Kung Pao Pork and Vegetables with Noodles

     Sometimes you have more leftovers than you know what to do with. That happened to me when I made a seven pound pork shoulder. I started running out of things to do with it. I finally wound up digging around for ingredients and cobbled this dinner together. I posted it on Facebook and people responded fairly well. A couple people asked for the recipe. Looking at the picture, it appears that this is a very involved dish. Edamame? That's not something most people have in the house? How did this dish happen?
     I cheated. The veggies are a microwave steamer pack. The sauce is store bought. The noodles are 10 cent Ramen. However, the meal was delicious. Maybe a touch high in sodium, but overall fairly healthy. It doesn't have to be expensive or complicated to be good.

Kung Pao Pork and Noodles

Ingredients

• 1 pack Ramen noodles (do not use seasoning packet)
• 1 10 oz pack Pict Sweet Steamables frozen Broccoli Florets, Celery, Carrots and Edamame
• 2 cups pork (beef, chicken, shrimp or tofu would all work. Hell, throw them all in there if you want!), cut or torn into 1-2" pieces
• 1/4 cup Yings Kitchen Extra Spicy Kung Pao Sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Directions

1. Heat oil in pan. Cook until browned on all sides.
2. Cook frozen vegetables in microwave according to directions. Use minimum cooking time suggested.
3. Reduce heat on pork, add cooked vegetables from bag.
4. In a saucepan, bring water to boil. Cook noodles until al dente. Drain. Add noodles to pork and vegetables in pan. 
5. Add Kung Pao sauce. Toss so sauce covers everything evenly. 
6. Serve and enjoy!

Good times!

Bonus Recipe: Orange Teriyaki Beef With Noodles

    Due to the overwhelming response by one person to request I post a pictured meal, I present to you another fine selection from the Betty Crocker 300 Calorie Cookbook.  As I've mentioned before, sometimes I mess around with recipes. Substitutions and omissions happen with alarming frequency. That occurred with this particular recipe. I couldn't have been happier with the results. So, in the interest of full disclosure, I will print the original recipe in black. All changes will show immediately in blue. Here we go:

Orange Teriyaki Beef With Noodles

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound beef sirloin, cut into thin strips (I used stew meat)
• 1 cup reduced sodium beef broth (this dish is crazy sodium packed. I just used water)
• 2T teriyaki sauce
• 1T orange marmalade
• Dash of cayenne pepper (I left this out and substituted a tablespoon of my hot pepper jelly)
• 1/4 cup sugar snap pea pods (omitted and substituted with a red bell pepper and 2 scallions)
• 1/4 cup uncooked fine egg noodles (omitted and substituted with a pack of Ramen noodles. Save the seasoning packet for something else.)
• 1.5t corn starch
• 1.5T cold water

Directions

1. Heat 1T oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook beef in skillet for 2 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown. Remove from skillet; keep warm.
2. Add broth, stir-fry sauce, marmalade and red pepper to skillet. Heat to boiling. Stir in pea pods and noodles; reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook about 5 minutes or until noodles are tender. (Big changes here. Add broth, teriyaki, marmalade, pepper jelly, pepper and scallion. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes.)
3. Cook Ramen noodles as directed, strain and set aside. DO NOT USE THE SEASONING PACKET.
4. In a small bowl, combine corn starch and water. Stir until dissolved. Pour into broth mixture.
5. Stir in beef. Cook uncovered 2-3 minutes or until sauce has thickened.
6. Serve over Ramen.

Serves 2. About 270 calories per serving

Good times!