Brie and Apple Pancake Stacks

The Harrington household has one ... or two ... or more, favorite food ideas/concepts/traditions. One is that "everything is better with an egg" (Mike is adamant that he will one day take this to the limit and enjoy some ice cream with a fried egg on top, we'll see how it goes). Another favorite is anything that invovles Brie and apples. Our friend Mark made an appetizer of Brie surrounded with sugary, cinammony apples which would be heated in the oven then dug into with pieces of baguette bread - it is always a heavenly experience.

You may recall our Grilled Brie and Apple Sandwhiches.

Recently, we had pancakes.

Rather than topping with syrup...

I sauted some apples with brown sugar and cinnamon

sliced some brie

Threw it all on a plate and

voila! Delicious-ness for a breakfast themed dinner.

Spinach and Lentils

I loved everything about this dish. Seeing these photos have stirred a craving in me which I did not expect! Lentils are delcious! Cumin is fantastic! Spinach and tomatoes - stellar! Tomatoes especially. I mixed in about a cup or so of tomatoes into my bowl of spinach and lentils.

I more or less used this recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients and Directions:

Saute some onion or the whites of a couple of green onions plus two or three garlic cloves in some veggie oil. Add about 2 cups of water (may need to add more as lentils cook) and 1 cup of lentils as well as some salt, cumin, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until lentils are soft adding water or broth as needed. In the last five minutes add as much fresh spinach as will bring your heart content. Top with fresh, deliciously sweet tomatoes and enjoy on the couch next to the one you love the most.

Beer Bread

Desiring to invite our co-teachers over for a traditional holiday meal, Mike offered to buy me an oven for our Korean apartment. Honestly, I was committed to making do without. But, now that there's an oven in this apartment, I must admit I am THRILLED. Something about cooking AND baking brings me such great joy. Providing friends and co-workders foods which I honestly believe in, which I poured effort, thought and serious love/excitement into making is a ridiculous pleasure for me. Therefore, thanks to GMarket, Korea's equivelent to eBay, we had ourselves a beautiful little convection oven waiting to serve my baking needs.

The first baked good?

Beer Bread. This recipe to be exact.
It seriously is the easiest bread recipe EVER.

I will make it often.

Tomato, Spinach and Mozz Omelet

Tomatoes here are FABULOUS! Incredibly sweet, I could eat a bowl full with chopsticks and be a happy camper! I can also whisk up some egg, throw in some spinach, green onion and the tasty tomato morsels, pour into a hot skillet cook through, throw in some mozzarella cheese and enjoy a giant, beyond satisfying omelet. I highly recommend it!

(I wanted to try the egg roll concept to get it on video, but tomatoes and spinach are too heavy of ingredients to conduct an egg roll with - maybe next time).

Cocktail Hour

We haven't quite fallen in love with Soju yet.

However, as part of a mixer - it's not a bad deal!

Orange Juice and Soju, a good way to enjoy a meal at home!

Creamy Pasta

I don't measure, but I'll try my best to convey the ingredients and amounts used for this dish.

Ingredients/Directions:

Pasta for 2; boiled to al dente

Meanwhile chop, dice, and/or mince the following:
1/4 cup Mushrooms
3 Sm. Tomatoes
2 Green Onions
3 cloves Garlic

In a sauce pan:
Melt ~2Tbsp. Butter
Saute Mushroom, Garlic and Onion
Add Milk - 1/4c - 1/2c (rough approximation)
Add a handful or two of Mozzarella Cheese
Stir till melted and looking delicious
Decide if it's sufficient for the amount of pasta you're boiling.
Add aditional milk and cheese as you deem necessary.
Thicken it up with cornstarch or flour.

When pasta is al dente, mix it into the sauce.
Place in bowl, top with some tomatoes and Mozzerella

Enjoy with a glass of wine or a Korean Cocktail!

Curry Beef Lettuce Wraps

One of my FAVORITE aspects of eating at Korean restaurants is the frequency in which deliciously marinated and grilled meats are wrapped in a leaf of lettuce with the eater choosing what other food items to add to the the lettuce taco. (Now is when I would normally link to a previously posted recipe but in a moment of brillance, I decided to change the name of my blog, so while all my recipes are still here, I can no longer link to those which were the original Extended Shelf Life posts). Fortunately, my dal was essentially a recipe I got out of a Vegetarian Times magazine and can be found here.

In order to have a meal of these Curry Beef Lettuce Wraps, start the Indian dal first. Meanwhile, saute some onions and save for a potential lettuce wrap addition. I used the concept of these Garlic Curry Burgers to make (with the help of a dear friend) mini-curry burgers for our lettuce wraps. Soon as lentils, onions and burgers are ready, gather around the table and enjoy the lettuce wrap with a spoonful of lentils, a little burger and some onions - should be delicious!