Smoked Turkey French Onion Soup
I don’t know about you, but I am somewhat happy that Thanksgiving is done with. Not that I did not mind a couple of days off of work, but I think my wife and I both said that we were kind of tired of eating.…
Month: November 2016
Mexican Tlayuda
I know what you may be thinking right off the start. T-what? Tlayuda. It’s essentially Mexican street food, in particular of the pizza descent. Think of great Mexican ingredients loaded onto a cooked, large flour tortilla. This is typically street food, and good Lord is…
Mixed Bowl Ramen
I’ll admit it. I love ramen. The cheap bag of ramen that is pretty much in most everyone’s cupboard, office desk, or for me right now, on my desk. That great bag of Maruchan ramen, the one that costs less than fifty cents is good in itself and is a quick fix to feed the belly, but when you jazz it up a bit, well that ramen just gets so much better. So on a recent work from home day, I decided that I would make a bowl of ramen for brunch. The weird thing about working from home is that my routine gets jacked up. I start working much earlier, forget to eat breakfast, or lunch for that matter, and work much later. So this ramen did the trick during my ten o’clock lunch break.
This jazzed up ramen is so good and so easy to make that it will having you rethink that standard bag of ramen. A total upgrade in my opinion.
Ingredients:
- 1 package of Maruchan ramen (I used beef)
- 1/2 package of ramen flavoring packet
- 1 slice of American cheese
- 1/2 jalapeno, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tbsp Furikake seasoning
- 1/2 tbsp Frank’s RedHot sauce
- 1 egg, 6 minute cook
- water
Start by cooking your egg. Bring a small pot of water on medium-high heat. Add the egg, bring to a boil, then remove from the heat. Keep the egg in the pot for 6 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of cold water.
Next, follow the instructions on your ramen package, and bring the noodles to a bowl. Add in half of the package of seasoning, and cook until the noodles are al dente. During this time, assemble your ramen bowl.
To the bottom of your bowl, add in the slice of American cheese, the furikake seasoning, and the RedHot. Pour in the noodles, and seasoned water, add the sliced jalapenos, and after peeling your egg, slice it in half and add to the top of the ramen.
Give the bottom a gentle mix and stir, and get your slurp on. The end result is this creamy, spicy, and punch of that awesome Japanese furikake seasoning, and that egg is just perfect on the cook time. Talk about an awesome brunch, that made my day just a little better. If you are looking to jazz up a standard bowl of ramen, give this one a shot, it’s well worth it. Hope you enjoy!
Squash Lasagna
At the season’s end of our last farmer’s market, I decided to load up on a variety of squash. I’ll admit that I am not too big of a squash lover, but I did it for my wife, as she is the one that likes…
Peanut M&M Bars
We recently joined Costco, and to say the least we love it. I priced things out all of the time as I do the grocery shopping, so you have to watch what you are buying. It’s easy to load things up in their massive carts,…
Vietnamese Green Nuoc Cham
I have bee tinkering with Vietnamese nuoc cham for some time now, tinkering with both a red version and a green version. The subtle difference between the two is the red uses sambal (which I totally love), and the green one does not. Both versions can be used in many different ways, but my preference for either one is to be used as a dressing, or dipping sauce for grilled meats, or spring rolls. There is something so addicting in both that when no one is looking, I will simply eat it by the spoonful.
Packed full of tart, sweet, and spicy ingredients, this sauce is one of my favorites. Hands down.
As with any nuoc cham, it uses fish sauce, so if you have never tried either, this is a great chance to stock up on some good fish sauce, a super ingredient for umami goodness.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of quality fish sauce (I like 3 crabs brand or Red Boat)
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3 green Thai chili peppers, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp lemongrass, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tbsp shallot, minced
Mix all of these ingredients in a bowl, and mix until you get that sugar dissolved. Give a taste. See? Flavor bomb!
You can keep this out at room temperature until you are ready to serve. This was used in fresh lettuce wraps, along with vermicelli noodles, and egg rolls, all wrapped in lettuce and drizzled with that sauce. My boys, and wife do not care for the sauce as it is a bit too spicy for them, but my daughter and I simply love it. This can be stored in the refrigerator, cover, for a few weeks, but my guess is that if you fall in love with this sauce, that it will not last that long. Hope you enjoy!