Banana Walnut Pancakes topped with Brown Sugar-Vanilla Yogurt

These were magic.

And they were easy. and delicious. and a keeper.

Ingredients/Directions:

Using your favorite pancake mix or recipe for from scratch pancakes (check out the side bar and tag cloud for a Magic Mix recipe if you're wanting a starting place for 'from scratch' meets 'pre-made mix') simply add to the mix: 2-3 Mashed Bananas, 1-2 handfuls Chopped Walnuts and a dash of Cinnamon. Prepare pancakes as per package or recipe directions. Whip up a batch of this Easy Yogurt Dip/Sauce to spread on each pancake. Layer pancakes with yogurt between each cake, top with slices of banana, chopped walnuts and a drizzle of Maple Syrup. You will not regret any aspect of this morning meal.

Did I mention magic? It's a magical breakfast.

Easy Yogurt Fruit Dip

I pinned this recipe to my Deliciously Insipiring pinboard so it'd be easier to find for a Friday night get-together. Obviously, being who I am and living where I live, it was necessary to make a substitution. Although sour cream is available at some places, particularly Costco, in Korea, it's pricey and easily substituted by Plain Yogurt in this case.

Ingredients/Directions:

Mix 2 cups Plain Yogurt with 1/4-1/2 cup Brown Sugar add 1 tsp. Vanilla whisk until mixed serve with seasonal and/or affordable fruit from your local mart or ajumma!

Slow Cooker Chicken Broth

Once upon a time I penned this blog post. But had not photo to showcase the making of Chicken Broth, so here I am again to remind myself and any readers who may stumble upon this space that making Chicken Broth is oh-so-easy, especially if you have a slow cooker!

1. Prepare a whole roaster chicken or two (or purchase from a local grocer) - Enjoy. Save Carcass. Make Broth
2. Throw carcass into slow cooker, add on carrot quartered, one onion quartered (optional, stick cloves into quartered onion), salt and pepper.
3. Cover with water or follow my lead: 3 cups Oolong tea plus additional water until bird and veggies are covered.
4. Cook on high 4-5 hours.
5. Cool. Spoon broth into freezer safe containers, I do mine by two cup incriments. Enjoy with various soups and sauces!

Grape Flavored Soju

The Path to Enjoying Soju:

Pinterest to a Recipe for Bubblegum Vodka to Sunkist Grape Candies soaking in a bottles worth of Soju for one night (8-10 hours) before being added to a Lemon-Lime like Soda and enjoyed with friends prior to playing What If?, Telepictionary, and Wizard.

Soju will never me the same.

Browned Butter Brownies with Strawberry Sauce

I have a new love. Pinterest.
Seriously. Best. Idea. Ever.
Virtual-themed bulletin boards where I can pin things from the world-wide web that inspire me, enlighten me, bring me joy, etc. LOVE!
Wouldn't have found this delectable recipe without Pinterest...just sayin'.

Browned Butter Brownies: Ingredients/Directions

10Tbsp (or less, try 7-8) butter melted in a saucepan. Let butter get frothy and brown but avoid burning, should take 6-8 minutes. Add to saucepan: 1 1/4 cup Sugar, 3/4 cup Cocoa, 2 tsp. Water, Dash (or two) Cinnamon, Dash of Salt, and 2 tsp. Vanilla. Let mixture set and cool for about 5 minutes. Whisk in 2 eggs (or 1 if that's all you have, it'll still work - I promise, I know) one at a time - mixture will be thick, dark and shiny. Stir in 1/2 cup flour, whisk vigorously for about 2 minutes before stirring in 1/3 cup Chocolate Chips or diced chocolate bar. Pour into greased square or round pan bake at 325 for 20-30 minutes.

Ours were incredibly gooey and OH-so-delicious with a cold glass of milk!

For Strawberry sauce I simply sliced a dozen or so frozen strawberries, dumped them in a sauce pan, added sugar and heated, adding additional sugar until I fel the sauce was of appropriate sweetness - start with 1/4 cup or less sugar and go from there!

Love-Day Rotisserie Chicken

The convection oven we purchased has rotisserie capabilities so you'd better believe I wanted in on some of that action/challenge. Therefore, our traditional Valentine's Dinner at home-made-together had a Rotisserie Chicken on the menu. And, let me tell you , it was not hard at all!

The spice mix and chicken preperation were based off this recipe, but any spice combination ought to work just fine, just rub the chicken with olive oil, followed by the spices and you're ready to rotisserie!

As for the rotisserie aspect, put the chicken on the spit, place into appropriate slots in the oven, turn temperature to about 200 degrees Celcius and cook for 30-40 minutes until juices run clear, no pink is visible and inner temperature is 180 degrees Farenheit (sorry about the mixing of temperatures, it just happens for an American living in Korea or anywhere else in the world).

Next task: enjoy! Use the carcass to make some home-made chicken broth and you'll be well on your way to money well spent on a whole chicken!

Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Side

I do not claim to have stumbled upon some new, brilliant form of preparing a pasta dish. On the contrary - this is likely a common concept in the world of Pasta Cuisine, yet for my own personal desire to record food that comes out of '519 Kitchen' - this dish makes it onto the blog.

Pasta boiled and tender. Garlic sauted. Sun-dried tomatoes chopped. Spinach wilted. Tossed together with olive oil, white wine and balsamic vinegar. Enjoyed with the one you love dearly and a side of freshly roasted chicken offers up a night worth remembering.

Double Bean Burritos

Often at '519 Kitchen' there is a last ditch effort to use up a handful of ingredients prior to their turning sour, smelly, slimy, or otherwise unsightly. This weekend was no different as a ziploc of beans sat anticipating usage next to a package of mushrooms, garlic, and sesame leaves and 'marinated' beef from the infamous Sesame Leaf Beef Sandwiches. So it was, on Saturday, February 19th I threw a random assortment of ingredients into a pot, heated them up, spread them onto a flour tortilla, toasted them in a skillet and served them up to the man I love and my own growling belly.

Ingredients and Directions:

Throw into a saucepan 3-4 cups of beans (I had on hand black beans and black-eyed peas). Add salsa, about one cup or so, diced mushrooms, minced garlic, broth or tea (just enough to prevent burning), 2-3 roasted chilis and heat through - once heated add a handful of chopped sesame leaves. Dump into tortillas, top with cheese, wrap and toast in a warm skillet before serving them up with additional salsa on the side or as is.

Not Quite Pad Thai

Living in the land of Kimchi I have gotten quite phenomenal at the task of substitutions. Sometimes, it is out of absolute necessity like in my New Years Eve Tortiall Roll-Ups but othertimes, substitutions are necessary only because I'm too lazy to walk to a nearby (or far away) grocer as was the case for ROKin Clam Chowder- and for this dish. In Daejeon there are a couple of International Grocers where one can buy lime juice, fish sauce, etc. Korea also has some stellar delivery options for these types of ingredients, but for this dish I took advantage of Daejeon's International Food Mart only for Rice Noodles and Cilantro, the rest I winged using this recipe as my starting point.

Ingredients:

10 oz Pkg. Rice Noodles (can use a few less or more)

Fish Sauce Substitute: 2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce + 1 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar

Lime Juice Substitute: 2 Shots Soju (Korean Rice Wine, think Vodka)

1 Tbsp. Sugar

2 Tbsp. Oyster Sauce

11/2 Tbsp. Chili Pepper Sauce, divided

1/4 cup Broth or Tea

Oil for Skillet sauteing

3 cloves Garlic, minced

2 Eggs

3 cups Bean Sprouts

1 cup Mushrooms, diced

1 Green Onion, sliced

1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped

Directions:

Soak noodles in hot tap water approximately 20 minutes, should be quite tender when being added to the skillet. Stir together: soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, oyster sauce, 2tsp. pepper sauce and broth or tea. Heat skillet and add oil  to saute garlic and mushrooms. Move ingredients to edge of skillet pour in whisked eggs, cook until firm and break into bite size pieces. Add noodles (make sure they are relatively tender) and sauce, stir constantly until noodles are completely tender (may add additional broth, water, etc.) Add bean sprouts and green onions mix and remove from heat. Top with cilantro and serve alongside Sesame Leaf Beef Sandwiches.

Sesame Leaf and Beef 'Sandwiches'

A few bites into this dish Mike commented: "I would eat these all day."

It's a reasonable statement, they are amazing! Unfortunately, they were not purely my creation...rather, they were the result of being given more sesame leaves than I'd originally planned on grabbing at the local market, a Google search and an instinct that this recipe would find rave reviews in '519' Wookyeongbil Kitchen.

I followed the recipe as is with only a few adjustments:
2 cloves Garlic
A Squirt of Red Chili Paste/Sauce
Mix meat and additions in a ziploc bag!

If you can find sesame leaves, this recipe is well worth a shot, although the leaves tend to be an acquired taste, so perhaps give them two or three shots before giving them a final judgement.

ROKin Clam Chowder

After making a pot full of Clam Noodle Soup, there was still a wealthy supply of clams in my refrigerator. Wanting some advice and recipe inspiration for using up the 'leftovers' I conducted a bit of research with a dear friend, Google and was soon inspired to whip up a Clam Chowder. I referenced a Boston clam chowder recipe and made a number of substitues based on what was in our fridge, our wallet and Korean grocery stores, hence the name: ROKin -- as in the Republic of Korea-in -- Clam Chowder. (In essence, there's nothing particularly Korean about the dish other than where it was made and where the ingredients came from)
Ingredients:

As many clams as you can manage (I had approximately 1 cup)
1 Onion, diced and sauted in butter
1/2 carrot, diced
2 cups Sweet Potatoes, skinned and diced
2 cups Chicken Broth
2-3 cups Green Tea
Salt, Pepper, Parsley to taste
Butter + Flour for Roux
Milk (3-5 cups)
1-2 cups Grated Cheddar Cheese

Additional Flour or Cornstarch for Thickening

Directions:

Throw sweet potatoes, sauted onion and carrots into slow cooker, add broth and tea, salt and pepper. Cook on high 2-3 hours. In sauce pan or skillet melt 1/2 cup butter add four until thick and brown-ish, (at 3-4 hour mark) stir into soup. Thirty minutes or an hour prior to serving add milk, cheese, additional thickening agent if needed and clams - heat through. Serve up with bread of choice and enjoy with good friends (even someone from the East Coast, they'll be satisfied with the chow-da) while discussing recent travels and adorable pets.

Clam Noodle Soup

I am in the perfect situation to experiment with ingredients I've never had easy access to, and considering my love of food-centered experiments, this is the perfect situation! Within my first month of life in South Korea I picked up a package of noodles which I made assumptions about, created this dish, and knew it could have been better. Well flash foward a few months and a LOT more Korean-dining experiences later and I've just about clued into this particular noodle. Hoping I could incorporate this noodle more as it ought to be, I attempted a bit of 'fusion' cooking using ideas from a previous cooking class and my own innovations to whip up this pot of Clam Noodle Soup.

Ingredients:

A dozen Clams

Handful of Bean Sprouts

1/2 Carrot, diced

1 Leek/2 Green Onions, sliced

6 Sesame Leaves, chopped

3-4 cups Broth or Tea

Korean Noodles (could substitute spaghetti, udon, ramen)

Salt and Pepper to seasoning

Directions:

Wash clams. (I've since learned there's a lot to this process and I've far from perfected it, chime in if you have advice; here's what I've learned: scrub down clams, soak in salt water for several hours. Add cornmeal to expel grit and such - I tried oatmeal as cornmeal is a hot commodity here in the ROK, scrub again, then boil, prepare as directed. If clams do not open during boiling process they are bad. Summary of information I found here.) In pot, bring broth/tea to a boil, add rinsed and clean bean sprouts to the pot with clams, boil with lid on for about 8 minutes. If clams are opening up, add carrot, simmer for about 5 minutes until carrot is tender. Add noodles, cook until tender. (For a more accurate Korean dish, prepare noodles separately, drain of liquid serve with broth and clams spooned on top). Fill bowl with noodles first, top with broth and a few opened clams, sprinkle sesame leaves on top, season to taste with salt and pepper, enjoy!

More clam recipes and cooking directions can be found by clicking the yellow box below!

Manila Clams

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos

In preparing to leave Laramie, WY for the otherside of the world, there was one restaurant I knew I'd miss terribly; Sweet Melissa's - a Vegetarian Cafe. If you've never been, you really ought to stop by. Any vegetarian cafe that can make a Wyoming-meat-eater say "Wow, that was good and filling" - is a vegetarian cafe worth frequenting! It is in fondly remembering this special place little cafe nestled in old downtown facing the train tracks that I was pushed forward in pursuing Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos here in the land of kimchi.

With plenty of inspiration and reccomendations, coupled with the limitations of an Asian market vs. a Latin market, I set out to re-create tastes of home.

Ingredients:

2 cups Black Beans

3 cups Sweet Potatoes, mashed

1 Onion, diced and sauted

3-5 Green Chiles, roasted and diced

2-3 cloves of Garlic, minced

Salt, Pepper, Chili Powder, Cumin - to taste

Prepared Salsa

Tortillas

Cheese

Directions:

Saute onion, garlic and green chilies, add to sweet potatoes. Combine beans and potatoes (can be mixed, pureed, slightly beaten - however you most desire.) Add seasonings, fresh cilantro and lime juice would be nice if it's available. Spreak potato and bean mix onto tortilla, top with cheese, fold and bake in the oven until warmed through. We have a convection oven so cooking time is about 15-20 minutes or less. Serve with salsa on the side or green chili on top. Best enjoyed with good friends, conversing about winter vacations and adventures!

Tips for creating this meal in Korea:

Black beans are a bit tricky to find - yet not impossible. My best bet has been to buy them in their dried state; you can find them at Costco and many times at HomePlus. If you're at Costco, might as well pick up some tortillas as well. Various international food stores provide fresh cilantro, for a bit more info regarding 'foreign' markets in Korea, check out this post.

For dried black beans this is the way to go!

Oreo Crumb Cookies

My new obsession: http://www.foodporndaily.com/

Inspired these cookies.

Basic cookie dough + Oreo-like Cookie crumbs = Hollah! Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Seriously though...AMAZING concept. Especially when Oreos aren't really Oreos. Especially when you've got a carton of milk in the refrigerator. Espeically when you realize bits of chocolate and white chocolate should also enjoy the mix...SOOO good!

Here's the idea: Take your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe or a simple Basic Cookie Dough recipe - from there, add WHATEVER you want, in this case, I added 10 Oreo's mashed and broken plus some bits of dark chocolate and white chocolate.

Bake as you would any other cookie, enjoy with a glass of milk just like you would an Oreo - you will not be sorry!

Chinese-American Fried Rice

Perhaps this is more accurately a Chinese-American Fried Rice with Korean influences...not sure how often ham is thrown into fried rice, but in Korea, no problem.

I generally use this concept when preparing fried rice: whisked egg with a bit of soy sauce fried up in sesame oil, egg removed from pan, veggies and ham (in this case) heated and sauted for a few minutes, add prepared rice, a bit more soy sauce and the egg - wam, bam, thank you Ma'm we've got dinner! Top with fresh green onions and sesame seeds for a fresh, happy appearance before downing the bowl at ligtening speed.



YubuChoBap

I'm posting this primarily...because...I don't know. Maybe someday I'll attempt to make such a dish from scratch...who knows. Anyway, if you're living in Korea - you should be able to find a 'kit' - I'll post a pic later if I can to make this dish at home - it's quick, easy and tasty. All you need to do is prepare rice, the rest of the ingredients are in the package, mix the two small packets with the rice, scoop rice into tofu 'pockets' and viola - ready to eat!

If this post isn't exciting enough for you, as it shouldn't be, check out the beautiful blue-haired Korean woman's photos and video for making YubuChoBap...you won't be sorry!

Peanut Butter Blondies

This recipe had very little to do with me, and a whole lot to do with this. Not to mention my recent cravings regarding peanut butter...and brownies...

Ingredients:
1-⅛ cup All-purpose Flour
1-¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
⅛ teaspoons Salt
⅓ cups Butter, At Room Temperature
¾ cups Packed Light Brown Sugar
½ cups Peanut Butter
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup
1 whole Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 F and spray an 8×8 square cake pan or round pan with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, peanut butter, and golden syrup. Add the egg and vanilla, and whisk until well combined. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Pour into the prepared pan and spread to the edges. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and puffed. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

If you go to the original recipe, you will find a recipe for frosting and her brownies appear much less dense than mine. I mixed a bit of Peanut Butter with whip cream as I haven't found powdered sugar here yet, and it was delicious.

Photogenic Dinner

I make and eat 'Hash' all the time - the recipe is ever changing...potatoes, other veggies, spices you love the most, fried egg on top - enjoy! This particular hash just happened to be more 'photgenic' than others ^.^