Foodies

My oldest brother is a Foodie. Every Christmas we look forward to his family visiting the week after Christmas to New Years. He always has interesting and unique food experiences to share. Whether it's searching out a restaurant he heard about on one of his favorite podcasts, Splendid Table, or a particular style of food he is trying to perfect, he is always enlightening us with his new find. This trip he made homemade potstickers. They were delicious and Cee watched with interest as he made them and then turned it over to her. He surprised her with a potsticker mold on his return from a daytrip to L.A, so this is what she wanted to do this afternoon.

Cee took over using all the tips she had picked up. I found this recipe.

My favorite part was the sauce. I could pour it on anything. I used the three ingredients my brother used ("Lee Kum Kee" soy sauce, rice vinegar & ground ginger) in the proportions listed in the recipe. Cee wants to invite her friend over for a sleepover and have them both make this for dinner that night. They are both foodies in training.

New Perspective

Little baby steps toward healthier living.  Having good choices in stock and the abundance of Summer produce around definitely makes us think more about what we are eating.  Attempting to cut the excess in your life, makes you realize just how much waste you haven't even noticed.  Some of it shows, some of it hidden.  Unprocessed food really does taste better - not a new discovery for most.  

On our trip this weekend we stopped on the way up and back to buy cherries from roadside stands.  Something we have never done.  Steps in the right direction included eating apples on the beach, homemade muffins for a snack at the Aquarium, and making sure we drank lots of water.  

Boy, do we have a LONG ROAD ahead but the beginning rewards are enough to keep us moving along happily.  

Lately I've Been...

...cooking a lot more.  We're trying to eat at home every weeknight.  So, I've been trying to find the balance of taste, ease, and somewhat better nutrition.  We've had some virus slowly hit each one of the girls and as much as I tried to fight, it finally got me this weekend. We have also had a lot of much needed rain.  The combination of the rain outside and the warmth inside, apparently makes me want to cook more (who'd of thought?)

I found a recipe for shrimp bowls with shrimp, brown rice, snow peas and avocado and I made it.  Let me tell you how much of a hit it wasn't.  As we were crunching on brown rice (apparently it takes much longer to cook) and moving aside the snow peas I figured I'd try it differently next time.  

This is what I came up with for our tastes.  Shrimp, pan-fried noodles, asparagus and avocado.  The noodles were boiled Top Ramen that I fried in butter and low sodium soy sauce.  Yeah, I know how to turn a healthy recipe into a fattening one but the ingredients on top were healthy. Shrimp bowls were definitely a keeper.  I just want to buy the shrimp when it's on sale.

  
The next day for lunch I had a shrimp salad with homemade dressing.  Notice I wasn't shy with the dressing - no one was looking.

I knew I was on some kind of phase when I started to want to bake.  Normally I would almost pick laundry over this activity, but I had a craving for peanut butter cookies.  It was the first time I used my Silpat I received two years ago.  Rod's Mom gave us this nice cookie sheet, so the two went together well.  I did notice a difference in the crispness of the cookie and how evenly they were cooked.  The only thing is I smelled a slight hint of plastic.  I wonder if it's because it was the first time the Silpat was used.  Did I do something wrong?

Tonight we're going to have spinach pasta with goat cheese.  It's one of our favorites.  And yeah, do you think Oliver has outgrown his basket?  He adopted this the very first day here.  I think he likes it because Nutmeg can't jump on him.  He's grown a bit since.

Have a great day.  Stay well!

Super Bowl Sunday

Gosh, has it been a week?  A lot of lessons learned last week, so it was both good and hard.  At the start of it we had a quiet Superbowl Sunday.  We stayed home but made some special snacks so the girls would get into it with us.  It had been busy leading up to the day, so we didn't plan ahead, which is nice sometimes.  We stopped by the grocery store on the way home from Church and it was busier than Thanksgiving or Christmas.  

Made homemade guacamole, store-bought salsa (from local restaurant), Dinga's deli rolls and margaritas.  My sister made these for Christmas and they were really good, much better than the deli.  Her's were more smooth than mine.  I think I went too heavy on the bacon bits and garlic, but they were still so good and easy.

If you ever want a filling snack or an appetizer for a casual event, consider these:

Dinga's Deli Rolls

8 oz whipped cream cheese

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp dill mix

1 tsp minced garlic

*****

fresh spinach

sliced turkey breast (I added roast beef too)

alfalfa sprouts

real bacon bits

Mix top ingredients the night before so flavors meld.  Spread mixture on tortilla, cover with spinach layer, turkey slices, alfalfa sprouts, and bacon bits.  Roll tightly, then let sit in fridge 2-3 hours.  Cut in 3/4" slices.

There was a little spread leftover so the next day we added it to toasted french bread.  Okay, another reason why I'm fat, I enjoy food.  Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best.

I Know How She Did It

I've always loved the memory of the time my oldest sister babysat us and made homemade donuts.  In my memory those were the best donuts I had ever tasted.  I held the amazement for some time now.  Then I read this post at In the Midst of It and wondered maybe, just maybe, my sister used this same technique?  Maybe she'll reveal her secret in the comments.

These are easy peasy as Jae would say lately.  Cee and I opened an ordinary can of biscuit dough, cut a hole in the middle, fried, then rolled in sugar.  I used my wok for the very first time.  It was a bridal shower gift.  (I'm sure my Aunt could not have imagined it would be used 14 years after she gave it to me.)

They were incredibly delicious as soon as they cooled enough to take a bite.  It didn't taste like a biscuit at all.  The next day the biscuity denseness started and they will still good but not wow.

Next time you want to impress your children or give your younger brother and sisters a lasting memory, pop open a can of biscuit dough.

yum - O