Taco Soup

This soup received rave reviews. Actually, I keep forgetting to post the recipe, but one friend has reminded me via Facebook that she would like to make this recipe, or rather she'd like her husband to make this recipe, so I suppose I should get to posting the recipe ^^

Unfortunately, for those living in South Korea, all of the ingredients aren't that easy to come by such as ranch dressing packets or Mexican chili powder. However, I think the ranch seasoning can be left out and perhaps you can replace the Mexican chili powder with Korean chili powder or take a look at some of Korea's online grocery stores.

Anyway, on to the recipe.

Ingredients/Directions:

Adapted from the Fix-it and Forge-it-Cookbook

I use a slow-cooker otherwise called a crock-pot which we purchased at Costco to prepare this soup, however it can easily be made in a large pot on the stove and should take significantly less time. It is ready to eat when it's been thoroughly heated.

Into a large crockpot mix together 2 cups prepared Black Beans, 2 cups diced tomatoes (either canned or fresh - if you use fresh you may need to add water or chicken broth to the soup for the purpose of consistency), 1 diced Onion, 3-5 roasted and chopped Green Chilies, 1 can of Tomato Sauce, 1 can of Corn. Season the soup with 3-4 Tbsp. Mexican Chili Powder, 1/2 or whole package of dry Ranch Dressing seaoning (depending on what other uses you have for it/how difficult it is to get where you are currently located ^.~), a shake of Cumin, Cayenne Pepper (Tobasco Sauce would also work) Salt, Pepper, and 2-3 minced cloves of Garlic. Stir and add any liquid if necessary. Turn the slow-cooker to low and cook for 6-8 hours or heat on the stove-top for an hour or so. Serve with Cheese and Tortilla Chips!

Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin

 

This is amongst one of the first recipes I ever pinned on Pinterest, unfortunately it took me entirely too long to get around to preparing this insanely easy and delicious pork tenderloin. Fortunately, it made for a perfect Easter-away-from-home dinner.

Ingredients/Directions:
Pinned from Let's Dish Recipes

Season a 2 lb. (~1Kg) Pork Tenderloin with Oregano, Salt, Pepper and minced Garlic to taste (just a few shakes of each) and place in the slow cooker with 1/2 cup of Water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. In the last hour of cooking, combine on the stove-top 1/2 cup Brown Sugar, 1 Tbsp. Cornstarch, 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar, 1/2 cup Water and 2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce until thickened. Brush the pork loin with this mixture 2-3 times during the last hour of cooking and serve the loin with any left over sauce. Enjoy with rice and a fresh green salad and more importantly with good friends!

Bacon, Mushroom and Onion Calzones

My most recent batch of Basic Bread from Jamie Oliver was used to make two loaves of Baguettes for the Lemon-Thyme spread and then a few days later to make these calzones. (Regarding the bread recipe, I split it into fours, baked two fourths as bread, used one fourth for these calzones and froze the other fourth! Huu-zah!)

Anyway, these were simple and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients/Directions:

Saute in a touch olive oil a clove of garlic, 4-6 slices of bacon, one or two handfuls of chopped mushrooms and a small chopped onion. Roll out a bit of Basic Bread dough. Spoon in some marinara sauce of choice, top with sauteed mixture and mozzarella cheese, fold dough into a semi-circle/moon shape, brush with olive oil and make a few slits for steam to escape. Bake 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees (200 Celsius) and enjoy in the company of the most fabulous man you can snag ;)

Home-made Enchilada Sauce + Enchilada's

May 5th. Children's Day. Korean Holiday.

May 5th. Mexican Independence Day. Inspiration for Mexican Inspired Dining.

10 Minute Enchilada Sauce. Cheese and Onion Enchiladas. Perfect 'Holiday' meal.

Ingredients/Directions:

In a skillet heat 1/4 Vegetable Oil (or a little less). Stir in 2 Tbsp. Flour and 1/4 cup Chili Powder, reduce heat to medium and cook til lightly browned. Stir Constantly. Gradually stir in 8 oz. Tomato Sauce, 1 1/2 cup Water (or 2:1 Water:Soju Hot Sauce), Cumin and Garlic Powder until smooth. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, season with salt.



For Enchilada's simply coat corn or flour tortillas in Enchilada Sauce, stuff with choice of ingredients, wrap and set in a shallow baking dish, bake at about 350 degrees for 20-40 minutes. Enjoy with fresh tomatoes and home made guacomole.

French Toasted Bagels and Gravy

A few days back I whipped up these Grilled Cheese French Toasted Bagels and found the concept quite intriguing and begging for further exploration. Well, the moment came and I took another wack at the French Toasted Bagel and was not let down by the results.

Ingredients/Directions:

For two bagels I whisked 2 Eggs, a splash of Water and some Cajun Seasoning. Dip the bagel halves in the egg mixture then throw onto a hot and oiled skillet. Let it cook on one side 2-3 minutes, then flip. (Perhaps, if you have greater patience or skill you'll feel they are well done at this point, I however always want them a little crisper and can't quite get the egg to cook all the way through) Throw the bagel halves onto a cookie sheet, top with your choice of ingredients - this round I went with slices of Bell Pepper and Onion. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare gravy on the stove top. I lucked out and had an abundance of broth left over from the Guinness Beef and Mushroom Stew so I just skimmed off about 3-4 ladels of broth and goodies, heat in a skillet, added flour and milk until I had the perfect consistency and viola - Gravy was ready! When bagels are finished in the oven simply top with Gravy and some grated Cheese, get your knife and fork ready and enjoy a hearty meal with your loved one!

Roast Vegetables with Cheese Sauce

Again, I've found myself using Pinterest to mark a good idea and to find inspiration. A recent inspiration from the world of Pins and Likes and Re-Pins was a 'Choose Your Cheese - Cheese Sauce". I love cheese. And I love choices and a recipe designed for making substitutes.

I won't go into details on roasting veggies, as it's a fairly self-explanatory concept. This particular dish I threw into the oven a few sweet potatoes, carrots, an onion, bell pepper and some chunks of ham. The veggies had been coated in olive oil, salt and pepper. I left the veggies and ham in the oven until they were cooked through and tender (the sweet potatoes in particular). I also served this dish with rice - Rice, Veggies and Ham, Topped with Cheese Sauce.

As for the Cheese Sauce, it was quite simple and quick to put together. Specific measurements can be found here, however, I'm notorious for simply reading an ingredient list and throwing together the amount I deem acceptable for the time being (or available at the time). Therefore, my cheese sauce looked more like this: Milk, about 1/2 cup (not sure because we were about out, so just dumped the rest of the carton in), melt 2-3 Tbsp. Butter in the milk, whisk in about 2-3 Tbsp. Flour. Heat on stove top, add shreeded cheese (Cheddar for me) about a cup or two, dash of salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. Ensure the cheese has melted and the sauce is your desired consistency, viola - you are finished!

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!

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!

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.



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 ^.^

French Toast Sandwich and Sweet Potato Fries

I have yet to photograph these gems, but they are delcious. Inspiration is from the French Croque Monsuier (sp?) and tastes exceptionally delicious alongside a small pile of sweet potato fries.

For the fries, simply peel, slice, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, pop in the oven at 350F/200C and bake until soft and the center and crunchy on the outside (or until edible).

As for the French toast sandwich? Simply put together the sandwich you've been dreaming up, we've done onion, spinach, hummus and mozzarella as well as marinara, onion, spinach and mozzarella. Use good ole sliced bread to sandwich your ingredients before dipping the sandwich in a couple of whisked eggs with some salt and pepper and splash of liquid. In a well oiled pan, place the sandwich one eggy side down allowing to cook and become toasty/crispy like French toast before flipping and waiting for the same phenomena to take place on side B. Best to enjoy with darling friends whom you both treasure and enjoy!

Baguette Pizza Sandwich

Nothing too fancy here - just quick, simple and delicious.

Purchase a Baguette from your favorite bakery.

Slice down the middle.

Spoon in some spaghetti sauce,

throw on some onions, spinach, etc.

Top with cheese.

Pop in the oven for 10ish minutes until heated through,

melty cheese.

Enjoy with a glass of wine at the dining room table.

Baked Potatoes with Mozzarella-Alfredo Sauce

Potatoes are a fabulous food. I'd eat them paired with eggs any day of the week. In my craving for a hearty baked potatoe and a need to use up some heavy whipped cream I put this dinner together and ended up L-O-V-I-N-G every bite!

Baking Potatoes:

Wash the potato. Stab with fork to prevent potato explosions. Rub down with olive oil and salt. Place in oven, bake until soft (potatoes can be baked at various temps for various lengths of time making them a fabulous side dish - for specfics about temps and time conduct a Google search).

Home-made Mozzarella-Alfredo Sauce:

Easy as 1) melt butter (1/4 -1/2 cup or so) in a sauce pan, 2) add 2 cups heavy whipping cream, 3) add 1-2 cups mozzarella, season with salt.

Putting it together:

Slice the potatoe in half. Top with those ingredients you find most suitable for a cream based sauce - we enjoyed: tomatoes, carmelized onions, black olives and fresh parsley add a decent ladel of Mozzarella-Alfredo Sauce and viola a most fabulous dinner to enjoy with dear, dear friends or one whom you dearly love (even if it be yourself).

Creamy Chicken Pasta

Thanksgiving leftovers were a HUGE joy and blessing to use this month for various meals. I'd made this Cream of Mushroom Soup for these Slow-Cooker Scalloped Potatoes and had Chicken Meat left over from the Home-made Chicken Broth making this meal a snap to create! Boil some water - add your favorite noodle cook to al dente. Add noodles to warm/hot cream of mushroom soup and chicken - deliciousness ready to consume!

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.

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!

Tofu Tacos

There are few doubts in my mind that there are better recipes for Tofu Tacos available. And, truthfully, I'm a Wyoming girl through and through, so tend to prefer my tacos with beef. However, Tofu was sitting in the fridge begging to be used and the craving at the moment was Tacos. Taco Seasoning would have made a sweet difference.

Tacos are not rocket science. Neither are Tofu Tacos.

Choose your taco veggies. Decide if you'd like to enjoy them raw or sauted. Take necessary action. I sauted mine, shoved them to the edge of the pan and made room for the Tofu. A little more oil, a bit of Cajun seasoning a little waiting a little stirring, Tofu was warm a little 'fried' and ready to be added to a tortilla with lettuce and cheese served alongside chips and salsa.

Disfrutala!

Pepper-Pepper Stir Fry

Extended Life for: Bell Peppers, Onion and Celery This dish was a simple combination of ideas - one from our Valentine's Dinner and another from my resourceful, cooks brain. Having mae this meal over a couple months ago, I am left here with only a vague idea of what all went in, so here it is, more or less:

Begin preparing about two cups of brown rice before searing the steaks and stir-fying the peppers and onions. For the steaks, heat up some oil, coat one side of each steak in black pepper (pour pepper onto a plate, then place one side of the steak onto the plate...you get the drill). Cook steak to preferred doneness, remove from pan. Add additional oil if needed stir fry vegetables once vegetables are tender add steak in chopped up bits, serve on top of rice and ENJOY with a glass of red wine and a favorite friend.

Skillet Pizza

Extended Shelf Life for: Mushrooms, Tomato and Onion Another great recipe inspired by none other than Vegetarian Times! With an abundance of produce, a craving for melty gooey-cheese, a lack of motivation to prep ingredients and a quick to fix home-made pizza crust using the Master Mix, this recipe is simply perfection in a cast iron skillet!

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 1/3 cups Master Mix
1/4 to 1/3 cup Water

Filling: Your choice I used
1 1/2 cups Mushrooms and Onion, sauteed in garlic and oil prior to adding to the pizza
1 med. Tomato diced
1-2 cups Cheese
Itailan Seasoning to taste

Directions:

Combine Master Mix with enough water to make a soft dough. Knead in the bowl a dozen or so times. Roll or pat out into a circle or rectangle. Place dough on bottom of greased cast iron skillet or round cake pan. Add ingredients till they reach near the top lip of pan, cover in cheese. Bake in an oven at 425 for 15 Minutes or until done. Enjoy with a glass of wine and a tossed salad.