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Kung Pao Chicken

Authentic recipe for Chinese kung pao chicken. Fast, hot, delicious. Olympians may dream of fast finish lines and stirring national anthems. But me, after making this authentic kung pao chicken for last week's opening of the summer Olympics, I was dreaming of more kung pao chicken. Seriously, I couldn't wait to make it again and so I did, just three days later. The recipe comes from the food blog Appetite for China by Diana Kuan, a food writer who is 'eating, traveling and writing her way across China'. I was taken by the simplifications Diana made to her own recipe, how she made an authentic Chinese dish accessible in my Western kitchen. The sauce is a many-layered mahogany, sleek and pungent. The chunks of chicken are moist and tender. The peanuts add crunch and the fresh green onion adds contrast. Here I go again, dreamin' of kung pao chicken ... All except two of the ingredients are found in or easily substituted by most Western pantries. I found the

Quick Crisp Flatbread

Easy homemade crispy cracker bread recipe with fresh herbs and sweet salt. TESTIMONIALS "Yum yum! This is basically all I had for dinner tonight. :)" ~ Gretchen Here's a fact: When it comes to bread, there are two camps. Camp One: No meal is complete without bread, even a small slice. "Is there bread, dear?" my mother would ask, KNOWING there was no bread but making the point, anyway. At supper one night, our family friend Olga asked for bread, "just a small cracker," then sat silent in disbelief when there was none. For those in this camp, a meal, it's gotta have bread. Camp Two: Bread is a special occasion. When bread is hot out of the oven, it might just be the meal, all by itself, perhaps with a small bowl of soup on the side. We love baking and eating bread! But every meal? No way. (Okay, there's a third camp, those that don't eat bread at all. But they're not reading anyway. So let's take a moment to p

Fish with Roasted Okra “Fries”
& Tomato-Fennel Salad

The Conversation: Okra could use a little re-branding. No more okra! Bring on the fries and popcorn! The Recipe: One of my very favorite light summer meals, just lightly sautéed fish with a simple tomato-fennel salad and roasted okra: oops, I mean, "garden fries". The whole meal cooks in 30 minutes and comes in under 200 calories. This isn't "diet food" – it's a summer feast! For good measure? There's fried okra too: oops, that would be "garden popcorn". This recipe is so quick and easy that I'm adding it to a special collection of easy summer recipes published every summer since 2009. Watch for new "summer easy" recipes all summer long. With a free e-mail subscription , you'll never miss a one! It’s no surprise when kids beg for gummi bears. But at the farmers market last year, a girl pleaded with her mom. “Please, Mom, please-please-please," she begged. "Let’s get some okra!” Her mom and I lo