Orange Beef Lo Mein

Pregnancy + morning sickness throughout the pregnancy = not much cooking. First because the energy required to cook was nonexistent, second because I wasn't much in the mood for eating, third because I didn't want to get sick on it.

Then: baby came out, my appetite returned, and Blue Apron finally had a menu in which all 3 meals looked good. So this week we got Blue Apron again, the first since November. Tonight I made the first meal: Orange Beef Lo Mein. Sounds good, right? Too bad for the husband and I. We've had better. Both when dining out and from my own kitchen. Sigh.

Started by prepping all the ingredients when Doug and Roland were at swim lessons. Asher (the new baby) was happily asleep in his swing so I took the opportunity to spend some time in the kitchen all by myself. Notice the sippy cups drying, the glass of beer (my very own homebrew), and the Nalgene bottle (Mama's gotta stay hydrated). It was quite nice to cut everything up and then put each ingredient it its own place. Finally, some cut and dry order to something (we haven't had that since we brought the new baby home). Plus, it's nice to start with all simple, easily identifiable ingredients and finish with a meal.

There were a few things during cooking that I thought could have been skipped. First - putting oil in the pan to cook the ground beef. Unless this was super lean (the package did not indicate), I really don't see a reason to oil a non-stick pan to cook ground beef. Pretty sure it has enough fat on its own. Second - wiping out the pan that I did put oil in, just to add new oil to cook the veggies. Maybe you're trying to avoid meat fat in favor of plant fat, but all I saw was a paper towel with a bunch of flavor on it. Should have read the directions closer, I definitely would have skipped that step. And third - using salt and pepper to season the finished dish. It was already cooked with soy sauce, why not use more in lieu of salt? Both are salty, but as the dish already contains soy a little more will probably be okay if you want salt. As it is, I rarely cook with extra salt, so I did skip the salt in this case, and we added soy sauce to taste when we sat down to eat.

Some additives might have been good here too: red or yellow bell pepper or thinly sliced carrot would have been an improvement both in flavor and appearance. And neither would have interfered with the flavors already in the dish.



And the finished meal. A little blurry, and boring to look at. Don't worry. It's not just boring because it's blurry. It's actually a boring looking meal. Did I do something wrong? Are my plating skills total junk? Do I need better dishes? Maybe. Or maybe it was a boring dish to look at. All the veggies were green or white. There was an orange when I started, but since only some zest and the juice are used there is no color. But it still smelled decent, we were hungry, and it was what I made for dinner.

Sadly, I won't be making this again. I will be looking for the main seasoning, or attempting to make it myself. It smelled awesome, and could have used more than came in the box. The ground beef was nice. But overall, this isn't something worth making again.

Meatball Subs and Salad

Tonight we tried our second meal from the Blue Apron box. Meatball Sub and Salad. The recipe is here if you're interested.

Again all the ingredients needed came in the box, except for the olive oil and salt. There was a ton of salad, we didn't finish that. The subs were HUGE. Hard to see with the pic I took, but each one took up an entire plate. I couldn't finish mine, and that was sharing with a toddler who thinks it's his job to eat as much as possible off of my plate.

While salad was pretty good (basic salad but with homemade dressing) the subs were not great. Doug finished his, but we both agreed that there could have been more seasoning. And the meatballs were plenty big enough, even though I made the mixture into 10 meatballs instead of 8.

I think if I were to make meatball subs again I would use my own recipe for meatballs - even though this had Italian seasoning in it, it pretty much just tasted like beef. And the tomato sauce could have used a little more seasoning - garlic and onions were a great start, but it needed a little more. Maybe some basil or something. I suppose I had that in the cupboard, but just as when I was making the salad, I thought it would be good just to try the recipe as it was sent - otherwise the salad would have had feta cheese and tomatoes added to it as well (especially since I already had both in the fridge).

So, this recipe sounded good, and the ingredients looked good, but it seemed to need a little more than it came with.

Orange Shrimp

A few weeks ago Doug came home from school with the name of a company he heard advertised in one of the podcasts he likes. The company is called Blue Apron and they put together meals for you complete with recipes and then ship everything to your door. The podcast advertisement included a promo code to get you to try it out. After looking at the website we decided to give it a try. Our first box was about the equivalent to eating out for a meal, but would include enough for 3 meals. I usually try to prepare meals with leftovers so Doug has lunch for the next day or two, but this might be a good option for the days I don't have a dinner idea or I only care enough to throw a pizza in the oven.

Yesterday that first box arrived so last night I gave it a try.  Nearly all the ingredients came in the box.  The only thing I needed for this meal that wasn't included was olive oil (any cooking oil probably would have worked, I prefer olive oil) and salt (the recipe also called for pepper, but I almost never cook with the stuff - personal preference).



All the ingredients for the meal from the box. One ingredient I had never heard of before - Ponzu sauce. According to the recipe it is a soy sauce with vinegar for a kick. The recipe needed a tablespoon of sauce so the ingredients came with a tablespoon. Kinda wish it had come with more so we could try it again without buying a big bottle. Especially since I've never seen it in the store before and Medford is a little small for finding things unusual.



The ingredients have been prepped and are ready to go. Lots of chopping for this recipe.

The end result. The recipe made just enough for two servings. They weren't skimpy servings - we both felt full at the end - but Doug would have liked a bit more rice. Mostly because if there is rice he will eat a scoop plain after he has finished his main meal.  Pretty good once it all came together.  The orange sauce was good soaked into the rice. The shrimp were alright. Not my favorite protein, but Doug loves them and this was a good way to put them into a meal. They aren't something I would buy normally, so getting them as part of a box meant trying something I wouldn't usually cook. If flipping through a magazine I probably would have passed over a recipe like this altogether, so this was a good way to cook something I usually avoid and to try a recipe I probably would have overlooked. In which case the cost of the meal turned out to be a good deal.

Homemade Chili Seasoning

Last time I went on a big grocery trip, I planned a menu and made a shopping list.  Chili was not on it.  At some point yesterday though I decided that we must have chili for dinner, and I would use the TVP to keep it vegetarian.  I thought to myself "surely I have beans and tomatoes on hand, and I can figure out chili seasoning..."

The recipe I found that most closely resembled what I thought I was looking for still needed some tweaking to fit personal preferences.  Mostly because I am too wimpy to handle any kind of heat.  And I dislike black pepper in just about EVERYTHING.  I think it tastes like dirt.  Yes, I know what dirt tastes like (thank you, Basic Training).

Here is what I came up with for the best chili seasoning:
(adapted from mybakingaddiction)

4 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
dash of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 tablespoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons sea salt

Mix together all ingredients.  Makes about 1/2 cup.

 

Mmmm, chili seasoning with no hidden ingredients.  Store in an air tight container.

Now for the Vegetarian (actually Vegan) Chili:

Start with Onions.  I used 6, but they were small.  They came from the Farmer's Market in Haleiwa. Don't be fooled by their tiny size.  Half way through I had to take a break for onion tears.  Chop them up and saute them in olive oil. 

TVP = Textured Vegetable Protein.  This ingredient is best not thought about.  When I think about it too much, I end up thinking of the scene in The Matrix where everyone is eating the slop that gives them all the nutrients they need.  So you can pretend to be sci-fi about it, or you can use ground meat. (Note: there will be no Vegan Super Powers gained by eating meat)  I used 1 cup of TVP and 2 cups of water.  Throw it in with the onions once they cooked as much as you like them.

Beans.  I used what I had on hand.  Which was 2 cans of black beans and 1 can of kidney beans.  Make sure you rinse those things.  Bean sludge is disgusting.  Add to the onion/TVP mixture.

 Throw in a can of diced tomatoes, including the juice in the can.  2 (8oz) cans of tomato sauce should be added too.  Unless you like dry chili.  Then add 2 tablespoons of the chili seasoning mixture.  Or more if you want.  This would also be a good time to add more heat if you can handle it.

Yum, finished chili.  The TVP looks like ground turkey.  Because of the chili seasoning it tastes like chili.  However, TVP all alone is gross.  Like tofu all alone.  You just shouldn't do it.

Millet Salad

As mentioned yesterday, I was planning on Tabbouleh for dinner last night. But the recipe looked rather bland, so the only part I followed were the directions for cooking millet.

I started by toasting 1 cup of whole millet in a tiny amount of oil.  After a few minutes of toasting, I filled the pan with water, brought it to a boil, then simmered the millet for about 15 minutes.  When it was finished simmering, I drained, rinsed, and drained again.  Had to get it cold before mixing with veggies.

Meanwhile, I chopped veggies.  Lots of veggies: tomato, cucumber, onion, garlic, and bell pepper.  I had about 1 1/2 cups of chopped tomato, 1 1/2 cups of chopped cucumber, 1 cup of chopped green onion, and 1 1/2 cups chopped pepper.  Plus a few cloves of garlic.

Add about 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lime juice, 1/2 cup crumbled feta, and 1 tsp dried cilantro.  Give it all a stir and store in the fridge until the millet is done.  None of these measurements are accurate.  I poured olive oil and lemon juice straight from the bottle.  Same with the cilantro.  And the cheese was the end of a container.  I also added salt.  Before putting in the fridge I tried a bite and it tasted great so I left it alone.

Add the millet and eat.  Turned out pretty good.  Doug thought the onion was a little heavy.  I really liked the sweetness of the bell pepper.  We both agreed less olive oil and more cheese would be an improvement.

Veggie Fare

Doug mentioned while we were on the mainland this summer that he would like to try eating vegetarian more often.  Maybe even more often than not.  As someone who ate primarily vegetarian (because it was easy and I was lazy) in college, I have no problem with this.  We're not doing it because we feel bad for animals.  In fact, bacon is my primary reason for not being vegetarian.  If I could make the entire pig into bacon and waste none of it on pork chops, I would.  Then there are the lambs.  If it weren't for needing fiber for my knitting habit, I would eat ALL of them.

But, back to the vegetarian thing.  It won't be 100%.  Some meals will be planned with meat.  Many will not.  And I'm using the term lightly.  Eggs and dairy are just fine.  Fish is a grey area.  I might call bacon seasoning and pretend it isn't meat.  Doug said he'd like to try to be about 90% meatless.

My last post was on the veggie pasta with homemade cheese.  Last night we had Rice Noodle Salad; eggs were the only animal product.  The recipe was fun because I used rice noodles for the first time.  At first I was a little concerned about the lime juice.  I could smell it in the sauce and worried it would be over powering.  It wasn't though, and Doug ended up eating 3 bowls of the stuff before he could stop himself.  He would have had more for lunch today, but he forgot his lunch at home.

Half way through his first bowl.

Tonight I'll be trying to make Tabbouleh with millet.  I've never used the grain before, but have a small amount on hand.  A recipe in the current issue of Vegetarian Times was my inspiration for what I plan on making.  The recipe itself looks rather bland, but I think I can fix it up with garlic, bell peppers, and cheese.  I'll let you know how it goes.

I Made Cheese!

I've always thought making cheese seemed like a fun idea. The dinner I made last night had a quick, 3 ingredient version of ricotta. It was super easy. I'll be making it again. The recipe it was in is called Linguine with Quick Lemon Ricotta.  The lemon flavor was different from anything I've made for dinner before, but not bad.  Next time I'll put in garlic instead.  We like that much better around here.

The actual cheese part was 2 cups 2% milk, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, and 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar.  Microwave for 4 minutes on high in a quart-sized measuring cup, stir gently, and drain.

First, you need cheese cloth to make the recipe.  Having none on hand, I decided a coffee filter in a strainer would work just as well.  I was right.

The cheese as the whey drains out.

Finished cheese.  Ready for seasonings.  In this particular recipe that was salt and grated lemon rind.  I have a feeling that the smoked garlic salt we acquired in New Zealand will make a much better addition.

And next: pictures from the rest of the recipe...

Golden grape tomatoes, grown locally in Hawaii.  The recipe called for plain grape tomatoes, but I brought these home instead.

The joys of a teeny tiny kitchen - the pans are teeny tiny too.  You CAN cook a 12oz box of noodles in a 1.5qt pan, but it's kinda messy.  Now I remember why most pasta in the last few months has been shaped pasta instead of long noodles.  They cook easier in small pans.

The other veggies of the meal: summer squash, zucchini, and bell peppers.  Garlic was also added.

Ta Da! Dinner.

Adventures in Wine Opening

Before getting to the wine part, I need to share my excitement about buying a lamb roast.  While the cost was comparable to other decent cuts of meat at Costco, it was still a huge splurge for our grocery budget, but totally worth it in my mind.  I cut the thing in half to make two roasts.  Then each roast fed us several times,  so I really stretched out that lamb.  Sadly I took no pictures of the meals that followed.

The second half of the lamb roast does bring me to the wine adventure though.  I decided that the leftovers from the roast should be made into Shepherd's Pie.  The recipe calls for dry red wine.  I chose a bottle of Pinot Noir.  It had a cork.  I couldn't find my corkscrew.  Up until now, all wine bought to use at my house has had a screw top.  This was a problem.

I thought the problem would be solved by a quick stop at a cheap store. Turns out you shouldn't buy corkscrews at discount stores.  The one I bought was nothing like any corkscrew I've ever used before, but the directions looked easy enough.  I removed the packaging and the first thing that happened was the handle fell off.  No big deal, I could hold it in place to get the job done.

Then the glue holding the whole thing together gave out.  Ahh, now I know why this was marked down half price, in the discount store.  Now the screw is not attached to anything, and I'm holding some rather useless plastic.  Enter the Husband.

He managed to get the screw part into the cork.  Then put a bunch of effort into pulling it out.  But a screw without leverage won't budge.  I know: A hammer!!

 Trying to get the hammer lined up on the screw and bottle.

 I'm actually really nervous about wine going EVERYWHERE.

 Ta Da! Cork out of bottle.

Only one other time have I opened a bottle of wine without a proper cork removal device. It involved shoving the cork into the bottle with a wooden spoon.  It resulted in wine all over the kitchen, including the ceiling.

 Doug snapped a picture of his food.  He mixed the potatoes into the gravy.  To be fair, much of the gravy bubbled up over the potatoes while cooking.  I will be making this recipe again, and looking for a proper corkscrew in the meantime.

Earning Vegan Super Powers

Last week Doug wanted to eat healthy and light.  And following a joke from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, we thought we'd try out for some Vegan Super Powers.  Not really sure what they are though.  We ruined our veganess by eating homemade bread spread with a healthy layer of butter.  Maybe next time.

The vegan part looked like this:

Super easy, and super tasty.  I will be making this again.  A veggie stir fry with tofu, brown rice, and Huli Huli Sauce.  Here's what I did:
1 carton extra firm tofu, cut into cubes.  Fry in pan with vegetable oil until tofu is browned on most sides.  Add 4oz of sliced mushrooms, saute until they start to look cooked.  Then add 1 bell pepper cut into strips (I used half red and half green).  When the pepper is nearly as cooked as you would like it, add 1/3 cup of Huli Huli Sauce.  Keep cooking until liquid is reduced to desired consistency.  Serve with rice (this time it was brown).

Don't mention the V word until it is decided that the meal is indeed tasty.  Mentioning that word too soon could turn away potential eaters.  Which is fine for blueberry pie, but not for stir fry.  Leftover stir fry is never as good as leftover pie.

Little Kid Dinner

One day at Costco, my inner 9 year-old was really loud.  It lead to the purchase of Yummy Dino Buddies, or chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs.  They cook up crispy and tasty on my small stoneware pan.

One day at Target, Doug's inner 9 year-old was really loud.  He found Toy Story Macaroni and Cheese (kinda hard to make out the shapes, but it was Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Buzz's Spaceship, and Aliens):

Together they make a fantastic Little Kid Dinner:

Just Go With It

I was trying to come up with something quick to make for dinner, and thought sliced sausage with some pasta would do it. Not really sure what I was thinking when I thought I could cut raw sausage into slices, but obviously, it did not work. Instead of stopping though, I decided just to go with it, and squeezed out the sausage from the casings.

Casings are pretty sorry looking things once you take out the good stuff.  I have no idea what these are made of, but I don't think they are animal parts.  Slimy little things that are best tossed in the trash.

The sausage once it had been freed.  Kinda squeezed out like toothpaste.

My homemade sauce, straight from the freezer.  Back when I made the giant pot, I had 3 of these for the freezer.  I am now down to one.

And: Dinner!  Used two Italian sausages, about 20 ounces of homemade sauce, a bit of oregano and basil, and half a box of bow tie pasta.  Turned out great!  Add some green beans, and call it a meal.  We also added parmesan cheese, but that's because everything is better with cheese.

On a side note: I made this again, but added zucchini and mushrooms.  Also, I cooked the sausages whole and then sliced.  Verdict: Adding veggies is good, but the sausage is better when removed from its casing.  Left in slices it was too chunky, and the seasonings that are in the sausage were too concentrated in the bites with meat instead of being spread around in the whole dish.  Next time I will look for it sold in bulk, and skip the casing altogether.

Rice-A-Roni to the Rescue

When I made Roast Chicken I had considered a potpie to use the leftovers. Then one night about a week later I needed something quick to make for dinner, and I needed to get the rest of the chicken used before it went bad.  Enter a box of Rice-A-Roni, chicken flavor.

Being a huge fan of bacon, I started by snipping two slices of bacon into a non-stick skillet (BTW: this is always easier than cooking bacon and then crumbling it).  Then I cooked up the bits, letting them get good and crispy.  Once they had cooked to my liking, I drained off some of the grease, but not all.  It seemed that the bacon grease could stand it for the 2 tablespoons of butter called for by the box of rice.  Why not?  They are both animal fats, and the stuff in the pan tastes like bacon.

Once the excess bacon grease was drained, in went the rice for the browning called for by the box.  When the rice mixture looked like the box said it would, I threw in the chicken I had pulled from the carcass (about 2 cups worth of shredded meat), then mixed in the water and seasoning packet.  Let it cook according to the package directions for the rice and ended up with this:

Paired with some veggies it made a tasty meal.  Just enough bacon to get the flavorful taste without adding too much fat, and the chicken was just as juicy and tender as the first day I cooked it.

On another note, last time I went grocery shopping I passed up the Manicotti and Lasagna noodles because I had no pan to make either in.  But since I had to buy baking pans for the Cookie Dough Brownies, I now have new dinner options!

Tomato Sauce

This was a little time involved, but I wasn't doing anything with my afternoon, so it seemed a good time to make a lot of tomato sauce. In the end I had a very full 4-qt pot of sauce, but no dinner plans. It was a make-it-up-as-I-go meal.

Started with 4 onions, roughly chopped:

Cooked them slowly in a little olive oil, until they had softened and caramelized.  Then, added a head of chopped garlic:

After the garlic in went 4 carrots, shredded with my cheese grater:

One minor accident: my knuckle got a little too friendly with the grater. No worries though, Buzz Lightyear and Woody to the rescue!

Once the carrots had cooked through and gotten soft I added one GIANT can of crushed tomatoes. This filled the stockpot to the brim.

Before I started on the sauce, I thought I would make spaghetti for dinner, since it would be easy to turn a portion of the sauce into spaghetti sauce. With the sauce simmering on the stove I realized that I had no spaghetti noodles.

I did have a box of elbow noodles though. So I cooked a pound of ground turkey, added basil and oregano, and a zucchini. Cooked the box of noodles, then mixed it all together adding enough sauce to give everything a good coating. Put that into casserole dishes, put shredded mozzarella on top, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Makes good food, and a ton of it:

A 3-qt casserole dish,

and two small single-serving casserole dishes. We ate this for 3 meals. Next time I will consider only using half the box of noodles, the entire box is way too much for just two of us.  But it will be good to keep in mind if I ever need a quick, easy meal for company!

Roast Chicken

I actually made this a few nights ago, but haven't gotten around to it until now.  I had been craving roast chicken for a long time, and had been talking about it for weeks.  Finally I gave in and bought a chicken.  It was called a young fryer, but since that's all they had that's what I bought.  I thought maybe it was meant for frying, but it turns out a "young fryer" is just a young, small chicken.  Between 7-13 weeks old and up to 4 pounds.  I think mine was about 3 pounds.  Not very big, but there are only two of us to eat it.

It sat in the fridge for a couple of days because once I got it home I realized I had roasting pan.  I thought about getting one, and even looked at a couple of stores, but really didn't want to buy a giant pan since I only had a little chicken.  Once a couple of days had passed I realized I needed to cook the chicken now, and decided a springform pan would do the job.  Terrible idea.  While there were no juices when I put the bird in, it created tons of juices which then leaked out of the pan and all over the oven.  Talk about having a lasting chicken smell.

The chicken turned out great though, despite having leaked all over my oven.  I even managed to catch enough juices for gravy.  I didn't even do anything really special to the bird.  I separated the skin from the breast, sprinkled in some Krazy Salt, rubbed it underneath the skin, sprinkled some more in the cavity, then tied the legs shut making sure the skin of the breast was pulled all the way over the meat.  Baked at 375 for an hour and a half.  To go along with the chicken I made mashed potatoes with cheese, and grilled peppers and zucchini:

No gravy for me, but Doug said it was good.  Also, we both like the potato skins, so I don't peel my potatoes before dicing them to boil.

The day after my leaking chicken I did some quick online searching for the manual for the oven in our apartment.  Part of my discovery was that the oven is 24 inches across, measuring the widest part on top.  Yep, teeny tiny oven for the teeny tiny kitchen.  But the best part was that it has a self-cleaning function.  Sure, it makes the apartment stink like you wouldn't believe, but wiping up a few ashes is much easer than properly scrubbing an oven.

Already we have had leftovers from this bird: my altered version of Souper Chicken Tetrazzini.  I used more chicken (closer to 2.5 cups), more spaghetti (an entire 1 lb box), a can of cream of chicken soup instead of cream of mushroom, more cheese, and 1 can of milk instead of given measurements for milk and sour cream.  I also needed a 2.5qt dish instead of a 1.5qt dish.  That means even more leftovers!  Plus, I still have a carcass in the fridge with enough meat for pot pie.  I think I'll be buying more chickens.  And a roasting pan.