Thai Noodles

So we have been staying at my mothers while we waited for our son to be born and during this time some how everyone but me has eaten out at a Thai restaurant. Now I used to live in Thailand so Thai food is some of my favorite eats to be found. Yesterday was your average day and dinner for the kids was nice and simple; chicken nuggets with raw broccoli and carrots and a small side of ranch for dipping. Seeing as the kids dinner was so easy, in part because they were in a hurry to get over to their friends house to play, I decided to finally rectify my lack of having Thai food. We had gone to Super H (A Korean supermarket) mart the other day so I had everything I needed on hand. This recipe is pretty simple though not truly authentic. The ingredients are as follows:

1 pack ramen noodles ( I picked up a case of that was from Thailand from Super H)

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1 tsp fresh ginger chopped

1/2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp siracha sauce

1-2 cups frozen vegetable

1/2 a chicken breast thinly sliced

1 lime wedge

olive oil as needed

I started by boiling the ramen without the seasoning in a wok. You do not need a wok a sauté pan will work fine. After the ramen is set aside heat your wok back up add enough oil to cook the chicken. After seasoning your chicken with some salt and pepper add it to the wok and cook it. When it is almost done throw in the vegetables and ginger, let them heat through. Next add the ramen, fish sauce, siracha, garlic, ramen seasoning,and sugar, you may need to add a little bit of water to keep the noodles from sticking. If you don't have fish sauce you should be able to find it at most grocery stores these days other wise you can substitute soy sauce for it. After its done squeeze some lime juice on and enjoy.

NOTICE: You are encouraged to try different amounts of lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and spiciness to your dish. In Thai cuisine it is about balancing sweet, sour, salty, and spicy, so find the amounts that work for you. Enjoy!

Tonight we use Ginger

• Today was a great day, the weather was wonderful. We went to a local nature preserve that had turtles, fish and other small animals for viewing as well as a few nature trails. After a nice afternoon we came home and spent time at the neighbors. I wanted a meal that complemented what a nice day we had. I call it Garlic Ginger Chicken, now I know that name leads one to believe that this is a Asian dish, it is not it is more of a European inspired American dish in my mind. Of course I could be way off but below are the ingredients.
• 
  
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 carrot, chopped
• 1/3 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger root
• 1/2 cups olive oil
• 1/4 chicken stock
• 2 large chicken breasts cubed
• 3 medium potatoes cubed
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• salt to taste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup fresh asparagus
• 
  

I started by finely mincing the garlic, next I peeled, rough chopped and pureed the ginger root with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. After rough chopping the potatoes, asparagus and onions I set everything aside in a bowl. I mixed in the wine and ginger puree as well as some salt and pepper with everything in the bowl. Next I diced the chicken then added the chicken and olive oil to your large pan and cook for about 10 min or until not pink is visible. Finally add the rest of the ingredients to the pan along with the chicken stock but reserve the garlic. Cook until the veggies and potatoes are tender and done about 15 more min, make sure to cover the pan during this time period. Turn off the heat stir in the garlic let it stand for 5min then serve. My girls and wife loved this dish, next time I will have to make more, much more.

Pasta Salad

Today was hot, the hottest day so far. We had plenty of fun in the sun but when it came time for dinner I was less than exuberant about the thought of heating up the house even further with the stove or oven. To top it off once again the girls decided to not eat a very good lunch and therefore were "starving". Oh yea as well I once again forgot to goto the store to restock our food so i was going to have to really scrounge to make something. Seeing as how I was decidedly for a cool dinner I settled on pasta salad ( in case you had not already deduced that from my title) with the following accoutrement:

1/2 can chickpeas

1 box bow-tie pasta

1/2 cup diced olives green and black

2 large carrots shredded

1 large can of canned chunked chicken

1/2 cup asparagus roughly chopped

1/2 cup peas

S&P to taste

Ranch Dressing

Normally I would not used canned chicken, the unfortunate matter was that we were out of good chicken. So I cooked the pasta, rough chopped the chicken a bit more, shredded carrots and then mixed them all in one giant bowl. I added no S&P to the dish besides salting the water, I do this some times so that people can control the amount of spice they want in their dish. On top of that I had already put in a fair amount of green olives which are plenty salty. The dish went over about as well as any pasta dish with children, they both cleared plates but I have a feeling this was due more to not eating a a good lunch. I spiced mine up with hot sauce and black pepper, if I had had proper ingredients it would have turned out better but it was all that I needed on this warm summer night.

The Dinner made up

Hi all, today was one of those days. The girls missed there nap and pretty much refused to eat all day so when dinner came around I was in no mood to make gourmet meal. When going into the pantry to see what to make I realize that it is time to go shopping for more food...hmmm... what to make I came up with a simple and fast dish. I know I know when you read it you will probably comment on how you have had this or that it is YOU who claims ownership to this dish. Alas I could care less who created it first all I know is that I made it tonight.

1 Box of macaroni

4 Cloves garlic

3-4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 plum tomatoes

1 cup peas

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon of sugar

S&P to taste

I started by cooking the macaroni in salted water. Next I diced the garlic and tomatoes, then I sautéed the garlic over medium heat when the garlic was tasty and delicious. Next I added in the tomatoes and sugar (note the sugar is there to help bring out extra flavors in the tomatoes.) With the macaroni finished i drained it and added it to the pan along with my frozen peas. The outcome was pretty successful, though I had to remind my oldest that yes she did indeed like tomatoes. Unfortunately her initial disdain of them caused my 2yr old to decide not to eat anymore of her tomatoes. I finished the meal of with some store bought garlic bread, a good meal for a long day.

The Dinner with Korean BBQ

Hi all this is my first blog post ever I know how excited you must be(another blog on the internet especially mine is a big deal.) I, if you could not tell, am a father of 2 young girls aged 4 and 2 with a little boy on the way. I must confess that my blog title may be a little misleading I am not a chef, well at least not a professional one, as well I am not a professional writer. I do have some street cred though I worked at the golden arches when I was younger once and at a grocery store as well as a real bonifide Italian restaurant. Though I did mainly wash dishes at the restaurants I was also a chef at times responsible for big things like salads, I know I was big time. What I hope to accomplish from this blog are two things one and most importantly is I want to share recipes with other parents. Seeing as my wife lacks any natural ability in the kitchen (she caught her macaroni and cheese on fire) I am the main provider of eats to my family. This has led to the stress of such a position and I am always looking for new ideas ,especially ones that my children will like, and thus I want to share ideas that work and even those that do not. Secondly I would like to keep a journal of what I have been feeding my family so that I may better prepare our next meal. I do want to warn you my children are not very picky eaters so they eat most things, though pickiness is popping up its annoying head(apparently mushrooms are no longer considered worthy of eating >:( ). Never the less I was inspired when shopping at our local Asian market to make the following, I know its not the most original dish but cut some slack it was easy as can be.

1 pound steak thinly sliced against the grain

½ half of large yellow onion sliced

1 cup of shitake mushrooms sliced

½ cup frozen corn

¼ cup sliced scallions for garnish

2 cups long grain rice

1 cup of Korean bbq sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients, except the rice, in a bowl or zip-top bag allowing to marinade for at least 30min. Cook the rice as directed on the package. Heat a pan and the oil until screaming hot and then add the ingredients that have been marinading. Cook for 5 to 6 min until the steak is where you like it then sever over rice and enjoy. My children loved this recipe it was their first exposure to Korean food, though how truly Korean it was is up for debate.