Eating Dinner With My Family

As you may or may not know I love Korean food and a bulgogi just might be my favorite of all the dishes. This was a good dinner!  Totally yummy!!  If I had any criticism it would be that I didn't get enough, and I would have liked some more veggies.  (Not really for flavor but for health).   It is pretty easy to make too.  The only real preparation that needs to be done is the marinating early (or do it overnight like I did).  I did use the optional pear, I didn't taste it in the final product but I think it must have done something.  Kimchi Bulgoi Dubbap Recipe (Kimchi Bulgogi Rice Bowl) For Bulgogi tenderloin or rib eye tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)    (I used soy) sesame oil large cloves garlic Ilarge onion Asian pear (optional) agave nectar or honey mirin black pepper For Sautéd Kimchi napa kimchi gochujang (Korean red chili pepper (she said you could leave this out if you don't feel like running to the o...

Yum, yum and yum!!  It took a little longer than I expected and it made enough meatballs to have the 4 of us eat 2-3 huge meals each but, I'm not complaining; they were great meatballs in an amazing sauce.  I will happily eat leftovers:). We served them over mashed red skinned potatoes. (Like the picture on the from the original blogger.) It was a perfect vehicle for the gravy/sauce. I know it's not healthy gravy, but the vast majority if the sauce was stock and veggies so I'm calling it quasi healthy and you can't convince me otherwise because I'm going to eat an obscene amount of it! Lol. I can't get over that sauce. As I sit here stuffed, I want to go get more now that I'm thinking about it. Porcupine Meatballs With Cream Sauce   Meatballs: ground beef ground pork rice onions egg water salt ground black pepper Cream Sauce: butter large carrots onions garlic cloves minced tomato paste flour chicken broth heavy cream salt and peppe...

Another pin from Pinterest tonight. It turns out it is a recipe from the same blog that I got one of my all time favorite recipes: Teriyaki Salmon with Sriracha Cream. The sriracha cream is quite possibly the most perfect sauce ever!  The blog is called Damn Delicious. I am going to have to have a good look through it, soon. This pancetta fried rice was really great. A solid 4.5 from me, the boy was hovering between 3.5-4. The hubby wasn't home so we don't have his rating, and except for the scallions the girl liked it too!  Not only did it get high marks from everyone, it was easy to make, and inexpensive. The hardest part was the chopping/grating before the cooking. That could always be done ahead of time and then dinner would take like 15 minutes. I made extra rice when we make the poblano chicken so I had the 3 cups of cooked rice already cooked and measured out. Even with the chopping and egg cooking, it came together really quick. I adore the fact that the regular scramb...

Meatless Monday was also clean out the odds and ends day.  I had several items I needed to use (2 onion halves, some broccoli, 2 green pepper halves etc...), so improvised a stir fry.  I am no Asian cooking master, but I thought I didn't acquit myself too badly.  I could stand to improve on this one;). Veggie Stir Fry 1 cup of uncooked jasmine rice (cook as per instructions) 5 Scallions, cut in to 1" pieces 2 Carrots, thinly sliced 1 large Onion, sliced 1 Green Pepper, Sliced 2 Cups Broccoli florets 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp of water 2 Cloves of Garlic minced 1 Tablespoon grated, fresh ginger Pinch of Red Pepper flakes 1/2 Tablespoon of sesame seeds 1-2 dashes Five Spice Powder 2 Tbsp  Tamari Sauce (or soy) 2 Tbsp  Mirin Sweet Chili Sauce Canola Oil Salt and Pepper Sauté carrots and onions for 3 to 4 minutes in about tablespoon and a half of canola oil with a pinch of red pepper flakes. Add the rest of th...

While I happened to love this dish, there were some issues to note and some of the family weren't as enthusiastic.  This was a quick and tasty meal if you keep one thing in mind, the last ingredient line is the only sauce/ seasoning that this dish really has.  Without it, there is just a little bit of soy sauce and sesame oil.  I had a fermented pepper paste. (see picture below) that I had gotten for my friend's Korean Pork BBQ.  I seem to remember looking up 'spicy Korean red bean paste' when I first got this recipe and my stuff came up as an image, so I used that and it made it wonderful.  My husband thought with out the sauce it was a 2 and with it a 3.  I thought with the sauce a 4.  My blog, so I call it a 4:D.  The most amazing thing about tonight's dinner, MY BOY LIKES SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS!!!  This from the kid who gags at the thought of mushrooms.  He has enjoyed their flavor when they are ground up in something, but has always sai...

I first saw this on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate".  Aaron Sanchez picked his mother's Arroz Con Crema.  I thought it looked amazing.  Now, I got this off the website for his mother's restaurant, but I am sure mine didn't hold a candle to hers.  This was very tasty.  My son declared this worthy of his favorite file!  My husband isn't home yet, so I can't give you his feed back, but it is a win with us.  I am excited to have it as leftovers.  I know it sounds strange, waiting for leftovers, but tomorrow morning, this with a runny egg yolk just might be heaven.  I only planned on serving this with a salad since it is meatless Monday, but with an egg it would have protein and still be meat free.  Next time:) Arroz Con Crema 4 c  water 2 c  Uncle Ben’s or other converted rice 1 T  butter 2 t  salt For the sour cream mixture 2 c  sour cream 1/2 c  chopped onion 1/4 c  chopped cilantro 1  ...

I have been wanting to make Arroz con Pollo for a while.  It takes me back to my childhood in Miami.  I had a couple of recipes for it.  When it comes to a popular, iconic, dish, I like to try several recipes to see what I like and what works.  This one is from Food & Wine.  I was sure it would be tasty, as F & W rarely disappoints, but it in no way resembles the dish of my childhood.  The rice isn't yellow. (I was tempted to add food coloring;)  It also didn't have peas!   I think arroz con pollo needs peas.  However, I choose this recipe tonight since I had most of the ingredients.  The recipe from 3 guys from Miami had more that I needed to buy, but I think it will be a better version.  This recipe wasn't particularly hard to make, so that was nice.  As to the taste, I thought it was all right.  My husband liked it more and more as he ate it.  I don't like meat on a bone, so I might be letting my issue...

I wasn't sure what to expect from this.  We all like lentils and Giada has always delivered on her recipes.  I have been holding off on trying this also, since the long list of ingredients seems like it might be an ordeal to make.  It was delicious and surprisingly easy.  I did use 2 oz more spinach since it came in 6 oz bags, and I'm sure I used a bit more cheese.  My veggie broth was unsalted, so I needed a bit more salt too.  I couldn't fit it all in one pan, so I split them between 2 pans.  It was really, really good and really filling.  It was a bit more liquid than I expected from "meatloaf" but it so didn't matter.  Even the boy, who had been snacking while waiting for dinner to be done, ate heartily.  I think this is a must for any vegetarian and a should have for everyone else. I really liked the raw tomato in the sauce too.  I'm glad I skipped making a salad;  it really filled you up! Veronica's Veggie Meatloaf With ...

Having pomegranate molasses from last night's recipe, I decided to pull out this one from my to try file that has been passed up because I didn't have the molasses.  I hate to get an ingredient with only one use for it.  Well unlike in school house rock, it seems two was the magic number.  This one was vastly superior to last night's dinner.  My only complaint was with mother nature.  I did not enjoy the woody aspect of the pomegranate arils.  Loved the tart pop but that woody crunch after was a texture issue for me.  I kept thinking that I was getting a fish bone.  I learned to work with it and over the course of dinner, I found myself enjoying it more and more.  The flavor of the fish was awesome.  I even enjoyed the mint.  I usually have an issue with mint in savory dishes. Pom egranate-Glazed Salmon With Armenian Rice Salmon 2 T  soy sauce 1 T  extra-virgin olive oil 1 T  fresh lemon juice 1...

This dinner was a split decision.  I liked it somewhat and thought it was good enough to try and fix the issues we had with it.  My son loved the fish, but my husband didn't.  My husband thought the rice was the star, the carbohydrate kid, not so much.  The little girl liked the fish too.  I loved that this recipe was a real challenge on the ingredient guessing game.  The boy beat the husband by one.  I will admit when it came to the spice blend, I gave hints;).  I just want to advocate again that the ingredient guessing game is a great meal time activity.  It can be played by any age, it's fun (really it is, not just for food geeks:) and connects the diner with the meal and the process of cooking it. Ok back to the meal... It was a bit of a laborious pain.  The pomegranate molasses took way longer thant AB said it would in his recipe.  You can buy it, but why? It's $$$$ and hard to find.  I did it the day before.  I...

     Before I started cooking this, which I did pick because of the leftovers I had from Friday night's meal, I figured the cost of the entire dinner.  Ham 1.65, Scallions .60, Kimchi 2.00, Rice, .51,  Eggs  .42 Total= $5.16 but kimchi and rice was leftover so they would have been wasted if not used so I almost don't want to count them.  Complete the meal with even a fancy bag of mixed salad greens $3.00 and make your own dressing. Oil, vinegar and salt and pepper are considered part of a stocked pantry.  Meal total $8.16.  I have a bit, not much mind you, of the pork left too.  I could have used it in place of the ham.  Instead I thought I would either serve as a lettuce bundle for each of us or mix it into the rice.  I decided to save it and eat it as lunch because it is just too darn good to throw in with something else.      The rice was good.  I had made it once before and didn't r...

Well I wanted to try a pork tenderloin recipe from Anthony Bourdain, but pork tenderloins come in two packs.  I wasn't going to cook both for dinner for just the four of us, so a quick search of food and wine and I found this.  I was a little leery, ground ginger and raisins.  Neither are some of my favorite things.  Top that off with the use of apple juice.  I know there are pork chop and applesauce lovers out there, but I am not one of them.  I am getting over my reluctance to try anything that mixes sweet and savory but I still am not a fan.  Well I prepped the Bourdain recipe for tomorrow and trimmed the tenderloin for tonight's dish.  (I'm proud of myself; this is another (one of many) issue of mine.   It was good.  We all liked it better than we thought we would.  The ginger was unmistakable, but not overpowering. It suggested steamed greens with it, but my boys wouldn't be too happy with greens in general so I opted...

Well I had some feta left from the grilled Greek chicken salad, and I remembered this recipe that my MIL had made for us years ago, so I figured I would try to replicate it. I remember it well even though it was at least 11 years ago.  This was before I was interested in cooking and was pretty limited in what I was willing to eat.  I didn't like shrimp or feta. (or so I thought) and was thinking how am I going to handle this meal with good grace.  Then she says, its a pasta sauce but I'm serving it over rice.  (not a fan of rice either but I loved pasta.  oh no!)  Turned out that I loved it.  However I had never made it.   I'm pretty sure she got it out of this cool little book of pasta sauces she got for us called Sauces for Pasta.  I haven't found a bad one in there yet.  So I looked through it and found what I believe was it. I did put it over rice again, and I used canned chopped tomatoes instead of fres...

Picture taken by flashlight! Well tonight's dinner was an adventure to say the least!  In the middle of sauteing the chard, the power kept flickering.  It continued to do so until the sauce making stage where it completely went out.  I make about 1.5 of the recipe, or as I said to my husband when the power started flickering, one and a half a$$ed!  It was cold but tasty.  I personally am not a big fan of tarragon, but it was subtle enough for me. The best part of the meal was the rice.  I just put 1 c. rice in my rice steamer with chicken stock instead of water, and a 1/2 cup of golden raisins along with about a tablespoon of soy sauce and about 1.5 tbsp of unsalted butter.  Cooked it in the steamer and when it was done, added chopped walnuts.  Yum!  We ate by candlelight which made up for the cool temp of the food:) Sauteed Tilapia Over Swiss Chard With Tarragon Butter       1    Tbs. extra-virg...

Well, last soccer season, it was tradition to have a grilled steak salad after the weekly practice.  I am trying to get through the MANY recipes I have in the To Try folder, so I am breaking tradition. (for now)  I did however still broil a steak, but tonight I decided to top it with a compound butter I have been wanting to try.  Also I had leftover rice I wanted to use, so I made my 'fauxsotto'.  It is my silly name for an easy way to use leftover plain white rice.  I used the leftover butter lettuce from last night too; I made a salad of the lettuce, cherry tomatoes and scallions.  I dressed it with a champagne vinaigrette I made.  Because I am trying to eliminate packaged foods, I am almost exclusively making my own salad dressings.  To do this I have about 7 kinds of vinegar. You can make a great of variety of dressings and they are quite simple.  My favorite is the champagne vinegar.  This one is pretty tasty but it i...

Well tonight my family had this.  It is a favorite of the boys. I, however, went out with some of the girls to the Ormond Wine Co.  We had lots of great cheeses, flatbreads and wine.  We were loud and laughed too much but don't really care.  It was just too much fun!  I did prep everything for the dish in advance.  That way my husband only had to cook the rice and salmon when they were ready to eat.  It is a nice dish because it is easy, light and great for summer because it isn't really hot.  It is fairly low fat and it is fairly low calorie.  My husband did NOT take a picture so I get to give him lots of grief which is in its self its own reward;)  Salmon With Thai Rice Salad  4 Servings   1 1/2 c  long-grain rice       3 T  lime juice (from about 2 limes)       3 T  Asian fish sauce (nam pla or nuoc mam)       2 T...