Innie or Outie

Here's another convenience store bento. This one had tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet), luncheon pork, potato croquette, hamburger, carrots, daikon, mackerel, rice, and root vegetable noodles.

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Crockpot Paella Gone Wrong

We’ve all had an occasion when, even with the best of intentions, the dish just goes horribly wrong. A car breaks down, traffic is outrageous and unrelenting, a late last minute meeting at the office, or whatever – you get stuck far away from the cooking crockpot meal. Well this is one of those dishes when I couldn’t get to it in time and the crockpot just kept steaming the rice until I ended up with a Crockpot Paella Mushy Mess:

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But that doesn’t mean it can’t be saved, Baked Crockpot Paella:

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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the mushy mess in a small paella pan (or pie dish) and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the paella from the oven and using a fork turn the mixture. Return to the oven and bake for 15 more minutes.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with approximately ½ cup crushed tortilla chips for added texture, ½ teaspoon capers, and freshly snipped parsley.

Serve with a salad of fresh crunchy salad greens and veggies (such as radishes) dressed with a vinaigrette.

This is a meal hubby came up with making use of leftovers, Papa’s Sautéed Greens and Red Wine Meatball Rice :

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Hubby sautéed some leeks, bell peppers, and one of the local greens (komatsuna) in olive oil; crumbled in one of the red wine meatballs; and then stirred in some chicken bouillon, pepper, and minced garlic paste. Finally, he plated the mixture over some cooked rice and topped it all with crushed toasted sesame seeds.

This is a quick and tasty snack that makes further use of more leftovers, Tofall Cheddar Basil Hoagie:

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Simply place two tofalls with tomato sauce on the bottom half of a sliced bun; then place a slice of cheddar cheese and fresh basil leaves on the top half of the bun; and microwave for approximately 1 minute.

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We added a whole dill pickle as a side munchie to the hoagie to complete the snack.

One of the great things about leftovers is that they challenge a person to be creative in developing new recipes and dishes. Here is one I came up with for leftover fish stew, Curried Fish Stew Pot Pie:

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I simply added 2 tablespoons curry powder and 1 cup frozen peas to approximately 3 cups Crockpot Fish Stew and heated thoroughly in a skillet on medium heat.

Meanwhile I preheated the oven to 375 degrees, buttered and lined a casserole dish with 1 pot pie dough sheet, then added the curried stew and topped with a second dough sheet.

I then baked the pie in the oven for approximately 25 minutes.

As the seasons' harvests change, so do the ingredients in the local bentos. Bitter melon, more commonly known as goya on island, is making a return on the local convenience store bento scene.

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Here is a midday snack I came up with that makes use of leftover meatballs, Red Wine Meatball with Blue Cheese and Basil Wrap:

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Papa’s Tofu Snack is a quick and easy tidbit which is seen more often in smaller sizes at Japanese restaurants. The snack consists of tofu (in liquid) with dried bonito flakes, spring onions, and soy sauce dressing.

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So, Hubby’s back in the kitchen. This time he decided to go a different direction and looked-up some recipes on a Japanese foodie site. This is what he came up with – Papa's European-Style Dinner:

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The meal consisted of hamburger steak (ball) with red wine sauce, sautéed mushroom-bacon potatoes, and carrots with creamy cheese dressing.

Here is relaxing springtime seafood brunch that tastes great after working in the yard. The entrée can be prepared ahead of time and then placed in the refrigerator, Seafood Salad:

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This salad can be made with a variety of ingredients including sashimi. I took what was already in the house and used canned tuna, shrimp, iceberg lettuce, seaweed, cherry tomatoes, black olives, scallions, oregano, basil, parsley; herbed croutons, soy sauce, and a creamy salad dressing (Don’t dress the salad until ready to serve).

To go with the salad, we saved some time and energy with premade grocery store Sushi:

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And to top off the meal we added Miso Soup:

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