Grow Your Own roundup #38

1 February, 2010 Nate 4 Comments

This may be the highest number of participants in “Grow Your Own” history!

This edition of GYO features 61 different dishes from 8 different countries. The “Grow Your Own” food blog roundup, created by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes, features dishes using ingredients which have been raised in our own (or someone else’s) gardens or have been hunted or foraged. Why grow your own? Because it saves money and makes for better tasting food!

I am in awe of the variety of great food that’s being made in what is Winter for a majority of food bloggers out there. I’m also very thankful for the participants from Australia for showing off their homegrown produce. Check out the entire roundup below. Entries are posted in the order they were received.

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Chinese, Poultry, Vegetables

Black Bean Chicken and Bell Peppers Stir-fry

30 January, 2010 Annie 2 Comments

Loving bell peppers is easy when stir-fried with chicken and black bean sauce.

When I was younger, there were certain vegetables that I didn’t care for—bittermelon, celery, watercress and bell peppers (specifically green bell peppers). These vegetables tasted bad to me except for watercress (that one I just didn’t like because it was so stringy—we mainly had it in soups and I could never chew it enough to swallow it).

When I met Nate, he had his own food dislikes but they didn’t match mine. I was incredulous that he didn’t like mayonnaise, bananas, and asparagus. Those were all things that I loved. So it didn’t come as too much of a surprise to me that the things he loved, I didn’t – especially bell peppers. And this particular dish of stir-fried chicken with bell peppers in black bean sauce is one of his favorites.

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Indonesian, Pork, Poultry

Indonesian Chicken and Pork Satay (Sate Ayam dan Babi)

28 January, 2010 Annie 7 Comments

Sweet marinated meat, skewered and char-grilled for that irresistible, flame-kissed, smoky flavor.

Indonesian Chicken and Pork Satay

If you recall I have had many wonderful eating experiences stemming from that International Dorm in Hawaii (Niku-Jaga, Chicken Pho, Thai Son-in-Law Eggs, Indonesian-inspired Sauteed Shrimp). But for this particular recipe, my memories are not based in the dorm. Yes, the Indonesian friends who made them were from that dorm but we had taken the satay and hibachi (portable grill) and had gone to cook them at the park by the beach. Hawaii does that to you—it makes you want to go out to the beach as often as you can!

So imagine with me, if you can, the cool tradewind breezes, and in the background, the sound of Hawaiian music playing on somebody’s boombox, the blue ocean beckoning a slight distance away, the wide, expansive park next to the beach and us sitting under a shady tree with our hibachi going. Now that you have that setting in your mind, imagine any food not tasting just wonderful. But this was satay, it wasn’t just any food, it was GOOD food.

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American, Barbecue, Pork, Poultry

Smoked Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Lollipops

26 January, 2010 Nate 1 Comment

Okay, so I know that bacon is *so* 2009, but seriously, these bacon-wrapped chicken lollipops are too good to ignore. And they’re so easy to make, too!

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Lollipops

Living here in Malaysia, we don’t get to watch much American football anymore. Truthfully, I haven’t been that big a fan of professional football to begin with. Like Annie, the only reason to watch the SuperBowl was for the ads, and for the SuperBowl get-togethers. I mean, where else are you going to find so many great hors d’oeuvres?

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House of Annie