Something To Chew On

Groceries for Jan 10, 2010

2010-01-11T03:59:38+00:00

So, it's grocery day at our house. In an effort to encourage myself to post more here, I'm going to post what we got and what we're planning to use it for.

The recipes we've planned:

This should actually be enough that we won't do another large grocery trip this month. We've also already done most of our "specialty" grocery shopping for the month too. The total was $102 and breaks down roughly to $25 for produce, $2.50 for bread, $16 for meat, $12 dairy and the remainder for canned goods, seasonings, sauces and the like. I'll try do do at least one new step-by-step preparation. Let me know if there's any information you'd like to see.

In order to get a jump on the prep for the week, we pre-cooked and froze 2lbs ground beef with onion, 1 lb of chicken (shredded), 1lb of ground beef made into meatballs, and 2 cups of mashed potatoes. We'll see how much this helps.

Say What?

2010-01-08T22:32:46+00:00

Frozen dumplings are one of my favorite snacks. We get most of ours at H-Mart, where not knowing how to read Korean is a significant disadvantage. Sometimes we find some amusement from the deal though. For example:

Cooking Direction

Roasted Dumpling

When the cooking oil it puts in the fried food pot and becomes 170 moral temperature and the dumpling put in and 2 minutes do with a rustle and after cooking.

Steamed Dumpling

When the vapor rises, place the dumpling into a steamer, and steam for 3~5 minutes. Serve with soy sauce and vinegar mix.

Dumpling Soup

Boil your choice of beef or chicken soup stock and add the frozen dumplings. Continue to boil for 2~3 minutes or until it softens.

Microwave

Heat for 2 minutes in microwave oven and serve.

Attention Fact

Change in quality may occur if product's been thawed and refrozen

After cooking to, the cooking tool and the food take care are hot.

When after this pan cooking or the fried food cooking, the possibility the oil bouncing it is take care.

Spinach and Orzo Salad

2009-07-16T17:41:20+00:00

Now that the hot days of summer are upon us, it's time for salads. You don't have to heat up the oven, and you can make a lot, so you can be lazy for a day or two. This recipe comes from All Recipes. We've made this one before, and other than some chopping, it's quick and easy.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Cook 1lb of orzo pasta until it is al dente. Drain and rinse under cool water.

Start with about 10oz of baby spinach leaves, rinsed well.

Chop the spinach finely.

Put the chopped spinach in a large bowl.

Get 1/2 lb of feta cheese.

Crumble the cheese.

Add the cheese to the spinach.

Get a red onion.

You'll only need 1/2 of the onion.

Finely chop the onion.

Add the onion to the spinach and cheese.

Add 3/4 C pine nuts

Add 1/2 tsp dried basil

Add 1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 C each Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Add the orzo, and mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour and serve.

Cabbage

2009-02-28T17:14:22+00:00

From the cheap and easy department, we went to visit my dad last weekend, and he had some extra cabbage and onions that they gave us. I decided to make some soup with it. It came out pretty good for an easy soup. (Thanks are due to miklb for some advice on this one.)

Start with a medium head of cabbage.

Halve the cabbage. (we'll only use one half.)

Core the cabbage.

Roughly chop the cabbage.

3 medium yellow onions.

Cut and clean the onions.

Roughly chop the onions.

Use 1lb. of Polish Kielbasa.

Cut the sausage into small chunks.

Cook the sausage in a pan with a small amount of oil.

Brown the sausage.

Set the sausage aside and add the onions to the pain with the oil from the sausage.

Cook the onion until it just starts to brown.

Set the onion aside and add the cabbage to the pan.

About 1 Tbsp. whole caraway seeds.

Add the caraway to the cabbage.

Cook the cabbage and caraway for about 5 minutes.

Bring 12 Cups of beef broth to a boil.

Add the cabbage, onions and sausage to the broth and simmer for about 1 hour. About 10 minutes before serving, add 1 Cup of barley.

Serve with bread. Yum!

Tortellini with Sundried Tomatoes and Garlic

2009-02-06T16:53:37+00:00

Here is the first of some step-by-step prep photo posts. Let me know what you think.

This meal was prepared from pantry supplies and so the measurements are eyeballed, and timings are based on guessing and tasting.

Peel 4 cloves of Garlic

Roughly chop the garlic.

Drain a jar of sun-dried tomatoes. (Save the oil.)

Roughly chop the tomatoes.

Heat the oil from the tomatoes in a skillet.

Saute the garlic.

Add the tomatoes to the skillet.

Add about 1 Tbsp of dried basil, stir and cook for about 3 minutes.

Add a "single-serving" bottle of white wine and simmer.

Prepare 1 lb. of tortellini according to package directions.

Continue to cook sauce until liquid is reduced about 50%.

Drain the pasta.

Add the sauce.

Toss and serve.