Spaghetti and Meatballs.

I would have lived on spaghetti and meatballs when I was a kid if my parents would have let me.

I would live on spaghetti and meatballs now if I wasn't also cooking for my husband.

I love spaghetti and meatballs.

(Interestingly, I did NOT love spaghetti and meatballs when I was pregnant. It was a very, very confusing feeling for me. But since I am not currently pregnant, nor do I intend to become pregnant for at least another year, I am free to enjoy spaghetti and meatballs to my heart's content.)

I do nothing special to the actual spaghetti or the marinara (ahem - um, Ragu). Well, I add bread crumbs, parsley, and sometimes some other random spices (lemon pepper, anyone?) to the sauce. Don't ask why; I don't know. Chris did it once, and it was delicious. I just tweak it every now and then.

But the meatballs. I love these meatballs. Actually, I love it when my Mom makes these meatballs. Chris loves it when I make them, but I don't think mine taste the same as Mom's. However, since Chris likes them, and since I know I am using the same recipe as Mom I stick with it and assume that they are fine because they do taste good.  Maybe food just tastes better when it's being cooked by your Mom.

1lb ground beef

1 cup of bread crumbs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 well beaten eggs

1 tablespoon of parsley

1 teaspoon of garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste.

Mix well with your hands and form into balls. Are you a big meatball person or a mini meatball person? I'm somewhere in between.

Brown the meatballs on all sides.

Drop the meatballs being used that day into the sauce and simmer for one hour. I rarely have the patience to wait an hour, but if you do all the better. I use 5-6 meatballs in one dinner (for two people) and freeze the rest for another day.

Too good.

Shrimp Tacos!

These were supposed to be a very, very loose replication of a shrimp taco that I had at a place called Taco Derio at a mall near Yokota.

They turned out nothing like that taco but were delicious nonetheless.

Peel the tails off of the amount of shrimp needed and cook in a pan with EVOO, salt, pepper, white pepper and the juice of a lime.

Mix one part mayonnaise with two parts sour cream. Add a few drops of Sriracha and mix well.

Chop any remaining toppings - lettuce, avocado (which I forgot), etc.

Shred up some parmesan cheese.

Prepare tortillas - warm, fry, the world is your oyster.

Pile a bit of everything on the tortilla, squeezing lime juice over the top. Add a bit more Sriracha if you think you can handle it and enjoy!

Some notes:

-Sriracha is pretty extreme. If you find a suitable, less flaming alternative feel free to use that. I really do dig Sriracha's flavor in this though.

-Have fun with meals like this and use things like flavored tortillas. Mine were on chipotle tortillas, and the chipotle really added to the tacos.

Quick, easy, tasty. My favorite kind of meal!

Menu for the week: 30 May - 5 June.

Sunday:

Salmon with Lemon/Garlic Butter Sauce

Risotto

Steamed Broccoli

*This means there is leftover Risotto in my house...dangerous.*

Monday:

Grilled Chicken

Baked Potatoes

Corn on the Cob

Tuesday:

(Fake) Chicken Parmesan

Rice

Broccoli

Wednesday:

My spin on this Chicken Piccata

Thursday:

Pork Tenderloin

Mashed Potatoes

Corn

Friday:

*Kristen's Free Reign Dinner Night*

Going back to my youth for Macaroni and Cheese.

You know, the one in the blue box.

Yum.

Saturday:

Grilled Lemon Chicken

Mushroom Risotto

Corn on the Cob

P-I-Z-Z-A.

Enough said, yes?

Tonight's pizza: 1/2 cheese and garlic, 1/2 pepperoni and sausage on a whole wheat crust.

Tonight's pizza: messy, imperfect, wicked awesome.

Start things out with the base of every good pizza, the crust. I simply modified this recipe to my liking. I also halved it since the recipe linked makes two crusts.

I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose and added in some parsley and garlic powder. Do whatever you wish with the ingredients, but follow the same basic directions listed.

For the sauce I did something similar. Because I'm, like, soooo gourmet, I started out with this:

But then I redeemed my canned sauce using self by adding all of this:

Garlic powder, parsley, oregano, and white pepper for just the slightest kick.

While you are letting the spices mingle with the sauce you should probably decide what toppings you would like on your pizza. I wanted cheese and garlic, and for Chris I threw on some pepperoni and sausage. Commence preparing the toppings.

Then comes the fun part - or the hellish part if you're me. Rolling out the crust. Try as I might, I cannot get a crust looking like I want it to just by using my hands. So, I bastardized the homemade pizza making process by rolling it out with a rolling pin.

Except that I can't work a rolling pin correctly to save my life, so my crust was still a bit imperfect.

Finally, a fun part; building the pizza. Everyone is going to have a different way of doing this, and everyone is going to think their way is the right way. I started with the sauce, then added the garlic (on my side) and the sausage (on Chris's side).

Because I was hungry, distracted, eating pepperoni and mozzarella slices, or one of a million other excuses I could give, I stopped taking pictures of the prep process there. So, I added freshly grated parmesan cheese to my side, covered the entire thing in fresh mozzarella slices, added more sausage and some pepperoni on the 'Chris side', and sprinkled the whole thing with more parmesan.

In the 450 degree oven it went for 15 minutes.

This is what came out:

Will it win the award for prettiest pizza of all time? No. Is it a tad lopsided? Yes. Is it overflowing with mozzarella? Yes...oh, wait, that's not a bad thing at all!

I can say this much, it tasted damn good. I haven't tried a slice from Chris's side. Honestly, with as much as I ate from my side, I don't need it. But I am curious about his side came out.

Oh pizza. So simple. So quick. So amazingly good.

Though, admittedly, not so good for you.

At least it had a wheat crust, right?

The end.

  

Menu for the week: 23 May - 29 May.

Sunday:

Grilled Chicken

Baked Potatoes

Parmesan Broccoli

Monday:

Grilled Pork Chops

Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Asparagus

Tuesday:

1/2 Cheese, 1/2 Sausage & Pepperoni Pizza on Whole Wheat Crust

Salad

Wednesday:

Shrimp Tacos on Chipotle Tortillas

Thursday:

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Friday:

Kristen's Free Reign ... wait, it's a four day weekend for Chris.

Out to Sapporo for Ramen, we think.

Saturday:

Out to eat somewhere new for us - Yoshino's or Yakiniku.

-or-

Camping

Some of the Less Horrifying Aspects of the Week.

You'll be pleased to know that I am almost fully recovered from the slug incident. I even cooked with cabbage - a different, shrink-wrapped head - the very next day.

Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice

I am certain that somewhere out there a thousand recipes just like this exist. However, this is what I did.

Mix about a cup and a half of rice with a can each of cheddar cheese soup and chicken and mushroom soup. Add in enough chicken broth to slightly thin out the soups. Chop a quarter of an onion and mix into the casserole. Next add broccoli florets, fresh or frozen - I used fresh, as desired. Sprinkle in salt, pepper, and any other spices you can think of that would go well in this. Mix everything together well, and top with strips of chicken, sprinkling bread crumbs when everything is in place. Place in a preheated oven until chicken is cooked through. I think I baked mine at 400 for 30-45 minutes, but we all know how my oven is. About 10 minutes before it's done add shredded cheddar cheese over the top and return to the oven to finish cooking.

Original? Probably not. Tasty? You bet.

Pork Lo Mein with Mushrooms and Cabbage

This is a recipe I found in How to Cook Without a Book. Basically, in the book, it gives techniques more than actual recipes. For instance, it listed the basic ingredients in Lo Mein, ideas for different kinds (pork, mushroom, and cabbage), and a recipe for flavoring sauce, but the point is for the reader to be able to memorize the staples and then do what they want with it. Since this was my first time making Lo Mein, I stuck with what the book said. However, I did use wheat pasta. Between this and the Szechwan Chicken from February's Cookbook Challenge, I am really starting to think that wheat pasta goes really well in Asian dishes.

The basis for the Lo Mein was simple. Onions were stir-fried in EVOO, then the pork, then sliced mushrooms, then cabbage, then minced ginger and garlic were stirred in. Everything was removed to a plate, and the cooked noodles were added to the skillet with a little more EVOO. In went the flavoring sauce (more or less: half chicken broth, half soy sauce, a few teaspoons of rice wine vinegar - though I used regular, a tablespoon or so of sesame oil, red pepper flakes to your liking, and a teaspoon of sugar), and the noodles were stir-fried for a minute or so. Everything else was added back into the pan and cooked until everything was mixed and heated through.

This was good, but I think it could have used more flavor. I wasn't too impressed with the sauce, and I think next time I'll play around and see what I can add for an extra kick.

Why the Commissary and I Just Can't Make it Work.

*Insert Disturbing Photo Here*

It's no secret to anyone who reads either of my blogs that Misawa's commissary and I cannot seem to get along. That having been said, the past couple of months have gone pretty well. I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, this store and I could learn to coexist for the next twenty-two months.

I was then reality checked into next Tuesday.

I set out to make Corned Beef and Cabbage yesterday. Sure there was a meal or two earlier in the week, but I'll get to that at a later time. I switched things up and put everything except the cabbage in the slow cooker for the day. I figured I would add in the cabbage at the last minute so it would still have some bite. It was a fine plan. Dinner time rolled around, and I proceeded to take the head of cabbage out of my refrigerator and prepare it. I had a quick, internal debate about whether I should wash the whole thing, cut off what I needed, and prep the separate pieces (I needed cabbage for tonight too) or if I should just take off the outer leaves and prep the thing whole.

Thank god I chose the second one. I peeled back the top leaf and there on my head of cabbage was a slug.

Oh no. Oh hell no. Nope, can't deal, I quit. Whether it was alive or not was never determined. As soon as I saw it I decided it could have the head of cabbage, and I tossed the whole thing. I then cursed the commissary and tried to eat my remaining "Corned Beef without Cabbage". I was too grossed out to enjoy eating anything at that point.

Things like this make it clear that, sadly, the Misawa commissary and I will always be bitter rivals.

Menu for the week: 16 May - 22 May.

Sunday:

Grilled Bratwurst

Baked Beans

Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

*Carried over from yesterday. Believe it or not, I got Chris to go to Ramen!*

Monday: 

Fettucine Alfredo

*Hey, I have 1/2 a pound of Fettucine just sitting in my kitchen. So, I really don't have a choice but to make it. It must be done, and I think I'll find a way to power through. Plus, I'll have burned it off at spin class anyway!*

Tuesday:

Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Bake

*Welcome to this week's "I don't quite have this one figured out yet," meal.*

Wednesday:

Corned Beef & Cabbage

Thursday:

Pork Lo Mein

Friday:

Kristen's Free Reign Dinner Night

Leftover Pork Lo Mein

*My free reign dinner nights have gotten quite boring since I don't get home until after 7pm.*

Saturday:

Out to eat somewhere new! That's my plan, at least.

Reviews in a Hurry: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and Pasta with Eggplant.

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Thumbs up for this one! My slow cooker and I are becoming better and better friends as the days go by. Frozen chicken breasts, some chopped up onion, and a mixture of BBQ sauce (I used JD), about 1/2 a cup of Italian dressing, salt, pepper, a few shakes of Worcestershire, and honey went into the slow cooker in the morning. When I came home from work I switched it from 'High' to 'Low' and let it finish cooking until dinner. Remove the chicken, shred it up, add more BBQ sauce and/or honey and/or anything else desired. I also added in some flour and corn meal at the end to help thicken things up. Serve the chicken on a bun, add some sides (I went for sweet potato fries and a pickle), and you have a great meal.

Pasta with Eggplant

PW's recipe.

Again, there is not much that could go wrong with this recipe. Pasta? Good. Eggplant? Good. Tomatoes? Good. The one thing I can say is that PW is right when she says it is all about the sauce here. I think I had a bit too much pasta, and it kind of hid some of the awesomeness of the sauce. However, this was still delicious. PW rocks it out once again.

Lime Shrimp and Beef on Tortillas.

Apologies that a better name was never found for this. I guess it is similar to fajitas, but really it just is what it is.

First, you need steak and shrimp. Salt and pepper everything, and drench both in lime juice. If you aren't as impatient as I am, please, please let this sit and marinate. I have a feeling the lime flavor would be so much stronger then. However, I am not a patient person, so away I went.

Steaks

Shrimp

Steaks and Shrimp. Is there really anything that could go wrong here? I think not.

Flip the steaks around and cook them until they are done to your liking. I sliced them up, so I uncharacteristically went for 'no pink'. After you remove the steaks from the pan toss in some butter, some garlic cloves, and the shrimp. Now, for the shrimp, pink is obviously the color you're looking for. Meanwhile, make some cilantro rice. Sounds too fancy? It's not. I cook Minute Rice in the microwave, and after it is done cooking I toss in a handful of cilantro and let it sit in the microwave for ten mintues or so. After about five of those minutes I toss it all around a bit; not too much because I do pick the cilantro out before serving the rice. The steam from the microwave does wonderful things...okay, lets call a spade a spade here; it does all the work for me. It finishes cooking the rice and infuses the cilantro flavor throughout.

Once everything is done throw it all onto a warmed up tortilla and serve with sour cream. I also squeezed more lime juice over the top of everything, and honestly, I could have added more. I'm thinking some fresh Parmesan might have fit well in here somewhere too.

Sure, leaving in the cilantro would have brightened up the plate, but I'm not really about appearances as much as I am about taste. As far as taste goes this was pretty good. Give it a try sometime, and if you can come up with an actual name for it, all the better.

Baked Lemon Pasta and Ranch Chicken and Potatoes.

First of all, this Baked Lemon Pasta was absolutely amazing. I didn't steer away from PW's recipe too much, aside from adding plenty of black pepper. It will definitely get made again, and I might not bake it next time. Actually, PW suggests it can be served as a cold pasta salad, and I think that would be phenomenal too.

*Sigh*, yum.

Now, tonight. Tonight I made Ranch Chicken and Potatoes. It ended up being pretty good, as far as chicken goes anyway.

First, I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, and ranch dressing mix. I added milk or half and half and let everything marinate.

I added EVOO to two skillets and put the chicken in one and the potatoes in the other. I kept the potatoes on mostly low heat and stirred and flipped them around regularly until they were tender.

 

I browned the chicken on each side, added a little chicken broth to the skillet, and covered it until the chicken was done cooking.

By the time the chicken was done, the potatoes were done too. Throw a vegetable on the plate with the chicken and potatoes, and you have got yourself a pretty tasty meal! The ranch flavor is there but not too overpowering, and the chicken was juicy and tender. I like it when I can cut meat with just a fork. Mmmm-mm.

Menu for the week: 9 May - 15 May.

Sunday:

Baked Lemon Pasta

Monday:

Ranch Chicken and Potatoes

Corn

Tuesday:

Lime Shrimp and Beef with Cilantro Rice on Tortillas

(Can you tell by the rambling title that I haven't quite got this one figured out in my head yet?)

Wednesday:

Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwhiches

Sweet Potato Fries

Thursday:

Pasta with Eggplant

Garlic Bread

Friday:

Kristen's Free Reign Dinner Night

Breakfast for dinner.

Saturday:

Grilled Beer Bratwursts

Baked Beans

Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

Chicken Ranch Tacos.

Or 'Ranch Chicken Tacos'. 

Yeah, that sounds better.

It is exactly what it sounds like, folks. The short story behind these tacos is that I was not at all enthusiastic about making dinner tonight. Chicken tacos didn't excite me at all. Also, I only had two rather small chicken breasts to work with. I started wondering how I could make dinner more interesting, and I came up with ranch. Ranch is good on pretty much everything, right?

This is embarrassingly simple, and they were actually pretty good. I think next time I would add more ranch or at least more meat if I had it available.

Cook up a couple of chicken breasts and slice them up. Toss the chicken with taco seasoning. I didn't have a packet on hand, so I just tossed in some chili powder, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, oregano, garlic powder, onion flakes, salt and pepper. Use more chili powder than cumin and slightly more cumin than the rest of the ingredients.

(Pre-tossing.)

Next, add in some ranch dressing. How much is really up to you! I used enough to coat the chicken.

Finally, chop/slice/shred up the rest of your taco fixin's. Heat up some tortillas or hard shells, and you are good to go. This couldn't be easier!

I used the chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, homemade salsa, shredded cheddar cheese, a little extra ranch (in place of sour cream), and a squeeze of lime.

Quick, easy, tasty...three of my favorite things! Unfortunately, there was only enough for four very small tacos. That's two for me tonight and two for Chris's lunch tomorrow. No leftovers for me. Sad day.

Unless, of course, you all would like to make some and send them to me. If you can overnight them, I certainly wouldn't object!

Older and Wiser...Lessons Learned.

Today was Chris's 23rd Birthday.

Today he learned why you don't try to cut a two layer cake with a plastic knife.

Also, his gift from me was something that should blow our (well, his more than mine) cooking adventures wide open...

...though not literally, I hope.

Menu for the week: 2 May - 8 May.

Tonight:

Chris's Birthday!

Out to eat...where is anyone's guess!

Tomorrow:

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Parmesan Couscous

Broccoli

(We ended up going to a cookout on Saturday, so this never got made last week.)

Tuesday:

Pork Chops and Applesauce

Baked Potato

Vegetable Blend

Wednesday:

Penne with Spicy Sausage

Garlic Bread

Salad

Thursday:

Chicken Tacos

Friday:

Kristen's Free Reign Dinner Night

Pasta with Tomato-Blue Cheese Sauce

Saturday:

Steak

Grilled Potato Bundles

Broccoli