Trina's page of Blogginess

that should be the name of a movie or novel.

This doesn't happen very often. It turns out that I am on Day 5 of a unintentional vegetarian diet.

Unintentional? How does that happen?

I've recently realized that when I cook at home, I tend to cook a lot of vegetarian meals. I think it's because I like fresh produce so much, and Dick and I both love veggies of all kinds. Plus, it just makes me feel good.

But, it's not intentional. I don't go out of my way not to cook meat, it's just that most of my favorite recipes don't incorporate it.

I've been trying to cook at home more often. I think it satisfies some domestic goddess in me that I didn't ever know existed.

This week's dinner menus have included: vegetable chili (2 nights), Egg Foo Young (my Grandpa's recipe) and last night, Capellini Pomodoro. It was all very yummy!

Since I work from home, I usually will eat leftovers for lunch, so it's just more of the same. Although, come to think of it, there was a day this week when I had an unexplainable craving for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (It's the Cheesiest!). Not the best lunch ever, but still fits into the non-meat category.

Hmmmmm..... now we'll probably go out and have a big, fat steak this weekend. lol.

Labels: cooking, just trina

I'm a big fan of having oatmeal for breakfast, and had heard about Steel Cut Oatmeal for years.

I finally picked some up last week. On a side note, I found it odd that my local (smaller) grocery store had it, but my emi-local ginormous Safeway did not.

I had seen a segment on TV recently (okay, I admit it - it was on Oprah!) that mentioned the nutritional benefits of Steel Cut Oatmeal.

Steel Cut Oatmeal takes a lot longer to cook than my regular 3-minute Quaker Oats. The recipe on my can called to let it come to a boil, then let it simmer for 30 minutes. I remember hearing that the longer the oatmeal takes to cook, the better it is for you.

I made the Oatmeal for the first time this morning. My verdict? I really liked it. I really liked the texture, and I really liked the taste. I added my usual milk, brown sugar and cranberries to sweeten it. It was really good.

Labels: cooking

the Chinese girl from California is learning...

In the Southern tradition, we made Greens (Collard) and Black Eyed Peas (in the form of Hoppin' John) for dinner.

The black eyed peas represent good luck and the greens signify prosperity.

We do this meal almost ever year on New Year's Day. We used a new recipe (for us) for the Hoppin' John - gotta love the Mama Dip's Cookbook. It was both of our favorite version by far. Mmmmm.

Which brings me to to the question: who is John, and why is he hoppin'?

Labels: A day in the life, cooking

While I was in the hospital, one thing that I was allowed to eat on the same day as my surgery was Jello. I was reminded of my childhood love for Jello. As a kid, I was often sick, and my Mom often made me Jello to help me feel better.

When we returned home from the hospital yesterday, Jim and Cynde came over and offered to go to the grocery store for us. I asked them to get some Jello for me. It just sounded good and comforting.

They picked me up a few of those ready-made cups of Jello, which were really good, but today I realized that I had a whole other level of Jello craving: what I really wanted was fruit cocktail mixed in Strawberry Jello! How's that for old-school?

Dick and I went out for a slow, careful walk this afternoon. It really helped me to be out in the sun and fresh air, and to stretch my muscles a bit. On our way home, we stopped off at the grocery store, where I bought a box of Strawberry Jello, and a can of Del Monte fruit cocktail. I can't remember the last time I bought either one of these items!

I made my Jello/fruit cocktail mixture when I came home, and put it in the fridge. I just had a bowl for dessert.

Let me tell you: still just as satisfying now as it was when I was a kid!

J-E-L-L-O!

Labels: A day in the life, cooking

Mmmmmmm...Pretty!

Tonight's dinner was one of the prettier (and healthier) meals that I've made!

Artichokes, Summer Squash, and wild rice.

...a little red wine, and you're good to go!

Labels: cooking, just trina

This Chinese girl may become a Southerner yet!

It may not look like much here, but we made the best batch of Chicken & Dumplings last night! We have an awesome recipe from the Mama Dip's Cookbook. We've made it a few times before, but this was the best batch ever! We finally figured out how to get the consistency just right.

Talk about a simple recipe:
1 whole chicken
1/2 stick butter butter
1 sage leaf
water
1 can chicken broth
flour


Mmmmmm....Chicken and Dumplings!

We made it last night, plus we'll have enough for dinner tonight, and another meal during the week. That one chick goes a long way!

Labels: cooking

I had lunch today with Philip. We met up one of our usual places in Ferry Building: Out the Door - the take-out counter adjacent to The Slanted Door.

I love this place. It's delish. I'm a big fan of their spring rolls in peanut sauce. It makes for one heck of a tasty lunch treat.

A couple of weeks back, I thought I'd try something new for dinner. I noticed that Out the Door sold these cool little cooking kits - some of their most popular dishes available for you to cook at home. They measure out all the ingredients, and include step-by-step directions on how to cook.

One of our favorite dishes at The Slanted Door is their Shaking Beef. They sell for cooking kit for two for $19.50. Not exactly cheap, I know, but also not bad considering it's a meal for two. We pay more for delivery pizza (and when I say "pizza", what I really mean is "salad").

When I say that this kit contains all ingredients needed, I'm not kidding.

Here are the kit contents:

1. filet Mignon
2. oil
3. garlic
4. red and green onions
5. sauce
6. butter (one pad)
7. watercress
8. lime (whole)
9. salt and pepper

This meal is a real treat. I really love how easy it is to make, there are no preservatives, and I enjoy cooking it! Fast and easy!

update
I just found this recipe online. It claims to be by the chef-owner of The Slanted Door, Charles Phan.
I'll have to give this a try next time!

Labels: cooking, san francisco

Poor Dick has been down with a bit of a bug for the past few days.

On Sunday, I offered to make him some homemade won ton soup for dinner. One of my favorite childhood memories was when my Mom would make us won ton soup. It was always a big deal when she made it, because it was so delicious, and she would often make it for us when we were sick. Even now, when I'm sick, I usually try to order some won ton soup from our Chinese take-out place - it's good comfort food.

I went to our grocery store, and was pleased that our local neighborhood market had all of the ingredients that I needed. I came home, shelled the shrimp, soaked the Chinese mushrooms, and called my Mom one last time for the directions. Even though I've made this recipe with my Mom many times, this was my first time making it all by myself.

Dick offered to help fold the won ton, which was greatly appreciated, because it's quite time consuming. We made and folded enough won ton to feed at least 8 people, so I ended up freezing several batches to use later, and to give to my parents and my sister.

The soup turned out pretty well. It was a little too much shrimp, and not enough pepper, but not bad at all for my first attempt!


Southern Boy wrapping won ton.

Labels: cooking

Dick and I both really enjoy soup - It's yummy, and usually very easy to make.

Last week, we decided to plan to make a soup a week. This isn't too far of a stretch, as we probably usually have soup at least twice a month. We're also planning to experiment with some new recipes. Our usual soup repertoire has about 4 different types so far: Split Pea, Chinese Noodle, Cabbage, Sausage & Potato and Butternut Squash. Last week, we made a really great Potato & Leek Soup, and last night I made a yummy Lentil soup with Tomato and Spinach.

If any of you have any great soup recipes that you'd like to share, please send me an email. Oh, by the way, Dick doesn't like anything with Cheese or Cream, so I try to stay away from any recipe with those ingredients.

Soup!

Labels: cooking

Last night, we went to Dick's Company's Holiday party. It was a lot of fun. I saw some old friends, met some new friends, and even met people who I'd never met before who apparently read my blog! ("Shout-Out to Zeke!") I also was recognized as "The wife who plays X-Box!" and was invited to a future Gears of War game.


The Holiday Party

The party was at The San Francisco Design Center. It was a nice venue - big main floor, with 2 additional levels, all looking down to the main floor. There was lots of food, interesting booths (chocolate tasting, henna tattoos, tea-leaf reading, and bonsai trees) and a pretty good band. (Although the Solid Gold Dancers were questionable.)


The "red-shirt" guys

I met someone who asked about my blog, and said something along the lines of, "I'll check in tomorrow to see what you had for breakfast." I think he was kidding, and didn't realize that I sometimes really do take a photo and blog about our meals. ;)

So, without further adieu.....

Today's Breakfast

Dick wanted a "down-home country breakfast" complete with eggs, grits, bacon and biscuits. I have a biscuit recipe that I've only made once before, but I remembered that they were really yummy.

The recipe called for a 3" round cookie cutter. I didn't have anything that fit that description, so instead I opted for a 3" Star-Shaped cutter that I just received in the mail with a Christmas Order. I figured, "Why not? It's festive!"


Big Country Breakfast

Dick was very, very impressed that this Chinese Girl can make a good homemade biscuit. He even said they were as good as Bojangles back home in North Carolina. That's got to be the biggest compliment he could've given me! (but, can they make star-shaped biscuits?!)

Labels: cooking, holidays

This past week, I found myself with 3 just-too-old-to-eat bananas in my fruit bowl. I was getting ready to toss them in the trash, when I heard the voice of The Muffin Man in the back of my mind. I realized that I shouldn't' toss the bananas! Instead, I should channel my inner Betty Crocker, and make banana bread!

I had almost all the ingredients: mushy bananas, flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla. The only thing missing was Buttermilk.

Since I've been cooped inside my house most of the week, this was a good reason to get out: I happily strolled along to my neighborhood grocery store and bought buttermilk.

The banana bread was a great success! Christopher came over that evening. He made a delicious comfort-food dinner: meatloaf and mashed-potatoes. We followed dinner with my fresh-baked banana bread for dessert.

That's when Dick asked the question: "What IS Buttermilk?"

As if on cue, Christopher and I both answered at the same time, "Milk. Made with butter...."

(of course, we didn't know at all, and were totally making this up)

This morning, I realized I still had buttermilk in the fridge, and decided to shake up our weekly routine, and made Buttermilk Pancakes! (Yum!)

Again, Dick asked the question, "What IS Buttermilk?"

So, I brought in the laptop, and found the answer:

In the old days, buttermilk was a byproduct of making butter. People would churn and churn and churn. The result of churning milk was butter and liquid. This liquid byproduct was buttermilk.

These days the buttermilk we buy at the grocery store is made by adding a lactic acid bacteria culture to skim or non-fat milk. The milk is then fermented to make modern buttermilk.

Buttermilk has considerably less fat than you would think. Keep in mind that buttermilk is milk with the butter removed. It would be better named "butter-less milk". The buttermilk we have here is 90% water, 5% lactose sugar, a little live bacteria culture and just a hint of butter fat - just enough butter fat to give it that rich, tangy flavor that makes it so great to bake with.

Mmmmm... lactic acid bacteria culture added to fermented milk...

Hmmm... maybe, sometimes, it's better not to ask.

That's okay. The banana bread and the Buttermilk Pancakes sure were yummy!

Labels: A day in the life, cooking