Category: Chicken - feeding my ohana

What's Cooking This Week--Dinner by Bookmobile

11/15/2015

Simple is sometimes best.

Every two weeks, the bookmobile comes to my workplace. This means new cookbooks and the occasional brain candy. This week, the ohana is guinea pig for a crock pot book of soups and an apple/pear cookbook. Perfect for the early nights and cooler weather.

Sunday
Pork Loin from Scratch, Bri's Butternut Squash with a sprinkling of Za'atar. A bonus of Apple/Parsnip/Onion Soup as a side soup, and Pear/Almond Clafoutis for dessert, both as experiments.

Monday is #MeatlessOneDay
French Onion Soup, crock pot version. It started on Sunday afternoon, and can be re-heated quickly after yoga class in evening. Experiment #2 is an Apple/Beet/Watercress Salad and some bread.

Tuesday
Salmon in a Bag. It's like a school lunch bag, only for dinner.

Wednesday is #DinnerByFreezer
A few of the Chicken Gyoza I made awhile ago. If it's cold they will be wonton soup. Otherwise, it will be crunchy gyoza and ponzu sauce with the fancy yuzu a friend got me from Japan.

Thursday
General Tso's Chicken and rice. A quick stir-fry for volleyball night.

Friday
Bacon Sweet Potato Galettes, another experiment. If it works out, it could be a Thanksgiving side.

Starting to think of old favorites and new ideas for Thanksgiving. Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week--Hello Oven

10/20/2014

It FINALLY rained! OK, so it wasn't the downpour, but in a drought, we'll take anything we can get. Instead of singin' in the rain, I went jogging in the drizzle.

The ever-so-slight return of rain and of cooler weather means that I can use the oven for dinners at long last and transition to 'cold' fall/winter cooking. (New England ohana--do not mock me!)

Here's what's cooking this week. And let's keep doing our rain jog/dance. We need even more!

Meatless, Oven-using Monday
Kale Chips and Quiche. First kale chips, then quiche. Optimizing the oven and using surplus eggs. Two dozen eggs expiring at about the same time is what happens when husband and wife go grocery shopping separately, and realize that the household needs eggs. Next time fewer eggs, more texting.

Leftovers Tuesday
My Daddy's Killer Fried Rice and leftover chili, loco moco style, topped with a happy sunnyside-up egg (because we still have eggs!). We had way more chili and rice than people over this weekend.

Furikake salmon and tea rice. Happy Friday!

Oven Wednesday
Huli Huli Chicken (in the oven). This needs to get back into circulation. A double batch of drumsticks for grab-n-go lunches too.

Meatless Thursday
From-scratch Falafel, but I will buy hummus and fresh pita from the Falafel Stop. Their fresh, warm, fluffy pitas are well worth the trip, but make sure you eat them on the same day. No preservatives.

Fast Fish on Friday
Furikake salmon with chazuke, kim chee. Perhaps I will toss together a spinach and pear salad too.

Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week--Jerusalem and Honolulu

10/6/2014

I have been studying my newes cookbook, Jerusalem, all weekend. Beautiful pictures and thoughtful writing on the complexities of Jerusalem--religious, cultural and gastronomic. I'm excited to try some new recipes with the new spice vocabulary--sumac, zhoug, za'atar and labneh. Maybe some of these are close to furikake and sesame!

The spiritual center of pretty much Western Civilization.

Can't wait to see how the week goes, with a few favorites tossed in.

Chop, chop, chop. Love my sharp knives!

Proper Sunday Dinner
Okonomiyaki, with cabbage slaw (so we don't waste the extra cabbage) and shoyu-buttered enoki mushrooms. I made the mushrooms with butter and cooked them til they had almost the texture of pan-fried noodles. Definitely doing that again.

Not-Very-Meatless Monday
Chinese Chicken Salad. It is more important that leftover chicken not go to waste than to be hard and fast on Monday being meatless.

Meatless Tuesday from Jerusalem
Chard with pine nuts and tahini sauce and latkes (potato pancakes). Recipe #1 using sumac, which looks and sounds a lot like shiso. I also bought parsnips for the first time. The nice Safeway man called them "albino carrots." That's pretty accurate.

Leftovers Wednesday
Pillsbury Manapua, using the leftover char siu and green onions from the okonomiyaki. And we'll polish off the rest of the Chinese Chicken Salad too.

Thursday from Jerusalem
Turkey/zucchini burgers/meatballs with sour cream/sumac sauce. Recipe #2 using sumac.

Fish on Friday
Omi's Shoyu Fish and leftover latkes. Thinking that this will be a jumbled plate lunch. The sauce of the shoyu fish mixing with the sour cream/sweet of the latkes reminds me of when teriyaki sauce leaks into the mac salad on a plate lunch. That's my theory with this combo.

Halfway around the world. 13 hours time difference. Full of sometimes uneasy melded culture. Aloha Israel.

Ko'Olina #2--my de-tox. Looks a lot like Tel Aviv.

What's Cooking This Week--Fast and Faster

9/21/2014

When you are fortunate enough to spend some time in beautiful San Francisco (see below) instead of the grocery store, you do it. Even with a few post-golf, post-Dragonboat racing, post-errand running dinner guests this weekend, we are starting with a bit of leftovers. Quick, weekday meals are on the docket.

Save me San Francisco.

Meatless Monday
Simple Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce. Had a weekend project and made homemade tomato sauce. A mother son weekend project that worked out well on all fronts. Posting the recipe later this week.

Leftovers Tuesday
Kalua pig and cabbage. It's not always pretty, but it's great home-cooking.

Revival Wednesday
Linguine and Clam Sauce. We've missed you, welcome back to the weekly menu. We shall eat this and think of our Birdie and New England ohana.

Thursday
Kara-age Chicken, rice and Namasu. Easy to do on a weekday.

Panini for Hockey Opening Season Friday!
It's the first home game, albeit pre-season. Hope springs eternal. Roasting what may be the last of the home-grown tomatoes for caprese panini. Tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on a good crusty Italian bread. Perfect.

After School Extras for the Hungry Birdie
Single Scott's Chocolate Pie. I dropped the pre-made pie crust, so I smashed up the rest of the Oreos, pressed it into the handy-dandy springform pan. Voila chocolate tart-ish.

Li-hing Pineapples for afternoon snacks.

Grandma Nancy's Ranch Dip and bags of carrots and snap peas.

All manner of hard and soft cheese and homemade pita chips.

Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week--Birdie Favorites

6/3/2014

Kale for Birdies

This week is dedicated to birdie favorites, who are all back in the nest. Mama birdie is mighty pleased.

Meatless Monday
Co-worker Kale Salad. Birdie back from college likes this simple summer salad. No cooking whatsoever. And the best part, Birdies can drive and make this themselves!

Scalloped Tuesday
Scallops with butter, garlic and crushed Ritz crackers (Mahalo New England Ohana!) and roasted green beans.

Who doesn't love Spam Musubi?!

Wednesday
Spam Musubi. Birdie LOVES Spam musubi and it's not even a special occasion.

Thursday
My Mom's Chicken Katsu. Grandma made this especially for non-cow-eating birdie when said birdie was very young. It has been a well-loved favorite ever since.

Friday
Bacon Cauliflower Mac and Cheese. Happy comfort food.

Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week--May Day

4/27/2014

This was a good weekend as long as we do not speak of hockey. Instead, I highlight

Well-organized Sunday
Tomato and melons planted. Broad swaths of front yard weeds pulled. Stove and counters cleaned from the weekend sticky-sugary chemistry experiment. 4 boys making rock candy. Need I say more?!

Another batch of homemade Granola Mola. We have relied on store-bought granola only once in the past two months (purchased by the husband in a moment of weakness). And here's what's cooking this week.

The first outside dinner of the season

Meatless Monday
Summer Soba Salad. How I've missed this. We could have eaten this during the extremely mild winter, but it just didn't seem right.

Crock Pot Tuesday
Crock Pot BBQ Port Sliders with sweet bread rolls and salad. We will use the extra for leftovers roulette.

Fish on Wednesday
Omi's Shoyu Fish, rice and some kind of TBD green vegetable, probably broccoli. Another dinner I've been missing.

Thursday
Mango Chicken. Again, because it's been too long and this recipe needs a photo.

Leftovers Roulette Friday
A variation on BBQ Chicken Pizza. Using a flatbread, pulled pork, tomatoes, red onions and mozzarella cheese (instead of the usual Gouda). Definitely has potential.

Happy May Day to all this week!

What's Cooking This Week--Home food

4/21/2014

Hello Spring!

Taxes paid and Easter/Passover celebrated all in the same week. And based on a completely unscientific Facebook sampling, a lot of people are enjoying Maui, Grand and Bryce Canyons, and figuring out what kind of Beatle, dog, color or Disney Princess they are. People, we have to eat!

Meatless Monday
4 Teenage Boys, 2 pounds of pasta, 2 loaves of garlic bread, a big box of salad greens, a pint of tomatoes, and one gigantic batch of Simple Tomato Spaghetti Sauce. They eat. A Lot. But we're always happy to have the boys over.

Nearly Meatless Tuesday
Kim Chee Pork. Because thin sliced kurobuta was on sale at Marukai. And because the pork is so rich, we don't need to use that much. Very manageable on a weekday.

Shabu Shabu--comfort food that's not heavy

Meatless Wednesday
Shabu shabu. We haven't had this in awhile and I've missed it.

Thursday
Mauna Lani Leftover Chicken Pasta Salad. My friend C threw this together from a bunch of leftovers we had when we vacationed in Kona. Making this always reminds me of that lovely time on the Big Island. It won't technically be leftover chicken as I'll probably buy a Costco chicken for it.

Aloha Friday
Portuguese sausage, eggs and rice. With the yolk of a sunny-side up egg mixed with a dash of shoyu in the rice. This is one of the very simple things I love best.

What's Cooking This Week--Finding My Inner Ohm

4/8/2014

From the terra cotta army

Yes, I'm working for a technology company, but my inner Ohm has nothing to do with v = i*r (voltage = current * resistance). It has do to with trying to be purposeful in a chaotic, everything-is-important-and-urgent-and-business-critical. This 2,000+ year old set of mindful hands reminds me to pause and Ohm.

Meatless Monday
Business lunch leftovers from Dish Dash, specifically the Sambusak Vegetarian, which is a mix of spinach, mushrooms, almonds and feta baked into filo dough with a spicy tahini sauce.

A good value at $11.95 for 3 big tart-like things. Hummus and babghanouge (their spelling) are also quite good.

Hot Tuesday
Even though it is supposed to be 90 degrees out, My Own Chili will be nice to come home to. We've had vegetarian and faux-Zippy's for the past few times, but I'm in the mood for this one.

Wednesday
Chicken Salad Sandwiches using Costco Chicken. Because there are days when you have six meetings in one day. Ohm boy.

Thursday
Chicken Divan, with the leftover chicken from the day before.

Fish on Aloha Friday
Ex-pat ahi poke. A few of my friends are vacationing in Maui this week. This is as close as we can get for now.

Have a good week all. We'll see how far my inner Ohm can go.

What's Cooking This Week--Late-season "Cold" Weather

3/31/2014

Cherry blossoms in the rain

When "occasional" showers are in the forecast, it never fails that "occasional" will happen during kid pick-up at school and during work commute. So while Monday's dinner was made at home, it was by no means 'homemade.' But it was meatless and we did eat together, which is what we aim for.

Pre-packaged Meatless Monday
Cheese ravioli with pesto sauce, salad. Thank goodness for the refrigerated food aisle at Safeway.

Soup and Salad Tuesday
Clam and cannellini bean soup, toasted bread and salad. We will use cans of clams and beans, this is is still definitely more homemade than dinner by Safeway. A good soup for the 'cold' California weather. I can hear already hear certain New England Birdies snickering. Loudly.

Wednesday
Myles' Last Resort Meatloaf (with ground turkey). Husband will eat it with rice, and I'll eat as an open-faced sandwich with lettuce, sliced tomatoes and mustard on toast. Teenage boy will eat probably eat both versions. In one sitting.

Experimental Thursday
Kung Pao Chicken Tacos. I tore the recipe out of a Cooking Light because I liked the idea of Chinese food tacos. However, it will definitely require re-tooling as the only seasoning in the marinade is shoyu(!). Time to ask my Mom, my sister, the Food Network and Aunty Google.

Meatless Friday
Rat-pa-tooty, aka Ratatouille. It's been much too long since we've had this. And I'll make some extra so we can have it for snacks over the weekend. Cold rat-pa-tooty works really well as a cracker spread.

Have a good week all!

What's Cooking This Week--Fickle March

3/24/2014

Hello Spring. Photo by Birdie #2.

It is 26 degrees in Calgary, where the Sharks are playing today. It is 28 degrees in Boston. It is 62 degrees here. March comes in like a lion...but not in the Bay Area.

So here's what's cooking for this first week of Spring.

Meatless Monday
Any Kine Quiche with no sausage. Using zukes, spinach with gruyere and sharp cheddar. It sounds like a weird combination but it works surprisingly well.

Tuesday
Lemon Chicken with salad and rice with furikake.

Wednesday
Banh-mi style sandwiches with Japanese char siu, sriracha mayo, cucumber namasu, shredded carrots on toasted green onion bread or toasted King's sweet bread. I like the way this sounds already.

Practically Meatless Thursday
My Daddy's Fried Rice with kim chee. With the rest of the shredded carrots, onions, eggs, maybe a little bit of pork.

For "cold" Bay Area weather

Fish on Friday
Christine's Clam Chowder, New England-style with a nod to Birdie #1. We are supposed to get some much needed rain this weekend, so "cold-weather" clam chowder it shall be.

Have a good week all, where-ever you are.