Under the Weather

You know I find writing mildly cathartic, some days it’s a good way to pour out the frustrations of life, other days its a way to share the joys, and still on others it allows one to give voice to emotion. It’s a path that doesn’t always go in any specific direction, but is always fun to travel. Today I think it is a bit of everything.

Frustration in that I am a weight loss yo-yo. I am going mildly nuts trying to get over the 50lb mark. I need only 1 lb loss to get there and it just doesn’t want to move. That’s not exactly true...it moves, just all over my body. I now fit in a size 16 pants (down from a 26 when i first started) but my rotten bra is to small. Just what I need....bigger boobs. So that one lb just moved locations and didn’t vacate...i am sure being sick and spending 2 weeks on the couch didn’t help this but it is what it is.

Its finally a joyful day because its the first day in 2 weeks where I actually feel good. Mild sniffles and cough left from being ill but that’s about all. Love that. Now here is hoping I stay germ free. I work in a germ warfare factory (elementary school) so you never know what will come about.  Since I have been feeling under the weather lately, this is a normal occurrence since I work in a school. Small children in confined spaces = germs...lots of them. The sicker I am, the more I want soup and crackers. So far this week i have made kimchi Soup, Potato Soup and had canned noodle soup. Now i am taking my first trip into the world of congee/jook or rice porridge. Its the Asian version of the dish everyone's mom makes the best but is a bit different from household to household.  The base of the jook is very simple, rice, water, ginger, broth....what changes are the proteins. Some recipes call for it cooked with a slice of pook belly for flavor, others use diced chicken or shrimp or turkey. The toppings vary by personal taste. Fish sauce, sesame oil, scallions or a bit of oyster sauce. One even uses plums. I took a bit of everything I liked and put in into this recipe.  Its not traditional this way but its damn good and simple to make. Not to mention you get the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with a nice hot bowl of comfort food.

On that note, being sick and not being able to swallow anything but soup lent itself to a few rather wonderful discoveries. New recipes. I am addicted to sites like www.foodgawker.com or www.pinterest.com. I love to try new things and I love to cook. And one can only do so much chicken noodle soup in a month before it gets old. So being the "google" diva that I am I looked into other cultures versions of the proverbial chicken noodle soup. I found two recipes that have made a permanent home in my kitchen. Jook/Congee which is the Asian version of chicken noodle soup and also the world’s simplest thing to make, and Kimchi Soup.

I love Asian food, mostly because its flavorful, I love to cook things I can't get in a restaurant around here (this is most things unfortunately...its hell living in a back woods version of a heehaw rerun) and i like the challenge of taking things that would normally be off limits because of point quantity and making them just as good but healthy. Juk/Congee is simple. 8 cups of vegetable broth, 1.5 cups of short grain rice, 1tbs ginger, 2tbs garlic, 4 oz diced chicken,4. oz diced raw shrimp. Throw it all in a crock pot for 4 hours and serve with some green onion, Shoyu and sriracha. Add a bit more water if its to thick. Its essentially a rice porridge that makes 8 cups at 1 cup per serving. At 5 points per serving, its warm, filling and one of those foods that makes you feel like the worlds going to be ok.

The other was more a desperate attempt on my part to clear my sinuses and revive my taste buds. Its also has a bunch of harder to find ingredients such as Han-dashi, Kombu and Kimchi. If you like spicy, flavor explosions, this soup will do it. What’s nice is I was able to add or subtract what I wanted in it depending on my mood. The broth is basic. Han-dashi, ginger, garlic, Kombu and a cup of diced kimchi with juices in water or vegetable broth. Simple. Then you can add ramen noodles, or hardboiled egg, steak, fresh thin sliced vegetables or pretty much whatever you think would be good in it, or if you had limited ability to swallow as I did, just some crackers and the broth is fine. The points vary depending on the condiments you add. But the broth itself is essentially free.

Unfortunately soups were not all I ate and we wont discuss some of the bad dietary choices that occurred, I blame it on the fever. However, discoveries are a good thing.

 

JOOK

1.5 cups rice
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
4 oz diced chicken
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs minced ginger
6-8 whole unpeeled shrimp
 1/2 cup scallions
1  1/4 " slice pork belly

Optional:
Fish sauce
Sesame oil
oyster sauce
sriracha
fresh cilantro or parsley.

In a crock pot add the rinsed  rice, all of the liquid garlic, ginger and chicken. Add pork belly. Peel the and take the head off of the shrimp and set aside.  De-vein the shrimp and chop into small pieces.  Add the shrimp meat to the broth. put the shrimp shells/heads in cheese cloth and make a pouch. Add pouch to broth. Cook for 2 hours then remove the cheese cloth pouch and pork belly.  Cook for another two hours. Add more water if the jook becomes to thick. It should be thick but you dont want it so thick your spoon stands in it.  Top with scallion and serve.  Or add a touch of the optional seasonings . I personally enjoy a touch of oyster sauce.

I have been rather lapse in my posts. This one should bring me up to date with anything interesting. I have moved on to a lettuce wrap kick. If it can go on lettuce I have been wrapping it in it. Lettuce wrap taco's, sriracha beef wraps...you name it. This was tonight's dinner. it definitely goes on the "will make again list" It was originally a pork recipe but I decided to use shaved chicken instead, just to cut out a few calories and fat. It was tasty. Made a great wrap with a little bit of kimchi, rice and a tomato or two thrown in for texture.

Korean Spicy Chicken Bulgogi

Ingredients

	2 Tbsp soy sauce
	3 Tbsp minced garlic
	1 Tbsp sake
	1 Tbsp honey
	1 Tbsp sesame seeds
	1 cup(s) (chopped) uncooked onion(s)
	1/2 cup(s) uncooked scallion(s)
	1/4 cup(s) Thai Kitchen Roasted red chili paste
	1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
	1 1/2 Tbsp ginger root
	3/4 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
	1 pound(s) uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s)   (I got the chipped kind they use for chicken cheese steaks at my local butcher shop)

Instructions

• In a large bowl, mix together gochujang, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sugar, sake, sesame oil, honey and sesame seeds. Add thinly sliced chicken and using your hands, make sure each piece is evenly coated. Add onions and scallions and mix well. Allow to marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Heat a heavy fry pan over medium high heat.Cook the meat mixture and serve with Romain lettuce, kimchi, rice, tomato and a bit of soy.

 

Tofu and Chicken Patties

So I mentioned my addiction to pinterest.com, an addiction i fully blame on my future sister in law.  I was digging through the site when i cam upon a very similar recipe. The how to is the same, just the ingredients changed a bit because of what i had available. But with skepticism in my heart and an empty stomach I made these. They seemed a lot more labor intensive than they were. I served them with spicy Korean Bulgolgi sauce to dip them in.  I also managed to make a double batch because i figured once they were steamed I could toss the extra rolls in the freezer and just pull out and pan fry for a later meal when I didn't feel like cooking. After eating these my skepticism took flight, they were so go i had one thought pop into my mind....."i could get my dad to eat these"....my father abhors all things tofu and regards it as a non food item, kind of like spam or lettuce. This theory has yet to be proven but the next time something in my house breaks and I have to call in the Daddy repair service I am sneaking these on the menu!

Tofu and Chicken Patties

Ingredients

	3/4 pound(s) uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s)
	8 oz firm tofu
	2 Tbsp uncooked scallion(s)
	2 tsp minced garlic
	1 Tbsp soy sauce
	20 spray(s) I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Butter spray
	1/4 cup(s) white rice flour
	1 small jalapeño pepper(s)
	1 cup(s) fresh spinach
	1 fl oz mirin
	1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
	1 Tbsp garlic chili paste
	1 tsp hoisin sauce
	2 Tbsp minced garlic
	1/4 cup(s) uncooked scallion(s)
	1 medium green pepper(s), diced
	1 item(s) egg white(s)

Instructions

• Chop chicken breast finely with knife. put in a mixing bowl. Smash tofu with side of your knife. Place in a cotton cloth and squeeze out as much water as possible, and add to the bowl with chicken. Add the the rest of mixing ingredients in the bowl and mix them very well with hand. Spray 2 pieces of foil with butter spray. Place half of chicken mixture on each foil making log shape, about 2" in diameter. Tightly cover the mixture with foil and pinch each ends to secure. Place the logs on the steamer in a shallow pan. Pour a little water and cover with a lid. Steam the logs over medium heat for about 10 minutes. (I used my rice cooker to steam them) Take the foil off and cut each log into 1/2" thick slices. It will yield about 13-16 slices on each log. Coat each slices with flour and then egg. Fry them in a little butter spray on nonstick pan on medium heat until golden brown. Yields 30 mini patties with 1 1/2" diameter makes 5 servings of 6 each. or you can bake them on a cookie sheet at 410 for 15 minutes. Both methods work but the dry fry method gets them crispy on the outside. 

I served these with a side of rice, Chayote Squash tossed with sesame oil and rice wine vinegar with sesame seeds.  Quick blanched asparagus tossed with Spicy Korean BBQ sauce and some kimchi.

Yakiniku Lamb

Yakiniku Lamb

Every once in a while tofu just doesn't cut it. I managed to get my hands on some lam chops at an extremely reasonable price (otherwise my cheap self would have never bought them), then came the question of what to do with them. I dont cook lamb often enough to have a go-to recipe for it. Matter of fact, I have probably only ever cooked it 3 or 4 times in my life. It wasn't a family favorite as far as meats growing up.  So i did what any good cook would do...i googled recipes, and found nothing I liked. But thanks to my recent addiction to pinterest.com I did find a recipe for Yakiniku Beef. It looked good and I figured what the hell it cant be bad on lamb. Boy was I right. This melted in your mouth and it was very, very hard to not over eat.

Ingredients

	1/2 pound(s) cooked lamb chop(s)
	1 tsp dark sesame oil   1/2 tbs sesame seeds.
	1 tsp ginger root
	1 tsp minced garlic
	1/2 cup(s) sake
	4 fl oz mirin
	1/2 cup(s) soy sauce
	1 tsp unpacked brown sugar
	1 tsp honey
	1 tsp chili sauce
	1 serving(s) Hon Dashi, 1/2 tsp
	2 serving(s) squash and baby carrots

Instructions

•  first fry the ginger and garlic in 1 tsp sesame oil for 1 minute. Add the Sake and Mirin and cook for another 1 minute (high heat) Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for a further 2-4 minutes until the sauce is of a thick consistency. Check the flavor and add any more sugar/honey/salt as needed. Season your lamb with salt and pepper and fry on a skillet. Once the lamb is done remove from the heat and allow to sit for 2 minutes.  Add the lamb then pour over the yakiniku sauce and allow to cook and reduce for a further 2 minutes with the vegetables. If you are not using a sizzling platter then simple cook the vegetables in a wok or frying pan and add the beef to that. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, serve and enjoy. 

I served this with purple rice, scallion and pork dumplings and a side of my homemade kimchi. Yum. and i am not exaggerating on the yum. Also you would think it was a high point weight watchers meal but not really. The lamb itself was only 7 points for 2 chops. Not bad. If this is dieting then I can spend my life eating this way.

Tofu Taco's

In my quest to loose weight ( 45lbs lost to date). I have taken up Tofu. I used to think tofu was the nasty stuff that vegetarians ate because they couldn't have the good stuff like bacon. But it turns out Tofu is a great thing. Lots of different ways to prepare it. It can be crispy or soft, fried, baked or used in a soup. I made salad dressing, pudding and meatloaf. All of it good!...ok there was that ONE recipe that was only so/so.  I made it with all the Asian flare and flavors i could find. Then i decided...tacos. Turns out its the perfect pairing. Crispy cooked tofu, marinated in taco seasoning (i cheat and use the Ortega brand taco seasoning)

TOFU TACO'S

Ingredients

	3 Tbsp Ortega Taco seasoning
	1/2 cup(s) fat free salsa
	1 cup(s) fresh tomato(es)
	1 cup(s) lettuce
	1 small uncooked onion(s)
	1/2 cup(s) plain fat-free yogurt
	10 oz extra firm tofu 10 medium Tortilla Wraps cut in half.

Instructions

• Spray a cookie sheet with non stick cooking spray. cut tofu into small cubes.  Mix 1/4 cup water with taco seasoning and marinade the tofu in a ziploc bag for 20 minutes or longer. Place on a cookie sheet in a single layer and bake for 20 minutes at 410, turn over the tofu and cook for another 10 minutes. 
• Chop all of the vegetables.  Serve with  plain fat free yogurt (instead of sour cream)