31 Days of Frugal Meals // Day 10

It is not secret that we love Asian food around here. When Jeremy and I lived in Monroe there was this great little Chinese takeout place that we ordered from several times a month. I seriously miss their Pad Thai! To make up for our lack of great take out I started scouring Pinterest for ideas. I can't remember where I found it, but my Asian Meatballs and Snow Peas have morphed into different flavors depending on what we have around. But that is the beauty of this recipe, you can use any Asian ingredients and make this really great and tailored to your taste. Maybe that is why I don't have an exact measurement for anything I put in this, I just add and taste until I'm happy.

Asian Meatballs with Snow Peas & Mushrooms

What you need:

1 lb ground beef or turkey

8 oz bag of snow peas (preferably fresh, but whatever you can find)

8oz fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

1/4 c low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp Chinese Five Spice

2 cloves garlic

Sriracha, to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp rice vinegar

2 tsp Sweet Chili Sauce (or more if you like it, I love it)

Depending on what I have I will also add Hoisin sauce or Duck Sauce, I'm a sauce junkie.  

What to do:

Season ground meat with 1 clove of minced garlic, ginger, and Chinese Five Spice. Roll into balls about 1 tablespoon in size. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium to medium-high heat. Cook rotating meat balls until browned. While meat balls are still cooking add mushrooms and snow peas to pan. Add in all other ingredients and continue to saute until meat balls are cooked through and mushrooms and snow peas are cooked through and softened. Sauce should be slightly thickened. 

Serve over rice (optional). 

You can completely change what you add into it for the sauce depending on your own personal taste. Serving with rice will help stretch this recipe out a lot more. 

What is your favorite take out meal?