Apparently, this Miracle Noodle has been around for quite some time and is a very good replacement for flour pasta. Its supposed to replace it in dishes. Normally I get things like this and I am angry at the audacity to call them replacements. I hate most fake meats, fake  cheese and fake beer or soda. So this was proven by the past to be bad for me… I dont learn apparently and tried it anyway.

I was very impressed. They taste very good and have only a slightly different texture that I am sure can be fixed with using other cooking methods.

So to experiement I made some No Carb Stiry Fry with some marinaded beef and shrimp and a metric ton of veggies. The pseudo ghost of my personal trainer loomed over me in the kitchen im sure. I say pseudo because he isnt dead, but if tells me that bacon doesn’t count as a good meat choice, then we may have strong words…

No Carb Stir Fry

Ingredients were simple

1 lb stir fry beef cut into strips, I got mine at New Flower which is quickly becoming my goto spot.
10  EZ peel and eat shrimp, I got these frozen and with shell on because that is like half the price of them precooked and shelled for you, save that cash it takes seconds to shell them.
–note I got 10 because im feeding two people and they ALWAYS give extra when you give them a number on small things, like you wont notice….
1 bag frozen “deluxe” stir fry veggies. I could have went with cutting myself but I needed the help this week since i’m so hungry on workout days at dinner time.
1 bag of Shirataki Noodles
marinade - This is the fun part. I make this out of part necessity and part randomness,  I use approximate amounts to my tastes,  you can switch it up. Soy Sauce, Garlic Chili Sauce, minced garlic, black pepper, cayenne pepper and the juice of 1/2 lemon. I let this marinade the beef for 1 and a 1/2 days. DO NOT add the shrimp.
The day I cook I peel and add the shrimp to the mix an hour before so they can get some flavor but not be destroyed by the awesome power of the marinade.
1 bag

Shirataki Noodles, Meats, Veggies...Curiosity....

Making it happen.

The first thing I wanted to do is start my noodles. I wanted to do this because I figured the meat and veggies would go very fast and so I wanted to time all this right.
When opening the bag I noticed that it had instructions that say to rinse the noodles to reduce the “authentic aroma”. Now when I hear authentic I see images in my head of old leather and crusty papers with crudely drawn images of Superman fighting Nazis. Not smells or aromas. I cut the bag open and sure enough there is an aroma. I wouldn’t call it authentic. More like the scent of bonito shavings so not to bad just not what you would expect from noodles made from tofu. I ran them under some cold water and rinsed them pretty good to lessen the smell then brought water to a boil. I didnt add any flavor to the water because I didnt know how they would take to the addition. Lesson learned, they needed a little help and some flavor next time wont hurt.

Shirataki

I warmed up the wok with a little corn oil and sesame oil mixture and put in the meat and shrimp. I let the meat get cooked through and the shrimp begin to firm up. Suprisingly it didnt overcook as I was so afraid of it happening.

Frying,and yeah, stirring.

After a cooking for a few I drop in the veggies. While this was cooking I put the veggies in a collander and ran a bit of water over them and sprinkled some salt and another clove of garlic. I rinse them to break them up some since they were frozen.

One happy family out for a wok...

It turned out very good. The noodles were a bit lack luster in flavor but that was because I played it safe and just par boiled them and didnt mess with them much. Next time they can stand to use some seasoning in the boiling water like a broth or something. I was staying away from carbs so I didn’t make a cornstarchy sauce and it could have used that as well. The texture was good and had a bit more bite than regular noodles but was good nonetheless. So I will be trying them again and for the price for two of us to eat it was very good on the wallet.

Plated for 2

Jerk Chicken Balls

Jerk like seasoning in Chicken meat balls

Ingredients
lb ground chicken, I didnt get ground breasts, because I needed some fat for cooking.
I eyeballed these spices since I was cooking in relative starvation mode because of my lack of timing shopping and prep time.
All spice, cinnamon, cumin, tumeric, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper.
1 large egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 green onions chopped
Olive oil for jerk mix and a tiny bit for cooking.
2 cloves minced garlic
Orange liquer just a dash.

Preheat oven to 400
Mix all ingredients except the meat, eggs and bread crumbs
mix in meat and get the sauce all the way through.
Make well in center put in egg and mix thoroughly. Add bread crumbs little at a time until the mixture pulls away some from the bowl and is not too runny. I got about 12-14 balls ouf this Thats left overs for lunch.

In an oven proof heavy bottom skillet pour a tiny bit of olive oil.
I cook these on each side until they are browned about 2 minutes each side, the center will be undone but thats fine.
Pop into oven and cook without touching or bothering for about 10 minutes, You can start checking every 4 or 5 minutes after that to make sure they are ok.   I used this time for boiling broccoli and adding some parmesan cheese and salt.
After meat is done, remove from oven, set aside, and in the skillet, being careful not to burn  yourself make the sauce. First deglaze the pan, with what you got, Stock or broth is optimal here but I had water tonight. Get the bits off the bottom and let it come to a simmer.
I use a mix of 1 spoon of corn starch and about half a cup of warm water. The same dry spices in the mix in the first place in smaller amounts, soy sauce, honey and some lemon juice.  Cornstarch wont do its thing until it comes to a boil/simmer so when it hits that start stirring and watching. Now I let that reduce by about half and then drop the heat back and add a pat of butter to give the sauce shine and some back salty flavor. Not too much though.

Olympus with Toothpick

Recently Applehead and myself have been really doing good on working out and eating better.
We have eaten much better for years but when not coupled with a really good workout routine its has only been marginally successful. Now with a good routine and in turn more motivation to eat better we are doing pretty good.

For dinner a while back we decided to go out and try a new place not far from the apartment.
http://www.zoeskitchen.com/

Zoes Kitchen looks like at first glance one of those wrap places or build your own salad places they keep popping up everywhere.
But on closer inspection its far from such a place and thankfully so.  A menu heavy in Mediterranean dishes and current Mediterranean favorites strikes you as filling with out the fatty. OK, you are not going to get dolmas or spanakopita here but the menu is not Jasons Deli or Potbellys.  Favorites such as hummus and chicken salad all have good and healthy ingredients and taste and look far from anything in other chains.

Hummus @ Zoe's Kitchen

The hummus was the best I have had in any restaurant and if is not made in house daily I must be loosing a taste bud or two.  Something as simple as grilled pita bread should not be an issue but in fact was a great experience and allowed me to realize how bad it has been at other places.  Fresh grilled to order and warm and soft with a bit of crisp on ONE side made this bread a treat with in itself. We ordered more to go when were leaving with dreams of eating the next day…. It got devoured at 11:30 that night while watching Johnny Quest…1960’s stereotypes make me hungry…

Olympus Sandwich @ Zoe's Kitchen

The sandwiches are HUGE. Bigger than I could handle that night but very filling and not too full of fillers like mayo or ranch that clouds the meat and breads.  I had a side of roasted vegetables and my Applehead even took a bite of the broccoli which she hates normally and exclaimed it “was damned good”. She ordered a steak wrap. Yeah, I get a turkey sandwich and my woman goes straight for Tri-tip steak. It seemed a simple dish but the meat was so well flavored.  And the white beans she had with it were a close third to my moms white beans and mine, but in all honesty mine includes sausage and Cajun spices*.  For a light and quick meal out that will  not have you feeling bloated and guilty afterward, Zoes is it.

Steak Wrap @ Zoe's Kitchen

*im not bragging, ok maybe a little but really, sausage and white beans are supposed to make sweet love in your mouth and end it by shacking up in your belly. But these beans were good without the meat.
In the end we decided that Zoes was doing something right. The location in Plano is in a good spot for that type of food and has enough beef and steak on the menu to get a few other people in to try it. The colors and decor were simple and nice. We love places with popping colors and not a lot of stuff on the walls. I guess TGIF’s does it so have you strike up conversation with your dinner partner, but when food is good who needs a picture of Elvis when you can talk about some creamy hummus?
A return trip is in order soon and there are several other menu items to give a whirl to.

http://www.zoeskitchen.com/
Intersection of Preston & Park
1901 Preston Road
Suite 1000
Plano, TX 75093
972-248-1010 (Phone)
972-248-1005 (Fax)

8136 Spring Valley Rd
Dallas, TX
(214) 570-8484

http://www.elpolloregio.net/locations.html

We all have friends that give us things. Sometimes its as simple as a food recommendation.
Those are the gifts from friends I truly love. If you think about it, its a very nice thing to do. It says

“I found something great and I want to share it with you”

Information is a great gift and I got a little bit this weekend.

El Pollo Regio in Dallas.
I used to live not far from this place years ago. Of course years ago it was not there.
I have had my share of Mexican food around the city and I find that some truths apply to getting a good meal. If there are more than 3 of them in existence then I bet its going to be mediocre. If the menu has Spanish on it then I can bet its gonna be pretty damned good. If there is a slight language barrier because I don’t speak Spanish then im going to be very happy when I leave.
At El Pollo Regio I was kind of confused. There are many in the city but it still feels small and like a local treasure. There were not alot of cars in the parking lot when we arrived.
It did however have an AMAZING smell when we went inside.

I have only been once and was very impressed by the flavor there. I think I will go again on a busier day and try out some rice and beans at the height of cooking and not leftover however.

I made a bit of a mistake at this trip being slightly groggy from the night before.
and the fruit fiasco.

So when I saw Potato Regio I assumed it was a potato and carne asada taco.
NOPE it was a baked potato with steak, cilantro sour cream and cheese.
It was still pretty good but not what I wanted at a Mexican food place.

Potato Regio

I did end up nibbling the various meats and chickens from my buddies and those were super good.

Mexican soda was also on the menu and was very good and made me happy. Now these are the same brands we have here but bottled in Mexico and I believe they use real sugar in them for costs reasons.

Mexican Fanta

So El Pollo Regio is on the list for another stop or two this year.

Fish Cakes, not quite Thai...

we try to plan out our meals on Sunday or Monday. I may have mentioned it before and its normally a good thing.
It gives us a little time doing something together, its something we can “win” at as a team, it gives us something to look forward to if its an old favorite on the menu or something new and exciting. Monday night come Snowstorms or Elven Zombies I wanted some fish sticks. So bad I could taste them while at work. So back and forth across email we made the list and decided that fishcakes were more exciting than fish sticks and would be a challenge of sorts.

I scoured the net for recipes and found lots of them that had ingredidents I didnt want or didnt have or methods that I didnt want to deal with Monday night. I really didnt want to be soaking dried fish for hours and picking out bones.

Eventually with some moving and shaking a recipe was formed from various ones and had ingredients that were Thai, American and Japanese the result was very good and I have even frozen some cakes to see how they will work thawed and cooked.

FishCakes Ingredidents

Fish Sauce
1/2 cupCilantro (eyeball it and tear it off and chop it up)
1 teaspoon Coriander Seed
1 pinch Curry Powder (a little goes a long way)
Hot Chili Sauce a few good squeezes, more if you want more heat
2 table spoons Soy Sauce
Panko bread crumbs for dipping before frying
1 egg for dipping before the Panko
2 Packets of Starkist Tuna, Hickory Smoked or Sweet and Spicy
1/4 cup Green Onions finely chopped
1 Clove garlic minced
3 small white potatoes
Oil for Frying

One of the recipes I found wanted a paste made then to add in potatoes. Another wanted to soak dried fish and change the water to remove some saltiness over several hours. I ended up using peices of each method instead.

I start by boiling the potatoes until I can poke them with a fork and the fork goes all the way through and the little hot spud falls back off easily. I leave the skin on because i want that to help with keeping the cakes together. I saw recipes that wanted them removed but I think it really helps. Hey, isn’t there fiber in that skin too?

In a bowl I mix
all my other ingredients except the egg panko and oil.

When the potatoes are cooked i drain and remove them from the heat and leave in pot.
I mash them in the pot and scoop them togheter with the other mix. Everything is done in the mix at this point so you can taste it to see if you want more of any flavor.

Start heating your skillet and oil at this point.

Next  mix/beat the egg in a bowl and add a splash of fish sauce to it. In another bowl pour in some Panko.

Form the fish mix into cakes/patties/balls/torpedoes/20 sided dice whatever you want.

A dip in the egg mix and a dip/roll in the bread crumbs then into the hot skillet. Again they are pretty much cooked already. You are just wanting the outside to be browned and crispy. We ended up  eating this with some help from the store, Rice A Roni with artichoke hearts, mushrooms and feta cheese.

Fish Cakes

This outing really makes me want to go back and hit all of the new spots in that area of OakCliff.

Bolsa Dallas Img from iliveindallas.com

Monday I did Tortilla Espanola.
So easy and fast that I had time to also dive into baking a bit while I prepped and cooked.

I think this is a super good dish for guys to make to seem awesome in front of guests and dates.
Even your buddies will like it, Its just a big hard omelet and guys love that.
And eggs are easy to have around. Start cooking this up and tell the girl how you got interested in
Spanish food after watching movies with Antonio Banderas (name dropping ftw AND women love him she is already interested by this point)  and you felt the best way to learn about people
is through their food. Not only eating, but cooking it as well. At this point, look her in the eyes and, pause.
You can thank me later when she loves you. But really, it sounds way harder than it is.
And it packs away for lunches and brunch and dinner. Depending what you put it in it you can even do it for breakfast.

They were not bullshitting about the incredible edible egg.

Tortilla Espanola. Onions, cilantro, black olives.

Ingredients and Method and such

6 large eggs.
2 cans of sliced potatoes could have used some Yukon gold or fingerling potatoes thin sliced
1 cup black olives, sliced or not.
1 cup yellow onion diced
4 cloves garlic minced
black pepper
salt
cilantro
dried basil
paprika
cayenne pepper
olive oil

start by bringing olive oil to medium heat in large oven proof skillet.
add garlic and move around till you can smell it, it should take no color so keep moving it with spatula.
Add onions and sprinkle of salt then cover. Let this go for about 5 -7 minutes, you are sweating these now. We want to keep the
liquid in and get them softened but not browned. The salt will draw out moisture also and make them almost steam to softness.

In separate bowl, add the eggs to the olives with black pepper and basil. Mix well.

Add the potatoes to the onions and some paprika and cayenne pepper. You will need to toss this good to get some even coating
and then cover and let cook for another 5-7 minutes. Or until the potatoes are softened but not mushy
Keep an eye and make sure no sticking occurs.

After the potatoes are coated and softened from some cooking. Pour over the egg mixture. Make sure you get good coverage all over th potatoes. It will go down into the cracks and this is what we want. cook without stirring uncovered for 5 minutes.
Now you have two options here.

I have done both and they are nice. The advanced method takes confidence in your kitchen skills and knowing your equipment.

Advanced Method, You will need large plate and a big spatula.
Remove pan from heat and with spatula and some work loosen the cooked mass from the pan while leaving it in the pan. Once it is loosened up you will take you plate and with the eating side facing the top of the eggs cover it. Now with you hand on the back, you will flip the Tortilla over onto the plate. Once there you will slide it back into the pan upside down now. Sprinkle it with cilantro and basil and let cook for another 5-7 minutes until done all the way through.

The basic method, the one I used last night is to simply let it cook on one side till solid and set, then move it to the oven and place it close to the broiler and crank it to 500 degrees for a bit, checking ever 30 seconds until it is at the desired brownness you want.
Remove , sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

They turned out nice and I made a sauce of Franks Buffalo Wing sauce, honey, cornstarch, and ketchup.

along with that I made a batch of Applesauce Spiced muffins.

The recipe was super easy and like most people on the thread below, I modified it to suit my tastes.
I KNOW I didn’t need a whole stick of butter there and only half the sugar as well.
I used a cinnamon applesauce since we could buy it in smaller cups and use the rest through out the week as lunch
fillers.

Muffins were fantastic and Nobody died.

Applesauce Spice Muffins. Applesauce, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg.

Baking… I’m coming for you…

Take a look

http://thursdaynightsmackdown.com/hobo-mondays/

Turkey and Rice Galette

The deal/challenge/whatchu macallit was to make a meal to feed two people for $5.00 or less.
If it was for a family of four $10.00 or under.
I think I pretty much got that on the nose.

I thought that I was going to go without a meat but that would bind me to certain dishes and grains
that would put me out of my budget on short notice. I only saw the challenge the other day and had a busy weekend
and couldn’t do loads of research at stores.
So the grains I know are cheap… rice. The meat I know is cheap… turkey…
They had to go together to pull this off.
I know it wasn’t going to be a serious culinary chess game with scents of rice and rosemary wrapped silverware but it
would be something a bit different and hearty for a family to get down with.

I ended up making a filling of turkey, onions and rice with a light sauce in a buckwheat galette.
It came in well under the $5.00 mark and the only complaint I received was it was a tad bit salty. That’s fine and can be remedied
with simply leaving out the splash of soy sauce at the end of my meat simmering.

I haven’t made crepes in a long time and the galette is essentially a salty savory crepe. I used olive oil to barely grease
my skillet and a bit of salt for the batter. I think lemon zest and minced garlic would be great in this batter as well.

The filling.

First I bring up my non stick skillet to heat and add in the ground lean turkey meat. I used Honeysuckle White 93/7 lean ground turkey. It was on sale for $1.97. It would be cheaper for the 80/20 but I budgeted 3 bucks so this was a steal.
When in the skillet I used some spice rack staples. Lemon Pepper, Garlic powder, Dried oregano and Dried basil and black pepper.
While that cooks I chop. I chopped 1 small white onion one small green bell pepper and like 5 cloves of garlic. I also
chopped some green onion for garnish and set aside.

The Rice ( does it really need a section)
I start the rice and let it cook as normal, one cup of water 2 cups water, splash of oil, boil reduce to low for 12 minutes.

I add the veggies and cover the meat to let them get softened about 3 minutes. I then added water and a corn starch slurry let
simmer for about 10 minutes on very low. checking and moving few times before adding a splash of soy sauce and a bit of syrup.

I mix this and the rice together and remove from heat and let sit covered while I make batter.

The Galette
The batter was very simple and quick and turned out nice. The last time I made crepes I had a gas stove and a crepe pan at
a buddies house and I was cranking them out like the peanut man at the ballpark. This time that was not the case.
the electric stove was being a bitch and the first one was straight to the trash. I think it was a sacrifice and was OK.

Galette in pan after first flip.

The second one went smooth and by number three I was back in the saddle. I had enough for 5 of these with a ton of meat mix
left over. That mix can be put to some serious left over magic. Over pasta, in a pie crust and topped with mashed potatoes,
rolled into pocket of dough for  your own hot pockets. Heated up and served with a bit of arugula and balsamic vinegar for my lunch
the next day… See, tons of things and under $5.00

Galette recipe from

http://www.ffcook.com/pages/mocrepes.htm

Ingredients :
- 250 gr [9 oz] buckwheat flour / 1 egg / 1/2 liter [17 fl oz] water /
1 teaspoon olive oil / 1 teaspoon salt

Google will help you do conversions

I figured that 30 grams is one ounce

After you pour the batter in a thin layer, give it one swirl around the lightly greased nonstick pan
and let it cook. The edges will turn up slightly and there will be solid bubbles on the surface. Then it can be flipped.
I just get a grip on the skillet, tilt it so the galette falls to the edge, but not out or over, then quick push pull and snap
to flip it. I then scoop in a bit of the mixture, three table spoons at least. I use my spatula to pull the corners up into a,
hell I guess a clover shape (???) and then cook for another few seconds to make sure it doesnt open back up on me.
I slide it to a plate. Garnish with green onion and lemon pepper. My basil leaves were bad and had to be chunked.

Fun challenge and thanks to Michelle @ http://thursdaynightsmackdown.com/ for the idea.

Galette filled with Turkey, rice onions and peppers.

Adventure Complete:
You gain meal(1), Leftovers(3), New Recipe for “spellbook” (1), 100 Gold,
and 2000 XP.

You used the following Items

9 oz buckwheat flour $1.00
1 lb ground turkey $1.97
1 large egg $0.16
1 small onion $0.50
1 green bell pepper$0.79
1 cup rice $.08
soy sauce (no cost staple)
dried seasonings (no cost staple)
spoonful of cornstarch (no cost staple)

Total $4.50

1 cup of lentils
half a cup of frozen or fresh green beans
2 cups water
sesame oil
olive oil
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup of Roasted Red Peppers, jarred are fine
Soy sauce to taste
mushrooms (optional)
nuts, cashews or almond or walnuts. (optional)

I boil a cup of lentils with 2 cups of water for about 8 or 9 minutes.  I drain them and get  a skillet started with a bit of olive oil and seasame oil. Add in the green beans and garlic and get them started to unthaw. Then I add the lentils and lemon and soy sauce and work around with a spatula until the green beans are unthawed but not mushy. If you are using mushrooms you can add them at this point too to not get too mushy but to get warmed through and soak up some of the soy. I like portabello. Toss in nuts if  you  have them.

Now the leftovers. Its wednesday night and I like to clean out the fridge. So I planned to make a little pouch with some feta cheese and some fried tofu in a tortilla. MMMMM. Hell no. OK not totally Hell No, but it turned out dryer than  I wanted.  I needed to have a suace for it and if I ever do it again it will get a sauce for sure. They looked very good and tasty but just came out very dry.

Lentil Pouch Leftovers

A little bit of gumbo that wasn’t too hard to make.
I have a probelm scaling back recipes to a size for two. Mainly due to my issue with math.
Wait, I dont have a learning disorder or anything, I just hate doing it in the kitchen.
I work all day with numbers and equations and such, but at home when im cooking.
Math has to sit in the living room with the dog and stay out of my way.
I can do approximations and can feel out how much I’m pouring into things but to sit and read and measure
exactly would make me cry.
So this recipe is for gumbo and it made a enough for 8 servings between me and Applehead.
No we didn’t eat 8 servings, we barely had one a peice but we have leftovers and that will be about 6 more meals
as far as I can tell.

Chicken and Sausge gumbo.

half a pound skinless boneless chicken breast tenders. cut into chunks
1/2 a link of skinless eckeridge smoked sausage. diced small
1 and 1/2 cups total of chopped celery carrot and yellow onion. your normal dice for mirepoix.
caynenne pepper
1/2 bottle of New Castle Ale
1 1/3 cup of Low sodium chicken broth.
flour, i think it was about 2/3 cup
olive oil I think about 1/2 a cup or a little more.
minced garlic
Tony Chachere Creole Seasoning.

I started with the roux.
It really is only fat and flour cooked together. And I have made many gumbos in the last year and many sauces and Olive oil is just as good if not better in alot of ways than butter as I see it. So I add my oil and let it get hot, not too hot, but noticeably warm then add the flour and start stirring and watching. The first time I made roux for gumbo I flipped out. The recipe asked to cook it until it got the color
of a Hershey bar. I was like BS! that’s burned ain’t it? But its not. Its very nutty smelling and deep and full of flavor.
But, and this is the truth, it senses fear. It will know if  you are scared or if you walk away. So stay on it.
Stirring often.
After its browned nicely I add the veggies and stir to coat. I let them get nice and coated with all of the roux
and add a but of olive oil to help out.  I stuck with celery instead of old standard green peppers for two reasons, one, I forgot and two Applehead doesn’t dig on the peppers that much. So I didn’t want to buy them for one dish. And the pre-cut celery and carrot stick for party trays are always cheaper than one or the other at my store. So win. Then I add the sausage. If I had andouille you bet I would use it.
But this skinless sausage volunteered and wasn’t gonna make it to Sunday morning breakfast anyway. I try to wait
until I can see softened or such of the onion but sometimes I can’t wait that long and want to get it started simmering
already.  After its really looking good about 5 minutes of cooking and light stirring I add the beer and broth
and some cayenne pepper and creole seasoning. That Tony’s seasoning is my stand by when I am not looking to use all of my spices. I got a container on sale and it seems to be endless, unlike my  black pepper and red pepper containers. So I use it alot. And its good stuff.
I let this come to a boil then drop to a simmer for 1 hour.

I served it over steamed white rice with a handful of chopped green onions.
I could have used more spice, or so I thought, that stuff was building on me and I was sweating like a preacher on Sunday
by the end of my bowl. It does need salt, but I rather add that at the end or eat it with crispy hushpuppies… No hushpuppies this time. Maybe in a few months I will get those crunchy nuggets again.