Egg,Quinoa and Spinach

Give it a name!

This was my sister's big idea.  She made this for me last weekend.  I don't know what to call it.  Maybe you can come up with a name.

It's really good.  Although I love anything that has a fried egg on top that oozes down the yellowy goodness of the yoke on everything.  I'm probably biased.

The recipe is something my sister came up with after reading an article.  It's quinoa, spinach and a fried egg.  Pretty simple.  That's how she made it, anyway.  I added a little of the smoked seasoning from Trader Joe's that I like.  But don't tell her.  I don't want to hurt her feelings.

So here's the recipe...you can have this done in about 5 minutes if you already have the quinoa cooked.  If not, it only takes 10-15 minutes to cook it then you can start.  So maybe 20 minutes total?  More if you're slow.  I don't know if you are or not.  But you could be.

Ok, here we go...
1 cup of quinoa, cooked
1 cup spinach, uncooked
1 egg
some salt maybe or whatever kind of spices you like
a little olive oil

Spray a pan with a bit of oil or use some olive oil for sauteing and add the quinoa.  Stir it around a bit to break up any clumps.  Add the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts.  Don't overcook the spinach.  It's gross.  It should be green and still look like spinach.  Add some salt or seasonings if you want.  Take all of it and put it on your plate.  Clean out the pan.  Yes, I know.  It breaks your cooking rhythm to wipe out the pan with a paper towel.  Use a second pan.  I don't care.  I don't have to do your dishes.

Add some olive oil, heat up the pan and add the egg.  If you don't know how to fry an egg with a soft yolk, here's your chance to learn!  By trial and error.  I'm not going to teach you here. Although I will suggest using a bit of seasoning.

Once the egg is cooked to your liking tip it onto the top of the quinoa/spinach mound.  When you break open the egg the yolk will spill out onto everything else.  That's my favorite part.

And it's not even remotely taco related.

Bulgogi Tacos

Tacos...again.

I realized today that I'm seeing a trend in my dinner cooking habits.  When I was a kid my mom used leftovers to make a casserole.  It didn't matter what the leftovers were.  She put it all in a dish, added a can of peas (no, I still don't know why) popped it in the oven for a bit and voila!  Dinner.  Or some approximation, thereof.  This was not my favorite night of the week.

Now that I'm the mom and working with leftovers I realized I have my own version of my mom's casserole routine.  When I have leftovers I make tacos.  It doesn't matter what the leftovers are.  I shove them in some corn tortillas with a bit of cheese, tomatoes and greens and voila!  Dinner.

This time it was the leftover bulgogi from last night.  I chopped it up small and cooked it in a skillet with some cumin, coriander and chili powder.  Just a little because I didn't want to ruin the great bulgogi taste.  I toasted the tortillas over an open burner.  The charred flavor on the tortillas was really good with the bulgogi and tomatoes are always great with beef.

So maybe my leftover ideas haven't been overly exciting lately but it does taste good.  And there's not a canned pea in sight.

Bulgogi Salad

Yeah, you read that right.  I'm exploring some fusion cuisine.  Korean and....salad.  Where does salad come from, anyway?  California?  Probably.  We seem to be the salad capital.  And now we even have Korean salad.  At my house, anyway.

A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to the Korean market, the Galleria on Reseda.  I picked up some of their pre-made bulgogi beef and marinated pork.  I like to buy extra and keep it in the freezer for a day I want something quick but really good.  Korean food is amazing.  Seriously.  If you haven't, you should go try it.

Since my trip was a couple of weeks ago I didn't have any of the marinated veggie side dishes that go with this and I didn't want to just eat a bunch of rice and meat.  Although that's exactly what my son ate.  And then he ate some more.  Apparently he's working on getting taller.

So I decided to grill up the meat and put mine on some mixed greens and fresh tomatoes from my organic box.  I added some quinoa.  My sister has been experimenting with it lately so I thought I'd give it a shot.  It was good.

So that's really the recipe today, quick, simple and healthy.  Did you know quinoa isn't pronounced "Quinn - Noah"?  I did not.  The guy I asked at Trader Joe's thought I was looking for some guy named Quinn.  Or Noah.  It was a weird conversation.

Buffalo Burger

Buffalo Burger

Ok so technically it's a Bison Burger but Buffalo Burger sounds better.

 I was all set to make myself a tasty little meal of quinoa, spinach and an egg.  My sister's recipe.  My son was on his way home from the lake with my parent's and I didn't figure he'd be home for dinner so I wasn't worried about making something he'd eat.

Then he called me.  And told me they were stopping at Charlie Brown Farms in Littlerock.  Maybe it's Pearblossom.  I'm not sure.  It's on the 138 in So California.  Look it up.  It's worth a stop if you're there.  Seriously.  They have dinosaurs.

Anyway, he offered to pick up a buffalo burger for me.  I love buffalo burgers.  Especially from there.  Or anywhere I can find them.  So the healthy dinner went out the window and I had a burger and fries.  But at least it was bison.  That's healthier than beef.  Right?

Who am I kidding?  I need to go for a run.

Simple Sandwich

Super Fancy Sandwich

I know when I started this I said I'd post every day what I had for dinner.  That was before I realized I had a weekend away planned that did not include online access.  No wifi, no cable.  Not even dial up.  It was like being in a sensory deprivation tank. Except that it was really hot, really bright and windy.  I was in the desert.  Not my first choice but it was my sister's birthday and it was what she wanted.  I don't know why.  I don't understand people who like the desert.

I'm back today because I had to work.  My son is still there, living the glamorous life on a desert lake with my parents.  Since he's not home I'm having a simple dinner.  Just a sandwich.

This is a very complicated recipe so pay attention.  It's turkey on shepherd's bread from the grocery store.  They bake it there so it's pretty good.  Instead of mayo I use a wedge of Laughing Cow low fat cheese.  It tastes better and it's only 35 calories.  I used a slice of Havarti cheese and a tomato and greens from my organic box.  They're left over from last week.  I forgot to order a box for this week.  The desert heat makes me forget things.

The boy will be home tomorrow so I'll have to make more of an effort and actually cook something.  Probably.

Leftovers

Chicken Tacos Part II

No it's not deja vu.  You've seen this picture before.  I had chicken tacos again tonight.  I still had chicken left over and all the taco fixings soooo....

When I got home tonight I was worn out from work.  It's been a long week and I'm exhausted.  I started thinking about dinner and that I don't want to cook tonight.  And I have to straighten up the house before the cleaning lady comes tomorrow.  And the fact that I made a commitment to sharing my dinner ideas every night and I wanted them to be good.  Really regretted that tonight.

But then I thought about it.  The point of this was to share what a normal working mom does for dinner every night.  Fast food and all.  Not to impress anyone with my cooking skills.  I think it's important with all of the less than realistic expectations put on all of us to see how an average person does it.  To see what an average person actually does without worrying about what anyone else will think.

So tonight, an average, exhausted mom made the same thing for the second night this week.  I'm so sick of that stupid chicken.  I'm thinking it might actually be a small turkey.  Screw freezing the rest of it.  I don't even want to look at it anymore.

Two Guys From Italy

Jägerschnitzel mit späetzel

When I got home tonight I was all prepared to make chicken and dumplings.  From scratch.  Mostly, anyway.  I was going to use the rest of the left over chicken.  Seriously, that thing was huge!

But when I got home my son said he felt like having schnitzel and besides we hadn't had time to celebrate our latest Tae Kwon Do testing and mom you look really tired, don't cook and wouldn't it be more fun to go out?

So he twisted my arm.  Not that much, though.  I really was tired.  So we went to a place called Two Guys from Italy.  Which is owned by German lady.  There are no Italians of any gender at the restaurant.  And half the menu is German.  But the German food is so good!  The Italian isn't too bad, either.

My son had the Jägerschnitzel with Spätzel.  No I'm not pronouncing it for you.  I can, I'm just not going to.  It's a pork cutlet smothered in an amazing tangy mushroom sauce.  With spaetzel.  It's the noodle looking side dish.

Chicken Ravioli

I decided to try a pasta dish this time instead of always ordering from the German menu.  I was feeling adventurous.  I ordered chicken ravioli in an arrabiatta sauce.  That may be spelled wrong.  I tried an Italian spell checker but the results were inconclusive.  It told me I could spell it three different ways.  Now I'm just confused.  And annoyed.  Like I was with the sauce.  There was just way too much.  It was good but too much.


In the future I'll stick with the German menu.  And no, I don't have the recipes.

Taco Tuesday

Since tonight is Tae Kwon Do class I didn't really have time to cook.  That means no recipe.  Don't complain.  It also means less reading.

I went super easy.  I used the chicken from last night and made tacos.  No they're not authentic.  I'm German and in a hurry.  You don't get authentic.

After pulling the meat off the bone I chopped it up and heated it in an oiled skillet.  The spray oil.  Not half a cup of butter.  I added some salt, chili powder, a little ground cumin and coriander and about 1/4 cup of water once the pan was hot.  The amount of water and spices depends on how much chicken you use.  I used about two handfuls.  My hands.  Not yours.  Your hands are probably a different size than mine.

I heated corn tortillas over an open burner on the stove, grated some low fat cheddar from Trader Joe's, threw on some tomatoes and mixed greens and it was done.  Except for the hot sauce.  You gotta have hot sauce.  Or maybe you don't.  I gotta have hot sauce.  Maybe you have fragile taste buds that can't handle hot sauce.  I don't know.  I used Frank's Red Hot.  I could drink that stuff.  I don't.  But I'm tempted.

So that's it.  Super easy and healthy.  And fast.  Seriously.  It took about 10 minutes to put it together.  Then I ran off for the evening to learn martial arts.  If I have time for a healthy dinner, so do you.  But I really wanted a Big Mac.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Tonight's spectacular offering is a whole roasted chicken, honey glazed carrots and a green salad with lemon and olive oil dressing.

Ok, it's just a baked chicken which is pretty good but the best part is the left over meat to use for dinner another night.  Like tomorrow night when my son and I both go to Tae Kwon Do class which doesn't really leave much time to cook.  Or eat.

First off I've gotta say, this chicken was big!  I'm pretty sure Costco raises it's chickens near a nuclear reactor.  Or atomic bomb factory.  And it took forever to cook!  I figured an hour at 350F but it was closer to two hours.  My son got tired of waiting and left for my sister's to go eat.  She promised toasted marshmallows.

On to the recipes.  For the chicken and carrots.  Not the marshmallows.  You have see my sister for that.

The chicken:

1 atomic chicken
Salt, chili powder, cumin, coriander any other spices or dried herbs you happen like.

The carrots:

Some peeled carrots.  I don't know how many, that depends on how hungry you are.
A little bit of butter.  Seriously, a little bit of butter.  Don't go crazy.  It's butter.
Salt
Honey.  Just enough to make it a bit sweet, carrots are sweet on their own and we're making a side dish, not a dessert.

So the chicken....mix all the spices, salt and dried herbs together.  How much of each depends on you.  I know how much I used but it I tasted as I mixed it.  You're going to have to do the same.  Sorry.  First get salt and rub it around the cavity of the chicken.  Then take the spice mix and rub it under the skin covering the breast.  Put the chicken in a roasting dish, breast side down and rub the rest of the spice mix over the skin on the back and legs.  Putting the chicken in breast side down  gives a juicier breast and keeps it from drying out.  Bake it at 350F for at least an hour.  It's done when the legs are loose and pull out easily.  I'm not sure how long that will take.  It depends on your oven.  And the atomic level of your chicken.

The carrots:

Peeled and chop the carrots.  Put the little bit of butter in the pan along with the carrots.  Sprinkle in some salt and add a little honey.  Mix it all around and let the butter melt.  Let it cook and stir every once in a while.  When the melted butter and everything thickens up a bit and glazes the carrots it's done.  And really good.  Really.

Oh, and the dressing in case you want to make that, too.  It's just lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.  Super easy.  And good.  To me anyway.  Maybe you don't like lemons.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day everyone!  

Today I didn't make an actual dinner.  I made a peanut butter cake and arranged some very good cheese on a plate.  I added some fig preserves, freshly baked bread and crackers in a bowl.                                                                                         

No I didn't eat cake and cheese for dinner.  I'm not saying I've never had cake and cheese for dinner, I just didn't today.

I went to my sister's to celebrate Father's day with my family.  She and my brother in law made dinner.  And it was so good!  They made grilled steaks, marinated pork kebabs and her famous mac and cheese but the only recipe I have for today is for the peanut butter cake.  If you want the recipes for the other parts of the dinner you have to ask my sister.

So this peanut butter cake is my own recipe.  I've made it for years and it comes out different every time.  That's the risk you take when you don't write this stuff down.  Just because I'm writing it down now doesn't mean next time I'll make it the same way.  I probably won't.  I like to live dangerously.      

Ingredients:

Cake

1 stick of butter at room temperature    

1/2 to 3/4 cup smooth natural peanut butter (you can use the processed kind like Jiffy but it doesn't work as well)

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups of sugar

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoon of baking powder     

tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup of milk 

Frosting      

This part I didn't measure out, really.  Ok, not at all so I'm giving estimates on amounts.  When I make frosting I just keep adding whatever it needs depending on taste and consistency.  Living dangerously.

Half a stick of butter at room temperature

3-4 big tablespoons of smooth peanut butter (the natural kind again, it really tastes better and gives a better texture)

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups of powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of milk

To make the cake:  It will make enough batter to make 2 9" cakes or a 9 x 13 cake or cupcakes until you're sick of filling the little papers and wish there was an end to the batter.

Cream the butter and peanut butter with a mixer.  Or by hand if you're feeling adventurous.  Don't really do it by hand.

Add in the sugar and mix until creamy.  Add the eggs one at a time mixing after each addition.  Mix the baking powder and flour together and add to the creamed mixture one cup at a time adding some of the milk between cups of flour.  Make the last addition be the milk and mix until batter is fluffy.  Spray some oil in the cake pan and dust it with flour. Pour the batter into the cake pans or cupcake paper lined muffin tin.   Bake the cakes for about 25 minutes at 350F.  Check on them after 25 minutes and decide how much longer they need.  I can't tell you for sure because I don't know your oven.  I know my oven and mine took about 35 minutes for a 9" cake.

To make the frosting:

Cream the butter and peanut butter with the salt.  Again, the mixer works well here unless you want to do it by hand.  Go for it, it would be a good arm workout.   Add the sugar with the milk and mix until smooth.  At this point I taste the frosting and check the consistency.  It may need a bit more salt but that's up to you.  If it's too soft, add more powdered sugar and if it's too thick or dry and crumbly add more milk.  If it doesn't seem to have enough body to stay on the sides of the cake add a bit more butter.  You just have to keep adjusting as you go.  It's not as scary as it sounds, be adventurous.  Or not.  Stay in your comfort zone and never taste the mind blowing deliciousness that is peanut butter frosting.

I'm not giving directions on how to frost a cake.  You can figure it out on your own.  I'm sure of it.  Because you're smart.  I know that because you keep coming back.

                                            

The First One

Chicken Chili

I know everyone has been waiting all day to see what I come up with for dinner tonight so here it is....Chicken Chili!

Sort of.
It's my version of chicken chili, anyway.  And it came out good so don't complain that there's no actual chili in it.  And it's healthy, so there.

Here's what I did:

I started with some cooked chicken I had in the freezer from a whole chicken I roasted last week.  I dug around in the fridge and came up with an onion and a green bell pepper.  I found I still had a tomato left over from last week's organic box and some fresh garlic loitering on the counter with nothing better to do.  I had two cans of pinto beans in the pantry and it really just sort of made itself after that.

Ingredients:

An Onion
A Green Bell Pepper
A Tomato
2 Cloves of Garlic
2 Cans of Pinto Beans
Some leftover roasted chicken from the freezer
Ground Cumin
Ground Coriander
Salt
Trader Joe's South African Smoke Seasoning Blend (I don't get paid to promote this but I wish I did)
Low Fat Cheddar Cheese (also from Trader Joe's), shredded

First I sprayed a medium pot with a little Canola oil, just to keep the onions and garlic from sticking and burning.  After chopping them up, I sauteed them for a couple of minutes before adding the chopped up bell pepper.  While that cooked I chopped up the tomato and added it to the pot once the bell pepper looked a bit cooked. While the tomato was getting to know everyone else in the pot I chopped up the roasted chicken meat.  Once the tomato looked like it was cooking and releasing some juice I added the chicken.  At this point I added some salt, cumin and coriander and mixed it all in. How much you want to use is up to you, I used about 1/2 teaspoonish or so of each.  Once mixed I added in some of the smoke seasoning blend.  It contains dried red pepper so it's a bit spicy, go easy at first.  You can always add more later.

Next came the hard part.  The beans.  Opening a can is not as easy as it sounds.  Thankfully it went smoothly and there were no injuries.  The two cans were added to the pot along with some water to give everything something to simmer in.  It was about a half cup but its up to you.  Add more if you like it soupier add less if you like it thick.  I don't know how you like your chili.

I put a lid on it and let everything simmer for about 20 minutes at which point I shut off the heat, stirred it all up and tasted it.  And realized I needed to add more salt.  And more smoke seasoning stuff.  And tasted again.  And added a little more, again.

Spooned into a bowl and topped with some low fat cheddar and it tastes great!  To me anyway.  That was the whole point, remember?  To entertain me.  And keep me eating healthy.  And if I entertain or help anyone else along the way it's purely coincidental.
But if you do try it, leave a comment and let me know how you liked it.  Or not.  Up to you.

My Bright Idea

Connor with a bread bowl full of clam chowder....mmmmm

So not long ago I decided it would be fun to start a blog.  Not that I had anything overly important to communicate to the world but because I thought it might be entertaining.

For me.
I wasn't really thinking about entertaining you.
Until I looked at what I find interesting, anyway.

I started thinking about all the things I find entertaining that I could write about...chemistry, video games, dream interpretation, robots, Star Trek vs Star Wars (why choose when you can have them both!), tae kwon do, scifi books & movies, anime...

Take a look over that list.  Yeah, you're probably thinking the same thing I was.  Um, Jen...that list is only going to appeal to small group of nerdy teenage boys.  Is that really your target audience?  No.  No it is not.

So I took a while to think about what topic  would be something we can all agree is interesting.  Food!  The only thing we like more than eating is seeing what other people are eating.  So I thought I'd share what goes on in my kitchen and dining room on a nightly basis.  My goal (keeping in mind its a goal and I'm human) is to show what I'm cooking or eating for dinner every night for a year.  If I'm cooking I'll provide my recipe and directions and if I'm eating out I'll provide the name of where and what I'm eating.

Maybe I'll still be the only one entertained but maybe it'll encourage me to keep eating healthy so I don't have to publicly shame myself with a picture of a Big Mac and fries...although I don't promise that won't show up.  Like I said before...I'm human!