Din din and stuff

Although the light in my kitchen is a pain in the ass sometimes with these pics, this is a picture of yesterday's dinner.

Every once in a while, i just feel like making something special, but something special as in pulling a new recipe out of my ass.  This is about a dozen sea scallops (the big ones) and a lb of mussels, seared and steamed (respectively), tossed in a spicy red thai curry, over a bed of crispy steamed green beans and shiritake noodles.  The seafood curry base is make with red and green peppers and carmelized onions and portabellos.  I meant to add pineapple to the curry, but I forgot to buy it.  It was plated beautifully, but I just couldn't get the camera to behave for this one.  

It was really, really good.

I mean, really good.

If it would have had pineapple, this could be a favorite ever.  

Anyways, I re-did the blog background.  I need to tweak it, but since I spent a while drawing these characters, and then about an hour trying to export it in a format that it would be small enough to fit on here, it will not get done tonight this morning.  blarg.  Anyways, i think they are super cute.

Tomorrow is lengua/Pants day.  I'm so excited to see her and take her to my fav taqueria, and then fart around the Menil.  I've got to take Pig to the vet in the early AM, then I've got about a 10-12 mile bike ride, and then Pants time.  

I've started a training program for riding that should get me to the point where i can start training group rides in the next month or so.  Night one was last night, and it truly hurts to sit.  I need to get a larger road bike, and i'm going to start scouting for that pretty soon.  I really really want to do the MS150 in March.  Maybe just march next year, but so far my max rides have been about 20 miles.  Granted thats on the mountain bike, but stiiilll.  If my calculations are right, i keep a 14 mph speed for about an hour on the road bike, 16 mph for about 30 minutes (which is supposedly really fast).  Cheesily, i calculated this by seeing how many times around the 1.2 mile track i could get on the bike in an hour.  Either way, i need front and rear bike lights, a better chain, a better seat for the road bike, a second pair of shorts.  I also want some sort of cycle computer and heart rate monitor.  Once i get on a diet/workout routine, I'm fanatical.  Heck, i passed up the Chocolate Bar today!

Anyways, its past 2.  sleepy time.

For Cynthia/Junior

Ok, i love cabbage. I LOVE stir fries. Ever since I got off my butt and went and bought a REAL wok and seasoned it, I have re-fallen in love with Asian cooking. This is something that is rediculously easy, quick, nutritious, and tasty. It's also awesome cause it only has 4-5 ingredients. :-D If you haven't really read the blog before, memmi is the Japanese Udon/tempura base (basically soy sauce and bonito), and it's a killer stir fry sauce. It's cheap (under $3 a bottle), and has a nice depth of flavor. If you don't have a wok, use a pot withOUT nonstick on it so you can crank the heat. Stir frying is all about quick cooking, and non-stick on medium just doesn't cut it. Then you end up with steamed things.

Quick Cabbage Stir Fry
1 medium head cabbage (or 2 half heads - 1 each of green and red)
a thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and quartered
3 garlic cloves, sliced
olive oil (about 1 tbsp, enough to wet the wok)
a couple tbsp of water - set aside in a cup, just in case things start sticking or burning
memmi - about 1/4c you'll add this as you go along, so it's really more about eyeballing it
optional - 1 tbsp red pepper, 1 tsp sesame oil (for a little more flavor)

Rinse cabbage, shake mostly dry, decore, and cut up into about 1" cubes. The dimmension really doesn't matter, just try to be sensible, and cut up the thicker stuff smaller. Heat oil, ginger, and garlic in a wok (toss everything together in the cold pan) at med/high till everything starts sizzling. toss for a minute or 2, just until the garlic starts to crisp up a little. This is mainly to flavor the oil without burning the spices. Turn up heat to high and toss in cabbage. Toss in pan with wok spatula frequently until the thicker parts of the cabbage are beginning to steam nicely. Add Memmi...a few glugs here, the cabbage will start to wilt into the color...stir fry for another couple of minutes, add a few more glugs (you want to avoid the pool of it at the bottom, so keep stirring!), turn off the heat, toss a couple more times, and serve.

ALMOST FORGOT

yea.

GO SEE FOOD, INC.
www.foodincmovie.com/

Yes, i understand the previews are swayed towards the liberals. Fine. The movie is bipartisan in it's accusations. There is nothing political about demanding good, wholesome food that has not been made in a lab and NOT TESTED.

I've been making a serious effort to buy local, fresh, and unprocessed foods to accompany my yoga. I'm a busy person, but I still manage to cook and support my local farmers while spending LESS than I would if i were to buy Lean Cuisines. There is nothing wrong with me eating food that doesn't spend most of it's life covered in it's own shit.

Some comparisons

Krogers Bayou City
White eggplant, $3.50 ea $1
Eggplant $1.50 lb 2 lb eggplant $1
Zucchini, $1 lb 3 lb zucchini $1
free range hen eggs $3 dozen free range hen eggs $3 dozen
Bell peppers 89 cents ea Bell peppers 3/$1
Hormone fed hen $2/lb free range hen, 4 lb - $12 (for this, it's worth it!!!)

Things like blueberries, figs, etc usually cost the same or maybe $1 more... but they are fresh, with bitty carbon footprints, unlike the 2 week old berries in the store.

AAAAND for some supplemental:
There is a farmers market in the inner loop Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. EVERY single day if you count Canino's!

Bayou City Farmers' Market SATURDAYS - Richmond @ eastside Canino's Produce A favorite of local chefs, Canino's is open every day with plenty of fresh produce. not organic though! Central City Co-Op Anyone interested in splitting a share? They are Wednesdays at Taft street coffee and SUNDAYS at Discovery Green Downtown Green Market Saturdays! Houston Farmers Market at Onion Creek Coffeehouse Saturdays! Houston Farmers Market at Rice Village Rice University Parking Lot (along University blvd) on Tuesday nights 4-7 pm. Midtown Farmers Market Saturday AM next to the Breakfast Klub and T'afia

summertime

Apparently i'm cooking-crazy over the summer. I've spent a good deal of my evening looking at bento boxes and cast iron woks (which will be my next kitchen purchase, eliminating 2-3 current pans). Today, i was wandering through Kroger to get bread and some greens of some sort... salmon was on sale... here is the result.

A note on teriyaki sauce: don't buy the stuff in the bottle. Seriously. REAL teriyaki is 3 things - Sake, Soy, and sugar (sometimes a little water too or mirin)...NOT HFC, xantham gum, artificial flavors, soy protein... etc, etc. Not to mention, real teriyaki is amazingly flavorful and glazes nicely on cooldown. Once you taste the real stuff, it is my hope you will skip the stuff in the jar from now on, not to mention, if you make more than needed of your own, it will keep for about a month in a bottle in the fridge.

Salmon Teriyaki and Mustard Greens in Oyster Sauce
Serve both prettily with some jasmine rice. :)


Salmon Teriyaki
1 lb salmon filet
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sake
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Locate a baking dish large enough to put your salmon in. In a sm saucepan, mix sake, water, soy, and sugar until the sugar is dissolved (NO HEAT). Pour over salmon and marinate for at least 30 min in the fridge. Turn it over once in the marinade in that time. Pour off marinade back into the saucepan. Put salmon in the oven for about 15 min, until fish flakes opaque. During this time, heat sauce on medium uncovered until it barely starts to bubble, stirring constantly, then switch to low/med-low. continue to stir and the sauce will thicken.. Coat the fish a few times with sauce in the last few minutes of cooking (in 3 minute increments). When fish flakes, coat a little more and toss in the broiler for about 2 minutes. remove fish from broiler, and coat the fish with the rest of the sauce carefully, a spoonful at a time. When you are out of sauce, tilt the baking dish, and keep coating the fish with this, until you have reduced it about halfway. You don't HAVE to do that last part, but it's just nice and tasty.
mmmmmm



Mustard Greens
1 bunch mustard greens
4 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp water

In a stockpot, heat about 3-4 inches of water to a boil. Trim off the bottom 1' of the bunch of greens. Submerge mustard greens in a full, clean sink for a couple minutes. Un-bunch the greens and rub each leaf gently. remove any bad leaves, etc. Transfer greens to a cutting board and cut across the stems in 2" increments. Add to boiling water and cover. Cook for about 5-7 minutes (taste a stem, they will be nice and crisp/firm, but not tough). While the greens are cooking, add everything else to a small saucepan (or if you are short on saucepans, this can be done in the microwave) and simmer until the greens are done, stirring occasionally. Drain and rinse greens with cool water for a sec. Transfer to a serving platter and top evenly with sauce. MMMM

cranberry lemon scones

Today, we went to the Te House of Tea for a pot of fujian silk and a pastry. We picked a cranberry scone which was fantastic. I remembered that I have a HUGE bag of Crazins in the cupboard. I googled a couple recipes, got the flour/butter proportions, and winged the rest. Needless to say, they turned out awesome, and I will be making these again. I read on one site that the dough freezes well for rainy days. Start to finish was 30 min... by the time these were done baking, kitchen was already clean!

Note: I accidentally "softened" the butter into "melted". Don't do that. traditionally scones are cut like pie wedges and placed onto a pan. I scooped my goopy dough, and i had very flat scones. Result was still excellent, so I'm not complaining!

Impromptu Cranberry Lemon Scones

1 tbsp baking powder
1 stick unsalted butter, softened, but not melted (8 tbsp i think)
2 1/2 c unbleached all purpose flour
the zest from 1 meyer lemon
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 c almond milk (or regular milk, i didn't want to kill myself)
1/2 c turbinado sugar, plus some for sprinkling
1 1/2 c crazins (the sweetened dried cranberries)

preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. mix all the dry ingredients together EXCEPT for the cranberries. Add the butter and mix with pastry knives or a couple large forks till the dough is kinda pill-y. add the egg and milk together in a separate bowl and then add to the dry ingredients - scrape the bottom of the bowl, but don't mix really really well. Mix in the zest and Crazins. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (no need to spray or grease) and drop about 2 tbsp worth each amts onto the sheet. Sprinkle a little sugar over the tops. Bake for about 20 min, until tops are slightly golden and the bottoms are golden around the edge.

MMMMM

*update* when butter is just softened to room temp, scones hold shape nicely, HOWEVER, they take 30 minutes to bake. MMM

The Best Marinade EVER.

If you like things with a hint of sweet, this is your stuff.

Becky's Amazing Marinade
yes, it's really amazing.

1/2 c bbq sauce, any variety
1/2 c water
1/2 c apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp minced garlic (fresh!)
1/4 c soy sauce
1/2 c memmi (this is tempura base, udon soup base, etc)

mix together. Pour over meats or veggies (try with portabellos) and let sit for at least 30 min (30 for pork steaks, 1 hr for chicken, 1 or more hrs for veggies). TOSS ON THE GRILL! Everything it touches is golden!

Pride Parade weekend and birthday fun

Mah birthday was a couple weekends ago. I love cakes with whipped cream and berries, but my lovely allergy tolerance doesn't allow me much dairy. So this is a hybrid dairy-non dairy version. It does, however, HAVE to be dairy for the cake since it is so rich.

Becky's Bday cake

Cake-
2 c all purpose flour, unbleached
1 1/2 c turbinado sugar
2 tsp baking powder (the stuff in the tin, not the box)
1 tsp fine sea salt
8 tbsp melted butter (let it cool for a sec though) - i think thats a whole stick
2 beaten eggs
1 c whole milk
2 tsp plus a smidge vanilla extract (use the good stuff, don't skimp!)


filling-
2 pints strawberries (one pint rinsed, one pint with the green stuff removed and sliced)
3 tbsp sugar
1 tub of light coolwhip

heat the oven to 375, F. Butter 2 - 8" cake pans (yes, really use butter). Cut out a circle of wax paper and stick it in the inside in the bottom. Kind of smoosh it down till it sticks to the butter. Dust everything with flour.

Mix the sugar, baking powder, flour, and salt in a big bowl. Make a little indentation and add the wet ingredients in that spot. Mix all together with a fork or a whisk till the bottom of the bowl is all mixed up. Divide into the 2 pans and bake for about 25 min (set a timer, and then they are done when a toothpick comes out clean). Cool for about 30 min - 10 min in the pan, 20 on a rack.

mix the sliced berries with sugar and half the coolwhip. sandwich it within the cake layers on a nice pretty plate. top with coolwhip and the pretty big berries!




Chinese Broccoli - Gai Lan

This is my fav vegetable in the world. Currently, i could eat this every night, however, i only go to golden foods once a month. Pick fresh, pretty bunches without yellowing.

1 bunch Gai Lan
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 upper thumb joint sized hunk of ginger
6 tbsp veggie stock (i keep a waterbottle of this stuff premixed in the fridge most of the time)
4 tbsp oyster flavor sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
a couple shakes ginger powder.

boil water (about 10 c) with ginger and baking soda. While this is coming to a boil make sauce - bring stock, oyster sauce, vinegar, ginger powder, and sugar to a boil, turn to simmer for 4 min, and then just low to keep warm. When water in the big pot boils, add Gai Lan and boil for about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water, and transfer to a plate. Chop quickly (about 5 slices down each stalk), and top with sauce. TAADAA!

End of the Semester Leftover Curry Noodles

So, this is the first meal i've made in a couple weeks. really the first that has not involved canned tuna, ramen noodle pho packets, or takeout. I had a bunch of still-good veggies leftover in the fridge, so i took a stab at dinner, and it turned out fabulous. MMMM

Veggie Yellow Curry Noodles

about 7 oz of udon noodles (linguine will work too, just snap it in half)
1/2 can coconut milk
3 tbsp or so yellow curry paste
1 c shredded cabbage
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced or juillined (or about 10 baby carrots)
2 green onions, sliced
10 mushrooms, sliced
1/3 or so yellow onion, sliced
2 tbsp or so honey

boil noodles as directed, strain, and rinse really thoroughly with cold water. In a large, seperate saucepan, combine a little olive oil, the onions (both kinds) and the mushrooms, and stir fry till the onions soften. add carrots, a tbsp more of oil, curry paste, cabbage, coconut milk, and honey, and give it a good stir. when it starts to simmer, taste for heat and sweetness (you want this a little sweet and pretty spicy, remember you are dilluting this with noodles), adjust if necessicary. Stir in noodles, and bring back to a slight simmer. taste, adjust if needed, and serve hot. For a tasty variation, stir in some boiled shrimp, tofu, or even some sliced hardboiled egg at the time of the carrots.

my house smells amazing.

Today is in the middle of Pesach, and we have having our seder tonight instead of on Wednesday, since all of us had to work. This is a variation of my chicken soup, it's really tasty, and very good for slight hangovers after a night of drinking. In my circle of friends, this is "the holiday with the wine and that soup with the balls" and people always ask to come over for dinner. I also make a vegan soup, which I give to close friends this holiday that are either vegetarian or Muslim. However, i put not vegan matzoh balls in them, but they are veg not vegan anyways.

This particular recipe is kind of strange. I make 2 pots of chicken soup, but i only return half of the chicken, dividing among the 2 soups. The other chicken is served as stewed chicken along with the seder meal (and is quite tasty!!). The matzoh balls can either be split amongst the 2 pots or just cooked in one and then divided.

Just a note - this takes about 5 hours to make, start to finish, but is well worth it!! It's doesn't need very much babysitting, thankfully.

Matzoh Ball Soup

the balls (this is really a quadruple batch)
2 c matzoh meal
8 tbsp veg oil
8 tbsp water or stock
a little salt and pepper
8 eggs


the broth (double this)
1 chicken (about 3-4 lbs)
1 pretty large stockpot
4 or 5 cloves garlic
sprig each of dill and parsley
1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
3 carrots, peeled and broken in half
3 celery stalks washed and broken in half
a little salt
3 peppercorns (or a couple shakes of pepper)
a large pyrex dish and cutting board (for sorting)

first, make the balls. Mix the salt, pepper, eggs, and oil lightly. add matzoh meal and mix. add water and mix. This should be pretty soupy now, but it will thicken, promise. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge until the soup is ready for them.

Now make the soup. Put the chicken in the pot, cover with water till it's about an inch or two above the chicken. add the rest of the ingredients, cover, and bring to a boil. Once this boils, reduce the heat to med-low and simmer for at least an hour (i usually do about 1.5-2 hours). You will know when it's ready when you try to fish out the chicken and it falls apart. taste for salt content, add a little water if needed. Fish out the chicken (tongs and a fry skimmer really help) and put in the pyrex dish. Skim the half inch of fat off of the top of the soup and discard (EW!). Fish out the veggies, chop them up, and return them to the pot. Add about 4 c of water, recover, and continue to simmer.

Cook the balls. Give the bowl of matzoh mash a quick stir. Take a tablespoon and chunk out a nice hunk of mix. roll a 2" size ball in your hand, and return to the pot. When all the balls are rolled, cover tightly and cook for 30-40 min.

Sort the chicken. just do ONE of the chickens! Remove the skin and discard. Pull the meat off the bones and remove any cartilige; toss the bones and cartilige. This will probably be really hot, so work quickly and use tongs and a fork if you need to. Let cool for about 10 min, so you can actually touch the meat without burning the crap out of yourself. shred into spoon-friendly chunks, returning half to each pot of soup. Serve HOT as first course of Passover! YUM!

Vegetarian Matzoh ball soup
1 pretty large stockpot
5 cloves garlic
sprig each of dill and parsley
1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered
2 green onions, cleaned (NOT chopped)
5 carrots, peeled and broken in half
5 celery stalks washed and broken in half
a little salt
5 peppercorns (or a couple shakes of pepper)
1 small piece of ginger
a couple shakes italian seasoning

put everything in a stockpot, fill with water to a couple inches above all the veggies. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low boil/simmer and cook for about 3-40 min (the celery should be REALLY really cooked and the onions almost mooshy). Add salt as needed. Fish everything out of the soup. Add a couple cups of water, cook balls as directed in first recipe. During this time, chop up all the veggies (toss the parsley, ginger, and dill). When the balls are done, return everything to the pot. Serve and share with your girlfriend this year, dangit!

veggie yum

My vegetarian chili
I like mine hot. I think I toned it down for this recipe, I don't remember. Either way, it's awesome.

* 2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) olive or vegetable oil
* 1 medium yellow skinned onion, chopped
* 1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 yellow bell pepper (for color, you can use all red), seeded and chopped
* 1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped
* 2 chipotle peppers, smashed in pestle or with a spoon or chopped and 2 tsp adobo sauce (or more)
* 5 cloves garlic, pressed
* 1 1/2 c dos equis beer
* 1 cube vegetable bullion, crushed
* 2-12 oz cans diced tomatoes
* 1-12 oz can crushed tomatoes
* 1 (14-ounce) can black beans
* 1 (14-ounce) can kidney beans
* 1 tablespoon smoked hot paprika (if you can find it. it's sold at central market, CHEAP, and GOOD)
* 1 tablespoon ground cumin
* 2 tablespoons chili powder
* 1 few grinds fresh ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 can vegetarian refried beans

Over medium-high heat, add oil to a deep pot and combine onion, peppers, and garlic. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes to soften vegetables. Add bullion to the beer, and add to pan. Add tomatoes, black beans, red kidney beans, and stirring to combine. Add the refried beans, but smash them in, you want them to break up nicely. Cook for like 3 minutes, Add chilis, adobo stuff, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Simmer medium for 10 more minutes, COVERED, but with a cracked lid (to reduce, but this stuff SPLASHES), stirring like ever 2-3 min or the bottom will burn. Serve over rice or with chips.
OM NOM NOM NOM...


Tofu Scramble pockets
I had some made my Amy's and they were AWESOME. I tried to recreate it and theyTOO turned out good. I promise, this is way less work than it looks like. These freeze really well. Heat them up in the office and ahve everyone's nose stuck in your cubicle (until you tell them it's tofu, and then they scatter!)..

1 block light firm tofu
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soysauce or tamari
black pepper
red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
olive oil
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 green onions, diced
1 handfull shittake mushrooms, de-stemmed, and chopped
1/2 red pepper, diced
pinch golden tumeric
pinch smoked or sweet paprika

for the dough
2 c unbleached all purpose flour, plus some
pinch salt
pinch smoked or sweet paprika
1/2 c warm water
1/2 c olive or sunflower oil

Make the dough.
You want it to have "just enough" flour, and it will have the consistency of an earlobe. Mix all dry ingredients together, add liquid ingredients, then gauge if you need more flour once it is all mixed. This is an oily dough, easy to manipulate with hands, and very elastic. if you add too much flour it won't stick together! If you aren't going to use it right away, keep it at room temp, putting it in the fridge makes it way less maliable.

Make the filling.
Drain tofu, and squeeze any extra moisture out by squeezing it between paper towels. Heat 1 tbsp or 2 of olive oil in a NONstick skillet to med/med-high. Crumble the tofu really well into the pan, and break it up a little more with a wooden spoon or spatula. Cook for about 5 min (this is to remove extra moisture from the tofu), then stir. Add a pinch of tumeric and paprika for color, and stir really well. Cook for another 4 or so min, so that you brown the tofu a little, stirring every min. Add onion, mushrooms, garlic, pepper, and peppers. Stir well and cook for another 4 or so min, turning occasionally, till onions begin to soften. Add red pepper flakes, honey, and soy sauce, and cook for another min or two (so that all liquid is absorbed), stirring constantly. Taste, and adjust seasoning if needed, but it should be a smidge salty because the dough should absorb some of the salt.

Assemble
Heat oven to 350 while you assemble this stuff.Get a greased cookie sheet or pan lined with nonstick aluminum foil. Divide the dough up into about 5 or 6 pieces (they should be slightly smaller than your fist). Either flatten by hand or roll each out and arrange on sheet. Fill with dough and fold over, kind of like an empenada. Brush with egg or butter or oil or something, and bake till golden... which i will find out how long that is in a bit.

some oldies.

Tomorrow is Purim. However, I looked in my archives for Purim recipes and got Chanukka ones.
Whatever.
Enjoy.

latkes (potato pancakes)
1 lb potatoes, peeled
1 apple, peeled and cored
1 egg, beaten, i guess
1/4 cup flour
salt and peppa

grate potatoes and apple and drain the shit out of it. add flour and egg, salt and pepper, and mix really good.Heat oil in a shallow pan (for frying, about 1" deep). take a handfull of potato moosh, and pat it into a thin patty (usually i roll it in a ball and then smoosh it). Fry until golden, flip, and fry for a few more minutes. you can fry like 6 at a time. drain. eat with applesauce or sour cream on top.YUMMEH. kicks the butt of any hash brown out there. We usually make these in triple batches. However, no matter how good these are, if you grind up a 10 lb bag of potatoes, you will be frying for about 2 or so hours...

My Noodle Kugel
I had to adapt this recipe cause my sister hates rasins in her kugel, and i LOVE to cook for my sister.
I use soy substitues for all the milk stuff and it turns out really well.

1 cup milk (or soy)
1 lb egg noodles (like manichevitz brand)
cinnamon
3 eggs
1 lb cottage cheese (or silken tofu)
a couple tablespoons of good gold rum
3 oz cream cheese (or soy), about 1/2 c
1/2-3/4 c sugar
1 half apple, peeled and diced
1/2 c sliced almonds. break em up a little
1 capfull vanilla

preheat oven to 350. boil noodles till done, drain. grease casserole pan, add noodles. Mix milk, eggs, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sugar, apple, rum, vanilla, and almonds in a bowl till everything is mixed (cept the cottage cheese, of course). add to noodles, and stir really well till its like yellowy noodle soup. bake for an hour. serve warm. this is kinda a side dish, kinda a dessert.

the ultimate bad for you food.

refined starch, processed cheese, fake butter, liquid meat, and YUM

9 Cheese Mac and Cheese

1 small block Velveeta
1 package elbow macaroni 8 or 12 oz package
1 bag Italian cheese blend (usually like 6 cheese, with Parmesan, etc)
1 bag casserole cheese blend (usually 4 cheese, with cheddar and Monterrey jack)
2 tbsp black pepper
kosher salt
1/2 milk
1/4 butter or margarine
a big microwave bowl and a big bowl for mixing

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare macaroni and drain. Set in a greased baking dish. Mix all the shredded cheese together in a mixing bowl. In a microwaveable bowl, add cubed Velveeta, milk, pepper, and butter. Microwave in 1 minute increments for 3 minutes, or until cheese is melted, stirring in between nukings. Add one handful mixed cheese to melted stuff and stir. Pour a little over noodles in pan and stir. Pour remainder of Velveeta over noodles and stir till evenly mixed. Sprinkle all the cheese on top of the pan and bake until top is golden brown.

Some Basic (but new) home cookin.

This is lovingly pilfered from my post from yesterday on facebook.

So today, i whipped up 3 really good recipes.
The middle one is the only one that can be made veggie. This is kind of everyday style home cooking, but new recipes.

Key ingredients:


FRESH shittake mushrooms and


Bonito and soy based soup base (usually called memmi, tempura sauce, or bonito soup base).





You can find the soup base and noodles in the Asian isle from Krogers, and the mushrooms by the.... well... mushrooms.

(the pic shows somen noodles, but you get the idea. still my cooking)

Udons
Fresh Udons are the best! For a variation, add a couple of pieces or chopped crab stick a couple of minutes before the snow peas or a scrambled egg. Even if you buy the udons in the package (for 89 cents... you know those), use the broth and still tastes better.

1/4c soup base
3 cups water
1 thumb size piece ginger, unpeeled, and halved
2 servings dried udon noodles
8 fresh shittake mushrooms, cleaned and destemmed
1 handfull of snow peas
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 c diced tofu

boil udons and shittakes in 3 cups of water for about 8 minutes, till noodles are tender. drain, and run under cold water. remove mushrooms, slice, set aside. Put 3 cups of water with soup base. Add sliced mushrooms, tofu, and ginger. Bring to a boil, fish out ginger, taste, add more soup base if needed, add noodles and everything else and turn off heat. Serve!




Stir fried yum
I love shittakes. Not only are they good for you, but they are hearty enough to be a meat substitute in many dishes.

2 handfulls fresh shittakes, cleaned, destemmed, and slides in thirds
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cups sugar snap peas
sesame oil
olive oil
1/4c bonito soup base OR 1/4 soy sauce with 4 tbsp sugar dissolved in it
some red pepper flakes

make a swirl of olive oil and a swirl sesame oil in a pan over med high heat. add mushrooms and garlic, cook for about 5 minutes, until all oil is absorbed and a couple of the edges of the mushrooms brown. Add 1/2 c water, and cook for another 5 minutes. add bonito sauce and about 1/2 c water and snap peas. Toss frequently, cook until peas are steamed




spicy squid salad
I had a squid salad the other day at nidda thai that was phenominal. this is not AS good, but still pretty damn good. Not to mention, it only costs about $5 to make, cause most of the stuff i already have in my fridge.

1/2lb calamari steak
6 tbsp fresh lime juice
3 tbsp fish sauce
sugar (to taste)
3 red dried chilis, crushed (really, to taste. I added 4 and it was perfect heat for me)
black pepper (to taste)
1.5 c shredded green cabbage
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, chopped and de-seeded
3 green onions, sliced

Boil calimari in 2 c of water until it starts to cool. Rinse with cold water and put in a plate in the freezer to cool it off. Add all veggies into a tupperware (covered) bowl. Mix it up a little bit, shake it. Mix fish sauce, a little pepper, chilis, sugar, and lime juice in either a bowl or a shaker jar. Mix until sugar is dissolved. taste the sauce to make sure it is sweet, it should be a nice combo of sweet and sour... Remove calamari from the fridge and cube into little 1/2" cubes. add to veggies. add fish sauce mix to bowl, cover tightly and SHAKE. Put in the fridge for 20 minutes, pulling it out to shake everything up about every 5 minutes. Shake and serve on a bed of lettuce if you like.