General Tso's Chicken

We HAVE found one Chinese restaurant here in San Salvador that we enjoy.  Its name is Restaurant 168--the Chinese number that means "prosperity all the way."  We do like the food and the lunch prices are about the same as in the states. When we are out of the country on campaigns, we have to eat out everyday, so lunch and/or dinner out is not the norm when we are at home in El Salvador.

Although it wouldn't bother Stephen to have a standard menu, i.e taco Monday, spaghetti Tuesday, grilled chicken, Wednesday; it drives me crazy.  Not only do I not like to eat the same thing every week, I don't even like to cook the same thing.  Last weekend as I sat down to plan the menu for the week, I realized it was time for some new recipes.  Unlike the "good ol' days" when you had to ask/beg family/friends to share the recipe for something you ate and enjoyed at a family or church potluck, there's no lack of recipes available on the Internet.  However, because there are so many recipes out there, it takes me a long time to narrow down the field to the 2 or 3 I want to try any given week.  Unfortunately, sometimes the ones that I crave the most contain ingredients that I can't find here (see my previous blog.) 

Plus, the only beef I buy is hamburger--all of the rest of the cuts of beef are unrecognizable and, on the rare occasion I have purchased beef, it is so tough that no amount of Adolph's or number of hours in the crock pot can render it tender and juicy.  I know that limiting consumption of red meat is good, so I'm okay with this.  We eat our red meat when we are back in Kansas City where they know what they're doing with beef.  I buy whole chickens, boneless skinless chicken breasts and boneless skinless chicken thighs.  Tilapia is the only fish I am comfortable purchasing here (enough said.)  

Since we eat so much chicken, I decided to see if I could find a recipe for General Tso's chicken--Stephen's favorite dish at Master Wok in Lee's Summit.  Yep, found a recipe and it was even a light version (click HERE for the recipe--thanks, Martha Stewart.)  Sunday lunch:  General Tso's chicken (minus some of the heat since it doesn't take much to get my mouth burning) with rice and stir fried vegetables (the recipe called for snow peas, but can't find fresh or frozen here.)  Next task is finding a good egg drop soup and egg roll recipe.