Category: Pork - 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!

This Little Piggy Came from the Market...

11/8/2015

Thinking any leftovers can get diced up into My Daddy's Killer Fried Rice!

Chinese Roast Pork. Filipino Lechon. Salty, slightly sweet, very rich, juicy pork with shield of crackled fat. Not something your cardiologist would advise eating on a regular basis.

However, it can make your whole household immensely happy. And as a bonus, anyone with dairy, wheat, crustacean or peanut allergies can eat it.

The a-ha ingredient is Chinese Five Spice Powder, which is composed of 1) cinnamon, 2) star anise, 3) cloves, 4) fennel, and 5) pepper.

Three ingredients, with one optional. Two hours start to finish.

Recipe is here. Worth leaving work early to make, or having a late dinner.

What's Cooking This Week--A full and noisy house!

5/18/2015

May's reward for 10ft of snow in six weeks.

May is one of those months that is full of transition and possibilities.

Birthdays, Mother's Day, Proms, AP exams, graduations, Bay to Breakers, moving out, summer programs and summer-to-maybe-full-time jobs.

Our cooking has has been a little jumbled, so I've cobbled together a weekly menu based on our last few weeks of just life.

I was lucky to go back to Boston for "Finally Spring" that was complete with beautiful weather and a tennis court that was still piled to the top of its fences with "Old Snow" (Which looks like a BIG Pile of Dirt. But it's snow)

Thanks for hanging with us!

#LeftoversRoulette is Monday
My Very Own Chili. One of the things we can still depend on is Freezer Mondays. Thank goodness.

Kim Chee Pork Happiness

Tuesday
Kim Chee Pork. We finally figured this out and have a picture to boot. In this particular incarnation, I also added a little it of spinach since we had some leftovers.

Wednesday is #MeatlessOneDay
Panini. Roasted tomatoes with early eggplant, cheese, pesto, red peppers with provolone and chipotle gouda.

Thursday
15-minute fish for volleyball and with a better picture.

Friday is also #LeftoversRoulette
We have had Mother's Day and a Birthday, so we can pick between Curry House and Bourbon Steak at Levi's Stadium.

Life is good. 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!

Carnitas and Tofu Loco Moco!

5/11/2014

Dinner today, leftovers for next week!

Pork and the crock pot were simply made to be friends. Very, very good friends.

Crock Pot Carnitas is another dump-and-ignore crock pot genius.

Click here to make it this week.

The next one will take some convincing, but be assured that there were no leftovers on Tofu Broccoli Loco Moco.

As a bonus, the idea of spicy roasted broccoli all by itself has many possibilities too. Click here for the recipe and assembly.

Hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day!

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--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.

What's Cooking This Week For Real

1/19/2014

Send us some snow!

Last week was a blur with sending kids back to school both locally and not-so-locally.

Note to parents of college and high school-aged children
It Does Not Get Easier to see your bouncing baby (at least in your eyes) go solo through security and off and away.

And the corollary--
It's rather painful for the child at home because Teenage Boys Do Not Appreciate Being Smothered. At All.

So this mother is cooking and then sending a food care package, of course! Here's what's cooking this week.

Meatless Monday
Bought mushroom/artichoke pasta with pesto sauce. If it didn't come in a takeout container, it still counts as cooking.

Tuesday in the Oven
Mayonnaise Chicken, roasted tomatoes and roasted asparagus. Maximize the oven. Plus, the radiant heat carries over into where we watch TV. With store-bought jalapeno cheddar bread, pickled lemons from Israel and homemade pickled green beans.

Wednesday
Orange salsa pork chops, chard and jasmine rice. Another 1-pan dinner, plus rice cooker.

Thursday
Spicy turkey burgers and roasted sweet potatoes.

Mollusca Friday
Clam and canellini bean soup. And bread for sopping things up.

There may be some change-ups as I just noticed that this week is a little rice-light. Also trying to make homemade granola. It uses flaked coconut, so I hope not to set the oven on fire. Again.