Regular But Worth Remembering

Thursday night (10/3) was teriyaki chicken, "hot carrots" (sliced to matchsticks with my new from PAL System slicer and sautéed with plenty of butter) and rice.  For once in life I got the chicken marinating early in the afternoon, so cooking it all up was not the epic struggle I usually find dinner-making to be.  

No dinner at home last night because I spontaneously went with Luann and Meg to hear Francis Chan speak in Shin Okubo.  Kids stayed with Shige and ate pizza.  We grabbed some onigiri etc from a convenience store and had a second dinner of "Iranian Curry" back at their place after we decided on an impromptu sleepover.  

Pretty sure the last time--maybe the only time in these six months--we had Mac and cheese was at their house a couple months ago.  I think being there inspired Misaki, she requested the same for dinner tonight.  With no boxes of Kraft on sight, it was not so instant.  I followed a recipe from the How to Cook Everything app.  First I boiled the noodles, then realized we didn't have any cheese.  Stopped everything for a trip to Welcia.  

Got home, was ready to make a bechamel sauce only to slap my forehead again--no milk!! GRR.... Thankfully MIL saved me another trip to the market!  Verdict: pretty bland with that processed shredded white cheese.  A sharp cheddar would have been better.  The girls liked it and I was satisfied too, once I dressed it up as you see here.  Which is to say, loads of chives, hot salt, black pepper and Parmesan.

Taco Slice

Think I've posted this before somewhere, but I always figure if I can't remember, you can't either.  

We had Taco Rice tonight, which is the guts of a taco spread more appealingly than guts on a bed of rice--we prefer short grain white.  Well, when pronounced with Japanesey English flair, it sounds like "Taco Slice".  Aren't you glad it's this and not a jellified terrine of stratified taco ingredients?  Whoa.  Did anyone track with that question?

Our favorite TV show, which is to say, the only one that mostly nearly entertains me and all three kids all at once, is LINE Town.  Yes, it's a show that is based on a texting app, as far as I can tell.  It could be the other way around but I don't know if that would make me feel better.  It's at 6:30 on Wednesdsy nights, so we have a little tradition now.  Every other Wednesday, while we watch, we eat Taco  Slice.  On the alternate Wednesday we have grilled cheese.  

Good to know, right?!!

Cheese Bah--gah

Last Friday I made a mass quantity of hanbaagu, which is something like a meatloaf patty.  Therefore, it's technically not a hamburger, I guess.  Though these days there are infinity versions of hamburgers, so who can know or say which is the TRUE burger? 

Anyway. When I pulled these hanbaagu out of the freezer tonight, I was pretty desperately bored at the thought of serving them with rice and green beans again.  

Fortuitously, my eye fell on a pack of hamburger buns in the freezer and when I asked the kids if they wanted bread, they said yes (technically I don't like bread or want to serve it to my family, most of the time, but my nutritional standards remain in flux).

So I guess this picture looks just as dead boring as my original vision of tonight's dinner, but I tell you: hamburger buns aren't super common here!  You can get them (obviously) but not just in any old store.  

Down the line if and when I have and oven, perhaps I'll try making my own.  Whoa. That might push the excitement right over the edge!

CAULIFLOWER & Oyakodon

Appearance-wise, cauliflower seems to be nothing more than an albino broccoli cousin. I have vivid (perhaps false....? See TED talk by Dr. Loftus) memories of eating raw cauliflower with ranch dressing at any and every First Baptist Church potluck as a child.

 Thankfully, I've since realized that roasted is an infinitely better way to go.  

Alas for me and my love, cauliflower, for we are now separated by the expanse of the Pacific Ocean.  The implication that there is ZERO cauliflower is false.  However, what you see pictured was only the second head of fresh cauliflower I've gotten my hands on in these six months.  

Well, and so, rejoice!  Some, even a little teeny bit, is always better than none.  Right?!

Tonjiru and Shumai

Recipe from justhungry.com

Figured out that I like satoimo (taro?) when it's in this soup

Too bad I didn't learn until after the fact that satoimo is easier to peel if it's parboiled 

On My Mind & In My Stomach

Whoa.  I have spent SOO much time lately reading about food and nutrition (FaN from now on, 'cause I've got a lot to say about it), thinking about FaN, and not least in the kitchen trying to engage with FaN.  And I have utterly failed to record my progress/findings/adventures.

Which means that I now have entirely too much to say and can hardly organize it, so I will go with an that tried and true method, which may make me look organized though I am not: bulleted list.

• Popcorn.  So since last August, when I was on the HCG diet (I'm not linking to anything because I don't endorse any one supplier of HCG drops, not to mention it's a bit controversial.  I appreciate how it worked for me, though) and then started in to low carb eating, I didn't eat popcorn.  Which was a huge deal because I love popcorn.  In fact, when I did a search of this blog, confident that I must have documented my affection for the crunchy stuff, I was astonished to find it mentioned just in this peppermint popcorn recipe three years ago.  Huh?!  OK, cut to a confession: since I finished the 21 day sugar detox on January 21st, I've given myself an all you can eat season pass to Popcorn Land.  And not just any popcorn.  This Kettle Corn.  The recipe recommends ghee as the fat of choice, and it is delicious that way.  But after much trial I can assure you that bacon grease, regular butter and coconut oil are also wonderful substitutes.  And I feel foolish that I've been using 1/3 cup of sugar when 1/4 would have been enough.  Oops. Anyway, now I feel I've taken this kettle corn to the next level, ever since I figured out that if I pop it up, portion it into 12 oz to go cups with lids (this is sustainable since I reuse the cups and lids) and store it in the freezer, it's ready to go anytime we need a snack.  Too bad my discernment on when I "need" a snack isn't as sharp and clear as it should be.  
• Chocolate.  The aforementioned 21 day sugar detox was good for me.  I had already been eating low carb, so giving up everything but meat, vegetables, oil and nuts was mostly not a big deal.  I felt really good and I lost three or four pounds.  But I definitely had chocolate in my head and identified just how much it's my stress busting go-to food.  So unfortunately, between kettle corn and chocolate, I'm pretty sure I've gained back what I lost.  The last few weeks have been stressful and I can tell by my chocolate consumption.  I very strictly limit myself to 70% and up.  Even so, when I chop a Trader  Joe's 72% Pound Plus Bar (not the whole thing!) and add it to these "breakfast" cookies made with hazelnut meal and then can't stop eating them all day long though I hid them from myself in the back of the freezer, well, that's gotta be a chocolate overload.  And you know I'm serious when I say gotta 'cause I don't even like that word.  
• Beans.  This is turning into a manifesto about how I went low carb and am now moving into trying properly prepared grains (and legumes) and other carbs back on for size.  If there's a pun in there, it's intended-size, get it, size?!  So, more for budgetary reasons, and because Koji eats beans more readily than meat, I've been experimenting lately.  Last week I cooked up a huge batch of pinto beans in the crock pot.  The yield was startling, an amount that wouldn't possibly be dented by mere usual employment in chili and "taco slice" (we eat our taco stuff piled on white Japanese style rice instead of in tortillas.  And we started out calling it "tacosu raisu" with Japanese pronunciation.  Then my kids turned that back into English and it became "taco slice," which I don't correct because I think it's hilarious).  With MUCH skepticism, I decided to try this Silky Bean Fudge.  Wow.  That's a delicious wow!  I don't know if it was more acceptable to me and my Japanese friends because we are used to sweet bean paste--anko.  But my mom liked it too.  
• Meal Planning.  Planning is not my strong suite, though I keep trying to work on it.  It's hard for me to buckle down to deciding ahead of time what we are going to eat.  Still, I'm starting to understand that frantically trying to produce dinner from nothing when it's after the kids bedtime is much, much worse, a real recipe for disaster!!  Yes, Koji is almost nine; I'm a slow learner.  What's working at the moment is this:  

it's a Moleskine notebook, maybe 4 x 6.  It travels with me in my bag and I write anything and everything in it, including meal plans, as above.  So far, so good.  I know, I still haven't figured out what to have for lunch tomorrow.  Suggestions are welcome!

Not sure if anyone at all was able to track with that food-related brain dump, but I feel better having dumped it.  Hope to see you in this space again soon!

Chicago Brauhaus

had live polka on tonight. Which made for a rowdy atmosphere. And
conversation at level Yell.

Put Some Floss in Your Handbag

'cause after you eat kale chips, you need it!

This was my second time making kale chips.  Last time I massaged the kale with olive oil, sprinkled dumped on salt and then let it dry in a 150 degree oven over night.  So, yeah, I ate it all but it was SALTY

This time, I used this recipe.  I followed it pretty exactly, so based on how it turned out, this is how I'd like to do it next time:

2 large bunches kale, just the leafy parts.  (Chop up the stems and add them to your soup)

2 tsp. lime juice2 T melted coconut oil 
2 T creamy almond butter
1 T honey
1/4 tsp. crushed red chili flakes1/2 teaspoon random Mrs. Dash blendy stuff that was around


Mix the above all together, then massage into kale that has been washed, dried and pulled into chippy size pieces (remember it'll shrink a lot!) 


Spread onto cookie sheets covered with parchment or silpats, then leave in the oven overnight.  At least 8 hours is good.  


I thought this snack was so healthy that it was too embarrassing to share, but when I offered it to a few friends today at Izumi's school, it was a hit.  And that is why I'm posting this recipe, right, Satoi?  Let me know if/when you try it!

Primaleolicious Mug Cake

But I took it out of the mug so you'll have to take my word for it.

Edited to Add: I found the original recipe here and I changed it a bit to make this little cake as follows: 

Melt 2 T of coconut oil.  Stir in 2 T cocoa powder, 1 1/2 T honey, 1 T almond flour (I used hazelnut meal), 1 egg, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.  Grease the inside of a microwaveable coffee mug with coconut oil and pour in the batter.  Microwave on high for two minutes. 

I didn't find the cake to be rubbery!  In fact, it was pretty tasty as is, but I had some cream cheese frosting I wanted to use up so that's what you see here.  As for how to make that, well, I put some cream cheese in a dish (some of it was homemade) with some cocoa powder and honey and mixed it up. 

Let me know what you think!

"Noodles"

Brussels

held by Sprout

Primaleolicious Dinner for the Kids

Lunch at Jolane's Cafe

With the "Banana Girls" (committee of moms) in celebration of St. Matthew's 7th Annual Sports Day.
This is the seafood cocktail and it was DELICIOUS

Best Fried Zucchini Sticks EVAH!!

Pumpkin Pie Pouphs (pronounced Poof)

This is the inspiration recipe  for the pumpkin muffins I made today.  I'm not sure that "muffins" is actually the right term for them; see the title of this post.
After sampling the mini treats, a few friends decided that this would be a more worthy name.
Whatever they are called, I'll be making them again soon.
As soon as I can restock on coconut flour, that is.  If only I had understand how utterly competitive, reasonable, and even below "market price" (don't actually know what that is, I would have to engage with details to know and I don't do that) the coconut flour in the bin at LifeSource was, I would have really stocked up.  Instead of nonchalantly buying a random amount.  Which is what I did.
Anyway.
This is how to make what I made today.  If you make some, and like them, and can think of a better name, please let me know.

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder (I might increase this a little next time?)
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt

Whisk together, if you are the ambitious type who doesn't mind washing dishes.  Or if you are like me, dump all this in at the end with no whisking, mix it up and hope for the best.

1 cup pumpkin puree (I got mine from a can.  I know I should be afraid of BPA, but there are too many things to be afraid, and I already had it in a can, so I went with it)
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
3/8 cup maple syrup (how on earth would one measure that?!  the original recipe said "or 3 1/2 oz." so I measured that on my scale--if you are reading this and thinking of baking, but don't have a kitchen scale, then please go buy one right now, even if it busts your budget a little)

Mix the above together with a mixer or by hand if you are powerful and have stamina.
As previously mentioned, dump in the dry ingredients, mix, and then if you must have chocolate in every muffin...which I must, for some reason, add

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I bought some at Whole Foods,  then figured out later that cane sugar is the first ingredient! might have to stick with Ghiradelli after all?  but they don't sell mini--that I know of--and I am too lazy for chopping...)

Bake at 400 in a mini muffin pan for about 15 minutes.  If they seem a teeny bit underdone, that is OK. That's what makes the pumpkin pie texture happen in the middle.

Sorry no picture.  They're not super photogenic anyway.

Koji's Lunch Version 9.28

White Peach chunks
Carrot Sticks
Rice w/ umeboshi
Fish Sausage from HMart -- which I'm disappointed to say, I'll probably never feel OK buying again, it's too processed...

Koji's Lunch

Rice w/ furikake
Costco brand turkey slice
Mini banana, cut in half and wrapped to avoid browning (thought I was so clever, putting this in but he was frustrated 'cause it was so hard to peel)
Roasted butternut squash (from dinner the night before)
Green beans (left over from lunch @ Izumi's school)

Deca

restaurant on the 12th floor of the Ritz Carlton in downtown Chicago has an amazing dessert with the unamazing name of Baba. Which in Japanese means "old lady".  The "Deca"dent chocolate cake was also fabulous.  Unfortunately, because Gyukaku (above) was our first stop, we didn't have room in our stomachs to finish it completely.  Next time.  Because there will be one.

Green Soup

Yesterday I made spinach soup, mostly exactly like this one except that after I simmered the potatoes and onion and spinach and four cloves of garlic (instead of three, and not regular garlic, but soy sauce pickled garlic) for 15 minutes and immersion blended the lot, then I added 1/2 cup heavy cream and some sprinkles of salt, pepper and nutmeg.  And then I ate it with some Costco pepperoni pizza.  

Why not?

This is how the rest of the soup looks now.  I guess not really so good, in the fridge in a glass jar between the milk and the juice, as pictured by Hipstamatic.  But I'm thinking of eating it again for breakfast.