Category: Somen

What's Cooking This Week--Back on Schedule

5/19/2013

Imagine away the kamaboko for Monday.

I'm back to beginning the week on a Monday schedule. For real. It has been a little too loosey-goosey with pop-in-shopping, so it's time for a little more organization and fewer mid-week "OMG!" crisis runs to the grocery store.

Meatless Monday
Nakayoshi Gakko Somen Salad, including eggs, but sans ham and kamaboko. Yes, kamaboko really was an animal at some point.

Go Sharks on Tuesday
Reasonable Facsimile Zippy's Chili, rice and salad. It's amazing what a dollop of mayonnaise does at the end. Made a few more changes, but looking to post this soon.

Love a one-bowl salad dinner!

Nearly-meatless Wednesday
Chinese Chicken Salad. A good mid-week salad dinner.

Thursday
Tandoori Chicken Sandwiches. I will have half of a red onion from the Tropical Fruit Salsa (see below), and because we use chicken tenders, it becomes another fairly fast weekday dinner.

Fishy Friday
Shoyu Shiitake Butter-Sauced Fish. With rice and the rest of the chicken salad.

Extras
To feed the famished teenagers who descend upon the household every afternoon.
Tropical Fruit Salsa
Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and cherries are all in season.
The first 'cots of the season are in too. A good time to bring back a cobbler!
Ben and Jerry's. Because ice cream makes you happy.

Finally, a Big Aloha to all the new Facebook connections to Feeding My Ohana. Thanks for the support and keep telling me what you like to cook (and eat!). Happy Monday to all! What's on your menu this week?

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What's Cooking This Week--Vote!

11/5/2012

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Google "vote" to find your polling place

Even if it means crock-pot, freezer or takeout, make sure you get out and vote on Tuesday. I have already exercised my privilege as an American and voted and you should too. Whatever your politics, we live in an amazing and diverse country.

Thank you also to those who have already donated $980 to the Feeding My Ohana Virtual Food Drive on behalf of Second Harvest Food Bank. The hardworking people at Second Harvest tell me they update results manually, so matching funds and weekend donations post slightly more slowly. Thank you to all who have donated thus far!

With that, here's what's cooking this week.

Mmm, BBQ sliders.

Monday
Ground chicken with Chinese long beans stir-fried with black bean sauce and sriracha sauce. Bok choy with oyster sauce and rice. College kids: you don't need a recipe for this, just wing it.

Tuesday--Get out and Vote!
Crock pot BBQ sliders. Sandwiches to watch the election results. And Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, Phish Phood, and Imagine Whirled Peace, which is on sale this week. A low-maintenance dinner so we can de-construct election results whilst eating ice cream from the carton.

Wednesday
Somen salad. As you enjoy 80 degrees in November in California, please keep our 'back East' ohana in your thoughts.

Thursday
Thai Chicken Curry and rice. Cauliflower is coming into season!

Friday
Weekday Lasagne. A nice way to end the week.

Extras
Yoplait coconut yogurt, which I have for lunch with
Home-assembled trail mix: sesame sticks, cashews and dried raspberries
Perfectly hard-boiled eggs
Roasted tomatoes, with some late-season heirloom German Stripes I got at the Farmers' Market yesterday.

Eat Well. Be Well.

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What's Cooking This Week--No More Pencils, No More Books...

6/11/2012

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Teenagers are in the pool, school will be out this week, and we've started to eat outside. It will be an unusually full week of cooking with graduation, Father's Day and various teenagers converging on the house. Here's what cooking this week.

Sunday
Yakisoba. This is one of my son's favorite meals and a long-overdue addition. The 'original' flavor is our favorite, and we add lots of carrots, green beans and pickled red ginger. Kamaboko is also a good optional mix-in, but not this week.

Monday
Orzo salad, on the fly version. 90 degrees and barely any cooking required. Plus fruit salad. Eaten outside.

Tuesday
Sloppy Joes and perhaps sweet potato fries.
Plus a lunchtime pizza, watermelon and cake shindig for the second set of teenagers.

Wednesday
Tuna Melts. I found a good recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipes via Pinterest that sounds very promising.

Thursday
Pistachi-zu Tofu. Another item that has been languishing in the Greenhouse. The flavors are all there, but I think the construction might be the thing to get this graduated.

Friday
Salmon and Grape Sauce. This did not get made last week, so I've tagged it once again.

Extras
Passion Sun Tea, which is brewing right now. If all goes well, it will make a tropical Arnold Palmer, playing well with...

Lychee Lemonade Slush. I received frozen lychee from a friend of mine, whose parents have a lychee farm on the Big Island.

Furikake Chex Mix. Teenagers staying at home at a lot. Teenager and husband are making a batch with Honeycombs, Crispix and pretzels.

Nakayoshi Gakko Somen Salad for a weekend potluck.

Last, a batch of Amped-Up Macaroni and Cheese because I'm craving it.

Eat Well. Be Well.

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What's Cooking This Week--Time for School ?!

8/22/2011

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Where does Summer go?

Schools have been starting around here from August 15th! We're going light on meat this week as we still have a lot of summer veggies from our garden and the 'ohana' trading system--zukes for string beans, overstocked tomatoes and squash, and even sleepovers for brownies! This week's menu is to keep the summer vibe going.

Monday: Misoyaki salmon and edamame rice. Using King salmon, which is on sale, instead of butterfish, which is not available. Separately, I'll be roasting some humongous tomatoes from a friend and more of our zukes since I'll already be using the oven.

Tuesday: Roasted tomato/zucchini and basil pizza using another whole-wheat Boboli. There's no recipe for this one, it's really just construction. No bok choy this time!

Wednesday: Nakaoyshi Gakko Somen salad (again), using the cukes, tomatoes and lettuce from the garden, scrambled eggs and kamaboko. This is very popular in the summer.

Thursday: My Daddy's Killer Fried Rice, using some fresh string beans, the rest of the kamaboko, carrots, onions and the rest of the homemade char siu that I froze awhile back.

Friday: Nametake Tofu. My sister sent me this recipe. It's supposed to be hot again, so no cooking and all-veg today.

Have a good week back to school (!?) Eat Well. Be Well.

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What's Cooking This Week--Handheld Food

8/7/2011

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Meals this week are very end-of-summer, casual, hand-friendly food. This seems to work out well when kids and/or their friends come in and out looking like we've never fed them. Lots of grab-and-go food that can be eaten hot or straight out of the fridge as a leftover.

Monday--Sticky rice from my foodie friend Christine. She gave me some homemade, leaf-wrapped Chinese-style sticky rice that we are excited to try. I will try to get the recipe from her.

Tuesday--Chili. Not portable, but useful for nachos or chili dogs for lunch or afternoon munchies for the kids.

Gyros

Wednesday--Korean Egg Meat and bean sprouts. Bento food. Just add musubi and you can almost forego utensils.

Thursday--Somen Salad. I always make a double batch for lunches.

Friday--Baba Ghanouj and Gyros. Using lots of cucumbers and eggplant. While Baba Ghanouj will never win the food Miss USA pageant, it is a go-to afternoon snack veggies or crackers.

Eat Well. Be Well.

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What's Cooking This Week--Lemons

5/9/2011

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My neighbor kindly shared a *huge* box of home-grown lemons. So the game of the week is to use them in as many different ways as we can. Here's what's cooking.

Monday--"Fixed" lemon chicken, broccoli, home-grown lettuce salad, and rice

Tuesday--Ex-pat poke (nice tuna again!), oven-baked purple Okinawan sweet potato fries (an experiment inspired by the Bon Chon sweet potato fries), Nakayoshi Gakko Somen Salad. A lemon-free day.

Wednesday--Lemony Bacon Farfalle. Double the recipe to use lots of lemons, plus enough for lunches.

Thursday--New recipe. Mahi-mahi in a Mediterranean-ish red sauce using tomatoes and, wait for it, lemon.

Friday--Leftovers' Buffet. Cut up the leftover lemon chicken and toss it over the remaining farfalle. Eat the rest of the fish with brocooli and the sweet potato fries. I guarantee there will be no leftover poke. Add some more lettuce and cukes to the somen salad and to finish.

Lemony extras this week: More Strawberry muffins, Lemon Bars, Hummus, Guacamole (usually a lime, but when you've got a crateful of lemons...) and maybe some Baba Ghanouj as an experiment.

Life gives you lemons so you can Eat Well. Be Well. And send any lemon recipes my way.

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What's Cooking This Week--A Little Bit of Everything

4/4/2011

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The weather forecast is hot and cold, and even the possibility of rain. So we're going with a little bit of everything for dinner this week. We're eating Hawaii, Chinese, Thai, American and Japanese. I even managed to go to the Chinese (for fresh char siu and Chinese-style roasted chicken--these are definitely 'buy' items), Japanese (for rice, somen and Hawaii chow fun noodles) and 'regular' grocery stores (everything else) in one power trip today.

Monday--Pillsbury Manapua (see right, using ground pork filling).
Mixing it up a little this time.
Filling #1 = char siu (bought) and green onions.
Filling #2 = roast Chinese-style chicken (bought) + spinach + green onions.
Plus spinach sauteed with garlic and green onions using sesame, chili and canola oil.

Tuesday--Sick and Wrong Fish and Nakayoshi Gakko Somen Salad.

Wednesday--Amped Up Macaroni and Cheese and sauteed Swiss chard. Hoping for a decent picture of the mac and cheese.

Thursday--Thai Chicken Curry. My daughter's favorite. Coincidentally, also in need of a photo.

Friday--Salt and Pepper Chicken/Shrimp, take 2. A few fixes and using both chicken and shrimp this time.

Spring is in the air! Eat well. Be well.

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What are We Having for Dinner?? I Have a Plan!

7/27/2010

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Once a week, I ask my family this, and usually the answer is, "uh, I dunno?" So every week, I aim to have 4-5 meals with a few basic rules. They are:

1) No Spam, bacon or sausage in the same week. As much as we love cured meats, moderation wins out.
2) Try to have one multi-dish meal.
3) Try for fish or vegetarian once a week.
4) Try to use all veggies over the course of the week.

A menu comes together like this:

1) Fish Tacos (done first because I buy fresh fish) with fresh guacamole, cabbage, tomatoes, spiced yogurt and salsa

2) Multi-dish meal = Orange-Salsa Pork Chops, green beans, Okinawan sweet potatoes and jasmine rice. Uses salsa from Fish Tacos. The colors and flavors all play off each other. Spicy Orange-Salsa Pork Chops, simple fresh green beans and sweet and creamy Okinawan purple potatoes and the light, fragrant white jasmine rice all play nicely together.

3) Nakayoshi Gakko Somen Salad--Uses leftover lettuce and tomatoes, adds a cuke, kamaboko and scrambled eggs. Meatless, and for home lunches.

4) Quinoa Salad--Use the rest of the cuke, and finish up the leftover fish or pork chops. Use whole cans of corn and black beans. Also good for lunch boxes.

5) Okonomiyaki (right)--This is a kind of Japanese dinner pancake/pizza. Uses eggs, the rest of the cabbage, kamaboko and any green beans

The actual shopping list is pretty efficient:
Pork chops
Fresh Fish
Orange juice
Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Avocados (4)
Limes (2)
Cilantro
Small red onion (1)
Jalapeno peppers (1)
Green beans
Cabbage (1)
Lettuce (1 bag or 1 head)
Tomato (3-4)
Cucumber (2)
Kamaboko (Japanese fish cake, the pretty pink kind)
Eggs
Canned Black Beans
Canned Corn
Corn Tortillas
Okonomiyaki Mix (from Safeway or Japanese grocery store, such as Nijiya, Marukai or Don Quijote)

Pantry Items You Probably Already Have In-House (add what you don't have to your shopping list)
Garlic
Sesame Oil
Canola Oil
Shoyu
Vinegar
White Sugar
Brown Sugar
Mayonnaise
Salsa
White Sesame Seeds
Cumin
Ginger (Powdered)
Somen
Jasmine rice
Quinoa
Dried Cranberries
Pine Nuts
Newman's Own Balasmic Vinegar Salad Dressing
Bulldog Tonkatsu Sauce (Safeway or Japanese grocery store, such as Nijiya, Marukai or Don Quijote)

At the end of the week, you end up with about 3/4 of a red onion, some cilantro, and perhaps some leftover corn tortillas. So next week, you can think about gyros to use the red onion, and chicken tortilla soup for the rest. It doesn't always work out this neatly, but this is what I aim for. Let me know what works for you!

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What's Cooking This Week--Back on Schedule

What's Cooking This Week--Vote!

What's Cooking This Week--No More Pencils, No More Books...

What's Cooking This Week--Time for School ?!

What's Cooking This Week--Handheld Food

What's Cooking This Week--Lemons

What's Cooking This Week--A Little Bit of Everything

What are We Having for Dinner?? I Have a Plan!

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