May 29, 2008, Sheeshka, Bob!

Saturday
Shish Kabob

• 2.5 lbs beef sirloin, cut into 1" chunks
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 large yellow onion
• 4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and cracked
• 1 lb large mushrooms
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
• SanJ Teriyaki sauce
• White rice, sushi style
• 1 pineapple

I don't know why this meal is always so fun, but it is.

I cubed up the beef and set it to marinade in the Teriyaki sauce, in a freezer bag, in the fridge, then took a nap.
One hour later,
I seeded and cubed the peppers, cubed the onion, crushed the garlic enough to get the paper off, and washed and stemmed the mushrooms.


Then I started the weber grill. My husband reminded me how great Grove Hardwood Charcoal is. Man, if it's available in your region; get it! It is real wood charcoal, not brickettes. What's the difference besides appearance? I have no idea, really. Find me some propaganda and send it to me, if it's important to you to know.


Start the rice in the rice cooker, as well.


While the fire works on its self image, skewer the veggies and meat. I like to stick a garlic clove inside some of the bigger mushrooms--that's my little surprise. Crack some fresh-ground pepper across the skewers.


If I'm grilling, which I was this weekend, I need some help. So, I got my kids to set the table and my husband to carve the pineapple. He did a great job. Many people put pineapple on their kebob skewers, which is cool, but my kids were so eager to eat that fresh pineapple, we didn't mess with it. There's always a chance that having the pineapple on the skewers could have ruined it for someone at our table, and we weren't up for that conflict.


Grill the kebobs enough that the meat is medium rare, if you can sense it. For me, that took three turns and having the lid on for about a minute each turn.
Pull them off the grill and serve on rice with tamari sauce. Don't forget the pineapple!

Recipe--Annie's Killer Cheese Sauce

Recipe--Annie's Killer Cheese Sauce

three strips of bacon, diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 t minced garlic
2-3t flour
1 c milk
1/2 c fontina, grated
1/3 c blue cheese crumbles
1/2 c mozzarella, grated
1.5 c medium cheddar, grated
1/2 c dry vermouth
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Brown bacon and onions in a large frying pan. Reduce heat and add garlic. Stir in flour and milk. Add grated cheeses a large pinch at a time, stirring continuously over low heat. Do not rush this slow, boring, process. When all cheeses are melted, add vermouth and pepper.
Serve as a cheese fondue with bread cubes, over pasta, or on potatoes as an au gratin casserole. If using as a casserole, add to potatoes, roast at 350 for an hour and top with bread crumbs and broil the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Holiday party!

Friday, Dec. 7, 2007

Yes!

Sushi boat at The Koreana.

Given the opportunity, do it!

Erin had beef bul go gi.
I had shrimp jhab chae.
The chocolate cake still rocked.
Also, the tempura appetizers were magically better than the sum of their parts.

DO it!

Also, it was swell to be with our friends,
Ryan and Cy
Zoe and Karis
Jon and Melissa
Bob
Karen and Brian
Mark and Jenna
and eHub and me.

Merry xmas from the penguins.

curry with coconut

Thursday, December 6, 2007.

Thai curry with coconut milk is just one of my favorite taste combos in the world.
Today, I wanted it for lunch, which seems wrong, but I had an open schedule, so I did what I wanted, filled the rice cooker and let it sit; figured we could have this curry leftovers for dinner, too. Wouldn't kill us.


1-2 T canola oil
2 T minced garlic
1-2 T green curry paste
1/2 can coconut milk
3/4 c. vegetable broth
leftover roast chicken about 3/4 lb to 1 lb, cut up into small pieces
broccoli florets
1 t sugar
1/2 t salt
fish sauce
sesame oil


In the wok, warm the oil. Add garlic and curry paste. Warm to sizzling to bring up the aromas, but not so far as to scorch the garlic. Add half the coconut milk and half the broth. Stir, and watch it mix. It's so beautiful. Add the chicken and toss to coat and warm. Add the rest of the coconut milk and broth, bring back to simmer. Add salt and sugar. Add broccoli. Stir and cook until broccoli is super green and begins to soften just a bit.
Serve over rice.
Season with fish sauce and sesame oil to taste.

We did have it for lunch and dinner.
For dinner, although we had some saved, I made a second batch for Drake, no meat. Added also chopped celery and chopped water chestunts. Otherwise, same recipe short chicken. He loved it.

It didn't kill us!

leftovers

Wednesday, Dec. 04

We had leftovers.
The girls had taco meat and cheese warmed and rolled in tortillas, with (gasp) Ketchup.
Drake had more leftover noodles with alfredo sauce and a banana.
I had chili with onions, peppers, cheese, and Fritos on top. I feel like I won.
Daddy had subs at work. Jimmy Johns is like hot lunch to those guys.

Almost no friction.
A good night.

Tuesday, Dec. 4

Tuesday, December 4

Chili Night.

I learned to make Chili with my dad, growing up, on cold, dark winter Saturdays. Every time it's a little different.
Today:
Ground beef (Yeah, I was being cheap at at the grocer last week), browned.
garlic, minced from little jar
1/2 small onion, minced (left over from taco night)
Canned pureed tomatoes--double-sized can.
2 cans seasoned chili beans, medium.
2 cans water.
Spike seasoning blend (Modern Products inc.)
chili powder
Si Si Cilantro spice blend (Pampered Chef)
1T sugar
some salt

This was some boring shit.
Boring, boring, boring.

So I added
Emeril's Essence
Chef Paul's BBQ seasoning
and
Jalapeno Seasoning Salt.

Then it was good.
I shouldn't have wasted time with pampered chef crap. Not that it's not possibly a good dip mix...I don't know, but it did not help here, at all.

Topp chili with:
minced fresh sweet yellow onion
minced red bell pepper
dried ground red pepper
grated cheddar cheese
a hand-ful of Fritos.

Probably topping anything with Fritos is not fair to all other foods.
Then, we had some good stuff.

Drake ate leftover wheat noodles with alfredo sauce and a side of broccoli.

Everyone was happy. Well, the girls wanted to just eat Fritos and cheese. I made them suffer a couple spoonfuls of chili.

Monday, December 3

Taco night, boys and girls!


Easy-cheesy. I bought the kit. The stand-and-stuff taco shells! (Flat squared off bottoms--yes. How did it take us that long as a culture to figure this one out?)
BUT I bought the 10-shell kit.
We are way more than a 10-shell family.

So, here's the basic-est basic spread.
Ground beef, with taco seasoning.
Refried beans, Roundy's traditional.
Grated cheddar cheese, Weyauwega--Hello, Knaus Family!
Chopped onion.
Chopped salad greens with a sprinkling of fresh cilantro.
Sliced black olives.
Taco sauce from the box, mild and mediocre.
And those stand-and-stuff taco shells. Boy, those make me happy.

But hey, I'm feeding kids. Should there be more, and better stuff on the table? Yes. But...I'm just excited they will eat any of this. "Do you want some of this ketchup on your taco?" I ask Simone, brazenly lying about the taco sauce, which is not really even as good as ketchup, but is definitely not ketchup...

Ehub had dinner at the office, so the 10-pack of taco shells was actually a bounty. Still, if he'd come home, we could have cracked out the wheat tortillas, and it would have been totally worth it to have dinner with Daddy.