HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!

Dinner for 12/14

Pasta with Garlic, Oil and Cauliflower Sauce

Meal: Dinner

Who made it: Mom

Tastyness: 8/10

Healthyness: 8/10

Comments: This could have used more garlic, but it's a nice easy recipe: Boil water. Add penne and cauliflower, broken into chunks. Boil until tender. Meanwhile, saute garlic, dried parsley and hot chili flakes in EVOO. Add cauliflower, saute, and the rest is history.

Dinner for 12/13

Dinner--12/13/13 (I'm a bit behind)

Vietnamese Fisherman's Stew

Meal: Dinner

Who made it: Mom

Tastyness: 10/10

Healthyness: 9/10

Comments: YUM! This stew didn't really taste Vietnamese, more like a Thai curry, but it was still amazing. I've included the recipe. Make it ASAP and feast to your heart's content.

Vietnamese Fisherman's Stew

• 
  16

Serves 4-6

• 2tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2small onions, thinly sliced
• 5cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger (from a 2-inch knob)
• 2medium carrots, peeled and cut into thin slices on the diagonal
• 2tablespoons curry powder
• 1/2teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 2teaspoons salt
• 2/3cups mirin or white wine
• 114-ounce can coconut milk
• 1 1/2pound waxy potatoes (red or Yukon Gold), peeled and cut into 11⁄2-inch pieces
• 6bunches baby bok choy, washed and trimmed (or use 1 batch regular bok choy, cut into bite-sized pieces)
• 1 1/2pound hake, catfish, cod, or tilapia or other mild white fish, cut into 8 pieces
• 2limes: 1 juiced, 1 quartered
• 1. Heat the oil in a lidded pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger; cook until soft but not browned, 8 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for another minute.
  2. Sprinkle in the curry powder and cayenne, and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the salt and mirin, and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 3 minutes, until slightly reduced. Pour in the coconut milk and 2 cups water, and bring to a boil.
  3. Add the potatoes, return the liquid to a boil, and then turn the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, until the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. (You can make the stew ahead to this point.)
  4. Add the bok choy and toss to distribute. Then add the fish pieces and arrange them so they are fully covered by the liquid. Cover the pot and simmer for 4 minutes, until the fish is cooked through but not falling apart. Add the lime juice to the stew.
  5. Ladle the fish, vegetables, and broth into bowls, and garnish with the lime quarters

• FEAST, FRIENDS!!!!!

Dîner de ce soir ('Tonight's dinner" in French)

First I am posting the SPECTABULOUS (spectacular and fabulous) recipe for my Szechuan Peanut Noodles. Please remember that this is simply a guideline. Change the amounts to your taste, as I do. (I don't remember--I might have posted this before. If I have, I'm sorry.)

Szechuan Peanut Noodles

Ingredients:

1 package spaghetti

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2-1 cup water
5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
2 tbsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
Other veggies, if you wish (cooked snow peas, broccoli, etc.)

Directions:
Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, put peanut butter in a bowl. Slo-o-owly add the water while whisking to make sure it's fully incorporated until the sauce is at your preferred consistency. Add soy sauce, vegetable oil, sesame oil, vinegar, ginger, and pepper flakes (if using) and taste, adding more of the ingredients if necessary. Drain pasta; place in bowl and toss with sauce. Add bell pepper and other veggies, if using. ENJOY!!!!

Tonight's Dinner

Potato-Leek Soup and Crispy Baked Eggplant

Meal: Dinner

Who made it: Soup was me, eggplant was Mom

Tastyness: 11/10!!

Healthyness: 8/10

Comments: I made the most DELICIOUS potato-leek soup on the PLANET. It's creamy (although I didn't even puree ity) and rich, with just the right amount of flavoring. Oh my God--I just ate three bowls and I want some more just thinking about it. My mom's crispy eggplant is the bomb. The recipe, in short, is this: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel and slice (horizontally) two eggplants. Salt and let rest for 20 minutes. Pat dry, then dip each slice in a mixture of 2 eggs and 2 tbsp milk, and then a mixture of 3/4 cup breadcrumbs, 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, hot chili flakes, and dried basil. Place on greased baking sheets, drizzle with oil and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Eat to your heart's content.

MS. FOODIE

Last Night's and Tonight's Dinners

Last Night

Canned Lentil Soup

Meal: Dinner

Who made it: Me

Tastyness: 8/10

Healthyness: 8/10

Comments: *sigh* You know, what more can I say? Canned dinners, while possibly quite good in the way of canned soup, are just pretty sad. I will try to up my game!

Tonight

Tuscan Tomato and Bread Soup

Meal: Dinner\

Who made it: Mom (Yes! I will cook when I stop being so busy...)

Tastyness: 6.5/10

Healthyness: 8/10

Comments: I am opposed to soggy bread, sadly. If I wasn't so repulsed by its texture I might have actually enjoyed this soup, because everything else about it was quite nice. It was peppery, tomato-ey, garlicky, and oily--but oily is good when it's EVOO.

MS. FOODIE

Last Night's Dinner

Bad news, peoples. The special flash drive I have to use for transferring my photos from my phone to my laptop is GONE for the time being, so until my dad finds it there will be NO photos of my meals!! Sad, huh? But when I get the flash drive I will edit all these posts and put those pics back. Hold on!

My Mom's Szechuan Peanut Noodles

Meal: Dinner

Who made it: My mom

Tastyness: 7/10

Healthyness: 8/10, maybe?

Comments: My mom decided to try a new peanut noodle recipe, with those really thin Chinese noodles and different sauce. I like the noodles a lot, but the sauce fell short slightly; my mom added all these chili flakes and lots of hot chili oil. The sauce also needed more garlic, ginger and soy sauce. I hope she lets me make it next time!

Stay tuned for tonight's dinner...

MS. FOODIE

My Pitiful Apology

It's sad how many of these I've had to give, huh? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to cook much lately, so this next set of posts might be a bit boring. Tonight, for example. Gone are the organized shopping lists, the meal plans, the neatness. In fact, I have no idea what tonight’s dinner might be. I'm a busy girl. I guess we're all human, right? You can't expect me to be perfect? Great. I'm going to use that as my excuse the next time I forget to post for a long, long time.

Okay. Are we all good?

I guess not—I mean, I’m quite sorry I never posted on Thanksgiving (Thanksgivikkah for me, actually). But it wasn't very interesting for me anyway, since I was sick and I’m a vegetarian.

Alright. See you tonight for my (possibly quite horrible) dinner.