Katya4me

The other night we had marinated stuffed mushrooms as a starter, and had fiery dragon noodles as the main dish. I had a 10 oz package of noodles and a lb of rotisserie chicken, so I scaled the recipe up a bit and it turned out very well. I do still have 1/2 a head of cabbage in the fridge that I need to use up.

Playing a bit of catch-up here. Last night was this green curry rice cakes dish that turned out very well. I used a can of Thai green curry paste and it had enough kick that we both had clear sinuses when we were finished. Wednesday night, we had been out SUPing and didn't feel like cooking much, so we did spicy watermelon sushi and grilled shishito peppers. We had leftover sushi rice and seaweed from the previous night's lion's mane mushroom sushi. I didn't have dulse powder and not vegan, so substituted a bit of hondashi powder instead and I think it turned out fairly tasty. We added cucumber sticks to both of the sushi for some nice crunch. Sunday was too hot to cook, so made this watermelon and halloumi tabbouleh that I've done before. I was feeling a bit lazy and used a seasoned box kit of couscous and I should have made the recipe's sauce or added more salt and pepper, etc. It still tasted good though. Friday night, I made this melon and mozz ball salad to go with fish. I took 2 frozen branzino fillets that I got from TJ's, coated them with a season spicy mayo mixture, topped them with panko bread crumbs and baked them for about 20 min. before broiling for 2 min. to crisp the bread crumbs. I was really happy with how that turned out.

Gochiso-Dofu (Decorated Tofu) is something we tried for the first time last summer and it's on the agenda for this week. Cold silken soft tofu, with herbs, soy sauce & sesame oil, over white rice. Very simple and surprisingly delicious. I also like to do daikon or carrot noodles and do sesame noodles or a cold noodle salad with them.

Needed to clear out the fridge this week, so last night's dinner was a bit of a hodge-podge. I had some garlic chives, matchstick carrots, cooked mushrooms, and a pack of fermented greens in the fridge. I sauteed the carrots and chopped the chives and added them to the skillet. Once they started to soften, added the last of some chicken broth and then the greens. Once that was all mixed together, I added the mushrooms to warm them up. I had this together with Trader Joe's squiggly noodles and it worked out pretty good.

I made 2 batches of dough yesterday and baked them in the Dutch oven today. I made this olive bread for the first time and it's delicious. You definitely have to like olives though. The other was a loaf of spicy cheddar cheese bread. Not particularly spicy but very tasty. This was my second time making this one and I decided to skip the egg wash this time. This isn't really a sandwich slicing bread but it's very nice to just nom on. I can see it toasted with eggs and bacon for breakfast though. 😋

Tuesday, I had some Chinese broccoli to use up, along with some chicken thighs and Korean rice cakes. I made a quick marinade with Szechuan broad bean sauce, and gochuchang. I let that sit while I cut the broccoli into 3rds and then put the chicken and lower stems in a skillet to sauté. Once they started to soften, I added some chicken broth and the rice cakes to the pan, along with a handful of the leaves and covered it for another 5 min. I made some more of the marinade and added it along with some more broth to the pan and made sure it coated the rice cakes. Gave it a couple more stirs and dinner was ready. Definitely enjoyed then and the leftovers on Wednesday. I wanted to grill last night, but didn't like the air quality, so stayed inside. I had some tiny baby potatoes, so I gave them a quick boil while I preheated the oven to 400*F. I cut up 3 chicken thighs and put them on a broiler pan, potatoes when on a separate broiler pan and they both went in the oven for 20 min. I got out the last of the Chinese broccoli leaves and tossed them in a skillet with the last of the chicken broth to wilt. In a bowl, I melted some butter and mixed it with white miso, agave, chili crisp, and basil paste. Once the potatoes and chicken were cooked, I tossed them in a bowl, followed by the greens and stirred. I've got about another lb. of those potatoes left, so I may be doing this again as it was really easy and very tasty.

I've had this grilled meatloaf recipe in the back of my mind for a while now and made it Saturday night. Since I have a gas grill, I just spread the slices over the entire grill and then turned the temp down as 8 slices on one side was very crowded. Definitely lemony (which I liked) but I would tear the bread into smaller pieces next time. We had it with mashed potatoes and my hubby made a 2nd batch of potatoes to have with the it again last night so I'd call it a success. On Friday night, I had some thin sliced sweet potatoes lingering in the fridge, along with half a beet from another recipe. Those combined with some tofu and broccoli went into this recipe for dinner. I'd done the BBQ tofu bits by themselves before and liked them. I didn't have any leftover grains and wasn't feeling like making any, so just had the veggies and the dressing and it was perfect for me.

I wanted lentils for a packed lunch yesterday. After looking around at recipes and the pantry, I settled on this recipe for a Mediterranean lentil salad. I really like that it included pistachios and radishes for a nice crunch, along with the bell pepper. I ended up leaving the greens in the fridge but will try them with the leftovers.

Tonight was grilled chicken over rice. The avocado relish is a delightful collection of contrasts, creamy, crunchy and herby. Really good.

I made a batch of seitan a while back and found this recipe for vegan pastrami at that time. I made it yesterday and had it for lunch today. I'll confess that I'm not a vegan and didn't feel like tracking down the correct broth when I had beef broth handy. The beet added great color and the rub and seasoned broth gave it great flavor. I got about 25 slices so I've got lots of leftovers for the rest of the week. I meant to have it on pumpernickel bread but will remedy that for next time.

Last night was too nice not to grill. My husband had seen this recipe for grilled pork and poblanos a while back and I got the ingredients to make it for dinner yesterday. Super easy and very good. Pork was very moist and while I would probably leave the peppers on a little longer next time, the crunch was enjoyable contrast to the melted cheese.

I saw this recipe earlier this week and decided to try it today. I had a smaller block of tofu and cut it into 6 slices, matching the size of the seaweed pieces. I got a bit confused and made the sauce before doing the tofu with the corn starch. Meh... We ultimately decided to put the sesame seeds inside the roll and not fry it. We each ate 2 and the dipping sauce was a perfect match. We've got 2 pieces of tofu left along with the other ingredients to make 2 more rolls. I can definitely see packing this for a weekday lunch.

I got a Dutch oven for my birthday and I've been experimenting with bread recipes. So far these are my favorites: Basic bread with all purpose flour Italian herb and cheese bread

Last night was fajitas. Shrimp and beef with mushrooms, peppers and onions. Quick toss with fajita seasoning in the skillet, then rolled up in tortillas with shredded mixed cheese and salsa. Nothing fancy but very satisfying.

The other night, I was looking in the veggie drawer and saw a few items to use up. We had brown rice pad thai noodles in the pantry, so a plan was established. I took this recipe and essentially doubled the sauce, egg and noodle amounts. I had matchstick carrots, green beans and scallions in the fridge, along with bean sprouts. I also had a package of extra firm tofu. I used a whole onion instead of a half and cut it into half moon slices. I really liked the flavor of the sauce, which kind of surprised me as it includes no lime juice or tamarind.

Thursday night, I needed to cook for a party on Friday and wanted something easy to make. These beef rolls fill the bill nicely. I had some leftover spinach in the fridge, so I tossed that in the tortilla as well and made for a complete meal. The previous night, I made this cashew chicken dish, skipped the coconut rice as we had Jasmine already made and other than burning my finger on a caramelized nut, it came together without issue and I'd make it again.

Easy tray bake dinner with leftovers for lunch. Outside of having to brown the ground beef in a skillet, the whole thing was done on one tray and and low carb as well. We ended up doubling the recipe and I would do that again. It turned out I had bought too much kale for that recipe, so I made a massaged kale salad with the remainder of it. We had a bag of frozen mango so just cut up some of those and topped with pepitas was a great way to polish it off.

Last night's dinner was not quite a salad, but delicious. It comes together really easily and I liked the fact that the pita pieces weren't 100% crisp and dried out. I'd probably make the meatballs half the size next time, but that's a very minor quibble. Also, we did basil leaves instead of mint and that went really well with the other flavors.

We had some oranges that we weren't eating fast enough, so decided to use them to make this braised tofu. Made some jasmine rice to go with and it was a winner.

Playing a bit of catch-up from last weekend: Saturday, I was in the mood for a cooked mushrooms & spinach dish, so I made up a simple miso and sesame oil dressing while they cooked and then pan-seared 2 salmon filets to have alongside. Sunday was absolutely gorgeous, so I grilled. Shazaam peppers from Wegmans and this recipe. It is emphatically not a paella, but it was delicious. Tuesday was chicken w/ bell peppers & bok choy. Whoever came up with the prep and cook times is a lying liar. I liked the chicken breading technique and we tossed the last of the spinach in at the end. I wanted some carbs, so cooked up some pearl couscous. Overall, it was tasty, just not sure if it was worth the effort in comparison to similar recipes. Wednesday I didn't really feel like cooking, so we made this cold Asian noodle salad. We were out of edamame and green onions, so tossed in some extra carrots and bell peppers. I also swirled some basil paste into the dressing. Other changes included swapping in soba noodles and using canola oil instead of olive oil and agave instead of brown sugar. We both really liked it.

With the cold windy weather earlier this week, I was in the mood for comfort food. We had cod fillets in the freezer, along with potatoes & shredded carrot to use up. We made cheesy cod pie and it was delicious. I had less than 2 lbs of fish, so tossed in the remainders of a bag of frozen mixed veg and called it good. I sauteed some cabbage with the last of the carrots, included a sprinkle of Pinakurat vinegar and had that as our side dish.

Last night was a sheet pan dinner type night. I did miso-glazed tofu on on pan and carrot fries on another pan. The tofu turned out really well and made a batch of couscous to go with it. For the sauce I did mayo with maple syrup and Sriracha. We drizzled a little of that over the couscous and that worked very well. I used cornstarch instead of arrowroot and I think I was a bit underweight on the amount of carrots for the coating. Tasted decent, but a bit too much coating in proportion to the carrots. Overall a good dinner and I'll definitely do the tofu again.

Dinner tonight: https://leitesculinaria.com/338805/recipes-hot-honey-chicken-tenders.html. We ate them on ciabatta rolls with pickle slices. Yum

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum since I've only had them when I've made them at home. They're really easy to make if you do want to try making yourself.

Hubby has been trying out Too Good To Go and got a bakery deal the other night. In the bag was a very nice long baguette, so decided to make molletes with it for dinner last night. Cracked open a can of spicy refried beans, and I had bag of shredded Mexican cheese blend in the fridge. Broiled for 5 min and dinner was served.