Naan Bread

 

I used a recipe from Rasa Malaysia. I made it several times and found that letting it rise a bit longer produced softer, fluffier bread. This may be due to different temperatures in my home versus others. Thank you, Rasa Malaysia. For their original recipe, visit their website. 

Here is the direct link: https://rasamalaysia.com/naan/ 

I made some garlic butter and smothered it over.  This was delicious and I highly recommend you try it!

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Meaty Mushroom Chili

 

The mushrooms were on sale for two trays for $5.00.  I got two and used one of them for this meaty mushroom chili dish.  I found a recipe for this online, but changed it up a bit according to what I had on hand and added a zucchini for additional veggies.  Here's the link to the original inspiration recipe:  https://houseofnasheats.com/meaty-mushroom-chili/ 

Here's my recipe variation.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 4 slices Canadian bacon, chopped
  
• 1 tray mushrooms, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped into bite-size pieces
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 3 Tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup water

Instructions:

1. Prepare ingredients as described above (chop, rinse, drain).
   
2. Add oil to heated pan.
3. Add canadian bacon, onions, garlic, and zucchini.  Stir, cover, and let sweat.
   
4. Add ground beef.  Break it up into crumbles and stir. Cook meat through until no longer pink.
5. Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir. Bring to a simmer.
   
6. Add spices (chili powder, cumin powder, sugar, black pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper), kidney beans and water. Bring to a simmer and let it cook for about 30 minutes.
   

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Beef Stew with Vegetables

 

I took a look at a lot of different beef stew recipes and found so many variations.  Ultimately,  this is the flavor/ingredient combo I went with.

Ingredients:

• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 red potatoes, chopped
• 3 white potatoes, chopped
• 1 yellow onion, chopped 
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 3 pounds stewing beef, in chunks
  
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper 
• 4 Tablespoons vegetable oil 
• 2 lbs beef broth (1 box)
  
• 1 T worsteshire sauce
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon thyme
• 2 Tablespoons cornstartch
  

Instructions:

1. Wash vegetables
2.  Toss beef chunks in the flour, salt, and pepper.
3. Add 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil to a heated sauce pan and brown beef on all sides.
4. While beef is browning, chop up vegetables.
5. Transfer browned beef to a pot.
6. Add some beef broth to the pan to soften the hardened flour bits and scrape them off.  Transfer the broth to the pot.
7. Add 2 Tablespoons oil to the pan.  Add carrots, celery, onions, and garlic and stir fry for a few minutes. Then transfer them to the pot too.
8. Add potatoes to the pot as well as the remainder of the beef broth, bay leaves, worsteshire sauce and thyme.
9. Push the tomato paste down into the broth to dissolve and bring to a boil.
10. In a separate dish, add cornstarch and enough water to create a paste.  Add this paste to the stew.
11. Lower heat and simmer for one hour.
12. Enjoy!

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Meatball Zucchini Soup

 

I found a recipe for a meatball and zucchini soup on Instagram.  I didn't have the exact ingredients, (although I'm sure that would've been lovely) so I used what I had on hand.  But I definitely want to try this with all the fresh herbs in the future.  Here's the link the original recipe by @pete_eatss:
https://www.instagram.com/pete_eatss/reel/CXKwB7slRea/?utm_medium=copy_link

Here's what I did for my variation.

Ingredients

Broth:
4 cups water
1 Tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon fish sauce

Garlic mix:
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Meat mix:
1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon sugar
Dash of salt
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
Garlic mix from above

1 small zucchini

Instructions

1. Add broth ingredients to a pot and heat on stove.
2. Peel garlic.  Smash garlic with cracked black pepper with a mortar and pestle.
3. Combine all meat mix ingredients and mix well.
4. Drop 1-inch balls of the meat mix into broth and bring to boil.
5. Scoop scum off top and discard.
6. Add zucchini and boil for a few minutes until cooked through.
7. Serve and enjoy!

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Korean Style Soup

 

This is my take on a Korean Style Soup.  The tofu I used was soft, but not the tube-shaped style that is typically used in soondubu.  It came in a tray.  I don't have a special cooking stone bowl pot, so I had to cook the soup in a regular pot as well as the egg.  When this is served to me in the restaurant, they give the egg to you to crack into the soup yourself.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons canola oil
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
  
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 ounces pork belly, chopped
• 4 Tablespoons Korean red pepper powder
• 2 Tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 Tablespoons shoyu (soy sauce)
• 2 cups water
  
• 1/2 cup kim chee, chopped
• 3 ounces mushrooms
• 1 cup bok choy
• 2 eggs

Instructions:

1. Prepare ingredients as described above (chop)
2. Heat canola oil in pot.
   
3. Add garlic, green onions, and yellow onions to the oil and stir fry until fragrant.
4. Add pork belly, stir fry, and cook well.
5. Add Korean red pepper powder, sesame oil, oyster sauce, soy sauce and stir.  Let simmer for a few minutes to let the flavors come together.
6. Add water and bring to a boil.
7. Add kim chee and stir.
8. Add mushrooms and bok choy.  Push it under the soup and bring to boil.
9. Crack eggs directly into soup and let it sit until the whites of the egg turn white.
10. Serve immediately.
11. Enjoy!

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Thai Style Curry with Chicken and Vegetables

I had a yellow curry powder from a trip to Thailand pre-covid and decided it was about time to put that to use. Here’s what I made.

Ingredients:

• 1 zucchini, grated
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 chicken thighs, chopped in bite size pieces
• 3 Tablespoons Thai yellow curry powder
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice
• 5 basil leaves (or more if you like)
• 1 Tablespoon cayenne powder (optional)

Instructions:

1. Prep vegetables as described above (grate, chop)
2. Toast curry powder in heated pan
3. Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer
4. Add chicken, cover, and simmer until chicken is white
5. Add onions, carrots, and zucchini and stir well
6. Squeeze a wedge of lime juice in
7. Tear basil leaves and drop them in
8. Add cayenne pepper and stir in
9. Enjoy!

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First 2022 Bean Harvest

                            

Look at this colorful array of beans!  This is my first harvest of 2022 from my container garden.  I've got yellow, purple, and green beans.  These were planted a few months ago.  The seeds were ordered from a vendor on Etsy called TomorrowSeeds.  Here's the link to the bean seeds, if you'd like to grow this variety.  https://etsy.me/3um8kwg

 

I made a simple side dish with this small harvest and served with with some cold tofu.  It was basically stir fried beans, a clove of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and onion powder. 

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Christmas Seafood Boil

 

This is what we had for Christmas! Yum! For vegetables, we had corn, lol.  I followed a recipe from Joshua Weissman on YouTube.  I chose this one because I read the comments and his recipe seemed to be closest to what the authentic recipe is like and most people were not disappointed.  Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LZGYG31o2c&t=8s 

 

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Stuffed Zucchini

Inspiration from Franceska Chef Recipes. I changed it up a bit according to what I had on hand.

For their original recipe, visit their website. Here is the direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeG6BR_-AaU&t=129s

 

Watch me make it.

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Balsamic Green Beans

 

 

For this dish, I basically used the recipe from Lemons for Lulu but made some modifications according to what I had on hand - substituted basil for rosemary and canadian bacon for pancetta.  For their original recipe, visit their website. Here is the direct link: https://www.lemonsforlulu.com/balsamic-green-beans/

Health update on my latest cholesterol check: https://www.abundanceofvegetables.com/2019/10/my-inspiration-for-abundance-of.html

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Toated Shishito Peppers, Calamari, and Onion Rings

 

I was craving calamari and wanted to conduct an experiment to cook some.  Since I was making fried calamari, I decided to also make onion rings.  Shishito peppers just happened to catch my eye while grocery shopping, so that was the vegetable of the night.  I toasted them in the toaster oven, easy peasy. It was a pupu kind of night.

Ingredients:

• Shishito peppers

Instructions:

1. Rinse peppers.
2. Spread out in a single layer on pan.
3. Toast for 10-15 minutes, until skin is slightly blistered.
4. Serve immediately with sauce of choice. (I made a garlic aioli dip).
5. Enjoy!
   

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Chicken Katsu Curry with Vegetables

 

This was pretty easy, just time consuming.  Prep the vegetables, simmer in water, add curry flavor block, and serve with fried chicken katsu and rice.  I think one potato would've been enough.  But I bought two so I decided to go ahead and add it in as well.  Here is what I did for the curry with vegetables part of this meal.

Ingredients for curry with vegetables:

• 2 potatoes, rinsed, chopped
• 1 pound carrots, peeled, chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped 
• 1/2 bag frozen peas
• 1 S&B golden curry block
• 2 Tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 cups water
  

Instructions:

1. Rinse potatoes.  Chop into bite size pieces and soak in water for five minutes and drain.
   
2. Rinse carrots.  Peel skin, cut and discard ends, and chop into bite size pieces.
3. Peel onions.  Chop into bite size pieces.
4. Heat large skillet and add oil.
5. Add onions, carrots, and potatoes.  Stir and add water.  Cover and let simmer until fork tender.
   
6. Add curry block.
7. Stir every few minutes to melt curry block.
8. Add peas.  Stir through and serve with rice and fried chicken katsu.
   

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Stuffed Onions Spaghetti

 

I watched a video on YouTube that was all about a variety of different onion dishes.  I was inspired to experiment making stuffed onions.  I found a recipe online but didn't have all the ingredients it called for, so made some substitutions like ground turkey for lamb, dried parsley for fresh parsley and mint, brown rice for white rice, and cumin for baharat.  I had never even heard of baharat before and had to google what could be used in place for it.

The process was tedious, peeling the layers and wrapping each one up.  Needless to say, I did not like the taste and the cook time was not enough because the rice inside was still crunchy.  Additionally, I don't care for cinnamon spice in savory dishes.

The next morning, I attempted to change the flavor profile by making a spaghetti and having the stuffed onions act as the meatballs.  The spaghetti was fine, the onion layers too, but the stuffing still didn't sit well with me.  I am not trying this again.

Watch me prepare this experiment.

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