Gutsy Cooks menu 25

The whole family loves Chinese food.  A favorite place to eat lately is the local Chinese Buffet, everyone eats their fill and there is a fortune cookie at the end.  But, Jim and I have realized that it's just too expensive to take our brood out to eat anymore.  I can sometimes talk him into some fast food when we're out shopping, but other than that, there is an embargo on restaurant eating around here.  So I was very excited to see this weeks menu.  Appetizer: Sesame Shrimp Toasts (pg. 50); Dinner: Sweet and Sour Chicken (pg. 303); and Thai Noodle Stir-Fry (pg. 200).  I knew that it would be a crowed pleaser!
When I showed the menu to Jim, he made the worst face when I showed him the Shrimp toasts, so I didn't make them.  I look forward to reading some of the other gutsy blogs to see if it was good.  It may show up on our table another time.
I don't usually have very good luck with Chinese food, so I'm always looking for new recipes. 

I usually have poor luck with batter dipped anything.  But I really liked this batter.  It used beer and I don't know if that was the key or what, but I will use this recipe again when I need to batter-dip and fry something.

Someone recently told me that the key to good Chinese is Asian fish sauce.  As is the case for most good things, my local Wal Mart doesn't carry that, so I didn't get to use it in my noodles.  But I'll keep my eyes open and pick it up next time I'm in a bigger store.

My local Wal Mart, also, did not have cellophane noodles, so I just used some angel hair pasta I had.  It worked out alright.  This recipe made quite a bit, as you can see it filled up my wok.   I did make more pasta than the recipe called for because noodles are usually a big hit around here.  These were no exception.

I thought both recipes were alright.  Not too exciting, though.  They were not at all rejected by the family.  I will for sure make the sweet and sour chicken again.  Perhaps more sauce next time.

Life finished hers and is eating off her dad's plate.