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Cashew Chicken and Spring Rolls (19 & 20)

For the final meal of the challenge, John chose the menu.  We both love Asian cuisine and a recent sale meant that we were flush with cashews. What better way to use them than in a delicious homemade cashew chicken?  Because no meal of Asian food is complete without eggrolls or spring rolls, we just had to make some of those too.

(19) Spring Rolls With Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce
Originally appeared in Bon Appetit Magazine, September 1996
see link for recipe source

John swears that he wasn’t trying to kill me by ending the challenge with a ginger recipe.  That’s why we skipped the dipping sauce altogether on this recipe.  Plus, it gave him a chance to show off his mad roll wrapping skills.

spring rolls 1

spring rolls 2

Verdict:  Having made eggrolls myself in the past, I had hope for this one but in the end, these were a non-starter for both of us.  The fish sauce is entirely uncalled for, making us feel like we should have rinsed it out of the filling before rolling the eggrolls.  Next time we will go veggie only, and no fish sauce.

(20) Chicken And Cashew Stir-Fry
Originally appeared in Gourmet Magazine, May 2007
see link for recipe source

John’s primary reason for choosing this recipe over others was that it seemed to be a good blend of health conscious eating and flavor variety.  The recipe was quite accurate with regard to prep and cook time which was much appreciated because we (well, John) were cooking pretty late that night.

cashew chicken

Verdict:  Spot on.  This is a hearty – but not too hearty – delicious meal that is full of color and flavor.  We will make this again to be sure.


And with that, dear friends, we have met the April Food Challenge head on and completed it with time to spare.  Thankfully we had this meal prior to the onset of the bad weather that plagued the state because life has understandably been a bit chaotic since.

If you take anything away from our food challenge of 20 recipes in 30 days, I’d like for you to challenge yourself to trying just one new recipe each week.  It will help you to break out of the same old, same old and you just might find that you enjoy things you never thought you would.

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