Chicken Burritos (March 12, 2010)

I made chicken burritos tonight...Ethan happily (luckily) made the black beans.  I looked online for a basic chicken burrito recipe, but didn't like any of them.  Ethan suggested a few spices I could use to flavor the chicken and veggies (cumin, chili powder, coriander, garlic powder, and oregano).  I added some chipotles in adobo sauce, orange & green peppers, onion, and a jalapeno pepper.  It turned out pretty tasty even though I had no idea what I was mixing together.

Here's the result:

Flounder and Bulgogi (March 2, 2010)

Ethan marinated the flounder in miso, sake, soy, mirin and guchujang then baked it. It was a bit salty since it marinated for so long.  I'm beginning to think I'm not a big fan of this fish.  I'm just looking forward to finishing this gigantic bag of frozen flounder we bought at Costco.  We cooked the remaining bit of bulgogi I made for the japchae and dukboki.  Afer the rice cooked, Ethan mixed in the leftover wheatberry.

Spaghetti with Tomato & Artichoke Sauce (Feb 17, 2010)

Ethan made an appetizer of a white bean salad with chunks of tuna red onion, fresh thyme, and olive oil. Ethan's dad sent us the tuna and it was delicious!  We ate the salad with some flatbread.  

The main course was spaghetti with artichoke, onion, tomato, basil and oregano.  I couldn't get enough!  I think I had at least 3 servings...I had a small plate ; )

Ummm...slurp

There was plenty for leftovers to take to work the next day!  

Duck Legs (Feb 15, 2010)

Dinner tonight was about using the legs from the duck I got for last night's dinner (which only called for the duck's breast).

Duck breast cooks very quickly--I cooked them in 13 minutes last night (and perhaps 11 minutes would have been better). I don't cook duck a whole lot (I think Christmas 2008 was the last time), so imagine my surprise tonight when I took a closer look at the recipe I was going to follow and saw that it required 3 hours of cooking time.

So I tossed the recipe and winged "Duck Legs in Hurry." What I did was brown the legs a bit on the stove top; toss in chopped apples and onions; added a bit of cider vinegar, stock, and flambéed some cognac on top. I covered it and put in the oven to braise for an hour, then removed the cover and let it roast for 30 minutes to brown up.

The duck tasted great and the apples & onions were pretty good too (albeit a bit rich from all the duck fat they soaked up). The broccoli I had intended to use as a side vegetable was no longer any good, so I sauteed up some zucchini. And for a starch we had a medley of wild, brown, & whole grain rice. 

Oh, and we started with leftover beet soup from last night. I was a bit more successful in getting the 2-color effect this time around.

Spicy Chicken Thighs with Onions and Cherry Tomatoes (January 27, 2010)

Janet is reading Alicia Silverstone's Kind Diet. It's having us try milk substitutes (we've bought a rice milk and an almond milk to experiment with), vow to buy organic eggs (and not just vegetarian-fed, free-range eggs), and redouble our efforts to eat organic meat.

So we had picked up organic chicken thighs while we were out. We got home late, so I quickly put it into a marinade of gochujong, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and black pepper. I sauteed the chicken, and tossed it together with sauteed onions, grape tomatoes, and scallions and put it into an oven for a bit of baking. It was pretty good for winging it, but I think I can make some improvements next time I make it.

I've been on a broccoli kick, so more steamed broccoli. Also, reheated brown rice & whole grain barley.

Extra Healthy Flounder, Broccoli, with Brown Rice and Whole Grain Barley (January 25, 2010)

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jicima

We had a health dinner tonight... Flounder simmered in dashi, mirin, & soy sauce with ginger and scallions; steamed broccoli, brown rice with whole grain barley; and jicima with rice wine vinegar and hot pepper.

Not horrible, but the flounder was bland. Next time (we have a bag of frozen flounder) I'm going to try marinating it in miso.

Stuffed Flounder with 4 Grain Rice with Chestnuts (January 12, 2010)

Made up my own recipes tonight:

• Flounder rolled around goat cheese, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, shallots, pine nuts, and garlic
• More of the vegie mix on the side
• 4 grain rice with chestnuts
• Clementines