Here are some really yummy green onion pancakes that I made last night! They're called Pajeon.
The recipe is here!
Instead of using "pancake mix," I used this simple recipe:
Old Fashioned Pancakes
*I used half the amount of sugar, and no butter.
I used enough water to make the batter thin, as the Pajeon recipe called for, but it was only about 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup (no, I didn't measure...just eyeball it, you can't really do any harm with pancakes).
I didn't make the sauce, I thought they were good enough to eat plain or with some soy sauce. But try it! It's probably super tasty.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Balsamic Peaches
I wanted to create just a quick post to rave about how delicious peaches are when broiled with balsamic vinegar! I thought it sounded like a weird combination, but it's fantastic. Healthy, simple, and quick. They're pretty, and make a nice appetizer, side dish, or dessert. How convenient that it's peach season!
The recipe can't really even be called a recipe because it's so simple, but here it is:
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 peach, halved (remove the pit)
Cut the peach in half, remove the pit, and place the halves cut side up on a piece of foil or a baking tray. Pour enough balsamic vinegar on them to fill the indent where the pit was, and to coat the edges around it. Broil them in a toaster oven or oven for about 5-7 minutes. They're best if you pull them out before they crisp on the top, and they're simply heated through. But if you forget about them for a minute too long and they do burn/crisp, it's easy to just cut this part off and they're fine to eat. I tell you this from experience.
Enjoy! The flavor is reminiscent of a really, really yummy peach pie. In fact, you could even make a bunch of them, and then use them for pie filling. Ooooooh!!!
The recipe can't really even be called a recipe because it's so simple, but here it is:
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 peach, halved (remove the pit)
Cut the peach in half, remove the pit, and place the halves cut side up on a piece of foil or a baking tray. Pour enough balsamic vinegar on them to fill the indent where the pit was, and to coat the edges around it. Broil them in a toaster oven or oven for about 5-7 minutes. They're best if you pull them out before they crisp on the top, and they're simply heated through. But if you forget about them for a minute too long and they do burn/crisp, it's easy to just cut this part off and they're fine to eat. I tell you this from experience.
Enjoy! The flavor is reminiscent of a really, really yummy peach pie. In fact, you could even make a bunch of them, and then use them for pie filling. Ooooooh!!!
Korean night! Fried Zucchini and Spicy Pork
Last night we made Daeji bulgogi (spicy pork) over rice, and Hobakjeon (fried zucchini) on the side. Both were AMAZING. I'll post the original recipes below, then tell you what we changed (mostly due to replacing ingredients that we didn't have with things that were already in the kitchen).
Spicy pork: Daeji Bulgogi
Changed ingredients:
*4 tbsp soy sauce
*1 tsp crushed garlic (we bought crushed garlic in a jar for the days that we don't feel like mincing it ourselves, and it's very strong, so I reduced the amount by a lot. If you're using fresh garlic, their two tbsp should be fine)
*2 tbsp sweet chili sauce (instead of the gochujang)
*3 light shakes of cayenne (intead of the red pepper flakes)
*1/2 onion instead of a whole onion
The rest of the ingredients were the same.
I only want to tell you the differences, because I know that ours was great, and I have no idea how the original tastes. Probably equally awesome.
Zucchini: Hobakjeon
I followed this recipe. I had a rather large zucchini, so it took 3 eggs (beaten) and probably 1/2 cup flour to coat all the slices. I sliced them about 1 cm thick. Oh, and I also added a bit of salt to the beaten eggs, which turned out really well. We used olive oil to fry them, and ate them plain by the dozen because they were so tasty.
Enjoy!
Spicy pork: Daeji Bulgogi
Changed ingredients:
*4 tbsp soy sauce
*1 tsp crushed garlic (we bought crushed garlic in a jar for the days that we don't feel like mincing it ourselves, and it's very strong, so I reduced the amount by a lot. If you're using fresh garlic, their two tbsp should be fine)
*2 tbsp sweet chili sauce (instead of the gochujang)
*3 light shakes of cayenne (intead of the red pepper flakes)
*1/2 onion instead of a whole onion
The rest of the ingredients were the same.
I only want to tell you the differences, because I know that ours was great, and I have no idea how the original tastes. Probably equally awesome.
Zucchini: Hobakjeon
I followed this recipe. I had a rather large zucchini, so it took 3 eggs (beaten) and probably 1/2 cup flour to coat all the slices. I sliced them about 1 cm thick. Oh, and I also added a bit of salt to the beaten eggs, which turned out really well. We used olive oil to fry them, and ate them plain by the dozen because they were so tasty.
Enjoy!
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Here's how the Gnocchi turned out!
Here's the recipe, again.
I followed the instructions when I made them. At the end, she doesn't tell you how to get that pretty golden color in her picture: After boiling, they're gnocchi alright, and they'd be great to immediately throw into a sauce. But, if you want to crisp them up (we ended up eating them plain), fry them slightly until they turn golden brown. I fried mine lightly in olive oil and basil. So good!
Above, you can kind of see the before/after of the frying. Though it's kind of a dark photo...
Below is a close up of the finished gnocchi.
And then we see some gnocchi hangin' out with a cinnamon roll. :)
I followed the instructions when I made them. At the end, she doesn't tell you how to get that pretty golden color in her picture: After boiling, they're gnocchi alright, and they'd be great to immediately throw into a sauce. But, if you want to crisp them up (we ended up eating them plain), fry them slightly until they turn golden brown. I fried mine lightly in olive oil and basil. So good!
Below is a close up of the finished gnocchi.
And then we see some gnocchi hangin' out with a cinnamon roll. :)
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Granola!
I've hit a bit of a creative roadblock when it comes to thinking of new things I want to make. I've just been throwing things together, and nothing has seemed good enough lately to put on the blog. Except for the granola that I made yesterday! It was delicious. So delicious, that my puppy snatched a whole pound+ of it off the counter in the night and ate all of it...goodbye, my wonderful breakfast that never came to be.
Anyway, here's the recipe:
*2 cups oats (Old-fashioned oats would be better, but we had "quick" oats on hand, and it turned out fine. Both types of oats are steamed and rolled into flakes, but quick oats are chopped up into smaller pieces, and flattened)
*1/4 cup each of whatever additions you can dream of, like shredded coconut, almonds, walnuts, raisins, craisins, sunflower seeds, flax, cheerios, etc!
*1/4 cup honey
Mix all of the above ingredients together. Melt 1/3 cup butter in a separate bowl with a pinch of cinnamon, then stir it into the granola mix. Once well-combined, add the mixture to a 9x13 baking dish, and bake for about 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees, until slightly golden on top. Let it cool, then stir and store in an airtight container. It doesn't need to be refrigerated.
It's super easy! And so much cheaper than buying granola! Like 1/10 the price.
I'll put up another post about how to make granola bars next time I make them. They're basically the same, except you have to add something to bind the ingredients together, like peanut butter, egg, milk, etc.
Anyway, here's the recipe:
*2 cups oats (Old-fashioned oats would be better, but we had "quick" oats on hand, and it turned out fine. Both types of oats are steamed and rolled into flakes, but quick oats are chopped up into smaller pieces, and flattened)
*1/4 cup each of whatever additions you can dream of, like shredded coconut, almonds, walnuts, raisins, craisins, sunflower seeds, flax, cheerios, etc!
*1/4 cup honey
Mix all of the above ingredients together. Melt 1/3 cup butter in a separate bowl with a pinch of cinnamon, then stir it into the granola mix. Once well-combined, add the mixture to a 9x13 baking dish, and bake for about 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees, until slightly golden on top. Let it cool, then stir and store in an airtight container. It doesn't need to be refrigerated.
It's super easy! And so much cheaper than buying granola! Like 1/10 the price.
I'll put up another post about how to make granola bars next time I make them. They're basically the same, except you have to add something to bind the ingredients together, like peanut butter, egg, milk, etc.
Dinner: White Fish on Garlic Toast with Tuber-tarot Soup
The other night, I combined a handful of recipes to make tuber-tarot soup (I made this up, haha) out of sweet potatoes, a potato, and half a tarot root (plus other ingredients listed below), steamed broccoli on the side, and then I wanted to make something with fish, but not my usual fish-dish (I sound like Dr. Seuss!) of baked-with-a-bunch-of-flavors fish on top of -insert grain here-...I wanted to have it on toast instead! Surprisingly, nobody else has posted such an idea on the internet, as far as I can tell. So I made this up too. I was quite pleased, because it was my first time feeling creative in the kitchen again for several weeks, and it came out well! With a bunch of tweaking along the way, that is. So if you make them, make sure to tweak the recipes yourself! :)
Tuber-tarot soup:
What is a tuber?
*2 sweet potatoes
*1 russet potato
*1/2 large tarot root (this was my first time cooking with tarot, so I was hesitant to put the whole thing in, but you could try it!)
*1/4 yellow, sweet, or white onion (I used 1/2, and thought it was overpowering)
*1 yellow squash (optional....I used it because it had been hiding in the fridge for too long)
*Ground pepper, basil, salt
*1 shake of cayenne (Jared added this when he got home, it was perfect!)
*4-6 cups of water or stock: Start with 4, then as you're cooking it, if it's too thick, add more. I didn't measure mine.
Bake all four potatoes and tarot in the oven until soft all the way through, about an hour at 375 degrees F. Wrap the onion in foil and set it in the oven for about half that time, so roughly 30 minutes. This brought out the sugars.
Once baked and cooled enough to touch, peel off the skin on all the potatoes and the tarot. Throw away the skins, and add the insides to a soup pot, along with the onion, water, and squash. Boil until everything starts to fall apart a little.
Let cool, and put the entire soup in a blender or food processor, and spin it until it's creamy. Add it back to the pot, add the spices to taste, and cook on medium heat (stirring!!) for about half an hour. Voila!
Fish:
*Thawed or fresh white fish fillets (I used tilapia)
* 1 1/2 tsp Mustard (grey poupon is what we have)
*2 tsp Mango Chutney (or your own creation of sweet/spicy- it could be lots of things!)
*Salt and Pepper
Coat the fillets in oil (I used olive oil) and all flavor-producing ingredients that you have chosen, and add to a pan on medium heat. Wait for them to turn white on the bottom, then flip them over and cook the other side the same way. I usually wait an extra minute longer after they look white throughout before I take them off the heat. It's a fine line, because if overcooked, fish gets tough, but I've found that the extra minute or so ensures that they're not watery/mushy. I've only had this problem with white fish, not with salmon. It might be because we buy most of our fish frozen? (Even though there's TONS of fishing in South Carolina, the grocery stores either have a very pathetic fresh fish department, or none at all...And add to that my paranoia about buying the wrong fish (unhealthy, raised in an unsustainable way, etc.), it's a pretty sad situation that leads to frozen fish. Even with frozen fish, I'm way too picky.
While I'm on the topic, here's a wonderful link to a resource put out by the Monterey Aquarium, where you can look up all kinds of fish and see what you should be looking for in the labeling when you buy them!
Seafood Watch
Garlic Bread:
This is Jared's recipe, and it's the best garlic bread you will ever eat, anywhere!
*Bread (we usually use wheat rolls, sliced into halves)
*1 stick of butter
*Many cloves of garlic, at least 4, minced
*A bit of brown sugar, about 1/2 tsp
Melt the butter, and combine it in a bowl with the garlic and sugar. Place the bowl in the fridge (or freezer if you're in a hurry) until the butter is smooth, but not firm. Spread the mixture over the bread, and toast it butter side-up (definitely not in an upright toaster...either in a toaster oven, or an oven set on broil) until...yes, until it's toasted. Easy!
Tuber-tarot soup:
What is a tuber?
*2 sweet potatoes
*1 russet potato
*1/2 large tarot root (this was my first time cooking with tarot, so I was hesitant to put the whole thing in, but you could try it!)
*1/4 yellow, sweet, or white onion (I used 1/2, and thought it was overpowering)
*1 yellow squash (optional....I used it because it had been hiding in the fridge for too long)
*Ground pepper, basil, salt
*1 shake of cayenne (Jared added this when he got home, it was perfect!)
*4-6 cups of water or stock: Start with 4, then as you're cooking it, if it's too thick, add more. I didn't measure mine.
Bake all four potatoes and tarot in the oven until soft all the way through, about an hour at 375 degrees F. Wrap the onion in foil and set it in the oven for about half that time, so roughly 30 minutes. This brought out the sugars.
Once baked and cooled enough to touch, peel off the skin on all the potatoes and the tarot. Throw away the skins, and add the insides to a soup pot, along with the onion, water, and squash. Boil until everything starts to fall apart a little.
Let cool, and put the entire soup in a blender or food processor, and spin it until it's creamy. Add it back to the pot, add the spices to taste, and cook on medium heat (stirring!!) for about half an hour. Voila!
Fish:
*Thawed or fresh white fish fillets (I used tilapia)
* 1 1/2 tsp Mustard (grey poupon is what we have)
*2 tsp Mango Chutney (or your own creation of sweet/spicy- it could be lots of things!)
*Salt and Pepper
Coat the fillets in oil (I used olive oil) and all flavor-producing ingredients that you have chosen, and add to a pan on medium heat. Wait for them to turn white on the bottom, then flip them over and cook the other side the same way. I usually wait an extra minute longer after they look white throughout before I take them off the heat. It's a fine line, because if overcooked, fish gets tough, but I've found that the extra minute or so ensures that they're not watery/mushy. I've only had this problem with white fish, not with salmon. It might be because we buy most of our fish frozen? (Even though there's TONS of fishing in South Carolina, the grocery stores either have a very pathetic fresh fish department, or none at all...And add to that my paranoia about buying the wrong fish (unhealthy, raised in an unsustainable way, etc.), it's a pretty sad situation that leads to frozen fish. Even with frozen fish, I'm way too picky.
While I'm on the topic, here's a wonderful link to a resource put out by the Monterey Aquarium, where you can look up all kinds of fish and see what you should be looking for in the labeling when you buy them!
Seafood Watch
Garlic Bread:
This is Jared's recipe, and it's the best garlic bread you will ever eat, anywhere!
*Bread (we usually use wheat rolls, sliced into halves)
*1 stick of butter
*Many cloves of garlic, at least 4, minced
*A bit of brown sugar, about 1/2 tsp
Melt the butter, and combine it in a bowl with the garlic and sugar. Place the bowl in the fridge (or freezer if you're in a hurry) until the butter is smooth, but not firm. Spread the mixture over the bread, and toast it butter side-up (definitely not in an upright toaster...either in a toaster oven, or an oven set on broil) until...yes, until it's toasted. Easy!
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Gnocchi, Stuffing Muffins, Sqaush Pasta, Pumpkin Muffins, Pop Tarts!
Okay, not much creativity today (Whaaat?? But it's only Tuesday!) so I found a whole bunch of links on Etsy for food recipes (who knew...Etsy apparently does everything). I'm going to post a whole slurry of them, just as much for me later as they are for you! Hope they're inspiring....They all have a summer theme. Here goes:
Summer Squash Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Pesto
Homemade Gnocchi (oh my god, it's so simple....I had no idea)
Stuffing Muffins
Ginger Pecan Pumpkin Muffins (I'm such a sucker for muffins...)
Strawberry Thyme Pop Tarts
So today, I'm going to make grilled cheese sandwiches, sweet potato fries, the squash pasta salad above, and the gnocchi for tomorrow, because as of right now, I have nothing to pack for lunch tomorrow and it doesn't look like they actually take much working time. Whoo, inspiration!
Summer Squash Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Pesto
Homemade Gnocchi (oh my god, it's so simple....I had no idea)
Stuffing Muffins
Ginger Pecan Pumpkin Muffins (I'm such a sucker for muffins...)
Strawberry Thyme Pop Tarts
So today, I'm going to make grilled cheese sandwiches, sweet potato fries, the squash pasta salad above, and the gnocchi for tomorrow, because as of right now, I have nothing to pack for lunch tomorrow and it doesn't look like they actually take much working time. Whoo, inspiration!
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