Reunion Food

'Tis the season of old friends coming in town to visit.  Never thought I'd say this, but it's almost as good as traveling, because no packing is involved.  For me, at least.  And I love to travel, but HATE to pack.  Perhaps that's because I don't care to plan ahead or make decisions, unless and until utterly forced to.  Hmm.  How's adulthood working out for me, then?...that's another post for another day. This here post is about today and the barbeque we went to that allowed us to visit with lovely friend Jenny and her seven (soon to be eight) person crew.  The usually painful moment of narrowing to one from countless options of "what dish to contibute" was made painless by this delicious and extremely appropriate for a hot day kind of recipe.  I know, all those words should have had dashes between them, but I just couldn't be bothered.  Try this recipe.  And try reuniting with old friends.  They are both delicious. 

Dangerous Cereal

Awhile back, I bought a ginormous box of cereal at Costco. An utterly unsurprising announcement, I know. It was a cinnamon crunch cereal and cocoa pop combination box, and that is why I bought it, because I am sucker for variety. Sidenote: this is one reason why I find it challenging to lose weight. Dr. Oz says that eating the same thing all the time is less tempting. But it's also more boring.

Not wanting to be boring, but also wanting to use up the huge bag of cocoa pop cereal in my pantry, I found the following recipe. Warning, this is SOO good and will utterly throw your diet off the rails! Only make it if you have others to share it with! One last sidenote, because my brain is full of them: yesterday when I was at wally world, I found this snack. I was appalled. Yes, it looks delicious, but if I'm going to eat chocolate coated cereal, I need to earn the right to do so by at least making it myself. What can I say, I have a lot of rules.

MALTED MILK CLUSTERS

1/4 c. instant malted milk powder
3 tbsp. milk
1/4 c. light corn syrup
1 tbsp. margarine
5 c. Cocoa Puffs cereal
1-1/2 c. milk chocolate chips

Heat malted milk powder and milk in 3-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Stir in corn syrup and margarine. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Quickly stir in cereal, 2 1/2 cups at a time, until it is all covered. From here, my changes: Press the mixture onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper or a nonstick baking liner. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, then cut or break for serving and eating. Original recipe called for 36 servings. I was able to get more by cutting small pieces for sharing and saving large chunks for myself.

I found this recipe here but felt free to copy it; apparently no one has added to (or looked at?!) this discussion thread since 2005.

Kimchi Tofu Soup

Last week when I was at the Asian market, I found myself tempted by the kimchi tofu soup. Soup, though...same predicament as when I order in a restaurant. Ordering/buying food I think I can make is against my personal code, most of the time. So I decided not only to make my own soup, but to ask the lady behind the counter how to do it.

She was adamant on the following: must take the amount of kimchi you need for the soup and leave it outside for three days. Then proceed with your cooking.

Um, OK.

The world of fermentation is new to me. So those directions FREAKED ME OUT and that is why I smiled at her, bought the large jar of kimchi she recommended and then looked at this recipe for inspiration and made my soup as follows:

Saute one large onion and one cup of kimchi in a bit of sesame oil. When the onion has softened, add five cups of dashi broth (or five cups of water and the corresponding amount of dashi powder) and bring to a boil. Throw in one cut up chicken breast (or, as in the second time I made it, one can of tuna) and lower the heat to a simmer. After five minutes or so, add a couple of tablespoons of miso paste and any amount of tofu. I LOVE this over a scoop of rice.

Happy July Fourth!!