I don’t know about
you, but in my books there’s always food, and often quite a few meals. After
all, everyone has to eat, right?
In my sweet,
romantic comedy, A Groom for Mama, Chinese food figures prominently. In fact, a
Chinese meal—moo shu pork to be exact—is what the heroine Allison and the hero
Jack were eating when they broke up.
I have to admit, before
writing this book I’d never eaten mu shoo pork, mostly because of the
pancakes—I avoid eating too many carbs. But I liked the way the word rolled off
my tongue, so I included it in my story. My favorite Chinese dish is Wor Sue Gai,
which is widely believed to be a Cantonese American-inspired Chinese dish that
originated in Columbus, Ohio. I used to stop at a Chinese restaurant when I
worked in downtown and go for lunch and order Wor Sue Gai. Wor Sue Gai,
literally means “wok seared chicken.” It’s
basically cooked chicken which is deboned, breaded and then fried, with a gravy
sauce drizzled over the lettuce, almonds, and anything else on the plate. Yum
gravy and chicken. For a girl raised on county food, what’s not to like? It’s
been a long time since I’ve had that particular dish, mostly because no one in
my area serves it any more.
When we were first
married we ate a lot of La Choy Chop Suey. Now if I do Chinese, it’s a quick
stir fry full of veggies. I do love the stir fry at the local homestyle diner
in our little town.
Chicken Stir Fry
But the night
Allison and Jack broke up, they were eating moo shu pork, a dish that
originated from Northern China. Moo shu pork is basically marinated stir fried pork
combined with scrambled eggs, green onions, mushrooms and Chinese cabbage and
rolled up in a thin pancake.
After writing this
book, I decided I should try moo shu pork, so I came up with my own low carb
version of the dish. Here’s a quick and easy way to make moo shu pork. If you
don’t want to use low-carb pancakes (I use a low-carb, high-fiber, sugar-free
mix called Maple Groves Farms of Vermont) or low-carb, high-fiber tortillas,
you can make regular pancakes from scratch. Just make the batter thinner so the
cakes are easy to roll up.
Catherine Castle’s Moo Shu Pork
Ingredients:
For Marinade:
2 Tablespoon
low-sodium soy sauce
1 Tablespoon oil
1-2 crushed garlic
cloves
salt and pepper to taste
Other ingredients:
1 pound thinly
sliced pork tenderloin or pork loin, sliced into strips
2 Baby bok choys
2-4 green onions,
chopped
½ box fresh
mushrooms, or one can of mushrooms, sliced
2 eggs
1 can sliced water
chestnuts, cut into sticks
4 low-carb pancakes
or low carb tortillas
Directions:
Mix marinade
ingredients and place marinade and sliced pork in a closable, plastic bag. While
you chop remaining ingredients, marinade the pork.
Discard marinade and stir fry pork over high
heat in about 1 ½ teaspoons of oil until lightly browned. When the pork is
cooked, remove from the pan and set aside. Add 1 ½ teaspoons more oil to the
pan and scramble 2 eggs to soft set stage. Push eggs to side of pan and add sliced
mushrooms, sliced green onions, sliced stems and leaves bok choy, and water
chestnuts. Stir fry until mushrooms are cooked and bok choy has wilted and
vegetables are heated through. Add pork and stir all ingredients together.
Place about ½ cup of the stir fry mix into the
low-carb pancakes or low-carb tortillas, fold up bottom of tortilla, then
sides, and serve. If you don’t like these veggies, feel free to substitute ones
that you do like. This recipe makes about 4-6 rollups, depending on how much
filling you place on each tortilla or pancake. This is also good without making
it a hand-held meal.
Now here’s an excerpt from A Groom for Mama, the book that inspired my recipe.
A Groom for Mama
By Catherine Castle
Allison snapped her
suitcase shut and shoved it under the bed. “I don’t want to talk about the one
who got away, or any other man, Mama. They grab your heart and break it—just
like Daddy did to you . . . to us.”
“Not all men are
like your daddy,” Mama said. “There are good ones out there, too.”
“Not in my
experience.” Allison gave her mother a hug. “I don’t want to talk about it
anymore, okay?”
Mama’s silence told
her she hadn’t heard the last of this subject. Her mother’s stomach growled,
easing the way to a subject change.
Laughing, she
asked, “Are you hungry, because I’m starving. Come on, I’ll fix you some lunch.
How does your favorite—tuna salad—sound?”
“Lunch,” Mama
echoed. “Oh, I forgot to tell you—Jack’s bringing something over.” The doorbell
rang and Mama smiled sweetly. “You’d better run and answer the door, dear. I’m
not taking the stairs too good, what with my arthritis and—”
Allison cut her
off. “Please don’t say it, Mama.”
With a nod, Mama
said, “Hurry then, before whoever it is thinks we’re not coming.”
“Do you need me to
return and help you downstairs?”
“No thank you,
dear. I can manage.”
Allison didn’t
doubt that for a minute. Her already-stubborn mother grew more stubborn every
day, if that was possible.
It’s just the situation. I won’t lose my
temper when we’re both so stressed, she promised herself. Time
is too precious to waste on arguing.
Bounding down the
stairwell as the bell rang, she shouted, “I’m coming! I’m coming. Keep your
pants on!” She threw the deadbolt off and jerked open the door.
Jack Somerset stood
in front of her, his chin perched on top of a stack of Chinese take-out
cartons. Shoving down her tingling gut reaction, she commanded her heart to
stop jumping like an overexcited puppy.
Except for a few
more laugh wrinkles around his eyes, Jack hadn’t changed a bit since college.
His brown hair still dipped over his forehead in a shaggy mane. A lopsided
smile spread across his face when he saw her. He winked at her, his green eyes
twinkling.
“Well, if it isn’t
the bride-to-be. Nice to see you again, Allison.” He jiggled the cartons
balanced in his arms. “I brought Chinese. I remember it was your favorite. Moo
shu pork, right?” He pushed past her and headed toward the kitchen, apparently
as well acquainted with her childhood home as she.
Grabbing her head
between her hands, she squeezed her temples.
Chinese. Of all the things he could have
brought, he brought Chinese.
She’d broken it off
with him in a Chinese restaurant . . . over moo shu pork. Very loudly and very
violently. The pork and the pot of hot tea had landed in Jack’s lap when he
tried to keep her from leaving the table. Did his choice of entrees mean Jack
hadn’t forgotten the incident? She hadn’t, and she’d been unable to eat that
particular Chinese dish since.
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About the Author:
Multi-award-winning
author Catherine Castle has been writing all her life. Before beginning her
career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has
over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian
and secular market. Besides writing, Catherine loves traveling with her
husband, singing, and attending theatre. In the winter she loves to quilt and
has a lot of UFOs (unfinished objects) in her sewing case. In the summer her
favorite place to be is in her garden. She’s passionate about gardening and
even won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club.
Her debut
inspiration romantic suspense, The Nun and the Narc, from Soul Mate Publishing was an ACFW
Genesis Finalist, a 2014 EPIC finalist, and the winner of the 2014 Beverly
Hills Book Award and the 2014 RONE Award. Her most recent release, A
Groom for Mama, is a sweet
romantic comedy from Soul Mate Publishing.
Both books are available on Amazon.
Social Media links:
Catherine’s website:
https://catherinecastle1.wordpress.com
Catherine’s blog:
http://catherinecastle1.wordpress.com/blog/
Catherine’s Amazon author page:
https://www.amazon.com/author/catherinecastle
Catherine’s Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7085414.Catherine_Castle
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AuthorCCastle @AuthorCCastle
Facebook:
https://facebook.com/catherinecastleauthor
Stitches Thru Time:
http://stitchesthrutime.blogspot.com/
SMP authors blog site:
http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/
