I made this version of Hamburger Jun or Korean Beef Patties a while ago but forgot to post. These turned out delicious and Chris, who wasn't very excited at first, ended up loving them.


Hamburger Jun

1 lb. Ground Beef
3 Green onions minced
1 Garlic clove minced
1 tsp. Fresh ginger minced
2 tbs. Soy sauce
1/4 tsp. Pepper
3 Eggs
2 tsp. Brown sugar
1/2 cup Flour
1 tsp. Sesame oil


In a bowl mix all ingredients except 2 eggs and the flour and form the meat into patties. In another bowl take the remaining two eggs and beat with a fork. In a separate bowl add the flour. Take each patty and dip first into the flour and then into the egg. Add some cooking oil to cover the bottom of a pan and fry the patties until cooked through.

Sauce

2 tbs. Soy sauce
1 tbs. Chili garlic sauce
1 tbs. Rice wine vinegar

Mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

I served my patties in lettuce cups with the sauce poured over the top. Delicious!

I made some bean-less chili the other day for Chris, who loves chili but is trying to eat a low carb diet. It came out really good, piled on some all beef franks with cheese and jalapenos! I am rather fond of Weinerschnitzel's chili cheese dogs, and he said my chili was better then their hotdog chili. While that may not mean much to some of you, to someone who has cravings for Weinerschnitzel chili cheese dogs it means a lot.

Bean-Less Chili

1 lb. Ground beef
1 Onion chopped into small pieces
2 Garlic cloves minced
4 cups of water, divided in half
15 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 tbs. Tajin 
1 tbs. Cumin
1 tbs. Red pepper chili flakes
1tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
2 tbs. Oil

Put ground beef in a bowl and add 1/2 of the water (2 cups) Squish it around with your hands until meat is loose and it looks like a squishy mess. Add all the spices to the bowl and mix well. Set aside.
In a pot over medium heat cook onions and garlic in cooking oil util soft, about 10 minutes. Add the meat mixture and turn up heat to high. Mix everything well. Add the remaining 2 cups of water and the tomato sauce. Stir and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil lower heat and simmer uncovered for approximately 2 hours, stirring occasionally. The chili will start to thicken up as it simmers.



We had leftovers and Chris and Penelope enjoyed a bowl of chili topped with cheese, sour cream and olives for lunch the next day.

A few weeks ago I purchased spring roll wrappers to make fresh shrimp spring rolls.


I had so many wrappers left over and I was over my desire for fresh spring rolls so I thought maybe I could fry these instead. Not sure if it was possible I did some research online and sure enough, yes, these can also be rehydrated and fried. Nice! So here are some Crispy Chicken Spring Rolls I made.


While not very pretty, they were pretty tasty so here's my recipe.

Crispy Chicken Spring Rolls

I had a little less then a pound of ground chicken.
1/4 cup of chopped green onion
2 Cloves of garlic minced
1 Carrot shredded
1 tbs. Hoisin sauce
Powdered ginger
Five spice powder, a mixture of five spices used in Asian cooking. You can buy a five spice powder that contains all five spices already or if you are feeling daring you can make your own using star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper and fennel seeds.
Salt & Pepper

In a pan cook the ground chicken along with the onion, garlic and carrots. Season with the remaining ingredients to taste. Cook until the chicken is completely done. Fill a large enough bowl for the wrappers to fit into it with water and a teeny amount of sugar. Take a wrapper and dip it into the water rehydrating it for about 15 seconds until it becomes pliable again. Place on wax paper. Fill the center of each wrapper with the chicken filling and then start by folding over the top side of the wrapper then folding in both left and right sides and then rolling it up into a little burrito. Does that make sense? I didn't think so... here I found this online. Once you roll up all your spring rolls, by the way I was able to make about 10 of these guys but I stuffed them pretty good, cover them with a paper towel and press down a little to soak up some of the moisture. You want to make these ahead of time so they dry out a bit before you fry them. Once they are ready to fry up heat some oil in a pan until hot and then drop your spring rolls in making sure that you only fry a few at a time. Don't let them touch as they will start to stick together if they do. Remove once these are brown and crisp and place on a paper towel to soak up some of the cooking oil. I served these with a dipping sauce.

Soy Sauce
Rice wine vinegar
Chili garlic sauce
Honey

I just combined a little of these ingredients in a bowl until it tasted good.


This is the chili garlic sauce I used.

Yesterday I made some slow cooker carnitas that I turned into tacos for dinner. Simple and delicious!

Slow Cooker Carnitas

2 pound Pork shoulder roast
A handful of pearl onions
8-10 Garlic cloves
Freshly squeezed juice from 2 oranges
Onion powder
Garlic salt
Salt & Pepper
Lard or oil for frying

Season your roast liberally with salt, pepper, garlic salt and onion powder. Place in crockpot with the onions and garlic. Pour orange juice over everything. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours. Once finished remove meat onto a cutting board or plate and shred. Warm some oil in a large frying pan, I think lard works best and gives the meat added flavor, but a corn or canola oil will work as well. Fry meat until it browns and crisps a little.

I served on warm corn tortillas with my guacamole.

Oh! and an FYI...Penelope made the talent show!

Last night I made a BBQ Jalapeno Ranch Chopped Salad and meatloaf for dinner.

BBQ Jalapeno Ranch Chopped Salad

Small bag of coleslaw mix or you can chop up your own cabbage and carrot combo
Chopped romaine lettuce
Black beans
Corn
Shredded Colby jack cheese
Cooked and crumbled bacon
Crushed tortilla chips
Jalapeno ranch dressing, I used Litehouse
Barbecue sauce, I used Rufus Teague

Put your cabbage mix in a large bowl and toss with some jalapeno ranch dressing, add the remaining ingredients except for the barbecue sauce and toss. I used canned black beans and corn but this would have been even better with roasted corn. Drizzle the top with the barbecue sauce. Enjoy

Because you are tossing your tortilla chips in with everything else this salad is only good eaten the same day while the chips still have a crunch to them.

I made this yummy, refreshing salad the other day. Chopped up some jicama into cubes, radishes into strips and mango into cubes. Mixed it all up with some Citrus Reserve Olive Oil and California Balsamico Blanco from Temecula Olive Oil Co. and salt and chili powder. You can also just mix some good quality olive oil with some balsamic and a touch of honey for the dressing. Tasty! If you have never had jicama before it's like a crunchy, juicy slightly sweet and nutty vegetable. Almost like a cross between an apple and a potato. Whatever, it's good and you can find it at most supermarkets and definitely in any Hispanic market.

This is what it looks like before you slice into it. Trust me it's delicious!

Orange Chicken

4 Boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed
3/4 cup Freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tbs. Orange zest
Sesame oil
Cooking oil of choice
Dried ginger
Garlic Powder
Red pepper flakes
Sweetener of choice, I used Monk fruit sugar in the raw
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce
Rice wine vinegar
Cornstarch
Water

Cube chicken in small pieces and put in a bowl. Sprinkle cornstarch over chicken and stir to completely coat each piece of chicken. In a large wok heat cooking oil on medium high, I used Thrive algae oil, along with the sesame oil. Approximately 2 tablespoons of each oil to fry up chicken until browned crisp and cooked through. You might need to add a little more of both oils if it looks like your chicken is not frying up. Once the chicken is done remove onto a plate and set aside. Lower wok heat and add the orange juice, about 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic powder about a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of the rice wine vinegar, the orange zest, a tablespoon of oyster sauce about 1/2 teaspoon of dried ginger. Add red chili flakes to your liking. In a small bowl combine about a teaspoon of cornstarch with a tablespoon of water and stir until dissolved. Raise wok heat and pour cornstarch mixture into sauce. Make sure you stir sauce continuously as it will thicken up quickly, once it does add chicken back into the sauce and stir so that it is well coated with the sauce. Serve with rice and/or veggies.


This was a big hit with everyone, Penelope even had 3 servings of chicken!

Penelope and I made a Chicken Potpie for dinner tonight, or as she likes to call it a chicken "pop" pie.


Chicken "Pop" Pie

2 Sticks of butter
2-3 Chopped green onions
1 cup Flour
1 3/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Thyme
3/4 tsp. Pepper
3 cups Chicken broth
1 cup Milk
2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and cubed
1 cup Canned peas drained
1 cup Canned corn drained
Refrigerated pie crust, I used a store bought rolled crust that comes to sheets in a package.

First to cook your chicken season the breasts with a little salt, pepper, garlic powder and parsley. In a large skillet heat your oil of choice. I used Thrive algae oil. Cook chicken breasts on medium high to medium heat for 10 minutes per side and then cube.

Next in another large skillet, heat butter over medium high heat until melted. Add the onion and stir. Add the flour and seasonings and stir. Slowly stir in the broth and milk while you continue to stir. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and cook for around 2 minutes until thickened. Add the peas and corn and turn heat off. This will make enough filling for two 9 inch pie pans or you can use a large oval casserole dish like I did. Unroll your pie crust and form onto the bottom of your baking dish. pour filling to the top of the dish and then cover with remaining pie crust. Cut some slits on top and then bake in the oven at 425 for 40 minutes. Chris said this was the best potpie he has ever eaten.

We had yummy battered langoustine tacos and sopa de arroz for dinner last night. I battered the langoustine with a beer better made from a box mix and dropped them in my deep fryer for 2 minutes. We topped our tacos with fresh salsa, lettuce and crema.

Fresh Salsa
4 Roma tomatoes chopped
4 Green onions chopped
About a 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1 and 1/2 chopped serrano peppers, seeds and all.

Mix everything together and enjoy.

I also added corn and peas to my rice at the same time that I put in the water. Just make sure if you use canned that you completely drain them.

Notice the cocktail in the background of my photo? It's called a Hanky Panky. I bought Chris  this Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails book for Christmas.


It has some pretty unusual recipes along with some written history on when and how the drinks came to be.

Hanky Panky

1 1/2 ounces of gin, we used Brokers
1 1/2 ounces of sweet vermouth
A dash of Fernet Branca, a type of bitter herbal liquor

Pour everything in your cocktail glass on the rocks with a twist of orange peel.  It is herbal and surprisingly refreshing.

Now that we are back to our normal routine, until Christmas that is, how was every ones Thanksgiving? Mine was great! I had two! Wednesday before Thanksgiving we got together at my brothers house and had a delicious dinner. I brought over an appetizer of smoked salmon with cheeses and crackers.


I was also in charge of making the mac and cheese...


This four cheese and bacon mac and cheese was adapted from Mac & Cheese: More then 80 Classic and Creative Versions of the Ultimate Comfort Food.

So I forgot to take photos of this dinner but it was too tasty not to share with you.

One Pot Chicken and Rice

About 2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 to 4 chicken leg quarters depending on how many will be eating.
1 Cup uncooked long grain white rice
2 Cups chicken broth
3 tbs. Butter
Paprika
Onion powder
1 Bay leaf
3/4 to 1 Cup frozen peas and carrots
Salt & pepper

In a large pot add the oil and heat on medium high heat. Season chicken with salt, pepper, onion powder and paprika. When oil is heated, add the chicken skin side down and cook for 7 to 10 minutes until the skin is nice and crisp. Turn chicken over and cook for another 7 to 10 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside and drain most of the oil from pot. Add the butter, uncooked rice, some paprika and the bay leaf and brown rice slightly. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Put chicken back into the pot and add frozen veggies. Cover pan with lid, lower heat and let simmer for 25 to 30 minutes until all liquid has been absorbed and rice and chicken are cooked through. Yummy!