Review: Laziest Chicken Lo Mein Ever

  Last week I made One Pot Wonder Chicken Lo Mein. Since I'm trying to bring lunch to work every day, I'm always looking for simple one-pot meals. While I do enjoy cooking more time consuming or complicated recipes, most of the time I just want to have good, homemade food ready to go.

  The idea is to layer cubed chicken breast, uncooked pasta, and vegetables in a large stock pot, then pour broth, cornstarch, soy sauce, sugar, olive oil, plus other seasonings, on top, and let the whole thing simmer. It all cooks together, and the cornstarch, oil, and soy sauce soak into everything and create that addictive not-quite-sticky but perfectly salty and rich lo mein flavor.

  I altered the recipe a bit to what I had on hand - a full pound of breasts instead of half a pound, fewer carrots, and smaller chopped vegetables.

Before, in an 8-quart pot. Buried underneath are pasta and chicken.

  Cutting everything up is the only part of this recipe that would take any real time, and I cheated by buying pre-chopped peppers and onions (the reason they're smaller than the original recipe). I buy pre-cut or frozen veggies on a regular basis because they save time and dishes. The only thing I had to actually prepare for this dish was some chicken, so the actual work in making this dish was minimal. 

  Aside from what I mentioned above, I followed the rest of the recipe exactly. When the cooking time had elapsed, there was still liquid left in the pot:

  After I let it simmer uncovered for a bit, the water evaporated and left the apartment smelling like delicious (Americanized) Chinese food.

Finished product with my skilled smartphone photography.

  Verdict? Great. Tasted just like what I would get at a take-out place, and I'm glad I added the extra chicken. It was even better reheated because the flavors had marinated. However, next time I'll pre-season the chicken and maybe try a peanut butter version.

  The recipe made a huge amount of food - at least 8-10 generous servings with the full pound of chicken. Not counting the vegetables, this came in at 25 calories/oz, so about 200 calories/cup (very rough estimate because I go by weight). I usually ate 16 ounces for lunch, for 400 calories total.

  Recipe reviews probably won't be a weekly thing, but every once in a while when I find something great, I'll share it. 

Delicious Combinations, and Work is Busy Again

I'm going to try not to weigh myself for at least a month. Though I'm feeling good, I have a long way to go and I need to just focus on the next day so that I don't get frustrated if I don't lose as much as I think I should have. Now that I'm on the right track, I'm even more impatient for what seems inevitable.

Would you like to see my belly button? 

Tonight I enjoyed one of the best combinations known to man - vanilla ice cream and peanut butter. Try it. This delightful treat was also a good reinforcer that I can fit in a nice dessert with normal meals if I plan a little bit - basically, just not eat random crap during the day, and then later realize that it added up to way more than I originally thought.

On an unrelated note, work has been busy this week. We slowed down a lot over the holidays, but once mid-January rolls around everyone seems to start remembering everything they were supposed to do over the last few weeks. Since my work is based mostly on short-term projects from other people, it's also the end of weekdays with two or three hours of work followed by five hours of getting paid to read the entire Donner Party wikipedia entry and three months of Zits comics.

A bonus for busy times is that I really appreciate getting out of the office at the end of the workday, instead of just being happy that now I can go home and surf the internet in sweatpants. I'm also really, really lucky to be employed.

How I feel in sweatpants