chen family pizza

A chen pizza always includes sausage and mushrooms, sometimes accompanied by red onions and olives.

I'm not sure if I remember everything we did correctly, but I will update if anything changes. 

pizza

1 22 oz pizza dough
1/2 cup pizza sauce
8 oz ball fresh mozzarella, cut into slices
4 oz sliced mushrooms
2 sausages, crumbled and cooked
1/4-1/2 red onion, sliced into slivers
1/4 cup sliced olives
cornmeal, as needed

Preheat oven and pizza stone to 450 degrees.

On an edgeless or back of a rimmed baking sheet, heavily dust cornmeal (you want your dough to slide right off). Roll out dough on cornmeal dusted baking sheet using a rolling pin.

Spread sauce on dough and add mozzarella slices, then add your toppings.

Slide and shimmy pizza off the baking sheet onto hot pizza stone.

Bake for 13 mins. 

garlic green bean stir fry

This was my best attempt so far at recreating Chinese restaurant style green beans.

p.s. cutting the green beans makes it easy for kids to eat, and our kids totally ate these up.

garlic green bean stir fry
makes 8 servings

1 lb fresh green beans, cut into 2 in lengths
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp chopped garlic (I used ~6 cloves)
1 large yellow onion, cut in half top to bottom, then into slivers
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp water (plus more if you check and the pan seems dry)
2 tbsp oyster sauce

Heat the wok or heavy frying pan over high heat for 1-2 mins, until too hot to hold hand over. Add the oil and heat about 30 secs more, then add the garlic and onion and cook for 20-30 secs more, stirring the whole time.

Add beans and salt and cook about 2 mins, stirring several times. Then add water, cover wok, and let beans steam for 5 mins. (I checked once to see if pan seemed dry and added about 1 tsp more)

Uncover the pan and add oyster sauce, then cook 2 mins more, stirring so all the beans are uniformly covered with sauce. Beans should still be slightly crisp when done. Serve hot.

moo goo gai pan

perfect for when you'd like something ethnic, yet something also kind of plain.

moo goo gai pan
makes 6 servings

1 tbsp egg white (optional)
1 tbsp corn starch (optional)
1 tbsp vegtable oil
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups chopped broccoli florets
1 (8 oz) can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
1 (8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 (15 oz) can whole straw or enoki mushrooms, drained
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp minced ginger
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips
 2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
1/2 cup chicken broth

Optional step: velvet your chicken (how restaurants make their meat so tender and soft). Combine 1 tbsp egg white (f you don't want to use eggs, just toss with cornstarch instead) and 1 tbsp corn starch into a slurry, toss with the chicken and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.

Stir together the cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine and chicken broth in a small bowl.

Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat until it begins to smoke. Stir in the broccoli and saute for a couple minutes. Add 2-4 tbsp water, and let broccoli steam until water is evaporated and broccoli tender. Add mushrooms and saute until just starting to soften. Stir in bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and canned mushrooms. Cook and stir util all of the vegetables are hot. Remove from skillet/wok and set aside. Wipe out wok.

Heat the remaining tbsp of vegetable oil in the wok until it begins to smoke. Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for a few seconds until fragrant. Add the chicken, and cook unti lthe chicken has lightly browned on the edges and is no longer pink in the center, about 5 mins. Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for about 30 seconds until the sauce thickens and is no longer cloudy. Return the vegetables to the wok and toss with the sauce.

Serve over rice.

chocolate pound cake

the most amazing chocolate pound cake you'll ever have.

chocolate pound cake

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 1/2 cups white sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup coffee
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened coca powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 in Bundt pan. Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the coffee and buttermilk. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60-70 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.