Taco Bento

Did you know you can double your hamburger based meal by adding bulgar wheat?  Cook meat as usual, adding about 150% the spices you normally use.  Add 1/4 C. bulgar wheat, and 1/2 C. water or tomato product. Simmer for 20 minutes until it is absorbed or evaporates. Stir occasionally.  When it is hydrated, it will look a little like garlic.

Popcorn

Dim Sum

1 tube pork sausage (regular flavor, not breakfast or hot)
1 handful of coleslaw
3 spring onions, diced very small
1 tsp. mirin
1 Tbs. low sodium soy sauce
pepper

Combine in a bowl.  Use a #100 cookie scoop to portion out  a small amount of filling (YES, raw) onto a wonton wrapper. Moisten edges of wrapper and pinch shut around filling.  Fry or steam.

Peach Tea

Black Salt

Kala Namak is a strong smelling purplish or pinkish-gray rock salt used in Pakistan and regions of India. It is extracted from Himalayas and the salt ranges in north west of Pakistan. I got some at Whole Foods to try out. This is about $.35 worth.

Pencil Case

Italian Wedding Soup

1 lb. ground turkey	1 Tb. beef boullion
1 large onion, diced	2 C. water
1 C. carrots	3 15 oz cans kidney beans
1 C. celery	1 15 oz can diced tomato
some green beans	1 15 oz can tomato sauce
fresh pepper	garlic
macaroni noodles	Parmesan cheese

Make soup, then add noodles at end. When you serve, top with Parmesan cheese.

Strawberry Blintzes

I made blintzes for breakfast filled with yogurt and fresh strawberries, and served with 2 pieces of bacon and an egg.

Purple Carrot

Purple carrots aren't simply a novelty. Their unique color reflects their healthy phytochemical constituents. Not only do they have the vitamin A and beta-carotene of ordinary carrots—evident in its orange center—it's also rich in anthocyanins, the antioxidant compounds that give blueberries their distinctive color and superfood health benefits. Studies have found that these blue and purple pigments can improve memory, enhance vision, protect against heart attacks, act as anti-inflammatories, and even help control weight.

Tonkatsu Soup

Pork cutlet lightly dipped in seasoned flour and bread crumbs, fried in a pan (tonkatsu), sliced, and served over miso soup (soup).

For variety, I fried my cutlet with bean sprouts and a little toasted sesame sauce.  This added the appropriate amount of crunch and saltiness the soup needed to shine. Took 10 minutes to prepare.

Dumplings

Fried dumplings served with fancy miso salad dressing and soy sauce.

Kofta

1 lb. lamb ground
1 small shallott, chopped
2 tsp. garlic minced
1 pinch chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cardamon
1 tsp. ground coriander

Make like meatballs, shape into hotdogs, grill on Foreman grill. Takes 10 minutes.

Pierogies

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Mozzarella Sticks	. . . . .	Chicken Tenders
1 package string cheese		1 package boneless skinless chicken
1 egg		2 eggs
1 tsp. water		1 Tbs. water
Italian bread crumbs		plain bread crumbs
		1 package hidden valley dip mix
1/4 C. flour		1 C. flour
marinara sauce		BBQ or ranch sauce

Use 3 bowls. In bowl 1 whisk egg and water. Fill bowl 2 with bread crumbs. Bowl 3 is the flour, seasoning bowl. You might want to add garlic powdered, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chives, or something else to help with the flavor you prefer.

For Mozzarella sticks: Unwrap cheese. Cut stick in half. Dip in flour. Dip floured stick in egg wash. Roll eggy stick in bread crumbs until completely covered in crumbs. If you notice naked spots on your cheese stick, wait for crumbs to dry, then re-dip in egg wash and re-dip in bread crumbs. Use a piece of tin foil on your baking sheet to assist in non-stick technology.  Freeze mozzarella sticks for 15 minutes (the time it takes to make the chicken tenders and start to cook them).

For Chicken Tenders: Wash and cut chicken into pieces. Dip chicken into flour/ranch mixture. Dip floured chicken in egg wash. Roll eggy chicken in bread crumbs until they resemble tenders.

Bake Chicken tenders at 350* for 20 minutes. Bake Mozzarella Sticks at 350* for about 10 minutes until they look melty. Serve with dipping sauce. This meal take about 30 minutes to prepare and bake.

Minecraft Rubber Tree

I had to have spent 2 hours trying to research if my rubber trees would grow in Tekkit. I wanted to post this in case anyone else was having the same problems I am.

This is a Rubber Tree. Rubber Trees are trees which have dark logs and light leaves. They are hard to find, but are more common in Swamp biomes. These trees are easy to spot with their unique "spike" on their leaf design. Their trunks are special because they resin deposits that may be right-clicked on with a treetap to obtain Sticky Resin.

This is a Jungle Rubber Tree. The sapling will grow into a Jungle Rubber Tree found naturally only in jungle biomes. Although Jungle Rubber Trees do not produce Sticky Resin, they can be turned into Rubber by putting logs into an Extractor. Crafting the logs produces Sticks instead of planks.  To grow, the sapling must be in the center of a 3x3 dirt or grass patch and 11 block of cleared space above them. It may take over 1 hour (real time) to grow. Bone meal can not be used on this kind of sapling

Pad Thai

Stir fry with Pad Thai sauce served with rice, miso soup, and peach tea.

Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese sandwich on 10 grain bread, golden butternut squash soup, and greek salad.

Yellow Cake

1 C. SPLENDA® Sugar Blend
3 C. cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 C. butter, softened
1 1/4 C. buttermilk, divided
4 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350* F. Lightly grease and flour 2 eight-inch cake pans. Set aside. Place SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking, flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Stir until well blended.   Cut butter into chunks. Add to flour mixture. Mix at medium speed until mixture is crumbly in appearance (about one minute).   Pour 1/4 cup buttermilk into the flour mixture. Mix at low speed until blended.  Blend remaining buttermilk, egg yolks, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Add 1/2 of the mixture to the flour mixture. Mix at medium high speed until well blended (about 30-45 seconds). Scrape sides of bowl. Add remaining milk mixture. Mix until well blended. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again if necessary, to remove any lumps.  Spoon batter into prepared pans.   Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Because this uses half the sugar of a regular cake, it is better for diabetics.

Leftover Lamb

Cut lamb into bite size chunks, grill under broiler.  Serve on top of rice pilaf with a side of hummus, and a few pita pockets with oil and za'atar.

Bread with Egg

1 1/4 C. warm milk (microwave 1 minute)
1/4 C. vegetable oil
1 Tb. active dry yeast (1 packet)
1 Tb. honey
1 tsp. salt (do not omit)
1 egg
4-5 cups flour

In stand mixer  combine first 6 ingredients together over medium speed.  Add the flour 1/2 C. at a time, making sure each is combined before you add the next.  Dough is ready when it pulls into a ball around the hook and makes a slapping noise against side of bowl.  Turn out dough by hand, being sure there are no sticky spots.  Wash mixing bowl.  Add extra oil to the bowl, add dough, give it a few turns to be sure it got a coating. Cover with CLEAN kitchen towel, and let rest until doubled in size. (about 1 hour) Punch dough down into a shape, place on/in pan, cover with towel, and let rise again for 30 minutes. This is a good time to preheat the oven to 325*.  Brush loaf with egg white and water, cut small slash on top of bread with very sharp non-serrated knife for steam to escape, or your bread may split along the side (when not using a bread pan).  Bake bread. Different sizes require different times. Bread is done with it is golden in color, and when you tap it, it sounds a little hollow.

Leg of Lamb

I got a whole leg of lamb for the holidays, but it was too much for just two people.  My stroke of inspiration was rewarded with three dinner ideas!  I split the leg of lamb diagonally to debone it.  I then cut it in half and tied each up like a little roast.  The bone was then cracked to expose the marrow and boiled down into stock.  The roast was studded with garlic cloves, then seasoned with black pepper, real rosemary, and kosher salt.  Bake at 400* until meat thermometer reads 135*, remove from oven and let rest while you bake the bread.  Meat will come up to 150* which is about perfect.