a week's worth

Oi, I haven't updated in almost a week! Somehow my 'not full' schedule still manages to keep me busy. Actually most of last week was leftovers thrown together in creative and not-so-creative ways. I'm trying to use up what's in our fridge and freezer, but that gets hard every time I go shopping and buy more fresh stuff. It's just so much nicer to use vegetables that haven't been frozen. Guess I'm picky.

Especially when I go pull a bag out of the freezer labeled 'really yummy chicken broth' and find out that it also has vegetables in it, most of which are mushy beyond recognition. =p But luckily we do have enough of it to reconstitute a whole chicken, so I threw it all in a pot and added some new vegetables...and eggs...I can't even remember what all I put in it. But hey, throw it all in a tupperware bowl, toss some goldfish on top (plastic wrap in between to prevent soggy expanding goldfish), and it's pretty yummy.

Next day's lunch was slightly more coherent. Salmon teriyaki is a delicious standby when you're out of ideas. I marinated the salmon overnight (using store-bought teriyaki sauce, but it actually wasn't that bad) and wrapped it up alongside snow peas and carrot slices over a bed of Koshihikari (=Kroger brand, more or less) sushi rice. Now, I've read that you need to let the rice cool before putting it in a container to carry around till lunch to keep it from getting soggy. I didn't think of that until after I put it in piping hot (thinking I'd wrap it up and it would stay hot till lunch) but it turned out ok. It wasn't the least bit warm when I finally ate it (not insulated enough I guess), but the rice was beautiful and sticky. Just perfect I think. I knew there was a reason I love short grain rice. This 'bento' got a thumbs up from both parents. I think I'll be doing a lot with salmon this summer.

Finally, for today I made more chicken salad. This batch is colorful! I used red, orange, yellow, and green peppers, red and green apples, celery, and purple grapes. Every color of the rainbow except blue. I toyed with the idea of using blueberries, but maybe I'll save that for a fruitier version. Strawberries, oranges, yellow & green apples, blueberries and grapes? That sounds amazing. Damn, that'd make a sweet fruit salad by itself. With bananas for yellow. But anyway, this week's chix salad is nice and crunchy, and very tasty on dark wheat bread.

I have a few recipes and combo ideas that I'm gonna try later this week. At some point I'll hit Capt. Paul's Seafood when it's actually open and see if I can convince them to sell me fish heads. =D More stories to come!

Orange bento

I've been dying to make color-themed lunches. Because I'm a hippie (at least a wannabe). Last night I was thinking of what was in the fridge that I could fix up without too much hassle, and I remembered that I had a cantaloupe and some ginormous oranges to use. So the color of the day is orange (which of course includes yellow and red for aesthetics and my sanity).

Today's bento consists of cantaloupe and orange fruit salad alongside rice with barely-cooked carrots, Wisconsin cheese, and eggs drizzled with honey orange sauce and accented with tomato flowers. Oh, and a layer of goldfish sandwiched between the lid and some plastic wrap for a snack.

The fruit salad is really just fresh fruit; I did try mixing it with mint and vanilla, but I don't really care for the cantaloupe that way. The orange however...to die for! Anyway, so I just cut them up nice and small and nestled them into a little bowl made of half an orange rind.

The carrots are barely-cooked because I decided I wanted to glaze them at the last minute, and didn't have time to do much except boil them for five minutes. I think that was just enough though. I made a hasty omelet last night and cut some little hearts out of it and dumped honey orange sauce on everything.

I didn't look up a recipe for that because my 7.30 deadline was fast approaching, and decided that mixing honey and orange juice tasted just fine. About.com tells me I should have used much less honey and simmered it for a while rather than sticking it into the microwave for 15 seconds, and Betty Crocker suggests cooking brown sugar, butter, and a little salt and grated orange peel and then simmering the carrots in that. I'll have to give both of those a try and see what else turns up.

Don't know what to say about the little grape tomatoes except that they were hastily made and I need a better set of knives. I'm going to walk into a kitchen store one of these days and pick someone's brain about them, since I currently know next to nothing. Maybe I should search for some little shape-cutters for carrots and stuff too. I can make shapes by hand, but they're never as good, and I tend to run out of creative ideas after stars and flowers.

Overall this was a fun bento. I'll have to do it again, maybe once for each color. Although that could get tricky for colors like blue and purple. How about black and white? Would that even be appetizing? I could make it checkered, like the bathroom set my mom crocheted when she moved out...LOL.

Herbs

All I know about herbs I learn by smell. When I'm cooking something, I go through our spice cabinet and smell everything, dumping in what seems like appropriate amounts of whatever smells good. I guess that's kind of how I cook as a whole...just keep going till it smells done.

While visiting the farmer's market today to buy veggies, honey, and herbs, I was told that marjoram is great with chicken and would be delicious in chicken salad. I have no idea what it tastes like; the dried stuff in our cabinet smells like tea. I'll try adding that next time and see what comes out.

I convinced my dad to run down to the store and get some Southern Comfort because my mom keeps talking about mint juleps and I decided I wanted to try this mystery drink. Making it was easy enough, just crush some mint in water, add crushed ice, and dump in a shot or two of SoCo. I haven't really acquired a taste for that yet, so I didn't drink much. But hey. I can say I've had one now.

P.S. I really want some egg molds. There are some on ebay, but the sellers require PayPal, which I haven't quite figured out yet. It's such a cute idea though! I tried it a little with chocolate molds, but they were a bit large. Got the idea though- it's fun! I've been reading through bento websites, including cookingcute.com for cute ideas like that. Hopefully I'll get to try some of them before too long!

Evelyn's Meatloaf and Sweet Potato Fries

makes 6-8 servings

From Mennonite Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley:
Meat loaf:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or 1 lb. ground beef and 1/2 lb. fresh bulk sausage
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. dried sage
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. dry onion, or 1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp. celery salt
3 slices bread, torn into small pieces
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup milk
1 egg

Topping:
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 tbsp. prepared mustard

Mix together all meat loaf ingredients. Shape into a loaf and place in a 5x9 baking dish. Mix together topping ingredients. Spread over loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.


From CountryLiving.com:

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large (about 1 1/2 pounds) sweet potatoes

In a small bowl, combine cumin, salt, and pepper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400°. Peel potatoes, cut each in half lengthwise, and cut each half into 6 wedges. In a large bowl, combine the cut potatoes, oil, and spice mixture. Toss until potatoes are evenly coated. On a baking sheet, arrange potatoes in a single layer and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake until edges are crisp and potatoes are cooked through -- about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

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I found out that if you cut thinner fries, you only bake them like 20 minutes. I baked a batch and also pan-fried some, and most of them were burnt. Still tasty though. I'm also finding out that while this cooking every day thing is a lot of fun, it's really easy to just eat alllll the time. I think I've eaten like six meals today, not to mention all the snacks while making them! At least when I was at school I didn't have time to eat this much...

Chicken Salad part 2

Mom says the bag of m&ms has to go. Being a good daughter, that means I must eat them. Summer diets are silly anyway.

Turns out the gazpacho was really good with chicken and flatbread. Also I realized today that the fruit salad is best eaten the day it's made, or the grapes start turning red and the strawberries get soggy. I think I can handle that.

Lunch tomorrow is chicken salad with pecans walnuts, celery, red and green apples, and fried egg yolks. It's very colorful. I'm trying to think of what else is yellow that I could add...I don't think I want corn in my chicken salad, maybe summer squash or I wonder how plantains would taste?? It should be something crunchy I think. Yellow apples, perhaps. Red grapes and green and/or yellow apples. Drew suggests baked corn tortilla strips (sprinkle with oil and bake at 300° until crispy - I got some tortillas to try this with sometime soon. And glazed nasturtiums. o.O Any other ideas welcome.

I have a rather large amount of this salad, so (also per Drew's suggestion) after sandwiches tomorrow, I'll try it out over a fruity mix, with some combination of grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, and maybe I'll go get a pineapple. I wonder if I should mix in some kind of herb with it...what would be good with chicken, mayo, and fruit? Elise.com says tarragon (along with cranberries). I'm tempted to add some mint just for kicks.

Garden Gazpacho

Makes 4 servings

2 lbs large ripe tomatoes, seeded, and diced
1/2 orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 tbs red wine vinegar
2 tbs mild çayenne pepper sauce
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 c vegetable juice
3/4 c fresh corn kernels
2 green onions, chopped
2 tbs thinly sliced fresh basil

Put half the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumber as well as all of the vinegar, pepper sauce, oil, garlic, and salt in a blender. Purée until smooth and transfer to a large glass bowl or container. Stir in the remaining tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, vegetable juice, corn, and green onions. Cover and refrigerate until the flavors are blended, at least four hours. Continue to check flavors periodically as soup chills. Ladle the soup into chilled bowls and sprinkle with basil.

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This recipe is actually a Glad advertisement in issue 43 of Everyday Food that I picked up in the South Bend airport. It's not too hard to make, evidenced by the fact that I managed to make it without having a clue how to dice tomatoes or use the food processor or anything. I hard boiled some eggs to go with it (it's for lunch tomorrow) and managed to crack most of them. *sigh* On the daily cooking scale, today might be about a 5. But at least lunch will be tasty if nothing else.

P.S. This is the beginning of my make-my-parents-lunch-every-day phase, as it is summer. This means I'll be updating a lot more and hopefully learning something in the process. My parents are my test-tasters, so I'm hoping they can give me some feedback such as MAKE IT AGAIN PLEASE or ....maybe let's have that other thing again. =)

Broccoli Salad

(tasted, not tested)

broccoli florets
sunflower seeds
raisins
bacon bits
mayo sauce

I'm not sure yet what's in the mayo sauce. (I'm starting to think I should devote my summer to sauces, so I have an easier time figuring out what's in all this stuff!) It's on the sweet side, but it's definitely got some mayo in it, or a really interesting cream of some kind. I also feel like I'm missing an ingredient...I ate this like three hours ago, although admittedly my brain's been a bit fuzzy since then. Maybe ND Food Services will put it in my boxed midnight lunch for tomorrow. Instructions for this are mix and add whatever you want. Sound familiar? I'm thinking a cheesy sauce would be really good too...maybe provolone? Or a ranch/bleu cheese. I'll experiment.

Two Asian Noodle Salads

(one tasted, one tested)

lettuce, shredded (the green kind!)
carrots, shredded
noodles (lo mein or something)
tomatoes, diced
celery, chopped
peanuts
green onions, chopped
cilantro
sesame seeds
lime-peanut sauce

Mix, arrange, garnish. I have no idea what's in the lime-peanut sauce at the moment, but I'll figure something out. I ordered this at Grandma's Bar & Grill in Fargo, ND yesterday. I was particularly interested in the sauce, because it sounded so similar to what I make sometimes with peanuts and noodles. This sauce wasn't thick and creamy like I expected, but more watery, like a salad dressing. It was still good, and all the extra veggies and stuff were really nice and refreshing. You could add chicken for $2, but that might have been a bit much.

cucumbers, peeled and sliced
ham, sliced
eggs, sliced
noodles (udon I think)
sesame seeds
peanut butter
sesame oil

The first three ingredients should be sliced into strips as much as possible. Mix the peanut butter and sesame oil and heat until they're mixed nice and creamy. Pile on some noodles, arrange the cucumbers, ham, and eggs on top, sprinkle some sesame seeds, and give it a generous helping of peanut sauce.

When I do this in the dining hall, I just use the microwave, but if you do it over a stove and add some other fun stuff like soy sauce in, anything could happen. I'm pretty sure there's more to this sauce the way Jenny (my boss) makes it, but I don't know what it is. Personally, I like just the peanut butter best, because the sweetness really complements the other ingredients well. I haven't yet figured out how to keep the sauce from thickening up too much when you add it to the cold salad...I don't know if it's just a matter of adding more oil or some other special ingredient...I'll experiment with this over the summer.

Dining Hall-friendly Chicken Salad

(tested and approved)

chicken breast
mayonnaise
half an apple
celery

optional:
spinach
zucchini
buffalo sauce
nuts
shredded cheese

Cut and mix. Enjoy on a very thick slice of wheat bread (personal preference).

Notes: No, it's no different from chicken salad you can get at Arby's or any grocery store...but it consists entirely of ingredients found in our dining hall. Trust me, the ready-made stuff isn't nearly as tasty as the apple & celery version. I also like mixing in whole spinach leaves and cooking (or microwaving it) just till the chicken's hot, the cheese is melted, and the spinach is spongy. It's a great dorm snack for cold winter nights. (And carb free!)

Jazzy J is my usual test-taster. Rag on him if you disagree with the evaluation of deliciousness.

some explanations...

Ah, maybe I should make a note of how my posts/recipes will go. Obviously I'm no cookbook author (yet). If I copy a recipe I like, it'll have all the culinary language and precise measurements and stuff. But I'm kind of a big fan of measuring by sight (when it's practical) and using a culinary/artistic eye to take care of proportions, colors, etc. So when I'm adapting a recipe or just copying someone else's dish, I will probably only specify the most necessary measurements. Culinary art (still looking for a better synonym, in any language) is as dependent on the style and personality of the creator as music, dance or painting. So I want there to be as much room for elaboration and adaptation as is necessary.

Basically, some of my posts (like the only recipe I have at this point) might only be a list of ingredients and some seemingly obvious instructions. This means that I either have no idea what the best way to go about it is (i.e., I haven't actually made it yet), I want to leave room for artistic freedom, or it actually doesn't matter how you do it as long as you do it and it tastes good. I mean, how many ways can you screw up a salad? (The visual side of my brain is begging to be expressed, but I'm suppressing it until a later date.) Putting ideas and experiments into an organized format just seems better to me than hiding them in five paragraphs of a story about the history, creation, and experience of the recipe. That's not to say that I won't have stories to share (such as mopping soda off my kitchen ceiling), just that they will be separated from the more business-like posts. Yay blogs! They're so addicting.

Vanilla Mint Fruit Salad

(tested and approved)

20-30 oz strawberries, hulled, quartered
2 c seedless green grapes
1/4 c sugar
2 tsp finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In short: combine, toss, cover, chill, serve. It looks adorable in tiny dishes (about a quarter-cup serving) and is delicious and refreshing on a warm summer night.

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Brookes made this for us while we were cooking for the five-meat pasta night a few weeks ago. She sent us the recipe afterward from epicurious.com (unimaginatively titled Strawberries and Grapes with Mint and Vanilla) Apparently it is an Italian recipe, and the mint is 'a favorite ingredient in native cooking.' I wasn't too crazy about the idea of vanilla and mint together, but after tasting it I recant all my former feelings. I didn't have time to make it for my parents like I'd hoped, but I did make a big bowl for Adele and me, and we ate it for like a week. I made rice with just a little sushi vinegar and vanilla mixed in and put the fruit on top and packed that for lunch every day. It was delicious!

Edit: Have made this for parents and other relative-type people and it has been universally adored. Added oranges the other day, and it was great. Can't wait to try things like watermelon, peaches, bananas, pineapples, cherries, you get the idea.

我很喜欢吃中国饭，日本饭。

Awesome. 好吃 - Good Eats is up and running. I've never used Blogger before, so I look forward to exploring the possibilities.

Basically this blog exists because I like food. I like eating food, making food, sharing food, and thinking about food. I think my life goal when I'm old and retired is to be a godmother to someone's child and make them lunch every day. So until that happens, this blog is my place to muse on recipes, wonder about combinations, and share my ideas with you, my benefiting reader. Aren't you lucky?

So my title. 好吃. Hao chi (3rd and 1st tones, if you care) means delicious in Mandarin. I am inordinately fond of Asian food (including India and all the tiny scattered Asian countries), plus I'm taking Chinese, so that's my story. Let's get started!