Spicy Peanut Chicken {and life as of late}

There are few things more tragic for a food blogger than a dead camera battery in the throes of cooking. As I was making dinner one night, my camera went dead before I had even snapped a photo of my first step. I had two options. Spend 10 minutes searching for my extra battery, with only a 50% chance that it was actually charged. Or not burn dinner.

I decided to not burn dinner. And not blog about it. I went on my merry way, not thinking about pictures or writing or anything. Dare I say it was actually kind of nice?

But then, once dinner was ready and I had a bite– YUM! The dish– which could have gone either way based on my several changes to the original recipe– turned out really well! So I decided to break out the trusty old iPhone and blog about it anyways.

So excuse the lame photos, but enjoy the delicious recipe!

What else have we been up to lately? Obviously not blogging much. SORRY!!! I really have no excuse. Like, I really have no excuse. I have no job, and, therefore should have lots of free time. But somehow I don’t? What do I spend all my time doing??

Job searching. I’ve been super lucky in the past and have always found a job pretty quickly everywhere we’ve moved. Here is a totally different story. Job hunting is seriously a job in itself. I swear every application takes at least 2 hours, and I have applied to what seems like millions of jobs. Someone hire me!!

Yardwork. Who knew taking care of your own house was so hard! I’ve been mulching up a storm, pulling weeds, and tending to our garden (which is totally getting out of control! Another update to come soon!).

Sickness. I mentioned a couple posts ago that Nick had gotten a stomach bug. Well, I didn’t do much cooking during that week. Then the inevitable happened– I got it. And it really must have loved me, because it stayed for just over TWO weeks. It was not a very fun two weeks, and obviously not much cooking took place then either.

We’ve been traveling, too. We spent an extra long Memorial Day weekend in Boston for a college friend’s wedding! The wedding was beautiful and the weather was even better. Never thought I’d be excited about weather in the 60’s, but it sure was a nice break from the 90’s & 100’s we’ve been having for months here!

Crafting. I used to be a crafty person, but in the past 5 years or so, I really haven’t done anything creative. Now that I have so much free time (and therefore no income), I’ve been doing all kinds of fun DIY decor projects for our new house! Once I get everything finished (I kind of tend to start one thing and then put it down and start another… meaning I have 5 unfinished projects cluttering my house), I’ll post about them all!

So somehow, I’ve been busy even though I’m not working. But hopefully I can put some of it aside and get back into blogging more soon. In the meantime, check out my guest post on Jo, My Gosh!, a super cute military wife (to-be) blog. And check out Jo’s awesome care package ideas. I’ve already filed them away for future use. 🙂

How ’bout that recipe now?

Spicy Peanut Chicken

(adapted from Betty Crocker)

serves 4

• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp white vinegar
•  3/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 red, orange or yellow bell pepper, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1/3 cup dry-roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 2 medium green onions, sliced
• 4 oz rice stick noodles, prepared per package directions
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Mix broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and red pepper in a bowl and set aside.

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add oil to coat the pan. Add chicken, garlic and ginger and stir-fry about 3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Add bell pepper and stir-fry 1 minute.

Add the sauce to the pan. Cook and stir about 1 minute or until sauce is thickened. Toss the noodles with the chicken, then stir in peanuts. Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle onions over top.

Enjoy!