Recipe

Vietnamese Lemon Grass Beef and Noodle Salad

~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

Craving- (Noun) A powerful desire for something.

These days I rarely have the motivation to make an elaborate meal and by elaborate, I mean something with more than 3 steps and takes longer than 15 minutes. That is until I saw this recipe and I needed to have it in my mouth that day!{that’s what she said.}

After a quick trip to the store, where I found everything I needed except the chili’s {so I settled for a Serrano} I started to prep what was going to be the best football lunch evah!

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The recipe is straight forward and I didn’t veer off course. However, the recipe claims to only take 1 hour but it took  longer. There is a bit of prep work and add on 15 minutes to fry the shallots {don’t skip this!} It’s worth it, I promise!

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Cold noodles, hot meat, fresh herbs, crunchy shallots, spicy siracha, you guys, it was delicious. “Haha <– she said hot meat!”

 

Hobnobbing

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Last week I got a call from Dr. Katheria. He is the Neonatologist that delayed Averi’s cord clamping while on his new warmer bed during her delivery. He invited me to a Sharp Hospital event up in Rancho Santa Fe. The event was to help promote his bed and Averi’s news clip was going to be featured so I thought, why not? It was a really nice time, hobnobbing with doctors and very wealthy housewives.

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Have you guys made this recipe yet? I have talked about it many times over the years, it’s foolproof! You can use this recipe for the spice mixture and it keeps for a long time in an air tight container. The dish takes no time to prep, cook and eat.

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Do I have a 3 year old or an 80 year old?

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Averi is the best baby. I don’t remember Kaili being so easy…I hope I didn’t just jinx myself.

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Panzanella Salad

~ Girlmom ~ 5 Comments

Why a Panzanella salad? Because I had an heirloom tomato sitting in the fridge, a half a loaf of ciabatta bread racing towards getting stale and zero burrata cheese.

Gawd, Google can be a bitch when looking for a recipe. Every one I came across was different than the next. Some had peppers, few had capers, some even had Feta cheese. Feta isn’t Italian, it’s Greek so that is not OK to put in your Italian bread salad.

The Pioneer Woman had a good looking recipe but I have recently made two of her dishes and was disappointed both times, so I am sorry to say I will not be making her recipes anymore. However, Ina Garten has never let me down…I went with hers.

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It’s a very straightforward dish to make. Chop up all your veg and throw them in a bowl. Toast your bread chunks in some olive oil and salt and then whisk up a vinaigrette. Toss it all together and let it marinade for an hour at room temperature and then serve.

The only tip I can give you is don’t put this in the fridge BEFORE serving. It changes the texture of the tomatoes and the bread gets soggy. You will have to challenge yourself and your guests to eat the entire bowl, easy challenge!

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Daeji Bulgogi

~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

I am taking a “get out of a month free” card for July’s culinary bucket list…for obvious reasons. I did make an onion pie with a handful of the many Walla Walla onions we had but no one was really excited about, so we will pretend that didn’t happen.

I finally got around to trying one of the recipes in this book. I bought it about 6 months ago and it’s FULL of mouth watering recipes.

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I’m trying to get back into the routine of meal planning for the week, I think I will choose one recipe from this book and try it each week along with my culinary bucket list… we shall see.

We’ll start with this recipe, Daeji Bulgogi or Spicy Korean BBQ. This was really easy and VERY good. I told Shane that if I had ordered this in a restaurant I would have been very happy with myself, if that isn’t a pat on the back  for myself and Cooking Light, I don’t know what is.

This is served “lettuce wrap” style with rice, I decided to make coconut rice and you NEED to do the same. I also suggest marinating the pork longer than 1 hour, at least 3 to be sure the flavors get in there good.

*This recipe is copied from here.

Note: I didn’t use the grill, I used a pan.

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin, trimmed

2 TBS brown sugar

2 TBS soy sauce

1 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

3 garlic cloves, minced

Wrap pork in plastic wrap; freeze 1 1/2 hours or until firm. Remove plastic wrap; cut pork diagonally across grain into 1/16-inch-thick slices.

Combine pork, sugar, and next 6 ingredients (sugar through garlic) in a large zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning bag occasionally.

Prepare grill.

Place a wire grilling basket on grill rack. Remove pork from bag; discard marinade. Place pork on grilling basket coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes or until desired degree of doneness, turning frequently.

Serve on in a lettuce wrap with coconut rice and sriracha.

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What Should I Title This?

~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

Kaili was sitting on Shane’s lap playing nicely and then out of the blue she hit him. “Kaili, we don’t hit, do you need to go to your room?” “Yes,” replied Kaili. Then she stomped down the hallway and the slamming of her door followed. A minute later she came out smiling.

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Did you guys watch the USA game yesterday? The range of emotions I felt during that 95 minutes was unreal.

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As I mentioned all I want to eat are desserts. Delicious decadent heavenly desserts. I saw a commercial for Sonic’s milkshakes, I have only been to a Sonic once in my life and it was on a road trip. Never need to go back but when I saw the commercial I could have sent Shane to the nearest one at that moment, they looked so good. Then I saw a picture of a coconut cream pie, are you kidding me? But then this recipe happened on Pinterest. I guess it’s been awhile since I looked for instant pudding but I don’t remember seeing coconut pudding before. This recipe definitely needs to be tested.

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I have had some contractions again the past couple of days, they seem innocent enough for now. I found this picture I took on one of the days I was at Triage. It’s probably hard to imagine what a contraction looks like on paper, so I thought I would share.

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We are officially under 20 days until we get to meet the baby. I am trying to go over all of the things I need for baby A. I am reusing everything of Kaili’s for the most part.  Going over some lists, I see I am missing a few things. If you have any suggestions for items that I could use, please indulge.

Culinary Bucket List { Asparagus Risotto }

~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

I almost fell off the culinary bucket list wagon. Luckily I got my shit together 3 days before June, phew.

I have not been in any mood or have had the energy or the desire for that matter to do any cooking. It’s been all Lean Cuisine and take out dreams baby.

After a sleepless night I got the hankering, scratch that, that is a horrible word. I got a craving yearning a want for a roast chicken, the roast chicken made me think of risotto and I have no idea why.  I have only made risotto a handful of times and it’s been the easy way, you know throw ingredients into a dutch oven, stir and slide it into the oven.

The classical way wants you to stir, stir and wait and stir like you are an executive chef in a fancy restaurant, risotto rubbing it’s fanciness all in your face. But since this is a bucket list I thought I would suck it up and try the fancy risotto.

I remembered a recipe my mom sent me years ago, it’s just been sitting on my computer waiting to be used. I followed it exactly plus 2 more cups of chicken broth, and it turned out goooood. Gordon Ramsey would SO not yell at me for this risotto. It kept me on my feet longer than I should have been, contraction, stir, contraction, sit down, stir. But it was well worth it!

So if you feel up to making risotto the fancy way give this recipe a try, if you don’t have the patience, try Ina’s.

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1 pound fresh asparagus
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons whipping cream
½ cup Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional garnish: chopped tomato

1. Remove tough ends of asparagus. Reserve tips for later use in recipe. Finely chop the stalks and leave the tips in one inch pieces.

2. Bring broth to boil in a medium saucepan, then reduce to a simmer.

3. In a larger saucepan, melt butter; add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is transparent. But not brown. Add rice and stir rapidly to coat with butter, Add asparagus stalks and wine, allow wine to evaporate.

4. Add ½ to 1 cup broth, so that the rice is barely covered with liquid. Stir frequently to allow broth to be absorbed. Don’t let rice go completely dry. Repeat, adding broth in ½ cup measurements, until 1 cup remains to be added.

5. Add asparagus tips and finish adding broth ½ cup at a time. When all is absorbed, remove pan form heat. Immediately stir in cream and Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. If desired, garnish with chopped tomato.

Serves 4 to 5

Tommy Tart Remake

~ Girlmom ~ 2 Comments

A few months ago I made this Tommy Tart and although it was good, it needed something more. I decided to remake it adding more flavor.  Instead of Boursin cheese I used an herb goat cheese and parmesan. I also added sautéed onions…because why not? The best part is I used a tad of wine to cook the onions in. It basically forces you to have wine with your tart because now you have an open bottle. You’re welcome.

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Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry- defrosted

good olive oil

1 sweet onion, sliced

1 garlic clove sliced

1 tsp. fresh thyme

2 tbs white wine

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

4 oz garlic herb goat cheese

2 tomatoes, sliced

fresh basil

salt and pepper

 

Pre-heat oven to 425.

Place pastry sheet on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Saute onion and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil. Saute for 15-20 minutes until onions are limp. Stir in wine, thyme and salt and continue to cook another 10 minutes until onion start to turn brown and liquid evaporates, remove from heat and set aside.

Sprinkle parmesan on puff pastry. Then top with onions and crumbled goat cheese. Layer tomatoes  on top of cheese then drizzle with some olive oil, sprinkle with salt and basil.

Pop into the oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm and with the extra wine you now have.

 

 

Mango & Chili Glazed Shrimp

~ Girlmom ~ 5 Comments

Let me start by saying that this would have been better with big ass prawns, new culinary term. I didn’t have any big ass prawns so I used shrimp. Since I was putting myself through the trouble of skewering these shrimp I decided to toss all the marinade/glaze ingredients in the food processor. Choose your battles.

Making the marinade was as easy as pie. BUT don’t turn your back on it once it’s done because your 2 1/2 year old might pour it on the salad you just made, like mine did. I only freaked out for a minute, okay two.

I let the shrimp marinade for a few hours before skewering them, my least favorite thing to do. Once they have all been at your mercy you can throw them on the grill. The shrimp cooked in no time so I only glazed one side after I flipped them, before I knew it they were done.

This sauce would be good on anything really, I might try salmon next time.

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Ingredients

2 pounds large Prawn
1 large mango, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons honey
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 sprigs mint
2 tablespoons chili paste
2 limes juiced
1 ime zest
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Puree all above ingredients in food processor.

Pour all but 1/3 cup mango puree over shrimp in plastic bag. Let marinade in refrigerator 2-3 hours.

Pepare grill. Grill prawns 2-3 minutes per side until done, glazing each side with reserved marinade.

Brush with glaze one last time before serving. Serve hot.

Skinny Bang Bang Shrimp with Homemade Chili Sauce {CBL April}

~ Girlmom ~ 4 Comments

When this recipe came across my Feedly the other week I sent the link to a few people and said “look at this bowl of heavenly goodness”. Then  I drooled on my keyboard as I bookmarked the recipe to make for my culinary bucket list this month.

I must admit this was almost too effortless for me to use as my recipe of the month…almost. Also it  was pretty  easy on the pocketbook as I already had every ingredient besides the shrimp.

Homemade sweet chili sauce is ridiculously good. I can’t believe I have been buying the stuff all these years. Sure a bottle in the pantry is good to have on hand. Perfect those nights when you just need a small amount for your Thai noodle dish or to dip an egg roll in but if you are really going use it, please make it. I made mine a tad spicier and added a touch more garlic. I was super impressed when it was done and I wished I had an egg roll to dunk in it but my fingers worked just fine.

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This entire dish takes only minutes to prepare so in no time you get to sink your teeth in to these sweet, spicy and luscious shrimp.

It tasted just as I had imagined, amazing.

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Green Pancakes

~ Girlmom ~ 3 Comments

One of the women in my mom’s group made these for a playdate. She told me the ingredients and jotted them down in my head, promising to make them on St. Patricks day. A great way to get a dose of spinach in the kid without her even knowing.
I should have made them on Sunday because Monday’s are rough. I never sleep well, Shane is out the door super early and Kaili always seems wakes me an hour after I have finally fallen back to sleep. This morning I managed to put 2 feet on the floor and drag myself to the kitchen to make them, you know to keep up my appearance of mom of the year.

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St. Patricks day was a good excuse as any to make these, it made more sense then on a random Tuesday, although I can see doing that too. Also, can we please shout from the rooftops that if people are so inclined to shorten the name of this Irish holiday that they do so correctly. It is St. Paddy’s day, not St. Patty’s day! Patty is a woman or something between two pieces of bread, not a day.

Green Pancakes 

2 cups flour, white, whole wheat flour  or whatever you fancy.

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 TBS maple syrup, the real stuff.

2 cups packed baby spinach leaves

3 TBS melted butter

Pam, or coconut oil spray for pan.

Preheat a griddle or non stick pan to medium heat.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In a *blender or magic bullet combine the milk, eggs, vanilla, maple syrup, spinach and melted butter until completely smooth.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Spray pan with oil and spoon about ¼ cup of batter onto the pan.  When bubbles start to form on the surface of the pancake and the edges become slightly dry, flip it over and cook until down.

* I used my magic bullet and it worked great.