Cooking with My Sis

Last night, my sister and her boyfriend came over for a visit. They only live about 35 minutes away from us-- they live north of the city, while we live south of the city-- so we try to get together with every few weeks.

My sister arrived with a 1/2 dozen of  no-bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, which are made from dates, oats, and chunky peanut butter. She has been talking about how delicious, and quick and easy these are to make, so I was psyched that she brought me some to try! Her cookies didn't last long-- after dinner, I gobbled up 2 and our guests finished the rest. They were a hit! 

Our plan was make chicken stir-fry for dinner, so I decided to make Scallion Pancakes with a dipping sauce as an appetizer. The recipe called for white flour, but instead I used whole wheat. The pancakes seemed a little more "dense," but they tasted wonderful, especially with the dipping sauce. 

Scallion Pancakes up close...

Scallion Pancakes with Dipping Sauce

1 cup flour

1 egg

3/4 cup water

1 bunch (about 6) scallions, finely sliced

1 glove garlic

1 tsp salt

2 tsp canola oil

Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp distilled white vinegar

2 tsp soy sauce (I added a little extra)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Whisk together flour, egg, and water until smooth. Stir in scallions, garlic, and salt.

2. In another bowl, combine seeds with all ingredients for dipping sauce and set aside. 

3. In a skillet, heat 1 tsp oil over medium-high heat. Ladle approximately 1/4 cup of batter into skillet and smooth it out into a thin pancake. Cook until golden brown on one side. Flip pancake and cook until golden brown on second side. Repeat with remaining oil and batter. 

Makes 6 pancakes

Per serving (with white flour): 125 calories, 3.5 g fat, 512 sodium, 18 carbs, 1 g fiber, 3.5 g protein

Our veggies for the stir-fry included yellow squash, snap peas, bean sprouts, green peppers, and onions-- to which we added a little olive oil and soy sauce. Here's my sister cooking our veggies for the stir-fry... Hi, Sister! 

Ta da! The final product: Chicken stir-fry. Delish! 

With dinner (and while cooking), I drank 2 glasses of wine. After dinner, the four of us and our friend, Dave (Hi, Dave!) went out to a local Irish Pub to meet up with some friends and begin celebrating St. Patty's Day, which is a huge holiday here in Boston! I ended up drinking a Guinness to join in the celebration. I was exhausted from my busy Saturday, so we headed home around 11:00, and went straight to bed.