Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Bread, and Cranberries oh My!

In less than an hour yesterday (not counting baking time as we waited for the oven to finish one thing so we could move on to the next) mom and I whipped up:

Easy Pumpkin Pie:
(From: Recipe Lion http://www.recipelion.com/)

Ingredients:
-2 3.75 ounce packages vanilla instant pudding
-1 1/3 cups of milk
-1 16-ounce can pumpkin
-1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
-4 cups whipped topping (9-ounce container)
-1 baked 9-inch pie crust, cooled

Instructions
1. Add pudding mix to milk and beat whit hand mixer or lowest speed until blended; about 30 seconds
2. Blend in pumpkin, spice, and 2 cups of whipped topping.
3. Pour into pie shell.
4. Chill until set; at least 4 hours.
5. Garnish with remaining whipped topping.

Cranberry-Nut Bread Minis:
(From Kraft Food's Food & Family Holiday 2011)

Ingredients:
-1 package (2-layer size) white cake mix.
-1 package (3.4 oz) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
-4 eggs
-1 cup water
-1/4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
-1/2 cup chopped Walnuts
-2 Tbsp. butter, melted
-2 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat first 5 ingredients in large bowl with mixer 2 minutes, or until well blended.
3. Add cranberries and nuts; beat just until blended.

4. Pour into 5 foil mini loaf pans sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.
6. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks.
7. Brush tops with butter; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (2 Tbsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon mixed).

Pumpkin Bread:
(From Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book- Celebrating the Promis Limited Edition)

Ingredients:

-3 cups sugar
  *We used Splenda
-1 cup cooking oil
   *We used Coconut Oil
-4 eggs
-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
   *We used 2 cups of all-purpose flour, and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
-2 Tsp baking soda
-1 1/2 Tsp salt
-1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
-1 Tbsp. ground nutmeg
   *We used fresh nutmeg and just took the zester over it about 10 times
-2/3 cup water
-1 15-ounce can pumpkin

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the side of two 9x5x3 inch, three 8x4x2 inch, or four 7 1/2x3 1/2x2 inch loaf pans.
3. In an extra-large mixing bowl beat sugar and oil with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add eggs and beat well; set sugar mixture aside.
4. In a large bowl combing flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
5. Alternately add flour mixture and the water to sugar mixture beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.
6. Beat in pumpkin.
7. Spoon batter into prepared pans.
8. Bake for 55-65 minutes.
9. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack completely.
10. Let sit over night before slicing.

Sadly I didn't take an photos because, well I was busy cooking with mom, and ya'll have seen pumpkin pie and bread before.  Give these a try and let me know what you think!

What are you cooking up this Thanksgiving?

Dad is smoking ribs and chicken wings for dinner on Thanksgiving (Ryan's grandma is making a turkey for lunch) and then mom is grilling turkey breast (because we just don't have enough people to need a turkey, we don't eat dark meat, and so everyone just ends up eating the breast anyways) and making sides later this weekend for our "traditional" meal.

I'm getting really excited!

Everyone Loves

Pizza....OK well maybe not everyone but everyone in this house hold does and that is why mom has gone out of the way yet again to find a healthy solution for us all to enjoy. 

So today I want to share two of my favorite pizza's with you.

Lets start with the whole wheat pizza dough that mom found in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook book Celebrating the Promise Limited Edition (I know that's quite a mouthful).



You will need:
-2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour (mom makes it half wheat flower and half all-purpose flour)
-1 package active dry yeast
-1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons cooking oil or olive oil

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 1 1/4 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl.  Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes total). Divide dough in half. Cover; let rest for 10 minutes. Use to make Thin-Crust pizzas, Pan Pizzas, Mini Pizzas, or Calzones.

We like Thin-Crust:
1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Grease two 12-inch pizza pans or large baking sheets. (We use a baking stone). On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough half into a 13-inch chicle. Transfer dough circles to prepared pans. Build up edges slightly; prick dough with a fork. Do not let rise.
3. Bake about 10  minutes or until light brown.
4. Spread pizza sauce onto hot crust and top with desired toppings.
5. Bake about 10 minutes more or until bubbly.

For the Greek pizza, one of my favorites, we used:
-Pesto for the base.
-Onions, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and roasted peppers (that had been heated in a frying pan and heat on medium)
-Feta Topping



For the pepperoni we used:
-Bertolli Arrabbiata Spicy Tomato and Red Pepper sauce for the base.
-Mushrooms, Pepperoni, Mozzarella,  and Basil
-Three Cheese (Parmesan, Romano, Asiago)




Hope everyone had a great week!  I am about to attempt to make some pretzels for a nice Friday night snack for us to enjoy as we watch some movies. I will let you know how they go!

Chef Ryan Presents....

A fun afternoon of grocery shopping and cooking with mom and I for the families! Ryan and I both like to cook but seeing as how we are both back in the states for now and living with our families we are missing a kitchen but mom loves to cook and even more than that I think she likes to watch others learn to cook so she helped us out this weekend with different things and I think was quite proud!
Every Sunday someone in Ryan's family has to cook Sunday lunch and this was his/our turn. Seeing as how we have been trying to get into shape we thought we would use some of mom's healthy cook books to show his family that flavorful meals can be made without all the calories. So Saturday mornings we took our recipes to Publix and hunted down the ingredients. After getting a few looks as we randomly went in ever different direction we were quite successful and only had to make one side stop to Ingles.

In order to make sure everything went off without a hitch we cooked the exact meal we were going to cook for Ryan's family at my house Saturday afternoon, and went ahead and got everything ready for his dinner Sunday. I am happy to say that everything got the thumbs up from my family Saturday night and I think Ryan's parents enjoyed it today also. So what did we cook? Well here you go:

We started the meal off some Blush Sangria from Cook Yourself Thin Faster. 


And I don't know about you but I LOVE sangria so finding one that was better for me than a normal sangria was like a double sign that I should of had some this weekend!

Blush Sangria:
Serves 6 (Calories 131, Total Fat less than 1g, Sodium 15mg, Sugars 11g)
1 bottle rose wine, chilled
1 peach, thinly sliced
1 orange, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 pint reach raspberries
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
Fresh mint leaves, for garnish
1 cup club soda, chilled

We went a little different rout and mixed:

White Zinfandel (we had a hard time finding rose wine)

1 Peach, Orange, Green Apple, Red Apple

Random amounts of raspberries and strawberries

2 tablespoons sugar

Skipped the mint leave

Added the club soda in the bottom of the glass before serving.

Let me say one more time that this was great! Adding the club soda made it more filling to me.

With the sangria we enjoyed a Greek Salad that Ryan made with some iceberg lettuce, Cesar dressing (I think the Publix brand) some feta cheese, and some croutons. It was ahh perfect and so easy!

Next we made Chicken and Cheese Poppers from Now Eat This! Diet.  This cook book is amazing and I have learned so much from it, if you like smoothies you will love some of the suggestions he has in this book!


We made a few adjustments to this recipe because we couldn't find jalapeno's big enough; because it was so amazing I will list want we used/did.


Chicken and Cheese Poppers:
6 Jalapeno peppers
3 bell peppers (we used 1 green, 1 yellow, 1 red)
2 cups of shredded precooked chicken strips
1/3 cup reduced-fat cream cheese
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/3 cup chopped scallions (white and green parts)
1 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat panko bread crumbs
4 large egg whites
Nonstick cooking spray

1. Preheat the broiler on high. Place a wire baking rack on a foil-lined baking sheet.

2. Cut the bell peppers in half and scrape out the seeds and membranes. Cut the jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds and membranes. Place them all on the prepared baking sheet, and broil until they begin to char slightly and are partially cooked (about 2-4 minutes). Allow all the peppers to cool.

3. Preheat the oven to 450.

4. In a bowl mix the chicken, cream cheese, sour cream, scallions, cheese, and jalapenos (chopped). Add salt and pepper to taste. Fill each pepper with the mixture, packing it in tightly.

5. Put the flour in a shallow dish. Put the panko in a small dish. In a medium bowl, whip the egg whites with a whisk.

6. Take each pepper and place it in the flour, then egg, then panko. I had a hard time doing this and felt like none of the panko was sticking to the peppers so I sprinkled some on top of them to give it the "breaded taste".

7. Spread all the peppers on the wire rack. Bake until the breading is golden brown and crispy and the cheese is melted (about 20 minutes).

These peppers could of been a meal in themselves with the salad becuase they were so filling.

Our main dish was Stuffed Shells from Cook Yourself Thin.


Stuffed Shells:

Serves 10 (Calories per serving 331)

12 Ounces (1 box) jumbo pasta shells

It had a do it yourself tomato sauce but we just picked up some red sauce.

For the stuffing:
1 pound bag baby spinach
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
2 scallions, chopped
2 cups (16 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat, part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 thin slice ham, chopped (we swapped this out for some of the extra chicken from the peppers and beef)
*next time I think we are going to use some spicy Italian sausage
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Pinch grated nutmeg

1. Spray a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the shells, and partially cook-they should have started to become tender but will still be firm to the bite, 6-7 minutes. Drain in a colander, and immediately transfer to the oiled baking sheet, spreading them out in a single layer so that they don't stick together. Let cool.

2. Add the spinach and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet. Place over medium heat, cover and cook, tossing every now and then with tongs for even cooking, until wilted, 5-6 minutes. Drain, and let cool, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can (I found that part to be quite entertaining), and chop.

3. In the same skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the zucchini and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring every now and then, until tender and lightly browned, 5-7 minutes. Add scallions during the final 1 minute. Move to a bowl and add the spinach. Add the ricotta, the meat, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, the parsley, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and the nutmeg, and stir to combine.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5. Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of two 9-by-13-inch baking dishes. Fill the cooked shells with the cheese mixture, about 1 tablespoon per shell, and arrange the shells side by side in a single layer in the prepared dishes. Spoon the remaining sauce over the shells, then sprinkle each with 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan.

6. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the filling is heated through and the cheese is melted, 25-30 minutes.

Ok this sounds harder than it was I swear!

For my family we got a cookie cake from Ingles (I swear they have the best) because the desert we made for Ryan's family we normally eat for breakfast to make sure we get a full dose of fruit.

Then for Ryan's parents we made some fruit smoothies:

2 peaches
Raspberries
Strawberries
12 ounces of water
1 cup of ice
1 packet of any flavor you like of Cristal Light

Blend well and enjoy!

Photos Chris took of the meal:







And for now that is that!  I know you are all about to fall out of your chairs because this happened this weekend and I managed to blog about it this weekend!  I won't lie it is quite around the house tonight because Chris and Ryan went off to the Journey concert and well there seems to never be anything good on T.V. and I am out of books until I go to the library tomorrow. Oh no wait mom and I picked up The Help at Costco a few weeks ago, my night is looking up!  Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a good start to their week! As always I am ready to see where this week goes and what life has to teach me.

Eureka! We Got It!

Wow so I was about to type this past weekend but sadly it is already Thursday and not just the Thursday after but the Thursday after, after (humm I don't know if that is right but that is how my Korean kids would of said it)the weekend when mom and I attempted to make Kimchi Stew once again.  As before I didn't really feel the need to use a recipe because every place I had eaten it in Korea had a different taste and it was never the same so I figured why not take what I know I like from all those places and make it into a Kimchi Stew I'll like?  Well if you read my blog you know the first time I made it at home it was lets just say a little spicy; however everyone that had sinus problems no longer had them at the end of dinner! So this time I knew I needed to ton it down just a little and I think we found a recipe that works and for bonus points I even wrote it down! Now please take note that I am not a cook nor do I know how to write a recipe so if you have any questions please ask and I will try to explain what I mean. 

Here it is:

• Caramelize 5 cups of Kimchi (I just did this in the bottom of my big stock pot on low until some of the juices were cooked out and it was a little crunchy)
• *If possible find a Korean store or market where they make it fresh
• 4 Cucumbers sliced in little circles
• 1 1/2 cups of carrots chopped
• Thinly sliced garlic (however much you like)
• 7 Cups of water (I make a big batch and that is with little liquid when it is all said and done)
• 1 table spoon of beef broth (Korean if you can find it because of the added spices they use)
• 3 Large green chillies (If you do not like hot foods leave these out)
• 1 Table spoon of sugar
• 2 Table spoons of hot red pepper flakes (not the same as the normal red pepper flakes)
• 5 Table spoons of red pepper paste (Gochujang) 
• *This is hard to find and can most likely only find it at a Korean or Asian market. 
• Bring this to a boil and then cover and let simmer.  If you are in a time crunch it only has to simmer about 30 minutes but as with most things the flavors grow as it simmers.
• About an hour before your ready to serve add in:
•  2 packs of Enoki Mushrooms (if you cannot find any type of mushroom will almost work)
• 2 packs of cubed super firm tofu.

 Serve over rice or soy bean sprouts. 


Not the best photo but it gives you an idea.

In other good news I also found a Galbi Marinade that everyone liked. 

• 1 1/2 cups Soy Sauce
• I don't love soy sauce so I used 1 cup of soy sauce and 1/2 a cup of water instead
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 5 cloves of garlic minced
• 1/2 of a medium yellow onion chopped
• 3 large green onions cute into small pieces
• 2 table spoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 tea spoon red pepper flakes
• For the most part we all like things hot in this house so I used 1 table spoon
• 4-6 pounds of Korean Short-Ribs
• Our Korean marked didn't have this due to the increase in price so we just used some flank stake from Costco and cut it into thin strips
• Mix marinade and pour over meat
• Refrigerate over night
• Sadly I didn't find this marinade recipe till that last minute so if you are short on time 4 or 5 hours will also work well
• Heat grill to medium-heat
• Cook each side 3-4 minutes

Ok guys this meal was amazing! It is not quite the same as eating it in a parking lot out side of our apartment with a few good friends laughing and drinking the night away but it is pretty darn close! 

Also for those of you who asked about the cheese I mentioned in my one blog about German food that my brother and mom made us it is called Halloumi and it is amazing when cooked on a grill!

Well, I still have a ton left I want to blog about but for now this will have to be it.  So until next time thank you for reading, I would love to hear your thoughts, and I hope everyone is having a great week!

Weekend Recap - Just a little late or is it early?

This past last weekend (as in two weeks ago) was amazing, I mean amazing to the point where it is now Thursday Sunday and I am now just thinking "Oh crap I need to blog!". So let’s see if I can recap everything in a nice, short, simple way with some photos and maybe a little explanation here and there.

For starters last weekend we more or less kind of had an "around the world" night with food from our kitchen. It is so great to have a family that is open to trying new things, driving to the next town over to find the food, and then letting us use their kitchen (huge mess I make an all) to cook it and never once complain about it!

We need to go back to last Saturday when we all got to enjoy some German dishes that Chris picked out for us and helped make. Here are some photos of our German meal!

Cheese right off the grill

Some sort of German hotdog with Curry Ketchup.  Mom and Chris made the Curry Ketchup

Potatos

You have no clue how great this meal was, looking at these photos almost brings back the taste of it all.

We followed it up Sunday with a Korean meal that mom and Ryan helped me make. Mom was amazing and went all over town helping me find the ingredients I needed, and Ryan came over and cooked the meat on the grill when it was about 99 degrees outside. After dinner we all sat around talking and just enjoying the night on the porch as Chris played the guitar.

Kimchi stew I made.  I think it cleared out everyones sinuses.

Cooking the meat (Korean Pork), mushrooms, and onions.  Ryan was such a good sport with the
 fact that it was still about 90 out and the grill was also hot.

Our after dinner music, and Rum Beers.

Monday was the 4th so as always dad cranked up the grill to smoke ribs and chicken wings, and as always they were great! The day was wrapped up with Ryan and Chris killing squirrels, some nice cold adult drinks, and fireworks.



The 4th was also mine and Ryan's anniversary (for dating) and in honor of that we lit some of those super long sparklers, kiss under the fireworks, and spent the day together going back and forth between my parents and his parents.

Below is a photo from our first ever 4th of July together and then there is a photo from our 1st anniversary together up at the Biltmore House.

Tuesday and Wednesday are both just a blur and I have no clue what went on.
Thursday was Dad's 50th Birthday so we had a nice family dinner, some cake, and exchanged gifts.

Bag full of things you need when your 50

Friday night I went out with Chris and Ryan to Cracker Barrel for dinner the wrapped up the night by starting a movie called Rose Red by Steven King. I say start because we got 2 and a half hours into it and then I was ready to pass out so I have my fingers crossed that we can finish it later today. I mean really A) Dear Mr. King why do your movies have to be soooo long B) Why is this house making women disappear and men kill themselves C) And wow the lady from Bones looks so young in this movie.

Saturday I spent the morning trying to pack for Alaska. Later in the day mom and I went over to the new Jo-Ann’s Fabrics that just opened up and had a great time going up and down all the aisle looking at everything and then finding some fabric to go with the t-shirt quilt I am going to make from old soccer shirts. We had Low Country Boil for dinner (one of my favorites) and then mom helped me cut down some of my shirts to start on the quilt.

Sunday I spent working on packing, seeing Ryan's grandma, enjoying dinner with Ryan's family, followed up by some squirrel hunting in the back yard, and finally finishing Rose Red.  As far as my thoughts go on that movie I am still a little confused and just kind of...well I don't know....I liked it a lot but sadly the fact that it was like 3 and a half hours long kind of stinks because I spent most of the movie wanting to know why everything was happening and well then at the end I still don't think I know why everything happened. 

Photo of Clair and her buddy Ryan:

Today is now Monday and I am doing my last minute check for Alaska and trying to contain my excitement.  Tomorrow at 4:15 Ryan and I are off to the airport (thanks in advance dad for the ride) to catch a 5:30 flight to NC then were off to Seattle to catch the bus to the docks to board the boat and start a trip that I never thought I would get to take! Everyone in my family has been to Alaska for one reason or another, be it a cruse for mom and dad or a fishing trip for dad and Chris. I am so excited to finally see what all the fuss is about!

Ok well that is that!  Life is going good and I am looking forward to Alaska and whatever else summer has to offer! 

See you in a week! Hope everyone has a great one!

Wednesday's Hot and Spicy Burgers....

that were nice and tasty but sadly not very spicy. 

Today is one of the few nights that I get home just a little before Ryan so I decided that I wanted to cook something!  I have missed cooking ever sense we have gotten our new work schedules, I was cooking on the weekends here and then in perpetration for the week but neither one of us are really home for lunch any more so now whoever gets home first just tosses something together.  Mainly we eat weekend left overs, and take out. 

Anyways I need to get back on track!  Last night I was checking out what we have in "stock" and was not to shocked to see that we have a ton and I mean a TON of chicken, hamburgers, and turkey burgers. So seeing that some of our poor burgers were frozen solid with a nice thick layer of ice covering them I figured I would use some of those.   To top it off I had a bottle of Texas Pete Buffalo sauce in the fridge from mom that I had yet to open. 

So in hopes of a nice spicy meal I soaked some burgers in buffalo sauce once they thawed for the day.  Here are some photos of dinner because well I think photos are always better.

I have never seen hamburger buns for sale in Korea, so lucky for Ryan we had some stale bread in the fridge! Perfect!

My rice with veggies turned into veggies with rice but was pretty good. 

Final product.  We had some pepper jack cheese that we added to the burgers, and some bake beans to go along with the rice. 

The meal was easy for the most part, however next time I think I will skip on the "buns" they slowed me down.  Ryan has commented that he looks forward to eating this meal again, so I think I will add it in to the line up for this weekend (I mean because we have so much beef).  Now if only I could figure out how to make them HOT!

Hope everyone is having a great week! 

Tomorrow night Ryan is in charge of dinner, so I think we are looking at some Clam Chowder (which we also have tons of thanks to Costco). 

Sloppy Tacos

This past Friday I decided to make use of my tomato paste that has been sitting in my fridge and try my hand at Sloppy Joe's; however, I don't have half the things you need for Sloppy Joe's including hamburger buns or well any bread for that matter.  So what I instead I made Sloppy Tacos and I must say they were rather impressive.

So how do you make Sloppy Tacos?  Well for starters I took 4 onions, 4 green peppers, 2 red peppers, and some spicy green peppers and chop them up in my Korean "Slap Chop".  Then I took 3 hamburger patties and browned them, then added onions and peppers along with some taco seasoning, the tomato paste, garlic, chili powder, salt, pepper, some water, and oh I can't forget the kidney beans.  Then I brought it to a simmer and left it to well simmer. 

We then filled tortilla shells with cheese, Mexican rice (white rice boiled in beef broth, with chili powder, garlic, some spicy red pepper flake, and some other random stuff I forgot) and then the Sloppy Taco mix.  It was quite delicious and I sadly don't know if I can make it quite the same ever again.

The Tasty, The Bland, and The Just Not A Fan

So a good friend of mine sent me a message asking if I had cooked anything good lately and that remained me that I have not blogged about my random cooking conquest in a few days, and this is helping me in my procrastination when it comes to my blog about my eyes.  Its amazing how good of motivators friends are even when separated by deep blue oceans and culturally filled countries. 

So I can think of three things I have cooked in the past few days right off the top of my head, and I am sure there are more.  Ryan has been super sweet and has been helping out in the kitchen making chicken fajitas, spinach and cheese filled ravioli, along with some other tasty stuff. 

I guess I better start with last Wednesday when I decided to just wing it and see what happened.  On our last trip to Costco I talked Ryan into letting me pick up 12 cans of cream of mushroom soup. Now what to do with it what to do with it?  So I thawed out some chicken and pan fried it up.  I tossed some potatoes, frozen carrots, and green beans in a pot to boil them.  Then I chopped up some mushrooms, onions, garlic, and bell peppers that had been sitting in the fridge.   I know a few of those sound quite odd.  Anyways once I pan fried up the chicken I removed it and placed it in some tinfoil to keep it warm, drained the potatoes, carrots and green beans.  Chopped up my now nice and hot and squish carrots as I fried the onions, garlic and bell peppers.  Once my onions were a nice brown color I removed them and got started on the final product.   I opened up on of my main cans of cream of mushroom dumped in the frying pan, added in salt, pepper, garlic powder, chicken, carrots, green bean, and potatoes.  At this point it was looking pretty good and smelling even better.  Then came the point where I had to decide if I wanted to add the onions, garlic and bell peppers to my very normal looking meal.  I did and I must say that it was oddly very good and blended very well.  This is a meal that I will attempt to make again because it was very easy and quite delicious; however this time I will remember to thaw everything the night before so I don't have to boil anything.  One less pot always makes everything better when your dishwasher is named Ryan or Megan!

Lets see then on Friday (I think the days kind of blurred together this week due to a very lazy vacation) I attempted to make "Quick Cincinnati Chili".  Here is the recipe that I tried to use and as always varied a little bit from, maybe a little bit to far from. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick Cincinnati Chili

Total Time: 30 min

Ingredients
-U.S. Metric Conversion chart
-12 ounce(s) (3/4 of a 16-ounce package, per recipe) spaghetti
-2 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
-2 teaspoon(s) olive or vegetable oil
-1 medium onion, chopped
-1 tablespoon(s) chili powder
-1/4 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
-1 can(s) (15 to 16 ounces) pink beans, rinsed and drained
-1 can(s) (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
-1/2 cup(s) beef broth
-1 tablespoon(s) tomato paste
-1/2 teaspoon(s) sugar
-Toppings: 1/4 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, 2 tablespoons nonfat sour cream, 3 green onions, chopped
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Directions:
1.Prepare spaghetti as label directs, using 2 teaspoons salt in water; drain and keep warm.
2.Meanwhile, in nonstick 10-inch skillet over medium heat, heat olive or vegetable oil. Add onion and 3 tablespoons water; cook until onion is tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Add chili powder and cinnamon; cook, stirring, 1 minute.
3.Stir in pink beans, tomatoes with their juice, beef broth, tomato paste, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; over high heat, heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes.
4.To serve, divide spaghetti evenly among 4 warm dinner plates. Spoon chili over spaghetti; serve with toppings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So for the most part I did as I was told with this recipe.  I will just cut to the chase and say that I messed up and added way to much of the beef broth flavoring powder to my water and it may of been just a little bit to salty.  Also I swapped in kidney beans for whatever pink beans are.  I was very upset to open up a whole can of tomato paste just to use one tablespoon of it...oddly I am now trying to figure out what in the world to do with the rest of it now...I am taking suggestions if anyone has any!  Other than that I guess that was about it, I did let it simmer a little bit longer to help simmer off some of the extra water I added (and for the life of me can't remember why I added so much water now) and help it thicken up.  I am looking forward to trying this recipe again this time without adding salt and with less beef powder to hopefully curb that salty taste. 
 
Oh I almost forgot I added ground beef to this recipe!  I boiled it first to help try to break it up a little because we buy it as hamburger patties at Costco.  It absorbed the taste quite nicely, now I just need to figure out how to break it up even more because it was still very clumpy as you can see.

It looks a little soupy but it did thicken up quite nice!

All ready to go with pasta, hot sauce, cheese, and green onions for toppings in our "slap chop".

 
And lets see what was the last thing I cooked.  Oh tonight I attempted to make Steak and Potato Stir fry.  Before I start rambling about the "fun" I had with this recipe let me share it with you first.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steak and Potato Stir-Fry 
 
What You Need:
1 lb. (450 g) boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
1 Tbsp. oil 1 lb. (450 g) red potatoes (about 2), cubed
3 carrots (3/4 lb./340 g), chopped
1/4 cup water 2 cups each sliced fresh mushrooms and onions
1/4 cup Kraft Calorie-Wise Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing Make It
 

COOK and stir meat in hot oil in large skillet on high heat 2 min. or until browned. Remove from skillet; set aside.

ADD potatoes, carrots and water to skillet. Bring to boil; cover. Simmer on low heat 15 min.

STIR in meat, mushrooms, onions and dressing; cook and stir on high heat 5 min. or until heated through.

Kraft kitchens tips:
 
Substitute Prepare using your choice of other beef cuts, such as sirloin steak (flat or round bone), top sirloin steak, boneless top loin steak, tenderloin steak or rib eye steak.
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Now that I think about it I don't know if I really want to admit how this recipe went.  However I guess the point of a blog is to tell it like it is, or at least the way I want it to sound like it is ; ).  So lets see we had everything we needed for this, I used mixed veggies with pees, carrots, and what not instead of just carrots.  Also half way though this I had to figure out if balsamic vinaigrette dressing was the same as good old balsamic vinaigrette (because that is what I had) so I quickly googled how to make "how to make balsamic vinaigrette dressing" and well I sadly gave up as I had to many other things going on to try to figure this out at the moment and skimmed it and saw: garlic, oil, salt and pepper.  So I took my vinaigrette and dumped in random amounts of garlic, oil, salt and pepper, stirred and dumped it in to my mixture.  I didn't follow the directions to a "T" exactly on this recipe so for starters I just went ahead and dumped everything (minus the beef, onions and vinaigrette) into the pan with some water and oil and tried to bring it to a boil.  Sadly I had to much in my pan and felt the need to add more water to my pan along with pepper, garlic powder, and some thyme and bay life (just because I had it).  I decided to fry the onions up in their own pan because I love the taste they get and noticed that my huge mushrooms were not shrinking down the way I thought they would so I started to fish them out and add them to my onions.  Once I got sick of trying to cook with two pans that were too big for my stove I dumped the onions and mushrooms in to the main pan and used the other as a lid to cover it.  Getting sick of this meal fast I dumped in the beef and brought the whole thing to a boil for about 5 minutes to help remove access water and to help "sear in" the juices.  Once it was all said and done this meal was not bad, and not great.  I will not be giving this another try.

For some reason it is not looking quite right...maybe it is the huge mushrooms, maybe it is the frozen veggies, maybe it is that it is all supposed to be simmering in a 1/4 cup of water and sadly a 1/4 a cup of water is just not enough. 

Trying to shrink some of the mushrooms down a bit.  Sorry I can't lie I was quite fascinated with these mushrooms. 



The final product! Looks pretty good doesn't it!

 Well I guess that is it as far as cooking has gone lately.  Oh on a side note we have also been enjoying some amazing strawberrys and Jeju oranges. 

We are currently calling them our "orange grenades" because of the tops on them.

Creamy Rice, Chicken and Spinach Dinner

Wednesday night I was lucky enough to have an amazing boyfriend like Ryan who was willing to teach my last class of the night so I could head home and give a new recipe a try (I know, I know it is quite a fair trade off but it was a middle school class so I would cook any day of teach them).  Before I get in to how everything went I will share the recipe for you and highly recommend that you give it a try yourself as Ryan and I both enjoyed it. 

Recipe from KraftCanada.com

Creamy Rice, Chicken & Spinach Dinner

prep time - 10 min
total time - 40 min
makes  - 4 servings, 1-1/2 cups (375 mL) each

What You Need:
1/4 cup Kraft Signature Roasted Red Pepper with Parmesan Dressing
1 lb. (450 g) boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 can (10 fl oz/284 mL) 25%-less-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 cups instant brown rice, uncooked
125 g (1/2 of 250-g pkg.) Philadelphia Light Brick Cream Cheese Spread, cubed
6 oz. (170 g) baby spinach leaves (8 cups packed leaves)
1 large tomato, chopped
2 Tbsp. Kraft 100% Parmesan Light Grated Cheese

Make It:

1. HEAT dressing in large deep skillet or Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 5 min. Add broth; bring to boil. Stir in rice; return to boil. Cover; simmer on medium heat 5 min.
2. ADD cream cheese; cook, uncovered, until completely melted, stirring occasionally. Add spinach (skillet will be full); cover. Cook 2 min. or until spinach is wilted; stir gently.
3. REMOVE from heat. Let stand, covered, 5 min. Stir in tomatoes; sprinkle with Parmesan.

 kraft kitchens tips

Make it Easy

 Purchase bagged pre-washed fresh baby spinach in your produce section.

Substitute

 Prepare using Kraft Calorie-Wise Zesty Italian Dressing.

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Sounds easy enough on paper right?  Well now for how this all went down in my tiny tine kitchen as I did laundry and dishes just so I could turn around and use them again, and for some even once again. 

For starters this took me a lot longer than the 40 minutes they claim it takes to cook it, also it makes way more than 4 servings. However I feel that add time might be due to my small kitchen and lack of ready made ingredients and whale we are being honest the fact that this meal made more like 10 servings might of been a slip up on my part also.

So to start out with I needed to make some chicken broth (very simple just boil some water and add in some chicken flavoring) and rice (I subbed in plain white rice because we have tons of it).  Next came the part where I need to make some Italian dressing (as always thanks to mom and her care packages) but didn't need it all so I tried to make just a little.  Once done and proud of how the dressing was looking I realized that I had to much and that the oil and water were not mixing no mater how much I whisked it so I went on the hunt for something to shake it in.  After a few minutes I came upon a multivitamin container, dumped out the pills, and poured it in.  All in all it worked pretty good mixing it much better as I shook it and even gave me someplace to store the extra dressing.  Next came a part I always hate, the cutting up of the chicken to add it to the warming oil in the pan. 

As the chicken started to cook I boiled some green beans and carrots as a side dish.  Next I had to add the broth and rice to the chicken and simmer it covered, well for starters we don't have a lid for our pan and I am pretty sure at this point I made WAY to much rice. I used a cup and a half of rice like the recipe said; however I think white rice is magic and cooks up more than the instant rice.  As I let it simmer mixed together I strained the vegetables and then boiled the noodles for the mac and cheese, little did I know (well should of been able to guess) we didn't need a second side dish.  The next step was to mix in the cream cheese and heat on low until it melted and then add the tomatoes.  For the most part this was all very easy and went off without a hitch. 

I was in the process of draining the noddles when Ryan walked though the door so he finished off the mac and cheese as I set the table for dinner.  I think my first sign that my simple dinner for 2 had multiplied into dinner for 10 should of come when I went to lift the pan and almost dropped due to the weight of it all.  Once at the table I realized I forgot the parmesan and went on a hunt for it, however I don't really think it was needed. 

Kraft calls this a healthy meal and I am sure it is if you make it as they tell you to.  Sadly for us I think this meal was as far from healthy as it could possible get.  For starters the whole grain rice got turned into normal everyday white rice, the low fat cream cheese got subbed in for normal cream cheese and in my haste to finish dinner I just added in the full contents of the container (I should of only used a 1/3),  and the low fat broth was subbed in for whatever it is they use as chicken broth flavoring around here. 

Two other things we had to sub in for the recipe were stewed tomatoes (we didn't find any fresh ones) and we got what we thought was spinach but it turned out to be collar greens and well they tasted ok in the recipe but I think I would of rather had spinach. 

All in all I loved this recipe however I think I will leave this at a once a month mean, and maybe even try to make it in a half next time.  This recipe has given me a few good ideas of other things I want to try in different meals.  

It looked a lot better in person.

Food Inventory and Sunday Cooking Conquest

Quick note: This is probably to many random different things in one blog; however everything is related to food so I crammed it all together (and tried to break it up with ----- lines).

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I have not always been one of those over organized people or well even organized for the most part when it comes to some things; however I have always tended to over organize when I put my mind to it and will go into an organizing frenzy.  Sadly that is what is happening right now and with some of the resolutions I made  this year I am working on staying organized. I have already done most of my lesson plans for the month and now I have moved on to food inventory and cooking plans for the month.  Sadly last weeks meals were good but the stew that I had a fear of was a flop and ended up being tossed out.  So I am going to try again; however without cooking everything at once and getting upset and frustrated.
So for starters I did a quick inventory of all our food so I would know what I was working with.  Also I hope this will help keep me from forgetting what exactly it is that I need when I am at the store and coming home with everything and anything that I don't need but instead what I do need for the week. 

So here is what we have to work with: 


See what I mean about getting into a frenzy? 

 Next step go back through the many recipe sights I have saved under my favorites and see what I can make.  Also talk to mom about different things I can use as subs for things I know I cannot find in Korea, mom is full of all kinds of cooking tips and tricks. 

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Sunday:

After a trip to our local Lotte Mart (like Walmart only much nicer, cleaner, and with an amazing selection. Side note to self take pictures of the all amazing Lotte Mart) we came home with my new favorite thing to play with, a chopper.  I hate to cut so most of the time I leave that up to Ryan and sadly even with my new chopper Ryan still ends up doing all the cutting and now chopping.

For dinner tonight we made Chicken Quesadillas with rice and not to brag but it was pretty dang good!  Here is the recipe that I used for guidelines but as always changed to make my own. I never was one for following directions.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon(s) butter
1 flour tortilla
2 ounce(s) cheddar, mozzarella, or Monterey jack cheese (or a combination), grated
sliced tomato (optional)
Browned meat or tofu (optional)
Chopped scallions (optional)
Diced avocado (optional)
Sprouts (optional)
Diced bell pepper (optional)


Directions:
1.Melt the butter in the skillet on medium heat.
2.Put the tortilla in the pan. Next, put the cheese and, if you like, a filling or two on half of the tortilla. Use the spatula to fold the other side of the tortilla over the fillings.
3.Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the quesadilla over, and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Let the cheese cool for a minute before you take a bite. Put a little guacamole on top for extra flavor.

I started by chopping (or trying to chop and giving up, handing my new toy over to Ryan) 1 onion, 4 pieces of garlic, 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper, and 1 yellow bell pepper and then frying them for a little bit in a pan.  Then I took the (should of been thawed but still frozen solid) chicken out of the fridge and tried to do as the package says to cook it on the stove top.  Once the chicken was cook I tossed in the mixture of onions, peppers, and garlic to warm together before removing to start the quesadilla making process.  I followed the steps of the recipe here for the most part and had the first one turn out a little fat and falling apart.  So I passed the mixture off to Ryan so he could "slap chop" it in hopes of a less filling mixture to stuff the tortillas with.  Once the mixture was much finer we gave it another shot and it seemed to work out much better. 

We do not have a lid to our frying pan so I used our old frying pan to cover the chicken.

Chicken mixture

Once Ryan got done chopping it

At this point it seemed easy enough

It looks nothing like what I get at a Mexican resturant....however it did taste quite amazing

My attempt at a larger one.  Sadly it didn't seem to want to stay together no matter how much cheese I used.

For the rice I took 2 cups of water and boiled them with some dried beef broth.  Fried up 1 cup of rice in some oil till browned and then added the broth mixture to let simmer for about 20 minutes.  Ryan came in at this point and wanted to help so I gave him some of the left over green beans in the fridge to chop up so we could add them to the rice in hopes of using some of them up.  Once done chopping them in the new chopper he wanted to do something more important so I gave him the garlic powder, the Mexican chili powder, and the spicy seasoning mix (all thanks to mom and her care packages) to add however much he wanted to the rice.  I must say that the green beans and spicy rice mix was amazing.

Odd but rather good combination.

So dinner tonight was very good which is lucky for us because sadly we didn't even use half of the chicken mixture (I guess 3 chicken breast is a little bit to much) so now we have left overs for lunch later this week.  I will definitely be making this meal again.  Funny how no matter how much I try to get away from Mexican for just about every other meal the more I seem to make. 

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For later this week I have chili simmering in a pot on the stove.  Sadly I don't use a recipe for this I just take different things mom has told me and wing it every time.  It always turns out good and close to the same each time I make it and Ryan always eats it all so I guess that means I am doing something right.

Ok so quick try at writing out what I do for the chili:
2 yellow onions and 2 green onions chopped
4 or 5 pieces of garlic chopped
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cans of kidney beans (rinsed)
4 turkey burgers browned and broken up as much as I can (they don't break up to well so its more or less chunky)
1 or 2 cans of corn (however much Ryan wants to add)
Random amount of Mexican chili powder (and some beef broth today but not to sure why I added it)
Random amount of garlic powder and pepper
3 or 4 cups of water (just enough to cover everything)
Let everything simmer covered for about and hour or and hour and a half
Let sit over night in fridge (or our porch because it is only 5 degrees out tonight)
Sometimes add green, yellow, and red peppers

I think that is it pretty much.  Funny how when I make it I don't even really have to think anymore; yet as I sit here and try to think of how to tell someone else how to cook it I really can't.  It is extremely simple and messing it up is almost impossible though so just wing it.

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On an extremely random side note before I end this blog I have taken on another one of my New Year's resolution's and started reading a business book (Tribal Knowledge: Business Wisdom) and it is going pretty good right now with a chapter or so every other day.  I have also started reading (or well looking a pictures for now) a few of the beading/jewelry making books Sam gave me in hopes of being ready next time I go to the fabric/bead market.  Now to get on a few of the daily books mom sent back with me.

Now I think that is finally it for this blog.  Life wouldn't be any fun without some unorganized random thoughts every now and then!

The Leaves Are Changing and The Stew Is On!

The cool fall weather is setting in and the leaves are slowly changing!  I love fall and sadly find myself loving Korea's falls as I love just about everything about Korea however I find myself missing things of home that go with fall.  I mostly miss my family, the dog, fall "comfort" foods like soup, pastas, pies, anything my mom makes, dad's chicken wings and ribs, camp fires, drives down 26 as the sun sets, pretty much anything that has to do with Thanksgiving or Halloween, and so much more. 

So I have checked all our stores and even Costco and come up empty handed on a lot of these things.  We can find huge cans of Clam Chowder, tasteless potato soups and all kinds of Ramon soups that are fine but not like home.  So  I have been looking online and going back and forth with my mom about what kinds of comfort foods, stew, or just any kinds of recipes I can make on the stove.  One of the things I hate about Korea is that the older apartments don't have ovens knocking off a lot of foods I know how to make or want to make. 

So with a few new stew recipes in mind we have been looking here and there to find the ingredients we need.  We have been able to find a few things, even some cool new soup blows and the things we couldn't find my mom has helped me substitute in.  She even brought me some spices and stuff from home when she came last month. She even brought us taco seasoning!

This past weekend we got the last few things needed and copied and pasted a few different beef stew recipes together to give it a try.  So as Ryan finished his last few classes last night I decided to take on the stew! So a few less hairs, a bunch of dirty dishes, and 2 hours later Ryan came in an announced that he could smell it down the hall.  So as I had him try some of the meat to see if the meat was tender as explained I had no clue what it should taste, look, or smell like because I just gave up on the recipes.  After deciding it needed 10 more minutes before adding the carrots, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. 

The next step was to figure out how much flower to water ratio to add. Sadly I have gotten quite use to just using a coffee cup and it does not have fourths or thirds on it, Ryan tried to explain.  Also having doubled the water already in the pot and then even adding more later left me lost as I just mixed one cup of flower and a cup and a half of cold water before stirring it.  Then it said I just have to stir it as it thickens, one I got bored stirring and couldn't contain my excitement any more I plopped some into a bowl and handed it to Ryan who liked it. He really liked it! With bowls in hand we settled in to watch the Pink Panther. 

On a side note my parents came in on September 19th and got to spend an amazing week in Korea with us.  I cannot wait to share some of the stories from that week and I have spent the past few days trying to figure out how to put it all into words and I am finally getting some where.  So hopefully soon I will be able to post some blogs and pictures from the week for you to enjoy!  I will be posting them backwards in hopes of it going in somewhat of an order from Monday to Friday.  So keep an eye out for those!