chunks. Cut your chicken up about that size. Then, a few handfuls at a time, mince it by pulsing on and off in the food processor until it looks like the other photo. Put your chicken in a bowl. Mix together cornstarch, sherry (I'm using white wine, because it's what I have) water, soy sauce, and salt and pepper. Stir it into your minced chicken and let it marinate while we do the rest of our prep work.

Next, drain your mushrooms and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 little piles, if you are making a big batch.

Drain your water chestnuts, and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 little piles, if you are making a big batch.

Drain your bamboo shoots, and mince them in your food processor. Set them on a plate, divided into 4 piles, if you are making a big batch.

Mince your ginger. I don't do this in the food processor. It does not work as well.
http://www.cookthink.com/reference/594/How_to_mince_ginger Here is a great tutorial if you don't know how to do that. I added some extra ginger, because we love it. Set it on a plate, divided into 4 piles if you are making a big batch.

Slice up your green onions. Set them on a plate and divide them into 4 piles if you are making a big batch.

That completes our prep work! Your hard work should look like the photo at the top my next post. I'm going to finish this cook-off in several posts, in order to make the photos and instructions line up.

wow...am I behind on the blogging! I have several things I want to blog about, so I'll write them down here so that I have some accountability.

1. Sam's 20$ Webkin party

2. Autism, Haircuts, and Blalocks Barber and Realty

3. Our fabulous Thanksgiving with the Millers and our family

But first, I must make sure my family is fed, so we will have a Chicken Soup Cook-Along! Many of you know that I am totally enamored with my Rival 20 quart turkey roaster, which did a great job on Thanksgiving, but is also a real work horse all year round. Today, we are going to do a quadruple recipe of Chicken Soup to freeze or share. So, get out of your jammies and go buy:

4 whole chickens (4-5lbs each) Mine came from Costco and cost 15$ for all four

1 jar McCormick chicken base - again from Costco and cost about 3$ You can also use Better Than Bouillon from the grocery store, or just dissolve the appropriate amount of bouillon into the water.

4 large onions, quartered studded with 8 whole cloves (total - not on each one)

10 large carrots, peeled and cut in two

1 large head celery with leaves, stalks cut in two

1/2 cup chopped garlic I buy this in bulk at Costco in the spice section

1 tablespoon dried dill

2 tablespoons dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Noodles or dumplings of your choice..... I use potato gnocchi from the refrigerated section of Trader Joes

4 bags frozen peas

Okay.....you back from the store yet? Put your cooker on the counter away from little hands. It can get hot on the sides. Rinse off your chickens and place in the cooker. It doesn't matter if they are rock solid frozen. Mine didn't come with the little plastic bag of parts so it doesn't need to be thawed first. Add your onions, celery, carrots, garlic and spices to the pot around and on top of the chickens. Use a 2 quart measuring cup to mix up some broth using your chicken base or bouillon. Pour the broth over the chickens and vegetables until the water comes to about 1 inch from the top of the cooker. It took me about 2 gallons of broth.

Now put that lid on and crank that sucker up to about 450 until it starts to boil, then you can turn it down to about 350 and let it simmer for about 2-3 hours when the meat of the chicken starts coming off the bone.

Great...now that we have dinner actively cooking, I can tell you about Sam's great birthday party.