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.