Things in Bowls Vol. 9

Welcome to the latest edition of Things in Bowls! If you're looking for more recipes or you missed any of the previous editions, you can find all of the Things in Bowls posts in one place HERE. We've moved since I posted the last round of recipes so you now get a new background and more daylight in the photos 🙂

Cajun Pepper Shrimp

Shrimp isn't typically our go-to protein of choice (we buy it maybe one or two times per year) but I had to try this recipe and it was WELL worth it. That being said, I think that we'll actually make it without the shrimp next time simply because having one protein instead of two is more budget friendly....and leftover shrimp is just weird 🙂 I made a fair number of changes to the recipe to make it more suitable to what we typically have around:

• Used a 12 oz bag of frozen corn because there wasn't fresh corn at the store (in July?!)
• Didn't use fresh thyme or basil because $$
• Used 2 1/2 cups water for orzo in place of the 1/3 cup dry white wine + 2 cups water
• Used 1/2 cup milk instead of coconut cream/heavy cream because we always have milk around and it serves the same purpose
• Made Homemade cajun seasoning (and used 1 teaspoon each dried basil, oregano, and rosemary to make the Italian seasoning component - I didn't plan ahead well on the spice front)
• Used this pre-cooked beef sausage because I couldn't find Andouille

I know that seems like a lot of significant changes but we LOVED this and the changes made it a far more affordable recipe - fresh herbs, heavy cream, and ingredients you don't usually use can really add up!

15 Minute Lo Mein

I've had a hard time finding a quick and easy Asian dish that we really love but this might be it! It's quick, easy, and cheap to make and I like that you can use pretty much any vegetable you prefer - you could end up with a different meal each time you make it! I also like pasta more than I like rice, so that's a plus 🙂 I just use whole wheat spaghetti noodles because we usually have some and that makes life simpler. We also only buy one type of soy sauce, so I used 3 tablespoons of that instead of using a light soy sauce + a dark soy sauce. Sesame oil is a more random ingredient but it's worth buying if you like making Asian dishes. I store sesame oil in the fridge because it tends to spoil quickly at room temp (at least at the rate we use it).

One Skillet Adobo Chicken

If you click through to this recipe, you'll notice that my version looks VERY different. I've made this four or five times now and I cannot get the sauce to look like what is pictured. Perhaps with an additional 20-30 minutes of cooking I would have success, but we love the taste as it is and I have no patience for dinner that takes that long to cook 🙂 I cut up the chicken rather than leaving it whole and I didn't add the bay leaves because we've been out of them for quite some time. I didn't add the 1/4 cup water to the sauce due to the aforementioned sauce issues (though leaving it out didn't seem to help the sauce thicken up more). I also add some chopped broccoli in the last five minutes of cooking for a little color! We serve this over brown rice.