Yummy tuna croquette

Easy Easy recipe. Took almost no time but tastes o so yummy.

You can use some thousand island as dipping sauce, and maybe squeeze some lemon juice on it afterwards.

TUNA CROQUETTES

1 (6 1/2 oz.) can tuna 1 1/2 tbsp. butter 1/2 onion, chopped 3 tbsp. flour 1/2 c. milk Egg Bread crumbs Parsley Melt butter. Add onion and soften it. Remove from fire and add 3 tablespoons flour and stir in 1/2 cup milk. Keep stirring and then put back on fire until real thick. Put tuna in bowl and flake it. Add mixture and parsley. Sprinkle in bread crumbs until a ball is formed. Chill 2 hours in refrigerator. Form croquettes, any shape. Dip in egg and bread crumbs. Chill again until ready to cook. Fry in shortening or oil.

Spinach mushroom Lasagna

I had frozen spinach, dried mushroom and turkey one day and didn't know what to make. I search on foodnetwork and found a lasagna recipe with those ingredients. It turned out to be such a yummy dish. I made it for my son's birthday party and got plenty of compliments on the bechamel sauce. The ingredients may look long but it really doesn't take that long to make it.


8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 pound button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
7 cups milk
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 pound spinach, stemmed, washed, blanched and roughly chopped
3 cups grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for coating casserole dish
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon Essence, recipe follows
1 pound oven-ready lasagna sheets
1 tablespoon butter, cut into 8 pieces

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring often until the mushrooms are browned and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and saute until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, to make a light roux, about 2 minutes. Whisking constantly, slowly add the milk and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until thickened, 5 minutes. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt, pepper, nutmeg, spinach and 1 1/2 cups of the Parmesan and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the bechamel sauce until ready to assemble the lasagna.

Set a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Season the chicken with the Essence and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and place in the hot pan. Sear the chicken, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool and set aside. When cool, cut into bite size pieces.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Coat a 9 by 13 by 3-inch casserole with olive oil, and spread about 1/2 cup of the bechamel sauce on the bottom of the dish. Lay 3 sheets of pasta across the bottom of the dish and spread 3/4 cup of the bechamel sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle 1/4 of the chicken over the bechamel sauce, then sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the remaining Parmesan. Lay another 3 sheets of pasta over the chicken. Repeat 2 additional times with the remaining bechamel sauce, chicken, Parmesan, and pasta, ending with a layer of pasta covered with bechamel sauce. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of Parmesan over the bechamel sauce and scatter the butter pieces over the top. Place the casserole on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake, uncovered, until bubbly and well browned, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Note: You may need slightly less than the entire package of lasagna noodles, depending on the pan used for the casserole. Also, you may be able to fit more than 3 pieces of pasta in each layer, depending. The pasta can be broken into smaller pieces to fill in the gaps.

Filet Mignon

My sister sent me this link and told me how it's super easy and super tasty. I haven't tried it yet but I got my steak all ready to be cooked this week with this recipe.

1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
6 (5 to 6-ounce) filet mignon steaks (each about 1-inch thick)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces soft fresh goat cheese

Boil the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a heavy small saucepan over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/3 cup, stirring occasionally, about 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Melt the butter in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper. Cook the steaks to desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer the steaks to a baking sheet. Crumble the cheese over the steaks and broil just until the cheese melts, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with pepper.

Transfer the steaks to plates. Drizzle the balsamic sauce around the steaks and serve.

Sweet n Sour pork chops

I found this on foodnetwork. I got a whole bunch of costco size pork chop and didn't know what to do with them. This recipe worked out great. It's so easy and so yummy. I would tenderize the meat first though.

Sweet-n-Sour Pork Chops Recipe courtesy Robin Miller

1 tablespoon sesame oil Salt and ground black pepper 4 (4-ounce) boneless pork loin chops 1 cup apricot preserves 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 1/4 cup chopped scallionsHeat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season pork chops all over with salt and black pepper and add to hot pan. Cook chops 2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Add apricot preserves, soy sauce and ginger and bring to a simmer. Partially cover and simmer 5 minutes, until pork is cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in scallions.

Dinner tonight - Lasagna Bolognese

I got this baby recipes book with lots of really simple recipes that are healthy and full of nutrients for babies and adults. One of the recipes that I really like is the Bolognese sauce. Instead of using canned tomato like most of the recipes; this uses fresh tomatoes. You can do anything you want with the Bolognese sauce. I made Lasagna with it today because we have too many half used boxes left. I also improvised the recipe to have more veggies and used the crockpot to save me cooking time.

1 small onion - rough chopped
3/4 cup of carrot - rough chopped
4 Tb of celery
1 Tb of Italian seasoning (I actually more like 2. but you can always add, not take out)
1 tsp of salt
7 grinds of freshly ground pepper
1 lb ground meat (I used turkey, use whatever you have)
1/4 cup of chicken stock
1 can tomato paste
1 cup of mushroom (again use whatever you have. I used my rehydrated shiitake mushroom)

Toss EVERYTHING into the crockpot. Turn it on high. Wait 4-5 hours. Or slow for 8 hours.
Use a handblender to blend everything until smooth. That's what you only need to rough chop.

Ta da. Bolognese sauce is done!

If you want to make Lasagna with it.
Mix some ricotta cheese with the sauce, layer them with no boil Lasanga sheets in the order of sauce, sheet, sauce, parmasen cheese, sheet, sauce, parmasen cheese, for as many layers as you want.
Finally put more sauce and parmasen cheese on top after the last layer.
Bake for half an hour with the a foil, and then 15 min without.

EASY!

Spanish rice

Most spanish rice is served as side dish to meat or fish dishes. I don't have time to make so many dishes, so I actually make my spanish rice filling enough to be dinner itself. My son loves this and it's also very easy to make. I improvised this off a recipe from www.elise.com

2 tablespoons olive oil (can use up to 1/4 cup)
1 onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup of green peas
1/2 cup of carrots, chopped
1 egg
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups of medium or long-grain white rice
3 cups* chicken stock (or vegetable stock if vegetarian)
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
Pinch of oregano
1 teaspoon salt

optional: 1 lb sausage

*Check the instructions on the rice package for the proportions of liquid to rice. They can range from 1:1 to 2:1. If your rice calls for 2 cups of water for every cup of rice, then for this recipe, use 4 cups of stock for 2 cups of rice.

1 In a large skillet brown rice in olive oil, medium/high heat. If you're cooking with the sausage, remove casing and brown the meat now. Add onion, garlic, carrot. Cook onion rice mixture, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes, or until onions are softened.

2 In a separate sauce pan bring stock to a simmer. Add tomato sauce, oregano, and salt. Add rice and peas to broth. Bring to a simmer. Cover. Lower heat and cook 15-25 minutes, depending on the type of rice and the instructions on the rice package. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

Kalbi Jim

You don't have to use short ribs for this. I made this dish with Costco size stew meat. It basically isn't Kalbi Jimwhen it's stew meat, but Jiang jo jim (I think that's what it is called, sorry I'm not Korean). It tastes just as good though! I know the recipe doesn't have the exact recipe, but it isn't that hard to do it by "taste" unless you pour in a cup of sugar or something.

KOREAN BRAISED SHORT RIBS (GALBI JJIM)

INGREDIENTS:
* 1-3 pounds of english cut short ribs (have the ribs cut into 3-5 inch long pieces)
* corn oil
* sesame oil (about 1-2 tablespoons)
* sweet dessert wine or vermouth (about 1/2 cup to 1 cup or to taste)…or white wine as substitute (but then you will need more sugar)
* soy sauce (about 1/2 cup to 1 cup or to taste)–about an equal amount to the wine
* black pepper (to taste)
* sugar (about a handful or two, to taste)
* several cloves garlic, chopped or minced
* two medium onions, chopped
* several carrots, chopped
* several potatoes, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
Take short ribs and cross cut them (basically make cuts into the beef so they look like “fingers”). Put in large stockpot, add water to cover, and boil. (this is the step that some cooks might cringe at, but it makes the beef more tender and boils the fat out of the beef). Boil for about 10-15 minutes.

Do NOT throw away the short rib stock.

Fetch a dutch oven. Heat. Add about 2 tablespoons corn oil. When hot, add onions and short ribs (no stock, just the short ribs). Saute until onions are golden and short ribs are browned. Add garlic.

Add wine/vermouth (I prefer sauternes, but that is my personal preference).

Add stock from the short rib stock–you will need about 3 cups.

Add the soy sauce and sugar. Then add sesame oil.

Taste the broth, it should not be TOO salty or TOO sweet, but a combination of both, with a healthy dose of sesame taste. Bring to boil.

Add potatoes and carrots (and other veggies such as brussel sprouts and turnips if you so desire).

Simmer for at least half an hour, or until potatoes and carrots are tender, and beef is tender. (You may want to simmer longer if you’d like–the longer the better) Add ground black pepper. If broth is too watery, mix a tablespoon of potato starch with about two tablespoons of water in a cup and add to the braised short ribs (while broth is still hot and on a low flame). It will thicken the broth.

Serve with rice.

Old Time Beef Stew

This is what I'm making for dinner tonight to finish the stew meat we got from Costco. It is quite easy to make and my husband actually requested it. I got it off of foodnetwork.com

2 pounds stew beef
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Dash ground allspice or ground cloves
3 large carrots, sliced
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaves and garlic clove. Add carrots and celery. Cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes longer. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch until smooth. Mix with a little hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly.

Miso Glazed Salmon.

Looks like more people are interested in my fast and easy recipes than my stock posts. I'll blog recipes that are simple and good here as well.

Here is one that I found lately that took less than 15 minutes to make.


1 tablespoon of sake

1/4	cup brown sugar, packed
2	tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2	tablespoons hot water
2	tablespoons miso (soybean paste)
4 (6	ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
	cooking spray
1	tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients, stirring with a whisk.
3. Arrange fish in a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray.
4. Spoon miso mixture evenly over fish.
5. Broil 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, basting twice with miso mixture.
6. Sprinkle with chives

Don't skip on the chives even if you want to. They make a big difference on the dish. The salty Miso and soy sauce can use a little lemony taste to make it more refreshing.