Innie or Outie

Here’s a TexMex inspired dish that hubby created, Papa’s Chili Steak on Rice:

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For the dish, hubby sautéed cubed beef in olive oil; added chili pepper flakes, powdered cumin, minced garlic paste, Worcestershire sauce, and canned chili beans with sauce. He plated the beef mixture on a rice bed; topped with homegrown salad greens, sliced cheddar cheese, onion slices, and quartered cherry tomatoes; then sprinkled with dried cilantro flakes.

So you’re in the mood for a little pampering, but you don’t have a bagel in the pantry. No problem, here’s an alternative idea, Cream Cheese-Caviar Quesadilla:

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Simply spread a layer of cream cheese on one half of a flour tortilla; top with a layer of caviar; fold other half on top; place in a frying pan to toast; remove, slice, and serve.

Here’s another original home cooked meal idea that’s colorful and flavorful, Stuffed Chicken Thigh Dinner:

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Sauté julienned yellow bell pepper and red bell pepper, sliced red onion, sliced mushrooms, fresh rosemary leaves, and almond slivers in sesame oil; sprinkle with white pepper; remove from heat and set aside. Slightly flatten boneless chicken thighs skin side on outside; sprinkle with black pepper; spread on a thin layer of cream cheese; sprinkle with dried oregano flakes, powdered clove, and powdered sage; top with sautéed bell pepper mixture; fold outer edges of chicken towards center to form a roll; peg with toothpicks; sear on all sides in medium hot frying pan with heated olive oil; place in baking dish and bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees Centigrade for approximately 10 minutes.

While chicken is baking, grind black olives, green olives, cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil in food processor; slice one whole grain dinner roll into four pieces; spread on thin layer of minced garlic paste; toast on both sides in frying pan with heated olive oil. Sauté defrosted grilled Mediterranean vegetable medley (potato, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, eggplant, and zucchini chunks) and pine nuts in heated olive oil. Meanwhile, remove toasted bun slices from heat and top with olive mixture; blanch julienned red cabbage and carrot.

Plate cabbage-carrot mix forming a thin bed; sprinkle with crushed sesame seeds; plate toasted olive-basil bread and drizzle with olive oil; plate sautéed Mediterranean veggie mixture; remove chicken from oven, remove toothpicks, place on red cabbage-carrot bed and garnish with fresh basil leaves. Serve.

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This original dish combines several Asian flavors, Papa’s Spicy Miso-Pork on Sesame Rice:

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For the dish, hubby used chunked pork roast, sliced red and green bell peppers, white onion, and carrot sautéed in sesame oil; with toubanjyan sauce, oyster sauce, dried garlic slivers, minced ginger paste, powdered chicken broth, white pepper, arugula, salad greens, 1/2 sodium red miso paste, and cracked toasted sesame seeds added; ladled on a bed of cracked toasted sesame seed rice.

Another new creation using more unexpected combinations of ingredients, Asian-Flavored Seafood Mini Pizza Dinner:

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For the pizza, defrost frozen seafood (shrimp, clam, and squid) medley; premix a paste of 1/2 sodium red miso paste, cracked toasted sesame seeds, minced garlic paste, powdered red chili peppers, and fresh shikwasa juice. Set aside.

Meanwhile, dice yellow bell pepper and onion; saute in sesame oil until onion slightly translucent; place in bowl and let cool. Sauté seafood medley in olive oil until shrimp turn light pink, remove from heat and set aside.

Next, prepare the salad – julienne red cabbage, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, carrot, and iceberg lettuce; toss with fresh arugula and salad greens; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Start the mini pizzas Рspread tortilla with premixed miso paste; top with saut̩ed bell pepper, onions, and seafood; add cherry tomato slices and crumbled baby cheese; microwave for 1.5 minutes; remove and fry in olive oil until bottom lightly browned; remove and top with katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) and julienned nori (dried seaweed); slice and plate.

Add the premade salad topped with a somen tsuyu sauce, minced ginger paste, soy sauce, white pepper, sesame oil and white wine vinaigrette. Serve.

As if the weather knows summer is coming to an end, the temperatures and humidity are starting to rise again. Given that, Hubby decided to prepare a cool and refreshing salad of his own that also reflects the increase of produce available in local supermarkets,
Papa’s Chicken Salad:

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For the salad, hubby used recently new produce times, sliced red onion and red radishes, with standards cherry tomatoes and iceburg lettuce, threw in some homegrown greens and arugula, and topped that with sliced deep-fried chicken nuggets, and completed the dish with a creamy sesame dressing.

This is a simple way to have home cooked pizza as a snack or an entrée with in-the-pantry items, Mini Pizza:

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For each pizza, use one flour tortilla with 1 tablespoon of Italian herb tomato paste spread on it; add one sliced sautéed spicy sausage link, 1 tablespoon chopped onion, mushrooms, and bell pepper previously sautéed in sesame oil; one sliced cherry tomato; one crumbled teaspoon-size baby cheese chunk; and three chopped fresh basil leaves. First microwave for 1.5 minutes; then fry in 1 tablespoon olive oil until the bottom is light brown. Remove, slice, and add garnish (3 Spanish olives or whatever you desire).

Hubby came up with this unusual and flavorful in-the-pantry meal, Papa’s Mustard Sauce-Pork Dinner:

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For the meal, he boiled pork roast in water with dried rosemary and thyme flakes; sliced the pork and plated it on a bed of homegrown salad greens; and topped with a sauce made of whole grain mustard, fresh rosemary leaves, minced ginger paste, minced garlic paste, finely chopped arugula, dried thyme flakes, nira (garlic chives), and milk. To go with the pork, hubby sautéed frozen spinach and asparagus in sesame oil adding a little butter and soy sauce. To completed the meal by adding rice sprinkled with cracked toasted sesame seeds; and garnished the plate with chilled whole cherry tomatoes.

One of my favorite aspects of home cooking is taking whatever can be found in the pantry and creating a dinner with the items. This is one such meal, Grilled Mini-Meatball Kabob Dinner:

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What I found readily available in the pantry to use for this meal was:

2 medium potatoes
1 slice bacon (diced)
1 slice large onion (thinly diced)
1 small carrot (sliced)
1 teaspoon-size chunk baby cheese (diced)
1/2 cup heavy cream
7 medium frozen shrimp without shells (coarsely chopped)
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon powdered nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered paprika
1 package 10 frozen cocktail mini-meatballs in sauce (defrosted)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 small bell pepper (chunk-style diced)
1/8 large onion (chunk-style diced)
5 small cherry tomatoes
5 bamboo skewers (soaked in water to prevent charring – something I forgot to do, ugh…)

When I first envisioned this meal, I wanted a version of twice-baked stuffed potatoes. Unfortunately, the pantry potatoes were the wrong type. Instead, I created Baked Creamy Shrimp-Potatoes:

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Microwave potatoes until tender (about 8 minutes); remove skin; coarsely mash with baby cheese, cream, shrimp, parsley, white pepper, and nutmeg; put mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle with paprika; place in preheated oven at 200 Centigrade for 15 – 20 minutes (until lightly browned).

To accompany the potatoes, a side dish with a twist, Baked Glazed Carrots:

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While potatoes are in the microwave, sauté bacon and thinly-diced onion until browned; place bacon mixture with fat on top of carrot slices and, after the potatoes are finished microwaving, microwave for 3 minutes; place microwaved carrot mixture in an aluminum foil packet and top with cocktail sauce gently scraped from defrosted mini-meatballs; seal and bake in oven at the same time as the potatoes.

For the entré, something a little different, Grilled Mini-Meatball Kabobs:

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As the potatoes and carrots bake in the oven, sauté bell pepper and chunky-diced onions in sesame oil until onions are slightly translucent; alternate sautéed bell pepper and onion, cherry tomatoes, and meatballs on skewers (use a salad fork’s prongs to slide the bell pepper and onion into place if too hot to handle); grill until lightly charred (about 5 minutes each side on low heat in a gas pair-broiler).

The kabobs, potatoes, and carrots should be done at about the same time. Simply plate and serve.

(NOTE: Although this meal sounds difficult, it really was quite uncomplicated because of the timing and rhythm of the preparation and cooking of the individual dishes.)

Hubby’s back in the mood for cooking Mediterranean-influenced edibles, Papa’s Olive Chicken Pasta:

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For the entrée he sautéed chicken breast chunks in olive oil, added julienned yellow and green bell pepper, fresh mushrooms, sliced green and black olives, and garlic chives. He tossed the mixture with assorted pasta; plated; and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. To complete the meal, hubby served a small salad of homegrown greens, iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bacon bits, and herbed croutons with an olive oil, white wine vinegar, and shikwasa (Hirami lemon) dressing.

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