Hi, everyone. Feeding two adults and a teen in the Boston burbs. DH is mostly over his Covid cooties, thank goodness. DS started 8th grade this week and is separated from his close friends (again), so it’s been a little rough. Our basement repairs from The Great Flood of June are almost done, pending flooring installation, but the contractor didn’t schedule the flooring company to come measure so we’ve lost time… if we are lucky, the work will be done by the end of September. Grrrrr.
Sat/today: first Ohio State football game of the year, the guys are inside watching and I’m in the backyard enjoying the gorgeous fall weather. Baked pasta for dinner (maybe the NYT baked spaghetti recipe?).
Sun: pork florentine - a Wegmans recipe (sautéed cutlets, spinach, tomatoes, optional capers, and a lemon-butter sauce) - and roasted potatoes
I’m guessing it’s because your credit card bank has a surveillance service that generates alerts that get tripped off when more total charges than usual in a given time frame occur, especially when you charging stuff at locations you don’t usually charge. Those alerts are crucial when you know they are from your bank, and not fraudsters pretending to be from your bank. Which is happening more often because the fraudsters are phishing for your account numbers and passwords.
The first two weeks of the semester flew by, and I’m grateful for a three-day weekend.
For two adults in San Diego:
This week’s breakfasts: Will probably pick something up. Croissants, maybe? Don’t want to run the oven long enough to bake anything. Sigh!
S: (tonight) takeout - Pizza
Su: Kielbasa with baked beans (from a can, doctored) and potato salad (also purchased).
M: Sausage and peppers on rolls, chips and onion dip.
T: Spinach tortellini in fresh tomato sauce - vegetarian
W: Piroshky from the freezer before an evening event.
Th: Pasta with shrimp and spinach in a garlic wine butter sauce - seafood.
F: Taco salad - leftover taco filling (turkey, onions, peppers) from the freezer, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, and Fritos - salad. We had one dinner salad per week all summer with no repeats. To end the summer, we start where we began, with a taco salad. My husband did not feel “punished” due to the variety of salads. I’ll probably keep this up for a while longer.
Gonna give meal planning a try here at mom’s. We now have a move date to get her from CA to VA, 9/26. So in The meantime, I’m doing what I can to use up freezer and pantry stashes. Tentative dinners:
SAT: pizza and salad (actual)
SUN: flank steak, roasted potatoes, broccoli
MON: glass noodles in miso broth, cucumber salad
TUE: Costco chicken, couscous, something green TBD
WED: chicken tacos, refried beans, cabbage slaw
THU: TBD
FRI: shrimp quesadillas- take out
I did pretty well in last week’s no-frills kitchen which had a good, sturdy frying pan that I was happy to use plus an old set of Farberware just like my mother had when I was a kid. But nothing that was going to work for stir fry. So the beef I was going to use for beef lo mein became meatballs for spaghetti and the leftover veggies from my bibimbap plus some cheese became an omelette. I slow-roasted salmon another night (because yes, I do pack a small sheet pan) and never resorted to takeout.
Different even fewer frills kitchen this week; there will be lots of sheet pan dinners, which usually for me involve sausages so I bought several kinds today. There is also a reasonable straight-sided skillet and one saucepan I’m willing to use. Good thing I love a challenge!!
At some point this week I will have roasted hot Italian sausage with white beans, cherry tomatoes, garlic and greens. Another meal will be roasted bratwurst, little potatoes & shallots and sauerkraut. Repeat, repeat. I also bought a nukable package of Maya Kaimal Everyday Dal (yellow lentils, tomato & garlic) because I remembered someone on WFD said her stuff was good. One serving left of meatballs and sauce in the freezer. Then there’s always snacky dinners or going out.
Cooking for two in the UK where the weather has finally turned summery though I don’t think that’s reflected in the food we’ll be having this week.
Mon: Lemongrass Meatballs in a Tamarind and Coconut Sauce served with Rice.
Tue: Monday leftovers.
Wed: Sausage and Bean Stew served with Bread.
Thu: Chinese Five Spice Fried Chicken served with Chips.
Fri: Battered Cauliflower served in a Gochujang based Sauce.
Sat: Chicken Tikka Masala served with Rice.
Sun: Chipotle Bean Stew served with Tortillas.
I’m also hoping to bake a loaf of bread and salted peanut caramel chocolate chip cookies.
I remember making something very similar when Koreatown was COTM (@LulusMom1 probably remembers my frozen cauli tempura cheat as well as she’s credited me for said cheating for years )
The sauce (there were 2 in the book) was really good if you’re ever looking for a new recipe to try.
Ginger lemongrass meatballs did the rounds here a few times over, and I bookmark them every time, but have to make them!
Yes please! I’d really appreciate some ideas on the Gochujang sauce as I’m just improvising on it so any ideas would be welcome.
I love tempura batter, it’s great with vegetables, though I’m actually going to try a batter for fish that I’ve done before and see how it does in this application.
I can help with this (@Cristina). Let me know if you need the chicken part of the recipe as well…
Buldak Bal (Fire Chicken Feet) - sauce
2 Tbsp. gochujang (spiciest available)
1/4 c. finely ground gochugaru
3 Tbsp. Korean rice or corn syrup
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
6 garlic cloves, minced (will need 8 total; see rest of ingredient list below)
1/2 Tbsp. black pepper
1/2 inch ginger, grated
2 Tbsp. oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Chungyang red chile, or 1 serrano, thinly sliced, divided
1/2 cup chicken stock
Combine first 8 sauce ingredients in a bowl; set aside.
Heat oil in saucepan on medium-high heat. Cook 2 minced garlic cloves until fragrant, then add gochujang mixture, most of the Chungyang chile, and the chicken stock; cook until mixture coats the back of a spoon.
Pour sauce into a bowl large enough to toss fried chicken. Use the small amount of Chungyang chile you reserved as garnish for finished dish, along with finely sliced scallions and sesame seeds.
Makes enough sauce for 1 lb. chicken feet (which is 4 servings).
From Hong and Rodbard, Koreatown.
Please be sure to let us know how it turns out! I tried a different sauce recipe and with tofu to try a vegan spin on Korean fried chicken… it was only ok, so I’m definitely interested in your approach!
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