66 percent: sausage and zucchini pasta and sesame ginger steak with scallion rice

that ain't so bad right?  if it were a test grade, i would hate myself.  but luckily, the number i'm referring to is actually the percentage of meals i made last week versuses the the number of meals i had planned to make.  no excuses really, except that ton bribed us with bonefish one of the nights - its really hard to turn down that firecracker shrimp.

the first night i was going to make chorizo and zucchini pasta, but ended up using andouille instead.  this type of sausage is predominately used in cajun cooking, has a unique smoky flavor and gets its reddish tint from spices such as paprika and cayenne pepper.  this dish turned out great and i don't believe there were any leftovers.  i followed the recipe almost exactly, except i probably added a little more cheese then needed.

the second recipe i planned to make was sesame ginger steak with scallion rice.  this was one of those week night meals that came together in a flash and required no real culinary skills. (i've talked about the scallion rice before - click on the link for the recipe.)

ingredients:
1 lb flank steak, cut into strips
8oz water chestnuts, sliced
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 bunch of asparagus, cut into thirds
2 carrots, cut into strips
1/2 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves
3/4 cup lawry's sesame ginger marinade
2 tablespoons of canola oil
soy sauce, to taste

directions:
heat oil up in large wok and add steak and cook for about 4 minutes.  add rest of vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes, just until vegetables began to soften.  add marinade for the last 2 minutes and season with soy sauce.  serve on top of garlic scallion rice and you've got yourself a quick asian sensation.

forgot to take pictures of the final results.  when we're hungry, we're hungry.

no time to take pictures.

(photo credits - alamy.com)


UPDATE: apparently, i did take pictures and forgot.  enjoy :)